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26 West DH race report.....

mtnbiker66

mtnbiker66

Monkey
Sep 29, 2004
174
0
In a van down by the river.
It was gloomy/cloudy,breezy and cold. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. JeremyR had a small issue with a spoke of two. The groms were killing it,watching some of those kids reminded me of how old and slow I really am. I did hear a comment or two about the timing system......I'll leave it at that.

Most of my pics come out looking like crap but I'll throw up a few. I'm sure some other folks will have more to say and better pics.

...a few in black and white






This one of Cranberry came out OK......


The colors were nice so.......




These colors were realllllly poppin'....
 
cranberry

cranberry

Monkey
Dec 30, 2005
162
0
Waaaay out there
From my Myspace blog....
It's a little winded but if you know me....well, enough said.

The state championships were this weekend. I was so excited to get back to the DH race scene. I absolutely love being around all these guys that share my passion for bicycles, and hanging with the people I only see at the races. I met tons of new people and I finally put some faces with screen names. I visit a lot of Internet bike forums and it's always cool to meet people in person you have "met" on-line.

The weekend went like this...

Friday OB1, Fitzy, and I left Charlotte headed to 26 West mountain-bike park. The trip up was pretty uneventful except the usual laughs at each other expense. Ya better have tough skin to roll with these boys. We stopped for a pee break at this little store in the middle of nowhere, and saw a sign for a new energy drink. Kronik. Anyway, the product name was so funny I had to get my snips and cut down the sign. It was going to be our "sponsor" drink for the weekend. We had been checking the weather for about a week hoping that the showers they were forecasting would pass to the North. No such luck. It rained the whole trip up. At Least we were smart enough to put all the gear in large garbage bags to keep them dry.

We get to the resort, register for our respective classes, and load into the shuttle for our first ride down the course. In case you don't know, the shuttle is what takes all of the racers and their bikes to the top of the mountain.

The resort had added almost a 1/2 mile of trail to the course since I had ridden it earlier in the summer. The new section was fast in some sections and SUPER technical in others. There were a few places so steep that once you dropped in, there was no way to stop until you either made the turn at the bottom or crashed. I LOVED the new section. We were making runs, learning our lines, and figuring out where we could carry speed and where we needed to really stay on our toes.

The injury report....

I was riding on the shuttle trailer. Richard from Moorwood bikes was driving the truck. We got to a steep section of the road and he shifted into first gear. As he did, I slipped of of the fender of the trailer. I caught myself just before I actually fell off the trailer onto the road, but popped my shoulder out of socket. This happens once or twice a year. (maybe I should have that looked at) I am able to pop it back in fairly easily. The best part was when it popped back in. All the guys on the trailer almost puked when they heard the sound. I have to admit it's a pretty nasty clunk. I thought, Oh well, it's back in and now I can ride. We do another run or two. We set up to do the last run of practice. OB1 and I roll up to the rhythm section and we see Fitzy laying on the trail. His helmet visor is broken in half, he is in the fetal position, and he's not moving. This is NOT good. He got bucked over the handlebars and landed head first into the ground. In the cycling scene that is known as "Lawndarting." After about 15-20 minutes he was able to get up and walk down the mountain, but was in no condition to race on Saturday.

Saturday night we ate at this little pizza place in Mars Hill. It's just outside of Asheville. That was some of the best pie I had ever eaten. I'm sorry but I cant recall the name. After a quick stop for ibuprofen for Fitzy, we called it a night.

Race report...

Saturday morning I'm up around 6. I can never sleep very well the night before a race. We load up and head to the resort. The weather looks awesome, the trees are starting to change and the day appears to be perfect. Well...except for the occasional moan from Fitzy. BTW...His arm looks pretty bad this morning. Nice and swollen. He's a trooper and says, "Dont worry about it guys. Now you have a photo/videographer." I will post the vid on my page when OB1 gets finished editing it.


Not a bad weekend at all. I had fun and thats ALL that matters!
 
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Agras

Chimp
Jun 23, 2008
22
0
Those pics look sweet. I might be heading up there for the closing weekend...I hear there will be a competition but will the trails be open on Saturday? What are the odds that Ryan will keep it open for another weekend?
 
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