Seconds at Platty

Plattekill has a fearsome reputation, something I experienced first hand last year, with its rough natural terrain, littered with drops and strewn with chunks of shale. It’s set in the heart of the Catskills, miles away from any population center with restaurants or hotels, but that just adds to the charm. The mountain is only open a few times a summer for public riding and the Eastern States Cup rents it for the race weekend.

The race course was down a trail called Da Bomb. It starts fast and flowy with a few small gap jumps. Then it runs over a couple of large boulders that had nasty stumps hidden in the landing (which were removed after the Saturday’s practice). Then through the forest and into the Da Bomb drop, which was more of a sketchy roll/huck for me but the pro’s were launching it to a rough flattish landing. After the Da Bomb it was into a chute of shale, a very steep section of loose shale. I wasn’t that stoked on this section because I felt completely out of control that whole way through. The bottom third of the course was pretty flowy with a few drops.

The weather held up throughout the weekend, which was nice, though some people were saying a little rain would help hold the shale together. I was fine with it being dry.

My race run went pretty well, though I never got comfortable on the chute of shale. My buddy Tristan would fly down it in practice but he seemed to crash 50% of the time. I knew I could be faster, but I also didn’t want to crash. I would lose to Tristan by 3 seconds, who didn’t crash in the chute of shale, and had a great run. I was really happy for him taking his first win.

There will be one more race at Plattekill for me this year, the finals in October. I don’t know what track they’ll use but it’s bound to have some steep shale, something that I’ll be sure to work on mastering.