miércoles, 11 de agosto de 2010
martes, 20 de febrero de 2007
:: VALPARAISO CERRO ABAJO 2007 ::
It´s Monday morning and I´m sitting here sipping some coffee, still letting the weekend sink in. I raced the Valparaiso downtown race yesterday outside of Santiago, Chile. If I had to describe the event in one word it would be loco! Two words would be pinche loco! The course was short and intense, under a minute and a half with lots of cobblestones, stray dogs, plywood booters, super fun corners, and a burly little steep section with some tight drops and stairs. The crowd was absolutely the crazy!
I honestly can't even begin to explain how fun this race was for me. It has made me completely rethink my ideas on downhill's mainstream marketability, but we won't get into that right now. I was having so much fun that I totally smoked a fresh Super Tacky Larson TT tire in less than 6 hours. I'm pretty sure I clicked off as many laps as anybody, I guess being sidelined for 8 months will do that to you.
Valpo is a really cool port city about an hour from Santiago that rolls right down to the Pacific. The race is invite only, with 60 racers going for 30 spots in the final. In my qualifier I put together a clean run, but drifted a little too much on the last high speed cobblestone sweeper and low sided about 30 meters before line. I jumped up, shouldered the bike cyclocross-style and sprinted across the line. A little steamed, but that's part of racing. It´s good for the pores and adrenal glands.
When the qualifying results came in I wound up 13th, my lucky number. By the time I got back up to the pits at the start, I had less than an hour to switch out half the parts on my bike. Three of us hammered it out without a crew chief in sight, borrowing random parts off other wounded soldiers in the vicinity. Luckily the Valpo course had claimed quite a few bikes that day, it's not exactly the most forgiving race track, and there's no smooth way to squeeze those tenths out of harsh concrete g-outs and flat cobblestone landings. Simply put, with urban races like Valpo to go faster you have to hit stuff harder. We finished tweaking the rotor and dialing in the derailleur with two racers to go in front of me at the start.
Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that carbon bars need to be clamped a little tighter than I thought. When I landed off the first big kicker, my bars rolled back just enough for the brake levers to be pointing up like a Harley Davidson Fatboy. It made for an interesting run, but I was able to keep it upright (just barely) and when I crossed the line I posted a 1:26, putting me in the hotseat by about 3 seconds.
I gotta say, Latin hotseats are pretty schweet. You get treated like a king up there, big old shaded throne on the stage with your bike sitting next to you and an array of fresh juices: papaya, mango, pineapple, and who knows what else handed to you by seriously tan podium girls.
A few guys came through a little short, and then Antonio Leiva, the Chilean national champion and defending Valpo winner was on course. The whole place erupted and started chanting Lei-va, Lei-va, as he came barreling down. Remember the name Antonio Leiva, write it down because he is an amazing up and coming rider out of South America. He will be making his world cup debut in 07 so keep an eye out for him. Remember folks, you heard it here first.
When he crossed the line the crowd roared so loud that the announcer was completely drowned out. It took a little while for everything to quiet down enough to hear anything. I heard Uno veinte-seis punto...but I couldn't make out anything else, I knew we were in the same second and then the place erupted again Lei-va, Lei-va, I stood up to tip my hat, grab my bike and relinquish my temporary throne, but one of the podium girls stopped me. No, you more fast. Que? I asked a little confused. She leaned in about an inch from my ear, you more fast... It didn't make sense at first, then I realized that the Chileans had so much pride in their local hero that it didn't matter what his time was or who beat who, they were behind him 100% and obviously really stoked just to see him ride. It was amazing.
A couple racers later Lars Sternberg from Seattle put one together and bested my time by about half a second. Definitely keep an eye on Lars this year too, I think we're going to see big things from him. He's looking really sharp right now, and has that crazy look in his eyes.
By the time Lars made it up to the stage (it took a minute to part the crowd) I had just enough time to give him a hug and pat on the back before Oscar "Coto" Yunge (who I'd met at Worlds in 2004 and is pretty much the Chilean equivalent of Rennie) nipped him by a few tenths, knocking me down to 3rd. Total mayhem with one man to go. None other than Cedric Gracia, the top qualifier.
Cedric managed to find time somewhere on those tight corners and I don't think the crowd calmed down until Cedric was left with nothing but his helmet and boxxer briefs. Seriously. We all got swarmed by hundreds of ridiculously fired up kids. I started signing autographs and eventually ended up powering out of there with no goggles, gloves, or number plate, covering my helmet like a full-back going up the middle.
Evidently there was an error somewhere down the line with the announcing or timing because when the official results were posted I was in 8th place with a 1:28. I tried to talk to the judges because I was pretty sure my number got mixed up, but it wasn't going anywhere. The UCI Commissaire wasn't much help either. It didn't matter enough to make a big deal of it, the event was such an amazing experience that a number doesn't change anything.
My advice to anyone out there who is frustrated with the state of racing in the states, is to save up some NORBA entry fees and get down south of the equator. Everyone talks about Europe, but I think racing in South America is where it´s at, just make sure you bring extra goggles and gloves.
Link: VCA 2007
I honestly can't even begin to explain how fun this race was for me. It has made me completely rethink my ideas on downhill's mainstream marketability, but we won't get into that right now. I was having so much fun that I totally smoked a fresh Super Tacky Larson TT tire in less than 6 hours. I'm pretty sure I clicked off as many laps as anybody, I guess being sidelined for 8 months will do that to you.
Valpo is a really cool port city about an hour from Santiago that rolls right down to the Pacific. The race is invite only, with 60 racers going for 30 spots in the final. In my qualifier I put together a clean run, but drifted a little too much on the last high speed cobblestone sweeper and low sided about 30 meters before line. I jumped up, shouldered the bike cyclocross-style and sprinted across the line. A little steamed, but that's part of racing. It´s good for the pores and adrenal glands.
When the qualifying results came in I wound up 13th, my lucky number. By the time I got back up to the pits at the start, I had less than an hour to switch out half the parts on my bike. Three of us hammered it out without a crew chief in sight, borrowing random parts off other wounded soldiers in the vicinity. Luckily the Valpo course had claimed quite a few bikes that day, it's not exactly the most forgiving race track, and there's no smooth way to squeeze those tenths out of harsh concrete g-outs and flat cobblestone landings. Simply put, with urban races like Valpo to go faster you have to hit stuff harder. We finished tweaking the rotor and dialing in the derailleur with two racers to go in front of me at the start.
Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that carbon bars need to be clamped a little tighter than I thought. When I landed off the first big kicker, my bars rolled back just enough for the brake levers to be pointing up like a Harley Davidson Fatboy. It made for an interesting run, but I was able to keep it upright (just barely) and when I crossed the line I posted a 1:26, putting me in the hotseat by about 3 seconds.
I gotta say, Latin hotseats are pretty schweet. You get treated like a king up there, big old shaded throne on the stage with your bike sitting next to you and an array of fresh juices: papaya, mango, pineapple, and who knows what else handed to you by seriously tan podium girls.
A few guys came through a little short, and then Antonio Leiva, the Chilean national champion and defending Valpo winner was on course. The whole place erupted and started chanting Lei-va, Lei-va, as he came barreling down. Remember the name Antonio Leiva, write it down because he is an amazing up and coming rider out of South America. He will be making his world cup debut in 07 so keep an eye out for him. Remember folks, you heard it here first.
When he crossed the line the crowd roared so loud that the announcer was completely drowned out. It took a little while for everything to quiet down enough to hear anything. I heard Uno veinte-seis punto...but I couldn't make out anything else, I knew we were in the same second and then the place erupted again Lei-va, Lei-va, I stood up to tip my hat, grab my bike and relinquish my temporary throne, but one of the podium girls stopped me. No, you more fast. Que? I asked a little confused. She leaned in about an inch from my ear, you more fast... It didn't make sense at first, then I realized that the Chileans had so much pride in their local hero that it didn't matter what his time was or who beat who, they were behind him 100% and obviously really stoked just to see him ride. It was amazing.
A couple racers later Lars Sternberg from Seattle put one together and bested my time by about half a second. Definitely keep an eye on Lars this year too, I think we're going to see big things from him. He's looking really sharp right now, and has that crazy look in his eyes.
By the time Lars made it up to the stage (it took a minute to part the crowd) I had just enough time to give him a hug and pat on the back before Oscar "Coto" Yunge (who I'd met at Worlds in 2004 and is pretty much the Chilean equivalent of Rennie) nipped him by a few tenths, knocking me down to 3rd. Total mayhem with one man to go. None other than Cedric Gracia, the top qualifier.
Cedric managed to find time somewhere on those tight corners and I don't think the crowd calmed down until Cedric was left with nothing but his helmet and boxxer briefs. Seriously. We all got swarmed by hundreds of ridiculously fired up kids. I started signing autographs and eventually ended up powering out of there with no goggles, gloves, or number plate, covering my helmet like a full-back going up the middle.
Evidently there was an error somewhere down the line with the announcing or timing because when the official results were posted I was in 8th place with a 1:28. I tried to talk to the judges because I was pretty sure my number got mixed up, but it wasn't going anywhere. The UCI Commissaire wasn't much help either. It didn't matter enough to make a big deal of it, the event was such an amazing experience that a number doesn't change anything.
My advice to anyone out there who is frustrated with the state of racing in the states, is to save up some NORBA entry fees and get down south of the equator. Everyone talks about Europe, but I think racing in South America is where it´s at, just make sure you bring extra goggles and gloves.
Link: VCA 2007
Suscribirse a:
Comentarios (Atom)
