The Race

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:39:06 GMT

here we go again, the classic fall classic. weaverville's lagrange, this year the pseudo state championship, and the last real race this season. given the conditions (like ten inches of rain in the last few days) don't know how many will make the trip to the inner reaches of nor cal, and don't know how good of a choice it was to do three events. oh well. you only live once and we only have the opportunity to ride in the rain seven months out of the year. so savor it while it lasts... pretty prepared, but of course with the stormy conditions everything is more unknown. gonna be more of a dog fight. gonna be survival. got the mud flaps on my bikes last night and trying to mentally prepare for a half hour super d run tonight in the squall. expect a full writeup for this weekend. with the weather like this we may not get many photos. we'll see. wish me luck.

State Champs Weaverville

Tue, 29 May 2007 14:45:38 GMT

so heres the call straight from weaverville, a very long week of biking and more biking. too late to go all the way into it (2:00am) so i will try to skim and give the jist. arrived in Weaverville for 12 hours of Weaverville and Gravity Day Nor Cal DH State Championship prep. Wednesday night set up camp, eat, chill, relax after driving/towing the yellow death suburban beast of team bigfoot to town . Thursday morning Erich Weidenkeller of redding rolled into town and we dressed up the dh. after cutting a tree out of the bottom creek crossing we hiked the WHOLE hill in the blessed sun shine. five and a half hours later ad may shrubs down the course was clear ad marked. some of you may remember the death log in the courses center freeway, you know the one which protruded from the left of the trail at head level and threatened to decapetate riders in one of the courses fastest sections... well me and erich dub killed it, that was the biggest victory of the week considering it was done with a 12 inch blade and nothin but raw man power. by the time that was done so were we. ate, kicked it and that was all. Friday morning got one dh run on the lil bike with jared delong and paul wilson, felt scared like a ninny. then some more road marking and a run on the super d xc section before heading to the school to register riders for the next days xc endurance event. was there on the computer till about 8 then back to camp to kick it cook and crash early. little sleep as i was nervous about the next days timing, got up at four and took a walk knowing it was the only quiet time i would have to myself for awhile. were at the school by 6am setting up the last registrants etc. 8 am the race began and i was on till the end. payed off as the timing was impeccable, everyone was stoked and no protests at the end, unheard of... had hoped to get some practice that night but that was entirely not happening, plus my mental state after fifteen hours on the screen was not conducive to high speed reaction time. so it was back to camp eat and to bed hoping to be recharged for the next days event, beginning the transition into self centered competitor mode. up at 6am and getting ready. thanks to a personal shuttle from carl hesselein got a run on the lil bike down the upper dh and super d lower before reg and the crowds. felt much better up top, and was confident. my day nearly ended ripping the single track home. bar caught a tiny stump on the inside of a subtle right hand corner and i was crossed and launched. thought i was going to hit dirt hard but kept flying, over the trail, over the edge, and ten feet down into the ditch. flying long enough to get bummed out my day was about to end. somehow avoided the downed log i landed next too, and luckily it caught my bike. negligible damage to both. close one. cruised back and kicked it till race time. after we got to the top and got the heat together it was go time. was fastest yet through the top, despite having a seat way up my ass. but definitely paid off in the xc section as you have no choice but to sit and spin for much of the 20+ minute section. Scott Fellers won the overall and pro with a 26:43 on the 8+ mile course. His strategy of running his seat low up top and stopping to boost it in the bottom seemed to pay off. My run was relatively clean. Few neat wipe outs on the single track toward the end as fatigue caught me, was rasping like i can't remember when by the end, was good for us. Times were crazy tight as Ian Massey and I tied with 26:46's. He went otb briefly right off the start but things balanced out . Hard to believe it could be so close. What is even harder to believe is that vic still doesn't time to the tenths. If Team Bigfoot is going to continue to host norba races and expect the fast riders they've got to step it up. after that i felt i had sufficient course knowledge and my legs needed recovery so i sat/laid around till the dh final started bout two hours after the super d run. first race run was my first dh bike run so it was quite a big unknown. thought i could anticipate the speed but didn't realize how fast i could go until about half way down. so much more traction and stability. was distracted a bit by all this and hit all the wrong ruts. to boot i had been too much of a ninny to practice the courses creek crossing at all. figured straight and hard would do it despite everyone's reports that it was quite deep. so i jammed it straight and tried to pump through only to be shocked by the depth, almost go otb, blow both feet off and somehow flintstone out the other side. stayed with the bike and pedaled home but was ragged. time was a 7:47, a personal best, but i then became aware of how much more time could be chopped and knew i would have to to hang anywhere near Fellers neighborhood. was beating myself up a bit over my unpreparedness, very uncharacteristic coming into a pro final, but it was best of two so there was hope. knew what i had to do to pick it up up top and formulated a new plan for the creek. went into zen mode and was ready. by the time we got to the top i was ready for ciesta but had planned for that , got some gu and some water and started spinning up while every body else pushed up to wait. it was a good thing i took my time as i discovered the slow leak in my rear tire i had ignored days earlier in the shop had accelerated and was now nearly on rim. borrowed a pump and got it back to norm realizing i would have to hurry up as it wasn't going to stay firm for long. spun some more and headed up. as soon as my run started felt nothing but flow and confidence. turned it way up on the top and felt killer, breathing deep and hitting my lines hard. the faster i went the faster i found i could go, and in hindsight i am sad i didn't ride the big bike sooner as i could have easily found a few more clicks which could have put me over the top. as it was it was the best i had ridden the top and so my focus shifted to the creek, the big fat question mark. this time i came in faster and instead of pumping in i hopped to the center hoping it would be shallower. not so. again i was shocked by the depth, lost momentum and got bucked off line. this time more severely as i was launched out of the saddle and into the big rocks on the right. i had the coherence to hang onto the bars and keep the bike up as i cussed and ran out of the creek. fumbling to get back in the pedals and on the gas. for a half second i wanted to sit up and quit before realizing i needed to pedal harder for the mistake. so hammered home pissed at myself sure i was out of contention. somehow my time was in the mix, the top three mix. felt great considering all the distractions, but to only be three seconds off the win with a huge blow up makes one wonder and recite those practice lessons over and over. the second run was a 7:30 sliding under Fellers record of 7:32 the year before, but as expected he shaved a bit more as did his compatriot nick Olson. so first and second tied on 7:27. once again if team bigfoot doesn't get a real stop watch i am going to stage a walk out... any way was happy with the result on a day i figured i would be off the pace and just rolling the hill. pedal hard enough to ground myself at the finish line for the first time in a while so that was good. and apparently am a lot closer to the boys then i thought which is going to make for an exciting nor cal title chase. happy to be in the hunt and even more inspired to kick it up, watch out this volume knob goes up to eleven, it's one louder.

Down At Diablo

Sun, 28 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT

After two day of shredding the gnar at diablo mountain resort in new jersey i am sadly off today. had rear brake issues all practice yesterday (none) and struggled getting my lines as the course dried out. finally got it swapped out for the qualifier. had a great run going until error began to compound in the rocks and i came off the bike, then again, and again. 3 bails meant no qualifying for me, was on the paec but muscle memory from struggling without the brake played a roll. so now i am home nursing a swollen finger and thumb from a meeting with the rocks and hoping i can get it together for a better showing at the next norba.

East Coast

Fri, 19 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Just moving in on the east coast for the summer. Out here to pursuing riding in a new scene with fresh competition. Going to be attending the U.S. Open, North Carolina NMBS, Vermont NMBS, as well the the Diablo Domination Series at Diablo Freeride Park. Feel Very fit and confident coming into my first profesional season and plan to represent myself and my sponsors well this summer.

Updates from Justin Graves

The Race

State Champs Weaverville

Down At Diablo

East Coast