CCCX DH Race Report

Its been quite some time since I have raced a downhill but last
weekend I figured what the hell and headed down to the CCCX DH race
with Rich Davis.

We went down Saturday for some much needed practice. The course was a
good mix. The top section was super fast rollers which went straight
into a section of tight switch backs, the first of which had the
better of me all weekend. On the exit from the switch backs there was
a jump that led straight into the single track. There was even a
little climb towards the end to help the legs reach the desired burn.
As we headed up the first run we bumped into Seery who had a complete
quiver of bikes including a rather cool looking clunker. Practice went
pretty well, I started getting the flow of the course, except the
first switch back.

Sunday morning dawned with some rain, I was hoping that this would
keep the competition away. However it seemed that the fact that it
was dry down in Monterey encouraged people to come out. My main
decision was to select my race category, beginner seemed a little too
much like glory hunting, Clydesdale perhaps but in the end sport it was.

Now it was most helpful to have Rich and Scott Seery down there. On
Saturday my tires were not really performing well. Now Rich being the
good riding buddy that he is lent me pair of WTB, a 2.5 WeirWolf for
the front and a Mutano Raptor for the rear. All of a sudden what were
lines on Sat that if I took I could feel the tires slipping I was now
railing - bloody good tire combo! Scott had also taken a look over
my bike and made a few suggestions regarding the suspension set-up
which made the bike smoother.


We got one flying run in first thing. Again the first switch back was
problematic, but I figured out why. When I am riding the trails I do
my best not to skid but the best way to take that first corner was to
slide it.
After another long trip to the top it was race time. Everybody was
lined up ready to rock - including one TWW geezer in denim and flannel
astride a clunker - way to go Seery. My main goal was to get down
without buggering it up entirely and/or smashing myself up. If I
could achieve that then finishing mid-pack in the 19-34 sport would be
good.

Right, race time. On 'GO' I just sprinted as hard as I could to the
first corner. I heard lots of other racers talking about "fisting"
the top section. Apparently this refers to holding the bars so hard
that you can't puss out and grab the brakes. I managed to "fist" the
first two corners then bottled it on the third and brake checked a
little too much - damn pussy. Then straight into the switch backs. I
had been having problems getting the speed/line combo for the first
corner right and true to form I completely stuffed it this time,
managing to be both off line and kill all my speed. The result being
that the rest of the switch backs didn't flow and then there was the
nice surprise of the photographer sitting right in my landing zone on
the jump - next time I will just run him over! The single track was
all pretty good with me pushing it as hard as I could to make up for
the mistakes. Then the little climb, just flip that Pro-pedal on the
PR23 and sprint. More single track then over the stream crossing,
making sure I didn't crash in it as some did, and hit the line. Well
my time was ok at 3.20. I ended up 8th out of 13 in the 19-34 sport.

The result wasn't quite what I had hoped for but the good news is that
there is lots of room for improvement!!! I will definitely be back
for more it was really good fun with a pretty damn cool crowd of
riders. If you have been thinking of doing a downhill race but
weren't sure then I would highly recommend one of the CCCX.

Matt Walters