Anguish at Arbuckle - Downhill


Taking on the rocks and winning Racers gathered at the ACE Adventure Center to test their downhill bike racing skills. While the course was not as technically challenging as some downhillers are used to, it still had some tricks up its sleeve. Riders had to keep on thinking about the next hairy section, how fast to come into it, and what line to take or they would lose precious time in a sport where a little time goes a long way. For the days race, scoring was based on the riders combined time from two runs.

One of the more challenging sections of the course was a short, rocky section followed by a quick, muddy S-turn. Those wathcing the racers pass through the section speculated on which lines the riders would take through the section and what would happen when they hit a particularly nasty rock about half way through. After the first few riders passed, the spectators forgot about the rock and started wondering if any of the racers would lose it in the muddy S-turn and say "Hi!" to a tree trunk.

Making a big splash at Ace Especially troubling was the tendency of the riders to stick out their knee in the direction of the tree as they tried to direct their bikes through the section. Luckily, all the riders made it through the section - many without using their brakes. While some of the spectators may have been let down due to the lack of carnage, they did get to witness both the skill of the riders and the capabilities of downhill bikes with big tires and upwards of 7 inches of travel in the front and rear.In the first run, Pete Weir set the standard with a time of 2:20.2 followed by Than White (2:22.1) and Colin Lindberg (2:23.7).

In a sport where 1/10ths and even 1/100ths of a second make a big difference, Colin Lindberg was not in a comfortable position with Benji Klimas only 5/100ths of a second behind. Starting the second run, the riders knew they had to do as good as their first run just to maintain their position and even better to improve their standing. "I just knew I had to try and make it to the bottom without hitting my brakes" Benji Klimas said. While he still had to touch the brakes a couple times, Klimas improved his time by 3.4 seconds in his second run. In fifth after the first run, Butch Greene trimmed 3.7 seconds off his first run time while Lindberg only cut 1/2 second and, as a result, fell to 5th place behind Klimas (3rd) and Greene (4th). Than White, who would have to better his first run time by almost 2 seconds (or hope that first round leader Pete Weir would slow down) almost made it, cutting off 1.7 seconds. Even so, Weir cruised to the bottom almost a second faster on his final run to claim victory with a combined time of 4:39.7.

Ouch! - Hardtail DH The fastest female rider of the day was Amy Crawford, finishing with a combined time of 6:04.5 (19th overall) followed by Pat Schmidt at 7:25.7.

In the most improved category, Chris Gilbert shaved over 35 seconds off his first run time, Travis Hartsog went 31.6 seconds faster, and Carl Bush bettered his first run by 24.9 seconds to move from 16th to 13th place. The Ace staff, led by the venerable Tug Chamberlin, put on a fine event and, with the assistance of several of the days riders, promised a more technical course for their next event.

----------------------------------------