Sagebrush Safari Next Month

Wow...that sure was a short winter off, right? Although it's cold and snowy here in Jeff, Sean and I's neck of the woods, out in California the rest of you are likely making some final preparations for next month's season opener in the Big Laguna Mountains of San Diego. I have many fond memories of what quickly became my favorite race course. The time that Jim and Ara shaved their heads outside Jim's camper. Riding over the top of all the broken bodies and bikes at the bottom of that large boulder drop on the back side of the course. How about various members of the Glendale Heavies beating drums and heckling you all?



Watching people who have never seen a hike-a-bike on a mountain bike course struggling up the wall of boulders and sand before flying across the ridgetop singletrack. There was even a time when I was pre-riding the course with then team-mate Teresa Hill after a torrential thunderstorm...she and I were flying down the backside fireroad when all of a sudden..nothing. No teresa anywhere to be found. She had manualed into what she thought was shallow pool of water at about 50mph, only to discover that it was about 6 feet deep. She was hurt bad enough that I had to race back to the car and go pick her up.



Seeing the pain on rider's faces as the came out of the back side of the course, hanging on for the twisty and steep descent to the final finish line run was always fun. There was even a day when we all were hanging out at the awards ceremony (2005 I think?), and Jim Roff's daughter saw a guy in dolphin shorts w/out underwear sitting in the grass facing her. She leaned over to us and asked us what it was that "looks like chewing gum rolled in cat hair?" coming out from his shorts. I still use that line to this day.



So it is that another season begins for the Backboners. My hope is that I will be able to make it out to a couple of races this year with family in tow, and maybe even bring Jeff with me to race with you guys. Make sure to ride hard, be as safe as possible, and most importantly, have fun. Good luck everyone!