Flyin' Brian

Ooops, I obviously didn't ever get around to posting about Angel Fire and the race there, and how I crashed off a road gap feature and strained my rotator cuff, and couldn't bike for 2 months. Well, I did, and now I'm back, and here's my race report from Brian Head this weekend:

Flyin' Brian

A crash followed by 8 weeks off the bike to heal my shoulder......and Friday morning I pulled into Brian Head, UT, feeling both excitement and trepidation for the Super D and Downhill races I'd registered for.

The race is part of the Go-Ride Downhill series which holds races across Utah and Idaho every summer. Go-Ride courses are notoriously difficult, and Go-Ride had been constructing a brand new course at Brian Head Resort over the last month.

DAY 1

My stomach clenched at the reports. “The course is hairball.” “It’s so loose, I can’t corner for $%&#.” “It’s like riding in 3 inches of cocoa powder.” The kicker, (yes, an exact quote): “My shoulder is killing me – this isn’t the course for a shoulder injury comeback.” Perfect!

But I’d have time to worry about the Downhill course later; now it was time for Super D practice! So we geared up for a run down Timberline, which may just be the most fun run anywhere! I could have ridden it all weekend. Swoopy corners, tables and doubles to jump, wooden bridges, buff singletrack, it was heaven. My first day back on the big bike was filled with joyousness on Timberline, my confidence returning, feeling the bike work its magic beneath my hands.

At the end of the day, there was just enough time to take one run down the Downhill course, just to check it out.

• The plan: cruise down, stop to look at the sketchy sections, just take it easy.
• The actuality: crash after crash after crash. We all went down. I was picking “cocoa powder” out of my teeth for the next 3 hours!
• The worst: a narrow off-camber log pile, followed by an immediate sharp right hand turn in loose dusty sand on a 45 degree slope into a loose and rocky chute. (Well, the rock drop that people were flying off left and right was probably worse, but I wasn’t risking a 15’ cliff with my shoulder and did the go-round.)

The evening was spent chilling at the condo with friends, watching bike movies and drinking beer and playing games, just an all around good time.

DAY 2

We did an early shuttle run to loosen things up (the shuttles in BH are simply amazing), and got so delayed that we ended up missing most of the Super D practice. Oops!

Super D Race: 3…2…1…go! I was off. With a heavy bike for the climbs, I lost a LOT of time on the ups, and heard the girl behind me as she cruised up on her hardtail. Of course, I lost her on the downs, grin… Then, almost finished, after an incredible run and feeling awesome – chain suck! No! Jumped off and spent the next 20+/- seconds yanking the chain out of the chain guide. Couldn’t get momentum on the last climb, so I ran and pushed the bike up the hill, hopped on, and pedaled my bum off to the finish!

My friend was racing his first race, and uh-oh! He got lost on the finish and rolled in behind everyone going “Hey where’s the finish?” Oops!

The Super D over, there was barely enough time for one downhill practice run. Swapped bikes and gear and raced to the lift. The run was somewhat better than the day before…

Back at the condo, we were all so exhausted that by 9pm we were dropping like flies!

DAY 3

I was up at the crack of dawn, working on my bike, with butterflies making their home in my belly. I made it up for one morning practice run, and cleaned everything except the log feature, which made me pretty happy! I decided that if I fell there in the race, it would actually be faster to run down the chute than try to get back on my bike on such a steep slope. With a total of 3 practice runs, and a game plan in mind, I felt somewhat ready for the race.

Then, RAIN! All weekend it had been dry, and then, halfway through the first heat, it started to rain. Then to hail. Then to thunder. Then the lift shut down. Then it backed off to a drizzle, and they somehow kept sending riders down the course.

Of course, the torrential downpour happened during the 10 minutes leading up to my first run, making all the log features (about a half dozen) dangerously slippery, the rocks even more slippery, and really doing nothing to the cocoa powder corners.

Run #1

3….2….1…. and I was off. Felt pretty solid, kept it together on the loose corners, washing out only once on the upper section of the course. Came off the bike on a slippery log pile, hopped back on and kept going. Feeling something weird with the traction in the rear wheel, I attributed it to the wet conditions….then passed the photographer who shouted “you’re on a flat!”

Dayum. Pulled off the trail and coasted down to the finish, furiously fixed the flat, and headed up for my second run.

Run #2

Magic. The sun came out, a dry breeze blew through, and in the 45 minutes before my run, things dried out to a perfect consistency. I wasn’t even nervous! Off I went, feeling the bike, railing the corners, the tacky corners holding a wee bit better. Still just a bit hesitant, I cleared all the stuff I hadn’t in the rain, crashed over the logs, grabbed my bike and ran down the chute, remounting in mid-stride. Sweet, didn’t lose as much time there!

Cleaned the next super loose steep rocks, then caught my wheel on a rock that had slid into the trail. Boom! I washed out, tipping in slow motion over a retaining log, down a slope, and into some bushes. NO!!!! I furiously climbed up the hill and back to my bike, and shaken, started pedaling down into the last tree section. Over my shoulder I heard “Rider!” but the voice was so distant and faint, and I so close to the finish, that I knew she wouldn’t catch me in time. I almost crashed off the last drop from sheer exhaustion, and somehow held it together and pedaled into the finish.

I missed my goal of a sub-6 minute run, sigh, but overall felt pretty satisfied. I’d survived my first race after the injury layoff, ridden some pretty sketchy stuff, and gotten a lot of my confidence back. Yay! Here’s to the last few races of the season!

Super D: 3^rd place finish

Downhill: 4^th place finish

And on a side note, driving conservatively is awesome! Coming back from Fontana, with 2 bikes on the roof and going about 80 mph, I was getting about 18 miles to the gallon. Going to Brian Head, with three bikes on the roof and the weight of an extra passenger and gear, I got 26 miles to the gallon! How? Driving 65 mph and staying behind trucks (still keeping 1.5 – 2 seconds between me and them for safety). Craziness!

Oh, and I only got one photo from the weekend, which I'll post up when it's off the camera. It's hard when you're there with friends and we're all racing at the same time, eh?