Root 66 Series Race #6: Pat's Peak

This past weekend was Root 66 Race #6: Pat's Peak in Henniker, NH.  A beautiful bluebird day, the mountain was covered with bikes.

It's probably safe to say that Pat's Peak was the most challenging course in the Root 66 series so far - for both its technical and aerobic difficulty.  Depending on who you ask, it's either really hard, or really rad.  We're pretty sure it's both.

On the way up, racers traversed a ski hill - 870' of glorious elevation gain per lap.  There were some rocks, there were some rolls, there were some new singletrack switchback sections that even the pros were off and pushing on.  A couple of work road grunts rounded it out.  On the way down, riders were rewarded with a fair amount of awesome gnar.  Fun switchbacks and the occasional rock wall kept things interesting, with one notorious rock drop midway down.  A full on braappp* section at the end made all the climbing worthwhile. 

*if you have the strong urge to make dirt bike noises on the way down, you know it's good.

CEC rode well, taking twelve top five spots at Pat's Peak.  Congrats to all on racing and finishing a tough course.  David and Ricky kept each other company on the Cat 1 Singlespeed Open podium, Dave Powell and Paul shared the podium in Cat 2 50+, and Jen and Tina shared the stage in Cat 2 19-34.  We like to hang out together.  Nathan Orie crushed Cat 2 singlespeed for a 2nd place finish.  Brett had the gears covered, taking 2nd in Cat 2 30-39, with Dan Walker close behind in 4th. 

Pat's Peak
Name	Gender	Category	Laps	Time	Place	Points
David Richardson	M	Cat 1 Singlespeed Open	3	2:14:30	2	55
Ricky Hartman	M	Cat 1 Singlespeed Open	3	2:21:17	3	50
Christin Christoph	F	Cat 1 12-34	3	2:35:26	2	55
Nathan Orie	M	Cat 2 Singlespeed Open	2	1:36:07	2	55
Brett Severson	M	Cat 2 30-39	2	1:26:50	2	55
Daniel Walker	M	Cat 2 30-39	2	1:30:22	4	46
Will Raymond	M	Cat 2 40-49	2	1:27:57	6	41
Sammy Neves	M	Cat 2 40-49	2	2:01:44	19
David Powell	M	Cat 2 50+	2	1:38:09	2	55
Paul Lussier	M	Cat 2 50+	2	1:38:45	3	50
John Weferling	M	Cat 2 50+	2	1:46:10	5	43
Tri Vinh	M	Cat 2 50+	2	1:59:53	10	35
Jen Audia	F	Cat 2 19-34	2	1:53:11	2	55
Tina Severson	F	Cat 2 19-34	2	1:53:12	3	50
Pamela Fielding	F	Cat 2 35+	2	1:59:11	4	46

"The best memory I have was on the first lap downhill section when I got off my bike to look at a drop. I stood there and threw a rock down it to see the general fall line. After much inspection I decided to walk down"  -Phil Wong, 3rd place Pro/1 (Riverside)

"The course was definitely rad!  It made you earn all of the fun.  Thanking the MTB gods it was dry... but that made it HOT.  At one point I actually stopped riding to sit still & drink a cup of water at the hilltop station" -Dan Walker

"Epic chase -I battled it out for 2nd in the last mile with a pass on the downhill and sprint to the finish, to beat my pursuer by 2 seconds..."  -Brett Severson, 2nd place Cat 2

"My hat's off to all the-single speeders; those guys are sportin' the total package, or the full Monty if you know what I mean"  -Will Raymond

See you at Putney!  err...  Grafton.