Just saw the results posted for the first MTB race of the season:

Cat1 Men 45+

4 - Jeff Otto

Cat2 Men 19-34

2- Jeff Ballantine

Cat2 Men 45-55

1- Todd Rosier

Bad break for Kender in this race :(

Cyldes

3- Dean Lee  (Dean, need to make sure to reg as a PV guy!)

Congrats to all, and a big congrats to Todd for our second win on the season.

Great job guys!  Any race reports or comments on the course?

 Its a shame the town is not closer. At three hours, it was a bit of a drive and there are not quite enough trails to make a weekend of it. That said, I would do the race again. It was very well done and marked with plenty of volunteers pointing the way.

The course was very bumpy, although my hardtail 29er did just fine. As promised, it was 70-80 percent single track and a fair amount of climbing. The climbing was not in any great length, but there was a lot of small uphills and I cramped in the last kilometer. I still limped in for 2nd place though. I thought that it was a good day.

The hardest thing that I did all day was take my arm warmers off without stopping. I started with them on and it warmed up a lot while we were racing. With the constant turning of the course and the aforementioned bumpy-ness, it was hard to just get a drink of water. The armwarmers were quite a challenge. I'm not really sure how I did it without falling. I think that i just picked a spot that was not quite as challenging as most of the course.

Jeff,

 Great race result!  I was pretty bummed to have missed it (work), and it sounded like it was a good race event...

I rode the course in it's early stages of construction and it was quite bumpy back then as well, and I remember saying to someone how I would not want to be without a full suspension, so well done on the HT.

John

Perfect weather, I was prepared and for the most part relaxed (dont ask Barb- she will say I had the pre-race jitters).Too funny to hear Jeff say it was bumpy.  I noticed the bumps too - passed a guy who made the same comment. I had the grip of death going - at one point my hands went numb. It was challenging to relax. Very glad I had a camel pac as stated it was challenging to drink.

For my first mtb race- absolutely a great experience. PV was represented well - which made the event that much more fun.  Clydes were called up with Cat 2s - which freaked me a bit as I was prepared to line up with Cat 3s 15 minutes later. We clydes met in the back of the pack for the start.  I was able to take advantage however once the race started on the gravel road ~ simply riding tempo to warm up I managed to pass a boat load of folks.

 I got stuck behind a guy I came up on singletrack. I was trying to pace with him a bit but should have passed.  I eventually hit his back wheel when he slowed up a small climb, lost momentum, had to put the foot down. A half dozen folks behind me had to go around. Lesson learned.  I was able to navigate through the first half of the course pretty well- folks would pass here and there but it was no problem.

I found the 2nd half of the course more challenging- especially towards the end. I fell several times. I walked around particular section I felt I could not navigate. I dismounted to watch how others approach a more technical section before attempting myself. I was growing tired and could feel the craps coming on even though I'd stopped to eat. Managed to put it behind me finsh the singletrack and dump back out to the road. Feeling pretty good about my effort so far I headed up the gravel road back to town. At this point both legs seized up and I mean locked! ARRGH. Not the words I used but you get the picture. I had to dismount wait for the cramps to subside a bit to walk while shoving down a bar. Lesson- fill the camel pac with my sports drink. I have to figure out how to drink while riding my mtb.

My actual ride time was just under 2hrs 30min- pretty close to the goal I had set for myself.  Good event. Perfect for my baptism in XC singletrack. Just enough challenge to push beyond my skill but doable.