Down the Rabbit Hole
The sun, and camera, came out on Sunday.
This weekend it was back up to Vermont to one of my favorite bike parks, Killington. We were going up to compete in the U.S. Open of Mountain Biking, as well as tear up the beautiful flow trails and loamy tech.
The weather forecast for the weekend was horrendous (and accurate!), but it didn't deter me one bit. I got over 11,000 feet vertical of riding on each of the three days I was there. We rode through showers and full on downpour until they closed the lifts due to nearby lightning strikes.
We covered most of the mountain over the three days, hitting the trails on Showshed, Ramshead, and from the top of the K-1 Gondola. I discovered a new (to me) trail named Snake Bite that I loved. It's a technical black with drops, roots, and berms - it had a North Shore feel to it. Over on Ramshead, I did multiple laps on my favorite technical trail, Goatskull and on my favorite combo on the mountain, Blue Magic (jump/flow trail) into Krusty, an awesome natural, technical trail.
The trails eventually turned to mud and things got pretty nasty on Saturday. This was race day for the pros, yet despite the boggy conditions, everyone's spirits were super high. There was some big names at the event, and I was stoked to meet Nicholi Rogatkin, and hang with Dakota Norton. That night the skies cleared and Fishbone brought their funk to the crowd.
Sunday was race day for us groms, all 72 of us! What a showing. Last year I won my class in this event, and this year saw me bumped up and sitting as one of the youngest of the 26 riders in the 10-12 Class. The race course was on technical blue named Rabbit Hole, a great trail for kids of all ages. My result, near the middle of the pack, was maybe as expected, but not as good as I had hoped. The race course was short and tight, and really showed where line choice, gearing choice, and pedalling are crucial to making up seconds on the clock.
Congratulations to Clay Harper for pulling off a sick event in a new location with adverse weather. Can't wait to do it again next year.