This was a new mountain bike venue, but they did host a cyclocross race last season. It's some sort of hippy compound--a beautiful place about 30 miles west of Portland called Horning's Hideout which has been used as a music and event venue for many years. They put together a nice, although very muddy circuit course. Laps were about 5 miles long, with some grass, dirt roads, a stream crossing and lots of muddy singletrack. There were two very slick, very steep descents that had a lot of walkers and crashers. Tricky, off-camber turning descents with deep, loamy mud that grabbed at your tires and formed some nasty ruts. It was a blast.
John Dorfer, Brian G and Dave Bisers from Veloshop were also representin' Veloshop. This was John's first MTB race on his first MTB! He got 5th! Nice work John.
In framebuilder news I saw my first Coconino in Portland, ridden by local Matt Mahoney. Nice bike Steve. Ira Ryan showed up too--he's training for the trans-Iowa race, so he had to ride out there and show everyone how tough he is.
Somehow, after only taking two riding days in all of January and February I managed to get 3rd! That's a great way to start the season.See all my (Lucy took these, so they are mostly of me ;) photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79122810@N00/sets/72157600028462436/
Oh yeah, I got my new bike all muddy:
