4 Girls, 4 Bikes and a fat lip!

Last weekend was amazing! I got together with some old race buddies I haven't seen in awhile and headed down to Black Rock Mountain Bike Area. I just recently discovered this free-ride gem, located about 20 minutes southwest of Salem. We started the day by loading up our bikes in the 4 door, long bed cummins dodge truck and headed out. A quick stop for a coffee and we were on our way. We arrived at the riding area, warm and SUNNY! Started peddling up the hill (on our DH bikes..not fun) and came to the skills park area. FUN Stuff!! So we get to the top, pick our trail and start down. We were taking turns leading, since none of us knew the trails. There are some pretty big stunts up there, so we were checking everything out before we would ride it. Well one of the girls was in the flow and rode off a bridge, but the bridge didn't connect. It was a 20' gap and 7' drop to the transition on the other side of the road. She didn't have enough speed to make the transition,but she had too much speed to stop so she did the only thing she could do....rode it and prayed! If she weren't such a skilled ride, she probably would have seriously hurt herself. Instead, she ended up with a fat lip, and a bruised chest and ego. :)



I can't say enought about the condition of the trails out there! I swear they have little elves that go in front and behind you and rake them smooth. The berms are perfect, never blown out, all the stunts are made by an engineer perfectly measured and the transitions feel like you've never left the ground. We did a couple top to bottom runs, and then hung out in the skills park at the bottom for awhile playing around on the stunts. What a great day!! I can't wait to go back! There is a race this weekend, so I'm going to drive down and see what kind of free-ride racer I am!
Update to come!

Long overdue update

Where shall I start...the beginning. This year has started off pretty slow as far as racing. First, I had a pesky case of knee bursitis, then I had a very intense Yoga Teacher training program, then an abnormal mole which required stitches and 3 weeks of "taking it easy". So far I've had 4 weeks of normalcy. Is that a word? Normalcy? Anyway, End of April was a two day, double down ho down at Beacon, my local hill in Spokane. I'm pretty sure I'm undefeated at Beacon, there may have been a 2nd place in there years ago, but I'm not sure. Anyway...about the race. Saturday was the first course. This course was more jumps, berms and peddle sections. The conditions were pretty much perfect. No dust, tacky dirt, a little bit of sun during the day. Practice went great..especially since I had to take the number plate off my bike from last years race in August (I really didn't touch my bike for that long? Holy crap!). There were 3 women signed up for the Pro course. Both girls I was going against are phenomenal riders, so I wasn't sure how the race would go. With the delay in my season, and lack of riding I was pretty sure it wasn't going to go very well for me. I had a great, super clean run...and had a blast while I was racing!! I probably recognized all the voices that were cheering me on. Racing in your hometown is amazing! Results had just been posted and I was on my way up to check them when the race promoter came up to me and congratulated me! I was super stoked, I still had to go check because I didn't believe it! Yea, 1st place!! As I was heading back to the car to get some water, my boyfriend stopped me. We were both sitting on our bikes, I can't even remember what he said, something about "planning for the future etc etc" all I know is he was pulling a little black box out of his pocket and saying the words "will you marry me". HOLY CRAP! Of course! So, now the 1st place finish has taken a backseat to this new amazingness. But, there is still a race on Sunday to think about. I decided that a celebration dinner was in order and saved practice for the next morning before the race (something I hate to do). Sunday was not quite as nice as Saturday. We woke up to an inch of snow and really cold temperatures. I drug myself out of bed, put on my warm clothes and hoofed it up the hill. The Sunday course was much more technical then Saturdays course. There were a few new sections that were pretty hairy. They had already taken out a couple hands and collar bones the day before. I decided to check the line for a bit, then I rode it. It was scary, but rideable. Well, I ended up getting first again on Sunday, this time by default since both the other girls had headed home the night before. I'll take it! So that is the race season so far. Ride report to follow!