Barb Howe diary: The home front

Fontana was a race that kept on giving. As a result of my superb bike handling skills and collisions with the ground my back tweaked out mid-week at work. It was one of those moments where it feels as if fire is shooting down your legs and up your back. You can't breathe or move for what could be an eternity.

I was moving stuff around and twisted a bit sideways when the moment hit. After I regained breathing and moving capabilities it seemed prudent go home and lie flat on my back for a while. One massage and a trip to the chiropractor later the back felt better but not great. This small detail wasn't going to stop me from racing at the most local of all races, the Friends of Tamrancho Mountain Bike race, located just a few miles from my home. Tamrancho (aka Boy Scout Camp, www.boyscouts-marin.org ) is a series of legal single track trails located on private property in Fairfax, California.

Although I live and ride all over Mt. Tamalpais, and mountain biking was invented there, single track riding is illegal. There is a petition to legalize single track in Marin County, the petition needs several hundred more signatures, so if you are into cycling check it out and sign it.

The start of the race was a 45 minute ride from home, perfect for getting the legs moving and enjoying the sunshine. The race course utilized some fire roads that are generally off limits to mountain biking so parts of the course were new to me.

I love riding at Tamrancho because there are signs posted reminding cyclist that "bicycles must stay on single track." Does it get any better than that? After getting my number and giving some bottles to a friend for a feed I checked out the start of the course with Rachel (the one who won the Super D at NMBS#2).

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