Sonoma National Championship Race

M&M&I before Pro XC



Bert in the feed zone



Christine and Michelle



Ryan representing his favorite tires



James with the lap three look-back



Taylor catching some air on his way to the top 15



Conor bombing into the top twenty in Semi-Pro

It was eight p.m. on Thursday night when Taylor and I left Los Angeles, and I had been up since five thirty a.m. Thankfully "T" dove the Subaru for the seven hour haul up the 5fwy. We rolled in to Petaluma at 2a.m., and went straight to sleep. The alarm shocked us awake at 6, and we rolled to Infineon Raceway for DH practice and work at the Kenda booth. It was a slow day for sales, but a fast one for the pre-riders and road racers that day. After a few runs for practice, Conor and Taylor called it good and we worked the show for the remaoinder of the day.
Saturday morning was different. You could feel the buzz of EPO in the air....well, mostly because Bert farted. James, Bert, and Ryan had their XC races to hit, and were preparing for the days battle. Bert was up first and after a great start, The Hurt was beginning to hurt by the end of lap three. He should have, it was well into the triple digits with about eightty percent humidity.
James started in the top five, and valiantly toughed it out for two and a half of his three laps. After that, the legs began to revolt and King James had to relinquish his crown for the day. Not to be outdone, former Backbone Expert racer Papo Caballero (Team Helen's)died a violent death as well, having his worst finish all year. Sorry boys, we'll get them in Utah!
Sunday saw Ryan Blanchette (aka Baby Bert), and Bert racing Super-Dizzle. Ryan held on as long as he could, with Euro-Lunge at the finish that was awesome. Christine Blanchette (the Blonde Bomber) suffered through a sweltering heat in her jr division race, and ALMOST took to cold beer after such a suffer-fest. The story of the day is still to come...
Conor and Taylor struggled through a very short, but very demanding Semi-Pro Xc course Sunday at high noon. With racers coming from the four corners of the globe, the boys had to suck it up. The course was completely off camber, covered in wet grass and ticks, with huge "cow-ruts" that developed ino giant wheel-sucking sink holes. After watching many racers eat crap, our boys (just a few seconds apart) had very clean runs and finished in 15th (Taylor) and 20th(Conor).
Now for some great news....
Backbone Adventure Cycling/KENDA Racing has it's first NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP JERSEY!
Bert "The Hurt" Blanchette entered the 40-49 open category Super-Downhill race on Sunday...after racing the long XC course on Saturday. A seven mile slug fest, Infineon's Super-D was as crappy as the DH course was, only with hills to climb. After a dead-last start, Bert snapped into Afterburner mode and began picking people off. With one man to pass(and three on his ass, as usual), he timed his sprint for the last 1/4 mile of pavement. The man to beat was the State Champ from last year, and had NEVER BEEN BEATEN in that age group. Bert made sure to say hello as he went by him, fists pumping in the air as he crossed the finish line for the Stars and Stripes!! CONGRATS to Backbone's XC Team anchor and scary fast guru, Bert Blanchette. Thanks for the all-out effort, and not just from you. Michelle, Christine, and Ryan also gave 100% this weekend.
Special note...Vanessa and Roger came up as well, and Vanessa took SILVER in her Sport XC field! She finally held some back for the finish, and it paid off in spades. great job Vanessa, and thanks to Roger for the help.

Thanks also to Jim Wannamaker and KENDA TIRE for the endless support of our team and others like it. Also kudo's to Dillon and Kate from Hydrapak for being kind to us at the race, and representing their products at the races.

See ya'll on the trails..

Cap'n Chris