Well it's Monday morning and the first weekend was great ! Saturday we had pretty good weather and had over a 100 riders come to slay the trails for the first time this year. Our new trail Gobbler Run, part of the Super D, was well received by all the riders and the Super D course got longer too. Trail guides Chad Kelly and Andrew Feldman truly showed their mountain biking positive vibes and are a great addition to the crew. Alot of riders noticed the improvements to the existing trails and gave us a good report on all the hardwork the crew and some others have put in. The jump park suprised alot of people from what I could tell. Ewok village has a new bench cut entrance compared to the old slider step down also. Best thing about Ewok is everything is tabled off and forgiving so riders can feel comfortable getting their flow down. Biggest thing here is speed is not your friend. All flow with a little show, Nice !
The new shop / rental area has really come together to give the mountain that extra feel that you are at a mountain bike park. Jamis was here with Kali pads this past weekend and put on a great show. The rental bikes are hot and we do offer 3 different bike styles depending on you favorite flavor. Ran into a couple renters on the mountain and they were totally stoked on the bikes. I know we had some riders that had technical issues and big thanks to our mechanics John and Korey for helping these guys out and getting them back on the mountain. These two youngsters are also a great addition to the crew and I'm stoked to have them on board.
The Super D race was awesome. We had some small numbers but overall it was a great course, alot of fun to race and watch, and helped to break in our new easier trails and connectors. I asked the racers how was it and everyone seemed to have a ton of fun. The Pro race was Awesome. Lined up in the gate were Brian Lopes, local Pro Jon Gabor and Chris Talotta. Harlan Price, Nick Devore, and last years winner for Super D Brian Shernce. The report from what I gathered....... Lopes, Gabor, Talotta, and Price all exited the 2nd woods section of the Blue Route before the big climb. Chad Kelly reported all 4 riders were hammering. At the start of the hill it was Lopes, Gabor, Talotta, and Price. All Price stood up and smoked the uphill Kelly reported. Talotta looked over and just shook his head. Coming into the Blue route jump line it was Lopes, Gabor with Price right on Gabors rear tire. Out of the jump line to a short uphill, Price took over 2nd. At the bottom in the high speed berm section Lopes had a ridiculous lead and sailed to the finish line. Who was going to be next I asked myself, when Harlan Price came ripping thru on his 29er. Whoa !! Gabor came thru next ripping thru the berms. Jon definately made up time on Price finishing only 3 hundedths of a second behind Harlan. The next two riders were Talotta with Shernce trying to find a way to pass Chris. Somewhere between the berms and the finish line Shernce made the pass to take 4th by 1 second. This was cool race. Alot of fun with great friendly competition. I look forward to doing a mass start again and will be finding a date to throw our next Super D.
Brian Lopes was a great guest at the mountain. Wow, what a great personality in our sport. Guy was low key, super friendly, and just a great ambassador for the sport. I saw him taking pictures and just hanging out. Very Cool, and big thanks to Brian for coming to see the mountain, a real Pro. Check out the picture below sailing thru the lower Super D course.
Next weekend is just flat out a riders weekend. The 10 day looks good for weather. Happy trails and Big thanks to everyone for supporting the mountain and the park ! :cornut:
