[Radarr]

I was wondering what everyone's two cents was on all of the stuff (doubles, that big teeter-totter) added to both the DH courses at Beacon. I love some of it, and hate the rest. Just from the last couple weekends of riding up there, I know of people ready to go out there and rip them out, and of people ready to make them bigger.

Despite the fact that I like some/most of them (there are a couple that are really stupid, like the double right at the bottom of the rock roller on the new DH course), are jumps like this feasable on a DH course, especially since DH racers are going to be carrying a lot more speed than somebody just sessioning the jumps having fun? Is this going to be a saftey/insurance thing with regards to the WIM series?

 

[oly]

Teeters on a race course??? That wouldnt rule.

There was quite a long thread last year about to jump or not to jump in reference to a double that was built there last year before the race. I wonder if its still in the archives.....

 

[Radarr]

Yeah, the teeter is built relatively well, but really steep and scary looking... It can easily be roped off and avoided, but would still be less than a foot off of the course, on the inside of a right-hand turn, nonetheless.

I figured there was a thread in the archives related to this, but I figured there was enough stuff added to the course this year to bring it up again, especially since most, if not all, of the jumps are bigger and far more technical than anything else that's been there before.

 

[MUTOLI]

A teeter on a downhill race course? That doesn't seem right.

 

[Radarr]

The arguement I've heard (It was quite heated. It was actually pretty funny to watch these guys go at it) is between progression of the sport and preservation of the existing trails.

 

[DHRacer]

yeah, one of those gay-A$$ jumps ended my racing career! :mumble: :angry:

dill-hole circle-jerkle punknubs should not be building CRAP on race courses.

(disclaimer: while I do take some responsibility for my actions, i watched others jump it before I tried it... it was not until the point of no return, at race speed, did I realize that the jump was way to steep - so I stand behind my orginal statement that dill-hole circle-jerkle punknubs should not be building CRAP on race courses.)

That being said... I miss racing.

 

[ChainWhip]

A teeter on a downhill race course? That doesn't seem right.

Isn't the point of a DH race to carry your speed? I guess ppl can just launch off the teeter-totter and not stop to wait for it to tip... I agree w/ Mutoli on this one...

 

[Radarr]

Just to clarify:

The teeter can be roped off and avoided during a race. It is occupying the right hand side of a pretty wide trail (~6-8 feet), and does NOT have to be a part of the actual race. When riding any given day up there, it is the inside line on that particular corner, though.

 

[buildyourown]

WIM is dead to me.

 

[allsk8sno]

the teeter is off the rock outcropping just past the small drop to flat after the camel humps on the old course and i am sure would be roped off,
as for the other jumps, take out the one at the bottom of the rock face or make it a table, the others are fine...aside from the stepup thingy after the berm to berm that has no possible route for an easy out...what the hell were these guys thinking???

 

[Radarr]

WIM is dead to me.

Dead? How could it be dead? There's 3 races! That's not dead. I think what you meant was that WIM is just severely beaten and rendered useless to the world.

Dead is such a hard word.

 

[MUTOLI]

Dead? How could it be dead? There's 3 races! That's not dead. I think what you meant was that WIM is just severely beaten and rendered useless to the world.

Dead is such a hard word.

I think he means he has written them off.

 

[MUTOLI]

Just to clarify:

The teeter can be roped off and avoided during a race. It is occupying the right hand side of a pretty wide trail (~6-8 feet), and does NOT have to be a part of the actual race. When riding any given day up there, it is the inside line on that particular corner, though.

Let's hope they don't have that in the race. That would be silly!

 

[Radarr]

Lol - I know what he meant. I was just having a little fun pointing out the obvious: 3 races for the whole summer, one of which is the championship -whatever that means after two races.

 

[MUTOLI]

Lol - I know what he meant. I was just having a little fun pointing out the obvious: 3 races for the whole summer, one of which is the championship -whatever that means after two races.

Yeah, it's pretty sad, but then again it gives us more time for the BC cups!

 

[arboc!]

i think its faster if you race around the teeter through the op-out, because if you wanna do the teeter smooth youve got to grab some brake to make it teet. As for the jumps some of them are good, but some of them make a faster line if you just pump both of them.
ps youve been up the last couple of week ends... what kind of bike do you ride, i may have seen you.
pps. speaking of beacon yesterday i nailed the step up after the road gap and the shore drop... all on my p.1

 

[Radarr]

That shore drop is rad - I love that whole line from that drop all the way to the bottom. Props for doing it on the HT, you've got more balls than I do. Last weekend was a good one - I did the big double over the road at the bottom of the course. I had a couple friends that stepped up and went big, too. As for my bike, I'm on an '05 DH Comp with a Shiver.

That step-up scares the crap out of me. I hit it 2 weeks ago and was way far back on the take-off. The result: A funny video, and my ankle still hurts. Next time...

 

[Radarr]

Oh, where in Spokane do you live? I grew up there and my parents still live there.

 

[arboc!]

my friend david ate **** off the step up, he hit the smaller of the two road gaps and tried to link it into the step up, he carried too much speed into it and over shot the landing by like 8 ft.... result a scraped up body and he broke the bolt that mounts the rear shock to his frame.
i live on 17th on the south hill

 

[mplutodh1]

It's crap like this that makes me lean more and more towards not attending. Beacon has turned into a playground, the race course isn't much of a race course in my mind.

As of now, most of the WWU team won't be heading over for the Blastoff.... gonna hold off and save the $$ to race the BC cups.

 

[oly]

SPOKE1 is all i plan to attend of WIM. the other 2 races conflict with hood stuff in some way.

I think WIM is like a horse with a broken leg... Its still alive, but soon to be put down.....wait...i dont think they will make glue and feed the school kids with the carcass of WIM, so maybe the horse analogy isnt so good.....

 

[allsk8sno]

if silver mtn comes through i think that will open up more dh trails they can use for race courses...we can hope wim actually tries this...

but yeah it looks like i won't be racing either...unless someone wants to fix my brake and pay my race fees....damn expensive sport

 

[oly]

if silver mtn comes through i think that will open up more dh trails they can use for race courses...we can hope wim actually tries this...

but yeah it looks like i won't be racing either...unless someone wants to fix my brake and pay my race fees....damn expensive sport

If SM becomes the new venue, then they can kiss my $$ goodbye. WAY TOO FAR for my taste.

 

[RhinofromWA]

If SM becomes the new venue, then they can kiss my $$ goodbye. WAY TOO FAR for my taste.

It is about a half an hour closer than Schweitzer.

 

[Kntr]

Ya but the DH will be the longest in the United States

 

[oly]

Ya but the DH will be the longest in the United States

So will they have a mid station where you can stop to rest? If fast times are in the 12 minutes what are the slow times going to be? Thats gonna make one long day for sure..... one that i will miss......

 

[RhinofromWA]

So will they have a mid station where you can stop to rest? If fast times are in the 12 minutes what are the slow times going to be? Thats gonna make one long day for sure..... one that i will miss......

MIght need a longer than 30sec gap between riders...



Old Schweitzer was bad enough....but 12 minutes! the gaps would need to be longer.

 

[SJ10]

I ride Beacon 2 to 3 times a week and I have mixed feelings about the changes. Some of the changes weren't done with the races in mind. Many don't have easy outs for the beginner and intermediate riders. Personally I would like to see the current trails maintained but left alone other than that. I would rather see the work go into new trails with varying levels of difficulty and stunts. That way those who like the current trails would be happy and those who want something new and perhaps more challenging would be satisfied as well. Assuming that everyone will like the changes is shortsighted and unfair to the riding community as a whole. I like to know that more challenging trails are available but not at the expense of existing trails. The other potential downside is that the land is a combination of parks dept. and private. Lots of new building may get unwanted attention if it isn't done with the grace of the land owners. DH is a sport on thin ice for many places. The last thing I want is to lose a place like Beacon.

SJ

 

[riverside73]

All of the stuff built at Beacon since last year was not built with racing in mind. It is Freeride stuff that somebody built in the middle of the race courses. Beacon is a City Park. The City Park people were up there last week looking around and taking pictures and stuff. I thought they would say everything needed to be torn down for liablity reasons and what not. To my surprise, they we're very diplomatic about eveything. There are a few things that they are going to completely remove. But most of the stuff they said was cool. If there is stuff on the race courses you want changed or fixed, let me know and I will make it happen. We want it to be fast and not stupid-dangerous.

eric@roundandround.com

 

[buildyourown]

There was a lot of talk last year about WIM trying to improve things. New venues, better courses, we all remember the letter Nate and Tad sent them that we endorsed. Then WIM came out with their schedule of a whooping 3 races, all on the east side.
So, as far as I'm concerned, WIM doesn't exist. I don't want to call it a boycott, but if we don't go and WIM pulls out of DH completely, then maybe there will be room for somebody who cares more about the quality of the race than how much profit they make at each event.

So, WIM is dead to me. I'll miss the Beacon of old. Those were some good times.

 

[SJ10]

All of the stuff built at Beacon since last year was not built with racing in mind. It is Freeride stuff that somebody built in the middle of the race courses. Beacon is a City Park. The City Park people were up there last week looking around and taking pictures and stuff. I thought they would say everything needed to be torn down for liablity reasons and what not. To my surprise, they we're very diplomatic about eveything. There are a few things that they are going to completely remove. But most of the stuff they said was cool. If there is stuff on the race courses you want changed or fixed, let me know and I will make it happen. We want it to be fast and not stupid-dangerous.

eric@roundandround.com

I'm glad to know that was the attitude of the City Park people. My main concern is keeping the place open to riders. I'll let the city and race organizers decide what should stay or go.

SJ

 

[geargrrl]

All of the stuff built at Beacon since last year was not built with racing in mind. It is Freeride stuff that somebody built in the middle of the race courses. Beacon is a City Park. The City Park people were up there last week looking around and taking pictures and stuff. I thought they would say everything needed to be torn down for liablity reasons and what not. To my surprise, they we're very diplomatic about eveything. There are a few things that they are going to completely remove. But most of the stuff they said was cool. If there is stuff on the race courses you want changed or fixed, let me know and I will make it happen. We want it to be fast and not stupid-dangerous.

eric@roundandround.com

if anyone is interested in building, NOT on the race course of course, the new mountain bike club ( FTTRC) has been given the green light by city parks to start working on some plans "legal" features. We're putting a committee together, you can come to the next meeting or PM me if you want to know more.

geargrrl
www.fttrc.org

 

[evilbob]

........... that we endorsed.

We did? When?

 

[buildyourown]

We did? When?

This thread here: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94266

It's a sticky at the top of the PNW forum.
Obviously WIM didn't take it seriously

 

[Kntr]

So will they have a mid station where you can stop to rest? If fast times are in the 12 minutes what are the slow times going to be? Thats gonna make one long day for sure..... one that i will miss......

The longest NORBA DH race use to be Deadmans in Missoula Montana. Pro times were around 11 minutes or a little under. Most people were in the 12-15 minute range. There is only one short uphill section that some people ride and others push. The trail was fairly wide and they started people 1 minute apart. People are pretty good with passing. If you are caught by the rider behind you, you must get out of his way. He is faster and deserves a shot at the podium... was the general rule the last few years.

From what I have heard, the Silver Moutain DH will be about the same in length and times may be a little longer due to the techy trail. I can hardly wait. I sure hope SM steps it up this year.

 

[buildyourown]

The longest NORBA DH race use to be Deadmans in Missoula Montana. Pro times were around 11 minutes or a little under. Most people were in the 12-15 minute range. There is only one short uphill section that some people ride and others push. The trail was fairly wide and they started people 1 minute apart. People are pretty good with passing. If you are caught by the rider behind you, you must get out of his way. He is faster and deserves a shot at the podium... was the general rule the last few years.

From what I have heard, the Silver Moutain DH will be about the same in length and times may be a little longer due to the techy trail. I can hardly wait. I sure hope SM steps it up this year.

Just wait 'til the expert course designers at WIM get done with it. You'll be riding down the fireroad.

 

[bibs]

I thought it was already like a fireroad?

 

[holliswood]

I am going over to Spokanistan this weekend for some play riding and I am very anxious to see this stuff that was built over the last year. Now no offense to anyone so far or to anyone personal but my god GET A FRICKIN' LIFE! This same thing happened last year over a jump at the bottom of the course and got blown way out of proportion. WIM stated earlier in this thread that Beacon is a city park. WIM has made a comitment to us racers for two races in that area this year. WIM has not really built to much on those two courses in the way of obstacles or jumps. WIM has just used existing trails built by locals to ride and taken them as there own and "POW", you got yer' self a few race courses. If WIM wants total control af an area they need to do some work, and build a course on there own land!

The problem I have with this is there are people up there year round riding, building, and ripping that area and twice a year a lazy race promoter comes in and calls it there own. Jumps should be torn down, obstacles should be removed, blah, blah, blah. That is such crap! The race promoters need to work around existing things and create alternate lines. Not listen to a bunch of spoiled glorified cross country racers! How would it be if WIM decided to throw a race at say SST and came in and decided to change some things people had worked very hard to create?

I do agree that that area is pretty good size and having rode with the locals over there for years since my little bro lived there a while, they could be building elsewhre besides the race courses. But lets not jump to conclusions and wreck a bunch of work these riders did before we know a little more about it. It's not up to WIM to go up and start tearing stuff down without a little diplomacy with these loc's.

 

[bibs]

me too me too!

 

[Certified Drunk]

I'm glad to know that was the attitude of the City Park people. My main concern is keeping the place open to riders. I'll let the city and race organizers decide what should stay or go.

SJ

Wrong! You should let the local riders decide what gets built. The race organizers should work around whats already there. Nothing should get torn down to make a few riders happy. If you can't ride the course for your riding level, your in the wrong class.