Friday, March 26, 2010

March's Featured Rider: Kathy Pruitt

Kathy Pruitt has been a racer for almost her entire life. And she's been a pro racer for nearly half of it. She's been a staple on the US national and World Cup circuits for ten years, and consistently stands on the podium domestically. Internationally, she's solid a top-ten finisher and is chasing a downhill win at a World Cup. Kathy is unquestionably talented--whether she's descending, dirt jumping, or raging on the cross country bike--and incredibly hilarious. We're rooting for her to make it to the top of the of a World Cup podium (or two) this season!--FF

Name: Kathy Pruitt
Home: Santa Cruz, California
Age: 27
Favorite type of riding: Everything!
Why you ride: It's challenging, rewarding and allows me to be creative.
Sponsors: Jamis Bikes, Giro, e-thirteen, Smith, Sombrio, Geax

Way back in 1988 I was racing and riding pee-wee motorcycles. I was 5 years old. That's when the two-wheeled obsession began. I continued with motorcycles and even turned pro at the age of 12. A few years later, after I had sustained a few major injuries, my parents decided to pull me out of the moto game. It didn't take long for me to figure out that I was pretty fast at going down a hill. The mountain bike my dad bought me to commute to track practice became my new outlet to relive my moto days. Soon, I convinced my dad to take me to a local downhill event in Truckee, California. I had a blast! More than 10 years later, I am still riding bikes and am just as competitive.

A lot of things have stayed the same in the bike world since I started racing World Cups in 1999. But,the biggest change is the talent level, it has gotten very close and is so competitive that the top five riders' times can be on the same tenth of a second. The sport's level of riding has progressed in both men's and women's riding. The bikes have become much easier to ride, and it's easy to see that the level of riding went up right next to the equipment progressing.

One of the things that has been hardest to learn in this sport is to be mentally strong, all the time. It doesn't matter if you are on a perfect bike and have all the best equipment, if your head and mind are not "there," you are not going to get over that scary jump or speed down the rutted and rooted track as fast as you could have. Becoming mentally strong and staying in that space is very difficult. If your mind is in the game, the rest will follow.

To combat becoming stale after 10+ years of competing and racing, I have learned to seek out other sports and activities that keep my mind fresh and challenged. I live near the ocean and luckily near many really good surf breaks. I have been learning to love the paddle out, how to read the swell, and figuring out the right place to be to catch that ride in. Surfing has become my reset button, you could say. It reminds me a lot of snowboarding, and I grew up doing that in Lake Tahoe, CA.

I've worked hard in this sport and have achieved almost all of the honors that you can achieve, except the ever-eluding Senior World Championships. In 2000, I was the Junior World Champion--the year before, I placed silver. I have been the 3-time National series overall champion in downhill and have won the National Championship event in downhill and dual slalom. I have also stepped on every spot of the World Cup podium except the top spot during my racing career. I've qualified 1st a few times, but never won.

My goals this year are pretty simple, I want to win races. I'll be spending more time at home in Santa Cruz to prepare for races and less time traveling, which will hopefully help me focus on my goals.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

CCCX 2010 Downhill #1

The first CCCX downhill race of the 2010 spring season was held at Toro Park, CA on March 20. Rosie Bernhard took her first pro win of her career, and was also the only girl to break four minutes on the course. The next CCCX race will be held April 11. For more information, visit CCCX.com.

Pro Women
1. Rosie Bernhard
2. Lia Lajoie

Expert Women
1. Cathy Chevron
2. Kelly Johnson
3. Mary Moncorge
4. Ayshe Tuncer
5. Jill Henrich
6. Ashley Hernandez

Sport Women
1. Jessica Spray
2. Shiloh Ballard
3. Courtney Rosiak

Beginner Women
1. Mary Pralinsky
2. Ruby Tidd
3. Katy Jossy

Jr. Girls
1. Faith Siebe

Friday, March 12, 2010

2010 Mob 'n Mojave Results

The 2010 Mob 'n Mojave downhill race was held Feb. 13-14 at Bootleg Canyon, NV. Melissa Buhl took the win in the best-of-two-run race format. The next race at Bootleg is March 19-20, which is the St. Patty's Day Feast. For more information, visit AllMountainCyclery.com.

Downhill
Pro Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Jacqueline Harmony
3. Christine Hirst
4. Tasa Herndon
5. Linden Lane
6. Joy Martin
7. Ana Rodriguez
8. Margaret Gregory

Open Women
1. Amy Forwand
2. Megan Applegate

Open Women 40+
1. Carmen Bastek
2. Nancy Harris
3. Kathleen Kingma

Dual Slalom
1. Jacqueline Harmony

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Southridge USA Winter Series #5 Results

The 5th race of the Southridge Winter Series was held March 6 and 7. The talent ran deep in the pro women's downhill. Melissa Buhl emerged the decisive winner, finishing 9 seconds ahead of Anneke Beerten. The winter series is over, but racing resumes March 26-28 for the Fontana City National. For more info about racing at Fontana, visit SouthridgeUSA.com.

Downhill
Pro Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Anneke Beerten
3. Leigh Donovan
5. Gabriela Williams
6. Jennifer Wolf
7. Margaret Gregory
8. Sondra Williamson
9. Christine Hirst

Open Women
1. Rebecca Gardner
2. Mandy Oliekan
3. Nancy Harris

Sport Women 34 & Under
1. Stephanie Wolf
2. Julia Zavala
3. Ashley Hernandez

Sport Women 35+
1. Kim Finch
2. Traci Adams
3. Lisa Gianni

Beginner Women 35+
1. Lala Mijares

4X
Pro Women
1. Kayla Meadows

Open Women
1. Robin Vold
2. Laura Drexler
3. Breanna Fellows

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

CCCX Update

The final race of the CCCX winter downhill series took place January 31st. Kathy Pruitt took the win for the pro women at the race, and Karen Hanzi won the overall series. The spring series was supposed to start on March 7, but the race was postponed due to poor weather. The next race is scheduled for March 20, 2010 at Toro Park, CA. For more information about CCCX, visit CCCX.org.

CCCX #5
Pro Women
1. Kathy Pruitt
2. Karen Hanzi
3. Rosie Bernhard
4. Heather McFadden

Expert Women
1. Kelsey Anderson
2. Mollie Sitkin
3. Kelly Johnson
4. AnneMarie Hennes
5. Amy Forwand
6. Kelley Damschen
7. Ashley Hernandez

Sport Women
1. Mary Moncorge
2. Tina Wilson
3. Aysche Tuncer
4. Jill Henrich
5. Kirstie Douglass
6. Natalie Morris

Beginner Women
1. Jessica Spray
2. Melanie McGuire
3. Ruby Tidd
4. Andrea Locke

Series Winners
Pro Women: Karen Hanzi
Expert Women: Kelly Johnson
Sport Women: Jill Henrich
Beginner Women: Andrea Locke

Monday, March 1, 2010

2010 Ray's Women's Weekend a Huge Success!

The 3rd annual Ray's Women's Weekend was held February 19-21. Once again, the weekend was an incredible gathering of women riders of all ability levels from across the country. Darcy Turenne came from B.C., Kathy Pruitt and Cory Coffey flew from CA, and several clinic goers even traveled from Austin, TX. All-in-all, about 150 women took advantage of the free day at Ray's. There were two clinic sessions on Friday--one in the morning, and one in the afternoon--led by 14 pro women riders with BMX, cross country, downhill, and dirt jumping backgrounds. Plus, breakfast and lunch were provided event sponsors. And there was a huge prize raffle and free cocktail party after the day of riding. Yeah, it was the best day ever.


And the weekend didn't end there. Girls paid half-price to ride on Saturday and Sunday, with an Awesome Land: Women of Dirt showing on Saturday night. Riders from the film including Lisa Myklak, Stephanie Nychka, Tammy Donahugh, were in attendance too.


Ray's employee and BMX ripper Nina Buitrago and Mad March Racing instructor Tamara Peloquin organized the whole shindig, and there are plans in the works for the 4th-annual event in 2011! Check out the Ray's Angels Facebook page for more photos and info!

Tamara!


Nina in an ironic tee!












Learning!