Elings Park, Santa Barbara, Cal State #7

Sunday September 28th

6 Team members made the trek up to Santa Barbara for the 7th race of the Cal State Series this last weekend. While the inland areas were cooking under sweltering high temperatures we spent the day under cool coastal fog. It was perfect for going hard around this challenging course. The Elings course will put all your MTB skills to the test with challenging climbs, twisties and rugged sandy descents.

All 6 team members made the podium. Yoshio Garcia narrowly missed the win by a mere 3 seconds. A surprised Yoshio was passed just before the finish without any time to react.

Jasmine clearly dominated the sport women (on a rigid single speed I should mention); however, another woman mysteriously finished 10 minutes ahead. That’s quite a feat since no one actually passed up Jasmine. A protest yielded nothing since there was no proof of course cutting. Jasmine and her heroic efforts would have to settle for 2^nd.

Jeanne Scheetz scored a solid 2^nd in Sport 40-49 at just a couple minutes behind the class winner. She was followed by Jodi Martin who filled the 3^rd place podium spot.

The Coates women - you gotta love 'em, flexing before the start.

Again Dave Martin continues to impress. The Sport Men 65+ class had to complete the same laps as Expert Men 50+. That’s 18 miles and 2,400’ of climbing. It’s no wonder he rode alone for a well deserved 1^st place finish. No one else is crazy enough to challenge him.

Rim Nordic #3, Cal State #6

Sunday July 27th

With 3 Rim Nordic races behind us and one left in the summer series the Coates team is posting some great results! This past Sunday was series race number 3 on a dusty gnarly loose course. By far the toughest course so far this year. Many of those who finished were covered in dirt stuck to bleeding wounds. This race also doubled as Cal State Series #6, so the overall turnout was great.

We had 5 podium finishes out of 6 racers. Paul Amodei, who is the series points leader in his class, finish 2nd. Jodi Martin, the Cal State Series points leader in sport women, finished 3rd. Adam McCamish secured 3rd place proving that his strong finish in his racing debut at Big Bear wasn’t just a fluke. Yoshio and I kicked butt in our expert classes scoring two 1st place finishes for the team. Terry Watkins (honorary team member?) again made it to the podium with a 4th place finish in the toughest sport class. Honorable mention this round goes to Jon Watson who raced in sport class full rigid (Uhm … the bike). Although he didn’t podium, that’s pretty hardcore for this Rim Nordic course.

Pual Amodei 2nd Place

Adam McCamish 3rd

Sunday June 2nd

The 7 team members who raced this weekend were greeted by great weather, a challenging course and, of course, tacos from La Montana. Team Big Bear did a nice job of laying out short, medium and long courses for different classes. For the first time in several years we bypassed lower Fall Line and instead descended on Fern trail, a fun twisty drop into Bristlecone Trail. Sport and Expert classes were treated to a rare descent on a trail called “Wet Dream”. Experts and Pros were further rewarded with some of the best of Big Bear’s single track, Cabin 89 and Pine Knot trails.

Our newest team member, Adam McCamish, made this his MTB racing debut and placed 2nd in Beg Men 35-39. Adam is no stranger to racing; in fact MTB is just a nice way for this Pro Endurance Dirt Bike competitor to stay in shape when he isn’t racing endurance epics like the Baja 500.

The fun story of day was the tight competition between Jeanne and Jodi who both race in Sport Women 40-49. Judging by the way these two looked when crossing the finish line, I think they’re way more competitive than us guys. I don’t know if we’ll get to see a race report from either of them, but I’m sure it would be interesting.

Santa Ynez National, California State Series #3
Sunday May 19th
by mark scheetz

What comes to mind when you think about the Santa Yenz Valley. Perhaps it’s the infamous wine country nestled in rolling hills covered with lush vineyards, romantic B&B’s, and lovely day spas for the pampered crowd. For the cyclist it may conjure up visions of biking through vineyards with a cool breeze to your back as you race for that ice cold Firestone brew or fill your nostrils with the aroma of a fine Pinot Noir.

Snap out of it you poser, we were here to race mountain bikes on a cattle ranch where the only thing filling your nostrils is overcooked ammonia laden cow pies. Yes, we are a different breed. Like last year’s race, the venue again was in Charlotte’s Meadow, a hot, dry, dusty hell hole. Just the way we like it.

Whether it was gas prices, the heat or just simply bad timing, only 4 of us represented the team this time. Everyone had a great race. Dave Martin earned our highest results by taking 2nd in Sport Men 65+. His wife Jodi, on her brand new Gary Fisher Superfly, finished with an excellent 3rd in Sport Women. John Watson finished 16th in a very crowded Sport Men 50-54 class. I had so much fun in my race I had to detail it in a report.

Next round is Big Bear in less than 2 weeks. I hope to see a lot more of you there.

Jodi Martin fly'n the Superfly

Dave Martin kicking butt!

Bonelli Park, California State Series #1
Sunday March 9th
by mark scheetz

As usual, it was a perfect day for this early season opener. Team Big Bear and crew delivered yet another first class race in the middle of So Cal suburbia. It looks like mountain bike racing is on the rise with increasing participants over pervious years. The rise of teams seems to be having a very positive effect on the sport. Increased numbers in the mega teams like Sho-air and Platinum draw more participants along with an increase in small teams like ours.

It was great to get acquainted with new team members David and Jodi Martin, John Watson, and Bill Nagler. Thanks to all of you who came along to provide support, particularly Jon Tanklage for heading up the feed station and for all the much needed encouragement.

We had a great team turnout with 11 of us racing. Get this; we had no representation in the beginner classes. Several of you stepped it up this year, way to go! Yoshio Garcia and Bill Nagler moved up to Expert. Graham Miller, Jasmine Scott, Edward Ewert and Jeanne Scheetz all moved up to sport. I’m really proud of the way our team members push it to the next level.
                                                             Jodi Martin - 2nd place Sport Women

Racing highlights included Yoshio’s 1st place Expert finish just one day after winning 1st Expert at Southridge. He also won the Southridge Series Championship. Jasmine Scott not only won 1st place in Sport Women XC but later that afternoon she won 1st Open Women in the Super D.

Jasmine Scott - 1st place XC and 1st place Super-D

Another highlight worth mentioning is David Martin’s return to racing from a 4 year hiatus after a Castaic Lake race heart attack. David finished with a great time for 2nd place. But get this; he’s racing in the Sport Men 65+ class. These guys do the same 2 laps as the rest of the sport field. That should be an inspiration to us all.

In all we had 6 podium finishes (including SuperJas’ Super D). It looks like we're off to a great start for the new season.

David Martin 2nd place (on the right)

XC Results:

Vision Quest/Counting Coup Results
March 1

This year 6 of us participated in the Warrior’s Society Mountain Bike Pow Wow. This renowned epic race begins in the dark at 5:30 AM and takes riders over several mountain peaks in the Cleveland National Forest. Participants sign up for either the Counting Coup which stacks up 44 miles over 8,500’ of elevation, or the Vision Quest. Vision Quest is the same route with the addition of a steep climb up West Horse Thief Trail for 58 miles over 11,000’ of elevation.

Our very own Dustin Luton took the overall win in the Counting Coup by finishing in 4 hours 20 minutes! His name now ranks with past pro winners.
Congratulations Dustin!

Other team Counting Coup finishers are:
Joe Kingsberry, 28th place at 5:57:

Jasmine Scott, 50th place at 6:38:

Edward Ewert, 53rd place at 6:46:

Jeanne Scheetz, 88th place at 7:39:

I did Vision Quest at a personal best in 6 hours 28 minutes:

Ready Set Go! 2008 Race Season

February 24

The 2008 race season is upon us! Of course here so SoCal there is no off season. Some team members are well into racing already. Joe Kingsbury and Yoshio Garcia have been tearing it up in the Southridge Winter Series. Joe has been consistently improving his results with 4 sport class races behind him. Yoshio, making his debut in expert class, has three 1st place finishes and one 2nd. I expect Yoshio will continue his domination into the state and national series. This kid too fast!

Another Expert Class 1st place for Yoshio!

Joe Kingsbury relaxing post race under sunny Funtucky skys

Jeanne and I joined Joe and Yoshio for race #4 of the Southridge series. Jeanne made her Sport Class debut and finished strong in 4th place. I was beat by a fraction of a second for 3rd in the Single Speed Class. It was a wheel to wheel battle right up to the finish line. Southridge Racing hosts an outstanding series on this very fun course. The state and national series will be here next month.

Jeanne making her Sport Class debut

I had the privilege of joining a team to race the legendary 24 Hour in the Old Pueblo just outside of Tucson Arizona. This was quite an adventure with rain, mud, snow and temperatures dropping down to 25 degrees. The foul weather was gone by the start time on Saturday but temperatures remained fairly cold. We may have to do this as a team event next year, it’s probably best 24 hour event in the nation.

A muddy start at the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo

Next week team member Ed Ewert, Jeanne Scheetz, Joeseph Kingsbury, Dustin Luton, and Jasmine Scott will be competing in the Warrior’s Society Counting Coup. I’m doing Vision Quest again. The Counting Coup is a 44+ miles, 8,000+ ft. of elevation gain grind through the Cleveland National Forest. The Vision Quest is the same with the addition of another climb (2 miles hike-a-bike) for 57 miles and 11,000+ ft. of elevations gain.

We have 2 new team members, David and Jodi Martin. Both have racing experience. Over the last couple of year I’ve seen Jodi racing her single speed in Sport Women’s classes to podium finishes. Welcome to the team David and Jodi!