Downieville Classic Downhill

After crashing hard in last years downhill race on the First Divide trail and coming in last place I was hungry for redemption and was excited for another opportunity to race on my favorite trails in the world.  The Downieville Downhill is a 15 mile long technically and physically demanding course that can easily destroy even the most modern and sophisticated bikes and can be unforgiving to those who choose to race down the steep, rocky, and fast trails of Downieville.

Sprinting out of the start gate at Packer Saddle.

This year my race went very well and despite getting a tad bit sketchy in the difficult rock garden known as the "waterfall" and getting tangled up with another racer at one point I had my fastest times ever on the Downhill course and ended up finishing 3rd place in Expert Junior Men with a 49:35.

Expert Junior Men Downhill podium.

I was able to pass five other racers in my category who started ahead of me and had no mechanicals or major crashes which can easily put a damper on anyone's race run.  With my 5th place in the cross-country the day before and a 3rd place finish in downhill I ended up taking 3rd in the Junior All-Mountain World Championships a result I am very happy with.

Expert Junior Men All-Mountain podium.

As always the Downieville Classic proved to be an awesome weekend of tough mountain bike racing and good times for four days in the Sierra!  I can't wait to test my self against the burly trails and stout competition of Downieville next year.

Happy to finish 3rd in Downhill.

CES #3 Livewire Enduro at Northstar

 

Stage 1 Livewire

The third stop of the California Enduro Series at Northstar Ski Resort was a blast and featured flowy bike park terrain, physical cross-country trails, and  technical black diamond runs.

Me and other racers from the NU Miners MTB Team.

The race was part of Northstar's Livewire Classic which brings their downhill and enduro race season to an end, the enduro race was well attended and had close to 300 competitors.



Stage 3 Speed Control/Pho Dog
 

Stage one was Livewire one of the bike parks most popular trails consisting of fifty 20-50 foot table tops and massive berms Livewire is also fully irrigated.  Stage 2 took place on various multi-use trails on the mountain and proved to be extremely physical, to get a good time racers had to go through over fifteen minutes of hair bleeding agony.

Pho Dog

For stage 3 it was back to the fun side of things and was my favorite stage of the day, it started on Speed Control a fast flowy bike park trail and then went into Pho Dog a mildly technical downhill run with jumps and berms.

At the end of the day I finished 9th out of 29 fast riders in the Junior Open category and was able to some good stuff in the post race schwag giveaway and raffle.

Tahoe Visit !!!

Resting under the Aspens

This week I got to ride some trails in the Tahoe area that I have been dying to ride.  I rode the Sawtooth Ridge Trail in Truckee, the infamous Tahoe Flume Trail, as well as checking out the Truckee Pump Track.  Here are some pictures of my trip.

Flume Trail

Sawtooth Ridge Trail

Sawtooth Trail is a fun 10 mile loop that is littered with lose rock and lots of optional features to keep it interesting. 

 

A fun rock slab on the side of Sawtooth Ridge Trail.

One of many features along Sawtooth Trail

A log ride on Flume Trail

  Flume Trail is an awesome 13 mile ride that starts at the Flume Trail Bike Shop and ends at the Tunnel Creek Station Cafe.  The ride begins with a 5 mile climb up the North Canyon Road to Marlette Lake.  Then you take the Flame Trail, a flat singletrack with beautiful views a Lake Tahoe, giant boulders on one side of the trail and a steep cliff drop on the other.  After the Flume Trail you ride down a fast, sandy fire-road down to the Cafe.