12 Hours of Temecula #2

Heidi and I headed out to Temecula anxious to try out the mile of new singletrack that Jason added to the 12-hour course. Jason's route changes always make for added fun.

Going into the race we had heard there were going to be several co-ed duo teams, maybe one or two from out of state. The only thing I knew for sure is that we'd be racing Sarah Kaufmann and a guy from Bear Valley Bikes. Sarah, a fellow Wallenfels athlete, is very strong so I knew that we'd have an exciting day.

It was a very close race with the lead changing a few times. I didn't used to like races that were so close, but with all the XC racing I've been doing for training it doesn't really bother me anymore. We alternated laps and as the heat got into triple digits we built a small lead; a lead we were able to keep till the end. We couldn't let up though because Sarah's team was keeping steady lap times.

We had a fairly smooth race: two crashes and a wrong turn for Heidi, while I had one crash and 2 bee stings. =)

At the line checking number plates looking for the other co-ed teams

Waiting to unleash the beast

Riding on the grass felt strange and it was better to ride it fast

Still looking fresh on her penultimate lap

Has she hit the grass yet?

Sarah made the last lap look like nothing but a thing

Heidi had the fastest female lap of the day.

I think eveyone had fun
Thanks to:
Heidi for being such and awesome racing partner
Michael D for the great support
Lynda for the excellent coaching
Jason & Heather for putting on a fun event
The Sho-air/Sonance/Velosport sponsors
Michael Darter, Michael Mcclure & Pookgai for the photos
and
Special thanks to all the co-ed duo teams that made it an exciting day!