Pumpkin Cross in Maple Ridge

This weekend we headed to lovely Maple Ridge for yet another BC Cup. The event was run by Local Ride bike shop who puts on well organized, fun events. The course was more of a short mountain bike course with a climb, a sketchy gravel downhill, a highspeed wood chip descent, a double barrier, a slippery, muddy descent, some off-camber corners, a single barrier, and some slippery corners into the start finish area. A good course for testing the bike handling skills, but painful if you aren't in tip top shape (and probably painful even if you are).

I pre rode a lap about 30 minutes before the start and gave myself two puncture flats (always a good way to warm up!!) Got them fixed in time to get rid of my extra clothes and head to the start/finish area. The boys got let out in front of us (per the usual) with Drew and Tyler hanging out in the back of the pack. They eventually worked their way up the pack, Drew used his technical skills and ability to suffer to pull away from the pack as Kevin Noiles, Kevin Calhoun, and Tyler Trace chased. The men finished up with Drew in First, Kevin Calhoun in Second, and Tyler in Third.

Our field this week was smaller than it has been, but the girls key in the BC Cup overall points race were there, currently Kelly Jones is in 1st, I am in 2nd, Melanie Vaughn is in 3rd, and Christy Love is in 4th. Added to those girls was Dawn Berg who has been doing really well on the island and claimed a Top 5 at Nationals and a Top 3 at the UCI race the next day and Sandra Walter who was heading out on her first cross race of the year after racing the World Cup XC races all summer.

Off the line I hung out in the back trying to warm my legs up and not shock the system too much, Dawn and Kelly attacked with Melanie and I following 1/3 of the way through the first lap, Dawn gapped us and I tried to stay on Kelly's wheel until the runup where she literally ran away from me. Melanie and I stayed together for most of the race with one or the other of us leading and attacking throughout the race until, just before heading out onto our last lap, Melanie slipped in one of the greasy off-camber corners, I attacked over the barrier and rode the last lap scared--Melanie tends to have a good late-race kick. I got within 10 seconds of Kelly, but couldn't close down the gap any further before we got to the finish line. The women's race finished as follows:

1. Dawn Berg (Oak Bay Bikes/Everti) 0:38:31
2. Kelly Jones aka Harley Quinn (Sugoi) 0:39:26
3. Joele Guynup (Island Racing Club p/b RW Cameron) 0:39:35
4. Melanie Vaughan (Steed Cycles) 0:39:45
5. Sandra Walter (Local Ride Racing) 0:41:39
6. Christy Love (West Coast Racing/Mighty Riders) 0:42:41