Sunday, September 30, 2012

Stay Tuned!!!!

In the next few weeks there is going to be some big things, at least to me, that at are coming up.  I will have several reviews of new products that will include the Fox Flux Helmet, several offerings from Ryders Eyewear, a one year review of the Shimano DX spd shoe, and at least one 2013 bike review for the Giant Trance X 29er, maybe one for the 2013 Giant XTR and some of Treks 2013 offerings if I have the time to put in some miles on them.  I am also going to try to put together a maintenance tip every month with one of the excellent mechanics I know.  In the next week I will be covering the 6th annual Ride Like a Kid mountain bike ride that is our local IMBA event aimed at getting more kids riding their bikes.  So, stay tuned!!!!

Monday, September 3, 2012

A successful season of XC racing, for a little girl.

Ryan is my middle child, but she is also my kid who loves competition and has done very well this summer in her first season of XC mountain bike racing.  The series is called Over The Hump (http://overthehumpseries.com/), it is held on Tuesday evenings at Irvine lake throughout the summer and has a division for everyone from the kids to the pros.  These events are really well run.  They are viewed by most of the competitors as a "fun" race and nobody acts like they are racing for the world cup, it is a great grass roots racing scene with lots of fast riders, if you are in the Orange County area next summer it is definitely worth making it out to.

This was Ryan's first summer that she could get involved with the races and she loved it.  The first race was not broken down the boy and girls ages 6-11 all raced each other on a 2 mile course with a couple of short climbs and some short descents with lots of flat pedaling sections, Ryan took 13th in this race.  The next week the race was broken down down into four divisions, Boys 9-11, Girls 9-11, Boys 6-8, Girls 6-8.  Ryan took first in the Girls 6-8 division and her time would have put her in fourth with the boys.  Each week Ryan's times got faster and faster.  She ended the season with first place in every race she was at but two, her first and one other where she crashed and ended up third.  Grand total of six first place finishes, one third place, and one 13th place.  Not a bad start for her first season of racing!
 Ryan in her first win.
 Starting out hard.
 First win!
   Before the last race of the season the Two Wheels One Planet team 
had three people in leaders jerseys Josh(beg 1), Andy(single speed), Dave(sport 1)
and they included Ryan because she had more wins than any other girl.