NW Cup #4 - Mt Hood

Great shot from ReilShiftMedia up on the Ridge Trail.

When I'm on a bike I'm usually really comfortable. I know exactly what my limits are and I usually play things pretty safe. I've paid my dues, so to speak, and I am very confident in what I can and can not do. Not many things that I do on a bike, scare me. Sure, some things will cause the adrenaline to flow and the heart to race, but they're not truly scary.  One of the few things that scares me is Mt Hood. For some reason, I've built that track up in my head. Actually, I haven't built up anything in my head. Hood really is gnarly. It is crazy fast, has big rocks, it's long, and has lots of places to make big mistakes. I've had mediocre results there over the years and it always is on my mind until it's over.

This year before Mt Hood I was especially nervous. I hadn't had a really good result all season and need to make something happen. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and managed to get a few practice runs down the hill. I swapped tires a few times before settling on a Kenda Nexcavator 2.5 RSR front and a 2.35 RSR rear.

Charlie and I at the bottom.

The most helpful thing I did all day was follow Charlie down the course. Charlie usually smokes me at Mt Hood. It's his home course and he is really fast there. I was amazed at the speed he carried down Cannonball. I realized I was on my brakes and once I saw how fast he was going, I was forced to let go of the brakes and let 'er rip. 

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The other thing I did that really helped was after practice ended, Charlie and I hiked up to the last woods section with Paris Gore to shoot a few photos. The photos gave us an excuse to practice the last log double and the awkward corner after it. I've always struggled to maintain good speed through this section. It's at the end of the run and you are usually really tired. Combine that with the natural spring that runs through the area and it is always slick and the corner has a double apex.

Charlie and I looked at a few different ways to hit the section and dialed in a way to straigten the corner out and carry great speed through the last segment.

The log double at the end of the course.

Sunday morning started with one practice run. I came down cannonball nice and fast until the first right hand corner. I was carrying great speed until I lost the front end. I slammed the ground but seemed to be alright. I felt better once I saw the next rider after me crash in the same place and heard multiple others went down there as well.

You can see the dirt on my right arm from crashing. Nothing major!

Riding the lift for my qualifier, I was just thinking about the few things I had to do to have a good run. I dropped out of the start gate and hit the upper ridge trail perfectly. I carried great speed onto cannonball, but then just sat down and coasted across the ski run to save energy for the finals. I came into the rock traverse and was doing well until the waterfall. Right before the waterfall I hit a rock and it bounced me off my line to the right. I ended up monster truck-ing over boulders, stumps, and logs just holding on for dear life. Somehow I ended up being pointed at the bottom corner of the waterfall. I dropped back into the trail and hit the corner with a ton of force. As soon as I was in mid apex, I heard and felt a big  "POP" I grabbed the brakes immediatly and stopped on the sundeck. My shoulder was in tremendous pain. I grabbed it instinctivly as hard as I could and heard and felt another "pop."

The infamous waterfall. This was my race run, in qualifying, I was on the far left of this photo somewhere.

A lot of the pain went away with the second pop and I hopped on the bike and kept going. I played it safe through the rest of the course and sprinted to the finish. As I was walking back to the pit with my shoulder in pain, I was convinced I wasn't racing later in the day. But then, I turned and looked at the qualifying times. Even with stopping and my shoulder injury, I had qualified 3rd! I decided I had to try and do my race run. I went back to the pits and ate a bunch of Ibuprofen and had the medics tie a back of ice to my shoulder.

Thanks Greg!

The Ibuprofen made me feel a lot better and I took the ice off right before my race run. I couldn't lift my arm, but decided to race anyways. I dropped out of the gate and as soon as I hit the first corner, my adrenelin was racing and most of the pain went away. I hit both the Ridge trail and Cannonball really well. I took it easy though the rocks and a few big g-outs in the tree, knowing I wasn't at full strength, but pushed it where I could. I came out of the last tree section and got on the gas as hard as I could. The organizer had a radar gun and there was $100 up for grabs for the fastest speed into the finish. I gave it everything I had and came across the line and ended up in the hot seat! I bested the fasted qualifying time, but it wasn't quite enough. I ended up 3rd, but managed to have the fastest time in the speed trap sprint!

Podium shot. Shoulder doesn't look very comfortable!

I was excited to finally be on a podium again. In fact, that was the fastest time I've ever had at Mt Hood! I wish I could have gone a little faster, but I put nearly 6 seconds into 4th place's time, which was really cool.

My shoulder was starting to feel better a few days after the race. It popped again taking my shift off and that gave me a much bigger range of motion, but it was still sore. Ruth made an appointment for me to see the doc. He said I tore my labrum cartilage and to see how it felt for the rest of the season. It still hurts, but a few Ibuprofen before riding and I seem to be fine. I'll probably have to have surgery to repair it this fall/winter once the race season is over, but until then, I'm going to try to continue to land on the podiums and move even higher! 

-KT