Fontana US Cup / Pro XCT

Great times again out the Fontana US Cup/Pro XCT last week! We are shaking things up a bit and having the riders post race recaps in their own words for your reading pleasure…

The Fontana US Cup/Pro XCT is one of the most fun races of thee year. I always look forward to this one. I felt pretty good going into the race weekend. At the start of the race, I slipped a pedal but was able to keep on it and fought back to fourth position going into the single track. I hit the first climb with my teammate, Cypress, and got prepared for five minutes in hell. This climb was the hardest thing in the world! My teammate, Travis, was saying it was 30% in some places and I wasn’t about to argue. I came down the hill in fourth feeling really crappy. My stomach was cramping and my legs were on fire. Two kids from behind fought me and I did everything I could to stay with them. We battled for the next next two laps. While one kid got away, I still had another one right behind me battling for fifth. With a mile to go, I saw him let up and rest for a second and that’s when I nailed it and it turned into a four minute TT. He ended up catching me with a few turned to go but I wasn’t about to let him beat me. I turned on the gas one last time and beat him to the line. I rode for about five feet and then I fell over and threw up everywhere. Talk about leaving everything on the course.

Tyler Coplea
Cat 1 17-18
_____________________________________________________

Had another great weekend with AZ Devo at the Fontana National. Our support was once again amazing, allowing us the opportunity to perform at our best. I did not have a great race, had a bit of a bad start and just didn’t have any snap in the legs. As the race went on I started to get closer and closer to feeling good. Unfortunately I did not start really feeling good until the last lap. The course was amazingly fun, the climb at the start was tough but I was able to clear it the last two laps. The descents were epic, they all really flowed well and I had a great time on my Superfly 100, that bike really shines on anything technical while still being light enough to power up any climb. Although I did not have the race I was looking for I was really excited to see my teammate Tyler Coplea on the podium for his second Pro XCT in a row!

Ryan Geiger
Cat 1 17-18
_____________________________________________________

I woke up the morning of the race with a bad stomach ache, I assume from dinner the night before. Didn’t really feel any better by the time I started warming up. With the crash the day before, and a still very sore knee it was pretty easy to feel bad. I stayed positive, thinking good race thoughts while I finished my warm-up and headed over to the start. The start was definitely the best part of my race. I was originally planning on siting behind Ty, who was right next to me at the start, but when he slipped a pedal off the line I decided to just go. It felt great to take the whole shot! Staying in first for a while, Tony and Keegan were the first to come by. They soon had a gap, and a few other riders came by at the beginning of the first super steep pitch. From this point I just began to loose time. I even felt off on the downhills during the race, but that’s racing. A few bad days seem to happen every season, so I’ll write this one off and start to focus on upcoming races.

Cypress Gorry
Cat 1 17-18
_____________________________________________________

I started in the second row, but I got a great start and going up the first climb I took the lead and was feeling great. Going up ‘the wall’ I pulled a little bit of a gap on second place. I then dropped to second going through the feed zone heading out on the next lap. I started to fade a little bit and by the end of the 3rd lap I was in 4th place but I got a second wind and started to catch up to 3rd. I was very confidant that I could catch him but on the rolling descent after the wall there was a short up hill that was only about 40 feet long and when I was going up it I broke my chain.