Adventures in Ashland

Two races back-to-back in the past month have been held in Ashland, Or and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to ride! The trails are really well built; twisy, jumpy, tacky and berm-a-liciuos!!! all winding through a beautiful canopy of trees.

The first race was the Spring Thaw DH that only one of us from GOES (our new acronym for Girls on the East Side. Like it??) competed in. It was cold and snowy/rainy on race day but I managed to take 1st in my category and 2nd fasted woman on the mountain of the day earning me $100! (This well covered my race entry but not quite the travel expenses. Still, getting money for winning a race felt like a pro for a half-of-a-second, hehe). As usual I raced with some really great women and am glad to get to know more new rad lady shredders.Did I mention it was snowing/raining . . . and it was really c-c-c-cold? I sat in the car after my pre-race practice run wrapped in a sleeping bag and couldn't even take my helmet and goggles off because I was too shivery.Our second race, four weeks later, was the super fun Super-D. We started at the top of Mount Ashland and raced our way 12 miles through several different terrains, including Catwalk my new favorite trail that we raced in the Spring Thaw. Tina and I were the two GOES that represented and placed well in a tough category. Tina taking 6th and I seconds behind placing 8th. I wasn't feeling so great on race day - tired and a bit of a headache/sore throat but pushed through and managed to have a blast despite it all. Our plan for next year is to put in more XC training miles well in advance of the race because of the nauseating climb and for me - more rest!!! (and perhaps my own private room. Five of us crammed in a crappy hotel room with bikes, luggage, and what not and all were snoring and farting around me. Sheesh!!).

My new buddy that I see around at some of the races shot this photo. I look like I'm about to laugh because I think I am . . . all these guys on the side of the trail with beer cans lined up in a pattern and someone shouts my name. What, who? Oh, I can't let my concentration break. I've descended now to the Cinderella trail and it is steep and loose with tight berms and hoppy ruts . . . must concentrate, must not laugh, almost to the finish line!

After our race day on Saturday we spent Sunday exploring a few new trails down the mountain and I am now convinced that Ashland is the greatest place to ride . . . we'll be back sooner than later for sure!View from the top of Mount Ashland. There was snow at the top and warmth at the bottom. The trails finished at beautiful Lithia Park.

World Cup Schedule 2011

2011 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
April 23-24: Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (XCO/DHI/4X)
June 4-5: Fort William, Great Britain (DHI/4X)
June 11-12: Leogang, Austria (DHI/4X)
July 2-3: Mont Sainte Anne, Quebec, Canada (XCO/DHI/4X)
July 9-10: Windham, New York, United States (XCO/DHI/4X)
August 6-8: La Bresse, France (DHI)
August 20-21: Val di Sole, Italy (XCO/DHI/4X)

Tammy Donahugh's Summer 2010 from Tammy Donahugh on Vimeo.

MTB'ing As an Art Form

It seems mountain biking is such an art form because you don't see things as they really are. Instead of rocky, root strewn ground you see a line, a distinct path through the patterns -- and maybe something tricky to play off of -- that your eye and your tire follow before your mind even commands them to. Instead of a thread of trail outlining a cliff's edge you see in a-half-of-a-heart beat a sturdy monorail that your bike is naturally hooked to. Mountain biking is fast and slow at the same time. In what else that we do could this condition possibly exist?

Last Super D of the Season

The adventure began before we even got on our bikes. Once we reached the top of the Zephyr lift the trucks and vans were waiting for us racers to take us to . . . bumm, bumm, bummm . . . the very top of the mountain. Our bikes were tossed (in our minds they were tossed. Someone made a comment about 'bike spaghetti.') into the backs of vans and eager, mindless riders piled into SUV's with no seats in the back. Up terrain that looked like you should only ride your bike down we bounced our way around the back side of the mountain to make the climb to the top. The ride was so bumpy that one of the racers, our new friend Roxy, bounced so high her already unstable shoulder popped out of socket. The van stopped while a few riders got out and collectively popped the shoulder back without so much as a squeal from Roxy. She still raced, placing 3rd.

Once at the top, our nerves now taking over, we lined up ON OUR BIKES for our mass start - yay, not La Mans style! Off the line I was the third girl out of ten. I really wanted to hold my position so even though the dust from dirt-thick-as-could-be coming off the first two riders was choking out my vision I tried to stay fast. I could only see the top of Adrienne's, the rider in second, helmet in front of me and I kept my eye on her helmet's movement -- if the helmet went up, set- up for an obstacle, if the helmet tipped sideways, crouch in position for a turn. It was that way for what seemed a long time but I am sure was only a minute until we hit thick, thick dirt single track that was on a slight upgrade. The pedaling was nauseating and I could hear Tina, who was on her light xc bike, coming up behind me. I could also see Adrienne, on her heavy DH bike, slowing down. Stuck between the two I held my own back down the familiar side of the mountain and in to rocky, silty terrain. I was keeping good speed until a wipe out in a sharp, rutted out corner sent me over the handle bars. . . I was cussing like a sailor when Tina (sport class) and Molly (pro) stumbled past me. Damn it!!!! I vowed to catch them and quickly overcoming the mental aspects of the crash I sped up to them on the ladder bridge where Tina had dove off because of two flat tires. I passed her slowing down to ask if she was alright and hearing a word I am sure was "fine" I kept in hot pursuit of Molly, now the rider in front of me. The rest of the rocky, twisty race I was pushing it, but not as hard as I know I have in the past. I think I was a little worn out from a long week of work, but still, I made a strong finish through the technical, but 0h-so-fun bottom of the run to place 1st in Sport class (finishing behind all three pro's).

It was a great run for a last race . . . I am just sorry for Tina who flatted out. Big bummer! At least she took it like a sport. Hopefully next year we can say 'she took it like a pro.'

FUN

See Jane Jump Festival -- DH work-shop, all ladies, with pro coaches. I wannna go, I wanna go! Next year.

See Jane Jump 2010 from Darcy Turenne on Vimeo.

Funny

I love this video (Darcy Turenne) and I love Dakine gear . . . sponsorship one day maybe??

True Travel Love from Darcy Turenne on Vimeo.

Took a nice long XC ride yesterday evening . . . oh my aching muscles. It hurts so good.

Race Weekend

This past weekend was a race weekend extravaganza at Northstar . . . ok, well not that dramatic, but it was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work with a case of the nerves mixed in.Practice run Live Wire Classic, Sunday Sept. 29, 2010: Taking it easy, testing out the legs.

Friday evening was the Super D -- the race started with a nice fat stretch of lung & leg burning pedaling, ugh. The Le Mans start had me in second place when we hit the twisty, pedally single track. The lead girl was a xc racer who admonished the rest of the girls before the race to "hold back at the start to save some for the end." Then she took off like a shot, hahaha. Nice. Unfortunately none of us were ever able to catch that tricky girl. I was still holding second when I arrived at the fun downhill part of the course, the upper section of Karpiel. Karpiel is a double-black diamond that I had never ridden before, especially not on the Nomad. However, once I got over my intimidation it turned out to be the most fun section of the course (can't wait to ride it again. I'll wait until I get my DH bike to ride the lower section which is much nastier with steep rock gardens and drops and such). The dirt was loose and there was a bit of sliding around but all-in-all the course was in good condition. From Karpiel we hit a section of Pho-Dogg I had never ridden before -- fun also! Then on to twisy, rocky, flatish Woods - technical, tough and challenging, finishing on fast, smooth Deer Path (back to rocky, twisty a bit at the end on Lift Line -- one of my favorites). Having a blast and pushing it as much as I could I came in 1st in Sport class and was thrilled!

Live Wire Classic, Race photo

After resting up a bit on Saturday, Sunday came and the big Live Wire race was on! I learned something comparing these two races 1) Don't put too much pressure on a race, the nerves will break my concentration 2) I need a little alone time before a race to get inside my head. [Friday I had no expectations and about two hours alone before the race to get warmed up and in the right space]. I felt pretty good during my race run, but definitely made a few mistakes which cost me valuable seconds and I definitely could have pushed a little harder -- although, after comparing notes, you feel like you're spent at times on the course. The track could not have been in more perfect condition! A nice rain the night before left the course super tacky but not muddy at all. It was bliss. It was quite chilly waiting almost two hours at the top for our start time (too much time to get the nerves going and too many people to find any time inside your head). Even though I wish I could have raced a little faster and gotten about 15 seconds better time, I have to say - wow! it was fun. I love riding Live Wire -- and next year there is another race and I can correct the mistakes I felt I made this race (not enough speed into the jumps, faster in the corners, keep LOW the whole time). Next year I will also have a dedicated DH bike which will help out considerably. Until then my awesome Nomad got me through two races this weekend with a 1st & 4th place. I even got new tires put on her just for the weekend -- Minions -- and as Mike at ABW says, "Minion's are the shit!!!" I quote. I also agree.

The thing I also enjoyed about this race weekend was not just the riding and the pushing and challenging myself to bigger and better things, but the atmosphere. No other sport I have been involved in before has the camaraderie been so fantastic. Everyone is happy on a bike and the women in the sport reach out to each other. It is amazing. I made more new friends this weekend and they are fun, super-chill women. Just the kind I like to hang with. And I admire them for how they push themselves. Monday, I was tired, I could barely get out of bed . . . and it was so worth it! We'll be racing again in a few weeks - the final in the Super D series and maybe even the Boondocks DH race on a borrowed bike. We'll see . . . I'll keep you posted.
p.s. - Tina was unable to race the Super D and came in 2nd in Live Wire. Woot, woot. Go Tina!
Marianne is kicking ass developing a strong leadership presence with NorCal and the Placer Foothill Mountain Bike Club. Very impressive ladies, very impressive!

Race!

Two races coming up this weekend: Friday the Super D and Sunday Liiiiivewiiiire (aka Livewire Classic) . . . three days and counting.

Wow. . .

Storming Northstar

Today we stormed Northstar, or actually, Northstar stormed us. First run down and it started hailing, followed by pouring rain and then thunder and of course next came the lightening. The lifts were shut down and the only way to get in a second run was by pushing your big DH bike up to mid-mountain and catch "Lift-Line" run -- which several of us riders who couldn't get enough did. But before we called it a day and gave in to the weather, we captured a few small jaunts on photo and video . . .




If you can see way down the road you'll notice all of us sad sacs pushing our bikes up the fire road . . . we must ride! Thanks T for letting me borrow the 951, that bike rules the school!!

kd

Super D #1 Northstar

Yesterday kicked off the first race in the Super D series for Tina and I up at Northstar. After compartmentalizing our day -- working in the morning, getting into race mode in the afternoon -- we headed up the hill and the butterflies started. I found that laughter really is the best medicine and once we started cracking jokes the tension melted away . . . that's the ticket.

However, things didn't go so smoothly for me once we got on the mountain. My Lyrik fork was just rebuilt by a local bike shop the day before and while it seemed a little stiff on first impression, I really didn't have time to give it a good test run until my practice run where I found out I had about one inch of travel! I was cussing like a sailor the whole way down and not even sure I was going to race at that point. When I was supposed to be up at top of the course at the mandatory race meeting I was down at the bike park's quickie bike shop -- although they didn't have the time and resources to perform a real fix on the fork, they took care of me by taking some air out of the fork and putting some lube around the dust seals. This got me to about four inches, not quite the ride I'm used to, but still I decided to head up the mountain to attempt to race anyway. Arriving late I was happy to find they still accepted me and in a few minutes I was lined up for the (lame) Le Mans start to the race.

After a false start (I heard the word "GO" and me and another girl started running, even though the guy was still only explaining the rules -- oops. No harm) I took off like a shot and managed to be the first girl to reach her bike, flip it over, jump on and take off towards the dusty, rocky, loose single track that would be our challenge for the next 20 minutes or so. There was one length of flat fire road in between and that was where I was passed by a super-fast xc girl. I vowed to catch her on the DH but was met with one more bike malfunction - chain jump. After another session of cursing I had the chain back on the ring and was back on my bike, but alas unable to catch her. The rest of the ride was quite the arm pumping, leg pumping challenge with plenty of technical sections and twisty turns.

Tina, who for her own bike issues had to ride her heavier DH bike, caught up to me at one point and we got lost for a minute which didn't help in my quest to take the lead - it was a confusing course for sure!! After all was said and done I was very happy with a second place finish, Tina in third. It was a great race overall and we even made a new riding buddy, Roxy from Oakland. Looking forward to the next race -- and getting my Lyrik dialed in!!

New Trails at Squaw (these photos are not from there)

Yesterday I rode with a really fun group up at the new bike park at Squaw Valley, Tahoe . . . it was crazy and beautiful . . . and unfortunately we did not get any photos. Although the photo ops were great, no one had a camera, or would have wanted to get off their bikes long enough to take a picture for that matter.

So, totally unrelated, here are some photos taken on the confluence trail in the canyon just beyond my house. These were taken on a nice, hot, dusty Sunday morning. . . Northstar Super D race in five days and counting!



kd

Megavalance -- we should try it!

Don't forget to click on the square in the right hand corner to make it full screen (like I forgot to do). Enjoy!

Skill and Fitness

You hear those two words a lot when you talk about mtbing: skill and fitness. Yesterday on my way home from working in Reno I stopped at Northstar for a few hours. It was a relaxed day because I had not gone up with any of my friends to ride and it was a second-hand trip to my business trip in which I did the presto-chango from business suit to freeride clothes in the parkinglot after a 10 minute nap in the driver's seat of my Highlander.

It was a great ride! Working Livewire with run after run was a blast in progression. Then I decided to pedal across the mountain to the trail we had ridden in the first-ever Super D at Northstar last year (right before I shredded my knee for the season. yikes!). Flameout is the name of the trail . . . and it is brutal. I now remember why I was so whooped after the race last year. That trail is 20-25 minutes of t-e-c-h-n-i-c-a-l (if you really want to spell out a word that long). It is physically and mentally punishing and makes you cry out for the smooth, flowy, easily-launched-in-the-air ride of Livewire. I was beat up after Flameout. At least in DH you have gravity to help you overcome obstacles (albiet I don't hit the big features in trails like Boondocks. Talk about demanding) . . . but this course it's you and rocks and twisty, narrow single track and gravity isn't always there to lend a helping hand. Sometimes sheer brutal pedaling speed is the only way to attack. It is quite equally demanding of both skill and fitness . . . and in this Super D season which starts July 23rd, I look forward to crushing it.

MTBing: The Adventure Art

It's hot and dusty and summer riding is in full swing.

Sorry we haven't been posting lately but we've been out living adventures.

Marianne has left for Sweden (her home country) and is living the good life visiting friends and family and swimming, kayaking and biking around scenic lakes. We miss you Marianne and are a tad bit jealous simultaneously. That happens. Before she left she rode the Pioneer trail out of Nevada City -- can't wait for her to come back and show us the way.

I, Kirstie, have been off seeking new trails and adventures. I met a really nice couple at Sea Otter and connected with them for a kick-ass ride in Ukiah, Ca. They were generous enough to take the day off and show me some of their DH trails. The first one rocked hard -- steep, (but a bit loose), windy, jumpy. It had it all. The next trail was a true freeride adventure -- complete with harrowing experiences. They said it was a new trail their buddies had built but as we skid our way down a steep, shrub encrusted mountain-side any semblance of a trail disappeared. We found ourselves lost -- for about three hours -- basically managing our bikes down the mountain as opposed to riding. Once we found our way down the shaley mountainside, out of a waste-high weeded hillside and through the backyard of a farmer's house, down his private road and out to finally find our vehicles we kissed the ground and celebrated what is to go down in history as a great adventure. (It's always nice to look back and say how much fun that was although while you're going through it you're cursing the circumstances you have put yourself in). A few days later I found myself off to Northstar with Tina and we had a BLAST! I went back the next day to watch the National Pro GRT race but was too pooped to really ride much -- did a little. And this past weekend found me on a late night drive up to Downieville to spend the night in the back of a pick-up truck -- ahhh, open air sleeping is the best!! The riding was glorious the next day, although the amount of snow at the top on Sunshine was a little wearing to slog through. We were warned but chose to forge our own path -- occasionally getting lost. I love Downieville for the riding (excellent!), the scenery (spectacular) and companions you meet on the way (always friendly). Definitely DH MTBing is the friendliest sport I've participated in so far. Today took me on a challenging XC ride through the back trails of Applegate -- Hermet Hut trail, always a good one!

Tina's been busy too. Besides our incredible day of riding at Northstar, this past week her and I rode the fun, fast, flowy part of FHDL loop and enjoyed ourselves the whole way. She's out kayaking today after a Confluence ride. I can't wait to hear about her adventures.

There is no shortage of great stuff to ride. We've even found two new trails in Auburn that are begging to be better explored by the Girls. Time is the only barrier. Balancing life with riding is an art and we are always perfecting our art. And we are loving it!

Did I mention I met the Athertons in the med tent at Sea Otter . . . what, only once or twice? Oh, ok then.

In Case You're Wondering

World Cup DH MTB Schedule

2010 World Mountain Bike Calendar

May 15-16: World Cup DHI #1 & 4X #2, Maribor, Slovenia

June 5-6: World Cup DHI #2 & 4X #3, Fort William Great Britain

June 19-20: World Cup DHI #3 & 4X #4, Leogang, Austria

July 24-25: World Cup XCO #4 and DHI #4, Champéry, Switzerland

July 31 - August 1: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #5 and 4X #5, Val di Sole, Italy

August 28-29: World Cup XCO #5, DHI #6, and 4X #6, Windham, New York, USA

August 31 - September 5: World XCO, DHI & 4X Championships, Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada