BradleyJReece

Last Saturday I was training for round #2 of the 2010 Southridge Winter Series and along comes Gee and Rachel Atherton, 2008 World Downhill Champions.  Whoa!  I couldn’t believe they were out riding our track out in Fontana of all places.  It was a real treat to see how Gee rode our local track.  Needless to say, it became very clear why he is among the best in the world.

While setting up at the top of the course, however, I got a chance to meet and talk to Rachel.  What a nice and truly down to earth young lady.  I told her how my daughter was hoping to meet her at Sea Otter only to find out she would not be there due to injury.  So, she said, “Bring her out tomorrow and we can hang out.”  And that’s what we did.

The day turned out to be really nice and the racing action was set to be really good, too.  We brought out the dog, some junk food, some sodas, and a tall boy for me.  Of course, we brought the cow bell, too.  So, basically some loud mouth soup.  Once the racing started, we went ape–yelling and tearing it up with the bell.  We were having a blast.  Eric Carter made the course look easy.  Gee pretty much put on a clinic, ultimately taking the top step on the podium.  Big House (Rich Houseman) ran a good run, too, looking really smooth in the top sections and laying down the power on the flats.  Kevin Aiello had a disappointing crash, blowing out a turn in the lower section.  That boy needs to put on his race-head and screw it on tight.  Another favorite is my boy Dakota “The Damag’uh” Dulmage.  He looked quick, but I think his lack of raw fitness set him back.  Finally, Waylon Smith looked to be struggling a bit with a lot of bobbles including a few pedal checks on the rocks.  I was a bit bummed for him because he is such a disciplined and talented rider.  Meanwhile, Parker was rock climbing and having a good time being hopped up on root beer and junk food.  She loves climbing and there was plenty of that to go around with all of those rocks.  Surprisingly, our dog Mac was a really good boy.  I think he was confused with all the yelling and the bell, but I think he started getting into it.  And, he only left one steamer out there, literally.  I mean it was really steaming.  Parker thought it was funny.    All told, an excellent day at the track I would say.

Once the racing was over, we headed down to the pits to see the results and talk trash with the boys.  We eventually caught up to Rachel and my daughter got a chance to meet her and talk with her for a bit.  Eventually, we got this nice photo (above) taken for us by Leigh Donovan, former World Downhill Champion from 1995.  Talk about some history.  You had the new guard and the old.  I wish I had gotten a picture of them together, but I wasn’t really thinking.  What’s funny is that Leigh raced and she was totally pinned, looking faster than many of the men.  She was whooping and hollering all the way down the course, like her own cheering section.  It was hilarious.

This ended up being a really nice day and a good time to spend with my daughter.  Hopefully, she’ll  want to keep riding with me and someday maybe she’ll hit the race course with her old dad.  We’ll see…