Fluidride Cup #2 Recap at Bones Over Metal Freeride and Downhill Video Blog

Pro Men: 1) Lars Sternberg 2) Andrew Mitchell 3) Bart Mcdaniel

Pro/Expert Women: 1) Katie Holden 2) Leanna Gerrard 3) Dawn Lambert 4) Joy Mutoli

This weekend was supposed to rain in Port Angeles, WA for Fluidride Cup Race #2. We got rain. At night while we all slept and dreamed of fast lines. We woke each morning to sunshine and perfect dirt. A perfect weekend for speed. In fact, I heard many racers talking about dealing with the speed of the course. “I feel I’m a little behind my bike.” “I’ve never felt faster” It was fast and the final times showed this. It also is possible that this is why there were so many injuries. But, we won’t dwell on this. Healing Vibes All. Now, there are three things that I must share about this weekend with you all…

1) Fast is finishing the race. I ran hard all weekend. I felt I had the chance to get my first podium of the year and I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way. Especially the new line, “Justice.” I knew my line and that’s that. Well, by the time that I got there in my race the lines had changed so much, I couldn’t spot my line and went for an alternative. Big mistake. I hadn’t practiced other options and at race speed I just plain screwed up. Ironically, I landed next to my wife. She was trying to get me to take time to check myself out. Especially, since I fell down after standing. However, the rubber band was still twisted up in my head and it wasn’t going to stop spinning until I crossed the finish line. Moral: Race Experience is part of the process of being fast. If I had taken other lines in practice, I would have had recourse when my line was gone.

The photo montage below tells the whole story. Thanks to Billy Bean for the sequence.

2) Colin Tobin. At the first Fluidride Cup race he didn’t have the race resume to race Expert, so they put him in Sport and he walked away with it. This time for some reason, mistake or not, he was put into Elite (Semi-Pro). He went with it and won that category too. On top of that, he was 8th fastest overall. Now that’s amazing. I’ve ridden with Colin and have also shot him and his friends up in the Bellingham area. But, I’m just amazed by this. The guys he beat are so fast. Congrats Colin.

* These photos by Stewart Miller

3) Racing is on its way up. Just watch this video montage shot by Andy Tran. The course is sick. The riders are on their game. And the crowd is so in to it.

Here Are Our Galleries For The Event: (As Usual we will be adding more photos and we have a Dual Slalom video on the way.)

Photos By Carl Warren: Go To Gallery Page

Photos By Dawn Brent, Mark Brent and Greg Stafford: Go To Gallery Page

8 Responses to “Fluidride Cup #2 Recap”

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1
Dirt Digler
May 12th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Sorry you crashed, glad you were able to keep riding. Sometimes I wish I had weekends off. Oh well.
2
mutoli
May 13th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Ethan was 7th fastest I believe. There were at least 3 guys that all ran in the 52's....Crazy close!
3
BonesXMetal
May 13th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Sorry about that. I changed it. Yeah, there was some very close times. You looked good going through Justice, Joy!
4
123caseyw
May 13th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

yeah sorry bout the crash mark and i won't preach about this one any more, you will get on the podium this year
5
republikMTB
May 13th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

I want to thank everyone for the kind words. My elbow will be back in about 10 weeks, so I look forward to cheering you all on the next few races. What a great race!
6
runwithscissor09
May 13th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

I will make the podium if you make the podium! I'm jk, But you will. I crash to often
7
movemore
May 14th, 2008 at 11:10 am

i admire everyone who went down Justice, I could barely walk it! Mark thanks for landing in MY lap
8
Andy
May 14th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

Yeah, Justice is a sicky-gnar little section of trail if I do say so myself. I didn't even ride it that weekend, but saw quickly how techy it was. Mad props to all that rode it. Lost in the awe that is Justice is the new section that the Beg/Sport class rode - Double Bypass. That was an amazing section of trail - even the flat section before the bottom demanded you come into it with as much speed as possible and bust out a sprint into the next section. You really had to know your lines and memorize which sections led to the next to keep up with the faster times. HEALING VIBES TO ALL THAT NEED THEM AFTER THIS WEEKEND!!!