Budu #4: Cookin in the Kettles, Ft. Ebey State Park

What an awesome weekend! While Rachel and Edward were representing GL6 in the NW Cup in Port Angeles, Lee, Kerry, Todd, Matt, Erin, Erica, Kyle, Theresa and David were across the Puget Sound at beautiful Ft. Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island. It was a preview of the summer to come; camping in a beautiful location, surrounded by a horde of other mountain bikers, racing along dry (!) trails that served up a hearty helping of challenges for the skills and the lungs. Pure NW bliss!

The weekend started out on a good note: we ended up scoring the LAST campsite in the entire campground! On top of that, the rain that battered everywhere else (including our teammates in PA) passed through briefly at night, leaving the sandy trails nice and tacky without being muddy for the race the next morning. We even had sunbreaks during the race!!

The course was the best of the Budu series, hands down. Perfect trails twisted through beautiful coastal forest with peek-a-boo views of the beach and the Sound for those who could tear their eyes away from the course. Colin, our photographer for the day, reported to seeing a racer stop and take a photo during the race. The 95% singletrack course had a bit of everything; climbs, roots, tight turns, switchbacks going both up and down, and ripping downhill sections (which more often then not ended in a hairpin turn leading to another steep uphill) Beginners did one loop (7 miles) Sport/Singlespeed did two laps (14 miles) and Experts did three laps (21 miles) My GPS reading for the 14 sport course clocked 2570 feet of elevation gain.

As icing on the cake, several GL6 racers walked away with medals around their necks. Matt Jagger earned 2nd place in the single speed category, with the second best time in the sport/singlespeed class overall. Erica and Kerry Tarullo (GL6er in all but name) represented for the ladies, with Kerry earning 1st place in Sport Women 30-39 on her single speed, and Erica taking 2nd in the women's single speed category. Erin joined Kerry on the podium, taking 3rd in 30-39 Sport women. Kyle continued his podium streak with 2nd place U-18 Sport, and Theresa earned her first medal, taking 2nd in the Beginner Women 30-39 category. And of course, we could be found at a local brewhouse (all ages of course, Kyle) raising a glass to another awesome weekend of camping and mountain biking in the Northwest.

Results:

Beginner Women 30-39

Theresa Nation, 2nd

Sport Men 40+

David Snyder, 13th

Sport Women 30-39

Kerry Tarullo, 1st

Erin Roe, 3rd

Singlespeed Men

Matt Jagger, 2nd

Todd Davison, 10th

Lee Peterson, 11th

Sport U-18

Kyle Curtin, 2nd

Singlespeed Women

Erica Keller, 2nd

NW Cup #1

While other GL6ers were across the sound at Ft. Ebey, Rachel, Edward and his wife Dani were ripping it up on their big bikes at NW Cup #1. Hopefully a race report to follow....

Results:

Cat II Men 30-39

Edward Vergara, 13th

Cat II Women 40+

Rachel Delateur, 4th

Cat III Women

Dani Vergara, 3rd

Budu #3: Soaring Eagle

Last year's Soaring Eagle race was one of the sloppiest, muddiest races of the season, but thankfully this year was different. While the course wasn't exactly dry, it wasn't quite the energy-sucking hell of the previous years. The weather report called for rain, but we were spared of all but just a few drops while the races were going on.

The coarse opened with short stretch of wide gravel travel that wasn't quite long enough to spread everyone out before hitting the singletrack. Luckily, so of us were advised at the starting line to get a fast start in order to avoid the inevitable bottleneck at the trail entrance, which led to an immediate downhill section. The coarse was swoopy, with a couple of tight turns and slippery roots to keep everyone on their toes, but without an significant climbs or descents. Even without sustained climbing, the trail was soft enough to keep the cranks constantly moving and the heart rate high. Approaching the lap transition was another fun downhill section that ended in an abrupt right hand turn back onto the gravel section. Like the previous Budu races, racers who were lapped were cut off at this lap transition point.

Kyle Curtin continued to rock his category, taking 2nd place in Sport U-18, and his father John Curtin, recovered from injury, came out for his first race of the season! Lee and Theresa also finished strong in their respective categories. Way to go GL6!

Results:

Beginner Women

30-39 Theresa Nation, 7th

Sport Men

U-18 Kyle Curtin, 2nd

30-39 Edward Vergara, 20th

40+ John Curtin, 28th

SS Lee Peterson, 7th

Sport Women

30-39 Erin Roe, 3rd

Expert Women

30-39 Courtney Anderson, 4th

Budu #2: Black Diamond

It was dry and cool for the Black Diamond Race. Seven Green Line Six Racers showed up for the event. The track was dry and rocky, lots of tight turns and lots of brushy trail that makes passing difficult. Beginner Class did 2 laps, Expert Class did 5 laps and the Sport and Single Speed Class did 4 laps. Laps were 2.5 miles. The course was good and fast except the several hundred yards of cobblestone and the many tight turns in the coblestone areas.

Matt and Todd and Kyle went for a warm up ride up land on the trails on the East side of the road and the trails up there are excellent tapeworm in heavy forest with few rocks.

-Todd D.

Beginner:
Dani Vergera F 30-39 4th Place

Expert:

Courtney Anderson F 30-39 5th
Rachel Delatuer F 40-49 4th

Sport:
Kyle Curtain U-18 1st Place
Edward Vergara M-30-39 14th

Single Speed:
Matt Jagger 3rd Place
Todd Davison 8th

Budu #1: Dash Point

This year's Budu Westside Series opened up with a new venue, Dash Point State Park, and April weather that somehow lost it's place in time and ended up in February. Azure skies, brilliant sunlight, temperatures pushing 60 degrees, and the mountain bike season opener; is there a better way to spend a Sunday? A whopping 17 bad-ass GL6ers turned out. We had racers show their stuff in nearly every category!

A few of us had ridden the course earlier in the week and the ride report was ominous; mud bogs, slick turns, slippery roots, logs and bridges, tire-eating mud. Much to our relief, the boggy, muddy trails had dried out significantly during the pervious days' unseasonably awesome weather. The race started at the beginning of the campground, winding around the sites before entering a wide section of singletrack, which allowed riders to gather speed and sort themselves out. Riders were greeted soon enough by tight turns, short, steep sections, and a few log-rolls. Climbing was dished out in short, lung-busting bursts, and halfway through the course on the aptly named "Technical Trail," riders had to navigate through a couple tight spots, over slick roots and some tricky log bridges, which thankfully were covered in wire mesh to improve traction. "The Downhill" gave riders a little breather before spitting them back out on "Log Jam" for another lap.

We had a solid showing, including two first place finishes. Erica Keller took it for Women's Singlespeed and Kyle Curtin rocked Sport U-18. Even for those not bringing back a podium finish, it was great to see everyone in the mountain biking community once again. Bring on Budu #2: Black Diamond and the 2010 season!

GL6 Results

Beginner Women 30-39

Theresa Nation, 5th

Sport U-18

Kyle Curtin, 1st

Sport Women 30-39

Kerry Tarullo, 2nd (based on time, miscategorized in Mens)

Erin Roe, 5th

Sport SS Women

Erica Keller, 1st

Sport Men 30-39

Edward Vergara, 14th

Sport SS Men

Todd Davison, 7th

Lee Peterson, 9th

David Snyder, 11th

Expert Women 30-39

Courtney Anderson, 3rd (1 to go)

Expert Women 40+

Michelle Kautzmann, 4th (mechanical)

Rachel Delateur, 5th (1 to go)

Expert Men 30-39

Jamey Poelker, 11th