Shiloh's Showdown
This past weekend Cheryl and I went down to Mt. Hood to race in Shiloh's Showdown. It was a bit of a haul down to Ski Bowl where the race took place, but we made it safe and sound late Friday night.
We checked in to Collins Lake Resort, watched TV, had some wine and coordinated breakfast with Dan and the Dirt Corps crew.
Saturday morning Cheryl and I met up with Dan, Graham, Chase, and Sam for breakfast, and then headed out to the hill for registration.
I'm pretty impressed that I was able to convince Cheryl to race. She definitely was not that excited about it originally. I figured it was the only thing that made sense: In the Beginner women's category she was guaranteed a medal (there was only one other woman in her category), and since racers get their lift ticket at a substantial discount it made financial sense too. In addition to that, there's not much else going on at the base of Ski Bowl, so her Sunday would be much more interesting if she was in the race... She reluctantly signed on for the race with coaxing, but I knew she'd have fun. Both Cheryl and I signed on as "Dirt Corps" team members.
The weather was beautiful Saturday, and we spent all day riding the beginner and sport courses to get ready for race day. I wanted to hook up with Matt and Dan for a few expert sessions, but the timing just didn't work out - next time.
After a full day of riding we jumped in the hot tub with the Dirt Corps crew to talk race strategy and other bike related stuff. Later on we met up at Dan's place for drinks and some ESPN 2 dirt bike action. It was about that time we found out that Shawn and Megan were on their way to Mt. Hood... They managed to make it in just as we were starting to fall asleep, so we were all ready for Sunday.
Sunday was race day. It was cold and raining... Very cold. We opted to not do our practice run, and to stay indoors instead. We cleaned out our condo, got the bikes set up, and reluctantly headed down to the mountain. Luckily the rain let up by the time we had to head to the top, but it was still cold.
I started my race in reasonable form, I came out of the gate pedaling strong, and blew through the first few sketchy rock sections. Unfortunately I had too much speed for the first big corner, so I had to really slow down to get back on track, I took my first few corners too hot, so I went very conservative - too conservative - on the next few. Part of the lower section of the Sport course is shared with the Beginner course, and it is not fun. Lots of pedaling which is not at all what my bike is set up for (my bike as you might know is ~50lbs and does not have a good pedaling geometry). After splitting back into the second Sport section I faced more pedaling on the flat, so I lost a ton of time there too. At this point I couldn't feel my fingers, and I was more than a bit winded. I kept pedaling, but I knew I was not the fastest person through that area. Just before heading back out to the finish my pedal clipped a rock, which sent my bike sideways, and I blew off the trail temporarily. In short order I got back on track without falling off the bike, but I really lost a lot of time there as I tried to get the heavy beast of a contraption back up to speed for the final section. I pedaled through the gate as hard as I could, and collapsed on the ground when I realized my quads couldn't support my weight without the bike.
Here's a shot of me taking a bit of air just before heading down for the final stretch:
Looking at the time I knew I hadn't made the podium. I ended up 5th of 16. Not horrible for my first Sport race given our age category was the fastest of all the Sport classes. Results are here.
Cheryl, on the other hand, lit it up. We had a big Dirt Corps contingent at the base cheering her on as she started to approach Alex (her competition). There was a big faction of Project 529ers cheering on Alex as well, so it was a pretty exciting finish. At the end Cheryl managed to pull it off - 1st Place!!!
Here's a shot of Cheryl grabbing the lead of Women Beginners 19+: 
After all was said and done it was a really fun weekend. I think I might buy a lighter bike for downhill racing next year. I need to win a few Sport races so I can move up to Expert, and it seems the Demo 9 is way too much bike for the Sport single-track. It wouldn't hurt if I was in better shape too :)
Also, Matt put up some other photos here.
