That's lovingly referred to as The Fontana Hack. Seems no matter what kind of shape you are in, once you sprint that wall and cross the finish line, you are doomed to 24 hours of deep coughing and sore throat.
It's pretty random out there without a course set up. If you do go, you will want to pick and choose your features wisely. When there is a race course set up, attention is paid to transitions up and off of features, if you are just riding around at random, you will need to do some pretty serious scouting.
This is an old post, but since the Winter Series is approaching, I want to respond. The DH courses at Fontana can get very, very serious in terms of chunk and steep. There are typically two routes set - one for beginner and sport classes and one for pro/expert classes. They use the same start and finish. Some of the Pro/Ex courses are gnarly. The beg/sport courses are often a little too tame, but sometimes pretty challenging. Every once in a while, there is no split and everyone runs the same course, making it pretty tame for the pros and experts. Then, there's the wall...
Dylan's a hell of a rider. Saw him in Aliso doing a TLD photoshoot. I believe he's sponsored by Intense now?
That's not Dylan, that's a kid who's name is Josh Gibbons. He ride's for Fullerton Bikes in the Jr. X class. He's got great style. Dylan is the pic above Josh in Fully Mike's post.
my buddy who lives out that way now is looking for people to ride with. he's a new to the dh sport. I'm looking to make a trip down in Dec for a weekend for Sat.& Sunday hike'n bike. I don't know if the admins have accepted his membership request yet.