All About Gravity Mountain Biking: Freeride, Downhill, Dirtjump, Urban and Trials
Fortunately Ignacio Soltero from Brooklyn Bike Riders sent stellar shots of this year’s US Open of Mountain Biking that happened almost in his backyard, at Diablo, because I had the misfortune of missing that comp.
Many of the usual suspects dominated, with Steve Smith, Sam Hill and Bryn Atkinson taking spots one through three on the men’s pro DH podium, and Fionn Griffiths, Kathy Pruitt and Joanna Petterson taking those same spots on the women’s pro DH podium.
Once a year the freeride course on Beacon Hill in Spokane, Washington lends its rock faces and dry eastern forest dirt to a downhill race. Unlike last years race, this race had near perfect conditions, zero scandals, and smiles for everyone. It wasn’t all perfect - let’s see, Saturday was hot and very dry. For those of us not used to sun stroke, dangerous even. But then it rained early Sunday morning and drizzled during the morning’s activities making the dirt perfect! Continue reading ‘Beacon Blowout 08′
This video of the Fluidride Cup #2 Dual Slalom tells that story of grassroots dual slalom. Sure the pros are the stars, but in the local scene, even the fans yelling from the sideline get their 15 minutes. Some may claim that dual slalom is destined for “Friday nights under the lights.” Who really knows. The truth is, it’s fun and it’s making a comeback.
You can watch this low resolution version here, or you can (right click and save) and download an HD quality version here (Apple TV format playable with any updated quicktime player).
Also the podcast is always a better quality than the flash video here.
To See Video Continue reading ‘Long Live Slalom’
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
Full Results: DH 2 Results DS 2 Results
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… Continue reading ‘Fluidride Cup #2 Recap’
The 7th annual Spring Thaw Downhill came to Ashland, Oregon last weekend on May 4, 2008. The Downhill ran 1.7 miles down Catwalk to Toothpick Trail. The trail first ran down through a rock garden into a double that led to a balls out speedy highway section. The trail then proceeded to wind its way through a bunch of switchbacks into a hell bent 60 yard uphill climb to the finish. Continue reading ‘Ashland Spring Thaw Results’
About 60 riders from spots throughout the Northwest converged on Snoqualmie on Sunday, May 4 for the BENT III comp.
Ladders, skinnies, drops, swooping berms and fast downhill were the focus of the day. In the first event, riders trying to conquer Shore-style stunts were dinged 10 points for every dab. But in the downhill event, a number of racers bypassed big hits, including several ladder drops, in the interest of shaving seconds off their time. A jump jam on a few of the bigger stunts concluded the comp.
At the end of the day, Matt Patterson, Brian Guse and Trevor Louvier ascended the podium for best overall male rider and Caryn Cantu, Kat Sweet and Deb Hutton were determined the top overall female riders. Damien and Trevor won spots one and two on the jump jam podium, joined by Matt P. Continue reading ‘BENT III’
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. Continue reading ‘Sea Otter DH Results And Video’
The 08 Sea Otter Classic Dual Slalom went down to the last pedal stroke and lived up to expectations. There wasn’t a dry eye in the spectator gallery. That’s because the wind blew perpendicular to the course all day – through practice, qualifying and the finals. By the end of the event, my eyes were glued together with dust, okay, maybe not glued, but there was way more sand in my eyes than there needed to be. While, every non-goggled spectator and shooter suffered, the riders burned the course up. They seemed to not be affected by the wind. As if their own momentum was more tumultuous then the wind. Continue reading ‘Sea Otter Dual Slalom Results’
Boop, beep, beep, beep, beeep!
Racer brain takes over on that last high pitch beep and like a snapped rubber band the racer is pushed toward the finish line. The weekend began for some riders on Friday the early practice day. The rain was coming down when we arrived, and after the first practice run every hole and crevice of bike and rider was covered and packed in mud and water. But, then the rain stopped as practice ended. The blue sky portended of the great weekend to come. By the time the rain came again, Luke Strobel and Katrina Strand had taken the top spot in the podium for the pros. Continue reading ‘Fluidride Cup DH/DS #1 Results’
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