Vail Lake DH Race, November 8th

great time today. good seeing a bunch of you guys. gotta hang out with Mark (mfoga), Eric (Marshall Willanholy), and a bunch of other people (such as the infamous Nancy and Roger).

Also nice meeting a few new people, like RC compton, and a few other folks I can't think of.

now down to business: where are the pictures? :wave: I've got a few random ones, so if you let me know your number plate I MIGHT have you somewhere (my dad was just taking random pictures of people)

Also, anyone happen to know how the 19-26 sport men's class panned out? I think I did well (passed a guy at the dust bowl turn :bang, but iunno from there. Had to leave early before my ride took off in search of food.

 

Anyone have the jr x results, they messed them up big time and i left before they were fixed.

This race was really fun though, the course was great and so were the people. In all it was a really fun time.

 

Nothing yet I was the guy behind you. (nice to meet you haha) No one has results yet

 

nice to meet you too! You meet people and don't even know you did :lol::beer:

 

PHOTOBUCKET ALBUM - HILLBILLY RACE

I think that's the link. Lots of pics... many of them rather fuzzy. You'll see some familiar faces. 8-[

 

Actually a really fun track and a great turnout.

 

Thanks for the cool pics Phil, to bad you couldn't get a shot of the wind blowing my tent into the creek with me in it.

 

Thanks to everyone who made this weekend a success...Robert with Racers n Chasers for a super fun XC course (and the coolest number plates ever), EC and Dale for organizing the Hillbilly Race, Mike for MC'ing, all the shuttle drivers and volunteers who helped pull this race together. Awesome job :clap::clap:...we had a great time!!

 

Awesome shot of you :lol: Thanks for the RR:beer:

 

RR: XC and DH

Had a great time doing the Racers n Chasers XC ride on Saturday morning.

Arriving at the venue


Some of the many volunteers, including Dale from D26


XC racers


Luke on the XC


Temps climbed up into the 80s pretty quickly, which made for a headache by the time I finished. The mass start was a little hectic but things settled in pretty well once we got onto the singletrack. I have to say...I was impressed by how much singletrack Robert worked into the course...it was really fun.

Me, followed by a guy with a broken derailleur...he gritted it out


I was racing myself (nobody else in my age group). Before I knew it, the race was over even though I felt like I had just started warming up.

XC finish


I took the mid-afternoon off and rested, then got suited up for DH and took one practice run. The course was pretty loose and sandy in the turns (not my DH strong point) and I was kind of 50-50 on whether I would race. One run and my headache returned so I called it quits while everyone else was up practicing for the rest of the day.

Set up camp and then tried to cook dinner (camp stove has a leaky seal). So, we headed down to watch the Redneck Games (toilet seat toss, bobbing for pig's feet, tire roll) and then went for some dinner down by the freeway. Best part was hanging with everyone and catching up with friends.

The Redneck Games


You have to look close, but that's Dave Weagle (E13, DW-link, Evil bikes guy) tossing a toilet seat


Some of the kids dressed to the nines in hillbilly get-ups


Cool decorations


Turned in early and woke up in the middle of the morning to the sound of rain on the roof of the tent. And then the wind started.

What's at the end of your rainbow? At the end of ours is a sweet bike park in the making


It stayed windy for most of the day. I decided to race (after 8 months of not racing DH I was worried I'd be pretty rusty but I felt good during practice).

In any case, it was chilly and windy at the top of the course but the lines were burned in pretty well. I took it pretty conservatively and made most of my lines and had a pretty clean run. Still waiting to hear how I finished but I know the other girls were all really fast today so we'll see.

Pro men's podium...1st JD Swanguen, 2nd Cody Warren, 3rd Kevin Aiello, 4th ?, 5th Brad Oien


Vet pro podium...Man blong Gaua (Dan) 4th


Man blong Gaua with his Hillbilly trophy


We had an awesome time out there and can't wait for the next round! Thanks especially to all those who came out to spectate and cheer the racers on

 

So Dave Weagal WAS out there! #-o
I was wondering why that guy looked so familiar..

haha I'm glad no one caught any photos of me scratching my butt, while waiting for shuttles to pass and watching Super D. :lol:

 

Yeah...it was a funny story...

My friend Alex and I were standing in the parking lot. A guy rides up on a brand new 09 Turner.

Alex says, "Wow...you must know somebody to already have one of those!"

The guy says, "Yeah, something like that."

I see that the guy has Utah plates so I ask here he is from. "Martha's Vineyard," he replies.

Alex and he banter on about the bike.

Then, a light bulb goes off in my head.

"If you're from the Vineyard, you must know the guys at Evil Bikes then." (I'm from MA, too and remembered my sister went to the Vineyard a few years ago...came back and told me she & her boyfriend stayed at the house of the guy who started Evil...of course, she had no idea what that meant ).

The guy goes, "Yeah, I actually started Evil."

Turns out we were talking to Dave Weagle the whole time! He was really nice about it and was really down to earth. Guess that 'splains why he has a nice shiny new Turner

 

Had a great time, I am shocked I didnt get to meet a few other of you that were there. I felt good on most of practice runs today so I get to the top early so I can see everyones runs, opps goggles are in the car still oh well. Watched everyone run then just sat there, talked with most of those in my class. They line us up and I was first out#-o. That was the spot I didnt want. So i get out made the first few turns best I had, then blow the next one, I am like crap. Push harder blow the next one. I did that another 2 times. I was pretty disappointed in my performance. I have no idea how I placed or what my time was but that was one of my worst runs. I had fun but I physced myself out being first out.

Like as others said the results will be up in a few days.

Oh crap just looked at pics, Phil did you have a Kona sweatshirt on today?

 

I forgot one of my favorite parts of the day, the fact that the signs for Vailocity has mountain misspelled:lol:

 

wanted to take a sec to thank everyone for coming out to our HillBilly bike bash this weekend, its support like this that show the folks at Vail Lake resort how much fun our community is.... Dale and I busted tail the last 5 weeks to launch this thing and we are super stoked with the turn out and feedback...everyone seemed to have a blast,

We realize there are some big and small hurdles we have to fine tune but based on feedback we got, there was a lot more positive then negative and it motivates us to do some more stuff like this...

i want to personally thank all the people that help put the event on, without you we would have not been able to pull it off.

please send us e-mails with feedback so we can continue to grow and get better for all of us,

E.C.

 

Yeah I had a feeling that was him. I don't know anyone else that speaks so energetically.

 

A few pics from Sunday

My 10 year old took 2nd in the semi-pro class! He's fast!!!:bang:
If you see one you like, let me know and I'll e-mail to you.

 

More pics of Sunday!

 

Just a few more. Enjoy!:beer:

 

Thanks Eric & Crew, Vail Lake & Crew for throwing on the event.

Build it & they will come, I will for sure be back.

Family had a great time. My whole crew had a great time. RV park open to MTB'ers.

All the efforts everyone involved to make this happen, is much appreciated.

Thank You again to all involved in making Vailocity. It was a GREAT TIME!!!