Windham and Snowshoe Pro GRT

After watching all of the boys kill it up at Mont Sain Anne we headed down to ride Mountain Creek for a few days. The bike park there is rad with everything from flowy jump lines to technical rock gardens.

We then headed up to Windham New York where the next Pro GRT was being held. They decided to run us on the World Cup track from last year. The bottom grass was taped differently but everything else was pretty much the same. This was by far the best track we had raced all year, challenging and steep.

The track stayed pretty wet for most of the weekend due to the daily thunderstorms that came throught every evening but usually dried up througout the day. On Saturday we had a pretty bad storm come across the mountain that took out multiple pits and ripped the awning right off of our van. I had a decent qualifying result putting me into 16th but I knew I would need to push a lot harder for Sundays final to hang onto that top 20.

Sundays mornings practice felt great and I was ready throwdown! It was supposed to rain right before we all dropped. Luckily it held out and was only just drizzling when the last man was coming down the hill. I felt really good about my run with only one small mistake up top. That run put me into 15th. My first top 20 result at a National!

From Windham we headed straight to Snowshoe where we pedaled some laps and made a little edit with trail bikes. The mountain there is unique because instead of the village being at the bottom of the mountain it is at the top. You ride down into the valley where there is nothing then catch the lift back up. The track was pretty long with some grass turns up top and long rock gardens down lower.

This was another race with lots of rain in the forcast. The first day of practice was pretty dry as was Saturdays practice and qualifying. The damper in my fork decided to blow on the first lap on Friday leaving me scrambling to get it sorted. I tried a lap on the trail bike and quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. Luckily I was able to track down an entire right side stanchion assembly that I could run for the weekend.

Saturdays qualies went great for me as I placed 9th and had lots more to improve on in finals. It was supossed to rain most of the night and all the way through Sunday, and it did. The track was pretty much a river when we dropped in for practice and only became more sloppy as the day went on. My race run was feeling great until I smashed a wheel in some of the up rocks ending the run way to early.

First mechanicle of the season so I guess I can't complain too much! I'm now headed back west for a few more races before the season comes to an end. I have learned so much from these past weeks out east here riding lots of new and different terrain. Huge thanks to Joy Ride Bikes for making all of this possible, wouldn't have been able to do it without the shops support!!

Killington Vermont Pro GRT

After nationals at Mammoth we started making our way over to the East coast. We had a couple weeks before the next race so decided to ride a few spots on the way. We spent a few days in Dillon, CO riding the Keystone bike park and some of the other trails in that area. After a few days in CO we continued East, riding a few smaller spots in between there and Killington. We got to Killington a few days early and did lots of pedal laps in the bike park.

This is the first year that Killington has had a Pro GRT stop at their venue. For this  race they had built a new fresh track for us to burn in. The terrain was rad with lots of it being raw. Lots of roots and rocks were under the this top layer of loam. The only thing to be desired in the track was a steeper grade. It was too hard to carry speed through it all but it was pretty flat for a race track.

Fridays practice went great, the track was damp and lines forming as the course was ridden in. By the time Saturdays practice rolled around the course had become much drier and even dusty in some spots making it faster. Qualifying went well as I ended up 26th with a couple things to improve on. Sundays track was going to be completely different due to the large amount of rain predicted in the forecast.

We woke up to a steady drizzle that was on and off all day long making some sections slower but most lines were still the same. I felt good on track, being from northwest I was used to wet track conditions. It was running My run had a couple bigger mistakes but managed to stay upright and came across the line with a 22nd in finals. Improving a couple spots from qualies. Thanks to Joy Ride Bikes for keeping me going and keeping the dream alive!

Another two week break then we head to Windham. Going to be getting lots of laps in on the DH bike between then and stoked to watch the World Cup at MSA.