BuDu #4 - Cookin' in the Kettles

Race Results:

Sport Men 30-39
19 Chris Liebsch 1:53:25

Sport Men 40+
15 Francisco Pons 1:39:20

Sport Men SS
3 Chris Brown 1:16:12

NW Cup #1 Race Report

Coming from a XC background, I am still astonished how there can be so much to include on a race report for a DH race of only 3.5 to 4.5 minutes in length. There is really so much bike preparation, course analysis, and pre-riding that occurs behind the scenes to make those race times possible, that I find it difficult to include the high points of the weekend without creating a 12 page blog entry. But here I go...

Team TAI was represented by Jim Shaver, Zack Zander, Diana Miller and Ann Davis at first race of the NW Cup DH race series. The race promoters decided to split off from the Fluidride Cup and offer a new series with all 4 races at Dry Hill in Port Angeles. Yeah! We four are all relatively new to DH racing with all of us starting DH racing just last year; Zack at Cat 2 and Jim, Diana and I moving up this year to CAT 2.

It was an extremely fun weekend. I am still not sure about DH racing, but thoroughly enjoyed pre-riding, learning the course and hanging out with friends. I actually was way more relaxed than last year as I felt the pressure to win was lifted by moving to CAT 2 and I would personally be satisfied just riding the more difficult course safely.

In the recent weeks Linda Lee, Diana and I attended a DH clinic in Spokane and I have practiced drops with Evil Bob and Chris Bentley at Duthie Hill MTB Park. Slowly but surely I am transforming from Ann, No-Air, Davis. It makes a huge time difference to not be terrified to have the wheels off the ground and has increased the fun factor as well.

During the Friday pre-rides I felt that the brakes on my bike were holding me back from riding faster. Since I was not confident that they could slow me adequately, I was pretty much constantly on the brakes. The low end brakes were not an issue last year because I “needed” to stay at a lower speed so I would not get air. I was fortunate to be travelling with Diana and she just happened to have a spare set of Juicy 7’s I could borrow so we installed them Saturday morning. Much better! I am still not sure what brakes I want to buy, but at least I have something with better stopping power until I make my decision.

Riding conditions were good on Friday, very good for most of Saturday and then the rains hit Sunday morning. The women are the last racers of the CAT 2's and by the time I raced it was extremely slick out there. To further complicate the matter a bunch of rocks had been loosened up by the previous racers, requiring some split second changes from my pre-ride line selections to avoid plowing into the wayward rocks. I felt good about my race and rode as hard as I felt comfortable riding in the slop. My rear wheel was squirmy in 2 or 3 really muddy places but I remained calm and concentrated on keeping the front wheel going in the right direction, trusting that the rear wheel would follow. They installed a BMX style starting gate, which I find to be easier to start because they also installed a higher guide rail on the ramp (I am slightly afraid of heights). Unfortunately I asked the starting gate man to count me down, which he said he would and then he did not. I wasn’t paying attention to the beeps and must have lost about 1-2 seconds…lesson has been learned. I finished 7th out of the 12 CAT 2 riders.

Diana had some brake issues on Friday which necessitated her having to bleed the brake lines Saturday morning. Fortunately Diana is a competent bike mechanic. It should have been really simple, but was not; unbeknownst to Diana the Code brakes she is running on the Ventana have had some seal issues and after this weekend will need to be sent to Avid for warranty. A phone call to Evil Bob helped to diagnose the problem and she was able to complete the procedure and pre-ride all day Saturday. It sure is nice to have teammates to call on. Thanks Evil Bob! Diana ended up not racing. She had a fabulous time riding on Friday and Saturday, including mastering the drops on Motoguzzi, but decided she just wasn’t into racing on Sunday.

Zack has a new bike. Off season he picked up a Giant Faith with a Fox 40. He says it was much better on the course than his SX Trail but he still needs to dial it in. He finished 14th out of 17th in the very competitive CAT 2 15-18 age bracket. Zack was not able to ride bikes in the winter due to a non-bike restriction from his wrestling coach. Wrestling apparently is also a hazardous sport as Zack tore his ACL wrestling and was on the sidelines for the remainder of the season and until recently has not been able to bike.

Jim is new to our team this year. On Saturday, Jim joined Diana and I on our last run so that we could further analyze the drops and line selection. I finally was able to ride with Jim and was impressed with his smooth riding style. On race day he finished 7 out of 8 with a time of 3:38 in CAT 2 Men 40+. The guys in his class are really well matched and ranged from 3:22 to 3:38 and 1 guy at 9:05. I recognized a few of his competitors as racing CAT 2 last year, which means they had the advantage since this was Jim's first CAT 2 DH race. It will be interesting to see who Jim will be able to beat in the upcoming races.

That covers all the Team TAI racers who made the race. NW Cup race #2 is on April 22-25. It is the first race of the Professional MTB Gravity Race Tour (PRO -GRT) which will bring out the top DH riders and hopefully more of Team TAI riders!

Race Results:

CAT 2 Men 15-18
14 Zack Zander 3:41

Cat 2 Men 40+
7 Jim Shaver 3:38

Cat 2 Women 18+
7 Ann Davis 4:21

Soaring Eagle Race Report-BuDu Westside Series #3

Yet another Sunday to wake up and ride! So it was a little drizzly at Soaring Eagle but the track was still pretty good. Thanks to Ann (again!) for pre-riding with me on Saturday. It helps so much to know what the course is like. It was a decent sized group of beginner women this week and everyone wanted to get going. It's interesting because if you don't start at the front, it is very hard to pass and catch up to the leaders. I'm learning this. Kind of a weird dynamic for me. It's fun but also competitive. You want to ride but also have a race mentality.

This race I learned that I DO need to start up front. And I have to watch the lap count. And I have to fix my seatpost. Thought I had to do 3 laps when really I only had to do 2. So I stopped to put up my seatpost, which turned out to be right near the end because I couldn't do another lap with it so low. But I lost precious time and maybe a placing. Doh!

Congrats to the other riders too. I like this series because I'm riding places that I don't normally get to and everyone is super friendly. ~Carolyn

Race Results:

Beginners -Women- Age 40+
4 Carolyn Prentice

Sport -Men- Age 40+
19 Francisco Pons

Expert -Men- Age 40+
1 Matt Lynch

Black Diamond Race Resultst-BuDu Westside Series #2

Thanks Terry Davis for the photos!

Race Results:
Beginners -Women- Age 40+ (2 laps)
2 Carolyn Prentice
4 Diana Miller

Beginners -Men- Age 40+ (2 laps)
9 Troy Hopwood

Sport -Women- Age 30-39 (3 laps)

2 Jenn Sinclair

Sport -Women- Age 40+ (3 laps)

4 Ann Davis

Sport -Men- Age 30 - 39 (3 laps)
16 Chris Liebsch

Sport -Men- Age 40+ (4 laps)
16 Jeff Osborne

Sport -Men- Singlespeed (4 laps)
2 Chris Brown

Expert -Men- Age 40+
1 Matt Lynch (5 laps)
14 Henry Shaw (4 laps)