Who's racing DH this weekend? Anyone know what the new add on section is? I'm wondering if it's the singletrack directly across from Packers Saddle behind a fallen log with NO BIKES spray painted on it.
Downieville Classic
- Thread starter djjohnr
- Start date
I am fairly certain the new section is the new Sunshine trail that opened last year. It is generally in the area you mention. That chunk of land is private property and being used only with permission of the owner. Respect whatever signage is there.
I suck and will not be up this year due to some BS commitments. Have fun and please, someone make sure to pick up my slack at the St. Charles.
Sunrise trail is directly across the dirt lot where the shuttles drop you off. It's a sweet section of single track, but not much of a DH trail.
Have fun.
Have fun.
I will be there w/ a posse from South Lake.
If anyone knows of ANY girls who are looking for a spot, I know 2 injured ladies that need to give up their spots. Lemme know.
Also, I am not able to make it up there until Saturday morning. Does anyone have any thoughts on if I'll be able to find a camping spot up top in one of those campgrounds. They seem to get filled up slower.
If anyone knows of ANY girls who are looking for a spot, I know 2 injured ladies that need to give up their spots. Lemme know.
Also, I am not able to make it up there until Saturday morning. Does anyone have any thoughts on if I'll be able to find a camping spot up top in one of those campgrounds. They seem to get filled up slower.
Yes, it's sunrise trail, but NOT the trail that was behind the "no bikes" log. It's significantly longer, pretty pedally, very flowy and pretty fun. It drops out literally right next to the beginning of Butcher (right where the fireroad branches off to the left and starts to get steep and fun).
Anybody riding that trail on a dh bike will hate it. If your on a light bike and can snap out of corners and carry speed through tight turns you will love it.
I'll be racing AM expert. XC on Saturday, DH on Sunday, both on my Stumpjumper with 2.1 xc tires (with LOTS of pressure). Yaaaay for pedalling really hard for a really, really long time!
Saw him last weekend practicing. He implied he was racing.
You should be able to find a spot up towards Gold Lake.
Hoorah for Eric Carter and Nathan Rennie showing up to race the classic!
Any results yet? How did those guys do? What's the new course record? And how'd it go for you and Ben?
I wish I'd ridden/known more about Sunrise before I got there. The top section changed the whole run for me, sooo much pedaling.
I had a really rough run. The sun/heat didn't sit well with me and got me a bit sick. Got a 3rd in expert which isn't bad I guess, but just generally bummed with how I rode. Not too bummed, because it's just great to be part of such a great event.
Ben had a smooth run, but did it with a torn MCL. I think he finished with a time of 61 minutes. and now he won't be riding for a bit.
Top pro woman finshed the DH course in 54 minutes. Crazy. Weir won the DH, but not the All Mountain. Can't remember his time.
Blind bobby got it done in an hour and a half.
Nathan Rennie did the xc in 3hrs and the DH in an hour and a half after 3 flats. I think it's just really cool to have people like him show up at the event.
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2 small complaints though. Don't have the last shuttle going to the top leaving right before the awards ceremony/raffle. Don't send the 19yr old sport guys down right after the expert women. Those dudes rip and it makes them lose time having to pass people and makes the girls lose time having to pull over to let them pass.
I hope they do the DH on Saturday again next year! A lot less spectators when you run the race on Sunday.
Ben had a smooth run, but did it with a torn MCL. I think he finished with a time of 61 minutes. and now he won't be riding for a bit.
Top pro woman finshed the DH course in 54 minutes. Crazy. Weir won the DH, but not the All Mountain. Can't remember his time.
Blind bobby got it done in an hour and a half.
Nathan Rennie did the xc in 3hrs and the DH in an hour and a half after 3 flats. I think it's just really cool to have people like him show up at the event.
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2 small complaints though. Don't have the last shuttle going to the top leaving right before the awards ceremony/raffle. Don't send the 19yr old sport guys down right after the expert women. Those dudes rip and it makes them lose time having to pass people and makes the girls lose time having to pull over to let them pass.
I hope they do the DH on Saturday again next year! A lot less spectators when you run the race on Sunday.
Hard to start a race on an uphill, huh?
The pedalling on the road is what does me in. Thought I was going to hurl.
Third place in expert is pretty friggin rad Amy, congrats! Bummer about Ben.
Personally I prefer the DH on Saturday too, but it's not about spectators: It's because you don't have to go easy at the bar or campfire on Saturday night!!
Personally I prefer the DH on Saturday too, but it's not about spectators: It's because you don't have to go easy at the bar or campfire on Saturday night!!
I know! Pretty lame missing out on some festivities and having to go to bed early.
Yeah, it was my fault. I had the worst run down I've ever had I think.
1) I'm not in the cardio shape I needed to be this season. No excuse for that. Without Sunrise though I probably would have been ok.
2) I ate nothing but crap the whole week of the race and didn't hydrate. I was de-hydrated and and had a camelbak full of the energy powder they handed out instead of water, which did nothing to quench thirst. Eating nothing but burgers left me lacking in energy.
3) I should have ridden in the morning. Every time I ride Downie my second run is faster.
The flat tire right at the bottom of Butchers didn't help at all either. Anyways, I got home last night and started putting an old XC hardtail frame together, time to get my cardio back.
The road pedaling is never fun, especially since you want to make the extra effort to spring the whole thing.
Have you seen times posted anywhere online? I have no idea what I came in at.
1) I'm not in the cardio shape I needed to be this season. No excuse for that. Without Sunrise though I probably would have been ok.
2) I ate nothing but crap the whole week of the race and didn't hydrate. I was de-hydrated and and had a camelbak full of the energy powder they handed out instead of water, which did nothing to quench thirst. Eating nothing but burgers left me lacking in energy.
3) I should have ridden in the morning. Every time I ride Downie my second run is faster.
The flat tire right at the bottom of Butchers didn't help at all either. Anyways, I got home last night and started putting an old XC hardtail frame together, time to get my cardio back.
The road pedaling is never fun, especially since you want to make the extra effort to spring the whole thing.
Have you seen times posted anywhere online? I have no idea what I came in at.
FYI, even if YOU'RE not stoked on it, good job on 3rd!
so this year was my first year riding/ racing at downieville. really good coarse, cool town with the river to swim in etc, lots of racers with talent. met alotta nice folks. i've gotta say, i thought i was in pretty good shape, but now... ran a heavier bike set-up w/ dh tires and didn't flat which was good, pretty cashed on the big climb though. thought i might actually win my class, but didn't even make it to the podium. kinda cool though- that much competition there. definitly going to be putting in more road miles before next years race.... was stoked to see carter, rennie and jurgen beneke(4th place-said he'd be back next year) . my homie nathan riddle put it down to get 3rd- 1 minute off weir's time- congratulations nathan!
It's weird how you can ride great, but do bad and feel better than if you rode bad but did great. Congradulations on third!
I think they should have 5 minute breaks between some classes. There are some significant overlaps when you transition from men to women, or expert to "all-mountain".
Personally, I was glad the xc was on saturday because I raced the xc. It was nice to just relax afterwards.
Next year, no more xc. The xc friggin sucked. Not because the course wasn't fun. The climb was long, but managable. The start was a mess and apparently I'm not fast enough to get into the "fast" group on the climb. The loose/rockyness made passing really tough. Then being farther back made the descent one of the most frustrating rides of my life. People who aren't even in your class not letting you pass, and getting stuck behind trains of six or more people because one jerk won't pull off (and others can't pass) really gets to me. Then some guy crashing, and balling up six people after holding them up for several miles, still jumps back on his bike and cuts in as if he's being competetive. I rarely yell at people, especially on a bike. That stuff just isn't for me.
The downhill was sooooo much fun by comparison. I just decided not to kill myself and have fun, ended up with a flat. But still psyched on the race. Not sure about the actual results, but finished mid-pack overall in the expert all-mountain.
Next year I hope the downhill's on Saturday.
Weird. I think you posted that while I was typing.How was it Scott?!?
I went to Mammoth instead. here's my best Sam Hill impression!
Overall I had a GREAT weekend. I think my post above included a little venting. Think I still got 11th or so in the xc... so I can't complain too much.
The dh I had a great, great run. Was lucky enough to have a ghost in front for 2 minutes of clean air, and managed to almost catch the guy in front of me by the end of the Sunrise section (~8minutes). Then I got my flat after the second bridge (on a fireroad. WTF??) - I had picked up one of those fast-air canisters just in case, and apparently am not smart enough to use it. I had seriously given up and was about to pull out my pump when air suddenly started coming out of it.
This summer is going by too fast. I've yet to get to N* or Mammoth. Too much pedally event stuff.
You gonna be around next weekend? Looks like I've finally got no plans.
**edit** Just realized my sister is coming into town from AZ.. that's why I have no plans. *
thanks.
and that's exactly it. even before i found out my time, i just knew that i could have done better. i'm over it though. it's dumb for me to get down about one crummy run, while as a whole i had a really good time this weekend.
did anyone get some good pics of the river jump? ben has some he took i'll post up tonight, but i would like to see some more!
I know this is worthless without photos, so those will be posted tomorrow or tonight is Amy get's on it...
Great time up there again and Amy's run must have been pretty good as she ran a 1:13 or so in expert women under 34. I paced with her from the end of the trail on the road into town and she was totally pushing it. I took 13th out of 21 in the expert men under 34 class and ran a 1:01... I got passed a couple times and then also passed a couple people - I would yell out "get out of my way, my knee is bigger than your head!" It was super fun to be able to race and I'm glad I was still able to be somewhat competitive in expert and have a clean run.
There were way less spectators on course this year having the DH on sunday, but oh well...
There were some good times over the weekend with Nathan Rennie's double backflip into the river and 'Blind' Bobby McMullen's race run of 1:35 was cool - Mark Weir for a fast 46 min and change on the new course (new record) - all the racers who finished with flat tires or no chains (there was a quote by one of them say a "dnf is just unacceptable") - Eric Carter rocking out with big headphones and a big wad of gum at the start gate and having fun.... The vendors and booths and companies all showing up and giving support, Chris King pancakes at the finish line on sunday was pretty sweet as well! - the competitors in the Pixie championships, all the river jumpers, the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship for marshalling and trail maintenance, the town for being so gracious... etc, etc.
Great time up there again and Amy's run must have been pretty good as she ran a 1:13 or so in expert women under 34. I paced with her from the end of the trail on the road into town and she was totally pushing it. I took 13th out of 21 in the expert men under 34 class and ran a 1:01... I got passed a couple times and then also passed a couple people - I would yell out "get out of my way, my knee is bigger than your head!" It was super fun to be able to race and I'm glad I was still able to be somewhat competitive in expert and have a clean run.
There were way less spectators on course this year having the DH on sunday, but oh well...
There were some good times over the weekend with Nathan Rennie's double backflip into the river and 'Blind' Bobby McMullen's race run of 1:35 was cool - Mark Weir for a fast 46 min and change on the new course (new record) - all the racers who finished with flat tires or no chains (there was a quote by one of them say a "dnf is just unacceptable") - Eric Carter rocking out with big headphones and a big wad of gum at the start gate and having fun.... The vendors and booths and companies all showing up and giving support, Chris King pancakes at the finish line on sunday was pretty sweet as well! - the competitors in the Pixie championships, all the river jumpers, the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship for marshalling and trail maintenance, the town for being so gracious... etc, etc.
ben, thanks. that cheered me up. even if i got to miss out on the bike jump AND free pancakes.
and it was really cool to have someone waiting for me at the road and to ride with to the finish. i felt like i had a coach pushing me along. that and the dude who shouted, 'make it hurt until the finish!' kept me pedalling my heart out.
and it was really cool to have someone waiting for me at the road and to ride with to the finish. i felt like i had a coach pushing me along. that and the dude who shouted, 'make it hurt until the finish!' kept me pedalling my heart out.
Awww, that's cute. You two should hook up. :biggrin:
You should have seen the Sunday night party. Mayhem with the winners.
I think the safest story to tell was when Mark Weir, Forrest Arraka, and Rob Roskopp decided to have an impromptu wrestling match in the St Charles Tavern, and from the bar, you could see the kids who were not allowed in staring thru the window with amazement at their heroes brawling.
I think the safest story to tell was when Mark Weir, Forrest Arraka, and Rob Roskopp decided to have an impromptu wrestling match in the St Charles Tavern, and from the bar, you could see the kids who were not allowed in staring thru the window with amazement at their heroes brawling.
I always love the D-Classic, probably one of my favorite races ever...that being said, the standard drama there every year is folks not letting others pass...couldn't be more frustrating-maybe have marshalls there pulling numbers next year? I raced the xc/all mountain race and got taken out on the fire road right before the single track-my best summit ever-55 min!!!-and I get taken out by some poor jerk right before the fun begins, on the fireroad before Pauley I start stretching out as we are "topped out" and can't pedal any faster on the fire road when i hear a "on the left" and some gentleman tries to pass with no avail because he did not have enough momentum. Two seconds later we hit an area where you can pedal and I'm still stretching my hammies out for the descent and this moron pedals around and clips my bars...at 30 plus MPH. Needless to say I am not doing well. It's fire road for crying out loud!!! There's more than enough passing room, makes me think it was intentional but what do you do? One sprained neck and a few stitches later I'm back at home with lots of flesh missing and I have to go back to work and get ready for the biggest sale of the year. Joy. Crashing at 35 on fireroads is no fun. What a barney.
Next time, get out of my way!
Seriously, that sucks dude. This is a race but there is no need for stupid passes when you still have 15 miles of DH ahead.
Sorry Heath.
S'aiight I'm healing.