Snowmass G3

Gonna try to get back on this blogging thing, been pretty busy the last few weeks, lots of working, riding, and traveling. Its the night before the Snowmass G3 kicks off and its been raining all afternoon, looks like there will be mud!? Its been a 3 weeks since Blast the Mass, and I think I am finally comfortable on the DH bike...finally:)! We've had an awesome last few weeks of riding our backyard trails, got some suspension testing done this week, and with the addition of 31.5 inch bars(HUGE!) everything is rocking and ready to go! I have high hopes after coming off of a relatively successful weekend at the Colorado State Championships in SOl Vista. Sol Vista by the way put on one hell of a race, mad props go out to Wentz, Thompson, Sharp, Moga, Andy W, Mike Mac, and the rest of the Bigfoot productions crew for putting on a race to remember. Check out the link for additional coverage from an awesome weekend:

http://www.littermag.com/2008/news/newsarticle.php?newsID=1230

The fourth place finish, second place qualifier was confidence inspiring especially while rocking the hard tail on a bumpy and fast Dual Slalom track, the best I have ever experienced! I learned that night that consistency counts as I watched Brian Lopes and Chris Herndon advance to the final, I started off the night smoothly, but the runs were getting so fast, I lost focus a fews times and thats what hurt me in the long run. Still stoked to get on the podium while riding well. The DH however was a little different story! Still not entirely comfortable on the bike, I had some great practice runs, my qualifier however didn't go as planned with a fall in the rocks even though I thought I was on my line. The weather was a little quirky, lightning was flashing above but the race went on, I was on deck when a flash popped, people's hair stood up inside of their Helmets, Joey's brake levers shocked him, did we stop the race...no! Concerned for my safety I stayed crouched on my toes until the final ten second count down where I rolled up the ramp, looked down the ramp and was off. The rain had just started creating a greasy track which I noticed immediately making me a little conservative, I didn't take any risky lines, was cautious and used my brakes a wee bit too much. I didn't hurt, but it also didn't help seeing a blue flash surround you while riding and the boom fallowed immediately as I entered into the tree's. It was pretty neat though as not too many people will ever get to experience anything like it. I came down first, the race stopped and was held for an hour until the storm went away leaving a fast tacky track for the faster qualifiers. Many had conservative runs as they didn't know what the riding conditions were like, some improved their times as the ruts formed firmly in the usually unsteady sand. Mike Kreger 4th, Kain Leonard 3rd, a disappointed Chris Boice 2nd and a huge breakthrough for Joey Schusler as he came across the line in first 2 seconds in front with a broken transmission. Congrats Joey, you earned it! This weekend in Snowmass I will be looking for a good result, but most importantly I want to have a fun weekend, few mistakes, clean runs, successful working bike set up and of course to beat everyone else!:) I'm not going to put pressure on myself this weekend, I will do the best I can, and go hard. A top 5 overall is the goal, top 3 in a race run with 3 total consistently fast race runs. Michael I'm sure is also feeling the sam ewaqy as both of us are looking to get back on top in the DH department after a hard beginning to the season. Tune in for further updates and pictures(maybe!)