Downieville Classic Cross-Country

For the past four years the Downieville Classic has been the race I looked forward to the most and this year was even more special as it marked the twentieth anniversary of this rugged and gnarly mountain bike race.  The Downieville Classic All-Mountain World Championships is comprised of two days of racing, the absolutely brutal 29 mile point to point cross-country race on Saturday and the long very demanding downhill race on Sunday. 

My new Specialized Camber Expert Evo did great on the courses at Downieville.

This year I was able to get a position in the front of the huge field of Expert racers, a group of around 100 racers that all start at the same time.  I had a good start and tried to hang with the top 5 racers in my category but was soon dropped only 1.5 miles into the 8 mile 3000 foot climb to Packer Saddle. However, I did not loose hope and kept up a consistent pace making it to the top in roughly one hour my fastest time ever.  I was able to pass several racers on Sunrise Trail and was not over taken on the long fireroad traverse to the section known as "Baby Heads".  This fast and loose jeep trail is where the course begins to cater to my strengths and I was able to rip down Baby Heads and over take a few other racers.  After I crossed Pauley Creek I began to catch up with a few racers in my category and was even able to pass a few of my competitors.  The end of Butcher Ranch Trail went well and I caught another person in my category on the climb to Third Divide Trail.  With only a few other racers on Third Divide who let me pass I was able to really let loose and make up some time on this surreally fast plunge of singletrack.

Powering along First Divide.  Photo by Rhianna Roush.

At the bottom of Third Divide it is time to spend time in the pain cave all the way to the finish in Downieville.  First there is a flat to downhill fireroad and then First Divide Trail a mostly flat and slightly rocky trail that follows a gold rush era ditch grade to main street in Downieville where racers have one more hard sprint on pavement into the finish.  I felt good on First Divide and tried my best to put power into the pedals even though I was totally exhausted.

 

Looking how I felt after the hard Downieville Classic XC.

On the final sprint along Main Street I caught one of my racers in my category right as we crossed the finish line but was not able to cross the line ahead of him missing 4th place and a podium spot by only one second.  Even though being so close to podium was slightly disappointing I had my best time ever of 2:12:40 on the XC course and was happy to do well against such stiff competition.

 

I came in 5th out of 35 super fast racers and was only one second off of 4th.

 

 

 





The Off Season

Fall color.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro was my final race of 2014 and the beginning of the "off season".  Fortunately I live in a place that allows me to never stop ridding my bike throughout the year so I have no excuses to stop riding throughout fall and winter!



Sawtooth Trail, Truckee

Fall in Northern California is my favorite time to ride, the dusty blown out trails of summer have been replaced with tacky beautiful ribbons of singletrack, and even high sierra trails are still open to play on.  I was able to ride in Downieville, Truckee, and Forest City throughout the Fall and was treated to the best trail conditions of the year.

Big Boulder Trail, Downieville

Truckee Ditch Trail, Forest City

Big Boulder

After a month of just having fun on the bike I started to put in a lot of base miles and start to prepare for the 2015 NICA NorCal series where I will be competing at the varsity level.

NU Team Rides

The NorCal high school season officially started December first and teams across the state began training for the races in spring.

Road rides on the hardtail.

As winter rolls in heavy rains can make the trails unridable for a few days so I have been putting in base miles on pavement as well as spending a lot of time the spin room.  On my local trails downed trees and washouts can become serious problems.

Downed tree on 8 Ball Trail.

I hope everyone can remain being active through winter and enjoy these beautiful days whether it be on white or brown pow.  Happy holidays!

Bullards Bar Trail

2014 BONC Grouse Fest

The third annual Bicyclists of Nevada County Grouse Fest rolled around an was a great mix of trail work, fun around the campfire, and epic back country riding.

photo by Keegan Zetterberg

The first day I set up camp and enjoyed the beauty of Lindsey Lake and the surrounding mountains that were the setting for great time in the mountains.  Towards dark we had an awesome night ride down Bull Pen trail and back up to camp.

The next morning volunteers were caravanned on 4x4 jeep road and then had a few mile hike to get to the work site.  Tons of progress was made on the first day and the despite thick Manzanita roots the new rerouted Lindsey Lakes trail was close to completion.

The second day some volunteers choose to continue to work and complete the trail work project while others choose to enjoy the technical back country mountain biking Grouse Ridge has to offer.  On the last day there is always a big group ride that show cases the best trails of the area.  Here are a few photos from my ride.

Photo by Keegan Zaetterberg

This years Grouse Fest was tons of fun I cant wait to see what this event will grow into in the future.  Thanks to the USFS Tahoe National Forest and Bicyclists of Nevada County for making this event possible.

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.

North Yuba Trail

The sunset

Today I did an out and back on the new section of North Yuba Trail from Goodyears Bar to Downieville.

One of the fun technical sections on  N. Yuba

This new section of trail is super fun and is probably 12 to 18 inches wide most of the way and is scattered with lose rock that could send you in the N. Yuba Canyon if you don't pay attention to the trail.

My Camber and my dad's HiFi.

  It is 6.5 miles one way and if you are going to only do it one way start in Downieville and go down to Goodyears Bar.

There was a little snow.

There was some snow and we came back in the dark but this just made this adventure even more epic.  This new portion of trail was constructed by the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship along with the United States States Forest Service.

A huge boulder in the woods.

  This is another awesome trail in the Downieville area that is still passable in the winter months.  Definitely get out there and ride the sweet piece of single track because it is a total must ride trail.

 

N. Yuba Trail