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Race Report by Jon Heim
Fattireheads: Karpiel kicked my ass. Scott and I drove up sat morning to get some practice runs in. We got on the lift by about 1pm. The Karpiel course sorta has two main sections, upper and lower. Both are difficult but the lower is much more challenging. 12 inches of loose, fine, powdery dirt the whole way makes steering and braking difficult. The lower part has a section called "waterfall". "Peoplefall" would have been more appropriate. We went through it about 4 times, and twice I went over the bars. Thank god for body armor, it paid for itself this weekend. I probably wouldn't be writing this without it. Tumbling over the rocks, I actually broke my goggle lens inside my fullface helmet. Later I found a crack in my shoulder pads. My wimpy 4" travel, vintage '96 DHO rockshox fork was completely overwhelmed. On about our fifth run we found out the sports would be diverted past "waterfall" through "bailout". Which has all the same ingredients of rocks, logs, powder, and pitch, just not in as lethal of a dose. I had a ton of mechanicals basically because I am trying to ride what amounts to a "freeride" bike through a world cup style course. These courses were definitely not "pedaling" courses. Race day comes and we get a practice run in. Things are going much better. We watched the pros in awe through "waterfall". Most of them cleaned it with no problem. So, my run starts and the upper part of Karpiel went real well. I finally pulled everything together. About halfway down Karpiel is a short fireroad connector to Bailout where you can pedal and get some speed up. I hit this and started cranking. All of a sudden my front end starts wobbling all over the place, I look down and my front tire is going flat quick. I was going too fast and couldn't control it, and down I went in the easiest, fastest part of the course. It deflated quick like a pinch flat which baffled me as I didn't remember bottoming on any boulders there. I did a Pete Rose slide through the rocks, again thank god for body amour. Even with all the protection I still was bloody and bruised. Well, at this point I decided I had come too far not too finish. So I hopped back on and poked my way down "bailout" at about a walking pace, but determined to finish. Just staying upright was a challenge but somehow I pulled it off. At the end it merges back into Karpiel and the finish line was actually a very nice jump. I opted not to get any air. By this time both beads of my front tire were off and the tube wrapped around the axle. I was riding the rim. There were only six in my class, and I got fifth. Later I found out 6th place guy actually DNF'd. Not sure if that actually makes me DFL or not, but it's better than DNF. Scott kicked ass and got 2nd in his class. All in all, a very humbling experience. Can't wait for the next one... Jon
Race Report by Scott Schlachter Guess I'll through my $.02 as well, in case anyone's interested: Dave L.: I either didn't know or forgot that you were going to do the XC race - sorry we missed you on Saturday. We finally got on the lifts at about 1pm, I wonder if we crossed paths in the village... Saturday: In the parking lot, I made a decision to run a Serfas 3.0 DH tire for my rear tire, and it turned out later that it was an excellent decision - the race course was not a "pedaling course", and that big 'ol heavy, fat piece of rubber worked excellent on the mixture of DEEP powdery silted turns and chutes, and gnarly rock gardens. Jon and I practiced (riding and falling) in the afternoon. It's amazing how slightly less than 3 hours worth of "just going downhill" can absolutely work you... The "Waterfall" section on the Karpiel course is only one of the technical sections on lower Karpiel - there is another section shortly afterwards that is equally as difficult. I never got a single clean run in on this course, but managed to clean the Waterfall once. Once we found out that we weren't going to do lower Karpiel, it was definitely a relief. Both Jon and I had some good wrecks, but his was definitely more impressive (cracked his goggle lens AND his chest protector after launching OTB on the Waterfall). Thank you, body armor... Sunday: The DH race also had a relatively small turn out (about 125 racers total, I think). There were 5 in Sport Mn 30-34, and John had 6 total in Sport Mn 35+. We got in one more practice run, and then took "Flameout" down to the Waterfall to watch the Pros. Watching the Pro's and Experts go through the Waterfall was absolutely amazing - like stuff out of Kranked 3. For the race, I lost to the first place guy in my cat by 8 seconds, and beat the guy behind me by 4 seconds. Definitely a close race considering the finish times were about 5 minutes. The big jump at the finish line was a fun way to finish, and some of the air was huge! I definitely scared myself on that jump... When Jon crossed the finish line on his flat tire everyone cheered... When the Beginners started crossing there were some VERY near crashes (at least 2 nose wheelies...). Jon's cat had two guys that were faster than the #1 in my cat! There were a lot of locals in all categories, and it was obvious that lots of practice up there paid off. We talked to the guy that took 3rd in my category a little bit (a local guy who works for Bikepro), and although it was only his 3rd DH race he was bummed that they didn't have us going down the Waterfall. He said there was a lot of local riding that was very similar (super steep, super loose, and SUPER rocky) - I plan on finding out where those trails are. I'm sure I only beat him due to the fact that he crashed once in his run. Protective gear saved both Jon and I on both days, but he definitely won the prize for worse wrecks on both days. One important note - in addition to testing your skill and your safety gear, this place will also test your bike! I felt fortunate that my bike worked great, but I had to tighten a bunch of stuff up after riding on both days(headset, bolts for the chain guide and brakes, etc.). Here too, Jon had the worse luck on both days - 3 flats, derailer probs (front and rear?), brake problems... The worst, of course, was his sudden flat on his race run - but he definitely won the award for taking it in stride, and for finishing regardless! -Scott
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