Nevada City Dirt Classic #3

The third and final Nevada City Dirt Classic took place on the extremely dusty and slightly rocky Upper Pioneer and Hallelujah trails 15 miles outside of Nevada City in the Tahoe National Forest. 

Rock garden time!

The course proved to be challenging and with PRO/Expert racers doing four laps it turned out to be a little bit of a pain fest, despite the grueling and steep climb out of the headwaters of deer creek there was still many ribbons of velvet singletrack winding through the forest to enjoy and the long lose rock garden on Upper Pioneer is always a good time.

The CAT 1 field heads out.

For me I hit it hard the first two laps, and was feeling great, but as I rolled around for the third time fatigue set in and by the fourth lap I was suffering from back pain and could only push on slowly.  After almost of 28 miles of dry, loose, pain I still managed to be first in the Expert 15-18 category and the day was an excellent training session.

Having fun through the rock garden.

The final race of this  awesome series not only featured great riding but also the long awaited raffle of your choice of full suspension Specialized mountain bike as well as other great prices from all the event sponsors.  Additionally riders who got on the podium all three times got free entry to next years race series.

Thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who make these races possible, especially to Jet Lowe who is the driving force behind YBONC and the Nevada City Dirt Classic.  Also a big thank you to Rob Lowe who always comes out to take amazing photos of the race and makes them available on his website free of charge.  Looking forward to next year!