Downieville All Mountain World Championship

So Darren made it out to downieville. Here is his report on the 2 day race.

Race Report - Downieville All Mountain World Championship (2 day race) - Race Class- Category 1 – Expert Men 35-44

*Saturday, July 10. Sierra City to Downieville. 29 miles 4,413' ascent / 5,692' descent http://www.downievilleclassic.com/pages/crosscountry.html

*Sunday, July 11. Packer Saddle to Downieville. 17 miles 5,333' descent / 1,010' ascent http://www.downievilleclassic.com/pages/downhill.html

Day 1: The big race turned out much as I had expected. The initial climb was long and hard. The exposure, altitude, and high temps just made things even harder. That said, I stuck to my game plan and just kept peddling at a steady pace. It took roughly 1 hour 45 minutes to reach the highest peak (3000+ feet of climbing). From there it was another 2 hours of downhill, 6+ water crossings, and 1400 feet of climbing.

Once I crested the big climb, the real race was on. I went hard for the next 2 hours, passing many on the downhill portions and even a few more on the climbs. At exactly the 3 hour mark I was climbing the 700 foot “1st divide”. Surprisingly feeling good and passing many people pushing their bikes. All of a sudden, I cramped in my left Quad AND right Hamstring. My body literally froze and I fell off my bike unable to move my legs. Luckily, I had some Hammer Endurolytes with me and the cramps went away about 90 seconds after taking them. I rode progressively harder for the rest of the ride (in fear of cramping). Finally finishing strong with a time of 3:43.28. I felt good, but tired and the free Fat Tire pint was well appreciated.

Day2: Downieville Downhill - OK, this was a hard day psychologically. My body was beaten down and I seriously considered blowing this one off. My main concern was that I was having a lot of trouble holding onto my bike (and breaking) during the downhill the day before, and with so many exposed drop-offs, wet roots, etc. that I might seriously get hurt (or worse). Anyway, I manned up and did the race. When I reached the top of the downhill, I realized that we had forgotten my bike shoes at the hotel. Wally (my Brother in law), raced back to get them and I got a late start. They told me that there was nothing I could do about losing the time so I just raced for fun. Turns out, they did adjust my time and I did the downhill in 1:03. Not super fast, but still beat some Experts.

Thanks to darren for the race report and a ton of killer photos!