NorCal Race #3 Laguna Seca

The third NICA NorCal League race took place at the Laguna Seca raceway near Monterey, and featured some of the same trails as the Sea Otter Classic cross-country race.  After racing State Championships here last year as well as several years of racing the Sea Otter Classic I can say that Laguna Seca is my least favorite place to race cross-country MTB ever.

  That being said it is not all bad, the course featured one fun, fast, but very tame downhill and then a painful climb back out, that includes the aptly named "Hurl Hill" after that a long fire road climb takes you to the finish that can become a nightmare if the wind picks up.


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Wind can be brutal on the fire road climb.

Even though I was placed in the very first row of racers in the start I had a bad start and was dropped by quite a few racers up the first road climb out of the start and the rest of my first and second laps I worked on picking my way through the Varsity pack with some success. 

For the rest of the race I kept up with a few other racers in my category and tryed to keep up a solid pace while battling the hot temperatures and complete lack of shade, over the five painful laps.  I ended up finishing 13th and only 8 seconds behind the top ten which was disappointing but still a good result in such a competitive category.

The only trees on course.

I am currently 7th in overall points and I am looking forward to the fourth NorCal Race in two weeks at Petaluma.  Thanks to all volunteers, coaches, athletes, and everyone else who makes these races such awesome events.  Photo credit: Doug Bedient, Rhianna Grady-Roush, and Larry Sussman.



 

NorCal Race #1 East Garrison

Fast rolling trails.

The first NICA NorCal MTB League race was held near Monterey, California at East Garrison in Fort Ord.  The course was rolling with short punchy climbs, breaking bump filled descents, sandy corners, and lots of poison oak.

This was my first race competing at the Varsity level and the competition was extremely strong, including some of the top junior racers in the nation.  Even though I was staged in 19th place I was able to pick through the pack and hang on to a few fast racers over the five brutal laps and finished 6th place in the very fast paced 25 mile race.

As a whole the team I race for, the Nevada Union Miners did very well with several athletes on the podium and placed 5th in NorCal D1 as a team.

A bunch of rad savages.

It's awesome to race with such a large team of student athletes with a passion for mountain biking, and the raddest coaches around!  The Nevada Union Miners should be a very strong team this season.  Looking forward to the next NorCal race in two weeks in Granite Bay, California.

The NU pit at East Garrison.

2014 Downieville Classic DH



5,4,3,2,1 out of the start gate!

After a hard day of racing on day one it was time to head up to the top of Packer Saddle for the start of the Downieville Downhill Race.  On Sunrise Trail I felt super fast and smooth ripping down the ribbon of single track with my fastest time yet. 

An off camber section on Sunrise Trail.

I went on to feel great on the very technical Butcher Ranch trail with a flawless right hand line on the "Waterfall", a large rock garden in the middle of Butcher Ranch.  After making it up to 3rd Divide Trail and passing several racers who suffered from mechanical failures, I put in a great run on Third Divide and made it to Lavezzola Road with my fastest time this year.  After sprinting down the dirt road I only had First Divide and then I was there, not so, about a quarter mile down First Divide my front tire slipped off the edge of the trail and I hit the ground hard, I quickly got up and tried to continue riding but severe pain and a lot of blood pouring out of my arm kept me off the bike, with a painful and disappointing 4 mile walk back to Downieville watching the entire field rip past me with an occasional "hey bro you good?"
    Even though my arm hurt pretty bad I did not bail and walked the remainder of the course into last place but still finishing.

Not to happy.

After a visit to the First Aid tent it was clear I needed stitches, luckily there is a clinic in Downieville that could stitch me up.

Ouch.

With a substantial laceration and a pretty good chunk out of my elbow I needed 12 stitches to get my arm back together!

One day latter.

This might of been the worst result of my season and a pretty disappointing set back but despite this, there is never a bad day riding bikes in the woods and I am pretty excited to get out there next year and try to tear it up!

2014 Downieville Classic XC

 

My Santa Cruz Solo ready for Downieville.

After racing the Downieville Classic Cross-Country for the past two years I decided to compete in the All-Mountain category this year, the Downieville All-Mountain combines the grueling and technical cross-country race on Saturday with the long and demanding Downhill Race on Sunday, competitors must race both days on the same bike and the person with the most amount of points wins.

Home for the weekend!

Ready to get up early for the xc race in the morning.

The start line proved to be very challenging and with over 100 racers in expert alone this proved for some tight passing and sketchy situations in the first stretch of the eight mile climb to packer saddle.

The expert field, there was about 80 racers behind me.

This year I raced in the highly competitive Junior Expert category, and this made for the toughest Downieville races so far, I hit it hard going up the climb trying to keep up with the competition but  suffered from a 33 pound bike, cramps, and 90+ degree heat; despite the pain I still was able to set personal records all the way up to Packer Saddle.

Almost at the top.

At the top of the climb racers take the Sunrise singletrack and than have a few miles of rolling gravel road to the infamous "Baby Head" section, an old road bed completely filled with lose rock ranging from 6in to 3ft.  I unfortunately was held back on Sunrise Trail due to slower racers on the downhill, I did my best to pin the gravel road, and then left the brakes off for Baby Heads putting down my best time and passing a few racers.  At the bottom of this wild ride is the 30ft wide Pauley Creek crossing after a quick technical climb there lies a winding technical singletrack that is Pauley Creek Trail, with many tricky wet rooty/rocky sections.  After a few miles of physical downhill the XC course rejoins the famous "Downieville Downhill", after another mile or so of chunky stuff there is a short but extremely painful climb to the top of 3rd Divide Trail.  Third Divide is a high speed roller coaster known for the possibility of reaching post 50mph speeds and the guarantee of leaving you smiling at the bottom.  At the bottom of Third Divide it is time to get inside the paincave all the way to Downieville with a few miles of dirt road and than First Divide Trail a relatively flat shale path along a Gold Rush era ditch that requires a ton of pedaling.  Once you have completed the First Divide trail this leaves you with a mile of pavement that proves for an intense sprint to the finish in Downieville!

Just across the finish line, that was a tough one.

Although I was not able to beat my last years race time of 2:28:56 I still had my fastest time of this season at 2:35:08 and finished 11th out of 18 of NorCal's fastest junior racers.

Nevada City Dirt Classic #1

The first race of three in the Nevada City Dirt Classic Series was held on private land in Grass Valley, California and featured some insane trails and possibly the most interesting cross-country race I have ever competed in. 

The course featured flowy downhill trails with berms and jumps to an Enduro Motocross track with monster truck tires, many log roll overs, and an old car to ride over. Not only was this race technically challenging but it had 800 brutal feet of climbing per lap that made for a super tough race.

 

Competing in the CAT 1(Expert) 15-18 category I came away with third place.  This was truly awesome and was both technically and physically challenging.  Thank you to the land owner, Ron Sanchez for letting Youth Bicyclists of Nevada County put on this race two years in row now!

 

The expert boys 15-18 podium.

 

Photos courtesy of Robert Lowe

Forest City

A fun rock lip on Ridge Runner

Hi all,  I just went on a great ride up in Forest City.  Forest City is an old historic town in the Sierra Nevada near Downieville from the gold rush era.  Some of the historic buildings still stand in town.

There are many great trails around Forest City, expertly built by the Forest Trail Alliance (FTA) these trails are the epitome of flow.  Today I started at the kiosk went up Sandusky Jeep Road and Trail to Big Tree Trail Head.  I stopped at the beautiful stone bridge to check out the "String of Pearls", a super cool optional technical rock feature.

                                                  

The "String of Pearls"

From there I descended Ridge Runner and High Grade Trails back to Forrest City.  Ridge Runner is around four miles long and is filled with banked turns and and fun optional technical features.  High Grade Trail is one of my favorite trails and is a roller coaster filled with big banks and just enough lose rock to keep it interesting.  Today my rear derailleur cable broke on this trail.

        This great XC loop is around 11 miles long, it is an awesome ride no matter what your skill level is.

"I almost made it"

The awesome view from Ridge Runner.

Grouse Ridge Epic Ride

Yesterday I attended BONC's (Bicyclists of Nevada County) monthly Gala Ride, and It was tons of fun. This months ride was up at Grouse Ridge in Nevada County. The advanced group started at Loney Meadows and from there ascended up some cattle roads and singletrack to a great view of Bowman Lake and the surrounding mountains.


From there the ride went downhill through some technical lose rock. After that the trail turns into a painful, steep, and loose climb. Then the trail starts to roll Grouse Ridge style, steep downhill followed by super steep uphill. There were lots of backpackers and some folks trekking with some llamas. We rested at a beautiful cobalt blue lake to eat lunch. From there we climbed up to a campground and the access point to hike up to the lookout. From there we descended down some singletrack to what I think was the Grouse Ridge Trail. After that we regrouped near some Native American Petroglyphs. From there we rode some super technical, rocky singletrack to the top of the next downhill.


This descent is basically just a seasonal creek bed / rock chute, it goes almost straight down the side of the mountain except for some tight switchbacks that do nothing to impede the flow of water, and is full of baby heads, rock drops, and small boulders. Despite sounding like hell, this descent is my favorite part of this ride. After this the route levels out somewhat, into a smooth granite face bike play ground. After several miles of fun/brutal riding we recuperated at the headwaters of the South Yuba River. From there the trail parallels Lake Spaulding's shoreline but remained pretty technical with rocks, roots, and log features.

a penstock
After this we crossed the large hydroelectric penstock, bushwhacked a little to find the very end of end of Pioneer Trail and took the end of Upper Pioneer Trail to the bridge that crosses over the South Yuba. From this point we took Bowman Lake Rd. to Bear Valley and ended our journey. This was an awesome all-mountain back country ride, for all of you who live for technical rock trails the Grouse Ridge area is a must ride destination. We were out there for 7 hours probably more than 5 of which were riding. This ride was 24.18 miles in distance, had 3979 ft of assent, and 5063 ft of descent. This ride is so brutal that it was probably the equivalent of a 50 mile ride on normal trails. Thanks for looking -Ruffrider

Downiville Classic !!!

Well I just got back from racing in the Downieville Classic XC Race and it was quite an experience.  I woke up at 5:00 a.m. ate some breakfast (that ended up on the side of Highway 49 later) loaded up my bike and headed up to Sierra City. 

                                    My racer buddies Jon and Cameron

The 29 mile Downieville Classic XC Race begins with a grueling 8 mile shaley 3,000 ft elevation gain climb that starts on Butte St. in Sierra City and ends at Packer Saddle. 

                                     Me starting up the "trail of tears".

 From there it follows Sunrise Trail, a fun flowy singletrack with rollers and banked turns.  After this the course turns to a rolling fire road that provides good spots to pass.  After 6 miles of fire road the race course goes downhill through the infamous "baby heads" a lose, fast, and super rocky dissent that connects to Pauly Creek Trail.  Pauly Creek Trail begins by crossing Pauly Creek which is wide and deep making it hard to find a line, after the stream crossing P. Creek Trail turns into a fast technical singletrack with multiple foot bridges, rocks, and slippery roots.  P. Creek Trail hooks up to the end of Butcher Ranch Trail which is fast, rocky, and includes a very painful 700 ft elevation climb which brings you to 3rd Divide Trail.  3rd Divide Trail is a steep, smooth, and super fast downhill that ends on Lavezzola Rd. a wide dirt road that brings you to 1st Divide Trail.  1st Divide Trail is not too technical but requires a ton of peddling. 1st Divide connects to Lavezzola Rd. which takes you to downtown Downieville for the finish!    
  

  Me after crossing the finish line in second place!

                                         
 I finished second in my category with a time of 2:46:38. No mechanicals or medicals. Yeeha!

                                                My results !

My competition, congrats everyone.

  I was impressed by this DH bike, it is made out of steel and hand welded in San Francisco.

                                             
      The bike expo and street fair is always fun to look at, plus free shwag is available at all the booths!   There was every thing from hubs to Cliff Bars.

   This is a short travel gravity bike available from the same company also made out of steel.

                                          

     Ron's House of Big Air (a long wooden jump that ends in the North Yuba River was super entertaining. Riders first had to compete in a qualifying round in order to advance to the finals.  The winner is decided by how loud the crowd cheered and gets a pair of carbon wheels.  Congrats McLovin!!! 

Me and the winner on the podium. I received a medal, Easton EC70 carbon handlebars and a box of Cliff Bars

Looks like these guy aren't going to feel very good for the Downhill Race.

                               
The Downieville Classic is an awesome event to race in and to attend.  If you didn't make it this year make sure you come next year. - Happy trails !!!