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Skibowl Race Course Layouts

h22ekhatch

Monkey
Jun 13, 2005
269
0
Portland
Hello,

I have been trying to find a course layout for the Beginner and/or Sport classes at the Skibowl races. I have been thinking about trying a race (probably the Scotty Graham race due to my schedule) but I don't know what class to run.

I have found the race results for the past races, but without knowing the course layout the times really mean nothing.

My main thing is I want to figure out where I would fit. I have never raced before...but I do ride a downhill bike and feel pretty comfortable on most of skibowl (cannonball, fire hydrant, gnar gnar)...the pro course maybe not. Is the beginner class a good fit? I just want to make sure the people in that class are actually riding downhill bikes and whatnot...not just some people on rental bikes or whatever :)

I went to a race a couple of years ago and it seemed to me that the beginners/sport class ran fire hydrant...but I hear they run gnar gnar now?

So anyways, any help would be good. Thanks.
 

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
i think they do cannonball to gnar gnar now. If Your comfortable on those trails i'd race sport, even if youve never raced before. It would be more challenging that way, and more fun since the beginner trail seems to be really easy.
 

MUTOLI

Air Monkey
Mar 14, 2004
1,064
0
PNW
oly said:
i think they do cannonball to gnar gnar now. If Your comfortable on those trails i'd race sport, even if youve never raced before. It would be more challenging that way, and more fun since the beginner trail seems to be really easy.
Oly- Are you hitting the race the end of this month?
 

MUTOLI

Air Monkey
Mar 14, 2004
1,064
0
PNW
Snacks said:
Sorry, to answer for him, but YES! We are all camping in the parking lot :dancing:
Room for a lonely beaver? Ethan may be working all weekend... I don't want to drive down solo though! :confused:
 

Snacks

Turbo Monkey
Feb 20, 2003
3,523
0
GO! SEAHAWKS!
MUTOLI said:
Room for a lonely beaver? Ethan may be working all weekend... I don't want to drive down solo though! :confused:
Of course!:thumb: You might want to bring your own tent though.....Kevin can get gasy at night :dead:
 

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
Im headed down with Daniel again.... and sorry to say we might not be camping..... he has a friend down there we may stay with...... but i am there for sure and lets all hope its dry!
 

MUTOLI

Air Monkey
Mar 14, 2004
1,064
0
PNW
oly said:
Im headed down with Daniel again.... and sorry to say we might not be camping..... he has a friend down there we may stay with...... but i am there for sure and lets all hope its dry!
Yeah, if it's raining, I'm out! :)
 

Five

Turbo Monkey
Mar 8, 2003
1,506
0
West Seattle, WA
I'd like to do one of these races...especially since I can ride again. I won't make next weekend's race, but am aiming to do the August 20/21 race.
 

Uruk-hai

Monkey
Oct 13, 2004
144
0
The 'Quah
h22ekhatch said:
Hello,

I have been trying to find a course layout for the Beginner and/or Sport classes at the Skibowl races. I have been thinking about trying a race (probably the Scotty Graham race due to my schedule) but I don't know what class to run.

I have found the race results for the past races, but without knowing the course layout the times really mean nothing.

My main thing is I want to figure out where I would fit. I have never raced before...but I do ride a downhill bike and feel pretty comfortable on most of skibowl (cannonball, fire hydrant, gnar gnar)...the pro course maybe not. Is the beginner class a good fit? I just want to make sure the people in that class are actually riding downhill bikes and whatnot...not just some people on rental bikes or whatever :)

I went to a race a couple of years ago and it seemed to me that the beginners/sport class ran fire hydrant...but I hear they run gnar gnar now?

So anyways, any help would be good. Thanks.
This is my first year racing dh and I had the same questions you have. Sign up for the Sport class. You will have more people to race with and the course is more fun, yet not so much more challenging than the beginner course that it is scary (if that makes sense).

I raced beginner my first 2 races there. The first race there was 1 guy in my class. The second race he moved up to sport and I was by myself. I plan on moving up to sport at the next Hood race just to have more people to race with.

If you ride a dh bike and are comfortable riding most of the stuff at Ski Bowl you will probably do fine in Sport and have more fun.

See you there!
 

h22ekhatch

Monkey
Jun 13, 2005
269
0
Portland
Uruk-hai said:
This is my first year racing dh and I had the same questions you have. Sign up for the Sport class. You will have more people to race with and the course is more fun, yet not so much more challenging than the beginner course that it is scary (if that makes sense).

I raced beginner my first 2 races there. The first race there was 1 guy in my class. The second race he moved up to sport and I was by myself. I plan on moving up to sport at the next Hood race just to have more people to race with.

If you ride a dh bike and are comfortable riding most of the stuff at Ski Bowl you will probably do fine in Sport and have more fun.

See you there!

Thanks for the info. Is it true that the beginner/sport course is Cannonball->Gnar Gnar as stated above?

I guess I just really want to figure the course layouts to compare times. Even if I never make it to a race it would be fun to see what kind of times you could do (in comparison to the race results).
 

Uruk-hai

Monkey
Oct 13, 2004
144
0
The 'Quah
I can't remember the names of the trails for certain....

The last race I went to was the June 18-19th and here were the courses for the Begs and the Sports:

The beginners started at the top and went around the backside of the mountain on a long, fast service road (not Cannonball) until it comes out at the "warming hut" or the mid-way point between the 2 lifts. Then you continue down to the single track trails. The begs and Sports enter the same singletrack but then the Sports veered off a few switchbacks down (I think that trail turns into "Fire Hydrant"). The Begs continue on the trail that switchbacks closest to the Alpine Slide (I think that's Gnar-Gnar). All the singletrack trails come together at the very bottom to the shared finish line.

The sports started off their runs at the top and followed Cannonball all the way down to the mid-point where it meets up with the service road. Again, the sports and begs follow the service road from the mid-point to the entrance of the singletrack, hit a few switchbacks, and then the Sports veered off into some trees at the start of "Fire Hydrant."

Make sense? Sorry so wordy.
 

h22ekhatch

Monkey
Jun 13, 2005
269
0
Portland
Makes perfect sense.

Beginner = Skyline road to Gnar Gar
Sport = Cannonball to Fire Hydrant

Thanks for the help.

Uruk-hai said:
I can't remember the names of the trails for certain....

The last race I went to was the June 18-19th and here were the courses for the Begs and the Sports:

The beginners started at the top and went around the backside of the mountain on a long, fast service road (not Cannonball) until it comes out at the "warming hut" or the mid-way point between the 2 lifts. Then you continue down to the single track trails. The begs and Sports enter the same singletrack but then the Sports veered off a few switchbacks down (I think that trail turns into "Fire Hydrant"). The Begs continue on the trail that switchbacks closest to the Alpine Slide (I think that's Gnar-Gnar). All the singletrack trails come together at the very bottom to the shared finish line.

The sports started off their runs at the top and followed Cannonball all the way down to the mid-point where it meets up with the service road. Again, the sports and begs follow the service road from the mid-point to the entrance of the singletrack, hit a few switchbacks, and then the Sports veered off into some trees at the start of "Fire Hydrant."

Make sense? Sorry so wordy.
 

elRey

Turbo Monkey
gawd it better not rain this time. wtf was up with the weather last time? the rain and fog totally made that race not fun. mainly becuase we camped and my sleepin back was totally soaked by morning. its not supposed to be like that in the middle of july! my advice for anyone who has ridden at skibowl, and has a dh bike would be to race sport. the course is more tech and fun and youll have a lot more people in your class.