Team-Robot: Thrillium Enduro DH race

I still haven't gotten around to doing a Norway write up and that race was... uhhh... kind of a big deal. But here's the thing: it's really hard to write a no BS race writeup. Without the BS, 90% of all race writeups would be:

"I drove to the middle of nowhere to (insert random ski area or riding spot) and listened to a bunch of crappy radio stations on the way because my CD player is broken in my car. When I got there I rode my bike a bunch and when I wasn't riding I was either hiding from people or smiling and shaking people's hands. Whether I was hiding or shaking people's hands I was either thinking about one of three things:

Winning the race
How unprepared I am, damn it
I'm hungry

Then I raced and it either sucked or it didn't and then I ate a ton of crappy food at some fast food place on the way home to celebrate/medicate after my big win/devastating loss. At some point I met up with a bunch of people I don't see enough and we all said 'Man, we should ride more often.'"

So anyway, here's a writeup I did for last weekend's race at Thrillium with all the good BS to make people feel the stoke and share the ride and and feed off the vibe and get pumped and stuff. Yeah, a little bit of my soul dies whenever I have to share "feelings" and crap like that, but hey man, you gotta sell out to eat out. Hate me later:

It was a great weekend out at the Cold Creek trails in SW Washington, and a really successful fundraiser for the Cold Creek Mountain Bikers. The Cold Creek Mountain Bikers have been working with various Federal, State, and local agencies for over 10 years to create the riding area that is there today. There are super long epic trail bike descents, XC trails, and the infamous Thrillium, a super fast-paced, jump and berm filled DH run that lasts over 6 minutes.

It turned out to be a great event for riders of all ages, and it showed me that the mountain biking community in SW Washington is one big family. Everyone camped at the venue Saturday night, and the night was filled with the sounds and smells of grills, brews, and stories.

Race day: With the dusty, loose conditions leaving huge holes in turns and a long pedaling section in the middle, the race was a test of rider's skill and fitness. I recently put flat pedals back on my Diamondback Mission Pro earlier that weekend, and I was having more fun riding my trail bike than I have in a long time. Just for fun I opted to run my Mission trail bike instead of my DB Syncline DH bike, and it ended up being a good choice. The race format was a combined time based on three runs, so the trick was to pedal hard and stay consistent. My Mission pedals like a champ, so I was ready to tear it up.

My three runs were really fun, except for the fact I thought I might die from pedaling before the end of my last run. In the end, consistency won the day. I chose to run heavier duty downhill tires and tubes to avoid flatting, and my three lap times were 6:33, 6:34, and 6:36. My buddy Alex ran XC tires and flatted in his first run, putting him out of contention, but that didn't stop him from putting down a blistering time of 6:23 and another lap at 6:25. I won the day with a combined time 1 minute up on second place.

I was really glad I made it out to the race, and I'll be back next year for sure. Plus, it was sponsored by the guys at Ninkasi, so how can you go wrong?