A weekend of OBRA Championships: August 14-15, 2010

This was the last hurrah of summer mountain bike racing in Oregon. The OBRA Championships for both short track and cross country, all in one weekend. Needless to say, we participated. The cabin would have to wait until the following weekend for a visit. It was a super hot weekend, reaching 100 degrees on Saturday at the race (according to my Garmin), and luckily Sunday's location was a bit cooler, reaching only 80. We felt lucky to be racing in Alsea Falls for the cooler temps.
Saturday we headed to Sherwood, OR for the short track race in the heat of the day. Tim and I both started at 1:15. We both came out of that winners. It was a fun race, even though it was hot and dusty.

STXC, which wasn't so short.

Tim off the front.

Winner in the middle, please.

Sunday we trekked down to Alsea Falls. Tim and Jeff raced at 11, so we were there earlier in the day and it was still in the 60's at 10:30. Pure bliss. Then I raced shortly after 1. It was a shorter xc race, but still hard, with a super steep climb we had to do 3 times. In Tim's race, it came down to a sprint finish, and unfortunately he got nipped at the line. He won last year and did his best to recapture the title, but had a good race and finished 2nd. Although my race was not easy, it didn't come down to a sprint. I traded places with Alice this year and finally finished on the top step. My first OBRA XC Championship. Only my second ever, the stxc being my first. A good final weekend of racing.

Thank you to all the hard working race promoters in Oregon. It has been a great 2010! I know, cyclocross is still to come, but the mountain bike and road season has been great. We are very lucky to have such dedicated people in OBRA! Thanks to the volunteers, officials, results people, and everyone. It is a thankless job. You make racing fun in Oregon! I am proud to be a member of OBRA!