2015 US Cup / Kenda Cup West, Bonelli Park Day 2: Meet the Donkey

Gould's Gap is probably a place somewhere but, in this case,

refers to the insurmountable lead of Georgia Gould on the last lap

At the end of the women's Short Track race today, Georgia Gould, turned the tables on yesterday's competition to ride away with the big money win. The Short Track, as its name suggests, is a very abbreviated version of a Cross Country (XC) race - short and very fast. As happens during its lengthier brethren, Short Track fields quickly become fragmented; in fact you can begin so see gaps opening on the very first lap. Flying down the course's one hill on the penultimate lap Katerina Nash held a lead over Ally Stacher, Gould (wearing her US Short Track National Champions Jersey), and Emily Batty, with the remainder of the front runners close in behind. By the time this lead group had shot through the start/finish Georgia had pulled into the front position. When the lead ladies reached the end of the paved section, to begin the climb up and over the hill, it appeared as though Emily Batty had latched on to the leaders' wheels and there was going to be one heck of a final battle. Somewhere out of view, however, Gould must have put in a massive acceleration, because she topped the hill and came flying down the grassy side with a gap that said "this race is mine." And it was. 

So, the Donkey. At the end of the women's race, the Mrs. (Mrs. Wagner) decided to ride the course, as the women (some of them) took a little cool down spin. The Mrs. had her backpack, bigger than a camelback with a plastic bag of recyclables left over from lunch tied on to, it and must have looked very much like a donkey (in character, not appearance) hauling a load of goods to market. Anyway, in passing, one of the women pros (we're not sure who) asked "are you the donkey?" We both got a good laugh out of that one. And now the Mrs. has a new nickname around the house.

another scorcher of a day. a whole lotta water cascading over helmeted heads

Even though there is a whole lot of competition from other races, the US Cup / Kenda Cup West moves on to Fontana next weekend. If you have some freedom Saturday or Sunday check it out, it's a whole lot of fun.

I must say, uploading photos into the Flickr album for Sunday's races was much quicker than anticipated. All the photos that are going to be there, are there; they include the Cat 3 (there aren't many) and the Cat 2 Cross Country (XC) races, as well as the women Pro Short Track photos.

As usual, I took far more photos than are in the album, so if you don't see what, or who, you were looking for, let me know with a race number and I will see what I can find. If you see a photo you like feel free to download it (credit where credit due, of course). You can also contact me via email and I will gladly send a full size jpeg file of the image.

Want more? Go ahead and order your own copy of the CLR Effect racing annual. There are two editions available right now (2013 and 2014), and you can preview them by clicking the 2014 Seasons in the Sun Book Preview button near the top of the right hand column, or under the title banner at the top of the page.