Snowshoe Race II, by Dave

Dave and Steven travelled to the second snowshoe race this past weekend and it looks like they had a great time! Big thanks to Dave for helping me keep this blog thing going for races I can't make it to!

Snowshoe Powerade Race #2 July 25-27:

Oh yeah.......Snowshoe #2! This time I was really stoked because I had the family coming up with me! We left at 5am on Thursday morning and I was swimming with my son at Split Rock Pool by 1pm.

Friday morning I decided to take it easy and go down to the lake on the Basin side for some hiking with the family. Around noon I headed back to the condo and then out to the Western Territory to check out the race course for the first time. After my first run I was smiling ear to ear......the track was SICK! The course had a bit of everything.......road gap, off camber traverses, step downs, steeps, rocks, super steep sections with multiple turns, gnarly rock gardens (lower Hare Ball), rock drop to flat, and a brand new section that was wide open high speed with a couple of jumps! After run number one I hooked up with my riding partner in crime Steven T. We proceeded to do runs almost up until the bus stopped at 5pm. Headed back to the condo to get cleaned up and then took Tami and Ryan out to dinner. After dinner they were playing The Fantastic Four on a big screen in the village and since my 4 ½ year old is in a "super hero phase" right now it was a must see!

Woke up Saturday to some more spectacular weather. Infact, it didn't rain all weekend with the highs being in the mid 70's.......nice! Headed out to the race track of course to keep turning runs out. The Western lift was running so you could get in more runs than you could handle. I was feeling really comfortable on the course and having a good time and then......SLAM! I piled it up pretty good in some rocks hitting my right knee and hip (my hip is a nice shade of purple as I type this haha!). I was hurting pretty bad and actually sat on the side of the trail for about a half hour before I decided to continue. Eventually I was able to get back on the bike and continue practice. It took a couple of runs, but I got comfortable again and by the end of practice was having a good time again. After practice I decided to ice down the knee and then headed over to the pool to swim with Ryan and Tami.

Sunday morning I woke up and was really feeling my age! It was pretty funny actually......I had to soak in hot water for about 20 minutes to loosen up my hip. By the time I got suited up and down to the track I was about 40 minutes late for the 9am-11am practice session. The pedal from the village down to the race track actually got the knee and hip feeling pretty good. I took the first run at a pretty chilled out pace, but I realized that the injuries weren’t going to affect my race run much at all. Practice ended at 11am so I headed over to the start shack to see my start time.........3:26 pm!! So I headed back to the condo for some food and to elevate my right leg. Was pretty cool too because I got to see Carlos Sastre take the top spot on the podium for the Tour de France. At about 1:30pm I headed back over to the trails to warm up. I heard things were running ahead of schedule and start times were pushed back around 25 minutes. So Tami and Ryan took the chairlift down to the finish line and I went to do a few warm-up runs. I was using a new trail called Ninja Bob and was linking it up with Powerline sometimes and Sweet Dreams sometimes. Got back to the top just as they were lining up my class....so I had about 20 minutes to race time!

My race run went pretty well. There were several places where I knew I needed to concentrate to make my lines and I did in those places, but got off track in a few places where I wouldn’t have expected it......I’m learning thats racing! Anyways, I crossed the finish line and was greeted by my wife and son! And Tami told me that I had the quickest time in my class.......for the moment! They lined us up from last place to first from the race the previous month which I finished 6th. So the 5 fastest guys were still to come. Needless to say that the start order pretty much held true to form because I ended up in 5th place and only 6 seconds off the podium. I was definitely stoked to move up a place and actually have a more competitive time from the previous month, but I still wanted to get on that podium! I have one more chance next month.......so we shall see!

As for SEI "young gun" Steven T.......another very impressive performance! Steven ended up flatting in the rock garden and had to finish the race on a flat. Despite the flat Steven still got on the podium in 3rd place and only two seconds off of second place! So big props and congratulations once again to my young badass teammate!

Totally looking forward to the finale in August.......Snowshoe is putting together some awesome race tracks this season!

BIG DADDY!!!

No pics yet, but in big SEI news, Jeremy and Crystal just became parents of a healthy baby girl, Rowan Addair (sp?) on July 22! Wow.... Just image having Jeremy as your dad! Congrats dude!!

Dave Writes: Dark Mountain II

Dark Mtn. King of the Lake race #2

On the weekend of July 12th and 13th was the second race of the Dark Mtn. King of the Lake Series. This series is put on by Matt Adams and the Brushy Mountain Cyclists Club. http://www.bmcc.us/id94.htmtm This event is always a ton of fun with a chilled out atmosphere and lots of racers with good attitudes!! Each race hosts a Time Trial, Dual Slalom and a Super D. SEI "Young Gun" Steven T. had a strong showing on Saturday placing 4th in the Dual Slalom event! I showed up on Sunday to join Steven in racing the Super D. We both raced in Expert with the format being the best of two runs. After all the racers had crossed the line and the times were posted I ended up in 5th place and Steven right behind me in 6th. It was an extremely hot and muggy day, but a great day of racing nonetheless! Definitely looking forward to the last race of the series in September..............

DemoDave Goes to Snowshoe!

Demo Dave got his literature on and wrote up a good review of the first snowshoe race.........

Snowshoe Powerade Race #1 June 27 – 29:
Well it was time to head up to “The Shoe” for the first race of the series! Snowshoe puts on awesome races so I was super stoked for the weekend! Unfortunately for one reason or another practically everyone that I normally travel with could not make the race. So I had to drive up myself after work on Thursday. Fortunately the extra $$ I would spend on gas I would save on lodging since my good buddy and SEI Team sponsor (Andy/FreeRideSouth.com) hooked me up with a FREE place to stay for the whole weekend. I left Greenville at around 3pm and got to Snowshoe just after midnight. I lost two hours on I-77. Tractor trailer accident where I literally sat parked on the highway for two hours. Anyways, I was glad to make it up there and was ready for 3 days of riding/racing!
Woke up Friday morning and went up to the MAC and bought my trail pass. The plan was to just chill out and do a bunch of runs with Andy and his son Joel. Conditions were dry and I was pumped! First run was down the Western Territory where we checked out a new trail called Ninja Bob. Well that first run took Andy’s brakes out. So he needed to head up to the MAC to get them fixed. So after the bus got us back to the top Doug asked me if I wanted to check out the race course (which I didn’t even know was open yet?)………so I said let’s do it! When we got to the bottom I could barely remember many parts of the course……because it was so darn LONG!! After that run I bumped into teammate and SEI “young gun” Steven T. So I think we put in a few more runs on the race course…..then headed over to check out the dual slalom track, grab some lunch and get in a run on the Basin side. After that we did a couple more runs on the race course and it was time to catch the last bus of the day. When I got back to the condo I noticed that like only two spokes on my rear wheel were tight! So I headed over to Silver Creek where Doug was camping. Luckily for me Doug was there and was more than willing to help me out! Thanks Doug!
Woke up Saturday surprised because it didn’t RAIN! Which was great news for me since I’m still kind of new to racing and not to comfortable riding in wet conditions. Started off taking a couple of solo runs down the race course. I was really starting to feel good on the course. I was dialing in the technical sections, but knew I would suffer on the pedaling sections (which there were a lot). At some point I ended up hooking up with Steven T. again and we basically did a bunch of more runs….which was awesome! Then at about 4pm……..RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!
Woke up on raceday to cloudy foggy skies and the ground was SOKED! My practice was from 9am-10am. I only got in two practice runs and the course was a sloppy peanut butter mess in the woods. This was bad news for me since the majority of my practice was in perfect dry conditions……but I’m learning……that’s racing! The good news was that my race run was at 2:30pm and it didn’t rain anymore that day. So by race time the course actually dried up nicely. There were still a lot of slippery off camber turns in the woods, but much drier than the morning practice. My race run went pretty well. I only had one crash (which was good considering conditions) where my front tire washed out on a wet off camber turn. Besides that my run was pretty clean, but it was another reminder to me that my fitness needs work! Espcially if I’m ever gonna get on a podium which I hope to do this sumer! Anyways, I ended up in 6th place in Men’s Amatuer 30-39. And “young gun” Steven T. pulled through for SEI with a podium finish in the Men’s Amatuer 18-29 division. So congratulations and big props go out to Steven!

Can’t wait for the next one………….

Can't Stand the Heat? Get out of Georgia!

This past weekend, Dave, Jeremy and Myself travelled to the swealtering blue hills of georgia (which happened to be 7 degrees cooler than the suffocating piedmont of SC) to race the first race of the Carter's Lake MiniDH series. What a fun course! It was only about a minute and a half long (hence MiniDH) but it was action packed from top to bottom. From the start gate, you had to be on your game through big gap-out drops, tight turns, hip jumps, ski jumps, creek jumps, berms, rock sections, and high speed sections. Its hard to believe what a variety of things they were able to fit on such a small hill with such a relative little bit of pedalling. The only draw back was the inferno-like temperatures. The worst part was standing around in the heat. I hate standing around in hot weather. All I wanted to do was turn it back around and go down the hill so at least the wind would be in my face. Anyway, Jeremy was the big man for SEI, laying down the power with a 5th place finish against a competitive pro class. Dave and I pulled up the rear as we showed up a little late and didn't get enough time on the track to get really comfy on it by race time. The real fun started for me after the race when Brady O was kind enough to run several shuttles for us. I feel like I had the course dialed by the end of the day, but that's racin'! You got to make it count when the man says it's time to make it count. Anyway, I had a great time riding, can't wait till the next race in the fall, and Thanks to Brady and his crew for an awesome event (They doubled their numbers this year, hopefully they can double again next time!) The plan for next week is to be at the Grand Opening of the new 26 West Bike Park. I'm really excited about this place as it really has the potential to be a new mecca of DH for the South East. It's something that I know can be achieved here and I'm hoping this place gets off the ground, grows, and we can finally get some respect!

US Open of MTB

On memorial day monday morning at about 6:30 am, I was just rolling back into town after this years U.S. Open in Vernon NJ. We arrived in Vernon on Thursday evening just in time to walk the course as the sun was going down. It boasted its usual gnarly rock gardens, flowy berm sections, and huge red bull finish line jump. Friday was practice day and I knew right away I was probably not going to be posting my best time ever. I'm still getting used to my bike and if nothing else, the Open provided me a great opportunity to figure out exactly what changes I needed to make before my next race. (Wish I'd figured that out before I drove 13 hours!) I raced the pro qualifying on Saturday after a short practice session and needless to say, that was the end of my racing as I didn't come close to making the top 60 cut. Probably one of the most embarrassing finishes I've ever had. I really don't know why but I just couldn't get it together and really felt out of myself the whole time I was on the course. Big props to Steven and Dave who both qualified in the Amatuer Class. As anyone who has ever raced the Open knows, the Amatuer class is no joke. To qualify for either the pro or the amatuer race is a big deal so congrats to Steven and Dave for stepping it big to make it in! Anyway, besides the racing, the whole experience was great. Diablo freeride park has so many DH trails, you could ride all day without hitting the same one twice, but so many of them are so fun that you can't help but ride them again! The atmosphere was great. We felt like real high-rollers staying at the "Appalachian" right at the bottom of the track. Funny story- The ride back home was uneventful for the most part. I took the wheel in NJ and made it all the way into NC where we were going to drop Steven off at his car that he'd left in the parking lot of a Super-8 motel. When we get there, not to my suprise, his car had been towed! After waking up the owner of the towing company and driving all over kingdom come to find the place, we finally got Stevens car back and Dave and I set off for home. I rolled in as the sun was coming up and slept most of the day monday thinking to myself, "Maybe next year".



We saw some bad crashes while we were there, so to everybody who got jacked up, heal up quick!

Massanutten!

You'd be hard pressed to find anybody who's ever raced at Massanutten who could tell you it wasn't one of the most fun races they'd ever done. I've been racing there for the past five years and last week's installment of the annual event was no let down. Big thanks to the promoters for keeping things so well organized as usual. The weather was the big question mark of the weekend. One minute, the sun would be out, the next it would be foggy, blink your eyes again and it would be pouring. I was surprised at how well the course held together in spite of the changing conditions. The only part of the course that really got sketchy was the upper rock section. The middle section of the course is full of loaming, sweeping turns with a couple of funky rocky right hand turns. There's a short high speed fire road before turning off onto a tight rocky single track that becomes a fast baby-head rock garden just before the finish straight away. After looking at the stacked start list, my goal was to put in a solid mid-pack finish. I met my goal, finishing in 12th place with a time of 3:59. Jeremy and I practiced together all weekend long and were pretty much matching each other pace for pace. He took a hard spill in one of the rock turns and finished with a disappointing time. Had he stayed on, I'm sure he would have finished with a very respectable time judging from the way we were both riding throughout practice. Steven T finished with a 4:07. Dave P. finished with a 4:17. The thing that sketched me out the most was the number of injuries at the top rock garden! That part took its toll on several of our local boys! (Kenan, Greg, Doug, anybody else, Heal up quick!) Other than that, it was another good Massanutten Race in the history books. I'm already looking forward to next year. The US open is coming up next week and Dave, Steven and I will be rep'n the SEI! can't wait!