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Race Report by Ron Chai I have three words to describe this DH course, sick! Sick! SICK!!!! Three words to describe the organizers or lack of, lame, lame, LAME!! Steep, rocky, slick, and loose powder pretty much sums it up. Probably a tad bit more difficult than the Karpiel and HSR course in Northstar because of the steep sections. I figure that 60 to 70% if the field consisted of mostly expert/pro riders. TWW'ers attended were myself, Anthony, Susan Novalis (XC race 1st place) and Joel who showed up to spectate. The Course: Starts with a steep chute into a hard left hander. The beginner/sport take the left side and the expert/pro take the right side that has a 3 to 4ft drop. No brakes work here, just use your rear brakes to help rutter steer you into the left hander. After the turn, it's a short straight with a slight jog to the right. Then you hit a sharp right then a left then into another right. All these turns had a rut which one might think they can use as a birm but if you are one of these poor saps that think that, then you are one of the many that will go down for the count. Into the trees, watch for the rocks and stumps, you will take a left and hit the approx 8ft drop. But don't despair, the drop has a grade to it so you can lean back and ride it through. At the bottom take a right and hit a short straight section but be careful not to get too much speed because as you approach a right hand jog, the turn is a large rock covered in marbles. Take it too wide, it was like hitting ice. Straight again then weaving in and out of some trees pedaling up to the split. Beginner/sports take the left route that goes over a slickrock section. From there you turn to the right head down into more trees for some jumps. Out of the trees you hit a drop off, pedal down to a loose left hander towards a ski lift and to another drop take a right and pedal like mad to the finish. Practice Runs: I went down on every stinkn' practice run, multpiple times. Front end was washing out, tried to use those ruts as birms, washed out on the marblely rock (three times), my rutter steering capabilities were non-existent at the start (two times), couldn't find the handlebar one time and over the bar I went, high sided, and I stuffed it into a tree once. Total damage, backsides of both my legs suffer multiple abrasions, a couple of nice scrapes on my shoulder and hip, soreness all over as if I was bitch-slapped into submission and no amount of advil is helping. Equipment damage, not sure of the bike because I haven't washed it yet but my helmet has several deep, deep, deep gouges from my headers. Good thing I landed on my head or I might have really hurt myself. The Race: 180+ racers and of course beginners go dead last. Any one who is past while on the course is DQ'd (lame). The race was originally supposed to be the combined times of 2 runs but due to the number of riders, they only did 1 (fine with me). 3 to 4 hours later while waiting up at top frying in the sun, I finally go. Anthony had the distinct honor of starting first for our age group, Mens beginner 30 - 39 a total of 12 riders. I kept telling myself to take it easy, slow, and consistent. Don't go down because you loose too much time. Especially at the start where a lot of people will tell you of their disapproval. End result, for the first freakn' time all weekend, I didn't crash. A single run time of 3:14, gave me the 51st quickest time of the day, which landed me in 1st place. This race and finish is probably the most satisfying accomplishment of my cycling racing career. The level of difficulty of this course and my finish time just made me feel like I was walking on water. Undescribable!!! I just wonder what it would have been like on a second run. I was originally planning on doing the second race of this series but I may not. It's too taxing on my body. We'll see what happens....
Ron Race Report by Anthony Thaulad Great job Ron!!! Since you win the first race, at least try to do the second one. Who knows you might win the series. Who knows they might give away a Karpiel frame to the series winner since he's one of the sponsor (Jan Karpiel himself was there on practice day). BTW, I did not have a good run on my race day since I stumble at the start section and crash at one of those rutted berms. By that time I was just trying not to get passed (since you'll be DQ'ed). I think I finished 9/12 with a time of 4:12. This race is actually a good race if the organizer is just little bit more organize. The course was actually challenging and the competition was actually pretty tough even in beginner class. Ron, at least we know that we don't actually have to go up there and fry for four hours (the stupid rider's meeting).
#2 Race Report by Ron Chai First things first....It was all Anthony's fault!!!!!! With that out of the way, all in all it was an outstanding weekend in Tahoe. This was my first race as a sport rider. There was a low turn out at the races this time around. XC, I think were only 20 racers. DS was small and DH had only 80 or so riders. My thinking was that their was a world cup race in Seattle so a lot of the pro's, semi-pro's and experts were all up their. And also that since the first Donner races was so disorganized, many people probably decided not to go. And to top it off, they had put me in the wrong category. The same DH course was used again. Practice on Saturday went well for me. I didn't go flyn' over the bars as much as the last time. The course had deteriorated a bit in the top section and the ruts got deeper and some of the corners got blown out. Since the low turn out, they were able to get two runs in for each racer. My first run went very well, I beat my time from the last race by 6 seconds. The second run is where the problem (Anthony's fault) occurred. Instead of heading up to the top right away, we decided to hang out at the bottom. When we went back up to the top, we were informed that we had missed our start times and that we all were DQ'd. I haven't felt this pissed off at myself since I got all of my college girlfriends pregnant, I accidentally ran over my dog, and I killed myself in an head on accident all because I was trying to talk on my cell phone while writing notes to myself and while trying to swap CD's in my stereo. But they did allow us to make our final runs, timed. My final run came in at 3:04 and some change, my best time ever. It would have put me in second spot for sport. But because I was DQ'd, I was DFL. Lessons learned, don't ever listen to Anthony and better to be too early than too late. Irony is that Anthony was also DQ'd but because there weren't as many people in his category, he still medalled with a third place. We all thought that Scott Schlachter got 2nd but was barely edged out by a few 10ths of a second and he ended up with a third. I guess I shouldn't blame Anthony even though he was the one who suggested to hang out at the bottom. Ultimately, it's was my choice and decision. But hey, it's better to put the blame on someone other than my self right??
Ron
Race Report by Anthony Thaulad Ron, you really did get screwed by the organizer. The guy who started in front of you (who was also DQ'ed) got a medal for first place and I'm sure he had more than 5 people in his category. I guess because you're the only sport rider who missed your start time, they want to make an example out of you. For the beginners, they probably gave us a break. Anyhow, it was a fun weekend. Thanks to Scott who was our driver and also took us sight seeing on the way back.
PS. The AZONIC Knee/Shin guard is probably the best
out there on the market because of the overall
protection. My Azonic flat pedal (which is also a very
good pedal) would've ripped the skin of my calf if it
was not for the shin guard.
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