Downieville 2018 day 2 Down hill

[Greg Alsterlind]

My start time was 12:12:30. I decided to play it safe and run a heavy tube in my rear tire. I have only ridden the downhill course 4 times in the last 15 years and never with out stopping so I had no splits to meet. I did do Sunrise fast a few days before with Jim, so I had a goal of under 8 minutes to the fire road. We were leaving every 30 seconds and I had 2 teenage riders in front of me. I started my Garmin 30 seconds before my start so I could just focus on getting out as fast as I could. At the top of Sunrise I passed my first teenager and just before the fire road I passed the second. I hit the Fire road well under 8 minutes ( subtracting my 30 sec. sitting time at the start) and started down the dusty trail to the “V”. After clearing the V I was excited to clear the water fall (the second of the 3 technical challenges ) but my right hand started to get numb from gripping the bars to tightly. I was not going as fast as I practiced and soon I was passed by a rider. I was going so slow at the water fall that I hit a rut and came to a complete stop. The spectators jeered and boo’ed me as I pushed my way out of the rocks and smashed my knee into my break lever. So much for my 2 clean practice runs. I quickly pushed my break lever back to where I could use it and got back to the task at hand. The slow down gave my hand a chance to recover and I got back up to some good speeds as I made my way to the bridge before 3rd divide.

3rd divide started fast but I caught up to 2 riders and I think I lost a little time passing them.  The wall was the last of the 3 challenges and I was a little worried about my rear tire but I thought I had a good approach. I geared high and lowered my seat as I hit the right side of the rock. I pulled up the front fork and landed lightly and ready to peddle the remaining 6-7’ to get over the top when my foot unclipped. Failing 2 of 3 challenges only pissed me off and from here to the finish I only wanted to pound my bike into the rough trail all the way to the end. I was hoping for a 57 min. Finish but ended up with 58:43 . Good enough for 8th place and 10th in the All Moutain expert 50+. I will take it and plan to beat it next year. My group - Mark Buell 56min and change , Paul Birich 1:04 and change , Jim Hewett 10th place PRO All Mountain , Mike Koppe - 1st. Place Expert 60+ All Moutain- all had successful days. A great end to a fun weekend at one of the best organized races.