Santa Cruz Highball Carbon 29er Review

I've had a few months of riding and racing, about 700 miles total, on the new Santa Cruz Highball frame so I wanted to share my impressions of this new rocket.  And that's exactly what it is.

I transferred build directly over from the Giant XTC 29er I was on previously, which was a great bike in itself.  It was extremely quick handling, like a BMX bike.  It made for a very fun time and gave you a lot of feedback.  You had to stay on top of it though as it could very easily be described as "twitchy."  But I actually liked the super quick handling.  The head angle on the XTC was 2 degrees steeper than the Highball and I was interested to see how much it was going to slow down the handling.

The new Highball frame was 1.3lbs lighter than the XTC!

So here's my build spec:

Frame- XL Santa Cruz Highball Carbon
Fork-2011 Fox F29 100 Terralogic, 15mm axle
Drivetrain- Shimano XTR M980, 1x10 with FSA 36t chainring and MRP 1x guide. (later switched to triple)
Brakes- Formula The One
Rotors- Ashima 160mm
Bars- Easton EC70 Riser 680mm
Stem- Shimano PRO XCR 100mm
Headset- Cane Creek Taper
Seatpost- Crank Brothers Cobalt 11
Saddle- WTB Silverado SLT
Wheelset- WTB Stryker 29
Grips- ODI 'O' Grips
Pedals- Crank Brothers Candy 4ti
Tires- WTB Nano

All that built up came to just 21.24lbs!

So it's pretty to look at... how does it ride?

In short, it's exactly what you'd expect in a hardtail from Santa Cruz.  Stiff, firmly planted, and easy to control.  The steering is slower than the XTC, but it is not sluggish in the least bit.  You can still rip it around corners, berms, and flick it around rocks with ease but it is much more "stable" feeling than the Giant and it's much easier to conserve energy.  A very good thing for a long XC race.

With the head angle a bit slacker, it takes the bumps from the front and absorbs them into the frame horizontally (rearward) more than vertically.  Same with the 73 degree seat tube, allowing a good carbon post to flex and absorb chatter.  It's really easy to stay seated and pedal on this bike.  The rear seat stays are flattened and shaped in a wishbone style which allows for vertical compliance as well, all while keeping incredible lateral stiffness.  That stiffness holds true in the BB (power) area and up to the tapered head tube, making it incredibly responsive to rider input.  When it's time to get out of the saddle and really lay the power down, it just launches forward and says "this all you got!?"  It's every bit as stiff as other carbon hardtails I've ridden (Cannondale Flash 29er, Specialized Sworks Stumpjumper 29er HT, Leopard 29R), but to me felt more compliant than the Flash and Sworks Stumpy.

Another nice touch from SCB is the use of a standard threaded BB instead of press fit.  Which gives you more options of BB's and cranks (you can just transfer from an old bike if you upgrade the frame) and you can also run a BB mount chain guide.

I've raced this bike plenty and it's a fantastic weapon.  I rode it to 24th at XC Nationals this year, and a number of wins and podiums closer to home.  I'm getting more and more used to hardtails in general (used to be just a suspension guy) and the range courses where I still choose this bike over the Tallboy is broadening more into the rough category.  Just because it is so stable over the rough and chatter.  I've also had the pleasure of taking this bike out on 3-4 hour training/fun rides and it totally rips.  I never thought I'd choose a hardtail over my Tallboy for a fun ride but with this bike, sometimes I do!  It isn't the lightest frame in the category (still incredibly light!) because the Santa Cruz brand to me also represents durability.  They made it strong too.  You can have some serious fun on this bike, racing or just riding, mashing into rocks as much as your wheels and wrists can take, taking drops and even jumps.

Ride, race, or look at this bike and it will bring a smile to your face!

8/7/11 Howell Mountain Challenge

Spend 15 hours on the bike, plus 4 days gym workouts, and 5-6 hours of sleep each night in a week and then race a tough 30 mile MTB race?  Mmmm... ok.  Oh and still be motivated to push it and try to win.  Uhh... raincheck?

I overcame the urge to stay in bed at 6am, even though that's sleeping in for me, mainly because I didn't get up at 3:45 with Jen to go work the TBF Tri 4 Real because I was racing.  Wandering around the house, gathering all the gear together and making the bottle mixes of HEED for a 2hr race, thoughts and excuses rolling through my head trying to justify not doing it.  But this is one of my favorite courses of the year, tough, but rewarding.  So I zombie'd around the house and before I knew it I was westbound for Angwin.  

The legs were pretty heavy feeling during the warmup, and even caffeine wasn't really getting me juiced to hammer.  Oh well, it's a pretty long race, maybe they'll come around in an hour or so and if I can manage to stay towards the front I'll still be in it.  Well the gun went off and up the dreadful start climb we went, with the Whole Athlete kids sprinting off the front.  Argh.  I was off the back of the lead group right away.  Up the climb and hike section to the top and then onto the flats for a half mile, I could already see there was a lead group of 4 or so breaking away, and another chase pack, then me, in about 11th place by the time we get into the first singletrack.  I tried to keep track of the number of riders in front of me as the plan was just to pick them off slowly.  Through the fun singletrack in the trees, drifting, twisting, climbing, where no matter how narrow your bars are the gaps in the trees still feel tight.  Super fun stuff.  Ok, starting to feel better.  I start to see some dust and then get into an open stretch and see some "rabbits" to catch.  Well here we go.  10...9...8... and then some more twisty singletrack and rocks.  I love my Highball... good choice... the bike was rockin' it.  7... steep climb, punch it, 6...  more singletrack and then a fast fire road descent... 5... climbing again, oops, 6... 7... good job guys.  Ok now the last descent before the steep climb, 6..., ....and up the steep climb we go into the granny and standing but it's too loose and I have to walk the last bit.  7... dang, nice job man.  But next up is my forte, the long gradual climb where the diesel power shines.  But I look down and discover a lap 1 casualty; lost the seat tube mounted water bottle somewhere.  Dang!  That was one of the good Camelbak ones, hopefully I can find it on the next lap because rationing just 1 bottle for this race is pushing the fluid intake limits.  Still climbing, 6... 5... 4... now lap two and I see Brian Astell up ahead with about a 30 second gap as we go into the trees for round two.  Riding by myself for a while, trying to stay smooth and on top of the pedals.  I finally catch Brian after going through the rocks, half way through the lap and as I go by, "there's three guys ahead right?"  Brian said he thought there was only two.  Guess I must have miss counted.  I was sleep deprived and trying to do high level math while racing, so it's a possibility.  I could see them riding together in the couple long stretches, maybe just 30 seconds up.  Down the hill I go again, keeping a sharp eye out for my MIA waterbottle... no luck.  As I get to near the top of the steep climb again, going around a lapped rider I slip out.  As I dismount I hear "Hey Clint!" from behind me.  Brian was at the base of the climb and as I look back "You're right, there are three guys ahead!"  Aha!  So I was right (and my math skills were still sharp)!  Cool.  But where was that leader?  

Time for the long climb again, what pops into my head? Dori from "Finding Nemo" singing: "Just keep swimming swimming swimming..."

Well, swap swimming with pedaling and DO IT!!!  The plan is working!  They're getting closer!  

Lap 3, no luck on finding the lost bottle and not much is left in the one I have.  By the end of the singletrack I'm seeing lots of dust and we pop out onto a road section and I've caught them.  Two Whole Athlete Cat 1 racers putting out a strong race.  I seesaw with them a bit and one gets a bit of separation from us.  Nice effort, I can't match it.  I just about catch back up to him on the long grinder climb though, giving it all I had, but there's just too much gap.  I get to the rocky "whoop de doos" and over the first one, down and up the second but when I stand up to power over the rocks the chain skips and I land on the top tube, ouch.  As I get my breath back from a crotch impact the next guy goes by, 3... and I still had to run up the rest of that whoop.  He put some time on me there, too much to get back with only about a mile to go and I eventually roll across the line 4th overall,  20 seconds back from 3rd, and another 20 seconds from 2nd.  Nice job guys.  But the winner, Will Curtis, crushed it and was three minutes up!  Turns out he was fully rested and in redemption mode after a bad race a couple weeks prior and really wanted this one.  And "wanting it" vs. "looking for excuses to stay in bed" equaled three minutes.  It would have been interesting to compare our lap times though, because my last one was feeling pretty good.  But I certainly didn't have the motivation to go ride for a couple hours after the race... took a little cat nap on the grass waiting for the awards instead :-).  

I'm happy though with the solid and consistent effort that I was able to put out, finishing as the 2nd place pro and a time over five minutes faster than last year's.  Must be the bike :-).

2011 XC MTB National Championships Race Report

Just a few days after the Downieville Classic I loaded up the rental car and set off for Sun Valley, Idaho and this year's National Champs.  The drive would be about 650 miles from Sacramento and take me through country I'd never been, so I was pretty excited.

I think I did a good packing job!

Unfortunately Jen wouldn't be joining me this year, with all the time off work she's having to take to rehab her foot, tagging along for this trip wasn't going to happen.  So rollin' solo... across I-80 and norther Nevada where I learned there is NOTHING out there!  It's beautiful in it's openness, but my cell wasn't getting service so I felt a little isolated.  At least the car had XM radio and the comedy channel was great.  Oh and in my opinion roads that straight and flat shouldn't have speed limits!  Where there wasn't road construction that is... and there was lots of that.

I got stopped for about 20 minutes just north of Wells, NV to wait for construction.  At least there were some calves in the trailer in front of me that kept me entertained and I got some good stretching in...

So I finally made it to the race venue in Sun Valley at about 4:30pm, with the intention of getting a few runs in on the Super D course.  But I had forgotten that Sun Valley is an hour ahead and it was actually 5:30.  By the time I got all my registration stuff and got suited up, the gondola was shut down.  Bummer, well looks like I'd be riding the XC course.  I rolled out on the Tallboy to scope out the course and decided to see what pain this years race was going to bring.  Right off the bat we'd be climbing up a fire road and gaining about 620ft of vert.  Pretty much riding up a ski run, where I heard in places it got to a 27% grade.  I'm not sure if that's right, but it sure was steep in spots and the dirt was a little loose too which made standing up a bit difficult.  Once that climb was over, there was some fun to be had in the trees.  The trail turned to singletrack and wound back down the hill with a ton of tight switchbacks where the best way to get through them was to stick a foot out moto style and slid the back end around, then sprint out of the corner.  Pretty fun.  There were a few roots and rocks to go over but it was overall very smooth.  Down at the bottom they had one short downhill fabricated rock garden that was easy to roll (especially on the 29er!) once you get the line set up correctly.  Just let off the brakes and let 'er fly.  Unfortunately some people didn't obey the "speed is your friend" concept here and took some bad tumbles.  After that the course wound around the lodge and into the "River Run Rock Garden" which was a flat bit of dirt about 50yds long where they embedded a bunch of big rocks.  This section was just annoying to me and was there just to break the flow of the course.  But I eventually found a couple lines through it and got used to it.  After a couple laps on the pro course I decided to take a lap on the amateur course to change up the scenery and get some more sweet Idaho singletrack and views.

Thursday afternoon the Super D course was finally open for practice and I was enjoying not pedaling all the way up.

View from the Start of the Super D, looking down on Ketchum and Sun Valley.

The Super D course started off with about a 4 minute (at race pace) climb on a fire road that gained about 300 vert.  Then, whether you're ready or not you're shot into a singletrack chute and after a couple pedal strokes you realize you're going wayyyy to fast to make that first blind left corner.  Conditions were a little loose up top so you just feather the brake and find that line between drift and grip and hope you remember how tight that next corner is.  The top trails were technically easy, except for the fact you're going really really fast.  My first run down I qualified that as "scary."  But I got more and more comfortable and after 4 complete runs on the course I felt good about it.  I even caught the upper chairlift and took it to the very top of Bald Mountain (9000 ft.) to get some extra riding above the Super D start.

The Tallboy at 9000ft. atop Bald Mtn.

Friday morning I was at the venue early, around 6:45am with the Highball to ride the XC course again.  I was pretty certain that was the best bike for the race but my gearing was still TBD with that nasty climb.  The night before I had put on a 32t front ring instead of the 36t 1x10 setup.  Well one trip up the hill and I had my answer, I needed more gear.  Luckily I had brought my triple ring setup and shifter and as I was heading back to the car I noticed the Shimano support guys were up early, and Ryan was willing to help me switch it out... SWEET!

Of course though, I forgot the chainring bolts!  And the new XTR bolts are different than any others and they didn't have any spares.  He ended up scrounging some Ultegra bolts and had to file them down by hand.

Thankfully the bolts are aluminum so they filed away easily.  They worked perfectly and we got the triple setup working like a charm.  Thanks Shimano!  I took it for a spin and knew I was going to be very happy I made the change!  Mmmm granny gear comfort!

2pm Saturday was go time for the XC race, and I was lucky #13... at least I was hoping it was lucky!  Fellow Mad Cat Patrick Morin was also there with his family (kids Avery and Wyatt were racing Jr's) and he was willing to be my tech and feed support for the race... sweet!

I had a call-up in the mid/back of the pack, 47th I think, out of 65 racers starting.  Once the gun went off it was the usual start sprint and then straight up that climb.  It was a wide fire road so I wasn't expecting there to be a bottleneck but sure enough someone in front of me had to get off and therefore so did I, lame.  I love running in a bike race... Once I remounted after loosing some positions I set my "diesel" pace for the climb and slowly picked off riders handfulls at a time.  Some people were slipping out on the loose dirt in the steep sections but the Highball is so balanced and the WTB Nanos gripped just enough I could keep the steady power down.

I finally made it to the top of the first climb and then hit the singletrack gasping for air.  The first few turns were spent narrowly avoiding trees because I was so focused on recovering.  I caught up to a couple riders on the decent but there really wasn't anywhere to pass and honestly I didn't want to exert myself much anywhere else on the course except for that climb.  There was a big crowd at the bottom though which was pretty energizing as they watched everyone go down the last rock section.  Here's a video of that first lap descent:

And the "River Run Rock Garden" was filled with hecklers ready to raz or cheer everyone struggling through the rocks.

Lap 2 was a little bit of a recovery lap and I didn't push the pace too much on the climb, but there were already guys walking in a couple of the steepest spots and I still passed a few before making the turn at the top again.  I had another clean run down the switchbacks and when I got to the rock garden at the bottom I took my usual line which was a little different than most others.  I would cut across the inside diagonally from the top, squeak between a couple bigger rocks and then hit the smother line at the bottom.  But I caught my right pedal on one of those taller rocks on top which pitched my back end up and a little sideways.  The crowed let out a uniform gasp of "Oooohs" and it must have looked like I was going to cartwheel down the whole thing.  I stayed loose and it didn't feel to bad to me, I didn't touch the brakes and let the big wheels keep rollin' and the back end came down about half way down the rocks to the amazement of the crowd as the all let out a roaring cheer!  I busted up laughing before I got to the bottom and got a huge lift in spirits from the whole crowd cheering me on.  I've never had that, and it was awesome.  Oh and I took a different line the rest of my laps :-).

I set up the hill for lap three and like the previous two laps, refused the "feed" from the guy giving out marshmallows.  "MARSHMALLOW FEED!!!" He'd yell and hold one out, it made me laugh each lap.

My 3rd and 4th laps were my fastest and I continued to pass quite a few guys on the the climb each lap.  I was so thankful to have that triple ring and it was really starting to sting and I was certainly using the little gears.  I had one more bobble during the race on my 5th trip through the lower flat rock garden.  I lost my balance and momentum in the rocks and popped my chain off trying to shift down.  It's such a slow section though I didn't loose much time and found a place to remount and ride it out and only had to run a few feet.

My final (6th) lap I put out a big effort on the last climb and passed 3 more riders before the top.  It was pretty spread out by then.  I caught another rider on the descent and was right on his wheel when he crashed on a switchback.  I ran over his back tire and kept on going as fast as I could to the bottom almost picking off one more by the finish but he got me by a wheel.

I finished up in 24th place and I'm really happy with my effort.  It's my first time in the top 25 at this level and at National Champs!  Positions 31 and back were lapped and pulled from the race.  Just goes to show you how tough the course was to race on.  Thanks so much to Patrick Morin for the awesome feeds, and the cold water splash on the back on the last lap, that felt great!  And thank you to Judy (Jen's Aunt, who drove down from northern Idaho to watch) for the cheers and lap times.

Here's my GPS data from the race:

Sunday morning it was time for the Super D throw down and I was up early to catch a 6:45am gondola ride to the top for one last preride.  But when I dropped into the singletack I discovered an "x-factor" I hadn't considered the day before, the sun.  The hillside we were blazing down was mostly east facing and the morning sun was glaring right in my eyes.  I switched to dark lenses on the goggles to minimize the squintage but since they didn't have polarization the glare was really bad.  Not being able to see really made it scary on those fast, loose, blind corners.  But everyone would have to deal with it.

Super D start area

I was one of the early start spots and had Alexander Grant and Adam Craig in front of me so I knew I wouldn't be slowed up.  My legs were feeling decently recovered from the XC race on Saturday so once I got going I was feeling good on the climb.  On the long part I could see Adam and Alex and I didn't seem to be loosing any ground really.  I got to the top, put the Tallboy into "shred mode" (opened the rear shock and extended the fork to 120mm) and dropped the hammer down the first descent and promptly overcooked into the first corner and slid my rear wheel off the edge of the trail but recovered.  I got back on the pedals for a long straightaway descent and boosted some air off of a rise.  That's not the "fast" thing to do but it's fun and helps me relax and be smooth for the rest of the run, which is faster overall.  I nailed the first right hand switchback which was the tightest of the course and kept on truckin' into the sun now.  I kept it clean on the top section and felt fast all the way down to the fire road.  I got in some good drifts around the corners on the road and pedaled wherever I could, hitting the singletrack corner at the bottom with a ton of speed pulled some good g's before heading back into the trees.  I came up on a rider who'd had a mechanical, he got off the trail and I made it by clean but after the next corner I heard an odd clanking noise from him down the hill.  I turned to look, not knowing if I was falling or something, and he'd just hopped on his bike to ride straight down for a shortcut.  That look back though pulled me off my line and I went off the trail and had to put a foot down and pull myself up loosing a couple valuable seconds.  A few more corners in the trees, one more fire road section and then a sweeping downhill turn, off camber and loose, to bring me into the top singletrack section of the prior day's XC course which I'd pretty much memorized by this point.  I let the Tallboy do the work and just stayed loose and off the brakes... for everything but the switchbacks of course :-).  No bobbles from here on out and I felt fast, clearing the final rock garden and coming across the line exactly 1 minute behind the winner Adam Craig.  I'm stoked to say that time put me in 8th place!!!  Also, with a new All Mountain category this year, combining the XC and Super D events, my placing in both of those got me 4th place!  Nice!

I'm really happy with how Nationals went this year, I gave it my all in both events and considering everything that's happened this year I think it was a big success.  I would have liked to stay and race the Short Track race as well, but it started too late in the day for me to realistically make the drive back and go to work the next day.  I didn't want to leave Sun Valley, it was absolutely beautiful.  Ketchum is a pretty cool little town and I really wanted to stay around there at least a few more days and just explore some of the great trails and places I heard people talking about.  I can't wait to come back next year.

7/9-10 Downieville All Mountain Championships Race Report

Last year they barely got the snow cleared in time for the Downieville Classic, and this year there was even more snow!  This led to a cross country course re-route, cutting out Sunrise Trail, the traverse over to the "baby heads" and Pauley Creek Trail.  Cutting out about 8 miles and to me, what really makes this a cross country race instead of one big climb then a downhill race.  Even with cutting out all that mileage, they had to shovel and snow-blow out the top of Butcher Ranch trail.  Normally I try to get up there and pre-ride a few times before the race, but this year I only made it one time.  And since the top wasn't accessible yet, I rode up the downhill trails (you don't realize how steep they really are until you ride UP them! No wonder we go so fast!) to the snow line. Most of what I rode that day was in very similar condition to last year, but as I learned during the race, what I didn't ride got gnarly.

The Santa Cruz Tallboy would be my race rig set up with WTB Stryker TCS XC 29 wheels WTB Wolverine 2.2 tires.  Even with the 774g tires (my usual XC tires are 560g) she weighed in at 25.12lbs all set up with the spare tube and Garmin taped on the frame.  Sweet.

I got in a good warm up and lined up at the front next to a few other fast guys, Carl Decker (last years winner), Aaron Bradford and Sid Taberlay to name a few.

Once the gun went off it was on... with 700+ other guys and gals who willingly paid a lot of money to suffer up the climb from Sierra City, about 3200 vertical feet.  But it's for a good cause right?  No... not just to get the free beer at the end, but to promote the building and preservation of some pretty awesome trails.  Well suffer fest it was as in years past.  The pace started out fairly calm but then picked up after about a 1/4 mile when a guy from the Marc Pro / Strava road team went off the front.  I think all of us in the lead group thought to ourselves... "Nah... not yet, we're still on the pavement dude."  It got a little more stretched out and the pace seemed to progressively pick up when we hit the dirt, and I think I was in the top 15 or so.

Not much to talk about with the climb, it's a steep, loose fire road that climbs 3000+ feet in 8 miles... it hurts. I pretty much spend my time picking my lines to make sure I don't slip out and staring at my heart rate trying to keep a strong pace but not blow up.  I wasn't able to keep up with the lead few unfortunately and crested the top in about 10th, in just about 54 minutes.  This is where the course deviation began.  Instead of diving into Sunrise Trail, we turned down the paved road for maybe a half mile, trying not to slip out on the wet snow run-off going 30-something mph on tires you have just a little more inflated then normal because it's Downieville and you hit big rocks, hard.  I dove into the Butcher Ranch fire road just a little fast, hit the first hump and launched!  I landed with just enough time to lock up the rear and hit the berm for the corner.  Phew!  That was almost bad.  The road was in pretty good shape for the first few hundred yards, then started the snow run off and water crossings.  And boy were those deep!  I tried to wheelie across the first one and came up a little short, the front wheel dove into a hole and I just about endo'd.  I kept on through the few mud bogs and then through the last g-out before putting on my glasses.  Didn't want a ton of spackle on there when I entered the trees.  I had to slow a bit to put them on and Kenny Burt went blazing by.  I tried to catch up but he was a man on a mission!  And I still hadn't seen this part of the trail yet this year.  With all the snow run off, a lot of the dirt had washed away leaving a much gnarlier, rockier, flow-breaking trail than I remembered. This is the part of my race which really frustrated me.  I really tensed up and went into survival mode, trying to protect body and bike.  I lost a lot of time there, but finally made it to the "waterfall" which was roaring.  I played it safe and decided to run through it.  Pansy.
Shortly after the waterfall I was passed by Greg Stone who I've been evenly matched with the last few races, but he's a better descender than I am.  So I stuck on his back wheel since I knew the trail from here on and I knew he'd be predictable and pick good lines.  Once we finished up Butcher we crossed the bridge and started up "Cramp Climb" as I like to call it.  Because after the hour long climb and then being in a neutral descending stance for the next 10 minutes or so, that's just what happens.  Greg cramped but kept going, and it was the same for me.  I could still pedal but I couldn't push it as hard as I wanted.  Aaron Timmel didn't cramp I guess, because he was able to pass me just as we crested the top and started the super fast 3rd Divide Trail.  I let him by because I figured he wouldn't hold me up and I still wouldn't lose sight of Greg.  Well I guess Aaron blew himself up a bit on that climb because right away I was on his wheel and Greg was gone, dang.  After a little bit I asked to pass and he pulled over in a good spot and I put the hammer down.  3rd Divide trail is so awesome.  Warp speed... trees blurred, eyes tearing (from wind, and joy), knuckles white, and heart rate pegged.  I get to the bottom and climb up onto the fire road and Aaron passes me again along with Kevin Smallman, dang.  I stay with them all the way down into 1st divide and we're riding it all together.  That was pretty fun, hammering as hard as we can racing together at D'ville... that NEVER happens!  It's usually so spread out.  We catch as pass Menso De Jong (fast MTBer turned Pro Roadie) on the lower portion of 1st divide, on a climb no less, which I was really surprised about.  But as soon as I dropped down onto the road for the last "TT" to the finish Menso and his 6'6" legs power on by, wow.  I rolled into the finish with a 14th place of the Pro Men but 12th in the Pro All Mountain field.  Pretty good for me considering it was a much more downhiller friendly course this year and I totally seized up on upper Butcher.

This year I wasn't staying in Downieville for the weekend but elected to drive to/from home each day.  2hrs each way probably didn't help my recovery and prep, but it was nice to see Jen (and my Mom who was visiting and helping Jen out with our reg/timing duties with TBF), eat good food and sleep in a real bed.  Only problem was that Jen had to get up at 3:45am each morning and on Saturday she accidentally turned my alarm off too!  Thankfully I woke up just 20 minutes after I was supposed to get up!  But that was a real "OH @#%#" moment!

I didn't have the alarm issue on Sunday thankfully and made it up there early enough to catch a ride to the top with Billy Damon, but I forgot my water bottle in the car!  Doh!  Thanks to Cody Kaiser for lending me a spare Kinetic Cycles bottle... it was even red and matched my kit too.  I got in a good warmup and was in the start gate early, the 20th rider to go off.  I was determined to have a better run through upper Butcher, and I did.  I was able to stay much more loose and try to flow with the trail a little better.  I made it to the waterfall with confidence and a good line and was determined to ride it.  I went up over the first rock and when I took a pedal stroke to power up over the next rock there was nothing there, the chain had fallen off!  So I pogo'd off that rock and got bounced into the bushes to the left.  I hopped off and put the chain back on, remounted and rode out the rest of the waterfall from there.  After that I felt clean, smooth and fast all the way down to 1st Divide where I think I rode that as fast as I ever have.

I still play things fairly conservative though, just not quite willing to leave D'ville by helo or ambulance I suppose.  I came across the line with a time of 42:08, 3 minutes and 18 seconds back from the DH winner Aaron Bradford.  That put me into 19th for the DH, and with the new points system I came in 17th for the overall All Mountain World Championships.  And if they still calculated it by combined time, I would have placed 11th.  I'm happy with a top 20 either way and a fun weekend!

After the DH race I went for a little exploration and had some fun cruising on the South Yuba Trail.  That is some tight, real true singletrack!  Fun stuff!  And some good views too.

Just found this nice little video recap of the weekend on singletrack.com: http://singletrack.competitor.com/2011/07/features/2011-downieville-classic-wrappin-it-up_18564/1

6/25 Annadel XC Race

So one of the answers to solving the CA budget crisis is to close a bunch (70 was the last number I heard) of State Parks.  Yeah, the places where people go to enjoy our beautiful state, get active and healthy.  Really makes sense to close recreational areas when another main political initiative is to promote an active and healthy lifestyle right?  Anyways, Bike Monkey Magazine decided to do something about it since one of Nor-Cal's MTB/hiking/horseback riding gem's was on the chopping block: Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa.  They worked their tails off and somehow got the OK to host a MTB race there, the first one in about 25 years, with proceeds to go towards keeping Annadel SP open for all to use.  And what an awesome event it was!

We (all 615 of us!) started out in downtown Santa Rosa in front of city hall in a massive "neutral" start going up Sonoma Ave. towards Howarth Park.  This neutral start was supposed to be a 15mph conversational pace until Yulupa Ave. and then we'd get a 1/4 mile to put the pedals down before hitting the trails.  I say "supposed to be" because it went quickly up to 20mph as we followed the Bike Monkey truck, and then faster, 24, 26, and I worked my way out of the middle of the peloton and up to 27/28mph to the front and tucked in behind my buddy Keith Hillier who was motor-pacing behind the truck.  

Do these look like the faces of riders during a neutral start???

We got to the cross street BEFORE Yulupa Ave. and the driver gassed it... uh ok, I guess we're going now!  I just stayed in behind Keith, who's a Cat 1 road racer btw, and didn't get anxious as more riders worked their way up to the front.  When I got to where we could finally see the trail head, I worked my way to the outside and up to 28+ and went around into a good spot, fitting in about 13th or so as we hit the first fire road climb.  

The first climb was actually pretty steep and loose, the perfect combination to sort out those who maybe shouldn't be up in the front for a MTB race.  And that it did as our lead group seemed to pull a gap on the rest of the field.  We kept climbing and the leaders were charging hard.  I kept in contact but didn't feel the need to blow up and stay in right up there on them since there were so many miles left.  And frankly, I just don't have that "burst" gear right now.  Just the big diesel motor.  

We entered into Annadel SP with some tight singletrack and I caught back up to the group as we traversed over to the Cobblestone Trail downhill.  It wasn't too steep or technical but there were definitely some places you could make some mistakes easily and ruin your day early if you caught a sharp rock wrong, slipped off a root or missed a turn.  A NorCal Bikesport (local Santa Rosa bike shop) rider came up behind me and said he knows the trail and wanted by.  No problem and there was a dual line banked corner coming up so I let him have the inside and then I got back on his wheel as he showed me the best lines.  We got to the bottom where we started the Channel Dr. flat road section at about 20 seconds back from the lead 7 or so riders.  We had some fun rolling singletrack along the road for a half mile or so before turning up the Richardson Trail fire road climb.  I dug in and found a good rhythm and passed up to 6th by the top.  I could see the lead group where it was open and they were maybe 10-15 seconds ahead.  

We got into some singletrack and fun rocky riding on North Burma and Live Oak trails and made our way around Lake Ilsanjo to climb up the back side of Richardson.  This was a bit of smooth fire road and when I came around the corner on the first climb I could tell there was a shake-up with the front group.  It looked like two riders had attacked off the front, leaving Dario Frederick, Will Curtis, and Brian Astell in a chase group.  Brian fell back a little as we got into the beautiful wooded climbing on Richardson and I made the pass into 5th.  We had some more climbing to do on South Burma trail where it got rocky and my Tallboy really shined.  Will fumbled a bit on a rock and slipped his rear wheel into a rut and allowed me to close right up.  I followed him as he caught back up to Dario and then made the pass on them both into 3rd before a sweet bit of rocky and tight DH on Marsh trail and extended a little gap.  

Then came pretty much the reward for doing the long loop with the Lawndale Downhill.  Here you can really open her up and fly through the trees like a storm trooper in the Ewok Forest.  Here's a YouTube video (not me, just one I found while doing my "virtual preride" of the course) if you have 9 minutes to sit back and enjoy the ride.  I was having a blast and the Tallboy was just floating as I opened up the fork to 120mm and sat back.  I was getting a little spoiled with fantastic dirt conditions as I went into a right hand turn (time-stamp 2:53 on that youtube video I believe) and it was just a bit more loose than the others and my front wheel washed out.  I saved it from a fall but the front wheel slid into the bank and sprung back to the right and my body was so far over to the left from saving the slide I was completely out of position now and the bike was pointed off the trail.  I pulled myself back up right as the bike went off the trail and started going down the hill to the right.  "$#@&!!!" At that point I just laid it down on the left side to save time and body from a bigger trip down the hill.  Just loosing a few seconds I hustled back up a few feet to the trail, remounted and went back to work.  Whoa, ok settle down, deep breath... stay loose and find flow again.  I got calmed down after a few more swoopy turns of DH fun and reached the bottom of Lawndale and jumped the gate into the parking lot where there was a crowd cheering me on... awesome!  The race director had previously said that Camelbak would be at the base of Lawndale handing out bottles and I was counting on that.  I had rationed perfectly and made the turn in the parking lot taking my last swig and ditched the empty as the Camelbak guys came through with their Podium Chill bottle filled with nice cold water.  Nice... thanks guys!

Not having to worry about fluids anymore (it was in the back of my mind until that point) I chugged Hammer Gel and water as I climbed up Lawndale and Schulz road.  I could see the lead two riders and they were about 35 seconds (according to a helpful spectator) ahead as we climbed.  This road section wound about on a one lane bit of tarmac and it was kind of fun to rail the turns and make the knobbies hum.  I came around the last bend and saw a CHP cruiser roadblock and knew it would be back to the dirt and arguably the hardest climb of the day on Schulz trail.  

The Schulz climb becomes almost continuous rock as you climb and is pretty rough pedaling.  This climb was my deciding factor in choosing the Tallboy over the Highball (hardtail) for the day.  Boy was I glad.  The suspension and big wheels soaked up the bumps and I could stay seated, keeping the power down, and I caught and passed the #2 rider as we got into the winding trees of Pig Flat and Ridge trails.  These wooded trails were super flowy and full of MTB awesomeness.  Swooping in and out of the trees, up and down, in and around rocks and roots.  The kind of trails that almost make you forget you're in a race.  I did say almost, because I could see the leader as we wrapped around the contours and I was getting closer.  I was also riding scared because I was sure Dario, Will, Brian, Jason Moeschler or Mark Weir (and many more in this packed field!) would be catching me at any point.  Especially Jason and Mark, known for their descending and trail hammering skills, after the Lawndale DH.  So I kept pushing.  But each time I pushed a little harder the leg cramps would start to creep up and I'd have to back off.  So I'd play this game with my legs and tiptoe that line of pushing too hard and seizing up yet still being fast.  I still seemed to be gaining ground on the leader, Aaron Timmel, as we began the gradual descent of Canyon trail.  We broke out of the trees and the trail opened up to more of a fire road, but it was quite rocky.  I pushed it and flirted with the out of control line, two wheel drifting into corners and sprinting out of them if my legs would allow it.  More and more hikers and spectators began to line the trail and I knew we must be getting close to the finish.

I was close, about 10 seconds, inner thigh muscles fully cramped up and giving it all I had when we came around a left turn and I saw the finish line ahead.  I just ran out of real estate but I'm totally stoked on 2nd place!  I think if there was another climb, I could have taken it, but who knows?  It was a great race.  I rolled up to Aaron after the line and congratulated him on a great race.  He said "Man you were like the ghost in the woods!  You suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"  3rd, 4th and 5th soon rolled in to high fives from Aaron and I and we were all smiles after a great race on awesome trails.  

I quickly pedaled over and found Jen and gave her a big dirty, smelly hug and kiss :-).  

And then I got my free burrito and beer... Mmmmmm!

Fast company!

Hopefully we helped save the park, sure had a good time there.  As I rolled back to where our car was parked at the start I was a little jealous of all the people who lived in the houses I passed by.  You guys are lucky, get out there and enjoy it!

Here's my route/ride data from the GPS: