Team MotionBased

A weekend of racing gone by and Team Motionbased is still rolling strong. This episode included two riders and 4 events: Dave in his usual role as enduro guy did marathon and XC on back-to-back days while Olivier took in an XC and Super-D, making his Pro debut at a National level. Deer Valley is an excellent venue for racing. Cedar-lined restroom stalls aside, the terrain in the Wasatch mountains makes this an MTB destination spot, racing or not. High altitude, aspen trees, buffed singletrack with some fun technical stuff thrown in the mix make this a place where racers will return year after year. The major problem is that the riding is so much fun it is difficult to save your legs for race day. Save your legs? Whatever. Dave took on the Pro Marathon on Thursday for 3 laps of a gruelling altitude event, covering nearly 10,000 feet of vertical gain in just over 5 hours. The smile on his face (pictured above) came in the early running but Dave kept a fresh attitude all day long to finish 11th just behind series leader Troy Misseghers. Friday's action included the main event of the Semi-Pro XC which was shortened to three laps promising a scorching fast start. Ironically Olivier had the best start of them all but while feeling really good on the opening climb drew a little too hard and suffered for it, dropping slowly down the ranks for a result best described as "learning experience." Dave on the other got a terrible start with nothing but dead legs from the Marathon the day before, but set a solid tempo to run through the field back up to the top ten. Had the race been the originally stated 4 laps it is certain he would have crawled in to the top 5. Great racing Dave! After a quick shower and some food Olivier headed back up to compete in the Pro Super-D event. With legs still gassed from the XC he had a respectable run putting him into the top 15. "The course was really fun but the loose turns really favored the downhill guys. I had to rely on my pedaling ability a lot, but my Flux was really the perfect bike for the course." Olivier's result was one of the fastest of the non-factory sponsored riders. "This is a great start for me at this level; I still have lots to learn but I see areas where I can make up time with some simple changes like wider tires."