Vallejo Velocity

 

This course had not been used in at least a decade so only a few people on the team had experienced riding there. Memories were fuzzy and the photos on the race website didn't really show how brutal of a course it would turn out to be. Steep hills. two long flights of stairs and deep turf greeted the racers- some suffered mightily while others shined on the challenging track. 

The team didn't have quite the numbers present compared to the first race but all who showed up made it a race in most cases. Kathleen Bortolussi got 3rd in the women's 55+ race. Noah Hekkert took a commanding win in the junior 15-18 race. His father Carl got 4th in the men's 55+A race. New team member Justin Robinson doubled up , racing the men's 45+A race and getting second. Later in the open A race, Justin finished 8th. Also doubling up was Max Judelson with a win in the men's 35A race and a 6th place in the open A race. Also racing in the open A race was Dean Poshard who finished 15th. Eric Brown was also in the men's 35A race and finished 5th. Jim English finished 4th in the men's 55B race. 

Diana Drew took the lead in the women's A race and never looked back, getting the win. Not to be outdone, Hannah Solberg took the win in the women's single speed with Maddie Ortenblad finishing 3rd. Also in the single speeds, Patrick Lewis got 3rd in the men's single speed B race. In the men's single speed A race we had a mob with Matt Miller battling for the win followed by Kyle Taylor in 6th and Connor Hormel in 7th. 

In the men's open B race Finn Cunningham came in 6th with Nathan Delaney coming in at 11th. In the men's 60+ A race we had three racers- Paul Sadoff finishing 8th, Rick Ortenblad 10th and Manny Affonso 11th. 

All in all, this was a good day for the team with five wins and many podiums. I think our team was the largest group at the race , even with lots of team mates not able to make the trip. Lets hope that this race will continue next year as it might be the most challenging course of the season and it offers a uniquely painful experience - might just make the other races seem tame !