Lou's 12 Hours of Weaverville

It was my first time racing the 12 Hrs of Weaverville this past weekend! I was hoping to add to my list of funny/silly comments from guys I passed, but I actually didn't get any this time... I got a cool comment from a Los Gatos high school sophomore that I caught on my 9th and last lap though. When I passed him he asked: are you on your 8th lap? No, I'm on 9 I said. WOW, are you going to worlds? The kid then said he would be in Mark Hendershot's pit at WSC and that he was riding Mark's old bike. I don't think anyone ever wants to ride one of my bikes when I'm though with it.....

It was a pretty small field that took off at 8 am, only 5 women racing in the solo category. The course was one of the more fun loop courses I have ever done. It started with a 3 mile fire road climb which got fairly steep at the top. After that it was all fun, fast, flowing single track in the forest. AWESOME!! My plan was to use this as a training race for WSC and I wanted to try to keep my laps as even as possible. I felt pretty good the whole time, although it was really hot for a few hours and I slowed down a little bit. I was sucking down lots of Gatorade and Thermotabs and that kept me from cramping.

I finished in first place at 7 pm feeling good with 9 laps, 2 laps ahead of next woman. My lap times were between 1.07 and 1.17.

Thanks all of you for your help and support!!

12 Hours of Weaverville

I initially had planned on racing solo but after talking it over with Lynda and Bernice we decided that it would be best if Bern and I teamed up for a duo. I hadn’t raced duo since Dean and I teamed up early last year at Temecula. I had a great time then and I was looking forward to having a great time at this one.

Bern, Josh and I headed out for Lou’s place before making our way to Weaverville. On Friday we hung out, got a little DMS on the legs and pre-rode the course then had dinner with some of Fuzzy’s friends at one of the local Mexican places. The course reminded me of a mini Cascade Creampuff with a fire road climb followed by some beautiful singletrack. Fuzzy pointed out details of the course and specifically mentioned a section where riders tended to flat...I should have been paying attention.

While hanging out and flipping channels we got some words of wisdom from one of the hunting channel's taxidermy tips: "Keep skin to skin and hair to hair." Fuzzy pointed out that it's been his motto for some time! =)

We took some pre-race team photos before the fun began. I noticed that Sloane Anderson was racing and we chatted briefly. Once again I was glad the race didn’t have a le mans start. I thought I’d try and do Josh and Fuzzy a favor by going out a little fast and having some of the other solos follow me. Sloane and I were riding together for most of the climb until I backed off a tad. I was having a great time down the single track until I got a small gash in the sidewall right were Fuzzy told me to be careful. It was big enough that the Stans couldn’t seal it but small enough that I could put a tube in and it wouldn't bubble out. I’m glad I didn’t gamble like I did at the Vision Quest in March when I didn’t take levers, CO2 or a tube!!

Ready to ride. Sloane in the background.

Ready to roll. Fuzzy and I need to get with the program and go sleeveless.

Fuzzy on an early lap before an old tweak started acting up and interfered with his race.

Once again Lou made this one look like a walk in the park and cranked out 9 laps for the solo female win. Josh was 2nd behind Sloane. Eric's solo record of 12 laps will hold for another year--Eric sitting in the background.

Bern and I were alternating laps until I determined that if I rode for two consecutive laps on one of my turns we could challenge the two leading men’s duo teams. That proved to be a good move and we ended up riding 10 laps and finishing ahead of all the other duo teams.

Post race photo-op with Bigfoot.

Bern and I didn't have to use our secret weapons: A Big Ol can of Whoop Ass & a can Pimpjuice. The Red Bull was enough. =)

I think I’m going to being a little more selective about my races and start doing ones that have fun courses. This one ranks high on the list and I hope to be back next year.

I’ve got to thank many folks for making this race possible:

- Monica for everything that goes along with pre-race preparations.
- Lynda, my coach. Great idea to use this as a training race.
- Lou for letting us crash at her place.
- Eric for support in the pit.
- Bern for dealing with all the pre-race logistics and for being the "director of entertainment" on the drive.
- Fuzzy for inviting us to a great race and grabbing us a pit area.
- Tim & Sherry from Switchback Cyclery for getting the bike race ready.
- Mr 24, Jeff Kerkove, and Steve for the Ergon grips. I love these things!
- The folks at Sho-air and Rock N' Road Cyclery
- All the team Sho-air sponsors

Also thanks to the California Loving pimps Dr Dre & Snoop Dog for getting me through this one.