Ride Series DH 3

February 25, 2001
Haul-Asster, CA

I don't really know what happened with me at Sunday's race, but I do believe there were a few factors involved. One, I've been doing a lot of soul searching the last few weeks, and have been able to find and tap an inner strength and determination I never knew I had. I know it sounds corny, but it's true. I was really focused in the minutes before the race, in spite of all the razzing my fellow racers were heaping on me. I was really in a Zen space. Second, Nick and I wagered $5 on who would have the fastest time in the moments before Rich sent me down the course. That was enough for me to really hammer. But third, I'd like to thank our sponsor, Clif, for the kick in the ass I got from the Clif Shot I had 30 minutes before the start. That REALLY gave me the juice to go anaerobic for those few minutes.

Kudos to Nick for offering his bike to Jon for the race. And we all know how hard Jon has been on bikes recently... I'm sure he was grimacing a bit and biting his lip when he heard those infamous words spurt from his lips ("Hey, Jon - do you want to ride my bike?" DOH!). I offered mine too, but, alas, our races were too close together to do the bike shuttle thang up to the top in time for my start. (Sigh...)

Nick kicked ass again (4:45), Ron had his best time ever (4:41), but was still pissed at me for my time, Mark was ear-to-ear grins on his new Straight 6 (gotta get one of those), Schlachter was ever consistent, Rob was there with tripod and telephoto in tow, Gary had an interaction with a big rock and spent a few hours in the ER, Jon crashed Nick's bike twice and still managed a 4:41 (how does he do that??), and Rich was doling out Clif Shot like crack at an inner city high school.

Scott Seery

Allright!!! Back in the saddle!!!! Even with the past rains, the Hollister DH course drains extremely well, evidence by the smoking fast times that we all posted. There were a few glitches, climbing up the hill for our practice run, Jon's rear hub on his Yeti decides to take a crap and he's left without a steed. "I'll let you borrow my bike", I said. Jon went back down the hill and I started climbing up the hill every so often stopping to kick myself in the rear for what I had just said. With Jon's bike breaking record, it was just like giving a bananna to a gorilla and telling him not to eat it. I started getting worried even to the point of asking Mike Urbina if I could just borrow his bike because I just wrote mine off.

Well, Jon finishes his race and comes back up to the double jumps where I was and I do damage control(no damage), change pedals and numbers then off I go to do my race. At the start line, I talked to Scott Seery, he had this look that would make Race Face proud. I bet him $5.00 on who would come in faster. He's been turning consistant 4:50's and he pulls a "hat trick" 4:35!!! Smokin' Scott, I knew that was your empty can of Whoop Ass on the ground at the start line. Great job!

Ron Chai, Scott Schlachter, Mark Davidson(New Schwinn Straight 6!!), Mike Urbina, Robert Gerodias, Fredrick pulled in fast times.

My nemisis Jeff and I were battling it out and we both had great runs. When the announcement came out that I took second and he took first, I took it and congratulated Jeff. Then we looked at the times and my 4:45 time beat Jeff's 4:48, we looked at the other times in our class and none of them were in order also. They forgot to sort the times and I came in 1st. Yeah Baby!

Nick Relampagos

Aloha, Team Wrong Way.

I would like to extend much MAHALOS to Ron Chai and Scott for extending their time, attention, and assistance to me. After my crash at Hollister during Sunday's DH race, they were godsends. Ron loaded my bike and gear and drove my truck to the hospital with Scott following. Even though Scott had other commitments, they both waited patiently while I received treatment. THEN Ron drove my truck and I to my Los Gatos apt. so it wouldn't sit in Hollister. Scott followed in his van and they both helped me unload and carry my bike and gear to my apt. Without their selfless assistance I would have been stranded in Hollister or my truck would have sat there miles from my residence.

Gary Fuchita

Another race, another 200 stories. My story follows a common theme - mechanicals, crashes. After getting cleared from the doctor to "ride", I was Yeti reti and anxious to actually do something outdoors. I haven't been on a bike in over a month. My "training" has consisted of sitting on the stationary trainer once in a while wearing full body armor, watching DH videos (thanks Nick and Charlie/Vision SF), and occasionally hucking my carcass onto the carpet just to keep things real.

Climbing out for a preride, the pawls in my freehub cassette body decided to give out, too much torque - what can I say. Actually bad design is more like it. The result was the freehub was alternating between fully locked like a track bike, and fully disengaged like it was in neutral. Anyway, Nick came through and offered up his steed. Nick - you are the man!! Loaning me your bike an hour before your race - this is what being on a great team with great teammates is all about. I putted around the parking lot for a few minutes, changed pedals and headed up. Nick has built a tight light Bullit and I knew it was a good bike. I was a little apprehensive as I really hadn't ridden it until my race started. So I blast out of the gate and absolutely rail the first two turns - yeah! I sailed over the first double up top which made me think - if you clear a double in the forest and nobody sees it, did you really clear it? Anyway after coming out of the sandy left hander clean, I washed out the front wheel before the up and over. Slam! Stacked on the deck, crap. Okay, just try to keep Nick's bike in one piece. Up and rolling again down the freeway into the tight right hander, and Slam!! another wash out and I hit the deck again. Double crap. It's all over now again I thought and just wanted to have some fun on the remaining jumps. I cleared the table top, sprinted in to the finish, then raced back to give Nick his bike back. I ended up 6th at 4:41 and change. Oh well at least it wasn't as bad as last time - a ~15 second+ tape entangement.

Congrats to all TWW racers - everyone improved their time I think. Thanks to Rich Henthorn for working the race when he really wanted to be road riding. Also, thanks to Sterlachi-Pokenman for videoing, and Rob Butner for taking pix.

Jon Heim

I had planned on going up for practice on Saturday but looked out the window and saw lots of rain. Being the weather wussy that I am, I decided to stay in bed. Got to the venue on race day with enough time for one practice run that went pretty good- I stopped and watched a few guys go through the 45 degree rutted right hander after the start cuz it was giving me some trouble. Ended up using a line that Schlacter clued me in on at the last race.

Anyway, after some finishes that I wasn't completely happy with in the first two races I came into this one with nothing to lose- bear with me, I have a point to make here. When all was said and done, I ended up improving my last race time by 12 seconds. How did it happen you ask? Did the clouds part? Did I hear voices giving me inner strength? Did I have a moment of clarity? (fat chance). No to all of the above. What did happen was as Henthorn (Thanks for starting us)was counting "5,4,3..." I looked down the course and in the immortal words of Jeff Spicolli said to myself "Yo Bud, let's party"! That's right, I relaxed and just RODE. I made it a point to enjoy every berm and jump out there and not worry so much about nailing every damn line. When I finished my run I swear, I wanted to go back up and do it again.

My point is, if you find yourself in that dreaded "racing rut", take a step back and remember why you're doing this in the first place- to have fun. Ok enough of the warm-fuzzy stuff. Congrats to Nick on yet another win- I think he has a bag of sand he throws in his competitors' eyes, Seery on improving the crap out of his time, Mark on his very sweet new bike, and everyone else who finished. I think it goes without saying that John Heim gets the ironman/crazyman award for racing with a dislocated shoulder on a borrowed bike, crashing twice and still finishing 6th in the expert class. Jeez..........

Mike Urbina

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