Iron Horse DH Mount Snow – Race #2

Back up to Mount Snow for a little training on the high speed open ski runs before the National Championships. The course was a variation of the sport course used for the Nationals. I have never been on this course and it was very fun. I was feeling great in practice getting used to my new Turner DHR. Race day came and we were not only racing the clock but the weather as well. As I left the start gate it started to drizzle. A third of the way down it started to pour and I thought this may be an advantage since the rest of my class would have to go off in the rain. However, I stacked it in the roxy rocks section and nearly knocked myself out. I managed to get back up, find my bike, and salvage a top ten with 8th place.



Plattekill DH Series - Race#3

Up to Plattekill for race #3 to keep the race senses sharp for the National Championships next weekend. I was testing some setups with the front of my bike and just was not feeling much flow on the course. The course never seemed to click with me so I registered for slalom on saturday. I have never had so much fun racing head to head. I will be doing more slalom races in the future. On sunday I crashed in my race run and finished 9th. I also donated my old DH bike to Plattekill's Junior Development program so we should start seeing some new kids on the mountain. Us old guys can't keep racing for ever, we need some new blood to keep the east coast hopping.



Mount Snow National Championships

Drive up wednesday and its pissing rain. Thursday practice in the rain. The course is a combination of Mt. Snows roughest wide open sections and now there turning into a mud bog. Practice goes better than I expected. Friday practice without any rain but the course gets worse. Rutted mud bog with giant holes forming everywhere by the minute. The course keeps changing and you have to keep trying new lines. I manage to hit a tree at full speed and bruise my quad. I thought I may have broke my leg and was on the ground for 5 minutes, it hurt so bad. I go back up to check out lines which was probably not a good idea since my leg hurt so bad. That night I ice, hot tub, ibuprofen and repeat to keep the swelling down. Saturday practice. Thank God for hot tubs, I feel a little better and I am able to pedal, walking is still not that good. Its sunny and the course seems to be improving and practice goes well. Saturday race run. My rear brake has been finicky all weekend and I crash right before ledges, I get back on and make it down to loose my bar with one hand and dump it in a mud bog before turkey falls. I scramble in the mud forever and at this point my run is basically over, too much time has passed. I get back on and finish my run with no rear brake ending up 13th.



3 Races = 3 crashes. Not a very good month but I have a week off to recover and get my head straight. After that we have the Mad March Racing Pro Camp at Plattekill, then Mount Snow race #3 and Plattekill race #4. I would also like to thank Fox for taking the time to setup my bike on thursday even though they were totally swamped and short handed. The bike feels dialed now.



That’s it for July. August report to follow the end of the month including a report on the Mad March Racing Pro Camp at Plattekill.

Plattekill DH Series – Race #2

One month the course is fast and flowy. The next it is technical and tricky. The course was a combination of trails from past old school races making it a instant Plattekill classic. Practice was mostly dry with some slick spots and come race day it looked like we were good to go without any problems. The pro class went off in dry conditions and then it was time to start the expert class. The winds picked up, the sky grew dark, some rumbles were heard and then it started to pour. With no shelter and no way down all you could do was laugh as you waited for your race run. So much for the dry set of gloves I brought up with me. It was raining so hard that the timing shorted 3 times and we were stuck on top of the mountain for an hour. The timing was fixed and now it was time to race. I leave the gate and enter the first section of woods and the trail is under water, it was crazy. I just followed the water and held back some since I couldn't see anything it was raining so hard. Amazingly I came through the finish with a clean run and landed seventh place. I was happy to be able to deal with all the weather and still throw down a clean run to keep in the top five for the series.



New Jersey State Championship XC Race

Well my DH bike is currently in pieces since my new Turner DHR showed up so I thought I would do something a little different. I went to the NJ State Championship XC race at Kittatiny. The course was fast and dry but not too technical. It was more of a wide open road race in the dirt and I was going to have to work to keep up with the seasoned XC racers. My class had 64 racers and when we hit the first section of singletrack it was a pile up. This continued for the first loop and I tried like hell to get out front but dropped my chain and had to fight to pick off more people. Lap 2 hurt real bad since I exploded on the first lap. The third lap felt better and people started to drop off since we all went out so hard on the first lap and a lot of people started to get flats. Not me though since I was running my 2.1 Kenda Nevegals like I was at a DH race. Towards the end of the 3rd loop I had to stop for a while while they cleared an injured rider with a quad and then I finally came through the finish line. I ended up 23rd out of 64. Not too bad for something I normally don't do but I definitely like 3 minute races better.



Diablo Domination Series – Race #2

New bike weekend! My new Turner DHR showed up and we frantically put it together friday night. It wasn't perfect yet but it was good enough to race and test out everything. Diablo also put together an amazing course which included the infamous Utah trail (rock upon rock and then more rock). Once out of Utah you headed into a nice set of berms and a step-up. After this you headed into a wide open grassy run and then to the Redbull booter from the US Open. This course had a little bit of everything and turned out to be very fast with times in the 2 minute range. I was messing around with bike all weekend and trying different springs and was feeling confident on the bike already. I was feeling fast and comfortable and was able to land 25th. A lot better than my last result at Diablo race 1. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season now once I work out everything with the new race rig. Thanks, Turner for getting the bike out to me as quick as possible.



That’s it for June. Check the photos section for photos from the US Open and my new Turner DHR. July report to follow the end of the month including the National Championship at Mount Snow.