Donnie Harries Write Article for Florida Racing Magazine

Please check out the next edition of the Florida Racing Magazing, featuring our own Donnie Harries!
http://www.floridaracingmagazine.com/

     Racer report for Santos Trail to Trail race – Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Santos Trail-to-Trail race was brought to you  by Red Trail Racing out of Tampa. The Trail-to-Trail race has been around for several years, but this was the first time they used the Santos Trailhead side, where there are about seven miles of red trails – known to many as “Red Death.” The weather was perfect. The trails were perfect. Thank you to all of the volunteers and OMBA, especially Dave Stewart, who is a one-man trail trimming machine. If you see this man, please thank him.

The first thing I want to say is thank you to Greenway Bicycles/Retro City Cycles for all of their support in my racing adventures. Since I started working at Greenway Bicycles, I have been able to ride the Santos trails everyday, and I started a Wednesday Night Series that went through the summer; those with lights still continue to meet every Wednesday at 6 pm. Thank you Dano, Jessica, Kevin, Joey Pearce, my mechanic - you guys have true passion for Mountain Biking.  Thank you to the rest of my support team:  Dana Harries, my awesome wife; Kaitlin Harries, the true star of the family; Nightwatch Services, Los Alacranes Mexican Restaurant, Kay’s Mini Lane Farm.

Back to the race:  I entered the all-mountain class, I ride my MTB 100% of the time, and also saw that this class had a cash payout, so I really wanted to do well. When we started lining up, I looked around to see many familiar faces, and also to see who was riding what class.  I lined up next to Regan Woodall, who was also racing the all-mountain class, so I knew this was going to be a tough race!  We have had the pleasure of racing together in the Hammerhead 100 – 25 mile race.

 From the start, my goal was to keep the Woodall brothers in sight for as long as possible.  I was fourth into the woods behind Ryan, Regan, and John Murry.  My teammate, Evan Stalzer, who was also racing all-mountain solo, was 5^th behind me. I had some bike trouble and lost about 10 places on the first lap, but recovered and was able to pass quite a few riders.  When I came out of the woods, I was still in good podium position.  We hit the road for three 11-mile laps, I hammered from the start and drafted off of every roadie I could during the first lap.  Right at the finish of the first lap, I was caught by another mountain biker, Russell Peelman.  We caught up to Steve, from the Brick City Team, and the three of us worked together the entire second lap.  During the third lap, Russell and I let Steve pull for a majority of the lap, and I also received some help from fellow teammate, Dave Dodd, who was racing as a team with Dano Kinnee.

Going back into the woods, I was in 2^nd place, Regan Woodall was over 20 minutes ahead of me, but Russell was only one second behind me.  I could see that 2^nd place money in my head, so I put the hammer down and Russell stayed with me until the top of Magic Mountain.  That is where I attacked the down side and hammered Rattlesnake Ridge.  I was able to break away and secure the 2^nd place win!  What an honor to stand on the podium with those men.  Congrats to Regan and Russell, as well as my teammates Dave and Dano, who placed 3^rd in the team race.  Congrats to everyone who participated, it was a fun, but tough, race!

Red Trail Racing did an excellent job, thank you all, and I look forward to doing more of your races.  Thanks Florida Racing Magazine, you guys rock!