Race Weekend

I'm not a racer, but I do like to race once or twice a year. Jen, on the other hand, has never raced downhill before. Despite all of that, the two of us piled in the truck and drove to Pomerelle Idaho for a weekend of downhill. Unlike most of the Utah Series events, Pomerelle is a two-day race with one course on Saturday and another on Sunday. For various reasons, Jen and I only raced the Saturday course and had varied results. I blew one corner on my race run so bad that I had to run up the hill and get back on the trail. That put me in a disappointing 4th place (also known as last place, since there were only 4 people my age bracket who raced Cat 2). Jen, on the other hand, rode smooth and fast for a solid 3rd place finish in her first ever race. And that was on my trail bike. Our friend Brad took home 1st in Cat 1, and Christine took home 2nd in Cat 2 and was also the only woman to send the finish line drop.

Despite not racing, Jen and I stuck around for a while on Sunday to take some photos and see the ends of the first runs. It rained like mad all day and the runs were muddy and wet. People had some seriously scared expressions when they came across the line. Despite the gnar, Christine and Brad both took home gold medals in their categories. Nice work you two!

I always have a good time racing. I'm not very good at it, but it's always fun to pin a run as hard as I can and see if I'm faster than anyone else. I'm pretty pissed at myself for putting together such a shitty race run, but if everything always went right then it wouldn't be racing.

Crest

It's that time of year again. The Crest trail is finally dry, so our crew got together for our annual ride down Mill D followed by a barbecue in the parking lot. This ride never gets old and has something for everyone. Toni brought a hard-tail single-speed while Chris brought a full-on DH race bike, and everyone had an equally good time.

The Joy of Freeride

For the last few weeks our friend Scott has been getting after it more and more on the freeride side of things. He started jumping off anything within his realm of ability, and he even came to Jackson with us last weekend where he did very well. Today, Scott and Fred joined me and Jen on Arcylon to try new features. Jen and Scott started off strong by sending the first ladder drop in fine style. Then, on only the second lap, both Scott and Fred went down hard... at exactly the same time. Fred came up short on a double and got pogo-sticked off his bike, landing on his head and shoulder and not feeling too good about either. Scott came out much worse. He blew a corner at flat-out speed and landed on his head and chest. It was a couple minutes before he could talk, but he did manage to get down the hill and drive home. Then he went to the hospital. Good luck man.

Three More

I completely forgot that I took the point-and-shoot up Lithium while we were in Jackson. So, here are three additions to the last post.

Progression

Damn, those Jackson boys sure can build a trail. The trails we rode last year were barely recognizable thanks to all the work put in by a very dedicated trail crew, and the abundance of big-but-friendly features helped everyone in our group to raise their game this weekend. Every single person in the crew hit at least one feature that they had never done before, and I sent what was by far the scariest thing I've ever tried on a bike. Then I went back and did it two more times because it was so much fun. Thanks to Toni for all the tow-ins, and thanks to everyone for raising their game and spreading the stoke around. This was definitely the best biking weekend of the year so far. I can't wait for more.