Bones Over Metal Freeride and Downhill Video Blog

Greg Minnaar got the win by nearly a second. I’ll put his 2:11.21 in context. 50th place was only ten seconds out of 1st. The course at Sea Otter lived up to its reputation of being a course that requires pedaling between features in order to put down the good time. There was little advantage to line choice. The greatest gains came from precise cornering, body position and making sure that a single, required pedal stroke was not missed. Basically, perfect execution was rewarded over balls out risk.

So, it makes me wonder how much Greg Minnaar gained from his involvement the week before in Gene Hamilton’s Better Ride Downhill Clinic in Bootleg Canyon. Just look at the results. Greg came in and beat some strong riders in the Dual Slalom and then took the 1,2 in the DH race the very next morning.

I don’t want to take anything away from some of the other riders who ran strong this weekend. Anyone, who saw Chris Kovarik and Steve Peat can say the same thing I have said about Minnaar about them. However, Steve Peat in 4th was a full second and a half back from Minnaar. Considering the tight time spread between the 1st and 50th places, I will say that perfect execution wins it for Minnaar.

The women put in some really fast runs. Because of the wide range of skill levels in the women pro ranks, the time spread wasn’t as tight. However, the top four (more than six seconds over fifth), rode like the pro men. I was shooting them as they came off the log step-down into the fast downhill section of the course. I found myself really impressed by the power Melissa Buhl, Fionn Griffiths, Sabrina Jonnier, and Rachel Atherton displayed off the step-down and their top speeds through the following steep stretch.

Another thing to consider: Nathan Rennie took 5th this year with the 2:13 time that he took 1st with last year. The comparison is not exact. The course has changed a bit. However, the spread last year between 1st and 50th was 15 seconds compared to this years 10 seconds. It was a dry, relatively fast course, that added to tighter times.

Results:

Pro Men DH Results
Pro Women DH Results
Semi-Pro Men DH

DH Race Video

Check out Helmet Cam of the Course.

DH Practice Gallery: