Starting Off the Race Season Right

The trees all have their leaves, the sun has come out, and trails are in tacky, pristine condition - it must be time for the Spring ProGRT at Mountain Creek. For the third year in a row, this has been my first race of the year and my start to the race season, and I love that it’s at my home mountain in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.

Like last year, the course would wind its way through a grassy section then launch into Indy, a flowy trail with perfect tight berms and little table top jumps that rides like a pump track. We were given two runs and our fastest time would be the race run.

My chain fell off on the first run! Bouncing through the grass I suddenly felt that terrible sensation that there was nothing there on my pedal stroke. Bearing down, I pumped through Indy, railing the berms and hitting the jumps, eking out as much as I could Aaron Gwin style. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:20 and the best time in my class! I was happy, but I knew everyone had a second run. My mechanic (Dad) found that my derailleur was super loose, close to coming off, and probably the cause of my chain popping off. I don’t think I had dropped a chain since getting my bike last summer. We had tools and quickly tightened up the loose derailleur on the lift ride back to the top.

I was ready to put down on my second run. I didn’t have a great run, as it was a little sloppy and I think I was tired, but I improved on my time with a 1:17 which was good for first place.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing party laps on my favorite jumps trails and hanging out with friends - too much fun! Now it’s five days of school until I can ride park again…