Jim Hewett's Page

I felt pretty fresh as I blasted off from the start tent on my DH run Sunday morning.  I started 9th, with a ghost racer behind me and Ryan Gorman in front of me, so I didn't anticipate any company.  I had recovered from the vision problems of the day before and made it to the start line with glasses.

I pushed hard on Sunrise and came close to my fastest time, keeping it up down the fire road and across to the single track.  I had reduced the rebound damping on  my fork to 11 clicks…

At the end of every season of mountain bike racing, there is the Downieville Classic All Mountain World Championship.

Though racing starts for me in March, I always try to tailor the last half of the season to have some fitness left for this NorCal testpiece.

This year found me in less than peak form, but eager to compete in the All Mountain category once again.  I had raced a Trek Fuel EX for a few years, with some good results, but this year I returned to a cross country race…

After 4 rounds of racing in the CA Dirt Series, we made our way up for the 5th and final round at Sugarbowl ski resort near Truckee.  This race would decide the winner of the CA state championship series.  I was leading the series in points, so I knew I needed to have a solid race to clench the title for a second year in a row.

There were some fast guys that had not raced any of the races this year:  Tristan Uhl, Tate Mientjes, Xander Sugarman, Carson Benjamin, and Nathan Barton were…

This is a race that has been happening for years in Susanville, CA.  Due to the fact that Susanville is 270 miles away from Fairfax, and the very small pro field I had seen in past race results, I had never made the trip to do this one.  This year, as part of the California State Championship Series, it was solidly on the race calendar for me.

After 3 rounds, I was leading the state championship series.  Though back in a late base training period, I knew I needed to be there and get…

After a race fitness period, I was back in late base endurance training.  I wasn't sure what to expect from my legs for the 3rd race of the California state series, but I knew I had to show up to get what points I could.

I placed second at this race last year, and knew what to expect from the course.  The start was flowy and then straight and fast.  There were some wide open slightly downhill fire roads that emptied into singletrack before a bit of climbing.  Once we turned left, it…