In this issue:

1. Article on “The Traverse” event and volunteers from the Orange County Register

2. Team Sho-Air / La Ruta de los Conquistadores to attend 500+ kilometer stage race in Canada

1. ARTICLE ON “THE TRAVERSE” EVENT AND ITS VOLUNTEERS FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Dave Whiting of the Orange County Register also wrote an article on the volunteers that help make our events possible:

To read the article go to:

http://tinyurl.com/2ky2h8

To see a video of the writer Dave Whiting being interviewed about the article on KCET go to:

http://tinyurl.com/33nqsv

On another note:

Guy Sutton has donated his Expert Class winnings back to the club. His reasons why are below:

“Thanks for putting on another great race “The Traverse”. I really liked the ideal weather, early start and instant results you posted at the finish line so we didn’t have to badger the race directors. If they didn’t have bike bottles at 4 corners I would never have made it as mine ejected during the first few miles. Somehow I got the 30+ 1st place and $500 to boot, not to mention some sweet XTR pedals in the post ride raffle/wrestling match. This is way too much for a weekend warrior like me to accept. Please take this check as a donation to the Warrior’s Society. Perhaps the money could be spent on something nice for all the volunteers that work so hard to make these events possible. See you all at the VQ in 2008.

Regards,

Guy Sutton”

The Warrior’s Society greatly honors Guy’s contribution to the club. We are blessed in that we have enough funds to for the rest of our fiscal year. On behalf of Guy Sutton his winnings will be donated to the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund.

http://tinyurl.com/2rotck

The Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund honors the bravery and dedication exhibited by Americans in our Armed Forces who have sacrificed life or limb defending our country by providing educational scholarships to their children. In the last 20 years, over 15,000 service members have given their lives defending our country. More than 3,400 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Guardsmen have been killed in the war in Iraq, leaving behind approximately 2,000 children.

Thousands more members of our Armed Forces have been permanently disabled, leaving their families in difficult financial situations. Their children – the sons and daughters of America’s military heroes – (many of whom are now young) will be eligible for a Freedom Alliance Scholarship in the years to come.

Freedom Alliance has established a permanent Scholarship Trust Fund to aid the children of these brave Americans. In February 2007, Colorado Technical University pledged $1 million in full tuition scholarships for Freedom Alliance Scholarship recipients who wished to attend their university.

Through the generosity of Guy Sutton and so many patriotic Americans, the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for thousands of young Americans, reminding them that their parents’ sacrifice will never be forgotten by a grateful nation.

Many thanks to all our participants, volunteers and sponsors who helped make this event a success and many thanks also to Guy for helping us to honor the sacrifice of our servicemen and women and to Dave Whiting for writing the article recognizing the contributions of our volunteers.

2. TEAM SHO-AIR / LA RUTA DE LOS CONQUISTADORES TO ATTEND 500+ KILOMETER STAGE RACE IN CANADA

Team Sho-Air rider and epic ride aficionado Manuel Prado had his interest piqued about the Canadian stage race during a conversation with Olympian rider and Trans Rockies Champion Andreas Hestler. The two sat down for lunch after finishing Day 3 of La Ruta de Los Conquistadores, which is held annually in Manuel’s home country of Costa Rica. Andreas told Manuel about the 7-day stage race that runs from Victoria to Whistler and explained that lots of technical single track and grueling climbs compose this 500+ kilometer mountain bike race. Manuel, a seasoned endurance rider, has competed in La Ruta de Los Conquistadores 3 years running, with his first race in 2004 and his best finish in 2006 where he placed 13th overall among the biggest international pro field.

Early April of this year held the annual Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. Manuel won his event for the Semi-Pro class and press organizer Luis Rueda brought up The Seven Race. He was impressed with Manuel’s representation of Costa Rica and offered to help him race the British Columbia event by paying the entry fee. Sho-Air offered to cover the rest of the trip expenses. After all of this good news, Manuel really began thinking this was the kind of race he had been waiting for. But who did he know that would be up for the challenge?

Fellow Sho-Air teammate and often most equal competitor Jason First has volunteered to be Manuel’s other half for this two-wheeled tour of Canada’s hillsides. Manuel and Jason feel they will be a great match as they share a strong passion for mountain biking. These two young men grew up more than 3000 miles apart but destiny brought them together to one of the most capable and competitive mountain bike teams in California and the United States.

Team Sho-Air in partnership with La Ruta de Los Conquistadores is extremely happy to announce they will be sending two of its most talented members; Semi – Pro riders Manuel Prado and Jason First to compete in the ultra challenging Canadian Stage Race in the province of British Columbia. They will be completing the event under the category Duo Team, as this is one of the two team classes they have in this type of stage race in order to ensure safety and promote camaraderie. In this category, the two riders must remain together for the duration of the race. For the Sho-Air duo this won’t be hard to do. Jason and Manuel have raced several 24-hour races together and they have always made a strong team. Team stage races such as this one really put friendship to the test. Everyone’s heard stories about riders who begin a stage race as best friends and finish on terrible terms. Luckily, these Sho-Air riders have extensive experience sharing the ups and downs of riding together.

The two have trained and competed most of the 2007 season side by side and always finish within a few minutes of each other. The most recent race they competed in was The Traverse, organized by Orange County based Warriors Society. Manuel and Jason rode together for most of the race and had an exceptional showing; placing 1st and 2nd. The two riders finished the 45-mile, 8000+ feet elevation gain race in under 3:45 keeping an average pace of over 12mph. During the training season, they push themselves to embark on epic 50+ mile rides in the hills of the Saddleback Mountains and later discuss race strategy over lunch. The two have even ventured on overnight rides with minimal camping gear. Each one of these events has helped to strengthen the foundation for a competitive, grueling stage race.

A lengthy race such as this puts major wear and tear on equipment, but the bikes the team will be riding just got a complete overhaul with new tires, drive trains and brakes courtesy of Rock N’ Road Cyclery. The bikes will also need spare parts, routine and even emergency maintenance during the race. This won’t pose too much of a problem with Manuel Prado’s 5 years experience as a mechanic for Rock N’ Road Cyclery and Jason First. These two riders should have no problem fixing any flat, mechanical or other unforeseen mishap during the 7-day stage race.

Currently, Manuel Prado and Jason First are on their final build of training and will soon start to tone down their intensity during the final weeks. The race will take place on July 1st of this year and finish up on July 7th. Their fitness levels will be put to the test immediately, with the first two stages (Days 1 and 2) stretching more than 110 kilometers per day. The next 4 stages average 60 kilometers per day, with the final stage being a technical 25 kilometer time trial.

It appears that Manuel and Jason will be facing some tough competition. This exciting event has attracted some of the most talented riders in the world. Amongst the pros at the start line will be 6 time 24 Hour Solo World Champion Chris Eatough, Trans Rockies Champion Andreas Hestler, former Phonak road racer and 2003-2004 NORBA Champion Ryder Hesjedal, and Canadian National Champion and Olympian Seamus MacGrath. With seven days to prove themselves, there will be many chances for any of the talented Duo Teams to come out ahead and declare themselves champions of the first ever BC Bike Race.

Good luck to Team Sho-Air / La Ruta de Los Conquistadores duo Manuel Prado and Jason First on the most epic ride of their lives. The two will represent Costa Rica and the USA in one of the biggest mountain bike stage races in North America.

Thanks to the team sponsors Cytomax, Shimano, Rock and Road and Geoladders.

Manitou and Shimano are the Major Component Sponsors of the Warrior’s Society

Cytomax is the official fluid replacement drink of the Warrior’s Society

Clif Bar is the Official Energy Bar and Gel of The Warrior’s Society

The Warrior’s Society
A Tax-Exempt organization under 501(c) 4 of the IRS Code www.warriorssociety.org

A Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization

“Some Americans need hyphens in their names because only part of them has come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all, the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name.”

Woodrow Wilson

“The Traverse” results and write-up have been posted on our web site at:

http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/writeup_traverse2007.html

Thanks to all the participants, volunteers and sponsors that helped make “The Traverse” a success.

The Warrior’s Society

Manitou and Shimano are the Major Component Sponsors of the Warrior’s
Society

Cytomax is the official fluid replacement drink of the Warrior’s Society

Clif Bar is the Official Energy Bar and Gel of The Warrior’s Society

The Warrior’s Society
A Tax-Exempt organization under 501(c) 4 of the IRS Code
www.warriorssociety.org

A Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization

“Some Americans need hyphens in their names because only part of them has
come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all,
the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name.”

Woodrow Wilson

In this issue:

1. “The Traverse” race across the Santa Ana’s is next Saturday

2. Club member Troy Sladeck featured in the July issue of Mountain Biking
Magazine

3. Club member Monique “Pau” Sawicki captures 2nd at Soldier Hollow

4. Illegal ramp built on the San Juan Trail

5. Team Sho-Air at the Idyllwild Spring Challenge

1. “THE TRAVERSE” RACE ACROSS THE SANTA ANA’S IS NEXT SATURDAY

It seems we may be lucky and the temps on the day of the event, next
Saturday, June 9th, will not match the temps of our 24-Hour race last year
when we had high temps in the 100’s. So far the long-range forecast is
calling for temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s. Most of the participants
should be 3/4 of the way through the course and have most of the climbing
out the way before the temps start to reach their high point after 12:00
p.m.

Active.com registration will close for the event this Wednesday night, June
6th, at 11:59 p.m. You can still register for the event on Thursday and
Friday after Active.com registration at Switchback Cyclery located at 8530
E. Chapman in Orange (on the southeast corner of Prospect and Chapman).For
more information contact Switchback at (714) 628-3913

Here is the info on the event.

“The Traverse,” is a 44-mile race with 8,000 +- total elevation gain to be
held on Saturday, June 9th. Participation is limited to 150 in the expert
class and 150 in the intermediate class for a maximum of 300 participants in
the event. We thought about including the Upper Holy Jim Trail as part of
the course but we later decided not to use it.

The event fee will be $75.00 for expert and single speed open riders, $65.00
for Intermediate and the 16 and under open class riders and $97.00 for
Tandem Open riders. The entry fee includes an event awards for top
finishers, food after the event and finishing awards for all finishers. The
deadline to register and receive an event t-shirt has passed.

CASH PAYOUT TO THE TOP 3 FINISHERS IN THE EXPERT AGE CATAGORIES AND EXPERT
SINGLE SPEED CLASS. THERE MUST BE A MINIMUM OF FIVE PARTICIPANTS IN EACH AGE
GROUP OR THE AGE GROUP WILL BE COMBINED WITH ANOTHER.

We will have the following classes and age groups:

Intermediate Class (male and female):

15 and under (Open)

16 to 30

31 to 45

46 to 59

60 and up

Tandem Open Class

Expert Class (male and female):

16 to 30

31 to 45

46 t 59

Single Speed Open Class (male and female)

“The Traverse” Event page on our web site:

http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/traverse_general_info.html

Active.com online registration:

http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1435597

Downloadable application for “The Traverse:”

http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/traverse-app.pdf

2. CLUB MEMBER TROY SLADECK FEATURED IN THE JULY ISSUE OF MOUNTAIN BIKING
MAGAZINE

Roy Wallack did great job on his article on Troy, who at 9 years old, set
the record this year as the youngest person to finish the 40 mile with 8,000
feet of total elevation gain Counting Coup endurance event. The article is
titled “BW# – Boy Wonder; How California Third-Grader Troy Sladeck took on
One Of The Country’s Toughest Rides.”

Roy came to Troy’s house, did a ride with Troy and his father Jim, and spent
hours interviewing them. A photographer met Troy and Jim at the Santa Cruz
trailer for the picture at the Sea-Otter and the rest is history.

To all of you that have helped Troy get to this point—–THANK YOU!!!!

3. CLUB MEMBER “PUA” SAWICKI CAPTURES SECOND AT SOLDIER HOLLOW

The weekend of May 19th Pua jumped in on the Intermountain Cup series at
Soldier Hollow in Utah. Not being an endurance race her coach wanted to use
is for her speed work during her normal training regiment. She definitely
got speed work.

Kathy Sherwin a top ten National Short Track and XC racer showed up to race
on her home turf! Pua and Kathy stuck together for the first lap (9 miles)
and during the second lap Kathy was able to put almost a 11/2 minute gap
over Pua. On the third Pua felt strong and took back almost 30 seconds to
finish about a minute behind Kathy. Kathy and Pua gapped the entire field by
about 10 minutes or more.

Congratulations Pua on another top finish!

4. ILLEGAL RAMP JUMP BUILT ON THE SAN JUAN TRAIL

The picture attached to our weekly news was sent to me by Debra Clark the
trails manager for the Trabuco District. The picture shows a ramp jump built
on the San Juan Trail with a map of its approximate location.

The picture was taken by a Sierra Club hiking group. The person closest to
the ramp is Paul Carlton, the hard nosed Sierra Club rep we dealt with
during the wilderness process; he absolutely wanted to ban bikes from the
Trabuco District, including the San Juan Trail. It is my understanding that
Paul had a bad experience with a MTB rider in Santa Barbara years ago and
had to jump off the trail; he has no love for mountain bikers.

Unfortunately un-permitted structures such as ramps are not allowed. The
illegal construction of stunts such as this ramp only encourages more people
to build them; although we understand the allure and challenge of building
such structures, they give ammunition to anti-mountain biker organizations,
such as the Sierra Club, to justify banning mountain bikes from the
Cleveland National Forest.

During the Wilderness and Forest Plan process we defeated the Sierra Club’s
proposals to ban mountain bikes from all the four National Forests in SoCal.
I’m sure this picture will be making the rounds of the Sierra Club and
anti-mountain bike sites. I’m sure pictures of people using this ramp have
made it on the web too.

We also understand the frustration of those who built this ramp and desire a
BC DH experience. The Warrior’s Society has tried to address this need in
our negotiations with the Irvine Company, the County of Orange and the
management of the Flying B Ranch but as of yet have not been able to get the
needed support for a free style DH park.

In a related incident the county parks management has been very concerned
about message board postings on the Rock-it trail in Aliso Woods. They
monitor the various MTB message boards especially in regards to the local
parks. There have been a number of issues with mountain bikers with “big
hit” bikes driving down from LA to bomb the trails in Aliso Woods. The
posters have publicly stated on the message boards that they consider the
trail to be a downhill trail and don’t intend to yield to climbers.

The Warrior’s Society removed the ramp on 5/23/07 and will remove any such
structures within 48 hours of them being reported to us by the Forest
Service.

It is the position of the Warrior’s Society that all mountain bikers should
not have to pay the price for the stupidity and short-sightedness of a few
individuals who portray mountain bikers in a bad light – and give ammunition
to those seeking to ban mountain biking from the public trails.

We initially planned to hide the fact that we removed the ramp because we
feared the wrath of a few in the mountain bike community who built this
ramp, which was proven true by a few negative postings on message boards.
But we now realized you should not hide from doing what is right – and for
the good of the mountain bike community.

5. TEAM SHO-AIR AT THE IDYLLWILD SPRING CHALLENGE

One of the Warrior’s Society’s biggest supporters and sponsors, Sho-Air
International, also sponsors a race team with some of the best riders in
Orange County, including multi-time Vision Quest record holder Cameron
Brenneman.

Their team captain, Manuel Prado, submitted the following race report
focusing on Team Sho-Air’s finishes at the Idyllwild Spring Challenge:

With 33 miles of Single Track and about 6000 feet of elevation gain, the
Idyllwild Spring Challenge definitely stands out as one of the most epic
Cross Country races of 2007. The event is now part of the USA Cycling MTB
National XC calendar, and for the first time professional racers can obtain
valuable UCI points at this Category 4 event. One of the best things about
this amazing event was the perfect weather we had. It wasn’t too cold or too
hot, and we sucked lungfuls of that clean, clear mountain air. And I could
never forget to mention the excellent prize money – $1000 for first place in
the Pro category, $500 for the first semi-pro rider to cross the line, and
King of the Mountain (KOM) prizes as well. Still wondering what made this
race so great? How about the stunning view from the top of Idyllwild and the
beautiful surrounding mountains of San Jacinto? We almost had to remind
ourselves we were racing.

Things started off well for Team Sho-Air with Cameron Brenneman (3-time
reigning Vision Quest record holder), Manuel Prado, Jason First and Brad
Stephenson leading the Pro / Semi-Pro pack. Both classes combined to give a
really fast start to the race as we all battled to enter the Single Track
within the top 5. Manuel Prado was sitting in the 3rd position and
conserving energy thinking about the long way ahead when Chuck Jenkins from
KHS Cytomax took off and got a substantial gap before Dana Weber and Pro
rider Cameron Brenneman were able to get around the Trek-VW second place
Mike Lee to start the chase on Chuck Jenkins. Weber and Brenneman worked
together to try and catch the rider in front. Brenneman eventually dropped
Weber on one of the many long climbs.

Brenneman’s gap increased by the time he reached the last and most awarded
KOM prize. At this point he appeared to be the first rider through, but he
never saw the blue and yellow jersey of Chuck Jenkins, which meant he must
have made a wrong turn.

As Brenneman entered the last stretch of the race, he really started to push
the downhill sections since he knew that Dana Weber and Mike Vine were close
behind. Sometimes in order to win a race, you have to risk losing it. This
was the case when Brenneman got a slow leak in his front tire on one of the
down hills. He aired up and kept going, but it eventually went flat. He then
put a tube in, but the valve stem broke off while airing it. By this time, 3
riders had passed by, along with his chances to win an epic race. Luckily,
Manuel Prado was not far behind leading the Semi-Pro Class and as soon as he
realized that his teammate needed help, he stopped and gave Cameron a CO2.
Cameron put in a new tube and went on to finish in 4th place. This
unfortunate flat turned out to be the most expensive one of Cameron’s life
since losing first place meant losing that $1000 cash prize.

In the end, we were all happy to have had an awesome time and done such
great riding at this fun event. Master rider Bill Scott was very excited to
race on Idyllwild soil for the first time. The previous weekend he got in
some good training / racing at the Fontana Nationals where a broken chain
stole his chances of placing in the top 10. This time, he had a whole new
XTR M970 drive train to assure nothing would break at this hard XC race. He
managed to finish in 7th place in the super fast expert 40-44 class.

This type of event puts a heavy load on most riders, but Bill and his
teammates were able to stay on top of nutrition and hydration by drinking
plenty of Cytomax and MusclEnergy to aid with cramping during exercise.
Todd Stephenson knew that doing this race on a single speed would be
difficult, and he was right. Once his muscles began to fatigue, he became
even more determined to complete the race. He walked and glided his way to
the finish line and even had a smile on his face upon finishing. He was very
happy with how well the course was marked and with the amount of volunteers
that they had out on the course, which appeared to be over 50. Todd’s
brother, Brad Stephenson, had a very good race in the Pro Class. He improved
his time over last year’s by over 19 minutes coming across in 9th place!

For Semi-Pro rider Jason First this was a real adventure with a course
composed of a mix of single-track, hike-a-bikes, and steep climbs. Although
he planned on finishing the 33 mile race in less than 3 hours, he knew it
was going to feel like 5 hours. Due to the structure of the race start Semi
Pro/Pro mix and knowing that it was a long, technical course, he played it
conservative for the first ¼ of the race, but eventually he picked up the
pace and was able to catch his teammate Manuel Prado. At this point he knew
they had a big lead over the rest of the Semi Pro Class. They rode together
all the way to the steep pavement climb which had a 15-17% gradient that
went for about 15 minutes.

Knowing that this part of the race suited the smaller Prado, he contemplated
attacking early to get a bit of a time cushion for the steep climb. But he
kept it conservative and tried to minimize losses as Manuel maintained a
hard pace and climbed away. First raced hard all the way to the finish
hoping to catch him but never again saw his teammate, who was riding a very
strong race. First managed to finish in second place only 2 minutes behind
the 1st place Prado and over 5 minutes ahead of 3rd place.

Another Sho-Air rider who had a great race was Tim Zandbergen. He started
leading the pack battling his usual competitors Rich Bartlett and Glen
Stanton. A few miles into the race he was right on the wheel of Stanton and
with every pedal stroke Bartlett was getting dropped. Sometimes this sport
is very unforgiving and when you think that you have the race, something
like a flat tire can take it away from you. Zandbergen was short a Co2 but
Bartlett’s camaraderie saved the Sho-Air rider when he tossed him an extra
Co2 as he passed. He was back up in what seemed mere seconds but was
probably more like minutes. Zandbergen went on to finish fourth only a few
minutes behind third. Besides the nasty flat, he rode strong, was never
short of power, and had an overall great race.

Thank you to all of our sponsors for their support and congratulations to
all race competitors. Thanks to the race organizers for putting such a great
event together.

Team Sho-Air’s next big race is the Warrior’s Society’s 44-mile “The
Traverse” race across the Santa Ana’s on Saturday, June 9th.

Sincerely,
Team Sho-Air / Rock N’ Road Cyclery

http://www.team-shoair.com

Race results:

Manuel Prado 1st Place Semi-Pro
Jason First 2nd Place Semi-Pro
Todd Stephenson 2nd Place Pro Single-Speed
Cameron Brenneman 4th Place Pro
Tim Zandbergen 4th Place Expert 40-44
Bill Scott 7th Place Expert 40-44
Brad Stephenson 9th Place Pro

Manitou and Shimano are the Major Component Sponsors of the Warrior’s
Society

Cytomax is the official fluid replacement drink of the Warrior’s Society

Clif Bar is the Official Energy Bar and Gel of The Warrior’s Society

The Warrior’s Society
A Tax-Exempt organization under 501(c) 4 of the IRS Code
www.warriorssociety.org

A Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization

“Some Americans need hyphens in their names because only part of them has
come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all,
the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name.”

Woodrow Wilson