Downieville Race reports and pics

[Zen_Turtle]

I'm way too tired to write up anything, so I'll do it tomorrow on the plane to Japan,
Meanwhile here are few pics.

Crowded Start

Crowded finish

The Beer Line



Cooling down

Chris King Kitchen

Valet parking

Cooling down

Going home

[Pink Skink]

How did Menso do?

[Zen_Turtle]

Originally Posted by Pink Skink

How did Menso do?

I think he broke his bike or something
JL did 2:58, Justin had 9 min to recover in the DH today to the first place, MrCrash did 3hr and I think MichiganMat was around 3:10.
These are the ones I know about
ZT

[wannabfast]

Menso's rear hub "broke" during the descent.

[Pink Skink]

Thanks! I haven't been able to talk to him yet this weekend and I really wanted to know.

[NoahColorado]

Who Won???

(edit: Adam Craig!)

[rensho]

I know Jdubsl2 did a 2:38 yesterday. Not sure how he did on the DH today.

[iheartbicycles]

Originally Posted by rensho

I know Jdubsl2 did a 2:38 yesterday. Not sure how he did on the DH today.

Just talked to "pelotonissen" aka Josh. He got 7th in expert all mountain. Very, very respectable.

[William42]

anybody know Jengs results?

[SJensen]

Originally Posted by William42

anybody know Jengs results?

dislocated shoulder

[iheartbicycles]

Originally Posted by SJensen

dislocated shoulder

damn. on hte xc or the dh?

[El Castigador]

Originally Posted by SJensen

dislocated shoulder

That blows...get better dude!

[merlin]

This my 6th time doing the XC, i was in the 45 Expert race, which was really stacked this year! My goal was to beat my time of 2:32 of last year by 5 minutes. My climb went well 1:03, 5 minutes faster! After descending Sunrise trail I started to get my first twinge of cramps so I slowed my pace down and downed my second round of supplements. My 2 practice runs this week really paid off! I only had 1 person pass me through the baby heads. I was flying! I made it through Pauley Creek, my usual cramping spot, cramp free, dang I;m killing it! About 10 minutes later more cramping, but I could ride through it but it hurt like hell.
My race changed dramatically as I was flying down one of the trails and then the trail went down a steep rock face. I have no idea what happened, but my bike flew out from underneath me and I landed hard on my left but cheek.
There was a course marshal right there, when I crashed, as I tried to hear what he was saying to me, another racer flew over the rocks and right in to me and knocked me down, hard! Now I had a nice matching set of bruises on both sides of my body, my Bibs were ripped to shreds, and Mr Happy was hurting!! The course marshal got my bike and straighted my bars up and told me I was ready go? Ready to go? Crap, I guess I have to get back on my bike. I knew I had about 30 minutes to go and believe me I wanted to get done ASAP.
Going down the next sections of trail was scary to say the least, more rocks etc. Finally I made to third divide, then passed some riders then hammered 1st divide my favorite part of the course.
When I hit the pavement going to the finish I checked my time, wow,.....I hammered to the finish and finished with time of 2:27. Exactly 5 minutes faster then last year despite the crash. I would have won last years race with this time, but due to the stacked field this year it placed me in 7th. Oh well, thats racing against the big boys.
I'm covered with bruises and road rash, but other then that I'm OK. Sleeping is impossible since everything hurts. I'm sure it will be ok soon.

[JMac47]

Originally Posted by merlin

When I hit the pavement going to the finish I checked my time, wow,.....I hammered to the finish and finished with time of 2:27. Exactly 5 minutes faster then last year despite the crash. I would have won last years race with this time, but due to the stacked field this year it placed me in 7th. Oh well, thats racing against the big boys.
I'm covered with bruises and road rash, but other then that I'm OK. Sleeping is impossible since everything hurts. I'm sure it will be ok soon.

Bummer about the reck though.

[NoBalance]

I've uploaded a set of images to my Flickr account. The set includes the riders that came through my spot on the final section of 1st divide before 12 noon.

I'll upload the rest tomorrow or something. Focus is a bit off on many shots but it'll have to do!

[rensho]

Originally Posted by SJensen

dislocated shoulder

Oh man! That sucks. He just got some bad PO, this last week, and now this? Ouch.

[nickelbolt]

Anyone know the name of the guy who got stacked near the finish and had to be hospitalized? I watched the crash. It was horrible. About 100yds from the hay bales... coming off that turn where the red dodge truck was parked. I have no idea what class these guys were racing but I don't think they had any shot of winning. Still, one guy tries to pass on the inside and he swerves to miss the mirror on the truck. They lock handle bars and they both go down. The guy who caused the crash got up, checked on the other guy quickly, and then rode away to the finish.

The other guy stayed down and my buddy ran up to help him. He was pretty much motionless. He hit the pavement HARD. He didn't know what happened and appeared to be in and out of consciousness. I think someone said the medics thought he broke at least 1 hip and a shoulder. There were two puddles of blood where he laid.

The crash was completely unecessary from what I saw. The truck was partially to blame I think, but the guy didn't need to pass... let alone on the inside of that bend.

If anyone has a name or an update on this guy's condition, please post it. Like I said... it was BRUTAL to watch.

[watsgowinon]

Wow.. look at that biker riding on bare wheel!

[NoBalance]

There's a flickr set for the 2009 Downieville classic:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1116932@N25/

And the results are posted:
http://www.srtiming.com/2009events.html

http://www.srtiming.com/files/XC.pdf
http://www.srtiming.com/files/DH.pdf
http://www.srtiming.com/files/All_Mountain.pdf

[Oso Negro]

good pics

[rensho]

KPD, how did you race go? I see your time. What's the 411 as to how the race went?

[jeng]

Originally Posted by William42

anybody know Jengs results?

Bad, bad crash, possibly my worst mtb crash ever, on 3rd Divide in practice on Friday Super high speed endo onto my shoulder and head. After my vision returned I realized my shoulder was jacked. I think a minor separation.

Drowned my sorrows with a lot of beer Friday night and woke up to horrible pain Saturday morning. At first I thought I was out for sure so I decided to pedal up the climb just to get some pics. I ended up feeling better so I went ahead and headed down the whole course after waiting for most the field to pass me. Somehow I got a spot still in the DH so I rode and made it down in one piece and that's about as good as I can ask for.

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm on the road bike for a few weeks and hopefully will be back for a Rose to Toads next month. Big congrats to the other Justin on the other Remedy

I have a lot of photo's and video to post once I find out who has my camera

[jeng]

P.S. empty_beer threw down a sick XC time and was sitting in 3 or 4th, but broke his chain on the DH in expert class. Bummer... Rose to Toads in August Jeff???

[jdubsl2]

Survived my first attempt at the Downieville Classic. Even brought home some metal! The XC course went much better than I had expected. I came in at 3rd place in the Sport All-Mountain category with a 2h38m. That time was good for 10th on the combined XC/AM roster. I was pretty stoked on that and couldn't wait for the DH race to try and grab 2nd. I had about 9m to close on a 16yo kid about 80lbs lighter than me who rolled up in a team skin suit, a team van and has been racing expert all year... then sandbagged the sport AM. I wasn't very optimistic about being able to close the 9m and was counting on him riding a slow DH time. Yeah, that didn't work. He rode a 52:XX and I came in at just under 55m. The climb up to Third Divide killed me! I missed 2nd in the AM by just over 2 minutes. If you're reading this, great job Obie!

But the stars aligned and I stayed on the bike, no mechanicals or flats... and took home 4th in the DH, 3rd in the AM. I'll count it as 2nd in the AM and 3rd in the DH... sangbagger! There was some trash talkin' up on the podium.

All and all, an excellent race... totally stoked on how well it went and can't wait to go back for more next year! Thanks Chris, Justin, Craig, Tom, both Jeffs, Carmen, etc. for all the support and Stone for the killer house right in town! You guys rock!

[jeng]

Originally Posted by jdubsl2

sangbagger! There was some trash talkin' up on the podium.

There will always be sandbaggers. It's best not to worry about it and just focus on the moment. You are a talented rider and Expert class is in you near future. Just remember to have fun. This is mountain biking for god sakes

[jdubsl2]

Originally Posted by jeng

There will always be sandbaggers. It's best not to worry about it and just focus on the moment. You are a talented rider and Expert class is in you near future. Just remember to have fun. This is mountain biking for god sakes

Hahaha. For sure. It was just a little competitive heckling.

I had a great time and am totally happy with the race. Except my calves. They aren't happy right now. Ouch.

[El Castigador]

edit: saw jeng's earlier post...glad to hear it's not too bad!

[kpd]

Originally Posted by rensho

KPD, how did you race go? I see your time. What's the 411 as to how the race went?

Thanks for asking, rensho. I had two objectives for my first race at Downieville:

1) Do the climb in under an hour
2) Have a conservative, uneventful run to the finish

I don't know about #1, since it appears they didn't time the Packer Saddle split this year. I passed some pros on the climb who completed it in less than an hour last year, so maybe.

I failed miserably at #2. I'm pretty slow on the way down, but was still on track for finishing in under 2:15 and getting 2nd place in expert XC when I crashed near the end of 3rd divide. I landed upside down in a small tree hanging over the drop-off, with my bike on top of me. Long story short, after spending a bunch of time trying to get my bike rideable again I ran/coasted the last ~4 miles to the finish, coming in at 2:49 something.

Oh well. I plan to be back next year, hopefully with a bike that has rear suspension.

Big props to Katerina Nash for winning both the XC and DH. We passed each other a bunch of times, but she was well ahead of me when I went down.

Edit: mistyped rensho's username

[sactojesse]

Originally Posted by jeng

Somehow I got a spot still in the DH so I rode and made it down in one piece and that's about as good as I can ask for.

A 53 minute DH run is pretty good for someone who looked like a crumpled mound of earth with eyes on Friday.

Bummer to hear about Jeff's broken chain. I also had a mechanical on my DH run, a puncture flat through the tread of my UST rear tire. It was too bad because my actual riding time (not counting the time I spent fixing the flat) of 59 minutes and change, according to my Cyclometer, would have been a personal best for me.

[Scribb]

Downieville was my first real bike race. I've been riding as a weekend warrior for years and a buddy of mine challenged me in April to sign up for Downieville and start training. My only previous race was as a beginner last year at Tamarancho, doing only 6 miles. But I got with the program and trained my ass off for the past three months, and wound up placing 4th in the Beginner Veteran men, at 2:55. It's a different world, but a good start to my mid-life crisis. It taught me a lot about what's possible at any stage of life.

Two shout outs: My Very Expensive(TM) XC rims blew up while training, and while the manufacturer warrantied them, they couldn't get them back in time for Downieville. My LBS, Fairfax Cyclery, hooked me up with a demo set of Crank Bros Iodines so I could finish training and ride the race--and now I don't want to give them up. Sweet rims, and great guys all around for hooking me up. Thanks Bryan and Brian. Second, thanks to Eddy MacLeod at Paradigm for setting up a training routine to get a 40 year old novice tuned up to survive Downieville. You're a true sadist.

[mtnbecky]

Is there anything Jenna and I didn't do? Oh yeah, race! But that's OK, we have more fun volunteering than anything else. I put all the DH racers in line on Sunday and checked everyone's ankle bracelet. I chopped potatoes for your potato salad. I gave you all your wristbands so you could enjoy icy cold New Belgium. I checked all your I.D.'s so you could pick up your packets in town. I gave you all your ankle bracelets on Saturday morning. I even vouched for some of you personally that forgot your I.D! Jenna timed everyone, both days, in the timing booth. I snuck in a ride on 1st divide early Friday morning that was the cat's meow...until I got a flat, but that's only because I was thinking about getting a flat and that's what karma will do for you every time. The best part of the trip was dinners with Kevin & Blake when they arrived, and seeing all you guys and meeting some new mtbr folks for the first time. Now on to my job hunt, since I also lost my job in the madness...oh well....new adventure time!

[snowjnky]

Originally Posted by jdubsl2

Survived my first attempt at the Downieville Classic. Even brought home some metal! The XC course went much better than I had expected. I came in at 3rd place in the Sport All-Mountain category with a 2h38m. That time was good for 10th on the combined XC/AM roster. I was pretty stoked on that and couldn't wait for the DH race to try and grab 2nd. I had about 9m to close on a 16yo kid about 80lbs lighter than me who rolled up in a team skin suit, a team van and has been racing expert all year... then sandbagged the sport AM. I wasn't very optimistic about being able to close the 9m and was counting on him riding a slow DH time. Yeah, that didn't work. He rode a 52:XX and I came in at just under 55m. The climb up to Third Divide killed me! I missed 2nd in the AM by just over 2 minutes. If you're reading this, great job Obie!

But the stars aligned and I stayed on the bike, no mechanicals or flats... and took home 4th in the DH, 3rd in the AM. I'll count it as 2nd in the AM and 3rd in the DH... sangbagger! There was some trash talkin' up on the podium.

All and all, an excellent race... totally stoked on how well it went and can't wait to go back for more next year! Thanks Chris, Justin, Craig, Tom, both Jeffs, Carmen, etc. for all the support and Stone for the killer house right in town! You guys rock!

Good job dude!!!

So much for not being ready for the race...
next year expert

[rensho]

Originally Posted by kpd

Thanks for asking, rensho. I had two objectives for my first race at Downieville:

1) Do the climb in under an hour
2) Have a conservative, uneventful run to the finish

I don't know about #1, since it appears they didn't time the Packer Saddle split this year. I passed some pros on the climb who completed it in less than an hour last year, so maybe.

I failed miserably at #2. I'm pretty slow on the way down, but was still on track for finishing in under 2:15 and getting 2nd place in expert XC when I crashed near the end of 3rd divide. I landed upside down in a small tree hanging over the drop-off, with my bike on top of me. Long story short, after spending a bunch of time trying to get my bike rideable again I ran/coasted the last ~4 miles to the finish, coming in at 2:49 something.

Oh well. I plan to be back next year, hopefully with a bike that has rear suspension.

Big props to Katerina Nash for winning both the XC and DH. We passed each other a bunch of times, but she was well ahead of me when I went down.

Edit: mistyped rensho's username

Ouch. You OK?

Sorry to hear you crashed. 3rd divide sure gets uber fast in some sections. So easy to fly off trail, or get launched from many of the risers.
I saw your time, and it didn't fit with the KPD we know. Just glad to hear you're OK enough to run for 4 miles.

[NoBalance]

Some more pics - these are riders coming through my spot on First Divide between noon and 12:30 - packed like sardines!

[Piranha426]

I was there when Jeng crashed. Between the dust and the camouflage DH jersey, you almost couldn't see him on the side of the trail. Maybe there's something to these ridiculously colorful XC jerseys after all... Get better Justin!!!

[iRoNeTiK]

My 1st time out to Downieville (at least to mountain bike)! I had a good time, the weather was great, not too cold or too hot. I enjoyed the climb a lot, just an endless string of riders as you look up the hill.

I got passed a lot on the DH parts, I took it easy and went over most of the stuff without dismounting Although my hands and fingers would hurt from holding the handlebars too tight and bouncing around a lot on my HT.

Crashed once when I stopped paying attention for a split second Just landed on my bum and my shoulder (no rocks!) and luckily no one right behind me. So my ass is a little tender haha. Don't know the trails that well but it was along the hillside with a creek/river to the right, my bike almost went down it. I know it was past Pauley Creek but before 3rd divide? Or maybe it was on it :?
I enjoyed the fajitas by Chris King and the beer by New Belgium! Thanks!

I finished 18th out of 30th for Beg Men 19-34, which is what I figured would happen. Time was around 3:25. Funny thing is, I'm thinking I could finish this course faster if I rode it by myself recreationally. I got slowed down a lot due to the long line up the climb (I'm fast at climbing) and kept stopping on the DH to be considerate and let others keep going (slow at descending)

I have a couple photos of the River Jump I can post up later and before/after shots of myself.

[MarkMass]

Marco and NoBalance: Nice pics!

See some dust-caked familiar faces:
- Jason Moescheler
- Tim from the Varmints
- Jeng
- +others where I can't place the name right now

Check out all of that dust. These guys and gals are hauling ass down the trail and probably can barely make out what's in front of them.

Jdubs: Big congrats on the 2 podium finishes on your first try. Don't go to expert next year-- stay in sport and be a sandbagger!
Jeng: Way to tough it out and race after your crash!
Merlin: Did the guy that landed on you thank you? I'm sure he was fully expecting to land on sharp pointy rocks.
kpd: Hard-core! Passing the pros on the climb up. WOW! Riding a hardtail at Downieville is tough. Racing a hardtail at Downieville is crazy!

Originally Posted by jdubsl2

Survived my first attempt at the Downieville Classic. Even brought home some metal! The XC course went much better than I had expected. I came in at 3rd place in the Sport All-Mountain category with a 2h38m. That time was good for 10th on the combined XC/AM roster. I was pretty stoked on that and couldn't wait for the DH race to try and grab 2nd. I had about 9m to close on a 16yo kid about 80lbs lighter than me who rolled up in a team skin suit, a team van and has been racing expert all year... then sandbagged the sport AM. I wasn't very optimistic about being able to close the 9m and was counting on him riding a slow DH time. Yeah, that didn't work. He rode a 52:XX and I came in at just under 55m. The climb up to Third Divide killed me! I missed 2nd in the AM by just over 2 minutes. If you're reading this, great job Obie!

But the stars aligned and I stayed on the bike, no mechanicals or flats... and took home 4th in the DH, 3rd in the AM. I'll count it as 2nd in the AM and 3rd in the DH... sangbagger! There was some trash talkin' up on the podium.

All and all, an excellent race... totally stoked on how well it went and can't wait to go back for more next year! Thanks Chris, Justin, Craig, Tom, both Jeffs, Carmen, etc. for all the support and Stone for the killer house right in town! You guys rock!

[jdubsl2]

Originally Posted by NoBalance

Some more pics - these are riders coming through my spot on First Divide between noon and 12:30 - packed like sardines!

Man! Got a cool one there! Thanks a lot! I'm trying to find the pics taken on a pretty gnarly section of Pauley. I'm pretty sure I was airborne with the bike tucked under me flying over huge rocks after just passing 2 people... I saw the flash go and thought "That's gonna be a GREAT picture!" -- Just gotta find it!

[mttamrnr]

My first race at Downieville. I cramped worse than I have ever cramped in my life and I cramp pretty often. Really frustrating as I spent a good 30 minutes sitting on the side of the trail pounding my legs and trying to stretch with no luck.

Regardless, I had a great time. Pretty epic feeling race. Next year I'll come up with a better Hydration strategy. Apparently 70oz camelback, sodium enhanced gu shots, accelerade in my camelback, three bottles of water from aid stations, sports legs, and a pickle (thanks MtBikeDan) weren't enough.......

Pauley Creek is a great trail!

[budgie]

Amazing time as always! Managed to shave 7+ minutes off my previous best finish, despite mangling a pedal on the remaining portion of babyheads. Bombing down 3rd divide with one foot flopping around all over the place was HAIRY! Climbing 3rd with one functioning pedal wasn't so hot either, and my left calf is hating me today. Happy with my 3:05, but still chasing that elusive 3-hour mark. Next year, dammit!

In other news, we almost hit a bear on the way home along 49. It hopped right over the guardrail in front of us, and we laid some nice rubber down on the asphalt. Never seen one in the 'wild' before, other than rooting through the garbage (the bear, not me), so that was definitely a thrill.

[mtnbecky]

very cool shots of asa and morgan....

[renderedtoast]

I spent the whole weekend there drinking beer. Since I ride up there all the time, I was thinking I might as well race it next year. My hat is off to everyone that made that climb on Saturday, especially the SS cats.

[MichiganMat]

Short write-up this year: Had some high-hopes for this years race that I would come in around the 3hr mark... hit it at 3:15 which is only 7 or 8 minutes faster than I did it back in '07. I was really hoping for a better performance but the cramps got the best of me, I battled them for most of the second part of the race, at one point even sat on the side of the trail in agony.

The good news is that there were no crashes, bike stayed in one piece, I didn't get hurt, and I had a lot of fun. Really wish I could've hit that 3hr mark though. Next year...

[vuduvgn]

Good meeting you MichiganMat.
I got one minute faster than last year, two places better.
Overall i'm not pleased with one minute faster, but I am somewhat relieved my breathing was close to 95% of what it should have been. My HR up the climb was about 5-10 beats below what it should have been...

My time was 2:29 and 12th in Men's Expert 35-44.

Oh, and the Giant Anthem X rocks!



Thanks NoBalance for the great pic!

[NoBalance]

By the way, before I post some pics from the next 1/2 hr, I want to note that the number plates for this race were way too flimsy. I realize the timing is done with chips but visible numbers help!

Another batch - the next 1/2 hour (12:30 to 1pm through that corner on 1st divide).

[sashax]

Short Version: Mediocre, but no crashes. 58/89 in sport XC 35-44 at approximately 3:06

Long Version on the blog

[maleonardphi]

I didn't know what to think about Dville, but I've been feeling faster and faster this year. Anyway, I ended up finishing 9th in the sport 19-34 group in 2:41. I had a great time, and look forward to doing it again. But I think next year I'll race expert and see how that goes.

[iRoNeTiK]

Originally Posted by NoBalance

By the way, before I post some pics from the next 1/2 hr, I want to note that the number plates for this race were way too flimsy. I realize the timing is done with chips but visible numbers help!

Another batch - the next 1/2 hour (12:30 to 1pm through that corner on 1st divide).

Ha, I thought that was you Kris. I heard you ask if it was me (#906) and I said yep! I didn't even have time to look.

I just came out of that corner sliding almost off the trail (actually I did go off the trail) and was regaining speed/composure.

Good pics btw! Thanks!

[cbx]

I was really glad to see Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top in attendance...lol.

[iRoNeTiK]

Originally Posted by cbx

I was really glad to see Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top in attendance...lol.

LOL, that's George!

[iRoNeTiK]

Originally Posted by NoBalance

I've uploaded a set of images to my Flickr account. The set includes the riders that came through my spot on the final section of 1st divide before 12 noon.

I'll upload the rest tomorrow or something. Focus is a bit off on many shots but it'll have to do!

And when he crosses the finish line

[MichiganMat]

Excellent picture of me Kris, thanks dude

[William42]

anybody got any pictures of 417 of expert XC?

[NoBalance]

Originally Posted by William42

anybody got any pictures of 417 of expert XC?

This?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/...aff5d191_b.jpg

[Menso]

Originally Posted by wannabfast

Menso's rear hub "broke" during the descent.

The report:
I came into this race with zero expectation since I had surgery just six weeks ago for this in my quad. I was please to be able to climb with the leaders for the first fifteen minutes, until the three Olympians (AC, Taberley, Sheppard) decided that it was time to race.

I hung on the back of the chase group with my future collegiate teammate John Bennett for a while, but then they gapped me a little and I continued riding at my own pace. This turned out to be a good plan since I was fairly steady past the feed station at the switchback and caught John and another guy. I surged up the final climbs out of the woods to the saddle and caught several more shattered members of the chase group and hit the saddle in about 10th. I caught one guy on Sunrise and another shortly before Pauley Creek, putting me in 8th place (waaaay ahead of expectations) and held that spot down the hill.

My new 23 pound Blur XC was climb, descending, and pedaling nicely and all with its 120mm Fox fork and 68.5* HA, but just before the climb up to 3rd Divide my hub seized up! I rode fixie style to the top but then it broke free on the fast descent. As a result I was freewheeling in both direction and had to run every flat and uphill section from then on. Man, there are a lot of flat sections after that. It might be 20+ mph while pedaling, but running was slow going. I think I ran for well over half an hour, and I probably need new cleats now.

For those that are interested, I has a Stan's Olympic wheelset with American Classic hubs, and they were a bit over a year and half old. If you ask me, (que Ahhhnold voice) I just gave them too much POWAH, YAH? I would have used the DT 240 wheelset that came with the bike, but I couldn't get my 2.4 Mutanoraptors to set up tubeless on them.

At the Butcher Ranch intersection I was on pace to break 2 hours and bag a top ten... instead I finish over 2:20, but I still beat several pros. Yippie. I'm building a Stan's wheel on a 240s hub now so this doesn't happen again, and very much looking forward to training with John and teaming up to put a massive hurt on west coast collegiate racers.

edit: I just looked at the results, and I still beat Brian Lopes. Sucker!

[reklar]

Great shots of the XC!

Anybody got pics of the DH? There were photographers out on course ... post em if you got em!! I'd like to see some photos of the waterfall with the pros .... what line did Lopes take?

[Zen_Turtle]

Long story short: Race painful as usual, I really thought I had done much better this year.
Not really. shaved my last year time by only 15min.
Got to the top in 1:27, pretty much in line with "normal" people, especially considering the heavy bike, but the DH is where I'm a real turtle. Gotta practice the downhill few more times next year.

On the bright side I did not cramp a bit (where I saw people twisting in agony after Sunrise) and didn't crash (well, not seriously at least, just a spill on 3rd)
NoBalance thanks for the pics. Had to scoot right after the race and so I missed the party, too bad. Good job Mike and Justin, amazing placements.

[Znugg]

Anybody got any pictures of 863 of Beginner XC?

Thanks,

(Edited: I found it. Thanks--NoBalance for taking the time to take pictures.)

[kpd]

Originally Posted by rensho

Ouch. You OK?

I cracked my helmet and my ribs hurt, but I feel great considering.

My bike needs some new parts though. Anyone want to sell their Competitive Cyclist gift card? I'm offering $12 for the $20 card, to try to accumulate enough to make it worthwhile. If there's no takers, my card is for sale for $12. The market has to go one way or the other, right?

Great pics, Kris.

[hanskellner]

Originally Posted by kpd

I cracked my helmet and my ribs hurt, but I feel great considering.

Sorry to see you there walking the trail. Would have rather got you on film riding.

Oh, will have some helmetcam footage from the race posted soon.

[MtnBikerDan]

Thanks for the pic Kris.

My race was also so so.... #570 finishing 35-44 sport xc in 2:55 and change.... I was hoping to knock 10-15 minutes off my time from last year, and only managed 5 minutes.... Just didn't make any prep trips to Dville in the weeks prior. Last year I was just 2 months past recovering from an Angioplasty with stent, my 2nd angio... I have 4 stents now, but did the prep trips and finished in 2:59:30. Hopefully next year I'll meet my goal... this year unemployment and uninsured has me a bit more reserved in my efforts.

I ran out of water just past Sunrise, I started feeling twinges in the hammies just past the false summit so I start the anti cramp regimen.... I didn't cramp but was forced to soft pedal in most exertional zones, Climbs, rollers, etc... places I normally hammer.

If they let me in the AM class, a podium is in reach.... The XC was rife with roadie/xc racers with meager tech skills but fit enough to smoke the climb; next year beotches!!!!, Some of the most fun part of racing the classic for me is riding my bike in MY comfort zone blazing past white knuckled riders.... I must have passed at least 30+ people.

[Clintox50]

kpd - I was right behind you on the climb and I entered Sunrise trail at 58:20 so yep you did get it under an hour.

My short version: I wish I would have been farther up on the start line, pretty much pegging the asphault section to get up where I wanted to be sucked. I had a decent climb, got held up by people on Sunrise who wouldn't move out of the way which was annoying. Something broke on my bike in the baby heads and was making an awful noise and I couldn't figured it out, but it wasn't causing problems (found out later it was a cable tie that broke and was rubbing the tire). Had a good fast run on the rest of the DH and finished 23rd overall, 2nd for the expert 19-34 race in 2:10:47 (25 seconds off of 1st). Putting me in 1st for AM after stage one.

Sunday at Packer it was COLD at the top and hard to warm up for me. I had a minute and a half on 2nd place going into the DH, so I still needed to be fast. I had a good run on Sunrise and Butcher until the last right hand switchback before the bridge and climb up to 3rd divide. Went into it too fast, and down the two drops which got me up on the front wheel. I wasn't going to make the turn, I didn't want to ride off the edge and down the hill so I yanked the front brake to send me over right now. I went face first over the edge into the rock-skree, dirt and wood with only scrapes. Ran back up, put the brake lever back, chain back and hopped on. Left shifter was bent and front der was stuck in the middle ring. Climbed up to 3rd and was fiddling with the shifter trying to get it into the big ring and forgot to unlock my shocks! Had to hit the brakes and take another second to release them before going light speed on 3rd. Finally got it into the big ring on the fire road after 3rd divide. Was having a good run on 1st and then washed out on that rocky loose white dirt right hander and went down hard on the right hip. No issues and got back up and hammered. Passed 4 guys on the DH even with 2 crashes posted a time of 50:32 (just 53 sec off 1st) good enough for 4th on the day and 1st in AM Expert 19-34.

Stoked! And all on my 3.5" travel Anthem. I wish I had a Trance X like AC!

XC


DH

[Empty_Beer]

Originally Posted by jeng

P.S. empty_beer threw down a sick XC time and was sitting in 3 or 4th, but broke his chain on the DH in expert class. Bummer... Rose to Toads in August Jeff???

Thanks Justin...

I got that 32.56 lb non-lockout Nomad up to the Saddle in 1:04:05-ish, which I was totally stoked about. Got stuck behind one of Jeng's Hamana teammates for almost the entire Sunrise trail (he must be deaf cause 8 guys were shouting, to no avail) and lost a good minute plus there, but had a relatively clean, fast and uneventful DH to finish the XC in 1:23:05... more than 7 minutes faster than last year and good for 4th in All-Mountain Expert 35-44 Of course if Jeng's other teammate (Maniac Mike Fine) didn't eat something bad before the race, he'd have crushed and moved everyone back a spot. Sorry buddy!

I was a little anxious about the DH on Sunday, since I've never raced it or completely tried to pin it before. The guy in 1st place going into Sunday (Ryan Booth) was going to start a minute behind me, and my goal was to not let him pass me. The fact that he was racing a 29er hardtail gave me some confidence, but he's a fast mofo (nice dude too)! I'm having a really good, clean run... passed a few guys and had nobody chasing me. Then, after that short, quick climb near the start of upper 1st, my chain snaps I look at my watch. Panic ensues... fix or run, fix or run? I try both. About a minute later, Booth passes me. I suck at fixing chains and figured the podium was lost, so I ran, scootered and coasted the rest of 1st Divide and the pavement. Booth posted 52 minutes and change, so without a mechanical, I figure I woulda been near that and secured 4th overall in the AM race. Oh well... it was a great weekend, great racing and a great time! Nice to meet Booth, Olrich, Lueck and Fewster.

Jeng - I'm down with Rose to Toads in Aug... keep me posted (the 15th or 16th might be best for me)

[novato kid]

No pics or anything, but here's my d-ville story.

Before I start, this was my first xc/am race so I wasn't expecting much. I came into the race on Saturday without ever having ridden the course, a very bad idea. I had the heaviest bike in All-Mountain at just about 38lbs, which was outfitted with flats, a single ring up front and some wire bead tires. I guess I like to make things difficult on myself. LoL

Anyway I showed up late and started in the back of the pack. My left crank came loose and would not stay tightened on the way up so I had to stop and fix it a lot. This happened exactly 18 times by the time I reached Paulley's. I made it ok up the climb, but could have done a lot better with a better bike set up. Once I got to Pauley's, I passed a whole lot of people on the dh until my chain broke and I had to stop and fix that. I thought bad luck, whatever, at least I finished. I figured I'd be able to make up a ton of time on the dh.

Sunday-So my run started good, until at the top of butchers the little yellow plug on my camelpack fell off, and all of my water leaked all over me. I kept going anyway. But then, just after the butcher's rock water fall thing, my chain snapped, again. I threw my bike off the trail and started to walk back up the trail and look for my master link. This next part is quite unbelievable, but I was then swormed by bee's and got stung in the face, arms and legs. I then pulled a 180, grabbed my bike and started running down butchers. So essentially, I had to finish my run without a chain from the rock waterfall thing on butchers. So if you saw a chain in the middle of the trail up there, it was mine. Riding without a chain didn't work to well. Downieville is really flat minus the third divide and a few parts of butchers so my race run became a push party.

Oh well, I'll be back next year with a little more preparation, and hopefully some better luck. Now if only the swelling from the bee stings on face would go down.

[whybotherme]

my RR:

climbed fast, went backwards faster after cramping and having to walk several climbs. XC time 2:35

rode like a girl, stepped over the bars just after waterfall, sampled some dirt on first divide and thanked my lucky stars for not landing in the river WAAAYYYY below. DH time :53

overall 11th in expert 19-34. weak.

[nickelbolt]

Originally Posted by novato kid

No pics or anything, but here's my d-ville story.

Before I start, this was my first xc/am race so I wasn't expecting much. I came into the race on Saturday without ever having ridden the course, a very bad idea. I had the heaviest bike in All-Mountain at just about 38lbs, which was outfitted with flats, a single ring up front and some wire bead tires. I guess I like to make things difficult on myself. LoL

Anyway I showed up late and started in the back of the pack. My left crank came loose and would not stay tightened on the way up so I had to stop and fix it a lot. This happened exactly 18 times by the time I reached Paulley's. I made it ok up the climb, but could have done a lot better with a better bike set up. Once I got to Pauley's, I passed a whole lot of people on the dh until my chain broke and I had to stop and fix that. I thought bad luck, whatever, at least I finished. I figured I'd be able to make up a ton of time on the dh.

Sunday-So my run started good, until at the top of butchers the little yellow plug on my camelpack fell off, and all of my water leaked all over me. I kept going anyway. But then, just after the butcher's rock water fall thing, my chain snapped, again. I threw my bike off the trail and started to walk back up the trail and look for my master link. This next part is quite unbelievable, but I was then swormed by bee's and got stung in the face, arms and legs. I then pulled a 180, grabbed my bike and started running down butchers. So essentially, I had to finish my run without a chain from the rock waterfall thing on butchers. So if you saw a chain in the middle of the trail up there, it was mine. Riding without a chain didn't work to well. Downieville is really flat minus the third divide and a few parts of butchers so my race run became a push party.

Oh well, I'll be back next year with a little more preparation, and hopefully some better luck. Now if only the swelling from the bee stings on face would go down.

...at least your outfit worked well...

[JL de Jong]

Menso and I drove up on Thursday to set up camp at Pack Saddle campground and do a few practice runs down Sunrise. On Friday we did a leisurely run down the XC course and I hung around D'ville a long time, while Menso went to get the car. Several of his CalPoly teammates joined us for our traditional pre-race dinner at Creekside Restaurant in Sierra City and afterward we all went to our campsite.
Since I had just returned from my vacation in Holland, where there really aren't any mountains to climb and the beer, herring, stroopwafels and dropjes all tasted so good, my expectations for a good race were low. I only wanted to stay under 3 hours like I did last year. In addition, just when I decide it was time for my warm-up ride up the road, the start area was already totally blocked by the pro/expert riders waiting for the start of the race. My warm-up was only a few hamstring stretches. It was therefor no surprise that I had to start relatively slow. It seemed the entire pack of sport riders, even the two tandems, passed me before the cattle shower. After the packed hike-a-bike section I started to feel better and slowly passed a few riders and a lot more once we entered the gravel road to the top. Still, I was at the start of Sunrise in 1:20:20 about 2 1/2 minute slower than last year. Fortunately I made up 4 minutes on the downhill and finished about 1 1/2 minute ahead at 2:58:02. 15th out of 40 riders in my class.
Some highlights of the downhill:
A rider passed me dangerously on Sunrise and I fell sideways on the trail - fortunately nobody else was right behind me to run me over. I don't think it cost me any time as I got stuck in the conga line down Sunrise anyway, where the passing rider apologized to me.
On one particular rocky section of babyheads, I'm pretty sure the spectators had closed off the one open line that existed the day before with a stack of rocks. They were probably hoping to see some spectacular crashes. I hope they were disappointed. I had to walk over it.
Going down third divide at high speed a lady calls out behind me to pull over. Yeah right, after what happened on Sunrise I'm not going to pull over at 30mph. When we got in a more technical section (not exactly my strength) I let her and another rider pass.
During the climb I always think, I should skip the race next year, but once down in D'ville I'm ready to do it again. What a blast!
On Sunday Menso, his team mate Joe and I did a 5 hour "recovery ride" to the Lakes area, which was a lot of hike-a-bike. (Never ever take the Long Lake Connector trail).
We stopped at Donner pass on the way home on Monday to ride Hole-in-the-Ground with Rob, whom we met the day before on our Lake ride. What a fantastic trail! Highly recommended for some fun riding now that the snow has melted. (Only one snow bank remained to block the trail).
Maybe we should have an mtbr weekend in Truckee soon to ride the trails there. Anyone up for that?

[scfreak]

Originally Posted by Clintox50

kpd - I was right behind you on the climb and I entered Sunrise trail at 58:20 so yep you did get it under an hour.

My short version: I wish I would have been farther up on the start line, pretty much pegging the asphault section to get up where I wanted to be sucked. I had a decent climb, got held up by people on Sunrise who wouldn't move out of the way which was annoying. Something broke on my bike in the baby heads and was making an awful noise and I couldn't figured it out, but it wasn't causing problems (found out later it was a cable tie that broke and was rubbing the tire). Had a good fast run on the rest of the DH and finished 23rd overall, 2nd for the expert 19-34 race in 2:10:47 (25 seconds off of 1st). Putting me in 1st for AM after stage one.

Sunday at Packer it was COLD at the top and hard to warm up for me. I had a minute and a half on 2nd place going into the DH, so I still needed to be fast. I had a good run on Sunrise and Butcher until the last right hand switchback before the bridge and climb up to 3rd divide. Went into it too fast, and down the two drops which got me up on the front wheel. I wasn't going to make the turn, I didn't want to ride off the edge and down the hill so I yanked the front brake to send me over right now. I went face first over the edge into the rock-skree, dirt and wood with only scrapes. Ran back up, put the brake lever back, chain back and hopped on. Left shifter was bent and front der was stuck in the middle ring. Climbed up to 3rd and was fiddling with the shifter trying to get it into the big ring and forgot to unlock my shocks! Had to hit the brakes and take another second to release them before going light speed on 3rd. Finally got it into the big ring on the fire road after 3rd divide. Was having a good run on 1st and then washed out on that rocky loose white dirt right hander and went down hard on the right hip. No issues and got back up and hammered. Passed 4 guys on the DH even with 2 crashes posted a time of 50:32 (just 53 sec off 1st) good enough for 4th on the day and 1st in AM Expert 19-34.

Stoked! And all on my 3.5" travel Anthem. I wish I had a Trance X like AC!

XC


DH

And they say DH riders are Hard Core!
Congrats on getting it done!

Much respect for XC riders

[GasMenagerie]

Originally Posted by nickelbolt

Anyone know the name of the guy who got stacked near the finish and had to be hospitalized? I watched the crash. It was horrible. About 100yds from the hay bales... coming off that turn where the red dodge truck was parked. I have no idea what class these guys were racing but I don't think they had any shot of winning. Still, one guy tries to pass on the inside and he swerves to miss the mirror on the truck. They lock handle bars and they both go down. The guy who caused the crash got up, checked on the other guy quickly, and then rode away to the finish.

The other guy stayed down and my buddy ran up to help him. He was pretty much motionless. He hit the pavement HARD. He didn't know what happened and appeared to be in and out of consciousness. I think someone said the medics thought he broke at least 1 hip and a shoulder. There were two puddles of blood where he laid.

The crash was completely unecessary from what I saw. The truck was partially to blame I think, but the guy didn't need to pass... let alone on the inside of that bend.

If anyone has a name or an update on this guy's condition, please post it. Like I said... it was BRUTAL to watch.

I was wondering the same thing. I was there acting a chief bottle washer for my son who rode Sport (he's 15) and heard the crash from just up the road from the straw bales. I almost went over there but then I knew I would not be able to hold myself together. (It's a mom thing I think.)

Honestly, they must do something different at that finish line. I was almost as nervous watching them come through the maze as I was watching the NC Classic. (almost!)

Anyway, I hope the guy is ok.. it's the sh*ts to finish that entire race in one piece only to have that happen.

[gmky]

I look forward to DV all year. This is my third year racing it and this time I was going to pay attention to time. As in having a good time. I talked a little trash with some buddies who couldn't go this year about how I would take off 1/2 hour. I got some algebraic responses about how impossible it was. To be honest, I knew once I was in Sierra CIty, there was only one way to get to Downieville. I lined up 1/2 hour early, stood right next to the sport sign and then ended up midpack for start, still better than last year.


I felt great on the climb. I attacked all the way up, everywhere I could. The 29er lets you roll over the rocks that would slow a 26 so there were a lot more opportunities. Last year it took me 1:28 to hit Packer Saddle, but I got there in 1:15 so there was 13 minutes already. Now if I can stay together on the downhill I'll be okay. Right away into Baby heads, I realize I'm riding a hardtail, the only place I'v been passed all day, but come around the corner and the guys that sped past me are cramping and stretching on the side. I am not seeing anyone, no one behind me and the front is clear, I can't believe how lucky I am, that is until the first shot up with rocks and ruts, I fumble, three guys on me fast. I have to sit in a while to get around. I'm riding everything (29ers roll over the drops awesomely) and then the climb to Third Divide I cramp bad, I shouldn't have laughed at the guys earlier. I have to let people go by and limp to 3rdD. Man its fast, but now I've got some guys in front of me, I'm moving through them, when a train of ten guys come up on me and insist I pull over. Now people will disagree with me, but I don't have to stop actually racing and let them by and wait until they pass to get back in there. I cannot impede their progress with purposeful actions. But lead rider controls the trail. I did let them by and 6 of them flatted around the next corner. My advise for fast downhillers would be to do some Hill Intervals, then you wont have the problem all the way down. Anyway no flats, no crashes and a finish time of 1:45 which was 28 minutes 30 seconds faster than last year. good enough for 14th in 35-44 Sport. less than a minute from 10th. So no 30 minutes, but next year I plan to take another 15 minutes off.

And I discovered something great while in Downieville

The Pint Coozie.

here are some pictures

[hanskellner]

Here's helmetcam video of the Pro/Expert/SS start. Looks more like the Boston Marathon

http://www.hanskellner.com/archives/...tss_start.html

[NoBalance]

Looks like a total of about 630 men and 85 women actually raced and/or finished according to the overall results. This leaves room for questioning the need to cut off registration at "800" unless it is with the knowledge that 800 is really too much and less will actually show up. Allowing another 50 riders would have netted another $4250 and about $750 towards the SBTS.

Just sayin ...

[maleonardphi]

Well, those numbers don't account for DNFs and no shows.

[benjaminj]

Originally Posted by hanskellner

Here's helmetcam video of the Pro/Expert/SS start. Looks more like the Boston Marathon

http://www.hanskellner.com/archives/...tss_start.html

Yeah that start was a mad house. It was my first year racing AM (DH only the years before this) and by the time I weighed in my bike at 9am I was already lined up at the back of the pack to start the 930. Right next to Greg Herbold though - and Brian Lopes was only a few in front of me so that made me feel a little better.
Funny thing was when some spandex clad teenager asked to push in front of us all because he was racing 'expert xc' - my response was something like yeah we all are - and then HB said 'your spot is your spot kid'

[RideFaster]

Mark Weir??? Where was he?

Any pictures of Adam pinning it (to win it)?

[NoBalance]

I took one pic of adam but it was not that exciting. He looked like he was warming up. Too bad he couldnt win at Beijing.

[NoBalance]

So who is this Thomas Frischknecht and what is this bike he is riding? Far as I can tell its a Scott Genius, perhaps this one:

http://www.bikesale.com/2009-scott-genius-limited.aspx



The pic of this fast guy - not in spandex? Say it isnt so:

[ARider]

Better type Frischknecht into google and learn about the greatest XC racer ever.

He is a legend in the sport.

[Carl Hungus]

Originally Posted by gmky

Anyway no flats, no crashes and a finish time of 1:45 which was 28 minutes 30 seconds faster than last year. good enough for 14th in 35-44 Sport.

Holy crap! You finished 7 minutes ahead of AC and only finished 14th in 35-44 Sport?

[Kyle Hughes]

Last year in the Downieville race I was in the position to win the Sport Category XC race until I had a high speed crash on Third Divide and dislocated my shoulder. I went from winning a race to getting a motorcycle ride down the hill and an ambulance ride into town. Once I got to the Downieville clinic they loaded me up with morphine and wrestled my shoulder into place (even with all the drugs...it was the most painful experience in my life). That crash kept me off the bike for about a month but also made me determined to race next year and win the expert category. So once the snow began to melt this year in Downieville, the training began. These last two months I have been to Downieville probably eight times training and memorizing the course. I would like to thank my friends from Chico for being an awesome training partners and Tim Olsen for all the invaluable tips he gave me.

Friday night before the race, my dad and I camped at the Packer Saddle parking lot, which is at 7,200ft. That morning I woke up early and did my usual pre-race rituals, as well as have some banana pancakes, thanks dad. I warmed up by doing the sunrise loop and then rode my bike down the course to Sierra City. Getting physically warmed up is important but also getting mentally warmed up is important. Flying down the eight mile fire road at speeds up to 30mph definitely put me in race mode. When I came into Sierra City at about 9:00, I quickly realized why I chose to warm up at top. It was a mad house, there were 800 riders trying to warm-up as well as positioning themselves on the starting line. I knew I wanted a good starting position so right when I got there I lined up. When the whistle blow all hell broke loose, people were elbowing each other trying to move up. The crazy thing about this race is that it starts out as if it was a twenty minute short track race, everyone is going full bore. I endured the madness and the pain and made my way up to the front group. Once we hit the dirt, I settled in and rode with the same four or five racers the entire climb: a Whole Athlete guy, a Northstar guy, a Mat Cat guy, a Sexual Camel guy and the winning single speed guy from Truckee. We reached the top in what I think was 57 or 58 minutes. When I was climbing the last pitch I had two things on my mind, getting the water bottle from my dad and getting to sunrise before the other riders. My Trek Fuel Ex8 was a far bigger suspension bike than the other four riders so I figured that I wanted to hit the single track first. What I did not take into account is that these guys are pros and it doesn't matter what type of bike they are riding, they are fast! I ended up having to let two riders pass half way done sunrise. At that time I realized that I might have given it too much on the climb, I was having a hard time focusing for all the tight turns on sunrise. When I came out on the fire road I knew I had to dig a little deeper for the next fifteen minutes on road out to Paley Creek. Feeling a little woozy I let two riders pass me knowing that I could probably catch them coming down baby heads. What seemed like forever I finally reached the top of Pauley Creek. I shifted my bike into the big chain ring, hit my propedal off, lowered my gravity dropper and let all my practice runs down Pauley Creek pay off. I caught the two riders who passed me on the fire road and flew through baby heads using all 120mm of the Trek's suspension. My 2.55 WTB WierWolf LT tires at 25 psi provide so much control over this fast and rocky section. Coming through the creek my tire bounce off a rock and threw my bike sideways, sending me into a horrible line up the short steep climb out of the creek. Somehow I pedaled through it and did not bash my knee on my bars. I took it down a notch and made my way through the technical, lose, rocky, exposed root section down to Butcher Ranch. During this section I let two riders pass and the Whole Athlete guy got a pinch flat, that’s what happens when you ride a hardtail at Downieville. When I arrived at the bridge before the climb up to third divide I devoured some hammer nutrition electrolyte tablets to prevent cramping on the climb and first divide. A rider had come up pretty fast on me at the end of butcher so I wanted to put a gap between us on the climb. I shifted to a big gear and stood the majority of the climb. Once I reached the top I had put enough space between me and the other rider so he wouldn't be breathing down my neck. After last year when I skidded my face along the trail, I take this section with a new level of respect for the trail. It isn't technical but it is narrow and steep and you can reach speeds of 35mph, therefore there is no room for mistakes. At the bottom of Third Divide I had caught the Mad Cat guy, who I think was the 2nd place expert named Clint, and we hammered down the fire road to First Divide. Once we reached first divide I realized that I was running on fumes. I put my head down and tried to go fast enough so the guy behind me would not yell and then once the trail opened up I let him pass, I am just glad this guy was a pro and not in my category. After passing the fence I realized that I had to last just a couple more minutes. I was on the verge of blowing up during the short climbs at the end of First Divide, but the pain seemed to dissipate once I turned onto the road leading into town, people were screaming and cheering and reassuring me I was almost done. I got into my most aero position and big-ringed it all the way to the finish. I was shooting for a 2.13', and came across at 2.10'22". This time put me in 22nd overall, first in expert and 25 seconds in front of the second place rider Clint from Mad Cat racing. To say the least I was very happy with my time and was ready for a beer!

Thanks Yuba Expeditions and Downieville for hosting a great event! See you next year!

Kyle Hughes

[NoBalance]

Yeah I found that out when I tried to figure out what bike that damn funky shock could be attributed to.

Where''s your report, Mr Ward?

Originally Posted by ARider

Better type Frischknecht into google and learn about the greatest XC racer ever.

He is a legend in the sport.

[jzumbro]

Who's Frischy? that's a good one.

[RideFaster]

Originally Posted by jzumbro

Who's Frischy? that's a good one.

Oh, he's just some guy...

[jzumbro]

I heard he won a few races in his time.

[jeng]

Untitled from Justin English on Vimeo.

[jeng]

Lopes on the hunt


This kid was killing it!


Tim Olson


KPD?


Female AM champ


Singletrack smile


Menso


Jeff Kendal-Stache


Looks like Ron's got a good lead from this picture??


Lot's more here:
http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...eville%202009/

[cbx]

God that looks like fun...instead, I'm on one of many conference calls for the day at work...puke.

[hanskellner]

Thanks for posting the photo links. Easily found myself since I just had to look for the fool with the camera on the helmet

[Empty_Beer]

Originally Posted by jeng

Looks like Ron's got a good lead from this picture??

Nice pics Justin!

[morganfletcher]

I am heavier and slower this year. I upgraded to cat 1 (expert) last year when I was faster & training for TransRockies. I knew I'd be pure pack fodder this year but what the hell, I love this race! I registered 35-44 expert men for the xc, but at 215lbs I should have raced clydesdale! My bike was working pretty good. I think I did the climb in 1:21. I was pretty happy with the Turner Flux / Reba and Schwalbe Nobby Nic UST 2.25" tires on the descent, but then I tore the sidewall of the rear at the bottom of Third Divide. It took me 12 minutes and a broken tire lever to put a boot and a tube in, finished in 3:02 but riding time was 2:50. Ah well, a throw-away result but I still had fun.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8623611

Hanging out at the combined Sheila Moon / Roaring Mouse campsites at Wild Plum was fun, too. I was sad my family couldn't make it. My son had a stomach bug right before I left so they stayed home.

Next year I'm going to be lighter and shoot for a better result. Or if I'm this big I'll race clydesdales.

It was REALLY cool seeing Frischnecht (x2), Ritchey, Fisher, King, Craig, Nash, Herbold, Lloyd, Weir, etc at this race. It is the best race ever, anywhere.

We're heading back up this weekend for some family-style camping and hopefully some riding. We'll be at Ramshorn.

Morgan

[morganfletcher]

Originally Posted by mtnbecky

Is there anything Jenna and I didn't do? Oh yeah, race! But that's OK, we have more fun volunteering than anything else. I put all the DH racers in line on Sunday and checked everyone's ankle bracelet. I chopped potatoes for your potato salad. I gave you all your wristbands so you could enjoy icy cold New Belgium. I checked all your I.D.'s so you could pick up your packets in town. I gave you all your ankle bracelets on Saturday morning. I even vouched for some of you personally that forgot your I.D! Jenna timed everyone, both days, in the timing booth. I snuck in a ride on 1st divide early Friday morning that was the cat's meow...until I got a flat, but that's only because I was thinking about getting a flat and that's what karma will do for you every time. The best part of the trip was dinners with Kevin & Blake when they arrived, and seeing all you guys and meeting some new mtbr folks for the first time. Now on to my job hunt, since I also lost my job in the madness...oh well....new adventure time!

Thank you, Becky! I hope you find a new and better job soon. It's always good to see you.

Morgan

[GrantR]

Originally Posted by Menso

The report:
I came into this race with zero expectation since I had surgery just six weeks ago for this in my quad. I was please to be able to climb with the leaders for the first fifteen minutes, until the three Olympians (AC, Taberley, Sheppard) decided that it was time to race.

I hung on the back of the chase group with my future collegiate teammate John Bennett for a while, but then they gapped me a little and I continued riding at my own pace. This turned out to be a good plan since I was fairly steady past the feed station at the switchback and caught John and another guy. I surged up the final climbs out of the woods to the saddle and caught several more shattered members of the chase group and hit the saddle in about 10th. I caught one guy on Sunrise and another shortly before Pauley Creek, putting me in 8th place (waaaay ahead of expectations) and held that spot down the hill.

My new 23 pound Blur XC was climb, descending, and pedaling nicely and all with its 120mm Fox fork and 68.5* HA, but just before the climb up to 3rd Divide my hub seized up! I rode fixie style to the top but then it broke free on the fast descent. As a result I was freewheeling in both direction and had to run every flat and uphill section from then on. Man, there are a lot of flat sections after that. It might be 20+ mph while pedaling, but running was slow going. I think I ran for well over half an hour, and I probably need new cleats now.

For those that are interested, I has a Stan's Olympic wheelset with American Classic hubs, and they were a bit over a year and half old. If you ask me, (que Ahhhnold voice) I just gave them too much POWAH, YAH? I would have used the DT 240 wheelset that came with the bike, but I couldn't get my 2.4 Mutanoraptors to set up tubeless on them.

At the Butcher Ranch intersection I was on pace to break 2 hours and bag a top ten... instead I finish over 2:20, but I still beat several pros. Yippie. I'm building a Stan's wheel on a 240s hub now so this doesn't happen again, and very much looking forward to training with John and teaming up to put a massive hurt on west coast collegiate racers.

edit: I just looked at the results, and I still beat Brian Lopes. Sucker!

Sounds like you did great! Hit me up next time you need a recovery ride in SLO

[MrCrash]

I was looking forward to doing the race on my new-to-me Ibis Mojo, with the goals of breaking 3:00 on the XC, and 1:00 on the DH. Pretty mellow goals after looking at the times of the fast guys posting in this thread, but I figure it's always good to have em.

I didn't do any of those, but it was still enough to put me on the Sport 35-44 AM podium!

A huge thanks to Mat and Marco for making room for me at their campsite - it was good seeing some familiar MTBR faces in addition to meeting some new ones.

With that, I made a short list of my successes and failures for the event.

Success:

- Never cramped (completely)
- No mechanical failures
- No flats
- Podium finish!

Fail:

- Had to dismount 4 times on the XC climb due to fatigue
- Couldn't ride the Ibis Mojo SL b/c of problems w/ the Fox Talas fork
- Missed my XC goal by 4 minutes, DH goal by 2 minutes
- Dropped a chain on the dry creek bed on Butcher
- Chickened out on the Rock Garden and the 3rd Divide step up
- Legs still fried from Ironman Coeur D'Alene 3 weeks earlier
- 10-15 lbs over target weight due to finals and travel

I don't really think of those things as failures - just things to improve on for next year. And I'm already looking forward to it

[greyfox]

Here is my long summary. Though its been 4 weeks, this is therapeutic for me.

This year I moved to the Expert Master 45+, coming out of the Sport class last year. The start at Dville is frustrating, so I moved up to hopefully help me get going more quickly, and also to help with the descent, in the hopes that the skill of the riders would make for less passing problems. Both hopes were founded. More on that later. With my water and gear I was approx. 195 lbs the morning of the race, so I didn’t have expectations of winning, but I hoped to get a time of 2:40 or less. My time in 2008 was 2:55. OK, I’ll admit that there was a part of me that thought I had an outside chance at a podium spot, but I recognized that would be a stretch. I rode Dville this year on a 2008 Trek Remedy
Training went well this year. I did two trips to Dville prior to the race, with full pre-race run of the full xc course at race pace done two weeks prior to the race. This allowed me two weeks to taper – I have found that as I get older, I need more time to recover. Last year (2008) I did the Dville climb as a training ride the week before and it turned out that my climbing split on my training ride was better than the climbing split I did during the race! So I did a mellow-ish ride up in Auburn the week before with my buddy Dave, and then the Wednesday before the race I did a ride with some small. I used the food tapering plan, and was able to get enough sleep, averaging around 7 to 7.5 hrs of sleep the three nights before the race.

As far as the bike, I was real pleased with my Trek Remedy. I met Ross Schnell before last years race, and heard about his bike, so after his results from last year, particularly on the climb, I was inspired to sell my Cannondale Carbon Rush and get a Remedy. Its all pretty much stock except for Monkey DH bar, and a gravity dropper. I finally got the rollamajig to work with the gravity dropper, and I used the Maxxis Larsen TT tire on the rear (2.1 at 35 psi) hoping to get some smooth rolling benefit from it. It seemed to help. I like the Kenda Nevegals better up front, but switched to the WTB werewolf DH tire (2.55, 32 psi) to help avoid flats – I’ve ridden Dville at least 15 times over the years and never had a flat there, with all my races using the WTB tire up front. Set the suspension to normal, taped three GU’s to the frame, and included some notes on my handlebar (“RELAX” to help me on the climb, and my target splits):

Target Time Actual Time
Dirt Road 7:00 7:30
Turn at the top of the nasty, slippery rocky section 26 26:39
False summit 47 47:45
Real summit 55 (GU here) 56
Packer Saddle 1:08 1:09:30
End of sunrise on the road 1:19 (GU here) 1:19:40
Butcher ranch intersection 1:50 1:55:53
Road in Dville 2:25 2:25
Finish 2:28 2:27:14

I warmed up for 20 minutes, than went to the starting line to begin the madness. There has to be a better way to get everybody started. It may be with the timing chip on the ankle your time only really starts when you cross the starting line, but if that’s the case, nobody really understands it.

So the race started for the experts, and everybody took off. I’m still amazed at how fast the leaders take off! I spotted a faster buddy, Casey Sanchez, up ahead, so I pegged to his wheel. For the first 23 minutes of the climb he pulled me, but I couldn’t match his pace forever. He was out of the seat a bunch, which I don’t even think about, due to managing my heart rate, and the bob I get out of the front fork when I stand on climbs. Anyway, he took off, and then I was on my own. I knew the loose steep section at about 25 minutes was coming, so I slowed down to gather my energy, flipped off pro-pedal, and hammered to try and get up on the left side of the trail. Got about half way up before the guy in front of me stepped off, and then I had to walk. I think this section is one of the keys to the climb – if I can nail that section and not get off the bike, I go faster, I keep my rhythm, and I’m less prone to cramp.

I also learned something about my race heart rate. During the climb, I was pegged at 172. I never train at 172 as 165 is a killer pace for me on a training ride. But the adrenalin, the elevation, the pace all seem to drive my rate up. What I learned was that when I go over 172, I risk blowing up. I can go higher for spots – my highest on the climb was 178 – but if I try to keep that going, I will blow up. At one point I was at 177, and I actually started to get dizzy like I was going to pass out. So, backed down to 172 and found I could maintain that.

Climbing with the experts was good. The pace was faster, and there were regularly people passing me that I could hook onto. Not too many step offs or bobbles in front of me to screw me up.

I got to packer saddle in just under 1:10 which was a new PR for me. I was really stoked about that. I felt the twinges of cramps coming – my nemesis – but I had taken Sport Legs and was well hydrated so I hoped the descent would help me out. On sunrise, I was weak but so was everybody else. The two guys in front of me were barking at each other, with the guy in front of me trying to aggressively pass on Sunrise. I thought that if the experts were this aggressive, I was in for a long day of getting yelled at.
The guy in front of me finally found a switchback to pass, but he T-boned the guy in front, totally taking him off the trail. So I passed too. I expected this ultra-aggressive rider to then walk away from me, but to my surprise I was quickly on his tail. At the exit of Sunrise I passed him and started the trek to Baby Heads. Interestingly I got passed by two guys on flat pedals (no clips), one on a DH bike, and the other on a Remedy, but with a coil shock. I’m in my roadie outfit, with clips, and here are guys with flats, baggy clothes just killing Dville for sub-2:30 times. Humbling.

One of my other big learnings at Dville this year is that there is a lot of pedaling on the descent, a lot more than one might think. While I love my Remedy, I saw a surprising number of hard tails and 29ers. For sections like the hike from Sunrise to Baby Heads, having a fast climbing and pedaling bike really helps and is an advantage. I’d like to try a 29er hardtail to see how I would do on it. Yes, it would beat the tar out of me, but I’m guessing my climbing and pedaling times would be faster.

As far as my splits, they are really a psychological thing. Once the race starts, I pretty much just go as fast as I can, but looking at my splits gives me the illusion that I can break down a long race into sections and try to meet a goal for each section.
So, back to the race. Baby Heads was much easier – a disadvantage for me as my bike was built for a tough baby heads section. I passed a bunch of folks in there, crossed Pauley, and got passed by some guys in the fast sections after Pauley creek. On the descent to the Butcher ranch intersection, one guy passed, but immediately, and dramatically blew up his rear tire. He was not 20 ft in front of my when “boom”! Big explosion, Stans spraying everywhere, and the tire off the rim.

I saw a number of guys with flat problems, and then into the section before the bridge and the climb up to third divide. There is a series of rocky step downs there and the guy in front of me grabbed too much brake and went over. Unfortunately, I did the same thing in trying to avoid him. I landed face first, cutting my lip but fortunately breaking my fall with my hands. However, it looked like I fully hit, as the other folks (picking up the pieces of their crashes) all yelled and rushed to help me, thinking me seriously worked. Other than my lip, and a nasty cramp that set in as I tried to pick up the pieces, I was OK. That cost me about a minute, as I got on the bike and took off slowly, trying to regain my rhythm and composure.

The climb up to the third divide was slow – I got passed by at least 5 or 6 guys – but the descent was a blast. Always is. On the Remedy I now jump stuff that I used to navigate. Caught a few guys and made up some time. One guy I passed was just standing by the side of the trail screaming obscenities. At first I thought something was wrong, but as I passed I realized he was just pissed at having nasty cramps. Speaking of cramps, I was fighting cramps in a big way. I had already taken Sport Legs, but I tried the pickle juice I was carrying, and I took three more sport legs. Now I have not experienced conclusive evidence that pickle juice helps, but it “seems” to – I would have to say 85% sport legs, 15% pickle juice. Regardless, the combo of sport legs and pickle juice kept the bad cramps at bay.

Descending on the road and trails of first divide, I was really working to keep my speed and effort up on the road, and I passed a few folks in the single track, including a guy riding on the naked rim!.

Finally I got to the final cinder block section coming down into Dville, and it was lined with folks clapping and encouraging the riders. However, as I came into the section, my right foot slipped off the pedal and my calf cramped something fierce. It hurt so bad, and I could not straighten it, so I went through the section screaming, with one leg off the bike, and I saw from the terrified looks on some of the people’s faces that there were expecting me to be missing an arm, or to have blood spurting from some open gash. At the bottom I pulled over, still screaming, and straightened out my calf. I yelled “cramp!” to explain to the onlookers, and then they relievedly went back to cheering for the other riders.

I sped to the finish line, with nobody passing me, and got a time of 2:37:14. I don’t understand why the finish line has the hay bales in front. When I arrived there was somebody lying on the ground who had been seriously injured, probably in a final sprint to the finish. I’d suggest that they move the finish up the road 50 yards, have an open finish that would allow for the rare sprint finish, and then have the hay bales to force riders to slow down, remove their timing chips, etc.

Anyway, I was real happy with my time -- 12th in expert 45+. I was stunned at the top times in my category, though. In 2008, a 2:28 had won the race, and a 2:32 would have podiumed. This year, the entire top 5 were all under 2:25. If I do it again (if...) I want to do the AM race.