The New Adventures of Martn aka Skip: First Race of the Season

After yet another satisfying day on Cypress a couple of my friends mentioned a race going on at Port Angeles, West of Seattle in the good old US of A. After a favourable weather forecast a few days later I signed up and booked a hotel - we were goin' racin'!!!!

It may be fairly close but it takes a while (and a ferry - but THAT is another story ;)) to get there. It was pretty late by the time we pulled in so D was already well into sleep mode!

After a hearty breakfast we joined the other 408 riders on the hill.

Yes, 410 racers this weekend - a very good thing the FluidRide crew are well organised! After some issues with the payment terms (no credit cards or "foriegn" money) and an decent line up for the shuttle we climbed into the back of one of the box trucks for the journey up. Apparently the lights in the back of the trucks don't work when it's running which meant for a very weird sensory deprevation experience every lap! It was DARK in those trucks!

The track was really fun. Suuuuuper fast at the top but with loads of swoopy bits and a couple of kicker style jumps then down into some wooded sections with lots of tight singletrack. With a sizeable jump or two and the odd technical bit the track had a bit of everything :)

My new bike hadn't turned up yet so I was racing my trusty Norco Six - despite getting a bit bumpy in places it didn't seem to slow me down too much ;)

Practice day was sooo much fun but quite long due to the line up between runs - no real fault of the organisers, it was just a victim of it's own success!

I guess we were one of the last to leave - notice the dual track beside the car

Spinning before bedtime

.....pretty cute eh? Session 88 DH ;)

Pre-race atmosphere up top

Tim Coleman.ca keeping it low- so fast I couldnt get him in focus!

D on her way to qualifying 3rd in Pro Women

Miranda "she's so fast right now"Miller qualified 1st with a blistering run - and followed it up with first in the finals. A great start to the season for the nice girl from Squamish

After a wee mix up with the start time Danice had to sprint to make the start but, ever cool under pressure, she pinned her race run to knock a chunk off her quali time to secure 3rd place.

The all "Canadian" Women's Pro Podium - Danice, Katie and Miranda. Well done ladies :)

The actual podium

Ken was one of the many Canadians who did well - Ken won Senior Men - nice job mate.

My race day was a mixed bag. I had the best run of the weekend in practice but got a little over excited in my race run and crashed. Oops. I'd guess it cost me 8-10 seconds and I still pulled in 15th of 30 odd old guys (and naturally I lied about my age and raced in 30-39 where I should really be in 40-49!!!) So all in all, I was happy :)

And so it was all over and it's only just begun!!
All that remained was the drive home - a great opportunity to analyze and discuss the race.
I sooooo can't wait for my new bike to turn up :)

The drive home was conveniently broken up by a stroll on the beach :)