Schweitzer - All Gravity Series #3

So excited to have the van back. This was our hotel on Friday night.

In the most awesome news right now, I finally got the van back! The Ford dealer found a new tank for me and I am able to finally have a running vehicle again. I picked up the van on Friday morning and hooked up the trailer so we could head out to Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho for the 3rd round of the All Gravity Series. Alex Eley, Charlie Sponsel and I left Issaquah at midnight on Friday and started our journey. After a few hours of sleep at a rest stop, we arrived at Schweitzer early Saturday morning.

Charlie and I were really excited to race Schweitzer. The course was always regarded as the roughest course on the NORBA circuit and many world cup pros still talk about Idaho and wanting to go back. Watch the video above of the Alter Boy sections. I believe the last race there was in 2004. A new lift has been built where the old course was and most of it has been destroyed. Last year they built a new course right before the race. The course had some fun parts, but needed some work in places. Considering it was a first year course, it was pretty good and we were excited to head back and see the changes for this year, expecting great things.


What the Schweitzer track looks like now pinkbike.com

Much to our dismay during our track walk, nothing had changed. It was still narrow single track, over grown weeds, no course tape, sketchy woodwork, too much traversing, etc. I want to preface all of this by saying that the course was still fun to ride. If Silver was as good as this Schweitzer course, I would be excited to go to Silver. However, due to Schweitzer's past, we hold it to a higher standard. We were expecting to see a National/World Cup level course, but that wasn't the case.  It had fun steep sections, but then overly long, narrow traverses that were really lame. We bushwhacked a bunch of weeds on the course for line of sight and to reveal dangerous hidden stumps. The bridges were made with rotten stringers and had 1x6 planks with 6 inches of overhang. walking across them was scary as multiple boards came loose.

This section was really cool. More of this please.

Charlie and I suited up and practiced all day. Schweitzer has an awesome set up in terms of lift access. A high speed quad takes you straight to the top with a beautiful view of Lake Pend Oreille. The parking lot is really close and everything you could need is available at the mountain village. The town of Sandpoint is a few miles away at the bottom of the hill and a great place to find candidates for www.peopleofwalmart.com

Looking down at our gypsy campground.

After poaching a quick dip in the hot tub, we headed back to the wagon wheel gypsy campground and hung out for the night. I love the people at the All Gravity Races. It's really relaxing, laid back, and fun. My trailer made the last side to our wheel and put up a race tent in the middle. Rylie was enjoying running around with all of the other dogs and swimming in the pond nearby.

Bafus going down in the triple drop section. Hard.

Sunday went according to plan. Charlie and I got a few practice runs and then dominated the race. Charlie beat me by 3 seconds for the win. I had some minor issues with my run from the start when I couldn't get clipped in, along with a lot of over braking in the corners. I ended up second with Evan Gilsdorf in 3rd. The gap from 3rd to 4th was 14 seconds! I changed the geometry on my bike to the middle setting and I think it liked it a lot more. It shortened the wheel base and steepened the head angle along with raising the BB slightly. It worked really well on the course. I love the way the bike is performing and with the adjustability it is so easy to make it suit the track.

Just because the course needs work, doesn't mean we aren't fast on it!

I was stoked for Charlie as that was his first pro win. We loaded up the trailer and headed for the long drive home. Trying to put the track out of our minds and focus on the old Schweitzer made the drive go by a little faster. We'll probably be back next year with our fingers crossed that some of the issues have been fixed. It was a fun weekend and when I look at the weekend for what it was, I enjoyed it. I was just hoping for more.

-KT