Olympia St
7 March 1999
by JRA (the mountain biker formerly known as Kevin)
We had an absolutely beautiful day to race in. Temperatures in the 50's and (for once) no wind! The sun was shining down and there were smiles on faces. The course this time was only about 4.25 miles per lap ... but there was a lot more climbing! Riders from the following cities made the trip over to race: Kent - Yakima - Union Gap - Rochester - Spokane - Bellevue - Moses Lake - Auburn - Lake Stevens - Seattle - Renton - Bend, OR & Hermiston, OR! Thanks to all that helped out, including Ercle Herbert (timing), Marc "Spud" Umphrey (course marking), Jay Weber (for the "facilities"), and Brent Strecker/Phil Smith/Judy Lewis (registration).
A big THANKX to the sponsors who contributed towards the raffle prizes: BICYCLE BARN [Walla Walla], SCOTT'S CYCLE & SPORTS [Hermiston], KENNEWICK SCHWINN, RICHLAND SCHWINN, MARKEE'S CYCLING CENTER [Kennewick], BIG RIVER BIKE WERKS [Kennewick], and SAGEBRUSH CYCLES [Yakima]. Stop by any of these businesses and let them know that you appreciate their support of the Spring Series.
Goto the finish order for this race.
The Beginner Race
Just like the first & second race, we had a small beginner field and in a threepeat, Steve Henry took 1st place. Steve, we're going to have to bump you up a class just to give you some competition! Greg Parsley and Rod Spaniel were in hot pursuit for second and third place. Jamie Freisz from Union Gap received the coveted pink "jersey" for being the 1st place women's finisher. We'll have to see how she puts her mark on the "jersey".
Check out the Beginner Race (Overall) Results.
The Sport Race
Eastern Washinton racers took 9 spots out of the Top 10 finishers after two straight races being beaten by riders from the Western half. In fact, Bill Worthen from the Tri-Cities carried our torch high and took first place! WOOHOO! Second thru fourth place were only separated by a few seconds with Russ Staples, Jay Webber, and Tom Bosch finishing in that order.
"Poke" (my long suffering bike) and I took it easy cause I knew there were some hills coming up that would really tax my legs. I didn't try to ride the first big WHOOP but I did manage to make it up the second one ... and passed about 4-5 riders in the process. On the way down to the bottom of the second WHOOP, I was following Jimalee Painter and saw that there were a bunch of riders in front of us trudging up the hill. I yelled out, "RIDERS COMING THRU!" with the intention that the walking riders move to the side so we could make full use of our momentum. Unfortunately, Jimalee thought I was talking to her. She told me later that I scared her half to death by yelling like that. She thought that there were about 59 riders trying to climb up her back tire! Sorry about that, Jimalee. The rest of the race went pretty uneventfully for me and I finished in a respectable (for me) time. One somewhat funny note: I was looking at my cyclocomputer later to see how many miles I rode and it told me, with a VERY straight face, that I had hit 66mph out on the course! Methinks somebody's pullin' my leg.
Check out the Sport Race (Overall) Results.
The Expert Race
The Expert Class had another big turnout and Dan Cooley from Moses Lake powered around the course to take 1st followed closely by Mark Painter. Michael Henry, Jr once again put the hurt on a lot of racers older than him and took a well deserved 3rd place (maybe that new bike had something to do with that?) with Don Lewis, just a few feet behind on a bike that weighs less than my waterbottle, taking 4th.
Check out the Expert Race (Overall) Results.
Everbody put in a great ride and seemed to have fun. We didn't have any injuries this time, so in my mind it was a very sucessful race! Hope to see all of you (and your buddies) at Finley Hills (NORBA Course Pre-Run) on March 21st.
Spring MTB Training Series Race #3 Results
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