August 28-31- Sol Vista MSC G3

So this is the final race for the Mountain States Cup for 2008 and it was over a long weekend at Sol Vista. The format was G3 again where we would do three different races on each day and overall standings were determined by cumulative time over the three stages. You also got to podium on each individual stage of the event.

Amber and I both took Thursday off from work to get another practice day in. We both had a fun day of it, but unfortunately Amber blew out the rear shock on her bike and it was out of action for the weekend. Sol Vista has a great range of demo/rental bikes from a bunch of manufacturers, sadly though they only had one bike in Amber's size which was a Trek Session 10. Amber never really got to like that bike as it is more a Free-Ride oriented bike that also downhill's than a pure DH bike and it rode very differently than her 2004 V-10.

Day 1 was down Cheez-It to Ashy Larry ending down the main track over the little road gap and into the moto whoop section at the bottom of the mountain. I don't think I rode my race very well at all having a lot of problems with the steep rocky section at the top of Cheez-It but I still managed 5th place which I was happy with (and somewhat surprised at). Amber crashed pretty badly in her race run going over the bars and badly bruising various parts of her body in the process. She was on a good run and still managed 3rd place for the stage.

Womens Beginner (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	4:26.49
2	Jamie Edgecomb	4:31.05
3	Amber Price	4:42.91
4	Jill Behlen	4:43.93
5	Kristin Buell	5:04.27

Mens Sport 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	4:01.48
2	Michael Monsauret	4:09.73
3	Steve King	4:11.44
4	Michael Lees	4:15.47
5	Sean Smith	4:21.46

Day 2 was Silk Johnson. The pro categories were all "required" to run chainless, however the other categories got to decide amongst themselves whether to run chainless or not. Sadly that meant that Amber's category was mostly not chainless as not of all of the girls wanted to run without a chain. The peer pressure built in the later groups and pretty soon all categories ran chainless which was an absolute blast. I was pretty happy with my run, I messed up in a few of the dusty corners in the middle section but had a pretty good run and got 3rd for the stage.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Jill Behlen	5:19.39
2	Sarah Rawley	5:24.36
3	Katy Monger	5:25.52
4	Amber Price	5:30.71
5	Kristin Buell	5:37.02

Sport Men 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	4:57.81
2	Michael Monsauret	5:07.83
3	Sean Smith	5:08.00
4	Michael Lees	5:08.22
5	Steve King	5:15.34

Stage 3 was Buck Nasty. The final stage was down a new trail section call Buck Nasty that had a pretty nasty new steep rock section that the trail builders built by dragging in rocks from nearby. The rest of the trail was not as technical and was a lot of fun to ride. Amber rode the rock garden well but was still having a hard time on the Trek. I rode poorly and opted for the ride around on the rock garden. I rode the rest well but was pretty certain I was on a terrible time so I didn't push it in for the road gap or the whoops section. I guess I was actually on a good time coming out of the final trees and had I pushed it at the end as well could have easily made the podium. As it ended I placed 6th and Amber placed 4th for the stage.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	3:34.97
2	Jamie Edgecomb	3:43.15
3	Danielle Shewmake	3:49.89
4	Amber Price	3:54.54
5	Kristin Buell	3:56.55

Sport Men 40+ (top 6)

1	Michael Monsauret	3:00.26
2	Jack Serra Jr	3:08.14
3	Michael Lees	3:15.97
4	Steve King	3:16.84
5	Mike Haley	3:23.12
6	Sean Smith	3:24.30

Another great race weekend that was also the wrap up for the season. These were our overall standings for the weekend.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	13:26.98
2	Jamie Edgecomb	14:01.95
3	Amber Price	14:08.16
4	Kristin Buell	14:37.84
5	Danielle Shewmake	14:44.15

Sport Men 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	12:07.43
2	Michael Monsauret	12:17.82
3	Michael Lees	12:39.66
4	Steve King	12:43.62
5	Sean Smith	12:53.76

Amber also placed 4th place overall for the season which was great since she didn't race Angel Fire or SnoMass and did race any of the Mountain Cross.

We finished the season really motivated for next year!