Thanks to all who helped and planned this, The conditions were great and despite having to ride a 16 year old steel 7 speed bike, I loved it. great job on the new trail.............My body hurts !!

Great race today Team Pinnacle. Thanks to all who volunteered
With the help of a slightly late start I've come to realize that where you line up is not all that critical.
The first lap was the usual scrum, with the entire field to pass what should I expect. I made it by most before the decent and ended up with 2 riders rounding the football field. Lost one and stayed with the other until he dropped me on the decent. The new trail is definitely faster with suspension.
I got caught by an elite I had passed earlier on my 3 lap, but made it a point to stay on his tail until the end, which I did and finish strong.
Bike worked wonderful, I'm getting used to the 2-way XT shifters and didn't have a problem this week.
I was only out of first place by 6-minutes this week, a little better than 9-minutes last week don't you think.
 
Alone in the woods, who stands to be King?

Great job to all the TP racers and to Brian, PJ, Mark and others for putting on a great event.

Ryan

Nathan - sorry to hold you up while I figured out how to ride my bike! BTW, the FS climbed like a 3 legged dog carrying an anvil, but on the pump track and downhill it flew.
 
Snomobike!

This had to be my best performance even though I faded a bit on the third lap. The course was at its best and well laid out. As capt-high-pressure stated in another post, "the pump track in the sky"..... and the downhill were worth every climb to get there.

Every time around it was great to see and hear Mark, Aaron, Ryan, Sandy, Julie, Lauren and everyone at the bottom cheering us on.

The start was crowded for us sports with a lot of tire grinding, especially up the first couple of hills and then it spread out as riders caught their breaths. I gained some ground on the technical areas, but many of the younger guys took me on the hills. The east side and downhill is where I really gained places. The last time down Couch trail, my left handle bar caught a four inch tree, which sent me over my handle bars and luckily landed on my feet as the bike did a few flips. The second place expert woman went by saying "OH you caught a tree." NO damage to the bike or me and I went to chase her down. I flew over the plummet and by the football tower caught and passed her and another rider who had beaten me two weeks ago in Claremont.

My technical skills have improved immensely, now if I can get my legs and lungs to chip in.

Thanks Everyone for making this race happen, it was fun.

You guys do us proud! It's a pleasure to cheer you on when you go by--Bravo, Team Pinnacle! That includes those on wheels as well as legs:)

Julie.

I just posted some photos taken by Randy:

[url]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=The-Pinnacle-IX-taken-by-Randy[/url]