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Expecting 2009 to be a learning year, Nevada City 18-year-old Graeme Pitts has exceeded his expectations with a strong start to his first year racing downhill mountain bikes in the Pro division.
Pitts just returned from the Fluidride Cup — a nationally-sanctioned race in Port Angeles, Wash. — with a 15th place finish out of more than 80 pro riders, many local pros who call the mountain home.
“It helps me a lot that I get to new areas well ahead of the race in order to be able to inspect the course and take a bunch of runs to familiarize myself so that by race time, I feel comfortable,” Pitts said. “I’m always on the mountain first, when it is really quiet.”
The next race on Pitts’ list is the U.S. Open at Diablo Freeride Park in New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend, where he will represent Santa Cruz Bicycles/Kirt Voreis AllRide Academy.
This race presents a whole new level of difficulty. The U.S. Open attracts around 250 of the world’s best pro racers, but only 60 get to race.
This will be the first of many such events for Pitts, whose schedule also includes two World Cup races in Canada.
For a full race report and info on Pitts, go to GraemePitts.com
Wente Vineyards Classic
The Union staff
Rusk Whipps and Rick Kalb, members of the Sierra Express/Sho-Air Racing Team, took second and third places in their division at the Wente Vineyards Classic Road Race in Livermore on April 25.
The good friends were flying up front on the final lap of the race, with Kalb leading Whipps as they headed toward the uphill finish.
“I had made my way up front and told Rusk I was there,” Kalb wrote in an e-mail. “We made the right turn and there we were 1 & 2, exactly as planned, a miracle! I told Rusk to Go! I stood up and passed him and our plan was working perfect, we were (first) and (second) ... for about 10 seconds.
That’s when Miles Wadsworth of Team Bicycle Trip passed the SERT duo on the final climb for first place in the Category 4/5, Masters 45-and-over division.
Whipps wound up second and Kalb third, which matched his own previous finish in the event two years earlier.
“So the plan did not work exactly out,” Kalb wrote. “But what a day. How often do you to get to podium with one of your best friends and teammates in a big race?
“Wow,” Whipps added. “Finishing second and Rick third with a huge field at Wente is really a dream result. And to get this result with one of my best friends ... amazing, just amazing!”
Pitts just returned from the Fluidride Cup — a nationally-sanctioned race in Port Angeles, Wash. — with a 15th place finish out of more than 80 pro riders, many local pros who call the mountain home.
“It helps me a lot that I get to new areas well ahead of the race in order to be able to inspect the course and take a bunch of runs to familiarize myself so that by race time, I feel comfortable,” Pitts said. “I’m always on the mountain first, when it is really quiet.”
The next race on Pitts’ list is the U.S. Open at Diablo Freeride Park in New Jersey over Memorial Day weekend, where he will represent Santa Cruz Bicycles/Kirt Voreis AllRide Academy.
This race presents a whole new level of difficulty. The U.S. Open attracts around 250 of the world’s best pro racers, but only 60 get to race.
This will be the first of many such events for Pitts, whose schedule also includes two World Cup races in Canada.
For a full race report and info on Pitts, go to GraemePitts.com
Wente Vineyards Classic
The Union staff
Rusk Whipps and Rick Kalb, members of the Sierra Express/Sho-Air Racing Team, took second and third places in their division at the Wente Vineyards Classic Road Race in Livermore on April 25.
The good friends were flying up front on the final lap of the race, with Kalb leading Whipps as they headed toward the uphill finish.
“I had made my way up front and told Rusk I was there,” Kalb wrote in an e-mail. “We made the right turn and there we were 1 & 2, exactly as planned, a miracle! I told Rusk to Go! I stood up and passed him and our plan was working perfect, we were (first) and (second) ... for about 10 seconds.
That’s when Miles Wadsworth of Team Bicycle Trip passed the SERT duo on the final climb for first place in the Category 4/5, Masters 45-and-over division.
Whipps wound up second and Kalb third, which matched his own previous finish in the event two years earlier.
“So the plan did not work exactly out,” Kalb wrote. “But what a day. How often do you to get to podium with one of your best friends and teammates in a big race?
“Wow,” Whipps added. “Finishing second and Rick third with a huge field at Wente is really a dream result. And to get this result with one of my best friends ... amazing, just amazing!”
