dminor 

Wow, what a weekend! Just got back yesterday a little before 2 am from competing in the downhill at the Masters Worlds. It was a humbling experience to say the least; but it was also gratifying and exhilarating in many ways. I went into the whole thing with no great expectations - and that was a good thing. There are some REALLY fast guys in my class (50-54)!

Alex Morgan of BCD Bikes (the carbon fiber DH bikes) was going to be my traveling partner and roommate for the weekend. He'd posted a 'ride needed' on RM. Alex is a nice, easy-going guy from the Texas panhandle; and I couldn't have asked for a better person to have gone there with.

Alex flew into Spokane late Tuesday night and stayed the night out at our 'homestead.' Then we loaded up Wednesday and hit the road for a 10-hour drive up to Sun Peaks, B.C. The place we were staying was a real nice lodge that Alex discovered when he was up for the Worlds last year. We split the $90 Cdn (gotta love that exchange rate ) rate for a great room that included a real good continental breakfast (the owner is a chef).

Wednesday was packet pickup and a walk-through of the course. They gave us hiking-only lift tickets for the day. Well the course was something else! Everyone - I mean everyone - said they'd NEVER seen a course like it. After one turn off the top it plummeted straight down the first of three freshly cut 10-foot-wide chutes filled with 6 inches of powder dirt. Someone joked that they must've put the bulldozer in gear at the top and then went to tea. That's about what it looked like. Talk was that UCI wanted the course to be a minute shorter than last year, so Sun Peaks decided the best way to do it was to lose 1000' of elevation in the top third of the course The chutes were going to be a test of raw nerve how much you wanted to stay of the brakes and let it run. The lower half of the course looked much more familiar with well-established trails, tight woods, a gap creek jump and stuff.

Thursday was practice - - or training as UCI calls it. Time to see if I could survive the course. My first run down the top chute went OK. I knew I'd need to go faster and after talking to other racers I knew I was just going to have to completely lay off the front brake and only feather the rear enough to keep it pointed straight down the mountain. My second run I let go completely about half way down. What a rush! You got to mach speed in no time. That gave you good speed to carry across a small flat that led to a set of berms before you dropped off a stump into the next chute. That one I stayed to the right so I could catch about a foot-wide strip of grass and cut brush so I could stay out of the powder and holes. A flat turn at the bottom sent you sidehill for about 50 yards before another series of turns leading into a third smaller - but rougher - chute. Once you cleared that, a sweeper spit you into a straightaway filled with rollers and big braking bumps. A left and right berm then spit you out of the trees and onto the "freeway" - - a diagonal across and open ski run that dropped away midway and got me to speeds I'd never experienced on a bike before -ever. But you needed that speed across the cattle guard flat so you'd have plenty of speed to catch two more rollers befor the creek gap. I didn't have quite enough the first time and cleared it barely to a real harsh flat landing. Oof! Then it was back into a more familiar-looking tight-woods section.

The exit from that gave you a choice of lines off a small bridge that if you set it up right, you could come off the very left corner of the bridge and shoot a gap between two trees and cut out a whole corner. Took some good speed and careful aim. That exit carried you across another open ski run before diving back into the woods again. The exit from the second lower woods section was a tricky off-camber that led to two bridges set at angles to each other. Those would be my undoing the next day on my final run. From the bridges, you sidehilled to the last woods section and then out onto a big sweeping S with a board jump and down to the finish line at the village.

That evening at dinner, I ran into a fellow Washington racer and friend who's in the 40+ bracket. There were going to be three of us WA guys racing this weekend.

On Saturday morning we had seeding runs. Mine was at 10:39. Alex's was about Noon. My seeding run went OK. I went down twice - - not hard, just annoying. Once was midway down the second chute. Got bounced a bit too much and bounded right outside the marker and tape. It was right below a course marshal too, so I had to drag the bike back and get back inside the course above the marker I blew. I think I didn't have my flow back yet on the approach to the third chute, because I cut too low off a berm and plowed out my front end in the powder at the bottom. When all was said and done I had a 6:51 and was sitting in 8th. My hope was to pick it up to seventh. Sixth was a pipe-dream, because that guy was down near 6:00.

Race run: Charged down the first chute (as much as I dared anyway). Let the brakes go and had so much speed across the flat that when I launched off the drop to the right-hander I almost blew the berm. Still, that set me up faster into the left berm and I shot across the small flat to the stump launch into the second chute. Got into the sticks-and grass down the right side early and missed the bad ruts out in the dirt and flew down to the bottom; crossed the sidehill and got set up for the next set of turns. Well, wouldn't you know - cut too early off a berm and plowed out my front in the powder at the bottom of the turn. Nearly the same place I did on my seed run. Dang!

After I got going I started hanging it out to make up time. Flew down the Freeway and aired the creek gap way farther and smoother than I'd ever done. Cleaned the woods sections until I got to the off-camber bridges. I was drifting wide and could not seem to pull it in so I was going to be shooting off the first bridge and heading straight for the ditch beside the second bridge. Somehow I pulled up hard enough to clear the ditch but that threw me outside the markers. Mistake #2. Got going again and charged the last woods section. The exit was a right-hand berm that had never given me a lick of trouble all weekend, but I guess I'd gotten rattled enough that I wasn't concentrating well enough. Took too low of a line and got sucked into the powder again. Mistake #3.

Ended up with a 6:52 for ninth place (out of a 12 field) - - a second slower than my seed run and a second behind the 8th place guy. I was amazed I came that close to my seed time. I have to think I was going a lot faster; just not focusing enough to avoid the little dumb things.

There were two Japanese guys in our bracket. One of them was riding one of the Honda G-Cross bikes. One of them (not sure which) won our class - with a 5:20 To give that perspective, Shaums March won the event overall with a 4:56 and the top 20 in the super-fast 30-34 age bracket ranged from 5:00 to 5:20 so that guy was flying.

Alex took 18th in the 30-34 with a 5:17. I know he was a bit disappointed (he podiumed last year). But that class was soooo stacked this year. There were five guys with 5:17s alone.

All in all it was a definitely once-in-a-lifetime experience. I got to meet and chat with racers from all over the world, got interviewed by a young lady from the Japanese cycling press, ate some good food, and had a couple tasty Canadian brews. Wish I'd had time to ride some of the other courses and trails at Sun Peaks. It's not Whistler, but it sure looks worth going back again for a long weekend some time.

And Alex is the best. He helped me 'modify' my chain guide (once again) and loaned me a spare derailleur when mine decided to blow up on a practice run. And his carbon fiber, 29er DH bike is really something else. Be watching for big things in the future from BCD Bikes!

Doug out - - it's late and I have to work in the morning.

santiago

Great, great report. Sounds like you had a blast.

ankush

man, this is the coolest! and nope, this aint a once in a life time experience cuz you gonna be there next year too, so here's lotsa good wishes to ya

ankush

ps, i read that alex fellow's report at ride monkey and seems like he lucked out with a flat..? man i hope i can accumulate bike skills as well as you guys