I'm down in California right now, nestled in the Sierras. After 9 hours of driving yesterday we were treated to fresh - you smash them yourself with a hammer - walnuts at my Friend Alex's place in Ashland, OR. In the morning the WWU Cycling Mountain Bike team and WWU Cycling Alumni, Deanna, punched the last 6 hours down to Truckee, CA. We're here for 2009 Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals. We've got a small but mighty crew. Casey is here representing the Gravity crew. Whitney and I will be competing in the short-track XC and Cross Country races.
For those of you who don't know, there are four events to be contested here. Two gravity events, Downhill and Mountain Cross. And two endurance events, Cross Country and Short-track Cross Country. The downhill is pretty self explanatory. It's a race downhill, against a clock. The person who gets from the start gate, down the hill, to the finish line fastest, wins. The bikes people use for these tend to be long-travel bikes that can sometimes look more motorcycle then bicycle. Mountain Cross is a pretty exciting event. You race in "heats", four people at a time. The course is usually filled with jumps, tight corners, small drops. It's a total head-game with yourself, every rider trying to be "king of the Mountain". The mountain cross race is on Saturday and the DH finals are on Sunday.
The cross country race is on Friday. This course offers up a 7.5 mile lap with around 800 feet of climbing... That means around 800 feet of descending as well! The ladies do 2 laps while the gents race for 3. Riders need to be fit, but also must have their wits about them, both down the hills, and up. The short-track race is pretty, um, short, typically around a 1/2 mile long and the race is usually ran for no longer then 45 minutes. They are pretty intense and as with any bike race, anything can happen. The short-track is going on Saturday morning.
So after two and a half days of driving we got to ride our bikes around and loosen up the body and mind. The area just received a ton of rain! The trails were in stellar shape and should only get better until race day on Friday. I've got to say that the trails are super fun and perfect for a 2-9er. The climbing is fairly rocky, with some really fun twisty rocky bumps to have a good time on the way down. This race will be super fun. Relating to the title of the post, when we rode into the forest today I was hit in the face by the fantastic smell. I don't know what it is. Sage?
While up on the hill today I stumbled upon, or rather, almost into, a porcupine! Pretty awesome animals.
check back here everyday for new happenings of our adventure. As usual, click on the photos to get a bigger view, and feel free to comment.
2 comments:
Whoa, bloggage to the excellent! Weather forecasts, pics, video, links. Nice! Fun to see it all happening on here. The soup was fantastic, the apple chips almost gone, thank you for those! And the walnuts I've found good: pushed in the middle of a medjool date, then dusted with cocoa powder and cinnamon. Race hard Washington!
Yeah, I find myself looking for something to keep busy. Lots of down time up here, it's nice. Might as well report on the weekend! Glad the food is treating you well. steppin it up in the blog world here, don't get too excited, it may go back to a few times a month! Although there's a pretty long mtb ride that I'm planning for when I get home inspired partly by your Maratona dles Siskiyous ride, and the stellar terrain in our neck of the woods.
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