Sugarloafers National-5/15/2010
Michael Knight
What an incredible race and course. It just doesn't get better than that. During Loop 2 I honestly had visions of "Idaho City" in my head as I was railing virgin single track with dark loamy dirt and green grass on the sides. I couldn't believe it was actually happening at Cherry Creek. I loved it.
Not long after the big bomb run as we funneled in on the dusty trail out to Desert Mountain I was passed by "I told my wife I'm doing a trail ride" Anderson750. Not bad for a guy who hasn't raced in 20 years. A few miles later I saw Paul pull off the side of the trail but I could tell it was mechanical, so I kept racing.
I got to the hillclimb and figured I was running somewhere within the top 30 or 40 at that point. There were about 10 guys sitting there waiting and I thought to myself, "this is nuts...bottlenecks like this don't happen at this stage of Expert wave". I pulled up in line and shook my head thinking there is no way I'm going to wait. Just then, Maddeh zipped around me to my left and made a run at one of the alternate lines on the hill while others were scattered all over the place.
When I saw him go I figured there was no way I was waiting so I just went for it. Paul looped out in front of me and I cut back onto the main trail on the right and did a big wheelie foot plant turn and plopped my front wheel on the trail and took off. It was an awesome feeling and worked perfectly.
When I crested the hill and went off some of those big drop offs all I could think about was how much carnage there was going to be on those hills on the later waves of riders. I kept thinking about my son Josh on the Amateur wave hoping he could get through the carnage and have a good race (unfortunately his race ended after a fried clutch).
I took off with totally clean air now in front of me and had clean air all the way through the big pea-gravel wash and across the flats all the way back to the pits. I was having a blast and feeling good.
The second loop was amazing as mentioned and the Sugarloafers deserve MAJOR kudos for an absolutely incredible race in my opinion. They must have sacrificed some moto-virgins or something to get Mother Nature to cooperate like that and provide such epic conditions. Thanks Sugarloafers!
Talisa Flitton
THAT WAS A BLAST !!!!.. my first national race ... wanted to cry a few times lol, but wouldnt allow my spirit to be broken, a big thanks to RM Chick for her pep talk and pitting assistance as well as dusty, had an awsome time, with a huge group of wonderful people, also Doyle unsworth for his help and pep talk on that 1st nasty hill we all went at .. the changes in terrain was nuts i dont think there was much we didnt touch, and i only had to do 2 loops. LOL
Fantastic job sugarloafers...
Heather Jolley
Wow what a great time! This was my first time doing the womens on the big bike course. It was great! There wasnt much of anything my 150 couldn't handle. . Valuable lesson never race with a bald back tire! Sure sucks taking a muddy hill with no tread! Thanks to who ever it was at that hill that got my bike up the last 1/4 of the way! . Michelle Jensen and I had a great time leap frogging for most the second loop until she had some serious problems. She rocks for finishing! Thanks for a great race. Raced with great people and had awesome support with my new journey to the big bikes . Thank you Sugarloafers!
Stephen Jolley
broke my kick starter on the line! I was practicing my starts when the am left and it split. oh crap what do i do? Well i had two friends and my oldest son push when the banner dropped for the novice. got clear back there on the first bad hill jammed up with novice. thought well i will take it easy i can do this. Get halfway up stall the bike! Wait for all the novice to clear out turned my bike around to get it started. Dang bike wouldn't start so i pushed it almost had that time seen a little bit of an incline pushed it to the top. At this time my wife pulls up and i tell her to go to the right cause it was still packed on the right. So i push my bike down the incline bam it starts whoo hoo! So i figure I am so far behind i will just ride with wife seeing how its her first big bike race. So i am right behind her at first check and pass her. At the top of the hill i was feeling pretty good. So i pulled over and told her i was going ahead to see what i could do.
So i got in the pit hoping somebody found a kick starter for me no luck! so i decided to heck with it just going to go! second loop was awsome! Got some passes in never stalled the bike. Lot of hill climbs some fast sections and trees. just before pits got to hammer down and pass four bikes.
Got into pit and my pit crew was all sitting back by the truck. Pulled the clutch in reved the bike a few times to get their attention as i was pulling in. Finally they seen me and ran for me! They said they weren't exspecting so quick! They said my brother in-law had just left five minutes ago. Got out on that third loop and was passing a lot of people. I am glad some people when you pull up on them rev your bike up and they move over. thanks to all you people! There was one guy that wouldn't move over was in some trees i was having a hard time getting around him. Every time i tried i ended in a tree ha ha! Finally get around him after three or four attempts. Back to hammer down! Still had good energy in the third loop was probably halfway through at this point. Come around a corner and there sits my brother in-law taking a break. All i could do was wave him on I AM NOT STOPPING!! just kept going on. When i got to the river crossing i could see someone on the other side with their camera. ha ha i give them a picture hit that creek wow was that water cold! I was wet iknow it had to of gone over my head with the splash! Got in think i placed fifth in my class! I definatly worked for my buckle! Ran the whole third loop without stalling it! So all in all i ran that entire race course with only one stall on first loop!!! I usually always am kicking my bike!
Thanks Sugarloafer's what a great course!!! Loved every bit of it. second and third loop was the best. Soil conditions where perfect as well as the temp.
Paul Anderson
I would consider it an epic race. I had a horrible start....it took me about 10 kicks to get my bike started. Since I was lined up by Ted Unsworth, I am going to blame him for doing something to my bike. Down the bomb I hung way to the left out to the dust and make up a lot of time. By the time we had made it to Desert Mountain I had settled into a pretty good pace and continued to pick off a couple of riders until mile 8 where I got a flat. I knew I was to far out to try and ride it in without ruining my tire or wheel so I pulled off and changed the tube. By the time I got back on the trail, I had been passed by every Am & Novice.
I settled into a good riding pace since my goal now was just to finish. After the first check point I came to the infamous bottle neck and noticed that some tracks had been made up around to the right so i shot up that route and continued on my way until the trail dropped into that pea gravel wash and I noticed I was behind a guy with the name Sanchez on his jersey and he hit me with a little roost. I quickly got around him hoping I paid back a little on that roost he hit me with.
Going out into the second loop I continued to pass my way through riders where I could just trying to pick up overall spots since I know I was out of the running for my class. I loved the mix of tight trees and open roads on the second loop.
Going out on the third loop I was starting to feel pretty tired, but just tried to be consistent and smooth. That worked pretty good until about mile 20 where I hit the wall and started to make all kinds of mistakes and blowing corners in the trees. I just settled into a real easy pace and cruiesed out the rest of the loop and accomplished what I set out to do.....just finsh.
I ended up 3rd in my class and 103 over all. After a flat tire on the first loop I will take that any day.
Michael Knight
What an incredible race and course. It just doesn't get better than that. During Loop 2 I honestly had visions of "Idaho City" in my head as I was railing virgin single track with dark loamy dirt and green grass on the sides. I couldn't believe it was actually happening at Cherry Creek. I loved it.
Not long after the big bomb run as we funneled in on the dusty trail out to Desert Mountain I was passed by "I told my wife I'm doing a trail ride" Anderson750. Not bad for a guy who hasn't raced in 20 years. A few miles later I saw Paul pull off the side of the trail but I could tell it was mechanical, so I kept racing.
I got to the hillclimb and figured I was running somewhere within the top 30 or 40 at that point. There were about 10 guys sitting there waiting and I thought to myself, "this is nuts...bottlenecks like this don't happen at this stage of Expert wave". I pulled up in line and shook my head thinking there is no way I'm going to wait. Just then, Maddeh zipped around me to my left and made a run at one of the alternate lines on the hill while others were scattered all over the place.
When I saw him go I figured there was no way I was waiting so I just went for it. Paul looped out in front of me and I cut back onto the main trail on the right and did a big wheelie foot plant turn and plopped my front wheel on the trail and took off. It was an awesome feeling and worked perfectly.
When I crested the hill and went off some of those big drop offs all I could think about was how much carnage there was going to be on those hills on the later waves of riders. I kept thinking about my son Josh on the Amateur wave hoping he could get through the carnage and have a good race (unfortunately his race ended after a fried clutch).
I took off with totally clean air now in front of me and had clean air all the way through the big pea-gravel wash and across the flats all the way back to the pits. I was having a blast and feeling good.
The second loop was amazing as mentioned and the Sugarloafers deserve MAJOR kudos for an absolutely incredible race in my opinion. They must have sacrificed some moto-virgins or something to get Mother Nature to cooperate like that and provide such epic conditions. Thanks Sugarloafers!
Talisa Flitton
THAT WAS A BLAST !!!!.. my first national race ... wanted to cry a few times lol, but wouldnt allow my spirit to be broken, a big thanks to RM Chick for her pep talk and pitting assistance as well as dusty, had an awsome time, with a huge group of wonderful people, also Doyle unsworth for his help and pep talk on that 1st nasty hill we all went at .. the changes in terrain was nuts i dont think there was much we didnt touch, and i only had to do 2 loops. LOL
Fantastic job sugarloafers...
Heather Jolley
Wow what a great time! This was my first time doing the womens on the big bike course. It was great! There wasnt much of anything my 150 couldn't handle. . Valuable lesson never race with a bald back tire! Sure sucks taking a muddy hill with no tread! Thanks to who ever it was at that hill that got my bike up the last 1/4 of the way! . Michelle Jensen and I had a great time leap frogging for most the second loop until she had some serious problems. She rocks for finishing! Thanks for a great race. Raced with great people and had awesome support with my new journey to the big bikes . Thank you Sugarloafers!
Stephen Jolley
broke my kick starter on the line! I was practicing my starts when the am left and it split. oh crap what do i do? Well i had two friends and my oldest son push when the banner dropped for the novice. got clear back there on the first bad hill jammed up with novice. thought well i will take it easy i can do this. Get halfway up stall the bike! Wait for all the novice to clear out turned my bike around to get it started. Dang bike wouldn't start so i pushed it almost had that time seen a little bit of an incline pushed it to the top. At this time my wife pulls up and i tell her to go to the right cause it was still packed on the right. So i push my bike down the incline bam it starts whoo hoo! So i figure I am so far behind i will just ride with wife seeing how its her first big bike race. So i am right behind her at first check and pass her. At the top of the hill i was feeling pretty good. So i pulled over and told her i was going ahead to see what i could do.
So i got in the pit hoping somebody found a kick starter for me no luck! so i decided to heck with it just going to go! second loop was awsome! Got some passes in never stalled the bike. Lot of hill climbs some fast sections and trees. just before pits got to hammer down and pass four bikes.
Got into pit and my pit crew was all sitting back by the truck. Pulled the clutch in reved the bike a few times to get their attention as i was pulling in. Finally they seen me and ran for me! They said they weren't exspecting so quick! They said my brother in-law had just left five minutes ago. Got out on that third loop and was passing a lot of people. I am glad some people when you pull up on them rev your bike up and they move over. thanks to all you people! There was one guy that wouldn't move over was in some trees i was having a hard time getting around him. Every time i tried i ended in a tree ha ha! Finally get around him after three or four attempts. Back to hammer down! Still had good energy in the third loop was probably halfway through at this point. Come around a corner and there sits my brother in-law taking a break. All i could do was wave him on I AM NOT STOPPING!! just kept going on. When i got to the river crossing i could see someone on the other side with their camera. ha ha i give them a picture hit that creek wow was that water cold! I was wet iknow it had to of gone over my head with the splash! Got in think i placed fifth in my class! I definatly worked for my buckle! Ran the whole third loop without stalling it! So all in all i ran that entire race course with only one stall on first loop!!! I usually always am kicking my bike!
Thanks Sugarloafer's what a great course!!! Loved every bit of it. second and third loop was the best. Soil conditions where perfect as well as the temp.
Paul Anderson
I would consider it an epic race. I had a horrible start....it took me about 10 kicks to get my bike started. Since I was lined up by Ted Unsworth, I am going to blame him for doing something to my bike. Down the bomb I hung way to the left out to the dust and make up a lot of time. By the time we had made it to Desert Mountain I had settled into a pretty good pace and continued to pick off a couple of riders until mile 8 where I got a flat. I knew I was to far out to try and ride it in without ruining my tire or wheel so I pulled off and changed the tube. By the time I got back on the trail, I had been passed by every Am & Novice.
I settled into a good riding pace since my goal now was just to finish. After the first check point I came to the infamous bottle neck and noticed that some tracks had been made up around to the right so i shot up that route and continued on my way until the trail dropped into that pea gravel wash and I noticed I was behind a guy with the name Sanchez on his jersey and he hit me with a little roost. I quickly got around him hoping I paid back a little on that roost he hit me with.
Going out into the second loop I continued to pass my way through riders where I could just trying to pick up overall spots since I know I was out of the running for my class. I loved the mix of tight trees and open roads on the second loop.
Going out on the third loop I was starting to feel pretty tired, but just tried to be consistent and smooth. That worked pretty good until about mile 20 where I hit the wall and started to make all kinds of mistakes and blowing corners in the trees. I just settled into a real easy pace and cruiesed out the rest of the loop and accomplished what I set out to do.....just finsh.
I ended up 3rd in my class and 103 over all. After a flat tire on the first loop I will take that any day.
