Race Report—Skyline Park MTB

June 14, 2009
75º+ F, little wind
10th Place

I'd never raced here before, so I contacted Dain Zaffke at WTB for tire recommendations. He suggested a Mutano Raptor 2.4 up front paired with a 2.1 Nano Raptor on the rear. Great call, Dain. They're both high volume tires and worked well with the hardtail. I even saw him running the same tires on his full suspension Yeti ASR-SL.

Skyline Park has hosted numerous World Cup races and last year's Single Speed World Championships. The course runs through Valley Oak, Manzanita and Poison Oak, mostly on singletrack.

Right after the start, I'm hosed. My rear tire burped air on the first turn, waisting precious minutes. I filled it as quickly as I could and played catchup the entire race.

It's a tough course with an off camber hike a bike section and rocky, loose downhill single track. If this was casual ride, I probably would have walked those downhill sections. About halfway trough the first lap, I started catching up to racers in my group.

I kept pushing and managed to pull off a 10th place finish. Not bad considering my tire snafu at the start.