Kenda Cup At Fontucky

Nothing says world class mountain bike event like "FONTANA"!

That's right, Fontana, home to Rotollo Chevrolet and California Speedway, and the birth place of the Hells Angels  was home to Round 3 of the Kenda Cup Series.

I decided to take 2nd row start in staging, right behind Austin Squires.  I figured that was as good a place as any since he has lead almost every lap of the series so far.  This turned out to be a mistake as soon as the start bell because he got hung up and got a horrible jump.  Going into the first tight left turn I got pinched off, pushed into the soft inside and had to unclip to avoid falling over.  I regrouped quickly, but by the time I got going I was in last and there was a good gap to the end of the field.

LA Marathon Crash Ride

When you mention to someone you are going to do the Marathon Crash Race you get 1 of 2 reactions.  The first is “what the heck is the crash race?” an the other is something along the lines of “REALLY?  I heard that race is crazy!”

For those that don’t know what it is, the Crash Race was started by a Wolfpack Hustle, a legendary cycling group based in Los Angeles known for their unsanctioned underground races and late night rides around Los Angeles.  They saw the street closures for the LA Marathon as a way to experience the city in a way few ever get to:  No cars and no traffic.  

The race quickly grew in popularity through word of mouth and by 2013 several thousand people showed up.  That was my first year and it still holds up as one of the most fun events I have been a part of.  

In 2014, the City of Los Angeles put a stop to the event citing safety concerns and threatened to arrest the promoter if the race took place.  

A few weeks ago Wolkpack Hustle sent out an email letting everyone know the race would not be happening in 2015, but the City had agreed to let a “ride” take place with a few conditions: 1) the ride would be led by LAPD and everyone had to stay behind the leaders, 2) the start time would be pushed to 5:30 AM (previous races started around 4am).  Sure, it wouldn’t be as fun as an all out race, but we would still get to ride at a good pace with a fully closed course from Los Angeles to Santa Monica.

RIP Tangs.  

Kenda Cup Round 1: She's A Mudder!

The first round of the Kenda Cup rolled off at Vail Lake this past weekend.  The entire week the forecast called for rain all day Saturday and Sunday, but I was hoping the weatherman was wrong after we got almost zero rain and had good weather on Saturday.  Saturday night night I got a text from someone camping at the track telling me they were looking at the stars.  I went to bed thinking things were gong to be pretty nice out there and we might get lucky.

I woke up Sunday morning to sunlight in Huntington Beach, but then I checked my phone and saw it was raining in Temecula.  Shit.  I loaded up and drove out there hoping it would be done by the time I got there.  I hit rain on the 15 at Elsinore and it only got worse from there.

I pulled in to the campground to find out it had been raining since midnight the night before and had not let up.  As it turned out, the rain would remain steady all the way up to the 11:00 race start. 

A view of the entrance to the pits.