dminor 

Well . . . first race at Beacon today. Good times; got stuck in the 40+ Cat 1 (since there were no other 50+ Cat 1 racers), so I only managed a 6th out of a field of 8. But it's all good: nailed some fair-size doubles that have been hit-or-miss for me, completely aired what's usually a roll-down rock face and pulled out a couple sketchy saves on paces where I went in too hot.

Sunday is race two at same venue:different course and one I've had more time on this year. Rolled the big "Seattle Line" rock face tonight before I went home; so I think I've got it all dialed now. Now just have to put together a clean-and-fast run tomorrow. SScyco and his son should be there too. His son raced today and made a good showing.

Never, you are going to love some of the new lines/features here! Third new DH course is being worked on too. May be ready to debut by May - - hopefully/

never

Awesome D, good luck tomorrow!

Can't wait to ride your terrain too!

stapfam

Racing with the youngsters never works to your advantage-

Good luck tomorrow (Today now) but try not to scratch the paintwork trying to show them how it should be done.

dminor 

Well, Sunday went a bit better than Saturday. I had a lot more time on Sunday's course this year; and it all (for a change) came together in my race run. Hit all the features smooth and fast, remembered to pedal hard in between and even got a smooth, fast roll down the final rock face they call the Seattle Line (turns out I was the only one in my class that hit it). I had no regtrets off that run, so it was just a matter of finding out if the stopwatch would agree. Turns out I missed the podium by 2/10s of a second for fourth. Ahhh . . . that's racing folks.

It was a day for fourth place finishes I guess. Sscyco pulled a fourth too and I think that's what his son got as well (correct me if I'm wrong ss). All-in-all a great weekend at one of the funnest short-course venues in the Pacific Northwest.

A sequence from the bottom of the Seattle Line (with credit to photographer Dale Nunn):

mzeffex 

That looks great! What speeds did you hit, if you know? Also, when's the yeti comin in?

never

Good job D...how come you're not racing in jeans?

Were you in 40+ for Sunday too?

sscyco

I don't know the actual speed - but I would guess ~ 30mph, but for just a split second. Hitting a double at 20 or rolling a rock face at 15 is quite butt clenching.

sscyco

He don't have enough punk in him.

dminor 

Yeah, 40+ for Sunday too. Kinda stung to come that close - - really wanted to crash that podium party.

Hey, I am a hack and not cool enough to go the hoody-and-jeans route .

BTW, this was my first weekend ever using a Leatt. I'd only bought it Friday and put it together that night, so had a little bit of trouble with it in practice Saturday (kept bumping the back of my helmet in the steeps). Turns out I had another ½" of adjustment on the rear table I had not used. Once I tweaked that, it virtually disappeared and I never even noticed I was wearing it the rest of the weekend. The jury is still out on whether or not they actually help; but I recommend them.

mzeffex - - I really have no idea. These are not high-speed, big mountain courses, just very technical in many places and crammed full of features (doubles, step-downs, step-ups steep rolls, etc.). I would say the speeds get no greater than 30-35 mph if that. Yeti is supposed to arrive early next month.

Daspydyr 

Lets hear for the 50+ crowd. I bet those 40somethings go home and say, I hope I can ride like dminor when I'm that old. CAT1 to boot-absolutely incredible.

never

You mean like this punk?



Cool...be interesting to check it out when I'm there.

sscyco

That's what I say.

sscyco

You heading out this way? When?

dminor 

PM sent.

cryptid01

^ If I had written this, chelboedwin would have been all over my a$s.

So I guess this means shredding season is finally upon us! Thanks for sharing the stoke. Hopefully you get a tan on your legs before the next round of pics.

My first event of the season is next Sunday - 85 miles of sand whoops. Joy.

mtnbiker66

Coool beans!!!!!

dminor 

I know, the empirical evidence isn't there yet, or so I'm told; but there's enough anecdotal evidence out there to convince me that I'm better off with one than without one should the horrific occur.

Haha! Unfortunately, I'm a lot like the Procol Harum song in that regard - - right now I'm just A Whiter Shade of Pale. And YES, it is indeed a new season of shred. Y'know, I'm having so much fun with this. I've done bigger stuff this year than I have each year past and I do believe it's not just my imagination that I've gotten faster. I hope that keeps up at least 'til I'm 60.

Enjoy it, man! Oh gosh does that bring back good memories: eating dust by the pound, cramping forearms and rattling your kidneys down into your butt. Don't miss any checkpoints - - it's a b!tch to have to backtrack . And good luck!

dminor 

A short vid recapping the weekend, courtesy of Mark Brent of (who also happened to have won my class on Sunday):

never

The course looks like a ton of fun...love the rock features!

4evrplan

Some of those spills looked pretty rough. Were there any broken bones? Looks like a lot of fun for two minutes BTW.

sscyco

Yep - several. More even in the week leading into it. Beacon has claimed countless broken bones in the last 15 years.

never

The same can be said of most shuttle hills and resorts...especially when you add a race into the mix.

mx_599

sweet!

after watching the vid I want to build a DH bike!

are the MX skills transferable?

About how many minutes is the course? do they have beginners class?

I have a CCDB not being used...does anyone use CCDB's on their DH bikes or should I ebay it?

mx_599

he has contractual obligations. Levi's doesn't pay him to wear jeans.

dminor 

Absolutely! That's what attracted me to gravity racing in the first place. In fact, one of the guys in my class, a very accomplished M/C racer, has only been racing downhill for a couple years, I believe.

The hill here is just that - - a hill - - so the courses are only a couple minutes long. Nationals courses, especially ones at the big ski resorts, run more like 4-6 minutes long; and endurance DH racing (15+-minute courses) is catching on.

Oh, the CCDB is a highly-prized commodity. As long as it's fairly long-stroke unit, I'd hang onto it. It's an excellent DH shock.