Story and photos by Darin Maxwell

Man, what a great race this is! With all of the rain this last year, the course had a few "little" changes.

Where the dry creek beds got a little washed out, the trail builders decided to build some bridges. The first one was the "wide" one, a bridge that was about 2 feet wide. The other two were logs with flat tops, and about 1 1/2 ft wide, just enough for your feet, if you decided to walk them, insted of riding them.

Lacey and I rode them for a little while on Saturday, when we pre-rode the course. The first thing she said today when she was finished was, "I rode all three bridges, with no problems"! She said that she even had to wait on two other women that were walking them, before she could ride accross. We both had great rides!!

A BIG thanks goes out to Rick Wilson at CLIFF Bar, for getting Lacey commped for the entire series, and Sherry at Switchback for setting it up! And you know we gotta thank our guys at The Path, HOSS, and The Warrior's Society for keeping things so COOL!

Lacey took 1st place in the 14 & Under Beg Womens. She was the only girl entered in that age group, so, she just chased down and beat the boys! Lacey finished the 8.2 mile course in 1 hour and 19 minutes, with the two boys in the same age group finishing in 1 hour and 23-26 minutes. She also could have placed 3rd in the 30-34 Beg Womens class.

I placed first in the Beg Clydesdale class with a time of 1 hour 9 minutes. The guy that I raced, Ben was his name, was KILLING me on the climbs! I caught and passed him on the downhill, and pedaled my rear off to stay ahead of him. By the time I finished the last climb, I felt like throwing up!! It was a real fun race.

If you have never done an XC race, you REALLY need to make it up to Rim Nordic! It was GREAT meeting more new friends.....Hector, and his brother, who both got on the podium, and Chuck aka upchuck on MTBR.

Enjoy ALL your rides!!
-Darin