AGS #1 - Double Down Hoe Down 2012

Charlie's first race in the new team jersey!

It's finally here! The first race of 2012 at Beacon Hill! When I broke my hand, I was asked if I was still going to Beacon. I had to step back for a minute, the thought never crossed my mind to NOT go to the race.I still love the atmosphere and figured I could help my teammate Charlie Sponsel and promote my sponsors even if I wasn't on the bike. Charlie and I figured out all of the logistics and set up a game plan for the weekend.

1. Go to Spokane.
2. Help Charlie with practice as much as possible (line choice, tire selection etc).
3. Watch race and cheer until I lose my voice.
4. Congratulate Charlie for winning both days.

The race rig is back for another season!

That was the goal before we left Seattle and we were dead set on achieving it. We loaded up the van on Friday morning and as soon as Ruth got home, she and Rylie both hopped in and we hit the road. We burnt some fuel on the way there as we were trying to get to the hill before sundown on Friday for a course walk of the new section of trail for Saturday's race. 

Check your engine temp while going up the hills! Subaru burning just east of Ellensburg WA

We made record time and rolled into Beacon Hill at 7pm and ran up the hill just as the sun was setting. Looking at the new section, it was pretty obvious that it was really straight forward and nothing to worry about. We headed back into town and met up with Jeff and Jaime Reese, our awesome hosts (and local shredders!) for the weekend and went to sleep after some catching up with old friends.

This dialed rig was spotted in town.

I actually came back the next day to get better pictures.

Saturday morning arrived quickly. This isn't my first race and I know the value of getting to the hill early for practice and I hate having to drive through crowds of people to set up the pits. Practice started at 8am, so I figured we should get there at 7:00 to set up and get everything ready for the day. Because we are mountain bikers, we rolled into the pit area about 7:45, right on schedule! Not a soul was around! We set up the pits and got Charlie's bike ready for the days course.

The course looked in great shape. The conditions were perfect.

After a few hours of practice, the race was ready to get under way. Andy Knott and I made our way to the start of the new section to cheer on the racers. A few drinks to really loosen up the cheering squad was all that was needed to unleash some noise. I never get the chance to watch or cheer at a race. I'm always one of the last riders down the course and can speak from experience, that a loud crowd is always helpful to pushing you to go that little bit faster. I determined that I was going to try my hardest to cheer for everyone I possibly could as a thank you for the years of noise everyone has made all the times I've come down a course. I brought a vuvuzela horn and set out to be as loud as possible.

Andy and I in the calm before the storm. This isn't our first rodeo...

In full force.  Pic courtesy of Justin Miller.

Sometimes the vocal chords get the trick done.

By the end of the race, my lips were bleeding from the horns plastic mouthpiece, but it didn't matter. I watched Charlie come through the final section before heading down the hill to find the final results.

The carnage the next day from cheering. You're not doing it right if you aren't bleeding!

 As we planned, Charlie came out on top on day 1! He had a 2.5 second win over Bryan Crum, who is by far, the local to beat in Spokane. Congrats Chaz!

Charlie pretending this is the first time he's been on top of a podium.

After the race, most people start to practice for Saturday's race. Charlie, Bobby Stenson, and I ended up at the top of the course looking at the first rock roll. Bob is known for finding really dumb lines that never work out and pointed out another one. He said you could just jump the whole rock. After a bunch of us told him how dumb that idea was, he ignored all of our advice and hiked up the hill. Without warning, Bob came flying off the rock cliff and nailed the line PERFECTLY. We were in shock that it worked out well and all I could muster to say was "Now do it again." Bob said okay and sent the line perfectly again. Now that Bob was known for finding a bunch of horrible lines and one good one, Charlie decided to do it as well. It was immediately decided that line was far superior to the old way of riding down the rock. Its really neat to think about how many times, that rock has been raced down and this was the first time anyone has ever just jumped to whole thing. Sometimes old tracks just need a new set of eyes!

 Kevin Littlefield showing the old way of hitting the section.

And Bobby sending the new way for the first time.

 We ended the night with the Spokane Crew and watched as Ryan Villopoto decimated the 450 main in supercross again this weekend.

Sunday morning was almost an exact repeat of Saturday. We arrived at the track and Charlie did some practicing while I hung out at the bottom of the hill. I was answering questions all weekend about the Diamondback DH bike and all of our new sponsors for the year. The most commonly asked questions were about tire choice this weekend. Charlie ended up running a Kenda 2.35 Happy Medium RSR compound tire in the rear and a Nexcavator 2.5 RSR in the front. This was the same set up I raced at Silver Mt last season and I've been really impressed with how well it works. The new Kenda tires are amazing and were a contributing factor to the weekend for sure. Charlie didn't have a single bike issue all weekend long, which was really nice! Our sponsors make great products and we are really lucky to be able to run the gear we have. Thanks to everyone that is supporting our team, we couldn't do this without you!

Mike Lawless from FSA was at the race this weekend along with Diamondback's Billy Lewis!

I also spent most of the morning with a giant stack of FSA Gravity stickers sticker bombing everything I could find. At the end of the day there were stickers on almost every bike, body, animal, and vehicle in attendance.

The course got tagged...

Injuries got tagged...

Even Rylie got tagged (she didn't seem to mind).

Charlie ended up losing some skin while dirt jumping and demonstrates the proper way to clean and dress a wound.

A few last minute race line choices with Charlie were had before he went up for his final run and I headed over to the last rock garden to cheer for the day. I lost most of my voice from Saturday and due to my lips bleeding the day before, I decided to try a different method to make noise. Bobby, who is the undisputed king of cheering/heckling, had brought an old rim and a handlebar for noise maker. I grabbed some course tape and made a handle so it would reverberate a little louder and set out. It sounded like an old country dinner bell on steroids.

By the end of the day, this rim was broken into two pieces from hitting it with the bar. 

We watched everyone come through the final rock gardens at breakneck speeds before once again heading down to the bottom to find the results. Just like Saturday, Charlie was on top! He had a few mistakes up top, but still managed to edge out Bryan Crum again. Rob Crump put in a great ride for 3rd and even Bobby kept a race run upright for 4th.

Sunday Podium. It was little more "Relaxed"

I was really impressed with a ton of people this weekend, first off, the girls were killing it! Both Karen O'Connell and Michelle Benson hit Girthmore for the first time, which is a huge drop in the pro course. Jamie Reese looked like a guy when she was riding (trust me, that is a MAJOR compliment). Nik Clarke put in an amazing run on Saturday to win JrX and his time would have put him 4th in pro! Jason Sams blew my mind at how fast he flew down the Jetson's line and whoever the kid was on the Kona who hucked the end of the Seattle line into oblivion and rode it out was awesome.

Nik Clarke on top of the Jr X podium!

This is Girthmore. It's in the Pro course and the girls were even hitting it! Adam Ransavage demonstrating.

Chelsey, Karen, and Jamie keeping it real for the ladies.

Jason Sams flew down this section faster than anyone. No knee pads, so gnarly! 

Here is Bryan Crum pinning the Jetson's line.

Everyone rode really well this weekend and it was a great way to test out the race program for the season. The ultimate goal is to get out sponsors on top of the podium and provide maximum exposure every weekend and we managed to do that really well this weekend. Obviously, I'd much rather be on the other side of the course tape, but that will happen soon enough. I'm really excited about the our team for this year and I can't wait to be winning races again!

Taco Johns, the best part of any east side race!

Next weekend is Ruth's birthday and then the first round of the NW cup is April 8th. I should have my cast off around then as well. Lots of updates will be happening over the next few months, so tune in often to find out what I'm doing!

More of this will be happening this season.

-KT