Whistler Crankworx

We're half way through our week in Whistler at the Crankworx festival and it's been a very busy past few days. Justin and I raced the Garbonzo DH last weekend, the longest downhill race in the world. Justin had won the event before and showed me the lines so that I could get up to speed on the 13 min track a little quicker. Justin finished 4th despite a broken shifter cable, and I finished up in 16th place. Now that I have the experience and some knowledge of the track, I am looking forward to coming back and racing the Garbonzo again next year. Tuesday I took part in the whip-off world champs. There were tons of spectators lining the jumps as the riders tried to see who could throw the biggest whip. It was a cool event and a lot of fun. Yesterday was the air downhill, a downhill race down a-line at Whistler, the most famous jump trail in the world. I wanted to race it to get an interval in on my downhill bike. Scrubbing jumps was really good practice for world champs in two weeks. I ended up 14th, not too bad as most guys had shorter travel bikes that were faster over the jumps. Im having an awesome time in whistler and looking forward to more riding this week.

NM

MTB GP in Washington

I just got back from a quick trip to Seattle, Washington for the final stop of the U.S. Grand Prix of MTB. After crashing at the previous round at Highland and missing out on points, I needed a 1st or 2nd  place to take the series overall from my teammate Justin Leov. The track was extremely dry and loose, and there were several top guys there. Luke Stroble would be hard to beat on his home track, Mitch Ropelato was riding fast after a good result in France and Bryn Atkinson was on form as he spends his summers in Seattle. I felt like I figured it out and put down a good run in the final, but after qualifying 2nd, Mitch and Luke got me in the final and I took 3rd. It was disappointing to miss out on the series overall, but the racing was very close and I put in my best effort. I felt like figured out the loose dust this weekend and I'm really looking forward to going to Crankworx in Whistler next weekend.

NM