Tour de Granite Preview

NinjaBoot was nice enough to send in his pre-ride of this weekend's Tour de Granite course with GPS maps ! "The 1st lap has about a 3/4 of a mile climb that is only included the first lap. I think they are doing that to spread the riders out before the single track. Completely different course that last year. I Can't wait to race it."



While the GPS course map is interesting, the elevation map really shows the challenge of the course.

Crankworx Slopestyle Highlights

Courtesy of RipTV:



15,000 spectators at Whistler watched the ever popular Slopestyle competition at Crankworx 2007.

Slopestyle Final Results:
1. Ben Boyko
2. Andreu Lacondeguy
3. Brandon Semenuk
4. Cam McCaul
5. Paul Basagoita

Northstar DH #2 Results

The cheeky little monkeys over at Northstar have posted the results for yesterday's downhill race, but cleverly put the wrong link on their page. The correct link for the Northstar DH #2 results is here (It's a Microsoft Excel file).

Congrats to the winners:

Racer	Class	Time
NASH, MIKEY	B17	05:27.8
HOOVER, MICHAEL	B24	05:53.4
HALL, RYAN	B29	05:54.2
HOWE, FREDERICK	B39	06:31.9
LEDESMA, RICK	B40	07:25.0
BELUZZI, FOREST	E17	03:49.3
BOCKENEK, MICHAEL	E17	05:02.9
VORHEES, JUSTIN	E26	04:13.3
MURRAY, GRAHAM	E34	04:12.9
UNES, DAN	E44	04:26.5
DUDLEY, MEAVE	F29	06:13.4
GOSSETT, SEBREY	FJ	06:40.1
BURCH, ALLIE	FO	05:56.3
SHANBHAG, SANJAY	PR	03:38.1
REA, GREGORY	S13	06:16.8
WOMACK, JAKE	S17	05:19.3
ROBISON, MATT	S26	05:25.0
BUSTAMONTE, JAVIER	S34	05:19.0
MUNDORFF, PAUL	S44	05:43.7
AUDIFFRED, MARC	S54	05:33.1
DUNKUM, WILLIAM	S55	06:51.6

2007 Northstar XC #4 Results

The baffling folks over at Northstar have posted results from the latest MTB cross country race. However, instead of posting it in the usual place (i.e. the XC results page), they posted it on the downhill results page and only posted the series cumulative points -- not race #4 times. However, the Northstar XC series results are finally available.

It looks like they have a slightly different course than 2005. It used to cut right at the top of the hill and go around the water tanks. Still 3.5 miles laps with about 600' of climbing.


Congratulations to Cody Clark (Women's Expert), Emma Gerrard (Female Sport), Joey Griffo (Jr Expert), Scott Nelson (Male Beginner), Jeff Griffo (Male Expert), Casey Coffman (Sport 26-), Philip Griffo (Sport 26 - 34), Ryan Gini (Sport 34 - 44), Mark Henry (Sport 44 - 54) and William Dunkum (Sport 55+).

Howarth Park Dirt Crit #6 Results

The results for yesterday's Howarth Park Dirt Crit #6 (July 25th, 2007) have been posted.

Congrats to Jim Hewett (A's), Devin Masterson (B's), Michael Zannetti (C's), Sean Archibald (JRs) and Sarah Picolo (Women).

2007 Crankworx Video

So I hate to use this due to the ever-present advertising, but it isn't bad footage from last weekend's Crankworx in Whistler, British Columbia.

TBF Racing Announces 2008 Schedule

TBF Racing has announced their 2008 Spring MTB schedule. TBF Racing will again be organizing three MTB Challenge XC races in the early season (February and March).

• February 3: MTB Challenge #1
• February 24: MTB Challenge #2
• March 16: MTB Challenge #3

These races are always quality events. You can check the archives to see the last two seasons worth of race reports.

Downieville Classic Photos

Although I saw a lot of race reports from this year's Downieville Classic, I hadn't seen many photos until today:

• Photo John's XC photos
• Photo John's DH photos
• Redwoodtrail's photos

I'll update this post if I see any others.

US MTB Nationals News Coverage

Just some links to the news coverage of this weekend's USA Cycling MTB Championships:

CyclingNews

• McConneloug crowned cross country queen
• Craig rocks on Mount Snow roots
• Herndon and Buhl win their first dual slalom national titles
• Craig takes fourth Super D title and extends streak
• Semi-Pro Men Cross Country: Phillips wins first national title of the weekend
• Junior Expert Men / Women Cross Country (NorCal's Menso De Jong came in 12th)

VeloNews

• MTB nats under way at Mount Snow
• Craig storms away to U.S. cross-country title
• McConneloug nails U.S. cross-country title

Dirt Rag

• USA Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals Wrap Up

You may also want to check out some of the video reports on YouTube.

USA MTB Championship Wrapup (STXC, DH, SD)

The final races from this year's USA Cycling MTB Championship have finished back east at Mount Snow.

Bring home a championship to NorCal, Rachel Lloyd (Fairfax, Calif./Proman Paradigm) garnered her second podium performance by winning the women’s super D. Lloyd finished 28 seconds ahead of Marla Streb (Los Osos, Calif./Luna). Lloyd also podiumed in the short track competition, placing third. Adam Craig (Bend, Ore.) won the men's Super D.

In the downhill competitions, Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, Calif./Jamis) and Cole Bangert (Twin Lakes, Colo./Morewood) earned national titles. After securing the second seed in the qualifying round, Pruitt beat top-seeded Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS) by two seconds in the finals, while the 36th-seeded Bangert rode a flawless final to beat second-seeded Luke Strobel (Renton, Wash./Maxxis) by just one second.

In the short track competition, Ryan Trebon and Mary McConneloug took home national championship jerseys.

US MTB Championships (XC and DS)

So the second day of US MTB Championships are over and both the cross country (XC) champions have been crowned.

In the Men's Pro XC, Adam Craig (Bend, Ore./Giant) won his first title. According to USA Cycling, "Craig turned in a dominant performance in the 20-mile race, earning the stars-and-stripes jersey with a winning time of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 31 seconds – a 4:26 advantage over second-place finisher and defending bronze medalist Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va./TrekVW). Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass./Kenda-Seven) finished third, 6:35 off Craig’s pace to score arguably the best result of his career."

The Women's Pro XC was decided on Friday, when Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass./Kenda-Seven) claimed the national title. McConneloug became the first two-time winner in the women's xc. According to USA Cycling, "Entering the event fresh off her silver-medal performance at the XV Pan American Games last weekend, McConneloug opened up an early lead over the remainder of the 43-rider field before finishing the 15-mile contest with a winning time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 59 seconds. Defending champion Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho/Luna) finished 1:17 off McConneloug’s pace to claim the silver, while Willow Koerber (Horseshoe, N.C./Subaru-Gary Fisher) placed third, 3:57 back."

In the final pro event on Saturday, Christopher Herndon (Etowah, N.C./Specialized-Cane Creek) won the national title in the men’s dual slalom, while Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz./KHS) captured the women’s crown. The eighth-seeded Herndon beat favored seventh-seeded Rich Houseman (Oceanside, Calif./Yeti-Fox). In the women’s contest, the top seeds progressed to the final as the top-seeded Buhl ousted Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, Calif./Jamis), the number-two seed, for the win.

However, the biggest news of the weekend for NorCal was George Stephenson (Folsom, CA/Northern Lights), won the bronze medal over Joe Haley (Raleigh, N.C./Eastern Bikes-Maxxis) in the men’s category. George has won numerous events at Sand Hill.

For complete USA MTB Championship results, click here.

2007 Northstar XC #3

Northstar XC #4 race results have been posted over at the Northstar at Tahoe summer site.

Congratulations to Robert Wassmer (Beginner 17-), Mackenzie Findlay (Female Beginner), Christine Weir (Female Jr), Dora Weir (Female Sport), Nate Byrom (Jr Expert), Jeff Schwarz (Male Beginner), Scott Fifield (Male Expert), Matt Dettori (Sport 26-), Eric Skoog (Sport 26 - 34), Andrew Donahey (Sport 34 - 44), Robert Weir (Sport 44 - 54) and William Dunkum (Sport 55+).

Unfortunately, they seem to be only keeping the last two results (must be out of paper :>).

CHDH #3 Moved

The last 2007 Corrall Hollow Downhill race has been moved from it's early September date to October 13 - 14. This is a good thing, as it removes the conflict with the Whiskeytown Classic and Northstar DH races.

Thanks to dhRENO for the heads up on this. They also have some news on the ongoing USA MTB championships back east.

2007 Downieville Roundup

A final round up of the 2007 Downieville Classic race reports from this week:

• dhRENO's race report
• Ridemonkey's race reports
• MTBR's Lessons Learned thread
• Merlin's race report on MTBR
• A Slow Riders report
• bikeMonkey's Downieville Report
• Downieville Classic pics on Flickr
• YourMTB blog and race report
• All Mountain Winner's Jason Moeschler race report
• MTBR Downieville Classic photo gallery
• Our full coverage from this week

2007 Howarth Park #5 Results

The results for yesterday's Howarth Park Dirt Crit #5 (July 18th, 2007) have been posted.

Congrats to Jim Hewett (A's), Devin Masterson (B's), Michael Zannetti (C's), Sean Archibald (JRs) and Lindsay Segbers (Women).

2007 Bigfoot Classic

This weekend is the latest race in the NorCal State Championships series, the 2007 Bigfoot Classic. The Bigfoot Classic is a multi-event race running from Friday through Sunday (July 20th - 22nd):

• SUPER-D (Friday afternoon): Start at the top of Bald Mountain down a few sections of the XC course. Last year's winning times were well over 20 minutes! Each rider gets one run.
• CROSS COUNTRY (Saturday morning): The cross-county course is a 60% / 40% mix of singletrack and fireroad with lotsa singletrack. The course is about 15 miles (we added some more singletrack). Beginners do one full lap, Sports go one and a half laps (they don't go out to the lake on lap 2) and expert/pros go two full laps.
• DOWNHILL (Sunday afternoon): The downhill course has been called "world cup worthy." It has high speed stuff, a little bit of slower technical stuff and all the jumps and drops that the experts love, but with safe & sane outs for the beginners and sports. Best two of three format. Course will be open for practice on Saturday after the Super-D (probably 3pm or so) On race day we'll run shuttles with two trucks & trailers, and you're welcome to run your own shuttle too.
• SHORT TRACK (Sunday morning): One mile all singletrack course. A half-mile climb to the top, then a twisty-turny roller-coaster ride back down to the pits & start/finish area. 8 laps for Pro/Experts, 4 laps for Beginner/Sports. $50 cash prize & a pair of Kenda tires for Pro/Expert winner, a pair of Kenda tires to the Beginner/Sport winner.

The Bigfoot Classic is held outside Arcata, CA near a small town on HWY 299 called Blue Lake (turnoff map, race site map). Make sure and take a map if you are coming up -- the turnoff is tricky and the race site is situated well back from the highway.

I raced XC last year and can attest that this race is one of the more enjoyable course around. Check out my race report and the rest of the coverage from last year.

Event: Bigfoot Classic
Dates: July 20 - 22, 2007
Location: Blue Lake, CA (just east of Arcata on 299) [ MAP ]
Competition: XC, SD, DH, STXC
Cost: $30/SuperD, $35/DH, $35/XC, $25/STXC (discounts for Jr and multi-events)
URL: http://www.teambigfoot.net/
Registration: onsite or active.com
License: ? (last year didn't require a USA Cycling license)

If everything goes well this week, I'll be rolling up north on Friday for this. Anyone up for beers in Arcata on Friday night ?

2007 Downieville Classic Results Posted

Results are posted:

• All Mountain
• Downhill (DH)
• Cross Country (XC)

Congratulations to the following winners:

Pro Men All Mountain: Jason Moeschler
Pro Women All Mountain: Rachel Lloyd
Expert Men's All Mountain (all ages): Jude Mayne
Expert Women's All Mountain (all ages): Leslie Williams
Junior Men All Mountain: Menso De Jong

I'm still working out the individual DH and XC winners.

Downieville Race Reports

A few Downieville Classic race reports are starting to filter in (but still no race results, sorry). JH Ruth wrote up his DH run over at MTBR with ample pictures and a GPS plot. And someone posted some great pictures of the House of Big Air river jump. But datenschwanz was nice enough to send in his race report for the Downieville XC, so here it is:

My first ever attempt at the Downieville Classic was more interesting than I’d planned. I entered the Sport class 35-44 age group for the XC event. I’ve ridden the downhill run there a couple of times but had never done the climb. I was curious to see what it’d be like after hearing so many stories about it.

I got to the start a bit late and squeezed my way up to about row 84 of 90. I was surprised to see no break-out of the various groups, just all sport riders going off at the same time. As the first riders left the line those of us in the back waited a minute or so to get going up the road. I knew that to be anywhere near competitive I’d have to make a move before the singletrack started or forever hold my peace. Right away I lit a couple of matches out of the book and got to the far left side and started to try to get by the mob. As I squeaked, and I mean squeaked, by the edge of the pack with as little as an inch of room between me and the drop off the side of the road, I did as much passing as I could while it was still at bulk rate pricing. Up and up and up the road we went. I wanted to go as hard as I could, without detonating early, to get to the front. I had some success and we got to the double track part of the climb where it gets a bit steeper and out of the trees. Here the double track is one side nice hardpack and the other loose. I tried picking off the riders that were falling into the mule-train mentality by going around them through the looser line. The heat was intense for me (I live in foggy SF) and I was managing my heart rate as best I could without getting stuck in a long line of slow movers. As I looked further up the mountain all I could see was one solid line of riders all the way up as far as I could see.

Oh goody.

Further and further up we went. I spun out a couple of times and had to dismount and push across a couple of particularly steep loose sections, much to the dismay of a couple of peeps behind me. There was much gnashing of gears and gasping around me. Slowly but steadily I kept trying to improve my lot amongst the hoard. My trusty bottle of Cytomax was getting ever and ever lower as I’d take a gulp here and there whenever the grade reduced itself down to a mere four percent or so -- almost level ground when compared to the rest for this climb. I went for the Cytomax bottle after a strong effort to pass three people who had piled up when one at the front of their small group stalled. I got it out of the cage and up into my hand and Snap! went my hand, sending the bottle off to my left and down the embankment. C’est la vie, mon ami. Now the only respite from the heat was the occasional breeze that would come from the left side. I continued up the trail, merely grinding my way to the top.

At the top there were some fantastic folks handing out water. Sweet! I guzzled a bottle quick and tried to stay on the gas.

As we rolled fast along the gravel road a few stronger riders passed me. I decided to let them do the work and merged behind the three fast movers, wheelsucking as best I could without choking on the thick grey dust. On and on we went, the gravel road winding ahead of us. Then came the rollers where I went back and forth with guys who looked to be way stronger than I.

I managed as best i could to not peter out and quickly arrived at the top of the baby head section. I’d not ridden this before and was in for a rude surprise. Not so much baby heads, but more a long winding river of rounded rocks that seemed to be a mix of cantaloupes and basketballs. There was a brown ribbon of hardpack dirt that snaked its way through the rocks and I chose to ignore it and just ride the jackhammer across them all. By just letting the suspension slam its way across the top of the rocks, I passed maybe half a dozen other riders who were carefully picking their way down the line. Seriously, it was like putting foot pegs on a jackhammer. I had inflated my 2.3” Maxxis Ignitor USTs to 40psi for this event hoping to avoid a flat and get some good traction up the hill. My Fox RP3 on the rear was set to 145psi. I flipped it over from firm to the middle setting at the top of the run. Given that I’m 170lbs, I thought this would be a fast, if somewhat rough ride.

I was correct.

Down, down, down I went. Picking off some riders in front of me with some very well timed if not sketchy passing. I got down to a section of concrete erosion barriers that resemble lattice work laid into the ground. On one particular downhill left hand turn switchback the concrete piece was wet and my front wheel slid to the right (outside) about six inches. I corrected fast enough to get through it but realized I was very, very wrong when the ass end of the bike came up off the ground and pitched me over the bars. I went down, face first into a felled tree trunk.

CRACK!

My face hit the log and my body came crashing down on my head. I got up and fell over a couple of steps downtrail and tried to regain my bearings. My glasses were on the ground in about four pieces and I grabbed them and slipped them into my camelback harness and got my rig up off the ground. Two other guys went by me during this and both asked if I was ok, one exclaimed ‘holy crap!’ or something like that. I untwisted my front end and got the handlebars back straight over the front end. I remounted and off I went. I was a half a step slower now. A woman rider called out and passed me as we entered the creek section. I was running some negative self talk through my head about taking it easy and being careful or some such nonsense when I got my nerve back and got it back up to speed. Now I really had to get going. I shook the crash off as best I could. I ran my gloves across my nose a couple of times thinking maybe I had broken it, but, as they didn’t come up dark and wet, I thought I must be fine.

The dust.

The dust now was a factor as I tried to chase down the people who had passed me and as I overtook some slower riders. The dust was thick.

Really, really thick.

With no glasses my eyes were involuntarily opening and closing on their own trying to blink it out. It was like riding the down hill and seeing every third frame of film.

I made it to the river and across the bridge having passed a few more riders on the way down and trying not to stack it again as I tried to keep my sight. My eyes were starting to hurt. As I scooted up the hill on the far side, I was overtaken by a woman in a Deathstar jersey. I made it up to the top of the climb in time to pass one more guy and start the downhill again. I quickly caught up to the Deathstar rider and executed a pass in a clear spot. I was running pretty wide open through here. Not much dust for about a quarter mile. I was on the gas hard in a tall gear, pointing it for the clear spots in the trees. Then I came into the rear of a knot of three riders. The dust was both choking and blinding me at the same time. As I heard a slapping chain approach me from behind, I slingshot-ed through a couple of bermed turns to pass some guys just ahead of me as well as losing the one running up my arse. Then I was across the last bridge and out on the gravel road. I grabbed a couple of shots of water from some more spectacular course volunteers and wound it up again.

Now the dust was like following a Panzer column into El Alamein. It was like charging into thick fog not being able to see off the end of the hood. I was alternately opening and closing one eye to try to clear the dust.

My eyes were absolutely on fire.

I held my position most of the way, making only one or two passes before the next singletrack section. I tried to overtake another rider at the big rock table just as she stalled on the rock face. I called out early and repeatedly and she managed to get her ride clear of the trail in time for me to pass. I dropped the chain off the big ring down into the middle ring and, with a couple of big grunts, got it up and over – then flicked my bike off the far side and threw it back up into the big ring. My ears told me that my unknown pursuer was not so lucky.

The creek now ran along the trail. Undulating up and down, with quick jibs to the left and right I gained on the next knot of riders. Where the tail narrowed up onto the parapet like ridge I saw about seven riders up ahead of me. I settled in knowing there really wasn’t anywhere to pass until the next gravel road ahead.

A few riders ahead, I saw a big, black dot up in the air. “That’s a big bug.” I said to myself. It spiraled past them and came at me. Neat.

THUNK!!

Right into the front of my helmet it went. I felt it pinball around a few times and I grabbed the rear of my lid, pushing it forward so the bug could get free.

This is the part where it felt like someone shot a red hot finishing nail into the center of my forehead.

MOTHERPUSSBUCKET!!! That farking thing STUNG me! OW! (expletives).

I was REALLY hurting now. I could hardly see and this big damn bee or whatever had just drilled me. I reached up and wiped the area to dislodge the stinger burning into my forehead. I thought “Great! What’s next?”

OW. OW. OW. (Forehead on fire)

I may have gagged for a moment but kept it going focusing on staying with the guy ahead of me.

I headed into the thick grey dust trying to sense the gap in fence leading to the road -- hoping I didn’t get it wrong.

Eyes: Searing, burning pain.

I found the gap in the blindness and launched onto the gravel road.

Visibility: zero.

I knew where it went and I made one pass on a guy and got up to the off camber lift on the right side of the trail. A couple of flashes went off as I tried to get around the corner. Nice. I’m sure I looked like crap in the pics.

I gained on a rider ahead of me and latched onto the back of a four rider train as we made the last dogleg right and down to the road. As we exited the trail a couple up front let off the gas. I reached down to lock out my shocks and wound it up as best I could. I drafted off the guy ahead of me and we passed a couple of slowing riders. As he eased up at the top of the little rise in the road I slingshotted out of his draft and passed him, topped out around 160rpm in my next to biggest gear. I tucked up flat and held the burn all the way down to the turn and to the hay bales. I hit the brakes hard to stop in time for the nice man who took my number; my rear end coming up slightly off the road as I did so.

THANK GOD THAT’S OVER.

(What a good time!)

I make my way to the first aid tent, let my bike drop to the road from under me and grabbed a bag of ice for the sting. I wiped the globs of teared up dirt from the corners of my still burning eyes. My eyes had passed the point of watering and moved on to feeling like someone had made a couple of passes over them with 220 grit sandpaper. The bee sting wasn’t swelling much but hurt like hell.

The Pink Lidded Wonder found me and got me somewhat sorted out. I ran into my buddy Bret near the finish and started comparing horror stories.

I am not sure how I did. A buddy of mine told me I came in around 2:34. Good enough for a 10th place Sport finish, 35-44.

Next year I’ll be sure to get to the start earlier. See ya’ll then!

I hope that Murphy is recovering.

UNOFFICIAL Downieville Classic Pro Results

So no official race results posted yet, but rumors are that Jason Moeschler won the men's pro xc, Rachel LLoyd won the women's pro xc and Mark Weir won the men's DH (again). No word on the all-mountain titles. Apparently, DH Pro's Eric Carter and Nathan Rennie also showed up for the race.

UPDATE (07/16/07): Some pictures of a few of the result pages are up over on MTBR. It looks like Jason Moeschler won the All-Mountain title (again) by beating Mark Weir by more in the XC race than Mark beat him in the DH.

2007 Downieville DH Course

Although the results have not yet been posted, the new downhill course is available via many of the racers GPS tracks over at Motionbased.com. Below is the DH race of Tim Olson (Trek/VW):
And the elevation profile:
Tim won last year's Downieville Pro XC race.

2007 Northstar XC #2 Results

The results for last night's second Northstar at Tahoe XC race are posted. Congratulations to Cody Clark (Women's Expert), Joey Griffo (Junior Expert) and Scott Fifield (Men's Expert).

Ned Overand Rides 2008 Stumpy

Some action pictures of Ned Overand on Specialized's new 2008 Stumpjumper:

Sideways Bike: Surfing the Streets

Apparently today is off-topic post day. But this is far too weird and bicycle related not to post:

This crazy contraption is Michaels Killian's Sideways Bike. Killian is a software engineer in Dublin, Ireland and he came up with the idea while tinkering in his shed. A complex multi-stage chain transmission takes care of driving the wheels, and steering is done by moving the front and back wheels independently. To stop the rider slipping off, a unicycle saddle is used.

Of course. Perhaps we can race these.



Courtesy of Wired.

2007 Howarth Park #4 Results

The good folks at bikeMonkey have posted the results for yesterday's Howarth Park Dirt Classic #4 (July 11th, 2007).

Congrats to Chris Brown (A's), Devin Masterson (B's), Michael Zannetti (C's), Sean Archibald (JRs) and Lindsay Segbers (Women).

Carlos Perez's photo from the race can be seen over on his Picassa page. The photo to the left is from his collection.

Bike Park at SFO

This is totally off-topic, but a bit near and dear to my heart:

SFO offers two courtesy bicycle parking areas at the airport. Passengers and airport employees may utilize courtesy bicycle racks located at Valet Parking (Central Garage, Level 4) and Courtyard G (International Terminal, Arrivals Level).

Bicycles may be parked for up to 14 days. However, bicycles parked for more than 24-hours must be registered. Bicycles parked in Valet Parking for more than 24-hours must be registered with the Valet Parking Agent; and bicycles parked in Courtyard G for more than 24-hours must be registered with the on-duty Cal State Patrol Security Guard. Bicycles parked for more than 14 days will be removed and disposed of according to applicable law.

More information over on the SFO page.

NorCal MTB Racing This Weekend (July 11 - 15)

A few things going on this week(end):

• Howarth Park Dirt Crits return tonight in the North Bay. Dirt Crit #4 starts at 5:30 PM in Santa Rosa and costs $9 for adults. Oh and check out the bikeMonkey's new movie.
• The second Northstar at Tahoe's XC race is held on Thursday night. Registration costs $10 and starts at 5 PM. Racing begins at 6 PM sharp. Still haven't seen a map of the course for this, but the 2005 course map is still online.
• Thursday also marks the beginning of the Downieville Classic. Downhill, cross country and shenanigans all weekend long.

Hope to see you out there this weekend.

2007 Twilight MTB Final Results

The Reno Wheelmen have posted the results from the final race of their Twilight MTB series. The final series results have also been posted: 2007 Twilight MTB Series Final Results. Congratulations to the following series winners:

• Men's A: Scott Fifield (Bicycle Warehouse)
• Men's B: Tim Walker (Sierra Cyclesmith)
• Men's C: Josh Rennie (Reno Wheelmen)
• Women's A: Cody Clark (Ritchey)
• Women's B: Amber Broch (UNR)
• Women's C: Lucy Larsen

2007 Downieville Classic Primer

So you've decided to head up to Downieville this weekend for the annual Downieville Classic. As this is the largest races here in the foothills, we here at NorCal MTB Racing have again rounded up some resources to get you prepared:

Registration: If you haven't already registered for the downhill, you are out of luck. DH registration filled up in two hours. However, it looks like you can still register for the Downieville cross country point to point race.

Schedule: Downieville runs over four days, but all the racing is Saturday and Sunday. Here's the abbreviated agenda:

Thursday

• Trail Pre-ride Shuttles (9 AM, 12 noon, 3 PM): Shuttle service to Packer Saddle for those riders wanting a sample of Downieville’s finest singletrack descents. Both the cross country and downhill race courses will be flagged for pre-rides. Cost is $15.00 per shuttle.

Friday

• Trail Pre-ride Shuttle (9 AM, 12 noon, 3 PM)

Saturday

• Point to Point Race - Sierra City at 9:30am
• Trail Shuttle (after XC: 1 PM, 3 PM)
• Bicycle Expo / Street Fair
• Ron's House O' Big Air River Jump
• Live Music and Street Dance (Downieville Fire House at 8:00pm)

Sunday

• Downieville Downhill Race (Packer Saddle at 9:30am)
• Bicycle Expo / Street Fair

More information is available here.

Courses:

• Downhill: Dropping 5,000 vertical feet in 17 miles from Packer Saddle to Downieville, the Downieville Downhill is the longest and most demanding downhill mountain bike race in the nation. For 2007, they've made the downhill course longer, with the addition of Sunrise trail. Sunrise takes racers from Packer Saddle (elev. 7100') to the Butcher Ranch trailhead, and the site of the original starting line (elev. 6,834'). Sunrise was built by Yuba and the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, and will add 2 miles of flowing singletrack to the course. Winning Pro times are estimated to be in the 50 minute range with this trail addition. Here is the course description and a map. You can also measure yourself up against last years' winner (and current record holder) Mark Weir over at Motionbased. Oliver Bock also posted his Downieville GPS and report.
  
  
• Cross country (XC) point to point: Starting from Sierra City, you will have a massive climb then descend for miles back into Downieville. Here is the course description and a map. You can also check out Mark Weir's 2005 XC ride over at Motionbased.

Times: If you are contesting this year's race, you check out last year's results: XC, DH and All Mountain Pro.

More information:

• Check out dhRENO for wise tips for first time downieville riders.
• Coverage of last year's race

I am hoping that I will get a chance to pre-ride the race this week.

2007 Cougar Mountain Sunday Results

The Sunday results from this weekend's Cougar Mountain Classic have been posted. Unfortunately, they have decided to post them all in PDF:

• Cougar Mountain Pro & Expert DH results
• Cougar Mountain Beginner and Sport XC results
• Cougar Mountain Super D results

Congratulations to the following winners:

• Women's Pro Super D: Melissa Buhl (Chandler, AZ)
• Men's Open Super D (best time): Chris Carscadden (Concord,CA)
• Men's Pro DH: Waylon Smith over Ryan Finney (by 0.1 seconds)
• Women's Pro DH: Melissa Buhl (Chandler, AZ)

Cougar Mountain Classic Pics

A few race reports and pictures are starting to file in on this weekend's Cougar Mountain Classic in Sonoma:

• dhRENO files this race report on the weekend
• Rick Rasmussen has posted his pics from the DH runs
• Desmo has posted his pictures
• A Finished Product has their photos up also

I haven't seen the Super D, amateur XC or Pro DH results yet.

2007 Northstar XC #1 Results

The results for this week's first Northstar at Tahoe XC race has been posted: Northstar XC Race #1 results (July 5, 2007).

Unfortunately, the results again are a bit indecipherable. Taking my best guess, I believe that Kyle Dixon (56:36.6) just edged Bryan Alders (56:49.0) to take the Men's Elite win. I believe Emily Goss won the Women's Elite race.

2007 Cougar Mountain Pro XC Results

The folks at the Cougar Mountain Classic have posted Saturday's results -- the Pro XC and Road races.

Barry Wicks (Kona Bikes) destroyed the men's Pro XC field to take the win. He won by over 7 minutes over second place Charles Jenkins (San Diego). Jamie Stamps (Lotus, CA) won the Pro Women XC unopposed. Click here the full Cougar Mountain Classic Pro / Elite XC results.

The Pro DH and Super D races are tomorrow. There are already some DH practice and amateur photos posted by Rick Rasmussen.

OFF TOPIC: Tour de France

So while this has little to do with Northern California, mountain biking or even beer, the Tour de France starts today.

Those of you with cable or satellite can catch most of the action on Versus (Tour de France TV schedule).

2007 Cougar Mountain Classic

Today is the official start of the Sonoma's Cougar Mountain Classic event.

The annual event, held at Infineon Raceway, has cross country (XC), downhill (DH), Super D and Road racing over the course of the weekend. While the event starts today, there aren't any races -- it's just course inspection and practice runs (see schedule here).

For those of you looking to race this weekend:

• GPS maps for the Cougar Mountain XC course and Super D courses have been posted at Motionbased.
• The Cougar Mountain DH course is being set up by the folks behind the CHDH, RideSFO
• Pro/Expert XC is Saturday morning, Pro/Expert DH on Sunday
• Beginner/Sport XC on Sunday and DH on Saturday
• Super D on Sunday

And we have ample coverage in the archives from last year's Cougar Mountain: scroll down to see race reports.

Let's hope that the temperature cools a bit for the weekend.

2007 Sand Hill Father's Day Results

This has been a long time coming, but P&R Sports have posted the results from the Father's Day Eve dual slalom competition.

Congrats to Michael Ravizza (WTB/Planet-X) who won the Men's Pro competition.

2007 Northstar DH #1 Results

The results for last weekend's long awaited return of downhill MTB racing at Northstar have been posted: Northstar DH Race #1 results (July 1, 2007).

Unfortunately, the results are a bit indecipherable. Taking my best guess, I think the following people won:

• Pro Men: Ameil Cavalier (03:31.6)
• Sport Women: Herndon Tasa (?) (05:24.5)
• Beginner Men: Matt Collins (05:26.7)
• Elite Men: Steven Ruud (04:00.4)
• Sport Men: Graeme Pitts (05:06.1)

I haven't seen a lot of pictures for this race. The folks over at dhRENO have a race report and some photos up at Flickr.

NorCal MTB Racing This Weekend (July 5 - 8)

This weekend kicks off the second half of Northern California's MTB season. It starts early with the return of Northstar at Tahoe's XC racing series on Thursday night and then continues throughout the weekend in Sonoma with the Cougar Mountain Classic.

Northstar at Tahoe's Thursday night XC series returns after a one year hiatus. For those who didn't race in 2005, this XC series is a low key affair that starts at 6 pm sharp (5 pm registration) and usually runs about 4 mile laps. Check out my race report from way back in August 2005 for more details. Race fees are $10 per racers and the races are held near the Northstar village.

I'll have more information on the Cougar Mountain Classic later today. In the meantime, checkout my extensive coverage of last year's event in the archives (it was called the US MTB Nationals last year).

2007 CCCX DH Series Champions

CCCX Organizer Keith DeFiebre has also post the final DH series points.

Congratulations to the 2007 CCCX DH Series Winners:

• PRO/SEMI-PRO MEN: Ross McMahon (TrailHead Cyclerey)
• PRO WOMEN: Chrystal Tunnell (Morewood/SRAM/Cydesport)
• EXPERT WOMEN: Nova Hairstan (Marin)
• EXPERT MEN 19-34: Richard Joesph (Scotts Valley Cycle Sport)
• EXPERT MEN 35-44: Keith DeFiebre (Calabazas/Altezza 40/SF Velo/Ritchey/Amino Vital)
• EXPERT MEN 45-54: Brian Hughes (Trail Head Cyclery)
• HARDTAIL: Keith DeFiebre (Calabazas/Altezza 40/SF Velo/Ritchey/Amino Vital)
• SINGLE SPEED: Shawn Siebe (Trail Head Cyclerey)
• CLYDESDALE: J.J. Myatt (Picoperformance.com)
• SPORT WOMEN: Crystal Theesfeld (Trail Head Cyclery)
• SPORT MEN 19-34: Max Hinckley (Bobcat Bicycles)
• SPORT MEN 35-44: Richard Mauger (Azonic/Hayes)
• SPORT MEN 45-54: Reed Cantlay (Santa Cruz)
• MEN 55+: Stephen Marusic (San Francisco)
• BEG. WOMEN: Linda Ellzey (Picoperformance.com)
• BEG. MEN 19-34: Matt Tricoli (Picoperformance.com)
• BEG. MEN 35-44: Michael Takahashi (Evomo/Hayes/661/SPY)
• BEG. MEN 45+: Jesse Mazza (Picoperformance.com)
• JUNIOR EXPERT: Alex Amaral (Parents)
• JUNIOR 16-18: Brian Hamilton (Trail Head Cyclery)
• JUNIOR 14-16: Keith Morelan (San Jose)
• JUNIOR 13 UNDER: Matt Fyten (San Jose)
• JUNIOR GIRLS: Alexandria Gallizioli (Los Gatos)
• OVERALL TEAM: Trail Head Cyclery (San Jose)

Keith has also indicated that there will be a CCCX DH Winter series starting sometime in September as well as a CCCX Cyclocross series this fall.

2007 CCCX XC Series Champions

CCCX Organizer Keith DeFiebre has posted the final series results for this year's cross country races. Congratulations to the 2007 CCCX XC Series Champions:

• PRO-SEMI PRO: Larry Hibbard (Family Cycling Center/ Amino Vital)
• PRO/EXPERT WOMEN: Beverly Chaney (Roaring Mouse Cycles)
• JUNIOR EXPERT: Jeremy Blalock (Ventana)
• EXPERT MEN 19-34: Micah Mozal (Joselyns)
• EXPERT MEN 35-44: Brock Dickie (Buy-cell.com)
• EXPERT MEN 45-54: Brett Lambert (Scotts Valley Cycle Sport)
• EXPERT MEN 55+: Richard Latorraca (Santa Cruz Bicycles)
• EXPERT SINGLE SPEED: Erik Ebberoth (Joselyns)
• SPORT WOMEN 19-34: Michelle Monroe (SCCCC)
• SPORT WOMEN 35+: Stacy Palermini (Top Dog Illustration)
• SPORT MEN 19-34: Antonio Ricalde (San Jose)
• SPORT MEN 35-44: Alexander Rouch (Joselyns)
• SPORT MEN 45-54: Tim Sawyer (Bicycle Trip)
• SPORT MEN 55+: Michael Simons (Monterey)
• SPORT SINGLE SPEED: Dan Hendersen (SCCCC)
• CLYDESDALE: Russell Carmick (San Francisco)
• BEGINNING WOMEN: Jaqueline Linder (Webcor/Alto Velo)
• JUNIOR WOMEN 18: Katyann Kintz (Velo Bella/KONA)
• JUNIOR 13 and under: Nick Casaccia (Los Gatos)
• JR. MEN 14-18: Scott Kolofer (AFP.VeloSport)
• BEGINNING MEN 19-34: Ramiro Villareal (Monterey Bay Builders)
• BEGINNING MEN 35-44: Gary Veselka (Bobcat Bicycles)
• BEGINNING MEN 45-54: Steve Germany (Scotts Valley Cycle Sport)
• BEGINNING MEN 55+: Alex Rouch (Salinas)

Full CCCX XC series points standings are available here.

2007 Teva Mountain Games Video

Here is the video from this year's Teva Mountain Games XC race:


So the announcing is a bit cheezy, the video quality is quite good.

They also have slopestyle and freeride videos.

CCCX #8 DH Pictures

Rick Rasmussen has posted photos from the CCCX DH finals:

• Practice Pictures
• Race Pictures
• Awards and People Pictures
• Pixie Race Pictures

Quality as always.

Cougar Mountain DH Pics

Pics of the Cougar Mountain Classic DH course have surfaced online. A description from the builders:

We re routed the very upper section a little bit, so it's a little faster. On the steep section up top that use to be several steep rutted turns, we built 6 berms (which we've been watering daily Fri-Sun). We've widened and flattened a couple of the fast off camber sections so that you can carry more speed through those areas. We've built a bunch of smaller jumps and kickers through out the course. Cut-off a line to add another mini g-out section at the middle of the course. Bermed the lower flat s-turns from the past couple of years. And where the old finish line was, we put a series of whoops into a flat corner.

Then you cross the pavement onto the mountaincross-ish jump line beginning with a medium size hip jump. After that you go into a set of two doubles with table landings - into a berm, to a couple of smaller hip step up/down jumps to a final swooping berm back down the slight grade road to the new finish line at the expo center.

The events starts on Friday.

CCCX XC and DH Finals Results

Results from this weekend's CCCX Finals have been posted:

• CCCX XC #9 results
• CCCX DH #7 results

Congrats to Jason Rahwles (Fox Racing Shox) and Beverly Chaney (Roaring Mouse Cycles) who won the Pro/Expert Men's and Women's XC races. On the DH side, congratulations to Ross McMahon (TrailHead Cyclerey) and Nova Hairstan who won the Men's and Women's Expert downhills.

2008 UCI Schedule

The world governing body for cycling, UCI, has announced the 2008 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike Would Cup schedule. For 2008 there are only four gravity events on the calender - none of which are in the USA. Two of the four venues for gravity racing are new for 2008.

• 3/15/08: UCI XCM 1 / UCI World Cup (Manavgat/Antalya, Turkey)
• 4/19/08: UCI XCO 1 / UCI World Cup XCO 1 (Houffalize, Belgium)
• 4/26/08: UCI XCO 2 / UCI World Cup XCO 2 (Offenburg, Germany)
• 5/3/08: UCI XCO 3 / UCI World Cup XCO 3 (Madrid, Spain)
• 5/10/08: DHI/4X 1 / UCI World Cup DHI/4X 1 (Maribor, Slovenia)
• 5/31/08: UCI XCO 4 DHI/4X 2 / UCI World Cup XCO 4 DHI/4X 2 (Vallnord, Andora)
• 6/7/08: UCI XCO 5 DHI/4X 3 / UCI World Cup XCO 5 DHI/4X 3 (Fort William, Great Britain)
• 6/17/08: Championships UCI XCO/DHI/4X UCI XCO/DHI/4X WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Val-di-Sole, Italy)
• 7/6/08: UCI MARATHON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Villabassa, ITA)
• 7/26/08: UCI XCO 6 / DHI/4X 4 / UCI World Cup XCO 6 / DHI/4X 4 (TBD, Canada)
• 8/2/08: UCI XCO 7 / DHI/4X 5 / UCI World Cup XCO 7 / DHI/4X 5 (Mont Saint-Anne, Canada)
• 8/9/08: UCI XCM 2 / UCI World Cup XCM 2 (Les Deux-Alpes - Bourg d'Oisans, France)
• 8/31/08: UCI XCO 8 / DHI/4X 6 / UCI World Cup XCO 8 / DHI/4X 6 (Canberra, AUS)
• 9/13/08: UCI XCO 9 / DHI/4X 7 / UCI World Cup XCO 9 / DHI/4X 7 (Schladming, Austria)
• 10/4/08: UCI XCM 3 / UCI World Cup XCM 3 (Innsbruck, AUT)

This year's championships are being held in Great Britain.

2007 CCCX XC Finals

No official results, but there are some picture up in a thread at MTBR.