I contacted petr at mt. hood and is very receptive to bringing back dual slalom at mt. hood. So email him and tell him your interested in racing slalom! Skibowlbikerace@aol.com
bring back dual slalom!
- Thread starter Mut
- Start date
CoolMut said:
I'll put the bug in Kevin's ear! I have never done DS but I'm totally look forward to trying it at Sea Otter
Awesome, I think i'd be more able to do DS. Im not a great jumper and 4X is all about big jumps. .
It is? Hmmm. You can't be any worse of a jumper than I am. 4X is fun, I'd be willing to give DS a go if it was available.oly said:
I can think of at least one.....Five said:
When I talked with Petre last summer I asked about the DS course....he said "go for it" and pointed to the shovels. Appearenetly he's all for it, just doesn't have the man power to re-build and maintain it, at least that was my impression.
The great thing is, Skibowl has all the ski timing equipment, and the race coordination down! They can run a DS better than anybody!!
Did I mention the free beer? I miss the good ol' Skibowl race weekends.
The great thing is, Skibowl has all the ski timing equipment, and the race coordination down! They can run a DS better than anybody!!
Did I mention the free beer? I miss the good ol' Skibowl race weekends.
didn't the winner get a pony keg full of beer? I wouldn't know, I was to young. but I remeber DY had got to the beer before the racing was over for one of the finals, It was DY and myself in the final round and that guy sure can ride fast with some liquid courge!PsychO!1 said:
They always had a (free) keg of Mt Hood Brewery's finest tapped at the bottom of the DS course. The suds would start flowing after the DH awards, and before DS qualifying. Needless to say, a fair number of racers would grab a cup for the walk to the top of the course each run.......made for some fun racing!!!!Mut said:
I think you are actually talking about the MTX course. The DS course was on the other side of the alpine slide. When on the lift (when there is no snow) you can still barely make out the two lines.
If Petr is supportive and could finagal us a little dirt, like say the remnants of the MTX course, and a piece of equipment to set the dirt in a few strategic piles, I would be willing to spend a weekend a few weeks before the first race getting it back up to speed.
The soil is real rocky over there so the deeper you go the more rocks you uncover. It would be better to build above ground.
If Petr is supportive and could finagal us a little dirt, like say the remnants of the MTX course, and a piece of equipment to set the dirt in a few strategic piles, I would be willing to spend a weekend a few weeks before the first race getting it back up to speed.
The soil is real rocky over there so the deeper you go the more rocks you uncover. It would be better to build above ground.
TWISTED said:
Yeah those burms looked like there were still cut in the hill even after all these years. I would be willing to spend a weekend as well. But we have to do a run from timberline to zigag, snow permitting of course.trailhacker said:
As an aside, NORBA is bringing back Dual Slalom this year in a much bigger way. 7 total events and dual at 5 and mountaincross at 3 of them (Both DS/MX at Mt. Snow, VT). Add in Sea Otter and I'd say that DS is making a serious comeback...
Me too!Mut said:
That's good to hear. I personally think it was a bad move to make a bmx track for mt. bikes. If you want that style of racing go the the bmx track. When mtx took over, mt. biking lost a bit of it's identity. Dual slalom was one of the roots of mt. biking. If you've ever been to sea otter, dual slalom is the best racing to watch of the weekend with the most spectaters of the weekend. I'm glad to see it making a come back.Tonic said:
I might be taking a stab in the dark, but when dual slalom was no more, that began the rapid downward spiral of racing at the national level.
Funny, I was watching some "old" (read: early-mid 90's) DS footage at work and I found it far more exciting to watch then MTX. Not that MTX isn't exciting to watch, I just think the DS format is a little more dramatic...especially when you base it off two runs. MTX is all about the holeshot and then staying upright over the jumps...not much else.
BRING IT BACK!!
BRING IT BACK!!
Seems to me like for the track builders, that DS would be much easier to make than a mountain-x course !
I don't like the idea of competing against 3 other racers at one time.I havn't ever raced a 4x or mountaincross.But ride the courses alot & watch dvd's enough to know i like Dual slalom better for me.Against the clock is better in your own lane= Dual Slalom !!
.02
I don't like the idea of competing against 3 other racers at one time.I havn't ever raced a 4x or mountaincross.But ride the courses alot & watch dvd's enough to know i like Dual slalom better for me.Against the clock is better in your own lane= Dual Slalom !!
.02
Wow I'm going to upset some people here, but I think DS looks boring and if I have anything to do with the race course, there will be lots of big jumps and rythym sections. I'd make the jumps roll-able and the larger one's tabletops or triples to keep lesser skilled riders safe. I love to rub elbows with other racers and go for a swooping pass. The most recent dual course from a few years ago that I raced on was two seperate lanes half way down then they merged into one the same way the Jeep K.O.T.M. series is run. I want an exciting race course that is fun to ride. It would be a big draw to Ski Bowl for riders all summer as well. Weve been getting a regular group of about thirty mountainbikes showing up at the indoor BMX track. I'm sure all of them would be excited about riding at Mt. Hood.
I believe it was mentioned that the super-d races would have a mass start with a large number of racers on the same course going for the win. That sounds far more dangerous to me. Can you imagine the dust and big hidden rocks?
I believe it was mentioned that the super-d races would have a mass start with a large number of racers on the same course going for the win. That sounds far more dangerous to me. Can you imagine the dust and big hidden rocks?
L
luelling
Guest
I agree. I used to race slalom at Hood back in the 90s and I loved it. Its against another person, but it is a true test of skills becuase the hole shot doesn't win it. As for building a course, someone (and I can try) to get a hold of Gabe, Todd or Jim.DBR X6 RIDER said:Funny, I was watching some "old" (read: early-mid 90's) DS footage at work and I found it far more exciting to watch then MTX. Not that MTX isn't exciting to watch, I just think the DS format is a little more dramatic...especially when you base it off two runs. MTX is all about the holeshot and then staying upright over the jumps...not much else.
BRING IT BACK!!
There's no reason slalom can't have big jumps. It's like you said, build them right for everyone. I think that's what slalom was lacking back in the day.TWISTED said:
TWISTED said:
Not saying your wrong as everybody has an opinion and yours is as valid as mine but..... I think the rubbing elbows belongs on the BMX track.TWISTED said:
They had the MTX course up there for about 4 years and it didn't seem to really help?TWISTED said:
Back in the day they used to get about 25+/- people at every DS race. When they changed to the new MTX course I think they got maybe 15 for the first race and then it went down every race until they stopped doing it. Also seems like that was when the numbers for the DH went down too?
I know I personally got involved in this type of racing to race DS and DH was just something else we did.
I agree that more jumps would be sweet, but I don't thinks jumps that only 5% of the people racing can clear is a good idea. Doesn't matter if they are "rollable" if the guy in your heat clears them then is 50 feet in front of you. The way I see it is if you get a pretty good rider that doesn't want to take that risk (like myself) then they will see that they have no chance against a guy that is going to go for it so why even enter.
Same goes with MTX. I can't sprint to save my life so why would I want to waste my $ when the guy that makes the first turn wins? At least in DS some guy can be two gates up on you but if you can nail the turns (and reasonable jumps) you still have a chance.
This comes up all the time in the DH forum about how the only way to bring the money back is to build these superX courses. I think when people want to see superX they go see superX? I guess its fine to do this for the 1% of the people that would be competetive in this type of event but for the masses its not very attractive.
This is mountain bike racing and it seems that people think that we need to make it more motoX or BMX like to make it fun. To those people I say go buy a BMX or dirtbike.
My $.02.
Being as I've never done DS before, what are the gates like? Does it drop down like BMX/4X or doors like they use for skiing?
In years past at hood, there's a wond that your front tire would move as you leave the starting area. That would start the timer. So getting the sweet gate isn't as key. But....at the nationals you still have your gate starts. It's been a few years but at Sea Otter in the mtx, it was motocross style gate. flat ground, gate falls forward though, and there was a 15 second board that the hot chick would drop and the would go anywhere in the 15 seconds. It think the slalom was a bmx style start. So be ready for anything!Five said:
Trailhacker, I'm with you. I got into mt. bike racing for the slalom and dh was the side event for me. When it went to Dual, I stopped racing it and focused on the DH.
The course that was built in 2000 for the televised Gorge games recieved no maintenance what-so-ever after that.trailhacker said:
The 2001 races required a DH bike because it was so rough. There were only about twenty people racing since they scheduled the dual after the DH awards and beer. I finished 2nd in Pro at the two scheduled races for that year after leading the 6/23/01 "State Games" final untill my chain skipped as I approached the big jump and Tony (?) jumped over my head. The last final (9/01/01) had me fall as I tried to dive under Jason Morris (?) for the lead.
No races in 2002.
2003 the course was marked "Off-Limits" with banners blocking the entrance as it was left to weather away.
end of story.