Antlers at Vail, Condominiums and Conference Center

Lets go downhill!  This weekend Sol Vista resort hosted the mountain bike nationals and what a wild weekend it was.  Racing started Friday with Cross country, downhill practice and short track.  Saturday started off with Cat 1 downhill race, pro cross country, short track, mountain cross and Super D.  I am sure some of you are not familiar with these races so at the end of this blog I will have a description of each event. Just camping

My race was on Saturday, downhill cat 1 women.  Our course took place on the pro course from last year.  This course was so sandy with rock gardens and a few gap jumps.  The only focus I had this weekend was hitting the two jumps at the end of the course….25 feet to a 20 foot gap jump.  See pics.  Well I succeeded, but should have had more goals set like winning my race or getting there on time.  I went off what my friend had told me and assumed I started at 2:41 when actually I was at 2:03.  Yes, I missed my start time.  This is  devastating to a downhill racer because this is the only chance you get.  Well I learned my lesson and will always check my start time myself.  I did however clean the jumps check it out!!

This is the 25 footer!!

Right into the 20 Footer.

Saturday night we all had a relaxing evening  watching some mountain cross racing with lots of  cerveza .  Great way to wind down a busy day of riding bikes. All in all great weekend everyone stepped up there riding and had a outstanding time.   Cannot wait to get back on my bike….anyone want to hit keystone this weekend?

As promised bike racing vocab:

There are different classes:

Cat 3 -Beginner 1^st time racing

Cat 2- Sport getting faster

Cat 1 -Fast, stepping it up and training for race season.

Pro- top level fastest riders on the course. 

Cross country- Bike has less suspension and very light.  In a race they ride up and down on mainly single track.  Anywhere from 12-24 miles.  Objective: Be the first to finish. Must be fit!

Short Track- Also done on a cross country bike.  Small loop.  Riders pedal around the course for 20min. Objective: to get the most laps.

Downhill- Big bike with lots of suspension.  Check out my pics.  All racers get start time and are separated by 30 seconds.  They ride a course, all downhill with many opsticals, as fast as possible arriving at the bottom.  Objective: Best time.

Mountain Cross- Smaller bike used still has supspension.  Group of 4 start at top of a track, the track has lots of jumps and turns.  Objective: get to bottom first.  This is the best event for spectators, lots of crashes.