Fluidride Cup #2, PGRT #1 May 1-3 2009

Sometime the week before the race:  Arrived in PA ready to get the track figured out and just get used to the scenic Pacific Northwest.  Connected with Olympic Dirt Society guys Lars Sternberg and Scott and managed to get in four runs on Tuesday.  Walked the course on Wednesday and helped ODS set up.  My first impression riding there was “Incredible!!  This is awesome!!!  Exactly the same as the trails at UCSC but rougher.  With super-hammered old tires that I had lying around, I still had traction.”
Thursday:  First day of practice.  Track was incredible; it had dried out since the first time I rode it, so it was even faster.  Felt good, Kirt and Lindsey Voreis arrived with the Santa Cruz AllRide trailer, and most importantly – Travis Lucas, team mechanic!!!

This was my first foray into the world as a Vurtego Big Ass Pogo Stick Rep.  Judging by the first day, this is really going to be fun!!  Downhill mountain bikers take to the Vurtego like bums to panhandling!  JD Swanguen, Tyler McCaul, Brad Oien, Neko Mulally and Parker Worthington are among some of the more daring Pro racers to hop on and whip out some moves.

Friday:  Took lots of practice runs – Fluidride is really generous with their practice times – the whole event took on the feel of a vacation riding with 200 of your best dh buddies with a race at the end for fun!

Something worthy of note was the shuttle arrangements:  Big Budget box trucks with no lights inside that took us and our bikes up the fire road.  We knew we were almost there when we started hitting the big puddles and brushing alongside the trees!  We felt like we were being smuggled across the border, and someone commented “This is when they drive us off the cliff, right?”  Kirt promptly debunked that possibility by saying “It is just a bunch of guys standing outside the truck shaking it with someone in the cab in neutral throttling it”  – when they opened the doors, we were relieved to actually be at the top!

Saturday:  Supposed to be a recovery day, so I try to limit myself to just a few runs, BUT……… it is also qualifying (seeding).  My seeding time was 5:28 in the late afternoon.  Nice to have qualifying the day before the race so as not to be burnt out, but it totally eliminated a recovery day.  Then one of my friends in the Jr. Ex category, qualifying before me, had a huge crash trying to avoid a spectator walking on the course.  Uh oh.  They gave him a rerun, but it was too late.  He was pretty banged up, and his time reflected that.

Luckily, my qualifying run was Iowa-pedestrian-free (Idiots Out Wandering Around), so my qualy run ended up marginally ok.  Back to the hotel as fast as possible to eat my pre-race pasta meal and recover as best I could.

Sunday:  RACE DAY!!!  Practice 7-9 am after huge rain the night before.  Let others find out for me, and go up for 1 run to check out the course.  Then……hurry up and wait!!!  Sat around until my race time at 1:45.  Heard lots of bad stories about more spectators – one Jr. Ex rider had to take 3 race runs – got a rerun the second time for avoiding a toddler in the course!!!  Not enough course marshalls!!!  Not a good feeling wondering if I’d have to mow someone down during my race run.  Dirt conditions were pretty good, but all the corners and a large portion of the track was straight blown out – kind of had to make it up as I rode.  Halfway down the course, I had to inhale a piece of dirt that flew up, into my helmet and into my mouth.  I was trying to hack it up for quite some time, making the spectators wonder what was going on!

Good results – 17th out of 80+ really greater racers, and fresh-made donuts from the awesome bbq guy at the venue!

Thanks Kirt, Lindsey, Travis and Mom!

Link to Pics! —-> http://picasaweb.google.com/GraemePitts/Fluidride09

-GP