I also started downhilling at Blue Mountain the past few weeks. It's been a really fun progression and so refreshing to work on new skills and ride new trails. My Scott Genius has been the perfect bike. It took me a few rides to get used to a full suspension again, last week I even put down the seat!
Last week was the East Coast Open race at Blue. It's a 3 race event with a XC, dual slalom, and DH. I decided to do both the XC and DH. I thought about doing the dual, but was too tired after the XC race. The XC was great, a long course covering 12 km per lap and we did 2 laps. There was a long climb, a traverse across the top and then down one of the most fun DH trails. I felt good and took off from the start. By the top of the climb I could feel the effort and my teammate Mikaela Kofman took the lead. We rode together for a while, but I felt I could ride the trails quicker, so I took the lead again. From there I opened a gap and build on it for the rest of the race, taking the win. It was great to win and especially at a hometown race. My teammate Derek Zandstra won the men's race. Race report here.
The next day was the DH race, my first. It was a trail that I felt comfortable riding, so I knew that as long as I didn't do anything crazy or stupid, I'd make it down alive. I knew I would lose time on the jump line at the bottom, but wanted to have a run where I pushed my limits a bit and rode smooth. I had my fastest time on my race run besting my qualifying time by 6 or so seconds. The winner was some 50 seconds ahead! Pretty awesome and inspiring to see how the women rip.
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