Peak Season #2: Another win

The highlight of Peak Season #2 was the second consecutive win in Women's Cs by the Mighty Sam Bell.


Sam on the podium

May Woo led out the race in fierce fashion, garnering the hole shot before ceding the lead to Sam, who rode away from the field and never looked back.


May gets the hole shot

Emily McLanahan also had a strong race, finishing second in 35+ women.


Emily rails the down hill

Arena Reed didn't have a great race, getting tangled with another rider in the third turn and never recovering momentum. Even on an off day, though, her cross skills have improved drastically in her first season of cross.


Arena on the long, tricky runup

The other highlight of the race was Murphy Mack's long-awaited return to racing after 6 months on the sidelines with a separated shoulder. Unfortunately, Murphy apparently didn't spend enough of that time on bike maintenance, as a slipping seatpost cost him a good result in the race.


Murphy avoids a new obstacle

Ted Ketai, although free of mechanical problems, didn't have a great race either.


Ted at the start of the off-camber section

In contrast, I had a pretty good race, ending up 5th in master men, beating several guys who've been beating me all season. My policy of riding a single speed in a geared category worked much better than last race, since there were very few fast and smooth stretches this time. Two of the three run ups were ridable for some people, though, and not having low gears hurt me there. I was forced to run those stretches, and lost ground every time. Still, I picked up one or more places every time up the paved climb, and was able to outsprint Andrew Yee at the finish line to get 5th.

The race, as usual, was very well run, and even featured a mariachi band! Every race should have one.