Big Bear Fall Classic Report

Ara and Papo before the painfest













King James at the finish














Dawn in her t-shirt....mmmmm t-shirts













"Hey Darter, You'r Pythons Got Out Again!"














Heidi locking up 1st Overall in Cali!















This is your Bert on Beer. Kids, don't try this at home.
















Heidi's Racer-X. Only one "X," come on you can do better than that!




Cold and damp, I reached over the truck bed saturday morning to load the last bit of crap for the race. It's 6:30 a.m., and I am heading up to Big Bear for the final race in this legendary arena. Leaving the Valley wasn't any different than normal, but after rolling up Highway 18 into Lake Arrowhead (I used to live there) I was awakened by a long dead love affair with the San Bernardino Mountains. Here at five thousand feet, the locals get a glimpse of something 99% of SoCal residents never see....seasons. The air is crisp, the kind of thing that seems to sear the lungs upon inhalation. Burnt reds and yellows dapple the trees as you lazily whizz by on Rim Highway. An uncommon joy spreads through me like the enveloping warmth of urine in a cold wetsuit. HA! GOT YA! You thought I could do it didn't you? Suckers.
After collecting the keys from Geri at Boulder Creek Resorts, I rolled up to the team love shack and began preparing for the course pre-ride with Roger and Vanessa.
As we headed out, Roger quickly noticed a slow leak. Sticker? Pinch Flat? Crack Needle to the sidewall? Nope. Roger forget to install rim tape....and actually got a good way up the initial climb before the thing blew! After some McGuyvering with shreds of duct tape, we got him rolling again, but this time back to the condo. Vanessa and I continued on, making mental notes of techy spots, sand pits, root drops, and stagnant water crossings.
Once reaching the top of Plantation trail, we were rewarded with the greatest view in the Inland Empire. My ass. Just kidding. Ok, not really...my ass pretty good. STOP! It's the view of the Santa Ana River Valley with the San Gorgonio Peak behind it. Stunning....my ass that is, the view is just allright. We pressed on to the Five Bitches, then to Pirates, and then down the dreaded Upper Fall Line trail. The course was in great shape, and so were the Backbone family of athletes!
The race broke down like this;

Bert "The Hurt" Blanchette....Semi-Pro......10th place (with off-bike crash)
King James....................Sport.........5th
Darter........................Sport.........5th
Heidi.........................Sport.........2nd
Ara..........................(Singlespeed)..DFL


also had results for Vanessa (Sport XC) 1st
Ariel (Sport XC) 8th



Thanks to Roger and Dawn for helping us out again! Great job to Papo for winning Expert XC, and setting the fastest Expert time of the day.


Chris