June 2004

West Virginia

Here’s a quick update on the Norba in W. Virginia from last weekend.
DH
Both Dustin and Rando were feeling good on the DH and rippin’ it up. Unfortunately they both flatted on their final runs. WHAT!! I know what are the chances that both of them would flat? Well, actually on that course it’s probably a pretty high probability. So that pretty much sucked. Even with Dustin’s front flat he finished a respectable 13th and on Rando’s rear flat he finished in 17th. I felt pretty bad for them. Minaar ended up winning it with Kirckaldie and second and his Maxxis brother Colin Bailey in third. Sweet.
XC
In the XC race our boy from Maine Adam Craig finished strong with a third place behind Geoff Kabush who won and Canadian Chris Sheppard with second place. That was awesome for Adam since he’s been chasing those valuable Olympic points all year throughout Europe and to finally be back home he was feeling good.
MTN-X
As for myself I was feeling pretty good. The MTN-X course was pretty sweet. It was a complete 180 from any course we’ve had all year. It had big jumps, super fast with rythym sections, and about one minute long. The only problem was that it was so fast it made it hard to pass once you rounded the first turn. In the final it was myself, Jill Kitner, Lisa Sher, and Melissa Buhl. I came out pretty much last, but got into second by the first turn. Jill was just in front and I was trying to pass the whole way down. Finally after the long tabletop at the bottom we were coming up on the doubles. We were going so fast I was on her left side then her right then we hit the doubles. I jumped them and she rolled them and I’m thinking sweet I got her just before the last turn. Wrong! What a dumbass! I should have jumped them to the inside, but Nooo I hit them on the outside, which put her inside for the next turn and with enough time to cut me off. What a bonehead. And that’s that.
SHORT TRACK
So the next day I opted for the short track instead of the DH, which over the course of the past two years has given me a concussion and a knee swollen to the size of a grapefruit. Yeah, no thanks! So I was on the Adam Craig program for the morning getting ready to go. When I finally rode the course about half an hour before our race I realized how much this course didn’t suit me. The climbing was tough especially the grass to gravel 30% grade pitch and the downhill wasn’t much of a recovery, which is what I NEED. So the gun went off and I tried to sit in. Yeah, well unfortunately my sitting in is me straight pinning it at the back of the pack trying to hang on. It didn’t help that I crashed going uphill on the gravel hill. At the end of the day I ended up lasting ten minutes and my goal is to not get pulled. FYI, the race is twenty minutes plus three laps. Oh well maybe next time.

Lenosky's Jump Jam

O.K, so the W. Virginia Norba is over and Rando and I have decided to head out with Jim DeChamp and make our way to Jeff Lenosky’s jump jam. We were on our way last year when we had our fateful car accident. We were determined to get there this year. We caravanned our way with Kyle Ebbett and the Sinister van, and Scott Hart editor of Decline, Twenty-Six, and Road magazines. We made the five our drive to Maryland and to Travis Pastrana’s house, which is where Jim lives. Sweet! Frank had just built up my new STP hardtail the day before and I couldn’t wait to ride it. Although at Pastrana’s I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to ride anything. Right when we pulled up I saw the huge barn and about a 50 foot long ten foot high foam pit pastrana and friends use to practice backflips on their moto’s. Crazy stuff. We pulled in and immediately started getting the bikes out.

I watched the guys for awhile and really wanted to try it. Jim was pulling HUGE double backflips pedaling as hard as he could from the street down the long paved driveway clicking gears. I swear he was in the air for like five minutes. Ebbett was pulling backflip x-ups, and Rando started pulling lookback 360’s. It looked like so much fun. I’ve never really done any street or ramps let alone foam pits. Kyle and Jim were egging me on so finally I got my pads on and just said, “screw it…here goes!” I hit it and totally sucked up the lip full racer style and remembered, “whatever you do, don’t let go of your bike!” I hung on for dear life and it was awesome. I ended up playing in the foam pit for pretty much the rest of the day. Kenny Bartram and Andy Jones happened to be there doing some OLN thing and started doing backflips into the foam pit on their moto’s. I was so cool to see live.

Later we went in the barn for a bit and played on the climbing wall. It was just one big playground. I was jumping from the rafters into the indoor foam pit and then riding the indoor ramps a little.
Later that night Van Dine, Lucky, and crew showed up. There ended up being like fifteen people crashing there that night, but it was all good. Thanks Jim for being such a good host…your awesome!!

The next day we heading out to New Jersey to Lenosky’s and the famed Jump Jam. I couldn’t wait to get there. We pulled up about 2 o’clock and the street was already full of race rigs and rental cars. We got our bikes together and headed down. The music was already going and the Red Bull flowing. I was smiling ear to ear. I looked around and the different jumps to hit and started off on the three pack onto the hip. Over on the left you could ride up wooden ladder bridges and then ride down to hit some dirt jumps. And over on the right you had to climb up wooden stairs to a ramp and jump off to hit two doubles. It was a super fun setup. After about an hour I had a bit of a headache. I think it was the 90% humidity kicking in. I took some advil and it was non-stop riding after that. I only stopped to drink water. I rode till’ about 8:30 and it started to rain a bit. There were some sweet tricks being pulled by all. Even the girls were getting’ it. By the end of the day Lucky, Gale Dallager, and Emily Johnston were doing no handers and no footers. Sweet!

Rando and I crashed too hard. As soon as our heads hit the pillow it was lights out.

The next day we got up, hit the local bagel joint and headed out for the forever long drive to Vermont. I didn’t mind all the driving though. We has so much fun over the last two days it was well worth it.

I just want to thank, Jim and Stephanie for letting us tag along, and Jeff and Amy for opening up their house to us. Also to Kyle Ebbett and the Sinister crew for taking my bike with them.
Maybe again next year?!

Mt. Snow, Vermont

It’s June 21st and we (Myself, Elke, Dustin, Rando, and XC skinny girl Shonny) just left Mt. Snow to head up to the World Cup in Sainte-Anne, Canada.

All in all Team Giant / Pearl Izumi had a good weekend. XC boy Adam finished third again in the XC behind Liam Killeen and linebacker Roland Green. Keep it up Adam your kickin’ ass buddy! In the short track the next day he rode like a champ. He was called up next to last, but fought through the pack picking off about five guys a lap. Too bad the long start finish straight was into a head wind and once the top nice guys had about a ten second gap poor Adam was all by his lonesome fighting the wind. He ended up tenth though I think with an awesome effort.

I had one of the worst weekends so far this year. The Mtn.X started off well with qualifying first and feeling pretty smooth. Initially I was a little nervous because I just had a completely new bike built up the day before. I used to ride the Giant VT, but they were able to make me an extra small Giant AC and the minute I got on it, it was sweet! This weekends’ course ended up being a really good one. There three flat pedally straights and then further down it got faster with bigger doubles and actually places to pass. In the final it was myself, Kitner, Katrina, and K.P. (Kathy Pruitt). So in the gate we are and Frosty announces, “ 7 seconds…” I’m ready to go and I swear that seven seconds seemed more like 20 seconds. As soon as I relaxed for that split second the damn gate dropped. Kitner and I were bumping elbows the whole first straight, but since I was on the inside I got cut off. I kept some speed through the first turn, but couldn’t cut Katrina off because Jill’s wheel was between us.

The next three turns were a right then a left, and then a right. I was trying to inside every turn, but just couldn’t pull it off. Then after the double double that kitner rolled Katrina and I both jumped them and we’re right on her wheel. She was riding defensive and Katrina was on her left and I was on her right. We all rolled the last big double and came in one, two, and three. I hadn’t tried jumping that last double, but man I wish I had. Believe me I was thinking about that one for a while.

The next day was the Jeep KOM race. The race in my opinion really mattered. In my first round I had April Lawyer. The course was gated like slalom until half way down and then we would turn back onto the mtn.-x course. The top section was tough. You’d go through once really clean and then the next you felt like a novice. We were in the gate and as the gate opens I start to pedal out and WHACK! My handlebar hits the gate. While I’m trying to gain composure my foot comes out of my pedal. Finally I get my foot in and catch and pass April and win by .4.

We go back up and I’m pissed. I don’t’ talk to anyone and I’m totally focused. I’m going to pedal my ass off and am definitely going to win this one. We switch courses and are ready to go. The countdown starts, gate opens, and I am so focused on the first turn. The next thing I know I’m on the freakin’ ground! “ What the hell just happened!!”… Is all I can think. Both my feet were still clipped in. I get up and haul ass to the bottom. I caught April again, but not in enough time. Apparently what happened was the gate came back and hit my handlebars again only this time it was harder. It felt like a nightmare. I just couldn’t believe I was already out and done for the day. Not to take anything away from April, but I was just shaking my head. I walked over gave her a hug and the jeep ladies felt so bad they bought me a couple beers. I just watched the rest of the races in a bit of a fog.

The next morning I drug my ass out of bed to get ready for the short track. My legs were feeling like shit, but oh well. Frank built me a sweet new XTC with a carbon fiber rear end and put some Manitou Skareb forks on it, which put me in at about two pounds lighter. Sweet!! Thanks Frankie boy. I warmed up, had a little pick me up Red Bull, and then went to check out the course about half hour before our race.

The loop was a long one with a long straightaway with a head wind. The good thing was that there were places to recover that I very much needed. I was called up about third to last and Elke handed me a little Maxim energy gel. The gun went off and immediately the pace wasn’t as fast as it normally is because of the headwind. Thank god!! I made some moves to get to about ninth place and stayed there for about three laps. By then we had gapped the second pack of riders, but I knew I couldn’t keep that pace much longer. I could hear all my fellow downhillers cheering me on and wish I could’ve at least given them a wave, but I had no extra energy to spend. Soon I was getting passed left and right. It’s funny when everyone is yelling, “get on her wheel, get on her wheel!” And your thinking, “do you see the drool coming out of my mouth right now?” I finally was able to recover around lap five and caught a girl wheel for a lap before getting pulled. All in all I felt pretty strong and stayed in there for just about 14 minutes. I’m getting there slowly but surely.

Earlier in the day Dustin qualified first in the downhill and Rando qualified eighth. The boys needed and deserved a good weekend. Fingers crossed neither would flat. Leif over at Michelin has been working his butt off to see that that wouldn’t happen. As the times started coming Shaums March had a killer run with a 4:05. FYI…the course dried out a ton and everyone was running about fifteen second faster than the qualifier. Rando came down with a 4:06:54 and was behind Shaums and Bryn Attkinson with still some guys to come. Minaar came down absolutely flying and went sub four minutes. He had a 3:56 and looked pretty tough to beat. Up next was Kirkaldie and he came down with a 4:03:99 and into second. Dustin has left the start house and I was crossing my fingers. As we were waiting we figured Rando to be in fifth at the moment. That’s when he said, “Well, it looks like only one of the boys are getting on the box this weekend.” Dustin came into sight and across the line at 3:59 and into second place. We were all so stoked for the both of them. The rode awesome and came away with a second and a sixth. At this point I think they are just warming up!
Till’ next time….