Rickreall Rampage

 Here are some more pics from the Rickreall Rampage. I ran out of memory after the first few races, so I have no pics of the A's racing though.

 I got to Rickreall on Wed. afternoon, and after a safety meeting or two, we got right to work. 

 We, as in Ryan and I, attacked the long list that Kenji (OBRA exec.) had given us for course improvements.

The Over-Under was in danger of being X'ed from the race entirely, so we boxed in the top a little, in order to make the platform bigger. Quite a bit of time was spent working on it that day, and the mental strain of it all made for more required safety meetings than ever before, and it seemed more beer for that matter. 

We also fixed the run around in the woods, since it was decided that if a beginner woman couldn't make it over it, it needed work. This was quickly done with a 2' x 10" board. 

 The joy of the flat edged shovel was soon discovered, as Kenji had some crazy idea that we were going to flatten out the gopher mounds on both sides of the woods.

 We came up with the alternative that involved making one mostly flat, single track line down both sides of the woods. If a person couldn't ride that, or wanted to pass, they had to get out into the shit (gopher fields). 

 Finally we got around to the ditch. The plan Tad had was to use an earlier line I had dug out. I am all for encouraging progression, and had made a line to air out of the ditch, and possibly bonk a telephone pole on the way by.

 While walking down to it, carrying shovels, I turned to Ryan and asked why we were only using one little part of this big beautiful ditch? I think he responded with an "I don't know?"

 So, we stopped right there and started digging. What developed were two more very fine spots to ride the ditch.

The winner of a race goes through the ditch. I think this is the "B" race.

 In case you don't know, Ditch Style is part of our regular late night fun in Rickreall. The fun aspect of the ditch was discovered one night, under a full moon, when we were looking for the spot where Mace rode straight into it, breaking his collarbone. (One of three broken that weekend I think) Since that night this ditch has been exploited for fun purposes, and has caused many more injuries. It seems riding a ditch at night, without really lights even, is not so safe after all.

 The race seemed to go off without a hitch. (Well, there was one big hitch that came up named Timothy Mason, but was dealt with expeditiously by R. Kelley)

 I spent most of the time maintaining the Over Under, but it was worth it, especially when during the last couple of laps, Tony Kic bunny hopped the barrier and rode up the hill, barely dabbing at the top. he of course put his foot back in, and rolled down the other side.

 It would be great to have another Obra Cross Race next year there, but I suspect we will just throw our own instead.

 This will mean more stunts, more obstacles, more trails, more ditch style, more fun, and more beer

 Hope to see you there. Photos to follow very soon.