
(Flickr photos here. And Matt’s photos here.)
Well, it’s been a couple of days, but the LifeSource Natural Foods Salem MTB Short Track Series wrapped up a great month of racing Saturday night, under the lights of the bmx track, and with the glow of the Oregon State Fair in the background! Jeff, Jesse, Kenji, Matt, Lauren, and a bunch of folks really stepped up to provide a great series at the Oregon State Fairgrounds, and the last night went off great, despite the craziness that was the State Fair happening all around! You can see the complete series results on the OBRA results page.

Ok, you know I’m going to brag on the team, so let me just get on with it. My 12 year old son Aaron decided to give the series a try at the second race, and if you’ve been following, you know he won that race that night. After two more nights of racing, Aaron ended up taking 2nd overall in the 10-14 Juniors division! (We had a moment of extreme excitement when they announced he had taken first place for the series, but after the craziness of the night, found that he had indeed earned a solid second place finish, which is still amazing!)

James brought home a solid 3rd place finish for the series in Cat 2 Men, despite the fact that he tanked over a table top on the BMX track this week, and rode battered and bruised the rest of the race, with a slightly tweaked bike. Way to tough it out James…your flatted bike is still in my garage. Martha missed a 3rd place finish in Cat 2 women by just a few points, but represented nicely with a 4th place slot, and rode tough every week! Tyler, who ended up 6th in the large group of Cat 3 Men, was also just points away from moving up to a prize position.

Pat – literally 2 stinking points away from finishing in the top 3 in Single Speed, was right on the wheels of the guys on cross bikes, while on his mtb bike. People always point out how fast he’s moving around the track. Ellen, who raced in every race of the night, and (I think) rode in every race including the kiddie one, took home shared top honors in Cat 1 Women for the series!

As as for me, I know..that’s the news you’ve been waiting for. Check me out, 19th out of 29 for the series. Am I pleased…well, yeah, I’m not last. Actually, it was both easier than I thought, and harder than I thought in many ways. Easier because I was able to do it, didn’t crash or die, and came out enjoying it more than I thought, but harder because….well, it’s just plenty rough to ride as hard as you can for 20-30 minutes, in the heat, and after long days of work/family/set up, etc. I learned a few things from racing the series…but look for those lessons in an upcoming blog post!

Thanks again to everyone who came out and raced, set up, or supported the event! (Flickr photos here. And Matt’s photos here.)