Race Report: Mont Sainte Anne

           From Sugarbush I packed the truck and made my way up interstate 91 across the Derby country line into Canada. I made my approach late Tuesday night and was rewarded with an easy drive to Quebec City, where I made an accidental wrong turn and found myself in the heart of the city. After breaking out the old Rand McNally I quickly diverted back onto the highway and fallowed signs to the classic World Cup venue of Mont Sainte Anne. I found an uninhibited patch of earth near the base of the mountain and with the excitement of the weekend ahead I drifted off to sleep sticky from the humid air. For me, one of the most exciting parts of every World Cup weekend is registration and track walk. I get fired up seeing everyone at the venue and I cannot wait to get on the hill to check out the course. I’ve been to MSA twice before and it has evolved since my first visit in 2006 and since last year. There is only one word to describe the nature of this course: Fast!

            Last year was extremely muddy and the top course was a disastrous mess of mud bogs. This year the organizers decided to go back to its roots and to possibly avoid another year like last, they sent the track straight down the ski run until the first woods section. This negates close to a dozen turns in the process of speeding up the track times and also sending riders well over 45mph. Once in the woods it was back to business with a nicely manicured track weaving around trees with smooth berms and some rough drops. Out into the wide open and back into the tight tree bobsled track that leads back out and onto a high speed off camber turn that always proves difficult to push. The next section makes MSA great. Directly underneath the gondola is a high speed swath of trail chalked full of step downs, hip jumps and huge banked turns, that, once completed spit you out full bore straight down the hill and past the speed trap. It is rough and ragged at high speeds but a blast to ride. Things slow down slightly as the track approaches the last two tree sections. Slab rock jettisons outward and winds through the first tree section, little break in between the second tree section allows you to catch your breath and re-grip the bars for the last plunge into the forest. The last trees are awesome and if you have strength left there are a lot of double line options and big gaps to jump. The end of the track is near once on the old mountain cross course, some table top jumps doubled and a sprint to the line and it’s finally over. Its one of the longer tracks on the circuit and this year it got hot and dusty making for one of the fastest and roughest.

            Practice went very well as I was one of the first riders on the hill and up to speed in no time holding my own on every section upping the speed time and time again. Once I felt my speed was where I was almost comfortable with I started to dial in the lines. I did a total of 5 practice runs on Thursday and was looking forward to Friday’s qualifier run. Last year I was having a good run and riding well into the top 50 until disaster struck and I picked up a flat tire towards the bottom and ended up finishing just outside the qualifying time, .7 away from the show. I came back looking forward to a little redemption and to give it my all. Friday morning rolled around and I went up for 2 runs, the speed felt really fast and I had to keep reminding myself to look way ahead. Not wanting to risk beating up my bike or body further, I ended up calling it a run early and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon preparing for my run. After 5 hours between practice and my qualifier run I was back up at the top in the start gate. I felt mentally ready and was calm as I cranked out of the start gate and was up to speed in know time, but as soon as I hit the first woods section that is where the problems started. When I ride a trail for the very first time I’m loose, always looking ahead and let my reactions and muscle memory take over. In this case I allowed myself to over think everything and caused myself paralysis by analysis. By the time I started to ride like myself again, I had been riding tense I was already blown and had a tough time holding on near the bottom riding off of the trail in one spot. I still gave it my all across the finish line but it was not enough and pretty disappointed, my weekend of racing quickly came to an end. 

            I did not throw in the towel though. I spent the rest of the weekend exploring what the rest of the mountain had to offer, and wow was I blown away and on occasion off of my bike by the amount of extremely technically difficult trails. It felt good to get back on the bike and ride wet mud, roots and rocks in preparation. Even managed to find time to do some self filming before watching the top 20 men come down the hill. To really end the weekend on a high note, I went on an xc night ride with the Furbee brothers, got lost out in the woods and got muddy once again and really just got back to having a ball on the bike. I absorbed everything like a sponge this weekend and look forward to this Weekends World Cup round in Windham, New York where I plan on having a blast on my bike.

Media:
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/sebs-mont-sainte-anne-wc-finals-photo-gallery.html#slide-16
Qualifying :
http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/2012-Mont-Sainte-Anne-Downhill-Qualifying,3902/Slideshow,0/sspomer,2
Qualifying Video:
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirttv-mont-sainte-anne-qualifying.html
Helmet Cam:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/CONTOUR-Course-Preview-From-Danny-Hart-At-Mont-Saint-Anne.html 

Ride On!

Race Report: Sugarbush MTB GP

I arrived in Sugarbush, Vermont Thursday evening after driving for 3 days, 35 hours across the country from Boulder, Colorado. I’m here for the second round of the MTB Grand Prix, the first stop on my east coast tour. A grand hotel that is fashioned after a barn is what I see first thing in the morning light as it illuminates the mountain behind it. While driving here in the dark I was trying to paint a picture of what the mountain might look like based upon past experiences, other than the barn hotel and base area the mountain is exactly what I thought I would be. Situated just outside the town of Warren, Sugarbush and its densely green and lush slopes elevate high above the valley floor. This is the Green Mountain State after all. After the usual pit setup, bike bolt check and a good helping of cereal with fruit and nuts I acquired the energy to mount up, head up the hill and have a peek at what I was in for this weekend. 

The only previous knowledge I had on the course was that it is a local’s favorite. With past race times around 4 minutes, I was excited to see what it was all about. Straight out of the gate there is a sprint into the open ski run, which fallows with a high speed barrage of g outs, drops, dips and berms. This top section lasts for more than a minute and then it’s straight into the trees. Hero dirt mixed with shall rock and a spider web of roots adorned the different sections in the trees. There were even a few good compression holes and natural double jumps that were necessary to clean if you wanted to keep a good flow. It’s been dry here and the track surface was perfect and there was grip everywhere. The bottom of the track took shape just after exiting the forest and back onto the ski run directly above the finish arena. A few high speed banked turns lead into two table top jumps and ended with a dry, dusty and loose S turn. 

It took me a little while to get up to speed, but after the first day of practice I was raving about the course. It emulated a world cup course in sections as it was fast, rough and very physical. On Saturday the run before afternoon pro seeding, I was gauging the speed of certain sections of the track when I came into a large compression hole too fast and slightly off line. This pitched me over the bars and onto the track shaken up a bit. It was right back to the top after a little ice on the shoulder and a quick once over on the bike. Having a bit of trust issues with the track I ran a conservative and clean run down and knew I had some work to do and lines to look at Sunday morning. The weekend stayed dry, the course quickened each day and also developed new ruts, holes and uncovered slick roots. Coming from the Rocky Mountains, I’m not too familiar with this type of terrain and every year I come back east I have to count on my past experiences to help me figure out my limitations. The dry dust and rocks I’m used to have a different feel and less traction than this east coast mixture, yet its still tough to trust the soil to hold at higher speeds. The last practice run I took before finals instilled some much-needed confidence as I was letting myself ride the terrain in a more aggressive manor. 

I spent the time between practice and finals socializing with fellow riders, cooking and reading just to relax a little knowing that I needed to be one hundred percent committed when the time comes. I had a great warm up and took a solo lift ride to the top allowing myself to gaze off into the horizon, in this part of the county I get so disoriented by the similar surroundings that I lose my directional bearings. Once in the start gate I took some deep breaths and tried to capture all of the extra oxygen that I could because by the time I reach the bottom I’ll be digging deep to hold on. I was cleared to go and I was on pace for a much better run than in qualifiers. I hit most everything on the top section as fast as I was comfortable and made my way into the trees. Even with a clear lens I fought the intense light that would dash in and out of the course creating dark shadows and muddling the rocks, roots and holes. Depth perception wasn’t the only thing I was fighting on the way down as I also fought the urge to over brake instead of trusting the track. All in all I had a relatively clean run but lost some strength before exiting the woods and into the final section. I crossed the line into 2nd place and finished 16th out of 36 overall. 

I’m slightly disappointed with my result and felt that I was well suited and prepared for this physical style of track. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the riding surface and was ultimately unable to push myself to trust the track that I fought and struggled with every time I thought I was about to crack the code. I know experience means a lot, and during some fun runs with some locals I figured out exactly how much more I could push myself and my equipment. I wanted to go right back to the starting gate and do it all over again, but I’ll have to wait another week to put another one down. I had an incredible time here at Sugarbush and am very excited to come back here. There are some fantastic trails on the mountain that I would like to ride again, the people around here are extremely friendly and the countryside is beautiful. Thank you Cardinal Family for your hospitality and support, I had a great time hanging with my new biggest fans Blake and Mason. Thank you Garson for the hours spent riding your pump track, showing me around the insanely fun Waterbury XC trails and local waterholes. Lastly, thank you to everyone that is supporting me as I continue my mountain bike adventure up north to Mount Sainte Anne, Quebec for the 4th round of the World Cup. 

Ride On!

- Brian

Angel Fire Fun: Turn your headphones down before reading!

            I’m stopped here in Peru, Illinois at a Starbucks listening to some Johnny Cash and downloading another audio book to help push me through the rest of the drive to Vermont. I’m driving solo across the country starting in Boulder, Colorado, with my final destination ending 32 hours later in Sugarbush, Vermont. This is the start of a two month long road trip that will expand from Boulder, Colorado, north to Mont Sainte Ann, Quebec, and down to Beech Mountain, North Carolina with many places in between. 

Nebraska Rest Stop lodging night 1

Iowa Rest Stop lodging night 2

I'm here or was at least

Sun setting on day 2

            It had been a month between my last few races in Port Angeles and Grand Junction to this past weekend in Angel Fire. I spent most of my time relishing spring time in Colorado, celebrating my 25th birthday with my family, riding familiar childhood trails and made a point to explore nearby, yet rarely ridden trails. I broke out the dirt bike for some great trail rides and even found some time to meet with Michael and friends on the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. I live on such a beautiful piece of property and sometimes find myself never leaving, so I’m happy that I got out and about to finally experience some rides that took me 4 years to finally get to, it’s been a long time coming. 

Michael and (Sandi) riding West Magnolia

Big salad Birthday meal

Basalt Mountain single track is the best!

Michael and Peter playing around at the play park in Buena Vista

Found myself at a Crawfish boil. That is just 1 pot

Finally did the Glenwood Caverns Fun Park canyon swing. Pretty fun :)

Tanner dropping in! Doing some training with the juniors on the farm

Little Cat - Best barn/trail cat in the world! RIP

Holly and Little Cat enjoying a walk around the farm

Holly is stoked on her POC goodies

Holly is stoked on her new Banshee Amp hard tail

With this out my backdoor, its tough to leave the property!

Built up my Dad a custom Banshee Prime for an early fathers day gift. He was stoked as the video below shows!

            Angel Fire is a great place to ride. This was the place where my racing career got its start back in 2004 and I’ve been back at least one time a year since. The Pro GRT label got slapped on the Mountian States Cup Chile Challenge title which attracted many more riders outside of the region that are chasing GRT points. Usually the tracks at Angel Fire are long, rough and full of rocks top to bottom, this year the track took on a completely different look. It was still a lengthy track, probably the longest I’ve ever raced, while also being extremely dry, dusty and blown. The top section was great, loamy, and steep with plenty of off camber. There was lots of line choice and was full on for a few minutes until hitting a wall ride that sent us out to flat fire road sprint. Come finals, I was sporting my Crankbrothers Joplin adjustable seat post, so once I sprinted and got up to speed I could sit and maintain a road cadence pedal till the road finally met back up with the bottom of the World Cup track. This section had been raced every year since I could remember and it was starting to show its years with big holes and gnarly rocks really showing their teeth as the soil erodes away. The final few stretches of track were going to prove extremely tough after 5 minutes of pushing it hard up top and sprinting the middle. It was great to get back on the DH bike and ride some rough terrain in preparation for these years North American World Cup races later this month. I’ve spent so much time on the Banshee Spitfire trail bike and Amp hard tail that it took a few runs to get up to speed again on the Legend. 

Dragging the rig up and over Independence Pass on route to Angel Fire, NM

Great spot in the tiny town of Villa Grove, CO

The Banshee Bike fleet

Heading down to New Mexico and through the Peanut Butter Playhouse(space in between states)

Debut of the new pit tent

fire roads are super extreme don;t you know?

Banshee Legend was dialed and the dropper post was on!

This was Pro team riders Teddy Benge’s first Pro race so I tried to get him back up to speed. It was great to ride with a small team this week as I smashed run after run out with Pro riders Jess Pedersen, Lear Miller and Junior Roy Benge. Come race day I felt confident about the track and my bike was feeling great after getting the Manitou Dorado and Cane Creek Double Barrel dialed in for the conditions. I always treat my qualifying runs like race runs and do my best to put down a good time, and I was well on my way until my rear rim found a rock in one of the lower sun blinding tree sections. I got off my line and held it wide open through the golden tunnel of trees and smashed my rim in allowing for the air to escape from my tubeless set up. This set me up for an early race run and the possibility for holding the hot seat for a long time. I set off on my race run holding my lines best I could up top letting it run and once I hit the fire road I already had the rider in front of me in my sights. I pushed hard to catch up to him and had him within earshot before diving back into the woods. I tried extremely hard to make my presence known that I was trailing him and eating his dust. Proper rider etiquette would have him acknowledge I was there and to pull over, this did not happen. I spent the last few minutes blinded behind him, even crashed due to very low visibility and by the end pleaded with him to move over as there were zero opportunities to pass safely. Through the finish line I confronted to rider and curiously asked him if he heard me behind him and to my surprise I was told “I’m blasting music bro, didn’t hear you”. Racing while listening to music is indeed illegal, lots of riders do so still, but most pay attention to the volume so they can hear their bike and surroundings. I then found the governing body’s race official and requested a re-run, but was not granted one. It was an extremely unfortunate end to a promising weekend. I still finished with a top 20 run in 18^th place with that nightmare of a run and know that with a clear course I’d be in it to win it. It was everyone else’s first DH race of the year so they were just getting their race legs underneath them. Jess finished in 17^th, Lear 32^nd and Teddy 36^th overall in a field of 57 total riders. Roy finished 13^th in a very competitive Cat 1 15-18 field of 25 total riders. 

Lear qualified 6th in the Dual Slalom but crashed out in the 2nd round

Bottom of the Dual track

Results Page 1

Results page 2

Results page 3

 Full Results:http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/2012-Chile-Challenge-ProGRT-and-Amateur-DH-Results,475 

 Vital MTB Video:http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/2012-Chile-Challenge-ProGRT-Angel-Fire-NM,13866/NoahColorado,128

Ride On!