Another Season Ends-By Kim “Champ” Finch
Kim has to be our most prolific racer on the team. She has earned more awards in her racing career than any of us could ever imagine earning. So it brings me great pleasure to share her 2009 race season. The MtnBikeRiders.com Race Team is very proud of her and her accomplishments.
Well here we are with another racing season at its end. This has been an awesome year of racing & riding. The SRC awards, which was held on Sunday, 12-13-2009, and was as always a lot of fun! I had a chance to visit with everyone and chat about the up & coming 2010 season. I had a great 2009 season with XC, Super D & Downhill.
Downhill racing was new to me this year and with the help of Tony, Nancy & Roger, I made it through the season with only one injury! I made some great new friends, Traci & Lala in the downhill races.
Being part of Mtnbikeriders.com Team has been a great experience as well. The support that I received from everyone was great. The team first seemed to be just a bunch of people that love to ride and turned into a family! What a great time I had with all of them. Each person on the team seemed to improve as the season went on. Priscilla was a lot of fun to ride with and is a great support during our training. We’re constantly pushing each other to improve all the time. Also is very nice to have a lady to ride with!
My goal this year when I started the season was to qualify for Nationals and be able to attend. I have raced several years but this goal had alluded me. I race several events and was thrilled when I received the email telling me I had qualified! We quickly made arrangements and before I knew it off to Colorado!
The race course was unbelievable! I even forgot I was racing I was enjoying the views and the most wonderful technical single-track course I have ever raced on! I finished the race with the sheer joy of being there and crossing the finish line, then to my surprised I had placed 2nd in XC Cat 3 Women 40-49! I did it!
I raced all season at Fontana, Woodward & Mammoth. It was a great experience to not only do XC & Supper D, but now adding the downhill!
The Southridge awards for overalls completed and I placed 1st in XC, Super D & Downhill! The US Kenda Cup Series, which included, Bonelli Park, Sagebrush, & Santa Yenz, for the West, I took first in overalls for this series. I entered the Triple Crown Series: Bonelli Park, Mt SAC & our home course of Fontana, allowing me to finish 1st in overalls.
Each race I entered was able to place at least in the top five. This was also my own personal guideline for moving out of CAT 3 division. Our team did fantastically well all season long and we all made some new friends along the way. For myself I am moving from CAT 3/beginner to CAT 2/sport category in all race disciplines. I am hoping to have as much fun is this category as I have in the pervious years. Our team sponsors have been good to us this year and the goodies have been a nice treat. Everyone’s support both on & off the racecourse has been fantastic.
I am looking forward to the next season and marking my calendar!
Happy New year to everyone and we’ll see you on the trails!