HAWKES CREEK , 2005 GAP mtb Race
One thing I can say about Hawkes Creek is, "Less Mud Than Macon!" I consider this a pretty good trail, but very technical. That granite rock area is pretty hard. You have to angle just right, as to not hit that tree on the other side. If you don't....well, let's not get to that.
There weren't really any killer climbs, but most of the climbs (okay, all of the climbs) were really rooty. And by technical, I mean roots, holes, and sharp turns everywhere. And by roots, I mean slick ones!! Another part of the trail that was really hard (ish) was that sharp downhill that had a sharp turn to the left. I nearly crashed both times on that one! Maybe some hay bales at the bottom might help.....
Because the trail was so technical, you really had to keep on your toes and be ready to shift gears or turn on a dime. I did pretty well at this race, because I got third! Woo-woo! Do the wave and all that Jazz.
My bike functioned nicely. The seat was comfortable (great Thomson post), I didn't slide on any roots due to my Kenda Karmas, and my chain worked nicely. I'm new to using clipless pedals, so I fell over twice........and that was just at the starting line! But, that was just me. The [low-end] shocks I was using really don't work too well, but that was really the only problem with my bike.
I had fun. See you at the next race!
Everett Lindner
Macon Madness GAP April 3, 2005
Our family entered our second mud wrestling.....I mean muddy mtb race with much enthusiasm. Well, okay, so I was the only one that loves to play in the mud!! The pig farm course is fast, flat and winds through the trees with very little climbing. So, adding in the mud holes really mixed things up a bit. The course was re-routed in several areas to avoid standing water, so the first lap was more or less a fast pre-ride. There were only about four long stretches of deep mud and the deep areas just kept getting deeper. I can only imagine how the beginners must have felt!! Did anyone lose a bike in those bottomless pits?
The Cycle Youth group had a great showing, as always!!
Charlie and Christian P. had a very exciting race. It was cool to see them wrap up second and third. You guys rawk!!!
Ben looked a little too clean. Obviously he had the skills to ride through the mud and not wade through it like I did. (Will you be offering a mud skills clinic any time soon?)
They are still talking about Ethan on the SORBA forum; it goes something like this.....Who was that masked Cycle Youth guy?! and Ethan flew by me on that third lap like it was his first!!
Everett loves this course. However, his derailleur broke during his warm-up, so as soon as I crossed the finish, Shey grabbed my bike and hosed the chain quickly and we rushed it to Everett at the start. Unfortunately, he started off on a muddy bike and had a hard time clipping into the muddy pedals. Poor Old Blue had to make it through two races in one day!! The cool thing was that we had four great men at the start helping us out. Malcom was one of them. Thanks so much.
Jansen finished only two minutes off the guy in front of him. Way to go you wild nine year old! Yeah!!
Jeff had us all biting our nails as he pushed it to the finish with the next two places only 25 seconds ahead. Oh, the drama! Great job, Jeff.
Heritage GA, 24-7 7-Lap Single Speed Shoot-out.
June 11th,2005
Cycle Youth team wins!
Mike Cummings, Andy Johnston and Mark Hutchinson team up to win the 7-lap race on single speed bikes.
The race was a race within a race. The single speeders competed 7 laps of the 24 hour course while the 24 hour race was going on. Andy's first lap was close, if not the fastest lap of the entire event. The 32/16 gearing on the bike was just about right for the 8 mile loop.
Both Mike and Andy shared the same borrowed bike while Mark rode his own.
Riding single speed bikes makes you re-think some of your riding techniques. For one thing, you have to carry your speed into the climb. Both riders got to hone their skills on the mountain bike from this expierience.
Thank you to Bill Bennett for loaning the team a bike.
barrow county news
Blockhouse Boogie a success, attracts top riders
The first Blockhouse Boogie race at Fort Yargo was a success, with more than 300 racers of all ages participating, said the president of the Yargo Area Bike Association (YABA).
Steve Gordon said the race was the first pairing YABA with the Southeastern Off-Road Bike Association (SORBA) and he hopes YABA can will work with them in the future.
In the meantime, Gordon said that SORBA will make a donation to Fort Yargo State Park and YABA has plans to add two more miles of single track within the park over the next year. The group recently finished expanding the trail in preparation for the race.
"When it's all said and done," said Gordon, "we're going to have 15 miles of single track in Fort Yargo."
Gordon said the race went flawlessly and there were no reported injuries, the best he hoped for.
Andy Johnston of Lilburn won the overall race in the men's division with a time of 2:07:57. He was followed about five minutes later by Darrell Prillaman of Athens in second and Adam Kovaly of Alpharetta in third.
On the women's side, Krista Park of Dacula won the overall race in 2:32:19. Park was recently ranked number one in the nation by the National Off Road Bike Association.
Trailing her in second was Dani Dembrak of Athens and Kim Moore of Sharpsburg.
In the under 18 Expert Junior division, Tristan Cowie of Dawsonville won on the men's side in 2:30:17 and was followed by Christian Parrett of Macon and Zach Kovaly of Alpharetta.
There was also a featured Youth Series for different ages. In the 5-6 year-old bracket, Marco Newman of Athens came in first, Owen Dillingham of Lawrenceville second and Judson Gann of Smyrna took third.
In the 7-8 series, Eli Purdue of Clarkston took first, Jake Smith of Lawrenceville second and Evan Newman of Athens third.
In the 9-10 year-old series, Evan Souther of Flowery Branch took first and Heyden Lanzilotta of Athens took second.
Gordon said the race could not have gone off so well without the help of many sponsors who include Addictive Cycles, Mellow Mushroom and Apalachee Cycles.
Also, Gordon said Fort Yargo has been instrumental in working with YABA and in supporting their conservation-based approach to off road bike racing.
In appreciation, Apalachee Cyles donated a new off-road bike to the park for their use.
Originally published Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The Georgia Cyclocross Series
Many racers select to extend their racing season with cyclocross. For some it is off-season training, for others it is serious competition. Christian Parrett, Jansen Lindner and Everett Lindner are amoung those competing. Andy Johnston attended a few and Mike Cummings and Ethan Q plan on racing the Sate Champs.
Everett probably has had the most heated competition of the series taking two wins so far.
Cyclocross Nationals December 10th
The Georgia cyclocross series wraped up in a wet and sunny day, which was the worse conditions of the fair-weathered Georgia series. Traveling to Cross Nats was a big change as cold temps and driving snow storms made the course a snowy, muddy mix. Christain Parrett and his dad went up to Rhode Island for this event:
by Christian Parrett
Cross Nationals were pretty cool. This year it was in Providence Rhode Island, and some serious northeastern weather came through. The day before my race went like this: snow for several hours, rain, sleet, then back to snow. I pre-rode the course and it was super slippery and technical with 1 set of barriers, 1 stair set, and 2 hill runs. Later in the day the weather got so bad that they had to cancel the last two races of the day.
The next day I didn't race until 2 in the afternoon, and with a half-dozen races on the course already, it got super cut up. About half of the course was foamy, aerated black mud with frozen ruts beneath the surface in the center of the trail with deep snow on the outside of a narrow line. There were also long sections that were still icy, including one nasty off camber section. Also, a couple more of the hills were unrideable due to lack of traction.
We started with about 50 riders (not sure exactly how many because there were so many pulled riders unlisted on results). I was on the third row due to drawing a bad number. The start was pretty sane and I moved up to top 15 or so after the first turn off of the road. Then I got tangled up and forced off line through the off camber, then crashed a few times trying to make up positions. After that I was chasing all race, making it back up to near top 20. The course was so slick that you could only really pedal all out on the road sections. There was no way to push hard, because every
time you did, you slid out or crashed. I nearly chased down a group of six in
front of me several times before crashing. I crashed one final time before a run up, letting one kid past me. I chased him down but couldn't come around him in the sprint.
In the end I was ok with 22nd, but felt that I could have done significantly better than that had the conditions been favorable. Those northeast kids can really ride the snow well; that stuff is strange to ride in.
It was a lot of fun. Next year I'll be back and looking for top ten at least. Hopefully some of you guys will come too, it's a lot of fun.
