The Firecracker 50 course is a new experience every year due to changing course conditions. This year brought very hot weather & loose dusty descents. The loose, rocky, technical sections - "Nightmare on Baldy", "Pinball Alley" & "French Creek" were actually faster than years before, but as always, these sections eat bike & tires for a July 4th snack. There was absolute carnage on the course with crashes & broken equipment, though Chipotle-Titus fares extremely well. The lower descents through "Moonstone" was rougher than it has ever been. The 10 minutes finish descent was no rest but took every muscle fiber in your arms to stay on course.
Mike Hogan led out the Masters field from the start with a blistering pace. Teammate, Thomas Dooley hung on his wheel up Boreas Pass onto the single track. Hogan actually passed almost all the riders in every age division ahead of him & moved into the top 10 of the pro field. Dooley held on for a stellar 1st 1 1/2 lap, riding in 5th place. The heat & the pace proved to be too much & he ran into "the wall" along with nearly 1/3 of the field. Transalp teammates Geer & Gouge rode fast but sensible first laps to ultimately finish 10th & 15th respectively. The 2nd lap proved to be the key as is always the case at this race.
In the 35-39 field Chiptole-Titus fielded 3 riders led in by Jason Poole in 15th, Jamie Kilkoyn just 50 seconds back in 16th. Lance Loehding came in 21st after a flat dropped him from contention. Gary Thacker rode to a 7th place in the 50+ field.
Foye Trout came from Arizona & decided to sample the altitude on a single speed! Coming from near sea level one day before, starting at 9200 feet & immediately climbing to 11,200 feet took a bit out of his legs. The brutal rough descents on a hard tail also add to the effort. Foye ended up in 16th in the SS class.
Karen Hogan was not challenged this year on route to her 3rd national championship. She rode 4:58, breaking the 5 hour mark & coming in 12 minutes ahead of her closest competitor. Her time would have placed her 8th in the overall pro field. Due to the start structure it is hard to keep track of where you are in the race. Karen was not sure she had won the race until final results were posted. Jane Finsterwald won the 50+ field despite an injured hand. Sherri Boltz finished 8th in the 40+ filed & Maria Perez rode the pro field to finish 14th.
The Duo of Heidi Godsil & Kay Levesque, riding 25 miles each, finished 5th in the open women's team event.
Our support crew was out in force & was fantastic! Thanks to Carol, Jack & Toni for the cheers & handups. The full Titus crew, Mike, Foye, EJ & truck made a big splash.
photos to come
16 Chipotle Riders
3 national Champions
No comments:
Post a Comment