BC cup #6

Posted: Aug 3, 2009

Mount Washington strikes again!

The 6th stop of the BC cup was back at Mount Washington, on the Monster mile! One of the roughest, rockiest, fastest tracks on the circuit. But mother nature added a twist this year...no rain!

Read more about the weekend,

Mount Washington has been known for years as the race with rain. No matter what, it always seems to rain on race day. But in the middle of the heatwave that has been smothering southwestern BC, the only clouds in the sky were from smog and nearby forest fires, not a threat of rain all weekend.


Mount Washington and I have a bit of a thing, 4 years of racing here, and I have yet to have a clean race run, I'm hoping 5th times a charm. Tyler Gorz and I headed up to Seymour earlier in the week to do some runs on Neds to get back into the fast, rough, rocky trucking that was required to race the monster mile. A couple runs, and a couple wrecked rear wheels and we were ready.

Early Saturday morning, we set up the pits along with the Dunbar gang, in the prime location. We had lots of shade and lots of room for the ever growing Dunbar team. They just seem to multiply at every race - those imports just keep popping up.


Practice ran from 11 to 7. So we had lots of time to get loads of runs in, and try a whole bunch of different lines. The track was so dry it was running really hot. Lap after lap we were coming into sections faster and faster with more confidence, hitting the brakes only made for a rougher ride and tired forearms, as traction seemed endless. Practice on this track is soo much fun, I couldn't get enough of it. A wide open, fast rough track, without tight trees makes for a good DH race.



I felt really good during practice, my Wilson was running great. The faster I went over the rough stuff the smoother it got. After only a couple minor crashes and a puncture in practice, I was feeling confident and looking forward to racing on Sunday.


Unfortunately this weekend also had its bad times. Our good friend Ross Roseingrave broke his leg near the end of practice, and was rushed to hospital for surgery. Heal up quick buddy! Our spirits were kind of down at the end of the day so the 16" pit bike race didn't happen, and after Tyler's mom Rhonda made some pasta for dinner, a quiet night hanging out under the tents was in order.

Sunday morning we awoke to sunshine, glorious sunshine, and not a cloud in sight. I think everyone learned their lesson from years past and didn't mention a thing about no rain. Practice ran from 11 to 12:30 with racing starting around 1:00. After my 2 practice runs in the morning, the bike got a once over. I washed her up, and threw on some fresh tires on a shiny set of race wheels. I decided to up my tire pressure to around 35 psi to help avoid a puncture during my race run.


Due to a few injuries and crashes, the race was delayed 35 mins by the time the elites were to start. Luckily Mt. Washington has a high altitude and the temps weren't as high at the top of the lift, as they were at the bottom. With only 4 Pro women and 13 Pro men, the racing would be finished fairly early.

I was the 4th rider to drop in, the nerves are at their peak at the 30 second count, 15 seconds, 5....4....3....2....1. I knew I needed a stormer of a run to be competitive, I was letting it all hang out, getting pretty loose up top and hitting a lot of sections faster than I had in practice. I came into the loose dusty turns underneath the lift that seemed to claim its fair share of riders. I took the section a bit cautious, got on the pedals to pick up speed for the next section and...bang! I heard the horrible noise of my rim banging off the rocks. A flat in the same spot as practice. Mount Washington strikes again! I chose to pull over and cheer for a few friends racing by. I took the DNF and saved my wheel and tire for the next race.



I got to the bottom in time to see the last few racers come across the finish. Then overall points leader Jeff Bryson came over the last table with a rear flat as well. He told me it happened right up top and he rode the whole track on it. Props to him, that must have been a wild ride. After the dust settled, James McSkimming took the win with a 3.40.75, but fastest time of the day went to 15 year old Riley Suhan from Golden with a 3.33.39.


Quote of the day goes to Tyler Gorz after I told him about Riley's time "He must not care about his life if he's going that fast".


Results here.

All in all it was a good weekend, I had a great time practicing, and dialed my bike in a little more. All I can hope for is a little luck next year. Big thanks to Rhonda Gorz for being team mom, and security guard at the pits.

Darryl Bartlett is proudly supported by:

Devinci Bikes
Pinkbike.com
SRAM
Truvativ
Avid
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DT Swiss
ODI
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Troy Lee Designs
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Gamut USA

Checkers or wreckers!