Vail Lake DH Race, November 8th

eh, the 6" fork wasn't all too bad. most of the course was fine. there were a few of the steeper sections where a bigger bike would have been nice (ideal line is over a few rocks ), but nothing that was hard to deal with.

on the plus side, more suspension will (usually) mean more supple suspension, which means better traction in all corners. that's never a bad thing

 

I've seen what you can do on a 6" fork (and a tiny 2.1" tire) on a bike with a fairly steep head angle (the Tracer) on our last trip to Big Bear, and you were a heck of a lot faster on the steep stuff than I would have been if I were on the same bike.:clap:

Some may not know that a SlopeStyle with a 6" fork is like no other bike...well...except for maybe an M6 with a little bit less travel.

 

I guess it depends on your 6" bike. See my comment above.

I can't quite tell the landing, but I guess another fast way down may be to prehop that ramp, and land on the downside. But again, I wouldn't know until I saw it.

 

pre jumping was faster but hucking is funner and if you went for it: it could take all the travel you wanted to throw at it.

 

Yeah, the course wasn't bad until you make a mistake. That's when the extra inch or two helps out.

 

Totally does. I meant I didn't see anyone on a XC bike racing the course, not that there weren't any six-inchers out there. :bang:

Since the ramp had an upward rise on the first half then leveled off, some of the guys were boosting off of that rise, thus completely clearing the flat part, and landing on the dirt or scrubbing over the lip and landing on the wood downslope.

We worked on the dirt landing for the hucksters so it wasn't bad, but it would suck on a hardtail was my point.

 

The worst crash of the day, the guy was riding an xc bike. But to be honest the guy could have been on a V10 and it would not have help. Bad crash unless you like that stuff. It turned by stomach like watching fat ladies on trampolines. Dude lawn darted the backside of the step up double thing at the finish, then proceeded to do a 1/3 front flip before disappearing in the bushes, at the point of impact his helmet popped off (it looked like the bush spit it out) landing on the course.

 

I rode it on my RFX with a 36 up front. I thought it worked great, there weren't really any crazy sections though. I rode the same bike in the Super D and it was perfect. I can see why many would want more travel for the DH though. With more travel I could see myself really launching the ladder drops, which is super fun.

 

pictures from this weekend

if anyone has any pictures or knows were to see some of them it would be great to let me know.

 

Try page 16-20

 

also does anyone know when the results will be up

 

I don't think any of the usual pros were out there shooting? Check the last few pages on this thread as he mentioned and also here for random pics and links.
http://www.socaltrailriders.org/for...-review-racers-chasers-xc-1-a.html#post410960
I sure miss seeing Downhill Mafia at any of the races anymore their work was incredible. Anyone know if any of the others were there? (great photos also by them)

 

looks like it'll be about 2 days. the timing system got messed up, so they have their backup system going right now. Apparently everything is getting done by hand, so it'll take some time, but be correct.

 

There seemed to be quite a maybe a dozen with cameras , but I only saw maybe 2-3 pro level setups. I know Decline was there but who knows what happens to the ones not used also another girl on Sat with a Dirt Mag shirt(never saw her on Sun). I saw one other guy that wasn't the same guy who I talked to who said he was with decline that had what looked like a Pro setup.

Speaking of photogs what happened to Ricky? Didn't he say he was coming both days?:?:

 

Yeah that crash was awesome. He was riding an Epiphany, but nothing would have helped out that guy. But atleast he had some commitment. The worst part of that guy's story, He was out there with his 12 yo son (who had a mongoose dh bike) teaching and talking all day, then biffs it really bad. I havn't heard sounds of pain like that in a while. At least I talked to him in line while he lowered the PSI might have done a full flip on 50 psi xc tires. One of the officials said possible ribs. I sure hope it's not as bad as it looked.

 

Maxine from Littermag.com was there on Saturday, as well as (I think) Sven Martin (probably for Decline).

 

Looks like a lot of great photos were taken!

I really wish I could have raced... That track looks so fun.

 

http://christopherwood.smugmug.com/Sports
Here's a link to Christopher Wood. Some killer photos in there.

Edit:Oops looks like we were posting at the same time...his pictures are worth 2 posts!!

 

Event Photos

Hey guys.

I'm new to San Diego - I just moved to the USA from Whistler. I'm an ex-pro DH'r from BC and a pro photographer. I was shooting the event and have posted over 500 photos from the weekend to my site. More will be going up tomorrow I hope since there is one memory card I still haven't looked at. You are welcome to "right-click" and save the images you see but if you like anything there enough you can buy the full size files. If you don't want to buy anything that's cool too... just enjoy the show. I included practically every photo that was in focus because you just never know what someone might like!!
http://www.christopherwood.smugmug.com/


I don't know if the Mod's here are going to consider this spamming but I apologize if anyone is offended.

Chris

 

Chris...welcome to the board first of all. Second, your pictures rock (and this mod doesn't consider your post spam in the least).