There's alot I could say about this weekends race so I'll keep it short... I started off the race in pretty good position and in a fast pace, towards the hill climb back to the Start/Finish line I decide to hop over the small creek crossing with a boulder in the middle of it. My first name was right but my last name wasn't Vullouz and I landed my rear tire smack on the receiving end of the crossing but didn't crash. Damage report! Pinch flat, broken spoke nipple, re-aggrivated sore wrist and a bent PG118 Ti handlebar. I watched all of the sport racers pass me by and the beginners too. Once back on the bike I tried to catch up to the rest of the field. I weaved through a bunch of people and finally started passing some yellow number plates. That was until I caught up to Lauren on the second lap. No, not Loren Thomas but Lauren C. (What's with this name and being fast?) she just relocated from Boston and checked out our website, she decided to do this race because the TWW site posted that "there wasn't too much climbing". All through the second lap and most of the third lap that's all she was telling me. I think she was mad at me because I was trying hard to shake her off but I couldn't! Anyways, I finally shook her off because I couldn't be beaten by a "girl". That didn't last long because you know how much my back tire loves rocks in the middle of creek crossings. Yes, another pinch flat. I walk back to a shady area to get out of the 180 degree heat and Lauren passes by. I fix the flat and finish the race, I came in 9th out of 12. I could have sworn that every TWW'er went home with a "Metal". Congrats to you all, my buddy Rob got a 3rd place finish in his class...

Nick
Mr. Pinchflat

Race Report by Loren Thomas

Lake Sonoma was loads of fun. The folks putting on this race are great. This weekend was about more than just racing. Most of us arrived Saturday and enjoyed a nice pre-ride, good conversation, and an excellent potluck dinner. My category (sandbagger) had 9 riders. About 6 of them took off ahead of me and charged for the single track. As we approached the left turn on to the single track I sucked up about 3 of them. Stuck behind 3 guys, I remained patient until the leaders were pulling away. I made my 1st move in the grass on a short uphill. The guy in front of me spun his rear tire, but my Velocirapters hooked up. We were catching the sport riders and I lost track of the leader of my class. I was stuck behind riders most of my first lap. I'd pass one and there would be another cruising along in front of me. On the second lap the field spread out and I was able to set a good pace. I felt great until the long uphill switchback section. It was a "hike-a-bike" for most, including me. I suffered through the heat walking slowly up the grade, letting the sport rider ahead of me set the pace. Since I was only riding 2 laps I was able to push hard enough to pass a few more sport riders. I was the first rookie to finish the race. Team Wrong Way made an excellent showing. Just about all of us got on the podium, except Keith. He wussed out and didn't show. Of course he'll try to make us believe he was just "too busy". This talk about riding the expert class was just talk. I guess it's a good thing he didn't make it. After not riding for a whole week, he probably would of embarrassed the team..... If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm jealous of Keith's writing ability. How am I going to get that new seat after all his whining!

Note:
Comments in this race review are intended to promote good clean competition between all riders. They may not reflect the views of Team Wrong Way as an entity or the author. The authors comments could leave him open to unnecessary ridicule for continuing to sandbag like others (Keith) mentioned in this review.

Race Report by Rich Henthorn

As usual, Lake Sonoma did not disappoint. TWW put together a good showing of 8 racers and 6 medals. These people proved that we're not all a bunch of posers in shiny red jerseys, complaining about course markings and recovery zones.

We're going to have to edit the course description a little. The good people from Rock-Ken-Roll/Wild Woolies added about 1.5 miles of trail the heads down close to the lake, singletrack of course. The way Ken described it, the trail crew was getting tired when they cut this trail and so they took a rather direct route back up to the main course. It's steep, loose, and exposed. So I guess there's a little more climbing now. v The organizers decided to start everyone off with a short prologue lap of about 2 miles. I think they did this to keep the race times more in line with general expectations. Sport categories ended up doing just over 14 miles (2 + 6 + 6). I struggled the first lap just dealing with the anaerobic-ness and the heat. I started to feel better after the hike-a-bike up from the lake. After that I started to slowly reel people in. I almost caught Jon on the last lap. He managed to kick it in a little on the last climb and avoid the embarrassment.

Thanks to everyone who brought grub for the pre-race dinner. Special thanks to Angie for making a spectacular pad tai. See everyone out on the trails sometime.

-Rich

Race Report by Scott Seery

Let me get this over quickly. I had my first, and hopefully last, DNF. The long and short of it was I wussed out after an abrupt off-road excursion, pinch flat, face full of dirt, and pulled groin muscle. This happened only a few minutes after finally (finally!) getting my knotted-up chain unwedged from between the crank arm and rings after if came off on the first downhill of lap 2. I believe damn near every Sport racer (and perhaps some from the "Sandbagger" class, too) I managed to get in front of at the start passed me as I struggled for what seemed a lifetime to free up that friggen chain. Up until that point I was following Peter Sterlacci, convinced I would hang with him until the latter part of the race and then, if I had something left, try to give it a bit more on lap 3. You know what they say about best laid plans.

I didn't even bother to fix the flat. I just enjoyed the nice long walk back to the parking lot.

Scott

Race Report by Rob Butner

What a great weekend! I always love going up there, camping out(in my car), and racing in the almost 100 degree heat. Well, ok, I wish it was a little cooler, as I'm sure everyone else does. This was probabaly my bloodiest/clumsiest race ever. I took a couple dives into some creek beds (no water, just rocks) and came out with a few cuts and bruises. My first fall caught the eye of a few passing racers who both praised how good the fall looked, so I was relatively proud about what I had done! Then I took another fall later in the race, unfortunately, no one was around to see it, it just left blood running down my leg which added to the whole macho/cool/I'm racing with blood running down my leg feeling. Other than that, I walked where just about everyone else walked (should be obvious what that part was) and was feeling strong but I could tell that a week of recovering from a hip bruise from an earlier fall kind of took its toll. I was kinda bummed at first that rookies had such a short race, but was happy when that finish line came so soon!! But I was out there to have fun, and that I did! 5th out of 9 (Rookie) . Congrats to everyone who came out and finished this rough course(and to all who won medals)! And thanks for the fun!

Race Report by Peter Sterlacci

To echo everyone else, it was a great (and hot) day!! I love the Billy Cross series. The fact that it is so low key and run by great people makes it all the more reason to go to as many of these as possible. Besides, the 2 races I have had there have allowed me to get to the podium. This time I managed to come in 2nd place in the Sports 31-40 category. I even recall Nick referring to me as Peter 'how the hell did he beat Jon Heim' Sterlacci. (Thanks Nick!!!)

Anyway, my wife and I drove up there on Saturday afternoon and had a great dinner with Scott, Angie, Dawn, Rob, Rich, Jon, & Loren. Angie is a great cook which forced me to lay down the challenge by requesting that my wife Hisami cook for us at another race!!! The stars were out in full force and I went to sleep with the help of some cold medicine. My business trip the week before caused me to get a nasty cold, but I was feeling better by Saturday.

The morning of the race I was not expecting to do well since I did not exercise the week before and had a cold. But, I did eat a lot of carbs & starch throughout the week on my trip and drank a lot of water. I guess this helped because once the race started I felt great. The usual pain that settles in the first lap was not there and I got into a good pace. I stayed behind Nick most of the way until he flatted. Then I caught up to Jon as he was pulling a 'log' out of his front wheel. Somehow I managed to keep the other behind me and was able to come in at 1 hour and 48 minutes. I had a good feeling that I did well and was very pleased to see that I came in 2nd. Two podiums two races in a row. I honestly feel that part of this is due to the gary Fisher Sugar. I feel very confident and comfortable on this bike and it is clearly treating me well. Gary Fisher and the Genesis geometry is working for me.

I noticed when I came in at the end of the race that I had goose bumps as well. Scott mentioned this is a sign of heat exhaustion/stroke. How can I prevent this? Simply drinking lots of water? Jon mentioned the same thing in his report.

Well, I am looking forward to the 8/13 8-hour race. See you then.

Peter

Race Report by Rob Gerodias

... also just to add to everybody else's experience! My 1st time at Lake Sonoma so I didn't know what to expect, just knew it was going to be hot. Thank GOD for Camel Back's!!! I say that faithfully because for the 5+ years I've been riding MTB's I've only wore a camel back 5 times including yesterday's race ( I just don't like carrying things when I ride - - - I just like the water bottle action). I was fortunate enough to still have it in my gear bag coming from my riding at Northstar last weekend,,, not having my body armor yet I figured it was good protection for my spine/back at Northstar.

This was the 1st time I've riden my XC bike since the Skyline Park Race from several weeks ago. I just recently put together a Dual Slalom HT (or wanna be DS) that Nick wrenched together for me. But anyway I've been on that for the last several weeks. I got spoiled and use to my 100mm, 2.3 tires, 26" Azonic bars, etc... I did a short warm up loop on the short track,,, It was scary, sketchy, & I felt tall w/ having a seat post underneath me vs. my seat dropped on the DS!

So went out and raced and stuck in my mind to just survive in this heat (yeah baby for the Camel Back), & to finish my 40-50% of my class. UNTIL I hit the 1st little plank/board I believe the 1st 3-5 minutes into the race & just ENDO'd big time, my bike just stopped & I obviously went! About 20 guys behind me (I think),,, so I get up as fast as I can and apologize to ALL if I ruined their rhythm! Most had no comment,,, other's replied "it's cool Go/Go/Go" but 1,,, just 1 racer blurted "damn M*&%$# F--!#@" directed at me or not,,, it pissed me off! So from there my strategy changed,,, "HE IS NOT GOING TO BEAT ME"! So in conclusion (if I read the clip board right at the race) I placed 11th out of 30 in the Rookie Class & placed 3rd in my age division out of 11. I'm still shocked & surprise,,, never thought I'd have a MTB medal around my neck! 3rd place I'll take it - - - - & I didn't let him beat me!

All in all,,, met a lot of excellent people!

TWW,,, always good company to be around

Rob (nick's buddy)

Race Report by Dawn Weathersbee

I love men! I love boys! I love bikes! I love good food! All of this and more was to be found at this race!

And, what's more, I met some girls that ride bikes! I even scored one girl's phone number! How many of you guys can say that?

So, let's recap.

Lake Sonoma is a fun mountain bike race, because the promoters are so cool. A cooler of beer at the end? Yeah!

I also love the small format of the race. I met a lot of cool people while we were there. The awards ceremony is fun and intimate. The kids' categories were great, too! Some down home family fun!

I'm glad that I raced rookie class, one, because that course is difficult for me, and two, because I met some cool girls to ride with. Finally! Not that I mind being one of the few females out there, but sometimes a girl just wants to hang with another girl.

I loved the potluck and getting to know some of my teammates better. TWW has got some pretty great members, and I'm happy to have gotten to meet some of those significant others. It was great having them out there, cheering us on between the laps!

I also saw an old aquaintance from a few years ago. It's always cool to see old pals when you're at a small event.

All in all, it was great! I ate, drank, was merry, and got to see some fun people and ride! What more could you want?

Race Report by Jon Heim

I spent the day before the race waterskiing, wakeboarding, sunning, and carbo-loading (drinking beer) at Lake Sonoma. I had waterskied once, ten years ago, so I was so burnt and sore. I almost bagged the race. I was too tired to drive home though and couldn't stand the thought of being called a wuss so I stuck around. Once again the food and company were first rate.

Fast forward to the race. I did a preride early in the morning and the course seemed pretty easy and short. Of course later I found out I had just done the crit loop, 2 miles of the real 6 mile course. The race started and I led for a short while and was feeling real good, surprisingly. I bobbled the first log crossing and a few passed me, but I was sitting confortably in second or so. Sports did one crit loop (~2 miles) then 2 long laps (6miles each). Early in the first long lap I took one corner a little too sharp and ran over a dead branch. Part of the branch wedged itself in between my fork leg/brace/brake arm/rim/spokes. I could not get it out. Finally I had to break it against the spokes. Meanwhile many riders passed by including Peter S. I got rolling again and the right front brake arm was rubbing my tire sidewall. Fearing a wasted tire and DNF I slacked the front brake cable as much as possible so it only rubbed when I applied the brakes. Kind of a "it only hurts when I breathe" situation on this course. The dry heat started to bother me the last half of the race. I was baking but had goose bumps, which is not a good thing. I was drinking plenty of water, but take a coastal boy out of the fog and this is what happens I guess. Also, my 2x8 experiment failed miserably on this course, I really missed my middle ring. Oh well, that's R&D. I never saw Peter again - good job Pete. Rich was gaining on me at the end, and the sight of him behind me spurred me on. I was amazed to get 5th and a medal.

The course was very fun and challenging. The promoter made sure everybody had a good time, and food and drink afterwards. It was a low key fun event and another great race experience.

Jon

Race Report by Lauren Constantini

Hey there, TWW!

I just joined the list this morning after meeting a bunch of you yesterday at the Sonoma Race - you guys and girls ROCKED! What a podium sweep that was. I think we are all nursing wounds and sore muscles today (the entire right side of my body is wrapped in gauze today!). I'm hoping to find more races to do - I'll keep checking your web site, but I won't believe anything that says "this race does not have much climbing"! Hope to ride with you all soon -

Lauren C.