Fluidride Cup #4 07/12/09

There were 4 of us who returned to tackle Mt. Hood again, a mere 2 weeks since we last raced there. This time the race was being touted as the "Oregon State Championship" which meant the purse money was even sweeter for top riders; $1000 for the top male and $500 for top female. The purse money trickled down through the various categories all the way down to one of our own, Mitch Davis. Mitch ended up with a $100 gift certificate from Transition Bikes for riding the fastest time, 8:02, of all the beginner categories.

The weather on Saturday was a touch too hot for me especially considering the gear we don while riding. The trails were extremely dry and dusty due to lack of rain and Mitch, Derek, Cheyenne and I were trying to figure out tire pressures and optimum riding positioning to enable us to maximize speed while still keeping the rubber side down in these sketchy trail conditions. It was frustrating yet invigorating at the same time. We soon learned how quickly trail conditions can change and how important it is to be adaptive to the changes.

Pre-rides for the Cat 2 and 3 riders was between noon and 4pm. My friend Diana and I concentrated on the upper portion of the Cat 3 course because it is there that we both feel most uncomfortable and where we felt we could have greater returns by really knowing the course. It is a gravel fire road with some large swoopy corners and 3 tight switchback corners. The road was built for the purpose of a Cat climbing it in the winter time, not for the benefit for DH racing, so several of the corners were additionally tricky due to being off camber. We ended up riding the upper portion 5 or 6 times and then the entire course 2 times. By the end of practice I was feeling pretty comfortable on my new bike and looking forward to the race.

Mitch was sporting the new wheel Peter had just personally finished building up on Thursday for Mitch's Syren (okay it really is my Syren but that is a different story...). Thanks Peter and Black Diamond Bikes! Mitch decided early on that he felt faster on his all-mountain bike so Cheyenne gladly jumped at the opportunity to ride the Syren. She calls it the "cushy bike."

Derek is the only one of us on the Cat 2 course and by default is one of the "dreadful" Cat 2 riders I was cursing for creating a horrendous rock channel that us Cat 3 riders have to try to forge through. On the small section of the upper trail that we share with them, they take a fast sweeping left hand corner off the fire road down onto their course and in the process kick up tons of rocks, fist sized to baby-head sized directly into our course where we have to take a right turn across and plow through. By race day this rock channel was around 8 inches deep and about 2 feet wide. SKETCHY CITY!

The biggest challenge we all had to contend with was the change in weather. We had prepared ourselves for the dusty conditions, but by Sunday morning a light fog and drizzle had whetted the trail enough to make ideal tacky riding conditions. Between 8:00 and 9:30am we get 1 pre-ride on race day and got to experience the ideal condtions. Unfortunately by the start time of our races the drizzle had continued and the fog dropped really low, remarkably changing ideal conditions to not very pleasant conditions. The moisture made the rock gardens on the upper portion of the Cat 2 course "quite sketchy" according to Derek. It also made it unbelievably difficult to see. "Do you wear goggles and fog up, do you let the rain collect on the lens and try to see through the distortion the droplets create, do you not wear eye protection and have risk mud flinging in your eyes or mist getting in your eyes as you barrel down the mountain?"....ones that went without eye protection wished they had it and the one who went with it wished they had not.

Despite the visibility issues and sketchiness of the course, Derek had a very strong 4th place finish and a finish time consistent with last race. It was nice to have his Grandpa there to see what a fine rider Derek is becoming.

Cheyenne finished the race with a slightly faster time than last race and ended up in second place. She was pleased with her race time since she too "could barely see."
There were 4 riders in Mitch's category; finally some competition! They were close on his wheels and hopefully this will inspire Mitch to concentrate on his training a bit more. His time was 2 seconds faster than his last race there, but considering the tricky riding conditions he was pleased with his results.

I did not have a very good pre-ride Sunday morning because I lost my flow three times having to stop and duck under pro's course tape that they had prematurely erected on my course. Fortunately I tend to feel more comfortable in muddy conditions than dry and during my race I was able to ride nearly 30 seconds faster than last race and ended up in first place.

Race Results:

Cat II Men 0-14
4 Derek DeYoung

Cat III Men 15-18
1 Mitch Davis

Cat III Women 0-18
2 Cheyenne Smith

Cat III Women Open
1 Ann Davis