Whistler Wrap UP
Well Crankworxs is over and it was by far my best Crankworxs ever. With the addition of the Enduro DH event this year I was signed up for four events.
First event was the Dual Slalom. The Tranny hard tail was the weapon of choice. I had some tough rounds, going up against Prokop in my quarter finals was a real close one. I made it to the finals where I met up with Kyle Strait. He was riding real good & I didn't have the most perfect runs, which is what it would have taken to take down the big boy from Orange County. Kyle took the win, placing me 2nd in the first event of the week.
Next event I entered was the A-line DH. Winning this event for 3 straight years, I had the pressure on to make it 4. I felt good, my mojo with a Marzocchi 2010 55 fork was working killer. I had my new BBG tire up front and a 2.35 small block 8 in the rear. About 20min before the start it began to sprinkle and the nerves got a little intensified, not knowing how slick it would be. My run went great, only making a couple small mistakes from certain sections being a bit slick, and I put down a time that was faster than last year. 4 years straight winning this DH in front of World Cup guys like Kovarik and Neetling was a great feeling.
The 3rd event I did was Giant DS. Last year I came 2nd, so there was still room for improvement. Again I met up with Prokop in my quarter finals and we once again had a super close battle, again just edging him out. This course was super physical and doing two full out runs against Prokop was tough. In the semi I beat Fishbach in both runs & actually got to cruise a bit in the second run to save some energy for the Rando match up in the finals. Run 1 I beat Rando by .7 seconds and it was on the side I didn't like as much, so I knew if I could just ride smooth on the next run I should have been able to make it. Well I got a good start and I guess Rando slipped a pedal on one of the first jumps, which allowed me to really pull away. At the half way point I put it on cruise control and took the win, making that 2 firsts and a 2nd for the weekend.
The last race, which was the day after a very physical Giant DS, was the enduro DH. I was looking forward to this event early in the week, but with the rain and the fact that I was beat from a hard week of racing, I wasn't feeling so fresh for what was the longest and toughest event so far. From the top of Garbanzo, a mass start event with 4 uphills, some jumps, some technical slick tree sections, wet rocks, wide open grass fields, some easy traverse trails, pretty much a little of everything. I was on the first row, but all the way outside for the first turn. I got the hole shot and when I looked back down the first fire road to see who was behind me, it was my good buddy Richie Schley. From there I was never threatened for the lead as I pedaled up every hill until I was about to bonk. The race behind sounded real good. Jason Moeschler moved from 5th to 2nd after the first uphill, but on the fast, rough fire road section his triple chain ring set up didn't work so well and he broke his rear deraileur. Wade Simmons was running top 10 for the first 3-4 minutes, then he broke a chain. Local XC honch Matt Ryan was running in about 4th until we came to the second climb, which was the toughest of them all, about 2min long. At that point he laid down his horsepower and moved up to 2nd & eventually finished there. I came in at 19min 40 something seconds, 50 seconds in front of Matt in 2nd, giving me my 3rd win of the week.
Thanks to Joe my mechanic, all my sponsors, and everyone who was supporting me and congratulating me on my great week.
And to top off the week I was named to the Worlds team for my 17th straight year, but not for 4x, but DH. It's been about 10 years since I did DH worlds, but this course looks to be one that could really suit me, so I decided to do some races that are similar to what the worlds track would be and I did good at those events, which ultimately made my decision for me to giver a go.
Posted by Brian on August 16, 2009 11:07 PM