Race report by Scott Schlachter To give you an idea of what the course is like there, it rained a few of the days during the week right before the race, including the day before, but on Sunday the ground was almost perfect... It's about the most optimal ground for not being effected much by rain - it's like a very densely packed sand... The course is actually really good and fairly technical - lots-o-ruts, tight sandy corners, 1 optional double jump, and 1 small creek crossing. I think it's about ½ to 2/3 singletrack. There are no shuttles (and no way to shuttle yourself), so everyone has to ride/walk their bike to the top. The climb is fairly nice, and takes about 45 minutes or so, and the decent takes all of about 4-5 minutes. There is a really rough straight section nicknamed "the Freeway", and one sharp steep corner right before the creek crossing called "Hollywood Corner" (where all the spectators kicked it, cheered, and took pictures). I missed the first race in the series (1/24/99 - heard about it too late), but did the remaining 3 (2/21, 2/28, and 3/14). Although every time that I did the course, both in practice and in race, I managed to reduce my time, you might not know it from how I placed in each race. My age category was the most competitive (had the best lead times) in the Sport class at I think every race, and almost all of our times were very close together. Not to roll out the excuse wagon, but I just found that interesting, and in the end I came to like it - I think it made all of us respect each other a little more, and push a little harder in each run. The exception for me was the second race (my first there), in which I was fairly slow going down - got 12th out of 12... The funny thing is that I felt pretty good going down! The moral of this story for those who are considering getting into DHing: one word... PRACTICE! A friend and coworker who races DH on the east coast told me earlier this year that she practices every race as many times as she can humanly do - she races Expert and claims that she has to do this to stand a chance at each race. Familiarity of the course, I realize more and more at every race, is HUGE. To give you an idea on how much this counts, consider this: in my first practice run at Hollister, I timed myself at 5:47. I only did that one practice, and in the race I got a 5:22. By the end of the 3rd race, with course conditions not really changing a whole lot, my time was down to 4:37. To give you an idea of what the good times were, the best Pro time was about 3:55, the best time in Men's Sport was about 4:19, Marla Strebb (she is one freakin' bad-ass chick!) bested at about 4:11 (she even did one race where she crashed once, and then flatted just before the finish, and still got a 4:30 or so...). The best Beginner times were about 4:50 or so, if I remember right. One of the guys in my class did a 4:30 on a hardtail in one of the races. One of the semi-pros did about a 4:05 on a hardtail (in the hardtail cat). I can't even imagine doing that course on a hardtail - Tom did last year though! Likes - Great course! Good times with a bunch of local hardcores (gotta be to drive out in the middle of nowhere that early in the season, with no shuttles, and a fair chance of rain). Great BBQ on last day. Jumping contest on last day (during which, Brad Halcomb - Pro, did his last hardtail race run naked except for a jersey and shoes (!!! and finished with about a 4:35!!!), and then proceeded to ride through the middle of the crowd of spectators at the jumping contest, went off one of the jumps, and then rode off into the parking lot...). Good prizes at end of series, 5 deep. Lots-o-cool-shwag thrown out to the crowd on last day - scored a great Fox raincoat. Dislikes - no shuttles - but it really wasn't that bad, 'cause it actually gave me a good workout. Worst thing: $30 for each less-than-5-minute-race is way too steep. My places - 12/12, 10/17, 8/11 (I think) -Scott