We stopped and sessioned an S-berm section in the middle that reminded me of the sandy berms at Sea Otter, except these had a a bit less sand in the bottom and a bit more chewn off the top. Still fun, but sketchy nonetheless. We ventured to the top for a few runs of the the fireroad start section and then headed down to a section of trail that Keith DeFiebre was touting as Virgin Trail. One section seemed familiar to me from years past, but was rutted and covered with loose fine powdery dirt.
The section that followed was steep, loose and as practice rolled on, a rut started to form at the bottom so you could actually hold your line and not end up in the brush.
After that section, the trail drifted into another newly cut section of rough single track that led into a gully of freshly hacked shrubbery. In my race run, I ended up in and out of the inch or so diameter spears as I snaked toward the final stretch:
Another new section of trail that ran along the edge of a ravine only about 4 to 5 inches wide in some sections with a jump toward the end that shot you back into a section of trail about 5 inches wide.
I got one practice run through there as this was an area you couldn't hike back up to session without running riders off course and sending them careening down into the ravine. So, out of respect, we went to the bottom and opted to skip another trip all the way to the top for another practice run. It was about 11:00 and we would have been cutting it pretty close.
The course overall was much more interesting than previous courses from Mr Defeeb, but lacked a sturdy base to keep riders on course. And in my experience with trail building, all of the new sections are environmentally unsound and destructive to vegetation and prone to erosion. Not sure if anyone cares out there, but building some of these trails sustainably would provide immense opportunities for future course options for years to come. Oh well... Its his race and the course was fun.
I had a good race run other than washing out in one berm in the s-berm section and running into the bank of the 3 inch trail toward the bottom. A jump in that section shot you toward the edge of the trail and to avoid ending up in the ravine, you had to make a quick left and hold a rut a few inches wide. A photographer happened to be just behind the jump as I came through and flashed me (not with his nude body, but with his flash of course), which distracted me just enough to get me off course. Luckily, instead of going right off the trail, I went left and buried my handlebar in the bank of the ravine to the left. It took me 4 or 5 seconds to dislodge my bars and get rolling again. The rest of the course was a good pedal and I missed a few of my lines... I had only been through there once, so it wasn't burned into my mind as it should have been. My time was 3 m 37 s and 42 hundredths. I ended up in a tie for 3rd with Mr. E, Eric Brecheen from Mr. E's bikes.
Allen had a solid run and posted a 3:17 for 4th place in the Pro Division. Keith crashed in the vacinity of where I had my incident, went over the bars and into the ravine. Even with his mistake, he still managed to pull out a 3:25.
Justin came in with a 3:30, Tony with a 3:32, Khaner with a 3:41 putting them all on the podium in the 18 and under Jr. Expert Category with 2nd, 3rd and 5th, respectively.
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