Sthn Cal State Series Final – Big Bear Shootout 2

Well finally. The day came. One I was not looking forward to because really I was a little over racing. Still even after going out into town for the first time all year - pretty lame aye and getting a little buzzed on the Friday night and only a few hours sleeping I went to bed real early on the Sat night before the race and headed up the Mountain with Lisa and Jeff to Big Bear. I was feeling pretty good actually and after the warm-up riding up a tarmac road to the start of the race I knew that it was all on just a few seconds into the first climb.

It started at the usual insane pace and I was left thinking Oh No. This will suck. Within a few mins though I found myself in the top 3 guys (even hanging with the guy that has been winning by big margins for a bit). I ended up by myself in 3rd for a bit and stayed here for a while very slowly catching up to David Santos (Champion of my category in this years 8 race series). I kept looking back expecting to see others in my class catching up. It never happened though. David and I rode together for ages. It was great and the best competition and closest direct competition I have had all year. We really pushed each other and the pace of the race was really high.

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20 Miles Long, 2700ft climbing, 1hr 24mins Race Time

David and I went back and forth many times trying to get an edge. At one point I really thought he had me but when I reached the high point and the fire road that took us to the final main descent of single-track. The fire road was rolling and I slammed the rig into the big ring and put in a massive effort. In the end I slowly pulled away and when I got into the single-track I was well clear and feeling good. Man though was I in for a shock. The technical stuff is what I normally feel good about and love that stuff, it really is why I go up hills. However when in the most technical section of downhill single-track where many people were watching waiting for carnage, well lets just say I made sure they did not go home disappointed. I think I thought I was on my big bike with my full face helmet on like the weekend before at Lake Tahoe. The line I took (by accident because I came in too hot) was NASTY. I bounced over big expose roots, thought I had got things back together but then hit a massive rock. I remember flying over the bars doing a bunch of rolls and tumbles head over heels down the hillside and hearing many different sounds from those watching (from excitement to horrified yelps). I jumped up, adrenaline taking over, and got back on the bike before I felt any pain. The finish was only a few mins away and I had to make sure David didn’t catch back up. I cranked over the line in 2nd place. My best finish of the season (why did I have to wait till the last race). I was stoked and just 2 mins off Vincent’s time (winner) and only 5 mins off the fastest Pros time. It was a great finish to the season.

After I stopped I checked out the grazes. I came off really well. Bruises on each knee and a cut on the bum from a stray stick. Haha – but like a true cyclist the worst injury was to my bike. Yep a few good scratches on one of the fork legs. Bugger aye.

We hung out for hours in the sun waiting for the results. It was good to get to know some of my competitors. Both Vincent and David were really nice guys and I wish I got to know them earlier in the season. Arwell, next time maybe. In the end I got 4th overall for the season (out of 8 races) in the Southern California State Series. I am pretty happy with this and know that with more dedicated training specifically to XC racing I could have done a little a little better. I had many 6th place results and were often just a few mins off 3rd place. Still its been an enjoyable time. Its been satisfying and its been great sticking to a hard tail. I love my new hard tail and are very happy I didn’t go to a full sus rig. They have their benefits but I love the simplicity of no rear suspension. Also I can now confirm after all the races this year that Titanium really is as good as you hear. It’s a pleasure to ride it and gives me a big smile everytime I’m out on it. It’s one of the best rides on 2 wheels for sure. Well a Ducati 998 would go down ok too I must admit, but don’t EVER let me buy one of them. EVER. I will become one of those ‘temporary citizens’ very quickly.

Downhilling at Northstar (Lake Tahoe Area)

Well what an epic trip. 1200 miles driving in a few days so that we can ride bikes down hills without the requirement of having to pedal them up first…

What can I say? I have got the DH bug back. Man what a great time. Some had told me not to get my hopes up about the Riding at Northstar. After riding at Whistler, Mammoth and Silverstar last year I can say that Northstar is second only to Whistler and is better than the other 2 mountains I have ridden at. Sunpeaks in BC is another that is a must and from what I have seen may be better than Northstar. However the variance at Northstar was good with a large percentage of it being natural terrain and lots of technical riding (rock gardens galore). Overall the tracks were technical and not flat-out. A big focus on cornering and like I said rock gardens were the main themes. There was nothing insane there either, or maybe it’s because I am getting a little better. There were only a few drops and one insane rock garden called ‘The Waterfall’ which I didn’t hit. Had I had a bigger bike I would have tried a few of these obstacles. We spent all of our time on Black and Double Black Diamond runs.

The weekend started with packing up the car at 10.30pm at night then driving throughout the night with Andy and Jason. It’s the first time I had been away with these guys and the trip went well. We were all of a pretty close ability and pushed each other in all the right places. Not one of us came away with any major injuries, a big deal because we were super pumped up to hit the dirt and super tired on that first day also.

So yeah we drove from 11pm for 8hrs through the night taking shifts until when we arrived in Truckee at 7am. After hitting the local diner for breakfast and much needed caffeine we walked round the main street a little before driving the 15mins to Northstar. A ski field in winter which like many of the ‘best’ ski fields provides a place for mountain bikers to hurl themselves down rocks during summer without needing to get up the hills under their own steam.

The first day was intense. We concentrated mainly on the right-hand side trails in the morning, doing many laps of Live Wires. Northstars equivalent to Whistler’s Aline. Jump Jump Jump corner, launch, jump, corner, jump, corner, berm, berm, berm, jump…. It was great to get back into jumping and I was starting to clear most of them by the end of the second day. It was rougher than Aline though. The last run of the day was again down Live Wires and I needed to peel my right hand from the handlebar as as it was locked in a deathgrip. Geez… but we didn’t want to stop riding.

Boondocks was another great track we hit many times on the first day. Technical, loose, fast, drops, trees. We had a wicked time on this track. In the afternoon I met up with Matt from San Jose for a few hours and we rode with his buddies on the more technical left-hand face of the mountain. What can I say. Super technical, rock gardens everywhere, a few drops, not many jumps and some serious loose out of control steep sections. It was a great time and really beat-up the hands and forearms. Even though the place was open till 7pm on the Friday we were so beat by 4.30 we had to stop. After driving the whole night we could hardly keep our eyes open at dinner. A little burger joint by the name ‘Burger Me’.

The next morning we sleep in and were at the mountain for 10am opening. Today we chilled a little more than the first day. Less rushed and had a great day, helped by the fact my eyes wanted to stay open. We still got in many runs, maybe not the 15+ of the first day but we concentrated on hitting a few drops we were too chicken to hit the first day and also spent more time on the rock gardens chasing each other through the dust. It was so quiet both days but especially on July 4^th which was weird. We never needed to wait in queues on either day. The weather was also perfect each day. We all had pinch flats on Saturday. Jason got the first in a rock garden. I got mine after landing on a rock sticking out of the transition from one of Live Wires jumps and Andy had another on Boondocks. It turned out to be his last run (we only had time for one more anyhow) as we could not get his 12mm rear axle off with a little multi-tool. This evening after pizza in Truckee we checked out the fireworks for July 4^th over Lake Donair. A spectacular location for fireworks with the explosions echoing around the mountain sides.

On Sunday we had the epic drive around the NE side of Lake Tahoe, down to Carson City and all the way down the 395 past Mammoth and home. The Lake Tahoe area is awesome. Not spectacular like Yosemite but just lovely, an outdoors paradise. Out of places to live in CA this would have to have been one of the best places I have seen so far. The drive right down to Bishop is lovely. After that it becomes desert and then sprawl. The drive was interrupted however with some riding. We shuttled Rock Creek with Andy’s cousin who lives in Bishop and his mate. Nothing insane but a great trail. It followed Rock Creek down through a gorge and had some great wee launches, awesome corners and in the lower sections some rock gardens. It was a great way to break up the 550 mile return journey.