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allieburch
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| Joined: | Tue Jan 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | Patterson, New York USA |
| Posts: | 281 |
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Posted: Fri Jun 5th, 2009 01:29 pm |
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Reports with pictures: http://www.velobella.org/blog/pro/pro-downhill/allie-burch/#journal
Massanutten YEEEEEE-HAW!!! The first race of the year is always memorable. Last year it was the death march up the wrong trail and subsequent post-race snowstorms while racing with my friend Jackie at the Keyesville Classic. This year the season started a bit later with the Massanutten Yee-Ha in VA.
Lauren, Alicia, Sue and I packed into Alicia's Husband's Canadian "Minivan of Wonder" and made the eight hour haul from Danbury, CT to Massanutten Resort in VA.
We raced on the old world cup course which, although wasn't insanely technical, had it's moments with all of the muddy root turn entrances. It was, however insanely fun.
It was here that I began to realize it might be time for a new bike. After an inventory we came up with: Blown rear shock, badly needed a pivot overhaul, dent pullers, pinch bolt that refused to pinch the rear thru-axle... (which lead to my rear wheel falling out after a step down in later rides. It's been an exciting season so far)
The race went well:
And there was much celebration:
In short, I'll be making the trip back to this event again, but hopefully with one of these little beauties next time!
Diablo Series #1 Lauren and I thought it prudent to get a acquainted a bit more with Diablo in preparation for the upcoming US Open and race the first Diablo series event.
Between the two of us we learned some important things: - Always, Always, ALWAYS check your pinch bolts and thru-axles on both wheels.
- 60 durometer tires are NOT good at Diablo when it's wet.
- Waking up to a power outage and no possible way to make coffee makes for a grumpy household.
- Diablo is still a hell of a fun place to race.
So, I have no pictures, but the way it shakes down is this: Lauren and I were the only two girls racing. She is an incredibly smooth rider and eyewitnesses say that she was smoother and took better lines (ie faster) in the top sections.
However, I felt pretty darned good in the middle turny woods section and that is probably where I made up the four seconds that separated us.
I think we both felt pretty good about the US Open the next weekend at that point, but was it to be? Tune in and find out next time kids! Posted by cerebral scribbles at 5:16 AM 
Oops. I guess I should just hang on to that win at Diablo from the first series race 'cause this timed run ain't the one to remember.
My weekend started on Thursday at 6:30 am with a cup of coffee and two u-turns to pick up this little guy who I saw bouncing up the Northbound lane on Rt. 22:
Don't ask me why or how I've been on this stuffed animal finding spree. Random stuff just happens to me. Anyway, he proved entertaining.
And gave some much-needed post-practice anxiety release:
Anyway, this particular race was multi-purpose. I needed to kill some demons from my '04 US Open experience, which I did. I felt GREAT in the rock gardens, I could take the lines I wanted in the off-camber slabs, I cleared the step-up and nailed the step-down at the end. I was feeling pretty darned good! Much better than my rear shock was feeling. After my qualifying run I checked it out and basically my rear shock was done. Toast. Thankfully I had brought my spare 5th Element which hadn't been ridden in nearly five years.
The tech support at Shimano this year was wonderful. They were so helpful!!! (It's making me reconsider their company) They helped me get my shock back in working order and tuned up then sent me out to test it. It worked perfectly. So perfectly, in fact that I kept riding...and riding...and riding... On that note, the group from Michigan who I used to ride with was there and since I never get to ride with these guys any more, I decided (much to the detriment of my race) to do some freeriding with them.
Sunday rolled around and practice went really well. The course was still tacky with a bit of a blown out berm, but otherwise perfect. Puffy white clouds dotted the otherwise clear blue sky and thunderstorms were predicted later in the day, but surly the race would be done by then.
The women gathered at the top of the course for our 3:05pm start. At exactly 3:00 a clap of thunder boomed and a lightening bolt split the sky. The lift shut down and we were sent down to wait out the deluge, not to race for nearly another 2 hours.
By 5pm on a race day I need to be done riding, out of my gear and sipping something cold and frosty from a glass bottle. Instead, I was at the top of a muddy, unknown course, tired, hungry, cranky, having to pee and my race run made all of that evident.
I was not a happy camper when I felt my front tire slide out and nearly send me off into the weeds on the second corner out of the gate. When I slammed into a sapling on the side of the course at the entrance of the rock garden I was even less amused. By the time I dragged my mud covered carcass and bike off of the course and out of Stephanie's way I just wanted it all to be over.
Well, there's always next year and more races to come this year. I will focus on those and having a great time on my bike...which is why I do this in the first place. :-) Posted by cerebral scribbles at 5:38 AM
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Girl Ryan
VB Guest
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Posted: Fri Jun 5th, 2009 09:07 pm |
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Awesome!!!! Great Job Allie! I love the downhill photos you send to us... makes me want to try downhill (but I dont have the cajones) 
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velobella
Administrator
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Posted: Wed Jun 10th, 2009 09:09 pm |
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| You won a big check!!
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allieburch
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| Joined: | Tue Jan 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | Patterson, New York USA |
| Posts: | 281 |
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Posted: Thu Jun 11th, 2009 12:19 am |
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I did win a big check!!! I can't seem to cash it anywhere though - it won't fit through the teller's window. :-(
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Current time is 02:24 pm | |
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