Chad and I made the journey in Kim's mini-van (yeah, two guys in a mini-van - chicks dig it ya know?), stayed in a crystal meth house, rode over 40 miles of sweet trails, drank some beer, met some great people, did not crash, did not have a mechanical, and I got a podium spot!
We both took Friday off and left in the AM to beat the traffic.
3-1/2 hours later, we arrived in Downieville and did an initial recon of the area. Much smoke was the order of the afternoon with all of the fires in the California area. Race packet pickup was not until 3PM so we headed to our lodging to see if we could check in early. After we found the place (Kokanne Kabins in Sierra City), we were having second thoughts. The place has seen better days for sure but Terri was nice as could be and told us it would be about another hour before our Kabin was ready. Back to Downieville to pick up our race packets and figure out what the plan for the weekend would be.
Food was the next order of business so we stopped and ate at the Grubsteak Saloon in town, owned by Mary and her husband. Mary was the nicest lady and gave us some great contacts for next year's lodging.
Some of the vendors were setting up their tents so we took a moment to check what was going on there and then headed back to our humble abode to prepare for the next day's contest.
Saturday came much too quickly but at least the smoke had cleared a bit and visibility was improved. We decided to ride our bikes the 1.8 miles to the start of the XC (Cross Country), race which started in Sierra City. The XC race was a 29 mile grueling ride to the top of Sierra Crest at 7100 feet of elevation (3100 foot gain), and then descending down 5200 feet back to Downieville. My Garmin Forerunner 305 gave slightly different results than what was officially posted with ~27 miles total and 6400 feet of total climbing and 7800 feet of descending. I managed to complete the course in just over 3 hours - about an hour slower than the pro class! Chad beat me by about a minute - phucker. After the race, we hung out, drank some beer and and checked out the different vendor tents.
Off to the Kabin to rinse off and get some clean clothes before putting some dinner in our bodies.
Yes that is dirt all over my arms and face - sexy eh?
Enjoying some well-earned frosty beverages after our effort on Saturday!
Sunday was pain. Chad and I were pretty smoked from Saturday's effort but soldiered onward. Fortunately, we expected Sunday to be a bit more than an hour and not the three hours from Saturday. As I took off from the start gate, I realized just how little I had in the tank - legs were rubber and arms were just somehow attached to my trunk but offering little else. The offical course stats were 17 miles for the DownHill with 5000+ feet of descending joy. My GPS said ~14 miles with 6400 feet of descent. Much of the course was similar to Saturday so at least I had an idea of what to expect but I still struggled quite a bit. Exactly an hour later, I arrived in Downieville, spent but happy I had given it my all.
Apparently my "all" was about 10 seconds short of second place but third place seemed assured - or so I thought. I guess there was a mixup and I was given fourth place during the awards ceremony. The final times posted today show me listed in third place by over 16 minutes. No worries, hopefully the folks at Yuba Expeditions will get me squared away.So, lessons learned - full body armor might be overkill for the course, stay in Downieville rather than further out, do more hill work to prepare for the race, try to ride the course at least once before the race. Yeah, we will be back next year.
Here are links to pictures and GPS output:
All pictures of the weekend:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jdonohoe/20080713DownievilleClassicMTB
GPS for XC race
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6242659
GPS for DH race
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6242660
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