The race was about 50 miles, but the first 7.5 miles was a neutral roll-out on paved roads. Once we got to Redington dirt road, everyone stopped, we walked our bikes up around a bend in the road, and removed the front wheel. After walking the front wheel back to the "start" we sang Happy Birthday to Dejay Birtch, the event promoter, ran up to our bike, put the front wheel back on and started racing up the dirt road. Approximately 100 riders were on hand to serenade Birtch in his birthday celebration.
Race venue before the start
Those who short-cut the course didn't sign in on the result list. Riders were still coming in after dark. Todd (Krista's husband) and I would have finished close to each other, but he broke not one, but two, pedals in the race. He ended up having to short-cut the course and didn't sign in at the finish.
It was a cool course, with a big climb to start on a fireroad I never had any issues passing. After 9.5 miles of dirt road we turned right onto a section of AZ Trail singletrack which was a blast, and a little hard to follow; I blew through a lot of turns. After that it was a mix of super steep rocky ATV trails, more than a little hike-a-bike, back to Reddington road to repeat a 5-mile section then left on the AZ Trail, again a really fun section, then the famous Milagrosa descent (with a few more climbs). Lots of cactus and rocks, perfect weather, no arm warmers needed.
The SSUSA racecourse
I still don't know Dax's winning time, Dax didn't know his own time and in true SS fashion, no one wrote it down. Scott Morris (topofusion.com) is listed as 4th, he thinks he was 5th, there is no telling. Scott's time from the official start at 9:45am (after "happy birthday") was about 4 hours, mine was 4:13, maybe 1.5 hours in front of the next girl.
Although Dax and I had the best times, the official SS Champ title was awarded by a no-foot-down game about four hours later (while riders were continuing to come in off the course). Neither Dax or I won this game. Some guy took me out, I don't know who he was or if he even raced.
Of course Dale's Pale Ale was on hand for this event
Campers awaiting the race start
Race bikes prepared for a 50-mile beatdown
Results after the ride
1, Dax Massey
2, Mike Montalbano
3, David Wilson
4, Scott Morris
5, James Harmon/Nick Gould
6, Scott Moots
7, Robin Guillame
8, Fuzzy Milne
9, James Upshaw
10, Jake Kirkpatrick
11, Tom AMen
12, Krista Park (Incycle)
13, Thor?
14, Rob Decot
15, Nat Pellman
16, Shey Lindner
17, Evan Smith
18, Kaolin Cosmo Cummens
19, Andrew 40 Hands
20, Chad Cheney
** Results for this race are compiled by having the racer sign his or her name to a piece of paper after crossing the finish line. Apparently after racing a singlespeed for 50+ miles writing legibly is difficult. We at MTBracenews.com had a difficult time deciphering some of the names because the entire list looks like it was written by a left-handed Spider Monkey on crack. We apologize for any misspellings or inconsistencies in the reporting of these results**
