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Santa Barbara Cycling Festival |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Mark Logrbrinck
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
Santa Barbara Cycling Festival
Elings Park, Santa Barbara, CA
June 2, 2007
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I headed up on Saturday morning to Santa Barbara for the Eling’s Park race. I have opted to race the downhill this weekend. This is because I am recuperating from an infection from a dog bite. Two of our dogs have been fighting. I mean knock down drag out fightin’. I still have not learned what my best friend told me, “Ya never stick your hand in a dog fight.”
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Sierra the bigger of the two has been kind of attacking Joey the youngest female for what seemed like no apparent reason. We had been at our wits end on how to resolve the situation. Then Vikki insisted on getting a Lyme Disease test for Sierra, knowing her symptoms of not feeling well were similar. Not to mention how often she’d been bit by ticks. The vets out here are not believers in Lyme. But, two separate and conclusive tests came back for her having active Lyme. She and Vikki are in treatment together now. People tell us you might have to give one up, dog that is. Yeah right.
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Anyway my hand swelled up after getting bit for the second time in one weekend. I mean big. It hurt too. Bad. Well to make a long story short I went to the doctor and he told me that he almost put me in the hospital for intravenous antibiotics. Yikes. Well that was 3 weeks ago today and I just took my last dose of Augmentin, which is amoxicillin with a turbo-charger. So I have not ridden in 3 or 4 weeks. I was not ready for a cross country race. Hell I was not even sure about the downhill. I knew it was not long; around 2 ½ minutes, two runs. I rode 8 hour solo at Idyllwild last race and now I am racing for a total of 5 minutes. So I pulled out the old Santa Cruz Bullit and dusted it off for the weekend. My opinion of Santa Cruz has changed over the years, but my adoration for this bike has not…….it still is a bad ass bike. I have recently upgraded the suspension to a Marzocchi VF66 and a Roco World Cup rear shock. They sure are nice.
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I convinced Ed, an old friend who used to race, to come along for the day. It was nice not to go alone, though I probably would have. We got there and I see an old friend who used to organize the Keyesville Classic, Arin Resnick. I always thought he was a pretty nice fellow. He is an official for USA Cycling now. We walk over to registration, then Ed decides to race. Sweet. He has not raced in years and he is not too sure of himself. I convince him that he will do fine. We proceed up the hill to do a practice run and come on down exhausted. Man a few weeks off really takes it out of you. After that we opt for the $10 shuttle, the best $10 I ever spent. We got 5 or 6 more practice runs in and waited for the start. The race started around 2:00pm. Ed had 5 guys in his group, Sport 40+, and I had 3 Expert 40+. The course is kind of like a dual slalom all twisty and curvy, with jumps and such. It is pretty fun. The weather though sunny is still pretty nice, around 70 degrees. Ed finished in 5th of 5, though he was only a few seconds out of 3rd. I was impressed. I got 1st out of 3. Not too shabby. I did forget how hard a short, all out downhill race was.
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A good time was had by all. We heckled the XC guys, including Team Bikeman Roger Jorgenson, who raced that morning. We went over to the nice side of the hill where the festival was happening, where there was more green grass and a little cooler. For those who drink beer, New Belgium Brewery was on hand. They are the makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale. Afterward we went to get a burrito at a little dive I know in Santa Barbara.
I am hoping to get a few more races in this summer before we head to Wisconsin for the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in mid September. I will be participating in the 40 mile event riding my single-speed. If anybody else is going let me know. It would be nice to meet up with other Team Bikeman folk. Once again thank you to Big Al and Bikeman for all your support.
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