He runs the team side of the Linked Cycling Team and continues to find ways to meet, help, and ride with riders of all abilities.

Sean Smith Plots out the Kids Race course June 28 (photo courtesy Steve Shambeck PLS Photography)

Sean Smith’s persistence & dedication in organizing the OTH Kid’s Race every week is a perfect example of his selfless attitude in serving his community.

Last year Sean came to us, and said,  “Our team would like to help volunteer with the kids’ race, it’s important, and we love seeing what the kids’ race is doing to get people excited about racing”.

Sean’s initiation turned into this year’s reality of the WEEKLY Kid’s Race. Because of Sean and Linked, the kid’s race is not just an Over the Hump novelty, it’s where most of our parents come out more jazzed about what their kid gets to do on the bike that night, than the main event where they are racing themselves. And at 5:30pm each week this summer the Kids Race has been the MAIN EVENT.

Sean would tell you this is not an award he deserves or wants. That it’s been a privilege to serve and be a part of the Over the Hump community, watching others thrive and succeed. That he loves the race, and the people there, and is proud to be a part.

And we might have let that slide, until Sean raised the bar for community, service and personal character.

Sean Smith, from Linked Cycling who was competing the first half of the season, June 21 in the Expert group sacrificed his race.  A rider had gone down in crucial corner, with tons of traffic and was lying in the middle of the course.  Sean abandoned his bike, and the race, to help support the downed rider who severely broke his ankle.  Sean helped Ryan get off the course, before a pack of riders came upon him.  He then left his bike behind and helped Ryan into our race support Kawasaki Mule and took the rider to a place where medics could assist him.  All the time comforting the injured rider, holding his ankle, and preventing further injury.

Thank you to Linked for running our kids race this season, Sean

OAKLEY and Over the Hump are recognizing a man that inspires. And in this case, the one who might “want it least” exemplifies the spirit of the OAKLEY Jupiter Award. A man who rode for himself, now riding for and with others.

We are proud to present Sean Smith the final 2011 OAKLEY Jupiter Award.

In face Sport 3 is in a 3 way point tie that will come down to a decision on tomorrows race first, then who won over the other in the case of a tie (comparing previous races).

So Congratulations to our week 11 leaders, and get ready for some real mixing it up out there tomorrow night!
Leader Jersey 083011
Note to Leaders: It is required each leader check out the Verizon Leader Jersey tomorrow and wear it to race.

After each racer has collected 9 races they get to drop the worst of their finishes, and keep the best 9. So after 9 weeks, here’s our Verizon Leaders! Congratulations after all the hard work, it’s paying off!
Leader Jersey 081611

This week the winners are:

Women:

Men:

1. Join STRAVA for free 3 month trial (Click Here)
2. Then (click here) to Join the “Over the Hump Race “Event”- you’ll need to select the “Join Event Button”
3. Record your race on a GARMIN or GPS enabled device
4. After race night upload your race GPS to participate! (STRAVA Automatically places your results)

Look for other stages of the STRAVA Challenge after each race, and marked out on the course.  You can click here to get started with a free 3 month membership.

The Verizon Leader Jersey is back!

Each week the series point leader will wear the Leader Jersey…and that’s the guys n’ gals you’re chasing….or if you’re wearing it, you’re the one on the run!

Points are awarded for each finish, (SEE RULES FOR POINTS AWARDED).

You keep the best 9 of 12 race finish/points accumulated in the class you race in, and end of the year you take home your very own leader’s jersey.  The only price is hard work and determination.  May 24 it’s on, and the first Jersey will be presented on Tuesday June 1, 2011. Series Finale and Awards Ceremony is August 30th, 2011.

FOLLOW THE LEADER!

400 racers line up at the start (photos courtesy Frank Villalvazo)

It’s bitter sweet!  Sweet as we had a seriously epic season… and bitter to say goodbye to the season as it is now behind us.  We’ve made new friends, enjoyed racing, and are passionate about the sport of mountain biking. The entire summer is a total highlight in our short Over the Hump history.

A year ago, we sat down and dreamed up our mission: Over the Hump- a race for everyone, beginners to experienced racers. A fun-family-friendly, fun, but competitive event that would allow people to experience mountain bike racing in Orange County. Midweek-after work, and close to home.  Over the Hump was born, and this week’s race was a huge testimony to the fact that all of us, racers, volunteers and staff, have bought the vision.

Working backwards, the race was the season finale, a great show of 30+ exhibitors and sponsors, followed by our awards ceremony, recognizing our top 3 racers in each category (16 total categories).  The cherry on top was the smiles on all the faces, and the numerous comments of … “what are we going to do until next summer’s series”. Of course that pasted a smile to our faces.  Smiles that made it all worth it…it was a ball! Recognizing all the racers, who worked so hard, was the most fun for us.

Tinker Juarez and Sid Taberlay led out the pack of Pros

Every week for the second half of the season OTH has a kids race, right before the “Main Event”.  Volunteers have literally owned the kids race, from lead riders, to scorers to prize giveaways.  The Linked Team, got behind the race in a big way, along with many other individual volunteers all season long. This week’s winner was: Ryan Goodwin (6 years old), in  a field of 5 to 10 year olds.

Tuesday night brought a cool breeze to the lake, and a consistently dropping water level introduced some extra beach to our course and a new front row spectator area, right on the edge of the water.  In attendance were our nearly 400 racers, hundreds of  fans, family and friends, lining the course, and loads of private and professional photographers immortalizing the moment.

Tinker Juarez and Sid Taberlay led out the pack as the pros took off! In the mix were Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized and H2o Overdrive), “Tinker” Juarez (Cannondale), Dana Weber (Trek), and David Santos (KS), leading the rest of the field out. Teams and individuals from all over Southern California joined the party too.  Unlike most mountain bike races we were happy to see hundreds of racers in t-shirts, Camelbacks riding  entry level bikes, meaning the most important dream of our little “race around the lake” had come true…” a race for everyone, beginner to experienced racer.”

As the masses rolled through, some even came out with serious personality, wearing rubber duckies, wigs, and vintage t-shirts, vintage bikes with chrome and coaster brakes…after playing all season long at “serious racing” some of our regulars decided it was time to get a photo opportunity.

Every week a bulk of our race support each week has come from shops…this week, all of our supporting bike shops were out in full force, along with family, friends rallying for one last go around on the course.  And it was a busy night for them, as we had 170 onsite registrations, some serious t-shirt closeout sales, and a truckload of thousands of dollars of product to distribute to our series winners, with their trophies, and leaders jerseys.

I’ve done some perusing of STR this week, and reading the race reviews, it’s like getting a first hand view from a helmet cam on a racers bike…along with a snowball of other perspectives.  Literally the recurrent theme is….”loved it!  I’ll be back. Can’t wait till next year. I never knew racing could be so fun”.

The race course was full  with nearly 400 racers on the course, our little 4.5 mile course took on a life of its own. The kind of traffic that makes for fast competition on the flats and downhills, and challenging singletrack negotiation.  Most of the riders were able to make moves in the flats. Sid Taberlay told me his secret on the closed course with varying levels.  “I would sprint when the course opened up, and get out front when I could. Then when the traffic slows you down, everyone else gets stuck in the same traffic I do.” Worked for Sid, when the race was over, even with the elite bike racers in the group, Sid finished 38 seconds in front of our series winner David Santos, and 3+ minutes ahead of 4th place.

You can check out all of the evening results from Tuesday night’s race at http://overthehumpseries.com/race-info/results .

Along with the race series finishes (top 3 from each category posted below) we recognized one racer in particular, that embodies the spirit of over the Hump.  Sam Tamura was our most inspiration racer for the season (though there were tons of inspirational riders). Sam started riding in October 2009.  Entered the beginner category this summer, with 8 months riding experience.  We moved him to the  Sport after three races, because he was gapping the Beginners in his class by over two minutes every race. After Sam moved to sport he only had 9 races left to capture series points, in the Sport category, for the season.  He was able to race 8 of the 9 races (had to miss one due to travel). Of those he finished in the top 10 four times (including Tuesday). Same was rewarded with a very nice Blast wheelset from Novatech, who supported OTH as an exhibitor this season.  Sam said after the race, “Over the Hump became the highlight of my week, even to the point where I rearranged my work travel schedule so I could be here.  Some weeks it was the only ride I got it in.  I had a great time and met so many new friends.” Sam may need to sign an endorsement agent for next year, because he’s the perfect OTH poster racer! Lots of heart and a big smile. Congratulations on being our Most Inspirational Racer Sam.

Sam Tamura 2010 OTH Most Inspirational Racer

In looking back on the series, we couldn’t have had as wild a race, with the huge level of support, and prizes as we did without our sponsors. We’d like to take a moment to recognize those sponsors and encourage you, the racers to support these sponsors. Not only do they have great products and services, but they also got involved in a way that through their efforts and financial contributions made a 12 race series possible.

John presenting Chris, from Verizon, with the Verizon Leader Jersey

Verizon- Presenting Sponsor

H2O Overdrive- Gold Sponsor
Specialized- Gold Sponsor

Other sponsors include: Crank Brothers, Oakley, SDG Components, Silver Sage Advisors, Two Brothers  Racing, Kawasaki, and each of our featured bicycle shops Rock N’ Road Cyclery, Jax Bicycle Center, The Path Bike Shop, Bike Religion, Surf City Cyclery, and Incycle.  Please click their links below or on the sponsor page to support them.

It’s been a great season. Fantastic! Amazing actually!  We are so proud to be a part of this Orange County racing culture. It is only fitting to end the season acknowledging those who have raced so hard! Congratulations to the 2010 Over the Hump Mtb race Series Winners:

Girls Juniors (age 11 to 15 yrs)
1   Liliana Rehorn, Mission Viejo
2   Danielle Emter, Foothill Ranch
3   Newara Brosnan Faltas, Aliso Viejo

Boys Juniors (age 11 to 15 yrs)
1   J.d. Hentzen, Laguna Niguel
2   Ben Bennett, Santa Ana
3   Zachary Frohock, Trabuco Canyon

Womens Beginner (all ages)
1   Elise Wallace, Orange
2   Deborah Ford, Newport Beach
3   Namtran Nguyen, Fountain Valley

Mens Beginner 4 (ages 50 and over)
1   Paul Jaramillo, La Habra
2   Chuck Miller, Fountain Valley
3   William Stone, Cypress

Mens Beginner 3 (ages 40-49)
1   Greg Wolfe, Fullerton
2   Bow Lemp, Mission Viejo
3   John Lenell, Newport Beach

Mens Beginner 2 (ages 30-39)
1   Chris Griffin, La Habra
2   Joshua Powers, Tustin
3   Torey Payne, San Clemente

Mens Beginner 1 (ages 29 and under)
1   Tyler Nail, San Juan Capistrano
2   Benjamin Franchi, Huntington Beach
3   Christopher Hayden, Santa Ana

Womens Sport (all ages)
1   Wilhelmina Zuckerman, Orange
2   Amy Griffin, La Habra
3   Hilary Mann, Dana Point

Mens Sport 4 (ages 50 and over)
1   Dale Raymond, Corona
2   Geof Sanberg, Lake Forest
3   Donald Jackson, Mission Viejo

Mens Sport 3 (ages 40-49)
1   Derek Nye, Costa Mesa
2   Alex Suchey, Rancho Cucamonga
3   Darin Tanikawa, Irvine

Mens Sport 2 (ages 30-39)
1   James Metcalfe, Santa Ana
2   Jeffrey Lewis, Tustin
3   John Dang, Garden Grove

Mens Sport 1 (ages 29 and under)
1   Josh Kompa, Trabuco Canyon
2   Paul Greve, Lake Forest
3   Alex Milewski, San Clemente

Womens Expert (all ages)
1   Lisa Crowe, Redlands
2   Leslie Williams, Ladera Ranch
3   Kym Slingerland, Orange

Mens Expert (all ages)
1   Jason Rusnak, Lake Forest
2   Ryan Cox, San Juan Capistrano
3   Craig Hopps, Mission Viejo

Mens Pro (all ages)
1   David Santos, El Cajon
2   Jason Siegle, Costa Mesa
3   Doug Andrews, Mission Viejo

We had a great time, and can’t wait for more to come. Stay posted we’ll have other races between now and next summer, but mark your calendar, Over the Hump 2011 kicks off on Tuesday nights in May, for twelve more races and a whole round of new stories.

THANK YOU! from us…John Russell, Matt Wenger, and the OTH Team!  See you on the trail.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 wasn’t just another Over the Hump for me…it was like my first, all over again. Kind of nostalgic, for me.   I remember reading Tonya Bray’s coverage in Mountain Bike Action online, and several of David Whiting’s race reports and news features from last summer.

Over the last year, waiting for the summer to start John and I got a little antsy waiting. The first two OTH’s last summer, had a “great community vibe, and grass roots feel”, as STR members and the reporters recounted their experiences.  OTH allowed racers like Sid Taberlay, Manny Prado, Johnny Omara and the like to race alongside 9 and 10 year old girls and boys.  What we remembered was the vibe, because neither of us had raced personally, in the series, it truly was the family fun and competitive nature of the event that brought us deep satisfaction being a part of this mountain bike phenomenon in Orange County; short course, midweek, all-level racing for everyone…no attitude (less for sure) and a ton of fun.  Summer 2009 has gone down in John and my books as one of the best summers in our history.  We’re honored to be part of your Over the Hump.

Matt's race bike, ready for some fallen tree clearing before the race

But, for me this week was different. I was preparing to race.  And when I get excited about something, I kind of fixate…A LITTLE.  Demo bike was my planned, rather than my 2.4″ tired 5.5″ suspensioned Specialized Stumpjumper, and I was super pumped. Short story, night before demo wasn’t returned so I took my very fast Stumpy into RockNRoad, put a 2″ tire on rear, rolled my 2.2″ Captain to the front tire, threw on an SDG Saddle (gotta roll with the sponsors….loved the saddle, stiff, light, perfect out of the box, won’t need any tweaks on angle or position, but that’s a different story)… and packed the spandex, shoes, helmet, and headed for the lake.

A typical Tuesday has me sitting at the microphone and working with the course marshals officiating, and Billy and John and a myriad of volunteers, doing the brainiac scoring, check-in etc. This week, I headed out on my bike to warm up a little and check the course for the last minute. Somewhere between the morning and the afternoon (course was already set up) 4 trees with 6 inch trunks had fallen accross the singletrack in the cottonwoods, so I got to work, a great pre-ride, into the cottonwoods with our little, handy dandy CHAINSAW.  It took the efforts of Matt from InCycle, Bill Stone, our Beginner 4 Points Leader and several other riders to move the 4 trees out of the course…all around 4:30pm…my heart was pounding, just from the adrenaline of the “what if we can’t get it cleaned up” option (all in the life of a glorious promotor’s world). After the tree was removed and the course clear, I rolled a couple sections of the course, and headed to the start.

The field was led out by our pros and experts, joined this week by Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air), along with expert Racers Ty Kady (Sho-Air) and our resident pro leaders Jason Siegle (Bike Religion) and Expert leader Jason Rusnak. Of course since they started, my wave was only two horn squawks away….my heart was pounding, like a 12 year old with the weight of the world on his shoulders at the 5th grade Jog-A-Thon.

Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air) charging with his H2OOverdrive socks and headed to a 3+ min. pro win (photo Jason Zindroski)

I’m not a race veteran, will kind of, my last race was Vision Quest, 2008, though mountain biking is a passion, I’m a trail rider, not a racer.  I started mountain biking for rehab and it stuck. (For those who love a back story,  you can pick a piece of it up here).   But to see everybody else race all season, made the contagious tingle be a little too much to bare so I decided to line up. Several riders had given me instructions. Get out fast, hold your line, get into the single track before it backs up.  One of my buddies actually offered to escort me through the course on his rear wheel…sounded like a good idea to me (at the time).

John started us off, and I literally headed out, top of my gears toward the single track and hit it in 5th or 6th position going in.  Rolled through the cottonwood section and down the drop out of the single track, along the fire road and into the S-Turns on the far side of the lake, then made the turn still with a large group of the S2′s who I was racing with in sight. (I wasn’t with them anymore, but they were in sight).  My glory, spent, and now the reality kicks in, since adrenaline was gone so was the rest of my group.

(photo Zindroski)

Making that left turn onto the flats on the back stretch of the course, my heart pounding, all I could think about was grabbing someone’s wheel. Actually, there were two thoughts, that gnarly steep/quick climb on the other side, which I’d have to climb 3 times over the course of the race. Uggh! I consider myself fit, usually can hang in the middle of a group ride, and love competition. But now 1/4 into my first lap, the competition was me versus me. I knew I had to finish or my ego would eat me for dinner. DNF not an option, I’d walk through the finish line if I had to.

Rolling through the staging area, I have to tell you the best thing I had going for my pained body was the smile from ear to ear I grew hearing my wife, and 2 and 3 year old saying “Go Daddy, Go!”, it gave me another little boost. (Good to be a hero in your kids eyes, even slipping to the back of my group). The back side of the course single track was my favorite section, super flowy and tight in sections, with the killer roll off the bridge into the left 30 foot climb section immediately off the bridge.  Interesting to me, was though there was a little congestion through the single track (read a few people in front and behind me) I never once was caught in a bottle neck.

From an organizers perspective I couldn’t be more proud of what happens out on the course. Kids were encouraged by almost every rider I heard and saw passing them (and me), riders who couldn’t make sections that could have clogged pulled their bikes out of the way to let people pass, and I had some great quick interchanges with people along the way.  Josh Baldwin (S2) and I rode down the backstretch on my third lap, and he told me, “I’ve raced 3 and I’m hooked; this is great for a dad with kids at home I love being able to race on Tuesdays, close to home and work. Thanks!”. (sorry Josh I know you didn’t know you were being interviewed. James Ackerman looked at me as I rode by him on the last climb and said, “hey, aren’t you supposed to be announcing?”

On lap 2 I found a rythym. It still hurt, but I was in my “no man’s slot” and riding solo, almost the entire two laps…good and bad I suppose.  The light changed all night long, so each time I hit a section into the sun it changed the ride…just another thing spectators miss watching the course. Easy to not notice some the technical aspects of racing in a group of people.  Several times I could see 50 feet in front of me, but not the single track below my tires, so I  pointed and shot…it worked out for me this time.

Back in the staging area, the festivities rocked on, like every night, pre-post race volunteers from Incycle and the Dream Bikes came out with Crankbrothers, to make it another great night at the Lake.

Lap three was my most eventful one, on the back flats I was pushing 19 miles an hour with my big ring, maxing out. Sid Taberlay, caught me (surprised I wasn’t), but he was all alone.  I think I saw him for 1 minute and he was around the corner up the hill, and onto finish more than 3 minutes ahead of the rest of the pro field.  As I climbed the last gnarly steep hill on the back side of the course I ran into one dad, running support for his Junior racer helping him up the back steep section with a turbo boost push, and he was a proud dad.

Then it got really interesting. At the top of the last fast descent I hung on the wheel of Pro Jason Siegle (my new claim to fame), for 10 seconds…and that’s essentially where my race ended.  I came up on our EMT with a rider in the right side of the road chucked my bike, waived riders through slowly, and waited for the paramedics to arrive.

Good news, Dan, the crashed rider is now out of the hospital and walking around, and still loves Over the Hump. However the bad news is Dan’s season is over.  He broke two ribs and suffered a concussion.  Fortunately that was the extent of the injuries for a serious fall. We wish you the best Dan.  Now enter some all-around good people. Candy, from Surf City Cyclery, who knew Dan was one of their own friends and customers,  suspected the injury might be him, rode a bike back to us at the injury.  Candy took care of all things personal that Dan had at the race…including calling family, taking his truck back to Huntington, and locking his bike up for safe keeping.  I was so impressed by each of the riders who rode by asking if they could do anything before continuing.  EMT’s, paramedics, and friends, thanks for all you did to help us during a less than perfect situation.

After sending Dan off to the hospital, I headed on in…knowing DNF was going to be a technical semantic , but heck, I rode the whole course to  get my 1:49:33.0 33rd place finish in the S3 category. That gives me 17 points for the season, and in strong competition for …my girls to keep cheering.

The more notable finishes of the night: movement happened in the S3 Series results with Derek Nye moving back into the #1 slot, and Craig Erion killing it in the S4 category and having worked himself into the #1 Series slot.

Pro finishes went: 1 Sid Taberlay , 2 Jason Siegle ,  3 Eric Bierman

Expert finishes went: 1 Johnny O’Mara , 2 Ty Kady Brea , 3 Jason Rusnak

The best battle of the night was faught between Women’s Sport class riders, and came down to a gnarly battle: 1 Wilhelmina Zuckerman (lost her chain and was down for 30 seconds in last lap, and keeps the Verizon Leader Jersey), two seconds behind her, 2 Amy Griffin , and two seconds behind her 3 Hilary Mann

There were plenty of other battles fought, won and lost out on the course, and you can find all the rest of the results on the RESULTS page.

"End of the race, everyone's smiling" STR (photo Zindroski)

So, from this Over the Hump “racer”, to the rest of our racers. Each of you who races each week, you’ve earned a huge congratulations and ton of respect from our Over the Hump Team.  I knew it was tough, and knew I’d suffer, and as my wife summed it up best at the end of my ride, looking at my dust goggled-tired face (Charity’s raced two beginner races herself), “I told you it was going to be tougher than you thought it would be, didn’t I”.  It was harder than I imagined, and much more fun, too.

Every rider out there rocks!

See you at the lake. We love this race, and all the people involved. Thanks for letting me be a 12 year old kid with you all for one week. Now I’ve got to get back to work and jump back on the microphone and exercise my gums for the rest of the season. If you’re a rider on the fence and been wondering what it’s like to race Over the Hump, like me, here’s how you can find out…CLICK HERE, JUST DO IT. $25 and an hour of your life, you’ll never have a regret.

Only 3 more races left…

Look for these guys in leader’s jerseys tomorrow! Remember there’s 6 more races and you only need 9 races to collect the max points…dropping your worst races means everyone has a strong chance (and places will change dramatically from week 9-12).

We can’t wait to get started tomorrow. See you out there.

Check out the rest of Jason Zindroski’s photos from HighRevPhoto.com We’re going to miss him being at the next race…any aspiring amateur photographer’s out there. Email us -

Here’s the rest of the gallery: OTH #5 photos now up! http://www.highrevphoto.com/photos/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=2040.

Drop by and see the photos online at http://highrevphoto.com , where you can buy your high rez images for framing, bragging, or to see what you’d look like if you had hair (provided you look as young as John and Matt when they wear a helmet).

Still offering coupon code OTH for 5% off. http://www.highrevphoto.com/photos/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=2029

Beginner Mens 1's Benjamin Kelchner (143), and Beginner Mens 2's Samuel Tamura (359) battle it out for fastest beginner time on June 8th's race at Irvine Lake.

Here’s a few teasers until all your photos are available online with High Rev Photos. You can also post your own photos for everyone to see on our Facebook Page