Riders on the Storm MTB Stage Race
Feb 2004(Comfort, TX):

Gary Rodosta

Quick results:

Monica G. - 1st Sport XC short track
David R. - 8th Sport XC short track and XC (5th or 6th overall)
Joesph L. - 3rd Beginner XC short track and XC (3rd overall)
Gary R. - 3rd Sport XC short track


Full report:

A small group of GCCA racers made the trip to Comfort, TX this past weekend for the "Riders on the Storm" MTB stage race. Yes, MTB races seem to always give their events nice little names like that. Anyway, Monica G, Joseph L, David R, and I were the four GCCA racers in attendance. Saturday was the short track cross country. Basically an off-road crit on an approx. 3/4 mile loop with a couple of short steep climbs. Monica was the first up for this event. She had a great race and rode very aggressively from the gun. She took the first prime and kept going, riding much of the race off the front solo. She was passed by one other rider before the finish, but since the race had combined age groups, Monica still was 1st in her Sport age group. Congrats to Monica on her first win of the season! David Randolph and I were up next in the sport group. Again, they combined all age groups, giving us a HUGE Sport group of over 70 riders. Many of these guys aren't exactly crit experts, so there were several nasty pile-ups! Both of us had great starts and avoided the carnage. By the end, I finished about 10th, with David just behind me. After the age groups were sorted out, I was 3rd and David was 8th on GC for our age group. Next was Joseph L. Unfortunately, he was caught behind some serious crashes at the start and had to spend the whole race working through the pack, which he did. Finally finishing 3rd in his Beginner age group. Good job to Joseph L in only his 2nd MTB race!

Next morning we awoke to rain storms. By the time we arrived at the course, the trails were already a mess. My quest to move up on GC ended about 3 miles into the cross country race when a rear spoke broke and wrapped around my hub and pulled my chain behind the cassette, pretty much locking my drivetrain. After several attempts at putting my chain back on the cassette and freeing the broken spoke, the problem would not go away, and I had to bag the race. DNF for me. David R rode a strong race and actually moved up a few spots on GC by the end of the long, muddy cross country stage. Results were VERY delayed, but we're thinking David might have cracked the top 5 on GC. Monica started the cross country stage with intentions of defending her lead on GC, but also had to succumb to the nasty trail conditions. The speedy semi-slick tires that helped her in her victory on Saturday unfortunately made riding in the thick mud of Sunday virtually impossible. Joseph L got a much better start on Sunday and negotiated the wet conditions to a 3rd place finish in the cross county as well as in the overall GC.and got seventh overall.