Highland/Plattekill/US Open

The last 3 weekends have been busy with two Pro GRT races, and of course the US Open. Check out some shots of Evan Turpen and Curtis Keene.

Curtis placed an impressive 4th place at both Highland and Plattekill PRO GRT races!







Evan placed 10th overall at the US Open Giant Slalom, and 18th in Pro DH.

Plattekill Pro GRT - Evan Turpen

Last Friday my buddy PJ and I hit the road headed for Plattekill, New York. This would be the third stop of USA Cycling's Pro GRT (gravity tour).

The weekend before we had raced stop #2 in New Hampshire at Highland mountain bike park. Unfortunately there I crashed in the muddy finals and finished a disappointing 26th place.

Needless to say, I was motivated to improve upon this result and aimed to crack into the top ten, if not top five at this race. A bold goal based off of my last weekend's result, but one I thought to be attainable given the right circumstance.

After roughly a three hour drive from PJ's house in Hoboken, New Jersey we finally arrived at our destination, the middle of nowhere. As much as I thought Highland was way out in the boonies, Plattekill is 100 times more. Although Plattekill lacks in location, it more than makes up for in tradition. This place has been around for ages!

A trip into the base lodge alone is indicator enough. It is old and rickety from many years of use and has the feeling and smell of an old log cabin. Upon entering myself for the race the young girl processing my credit card asks me if I have been here before. I replied "nope, this is my first time". Wrong answer. She then explains that I have to watch an instructional safety video about riding in Plattekill before I can finish my registration. She sets me up on a TV nearby and presses play on the DVD player. The next five minutes or so was some of the most hilarious, boring, and wasteful minutes of my life.

The video was a culmination of riding footage from the early 90's that was supposed to instruct me on how to ride my bicycle safely at Plattekill mountain. Without it, I'm not quite sure what I would have done! It taught me how to use my brakes, look ahead, and even tackle nasty obstacles such as the "water-bar". Once that painful video was over, I completed my registration and got on the lift for practice as soon as I was ready.

The lift here may very well have been from 30 years ago...It sure looked that way to me. Despite the old non-detachable triple chair, their lift setup was dialed. They ran the lift about as fast as possible to load and unload bikes and they had a dedicated load/unload person for your bike at the top and bottom. Once at the top you have to pretty much run off the lift to not get whacked in the butt, but I'd rather do this than have a painfully slow lift.

First run down the track was fully blind, as in I had not walked the course previously. It started off with fairly flat and pedally singletrack littered with roots and rocks. The kind of stuff that keeps you on your toes and trying not to clip your pedals. After what seemed like a minute of this traversing, the course took a nice right turn down the fall-line of the mountain and things immediately got gnarly. Big rocks and drops, whooped out muddy rutted sections, and berms that had you struggling to line up for with the extra speed. This stuff was sick!

After these epically cool sections, again the course traversed real flat for probably 30-45 seconds. One more cool technical section then spit out onto yet again another flat, pedally traverse into a big curved wall-ride to the finish. Overall the course was really fun to ride. I LOVED the steeper more technical sections. It was like a playground for me. So much fun!

After four practice runs the sky opened up with consistent rain and lightning shutting down the lift and practice. About an hour later the rain let up but practice was no longer. I decided to be productive and hike up and down the 1,100 foot vertical race course searching for lines.

That night PJ and I went out to dinner in nearby Roxbury, New York and on the way back we stopped by the world famous "Delta House". The Delta House is a wannabe fraternity house that is a staple of the Plattekill ski resort. Beers, booze, card games, motorcycles, bonfires, fireworks, and barbeques. The house is a mecca for entertainment! Around midnight we finally succumb to the days events and went to bed in our luxurious accommodations (PJ's GMC Safari van).

The next morning was a ridiculously long practice session followed by qualifying. I had a decent qualifying run, but couldn't seem to carry good speed through all of the flat traverses. The track was a lot more pedally than I had first thought and I am not in the best of racing shape at the moment. I would end up qualifying in 25th place which was a disappointment. I knew though that there was lots of time to be shaved by pedaling harder on the flat sections so I didn't feel too bad.

After a nice dip in a nearby swimming hole, we again went out to dinner in Roxbury. This time we avoided the Delta House on the way back and got some good sleep for race day.

Race day practice was long, but I only did two practice runs to make sure I didn't wear myself out. Come race run I felt ready to give it my all. The start beeps went off and I sprinted like hell into the first section. Pedaling hard into the first jump, my shifting skipped and I went off the jump with only one foot on the pedals! I put my other foot on in the air, landed, and tried to recover, but I was riding on my heel into the first flat section. I somehow got my foot back in the right spot soon after, but lost some speed for the first flat.

Once into the steeps it was like my run finally started to pick up speed. It felt so good ripping the steep, technical, rough bits. Again into a flat section and this time I tried to maintain my speed, but struggled. Then back to the steeps and I was loving it only to be spit out into the last long pedaling section where I gave it my all. I hit the last wall-ride/corner and almost collapsed from the G-forces and fatigue. I crossed the line in third place with 25 more riders left to go.

In the end I finished 20th place about five seconds off of top ten and seven seconds off of podium. Disappointed with the result, but stoked with how I rode the technical bits, another race weekend was in the books. Trek World Racing's Aaron Gwin took the win with a 2:39.4 and I finished 12.3 seconds off of him with a 2:51.7.

Next up is the U.S. Open in Vernon, New Jersey this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to racing on this more consistently technical track and improving further. I'm also going to make a conscious effort to document a lot better by taking more pictures. I apologize for the lack of photos this time!

More words soon from the road...

Cheers,

Evan

Ca State Championships HS XC - Max Houtzager

CA State Champs HS XC
Los Olivos, CA
Varsity Boys (40)
Teammates: Bobby Zidek, Eliel Antilla, Sven Beer and Taylor Smith
Result: 4th
Food HERE

A happy bike racer is a fast bike racer.

I was stoked that the 'State Champ' title was on the line, however a quick preride changed things. As this super competitive race determines the High School Series State Champion while the less-attended Napa Skyline XC determines the USA Cycling State Champion, the extremely non-technical windy course we faced made me inclined to say the Napa title is more worthy. I was glad I did the Rockhopper last weekend, because the course was similar physically, yet had every fun and challenging technical aspect this course didn't. A long loop of singletrack and fireroad through rolling dry wine country hills, just chunkier, more blind corners, and no trees or rocks.

The least charged, yet also least stressed i've ever been going into a race, I followed Tobin off the line and tried to hold onto his powerful wheel. I dropped back a bit at first confident I wouldn't lose the front group but soon struggling as the group split. I was in 8th place or so and feeling pretty negative, and saw bad visions of even dropping out since there wasn't much motivation to ride the course beyond duking it out for a top spot. I knew from past experience I'd be proud to come back strong and make up some positions so I stayed with it. I just had to ride my own race and keep it together, proceeding to do so with Spence Peterson, and Jacob Albrecht. We'd have to work together roady style through the windy flats to bridge up to the front group, so tried to share the work a bit, but it was no use. This probably distracted from simply hanging it all out there. We caught Jimmy Winne and then Cody Phillips on lap 3. On lap 4 I finally fully opened myself up, attacking harder than ever before on the steep climb.

I really dug deep and put the hammer down, gapping Jacob (we had dropped the rest) and keeping the gas on all the way to the finish. (as shown by my last lap time, despite the most traffic of any lap)



I'm stoked for Tobin on his Varsity Win (and title) as well as Noral taking it and Taylor / Casey Williams going 2-3. Tobin and Taylor were super strong out there today which is awesome and I can't wait to race with Casey in Europe (next Tuesday)! Also really glad I was able to pull out a solid varsity result, keeping my season consistent with all podium finishes! It's also good to know i've got plenty of room for improvement and look forward to really making some more big gains! Next time here I’ll be writing from Germany!

2011 Spring Thaw XC & DH - Jordan Lopez

What a Great weekend it was in Ashland Oregon for the 20th annual Spring Thaw Classic at which I was able to race in both the PRO Men XC and DH.

The XC consisted of 22 miles with 4800′ of fire road climbing and ripping single track dissents. With the course being dry, race started fast and immediately lead into the initial climb which lasted almost 45 minutes. I was feeling good at this point but this is where the true XC racers created their distance from me. After the first dissent and as we made our was back up the climb, I felt refreshed and this is where I got my second wind. I passed 6 of my fellow PRO racers on the climb and once the single track dissent started I walked away from them. I finished up in 15th in the PRO men category and 15th of overall. I am very pleased with this result and I had a blast mixing it up with the guys with 1.9″ tires and spandex

The DH was a different story in that the face of the trail completely changed from practice to the day of the race. Throughout practice it was that a consensus among the riders that the track never felt faster; yet as the day progressed the rain clouds began to form over the surrounding mountains. As we drove to the top of the hill on the morning of the race it had not only been raining all night, but snow actually began to fall, so a track that was dry and fast became wet and slippery. With this many of the fast lines through sections became slippery and traction went from phenomenal to marginal at best. On my race run as I entered the small rock garden at the top of the course and as I was exiting I clipped a rock with my drive side pedal which launched me up and the back end of my bike to the left. I landed on my front wheel and as I looked up I saw that I was heading into the crowd of spectators along the left hand side of the track. I quickly turned the handle bars right and I barely made it behind a woman and back onto the course and off down the track. From this point of near death, I just had the thought to calm down and just finish the race in one piece. I took it easy through the slick sections and really pushed the flat and the hill climb at the end. I ended up in 13th in the PRO Men category and 13th of 200 overall. With racing XC the day before and with the conditions as wet as they were, I am very happy with this finish and my overall results.

A huge thanks again to Joe and Zoe at Echelon Events and the amazing races they put on and promote.

I now look forward to the first race of the Oregon Super D Series in Hood River on May 28th & 29th

Santa Cruz with Josh Maurer

Josh putting some testing in on the new Infinite DM, available soon!







Photos by Beau Saunders

Norcal HS Race #5 Boggs - Max Houtzager

Norcal HS Race #5 Boggs Mountain Classic
Boggs Mountain near Cobb, CA
Varsity Boys (35)
Teammates: Bobby Zidek, Eliel Antilla, Sven Beer and Taylor Smith
Result: 2nd

Food Consumed!

My form seemed off and on before the race. I had been training well but struggled to recover with a slight cold, coughing a fair amount, yet had little stress going into the race and seemed to have good legs. I haven't seen much good luck at Bogg's with double flatting and being pretty sick each time before, but pre-riding the day before for a rad course with some rocks and little to no drafting / road tactics kept me happy. I had a blast flowing through the endless sweeping singletrack filled with loamy corners, ups and downs.



My poor starting position thanks to still not having call up only lost me a bit of energy sprinting like mad at the start in the wilderness next to the fireroad to get up front. Into the first singletrack I got 5th wheel knowing all the guys in front of me could descend fast enough, but soon realized I still wasn't really ok with not leading or riding in 2nd, so didn't let that happen for the rest of the race. I ended up setting the pace and leading most of the downhills for the majority of the first half of the race, although evidently I should of done so even more. Bryan and I dropped the rest of the lead group off and on, and I was stoked when it was just us because we absolutely ripped the course.

Starting lap 3 it was just us and Spence, who I had no idea was with us until he decided to pull from the feed zone to the first singletrack. I was stoked to see him having such good form compared to before (and for the pull). I dropped into the singletrack before him and we got a small gap on Bryan but he latched back on pretty quick.

Bryan and I dropped Spence on the main fireroad climb due to my gnarly attack (dug deep!). I strung Bryan out a bit doing this which I was proud of because until then it seemed like he was in complete control. Bryan got ahead into the final singletrack on the lap. He had just tried to make a really sketchy pass that I would not allow because it was totally unsafe and could have led to both of our demises. A bit later he aggressively passed two riders weaving off the trail to the right of one rider and then in between them and to the left of the second, forcing me to do the same in order to not get dropped. The decisive 4th lap was close but this riding was kind of annoying since things were not yet imminent. Then he passed another rider who moved just shortly enough for Bryan to pass, forcing me to try to pass him on a tiny slippery soft patch of trail in order to not get dropped while Bryan rode a frantic semi-attacking pace. My bars clipped the riders hip and I saved my self from crashing, my bike drifting sideways, unclipping a foot, and dropping my chain, which I got back on without too much trouble. I was then able to pass the rider while Bryan passed two more that then wouldn't let me pass easily just before two switchbacks before the chicanes and the start of lap 4, giving him about a 20 second gap to start the final lap. I proceeded to ride the final lap strong but mostly just solid, knowing that if I tried to catch him my eyes would probably pop out of my head. It was cool to be neck and neck for so long but kind of a bummer to have another race mostly determined but uncontrollable factor, yet I'm still stoked with how I rode and even more so with 2nd in the overall in spite of missing a race.