Downieville
Published by Olivier Bock July 31st, 2006 in General
Here is an event that is deserving of the hype, and this year Downieville delivered as tough an event as ever with a highly competitive professional field of racers. The All-Mountain Pro class brought out the best of both the DH and XC racers to put themselves to the test against two very challenging courses. As much a test of the bike as it is of the athlete, the All-MTN Pro event combines the times on both courses, but the racers must choose ONE bike for both days. No changes can be made to the bike whatsoever, and there is a weigh-in to make sure of this. Here's Mark Weir with his weapon of choice: a Santa Cruz Nomad with a 40 tooth single ring and Gravity Dropper Turbo (coming soon!).
Weir eats, drinks, and sleeps Downieville, so if it's good enough for him... Maybe that's why there were tons of Nomads at this year's running. Still, what goes down must come up, on the XC that is, so it would be interesting to see those sleds in action up the 4000ft climb of Sunday's race... Well, Mark won the DH and then came back to take fifth in the XC ending up 3rd overall in the AMP event.
Some other ALL MTN Pro rigs:
Ariel Lindsley - Maverick - 3rd DH, 6th XC, 4th AM
Tim Olson - Trek Fuel EX 95 - 4th DH, 1st XC, 2nd AM
Jason Moeschler won the All Mountain Pro competition aboard a Nomad with a 3 Ring set up. He gave credit to the extra gears to give him an edge over the guys with a single ring. Although his bike weighed in at 30lbs, he still had no problem staying close enough on the climb to close in on the descent. He finished 2nd in both the DH and the XC to take the overall title. Very impressive.
Check back for some dot racing action as Motionbased tracked the top 3 rider in the DH, plus former record holder Henry O'Donnell.
Motionbased Riders also faired well, with Celia taking 2nd place in the Expert Downhill and Shadey taking 2nd in the Expert XC. Dave, while running Top 3 in the Pro XC ran off of the course (note: we don't use the GPS for navigation, maybe we should...). Olivier took 11th in the All Mtn Competition but felt that the legs were lacking a little. Still it goes to show what two clean runs will get you.
photos - O Bock and Scott Mosher
Weir eats, drinks, and sleeps Downieville, so if it's good enough for him... Maybe that's why there were tons of Nomads at this year's running. Still, what goes down must come up, on the XC that is, so it would be interesting to see those sleds in action up the 4000ft climb of Sunday's race... Well, Mark won the DH and then came back to take fifth in the XC ending up 3rd overall in the AMP event.
Some other ALL MTN Pro rigs:
Ariel Lindsley - Maverick - 3rd DH, 6th XC, 4th AM
Tim Olson - Trek Fuel EX 95 - 4th DH, 1st XC, 2nd AM
Jason Moeschler won the All Mountain Pro competition aboard a Nomad with a 3 Ring set up. He gave credit to the extra gears to give him an edge over the guys with a single ring. Although his bike weighed in at 30lbs, he still had no problem staying close enough on the climb to close in on the descent. He finished 2nd in both the DH and the XC to take the overall title. Very impressive.
Check back for some dot racing action as Motionbased tracked the top 3 rider in the DH, plus former record holder Henry O'Donnell.
Motionbased Riders also faired well, with Celia taking 2nd place in the Expert Downhill and Shadey taking 2nd in the Expert XC. Dave, while running Top 3 in the Pro XC ran off of the course (note: we don't use the GPS for navigation, maybe we should...). Olivier took 11th in the All Mtn Competition but felt that the legs were lacking a little. Still it goes to show what two clean runs will get you.
photos - O Bock and Scott Mosher
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