Race Report September 2007
Whiteface 5K Downhill
It’s finally here! The big race I have been waiting for all year. Unfortunately I may have fractured my sternum last race and I’m not feeling too strong. But still, I did not want to miss this race and with my friends Ken and Diane offering me a place to stay at Lake George I had to give it a shot. The course was amazing and even longer than last year with top ten pro times hitting the 8 minute mark. The weather was beautiful and the course was dry and dusty. Throughout the weekend the course turned into 6 inch deep talcum powder covering rocks and holes – really strange conditions for the east coast. Practice went well until I bent my crank spider and chain ring and snapped my chain. I got everything back together (thanks to my sponsors I have backups) and went up for my race run. The race run was going well but I just didn’t have enough strength for a full race pace run and got off line in a rock section and crashed hard. I took a break on the side of the course and then completed my run with a jammed chain. I managed to get 8th place but I learned that I shouldn’t race injured. I had a great weekend riding and cliff jumping at the lake. Thanks Ken and Diane, it was a great place to rest and recover from my injury with friends.
Plattekill DH Series - Race#5
I spent this week recovering by riding on the road bike and doing a dynamic stretching routine to regain my flexibility. If it wasn’t for the James Wilson’s MTB Strength Training program I have been following I don’t think I would have the strength or flexibility to recover so fast. The course was fun with the finish including a run through the slalom course. Big DH bikes in the slalom course feel funny. I play it pretty conservative all weekend because I can’t afford to fall and set my self back health wise since I am in the points race for this series. Me and my teammate Lander are tied for 5th place so far. In my race run everything was going pretty well until something grabbed my bike at the end before we dumped out to the slalom course. I went down, nothing too bad but it cost me a lot of time in a spot where you should be hauling into the slalom course. I ended up getting 10th place and dropping to 6th in the series. We have two more races, one of them being double points so I still have a chance to come back. Did I mention that Winter is coming – it dropped into the 30s Saturday night.
Mount Snow Iron Horse Series – Final
Everybody listen… This course should be used for the National Championships next year! This is by far the best course I have raced this year. High speed whooped out rocky sections, technical sweeping single track, and maximum speed fire roads all combined to perfection. I pretty much hit all my lines, maybe a little to conservative in some areas and end up in 12th place. I want to concentrate on this series for next year so I’ll have to work on the open high speed sections some more to become really competitive here. Best race course of the year, just like all the World Cup courses we watch in the videos. I can’t wait to race it again next year.
Diablo Domination Series – Race#4
It’s a perfect September weekend and I have my family coming up to watch with my little nephew Jared (maybe America’s future World Cup racer). For this race they had it go down the front side of the mountain through the legendary alpine trail, which includes wall rides and then into ripper. I end up having a catastrophic mechanical early in practice on Saturday. I go home early with a few runs and get to work on the bike. Four hours later I have a complete new front end on the bike cobbled together from a bunch of old backup parts and a lot of washers. It’s not pretty, nor perfect, but it will get the job done. I get a few practice runs on Sunday and meet up with family to show them the course. I was a little uncomfortable on the bike with the cobbled together setup so I took my run conservative and showed off on the wall rides for my nephew even though it was slower to do them. My mother got an awesome photo of me on the wall that I will be posting soon. I ended up 17th with my teammates Julio in 18th and Lander in 10th. All in all a great weekend and the family had a great time.
That’s it for September. Two weeks till the Gravity East finals. I should have my bike back to normal by then and I’m feeling fully recovered and strong so it should be a fast race. One more race report coming in November then the season is over.