KENDA CUP WEST SERIES - SANTA YNEZ VALLEY CLASSIC

Justin, Landon, Bryan, and I made the short haul to the Solvang/ Los Olivos area this past weekend to race the Santa Ynez Valley Classic.  Bryan thought about racing the Cat 2 or 3 race, but the weather turned bad and he decided to call it off.  I hadn't been to the area before, but was very impressed.  Beautiful landcsape with lusch foilage and nice rolling hills!  The most unfortunate thing was that the course serves as a grazing ground for cattle (the real Californian happy cow) part of the year.  The hoof potholes made for an extremely bumpy course on a hardtail.

Some days are better than others... to paraphrase Justin, "For me, mtn biking is a constant state of recovering from near crashes."  This weekend Justin, fully knowing his physical limits descending on a bike, quickly found out what the limit was on his state of mind. With all the confidence in the world he started down the first major descent of the Santa Ynez Valley Classic.  Sweeping down the flowing corners, picking up speed with each pedal. Sunday was different though, his mind was elsewhere.  He was focused on catching the group in front of him, wanting to close the gap and make it a race.  I'm sure he pictured himself working his way up to the pack in front of him.  As his mind wandered, his focus was lost in the haze.  Finally, he came into a off-camber corner too hot and overshot the turn.  He quickly found himself in a situation that he couldn't recover from and went cartwheeling off into the grassy field (picture a skier falling down a steep slope going head over heels time and time again)!  The crash was bad enough that Landon, who was 30 yards behind him, thought he for sure had broken something... likely his neck.  Landon stopped, for a few minutes, to make sure he was alright then continued on. I didn't witness the action, but was glad to hear he was sore but OK!


Cat 1 results are here.  I managed to pull a 4th place after semi-bonking on the final go-round of a three lap (9 miles per lap) course.  I imagine Landon would have been hot on my tail, or vice versa, but he lost a little time stopped on the side of the trail.

 

Naturally, I think we all would have done what Landon did for Justin.  The more I hang out and ride with my good friends the more I realize how much their companionship means.  I know when I'm having an off day on the bike that a few guided words of encouragement, from any of them, can make the world of difference in how I ride.  For us, it's about helping one another suceed through pushing each other to the limit.  We all have thoughts of winning, but what fun is racing if your only focus is on the outcome?