Race Report

Race Report by Julie Brown

Think Billy Cross on steroids...that's Skyline Park.

Pulled into the race and it was already getting hot, and the parking lot was pretty full. Unfortunately not with Team Wrongway jerseys! Where was everyone? Ended up only being me, Loren and Bob Lofland representing! Isaias' friend, Jason, was there too but I'm not sure if he wears our jersey. The rest of you missed a great race.

Well, it depends on what your definition of "great" is. If you're looking for some steep climbing, devilish singletrack, gnarly rock gardens, tons o' fun stair climbing, tons o' fun rail riding and a slew of creek crossings, switchbacks, and water bars, then this is your course. There were more than a few folks who came off the trail bloodied.

I started out setting the pace and was in first place for the fireroad climb....until the second place woman decides to try and cut me off and crashed in front of me. End game. We had to walk the rest of the fireroad to the top. Not a fun way to start. I passed her again and was doing just fine, thank you, and then --- a youngster crashed in front of me and I had to dismount and took way too long to get back on track...she passed me again. Unfortunately I didn't have a great first lap and couldn't catch her. Very frustrating.

My second lap was actually a blast. I was able to ride some of the nastier sections that I didn't ride the first go round. That made the day sweeeet no matter how I finished. A personal victory for me. Second lap was uneventful, and it was fun to start passing some of the exhausted Sport boyz...they were all really cool and didn't seem to phased to be passed by a chick. I think they were just hoping to get off the course. At this point the experts, pros and crazy singlespeeders were starting to barrel through, strong and hard.

I gave it all I had at the finish and ended up finishing 2nd. If I had rode smarter that first lap, I could have probably done even better. I ended up two minutes behind 1st and 20 minutes ahead of third, so she and I were fairly close in skill. Oh well, so it goes.

TWW -- come out next year! This race is challenging, fun, and not watered down. This is one of the better races around.

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