So Thursday photo guy, Kevin shirmizu, and I go to Yeti to pick up the race truck and head down to angle fire, NM for the Chile Challenge MSC. This venue has always been a favorite as the DH is world class and the 4x never disappoints. This year was no exception.
The five hour drive down to NM went by real fast. Kevin is pure entertainment from constant criticism and critique to Bill Cosby impersonations and music buff “flexing”. When we got there around 9pm everything was closed or closing and we were able to swindle the new Chinese restaurant into some free leftover soup with some takeout. After Kevin burned his tongue from the rice fried in the depths of mordor by souron himself, we located the Vogt house and called it good.
The next day was DH practice from 12-4pm and every one felt it. Felt it right in the hands. The downhill in angle fire is rough, rocky, fast and long. 3 runs had me worn out and 4 had me done in. I had a crash in practice that day that would take me out of the mountain cross race for the weekend, bummer! The crash left me with some scrapes on my back and a badly bruised hip. However, on the fast mend, I was able to compete and practice in the rest of the scheduled DH race and practice for the weekend.
Race day came and I was feeling good, good enough. As long as I kept my feet on the bike my injury was not a huge issue. The ’06 regional pro field was looking really fast with some more national talent and a bunch of semi-pro graduates filling the ranks. This would be my first DH qualifier and DH pro race too. At 9:17 am I started my qualifying run posting a 5:03 on the race clock. This put me as fifth fastest and 7 seconds off the fastest qualifier that day. Not too bad. my goal for the weekend was top 5 so it looked as though I was on pace. However, I was still nervous. Several fast guys like to qualify slow and some others crashed in their runs, so the pressure was still on. I had set a new goal to take 3 seconds off my qualifier and break the 5min mark.
My race run came and I wound up getting a 4.58 – a very respectable time, and just as I had worried, 7 more very talented riders dug even deeper to best my time. I was unable to stay any longer than I had to after the race.
430 165373 MOTT Keith KHS 4:48.66 1 (1) FLAGSTAFF AZ ***
287 193479 KRAHENBUHL Eli Big Crank Racing 4:49.97 2 (2) Cheyenne WY +1.31
666 161751 WEINMAN Daniel Paradise Power Co/Ta 4:54.11 3 (3) TAOS NM +5.45
472 81116 SUTTON Ryan Yeti/RPM 4:55.14 4 (4) Gunnison CO +6.48
646 120219 CODDING Jason Team Big Crank 4:57.06 5 (5) Lehigh Acres FL +8.40
290 99996 THOMPSON Matthew Big Crank Racing 4:57.17 6 (6) Denver CO +8.51
659 26700 OLSEN Todd 4:58.81 7 (7) DILLON CO +10.15
418 194305 SHARP Tim Yeti/Fox Racing Fact 4:58.96 8 (8) BOULDER CO +10.30
694 183333 SHANBHAG Sanjay Commencal 4:59.09 9 (9) Irvine CA +10.43
693 144813 BALOOCHI Robin 5:02.82 10 (10) San Marcos CA +14.16
25 min after the race I was dressed down with the truck loaded up and I was off to Illinois to pick up our new race trailer for the season. Straight through the night and 20 hrs later Neven and I found ourselves in Illinois waiting for the trailer to arrive. Oil was changed, (11.5 quarts!), lunch was had, and sleep was on, for an hour or so anyway. The weather was perfect for a midday sleep, and some shady trees at a local church harbored our slumber for about an hour, until the cops showed up. “Move along,” they said in too many words. So we found a nearby park were we watched softball until about 6.30 or so local time until the trailer finally arrived. A long 26 hrs away I arrived at my own bed already dreaming.
Here are some pics from the trip. HAPPY B_DAY MOM + Neven + Greg
Ladies Mountain Cross Final
Mens MX Final
Oh and I've decided to drop out of school and become a mall glamor-shots photographer
JUST KIDDING
