Downieville Classic Ride and Race Report
The adventure began weeks before the race as we learned that our two racers, Chewy and Jared, were going to miss the event. Poor Chewy fractured his collar bone and some ribs while jumping in Arizona. Jared was responsible and flew to the Midwest for work. That left us searching for the right riders for the weekend. All we had to do was ask, and two great guys stepped up for the Downieville Challenge.
Joel Hubbart, a 23 year old Super D racer from Colorado, accepted our offer and flew out Wednesday night before the race. Ericson Monsalud, a proud owner of Bike Attack in Santa Monica, entered as our Expert level racer.
We housed Joel at the official Bionicon HQ just outside of Sierra City. As you can see, Paul could not have picked a better spot to spend four nights.
On Thursday, I volunteered to preview the XC course with Joel and it was an eye-opener to see how steep and hot the first 7 miles are. Paul was sitting at Packard Saddle waiting for us to join in on the DH portion of the course. He led us down through the baby heads at breakneck speeds and showed us all the tricky spots. Paul weapon of choice was his 8″ travel Super Wood vs. our Golden Willows with much less travel. Joel’s Golden Willow SC weighed in a mere 28.5 lbs with a gravity dropper and some 2.4 WTB tires. This bike is capable of weighing less, but he wanted some extras on it specific to the Downieville course.
Friday. It was my turn to shuttle to the top so that Paul and Joel could pick lines through the DH course. Instead of riding, I found an internet connection at the General Store and made sure customers were taken care of and parts were ordered. I ended up making quick friends out of the Sierra City shop owners and they really do show small town hospitality to all us mountain bikers. Throughout the towns, there was a great attitude from the locals about the events and a general appreciation of our presence and influence on the local economy. Since Ericson had been up there riding all week, he decided to take the day off and just pedal around the lower trails to keep his legs warm and ready.
Race days. There is a definite excitement on Saturday morning as you see all the racers fidgeting with their gear and warming up for the race. Joel and Ericson pushed hard and had a great time on the XC course. For Joel, it was flawless with no mechanicals and no excessive pain in the body. He crossed the finish line in 18th with a time of 2:15:07.8. Ericson made the best of a blow out and rode a the rim until an official yelled at him, “Put a tire on before you start a forest fire!” He crossed the line with a personal best of 4:04:30.9.
The DH race presented new challenges to Joel with two mechanicals. He forgot to check his stem bolts and things started to get loose which forced him to stop and tighten it up. Next, he flatted after burping the air out of his rear tire and was force again to stop and pump it up. Even with those distractions, he has a respectable time of 51:54.6. Ericson floated down the course and logged a time of 1:08:31.4.
The new Golden Willow SC turned out to be the bike of choice for this event. It is light enough to be competitive on the XC and aggressive enough to challenge the DH course. Contact us to see it for yourself.
Tags: Downieville Classic, ride race