USA Mountain Bike Pro Racer, Jeff Hall


Monday, November 12, 2007

SALSA CYCLES, Jeff Hall @ Fontana, CA: NMBS #3 (5/5/07)

I stayed out in California for the week, seeing that both Nationals were with-in a few hundred miles of each other. The plan was to drive up to Big Bear Lake in the mountains rent a cabin and train in the fresh alpine air for the week. My allergies were out of control down in the LA valley! Norm flew home to punch the clock for the week, then flew back out on Friday night. He got up to Big Bear about 2:00AM and slept in the rental car. After a quick breakfast we started down the mountain. This is the area of California that has all the wild fires. The mountain road is twisty, narrow and drops like a rock. Norm chased me down the mountain with his rental Chevy Cobalt and me in a Toyota 4Runner, good times!

Back to the mountain bike racing. This is the race that used to be the Big Bear Race but somehow it got shoved down into the LA basin, to a burb called Fontana. It is a big dusty foothill alongside a drainage channel, next to a strip mall, go figure, yippy!!

The race started out great with a first lap in the top 12 riders. The dust got to me after that and the rest was just survival, it sucked! Finished somewhere in the 30s'. Not what I needed, 2 dusty lousy races for me. The tickets were already purchased for my 2nd European World Cup trip. It didn't look good for the Team Salsa from Minnesota.

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