Downhill Season Opener!

The Downhill season kicked off yesterday with a bang! A large sized crowd was on hand for the opener of the Spring Downhill Series at Toro Park. The course was short and very fast with some great technical sections. The dirt was fairly dry and pebbly so picking tire pressures was the name of the game today, and

mixing that with some very high speed sections higher up on the

course it was a challenging and exciting course. Signing up in the morning cold, I watched the organizer write a big capitol "E" after my number, signifying "Expert" and my nerves started to run wild. I started to nit-pick my practice runs, brakes, the dirt, my helmet, food, everything!

Dusty running to a 6th place finish

Me making my first run as an Expert

Practices went fairly well, and I made my fair share of mistakes I had hoped to make early on. Zach was sporting his newly purchased single speed Santa Cruz Chameleon, and had entered the single speed class for the first time. As well his main Trek was outfitted with some shinny new improvements! One thing I love about downhill racing is illustrated by the following. Zach and I spent a significant period of time before our first run looking over a section near the end of the course that involved a rocky fast turn leading into a bump-up that, if you weren't in the right position, pitched you straight at a tree. A number of people had hit the tree that day one guy separating his shoulder, so it seemed like an good place to put some attention. After scoping all the lines possible, and considering all the technique variants we could use to cleanly make it through this section and not hit the tree, it was decided that we needed to just "make it happen". There wasn't any type of planning that was going to make this go any better, it just takes relying on your ability to improvise on the spot. Turns out the closer you came to hitting this tree, the faster you went through the turn. So testament to the sport, the name of the game is: you can't plan it and if you want it you gotta risk it. Worked out great I'd say!

Zach's 2nd place run in the Single Speed class

Results at the end of the day were outstanding. We took a total of five metals from the day. Zach took 2nd in the Sport class (a class he's likely to win this season) and 2nd in the single speed class, beating the entire field of riders except for the one who designed the course! Dusty finished in at 6th in the Sport class, a screaming improvement from last season. Our buddy "coach" Craig was out today, and turned in a 3rd place finish in his category. As for me, my first race as an Expert landed me in 4th place. As well I took 2nd in the hardtail class. My Chameleon is a jack of all trades. It may not be flashy, but I built her from scratch and it fits me like a glove. Thanks Dad and Stacy for coming out to support! The cheering on the side of the course make such a huge impact. Congratulations to my Dad on his 3rd and 6th place finish the same day at the Hollister Vintage Motocross! As usual, feel free to leave comments when you read! Thanks!

Results:
http://cccx.org/dh/2008/race1/2008_CCCX_DH_Race1Results.shtml