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Mountain
Biking - Competition
Many of his riding buddies kept
telling him that he was really good and fast on a bike, and that he
should consider racing. Well, he finally relented in the winter of
2007-08 and entered the last race of the DORBA Frozen Four-Hour
series. He quickly realized that starting out with an endurance race was not
the smartest thing to do, so he quickly changed his approach to race the
local XC events. His first XC series was in 2008 and he competed in
the 2009 and 2013 series. He skipped the DORBA 2010 and 2011 XC
Series because he was working in Nevada, and the DORBA 2012 XC
Series because he was working in Oregon.
2013 RCP 100 In
2013, Bruce participated in his first 100 mile cross-country race on
November 16th. The race was held at the DORBA trail in Rowlett Creek
Preserve, and he ran a series of loops that were just over 10 miles
in length. His intent was to do 10 laps, checking in with the
scoring table and making pit stops at the end of each lap. He
finished just over 8 laps for 82 miles. Ride time was 7:46:23 and
the elapsed time was 9:18:00. He finished 6th out of a field of 40.
2013 DORBA XC Series
The DORBA XC series for 2013 had five races scheduled, although only
three were able to be run. The race venues were LB Houston Park,
Rowlett Creek Preserve, Sansom Park, Boulder Park and Cedar Hill
State Park. Sansom and Boulder had to be dropped due to weather.
LB Houston
The LB Houston race was run on August 18th. Bruce finished in third
place for the CAT-3 60+ division. Here is a shot taken by Kazey
Bunch out on the course.
Below, is Joe and Bruce receiving their awards.
Rowlett Creek Preserve The
second race in the series was run at Rowlett Creek Preserve on
September 8th. Here is a shot taken by Kazey Bunch out on the
course.
Bruce led the race up until the sprint to the finish, and was then
overtaken by his buddy Joe in the last few hundred feet. He finished
in second place for the CAT-3 60+ division. Below, is Joe and Bruce
receiving their awards.
 Back to the top
Cedar Hill State Park
Bruce took second place in the third and final race of the DORBA
Fall Series. Below is s photo of Bruce at the awards presentation at
Cedar Hill SP. A new racer took first place, Joe took third and Clay
fourth.
DORBA Series Results and Awards Banquet
The DORBA Fall Series wrapped up with the Cedar Hill SP race. The
points standings had Joe Stokes in first place, Bruce in second and
Clay Wally in third place. The photo
below shows Bruce receiving his second-place medal at the Awards
Banquet.
Below are the top three at the DORBA awards banquet. Bruce in on the
left with his 2nd place medal, Joe Stokes is in the middle with his
1st place medal, and Clay Wally on the right with his 3rd place
medal. These three old guys are good friends as well as competitors,
and keep their racing light-hearted, casual and in good fun.
 2009 North
Texas Cross-Country Series Bruce's
second try at racing was very encouraging. He finished in first
place in his division for the first race at Oak Cliff in August. The photo below shows him on his way to his initial first
place finish at Oak Cliff. His buddy "Digital Rebel" Ric gets credit
for the great photo.
The year 2009 was a bad one for the DORBA race series. Most of the
local races were rained out because the trails were too muddy. Over
all, Bruce finished the "abbreviated series" in second place for his
division with 104 points, just two points behind his buddy Joe Mueller. Back to the top
2008 North
Texas Cross-Country Series
 His
first "serious" attempt at racing was the DORBA NTX-XC series in the
fall of 2008. This is a popular series in the DFW area and typically
draws about 400 competitors. Bruce trained for this series and pre-rode
the courses. Overall standings were determined by the best three of
four races completed. This was fortunate since he started four races and
was only able to finish there. He was not able to finish the Sansom race because of
a tire failure.
His first race of the series was at
Oak Cliff and he finished third in his division, the 55+ beginners.
He should be racing in the 60+ division, but there aren't enough
guys over 60 to make up the division. The next race was at Sansom, and he
pinch-flatted on a rocky ledge next to the trail. He didn't have a spare tube
on him, so he
walked out and took a DNF. The photo at the right shows him at the
start of the Sansom race. The bike he was riding in the photo is a
loaner from Richardson Bike Mart. He had to ride the loaner because
he broke the frame on his Fisher
Paragon just before the series, and it was in the shop getting a new
frame.
 The
third race of his "rookie" season was at his "home course", Rowlett
Creek Preserve. Since this is his home trail, he was very familiar
with the course and how to ride it. He was also able to spend a lot of
time training for this race. This familiarity and work paid off. The photo to the right
shows him crossing a creek on his way to another third place finish in
his category and division.
 The
final race of the 2008 series was out at Solavaca Ranch near Glen
Rose southwest of Ft. Worth. This is one of the more difficult
courses in the series, and since it was over 100 miles away, he was only
able to pre-ride it once. The photo at the left shows him in a
"controlled skid" negotiating
a loose descent on the course. A lot of guys went down on this
section, but he managed to keep "rubber side down" as he came down off
the hill-top and ultimately finished fourth in his division.
For his rookie season in the Fall of 2008, he finished fourth overall in the series
in the 55+ division.
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2007 DORBA
Frozen Four-Hour Bruce's first official
competition was one of the races in the DORBA endurance series called the Frozen
Four-Hour. This was a four-race series of races held during the winter
months after the XC series. The name could be deceptive. Some race
days it would be freezing cold and others would be very nice. It
just depended on which way the wind was blowing. He
finished 42nd overall in the February 2007 race. He managed to race the entire
four hours and lost 7 pounds. After that one endurance racing
experience, he decided it was too much for a guy his age and that he should
stick to the shorter XC races. Back to the top
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