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Well i was actually quite bummed that i would not be able to make it to Northstar for the race cause of financial difficulties, but i managed to pull myself together and did a couple more gigs here and there and managed to gather enough $$$. Drove up there with Greg and Tim on Saturday afternoon and left Pinole at around noon. Greg had an exam at 10am and so we couldnt leave early, but whatever... at least we got there... The drive was pretty chill though we did encounter some traffic near Davis and Vallejo. Managed to get there at 4pm and managed to get 2 runs in.
Did one run of Livewire and omg, it was my first time there and i was coming short on some of the tables and cased a couple doubles. Though it really sucked as there was one really small table which was like 6 feet big, i launched the hell out of it and nosed down for the landing only to find that there was no landing... Hahahahaha. Oh well, i know for next time. After Livewire, i followed Grant down Boondocks and man that trail was awesome. Felt like a real DH course with rocks and kitty litter just covering the trail. A couple places i have to admit i was really worried about my XO derailleur... hahahaha. I was following Grant and SpasticSlingkee was behind me. We were going down and after a while i lost sight of Grant only to find a little lip and nothing below. I just thought, cant be that high. 3 feet the most. Launched it and it turned out to be 6 feet at least, hahaha. I love DH trails making you adapt to your surroundings no matter what they are. Hella fun. Made it to the bottom and damn, lifts are closed at 5pm... All in all a fun day... XD
Met up with Greg and Tim in the middle of the hill and we did the lower section of the park back into the parking lot. The lower section was super fun and flowy with some stuff to hit. Was fun... We loaded up the truck and headed to the river to clean up. Then we went to this Mexican place called El Sanchos or something and had some sweet Burritos... Greg bought dinner. Greg is awesome... XD After dinner headed to the campsite and set up.
Me being me and clueless about camping, only brought a sleeping bag. We met up with Damon at the campsite and he hooked me up with some pads, blankets and a jacket. Thank god or i would be freezing my butt off at like mid 30s... Haha. We stayed up and BSed til we were tired and went to sleep.... Was really cool. I havent seen that many stars in a while. Even saw a shooting star. Very cool!!!
Sunday morning came. Sun rose at 5:30am. I woke up at 6am. Didnt get much sleep as i kept waking up. Could hear Tim walking around the camp grounds... lols. Oh well, ahahaha. Got up, took a dump, packed, had breakfast and watched Earthed 5 on my laptop. Left, went to Northstar and registered. Registered for Sport 19 - 24. Was gonna be my first time racing Sport on terrain which i've never ridden before. Just awesome!!! Super stoked. Got on the lifts at 10am and did a practice run of the course. The course was upper Karpiel and then Pho Dog into the Stadium Jump. I've never ridden rocks like these before. It was sooooo awesome. It made almost everything else i've ridden look like childs play. Karpiel was rocks and trees which we had to dodge and Pho Dog was loose silt and kitty litter with berms and some jumps. Hella fun. After doing one practice run, did another one to try different lines and boom, no more time for practice. Went up and waited for my race run. Wished i had more time to rest up as i did not have water and gelled up for my race run. Also, times were pushed back by 20 minutes as the lifts stopped running for a while.
At 1:20pm, i lined up. I could only see the entrance and the trail ahead of the line. Everything else is silent to me. All but the 5 beeps and boom, pedaled my butt off. Went through some slalom like sections at the top with loose gravel and into some roots and rocks in the inside and slid out to the outside and regained traction. Pedaled wherever i could and one of the rock sections, i was a little too agressive, went too fast in a pinballed and couldnt hold my line, came to a stop. Ran my bike, got back on pedaled as fast as i could. Down through these bermy sections and then more roots and rocks. Didnt remember my line from practice and went straight into a tree head first. God i love my helmet... hahahahahaha. But got back up as fast as i could and pedaled went down. The rocks shot you off into some potholed berms and down a shoot and on this huge fireroad which i started pedaling my butt off. Flying down the fireroad and i see a guy pointing down this shoot on the left. Brake, slide and into the shoot. and that was Pho Dog. Loose slalom like sections with berms and tables and doubles. Finally some more familiar terrain, haha. Went down it and launched off the stadium jump at the finish. Those 2 major mistakes caused me big time. But it was fun and that was what mattered. I'll make sure to be more conservative on the next runs...
Got down and met Joey, Grant and SpasticSlinkee and a bunch of other guys from mtbr and ridesfo. Really cool to put faces with the names. All cool guys... XD We went up and did a run of Livewire and i was trying to match some of their speeds and it was alright for a while. Then we took a quick break for food and sessioned the bottom for some pics. Didnt do the top as going to the top with 3k of camera equipment didnt seem like such a good idea... After some sessioning, I did Livewire and Gypsy with SpasticSlinkee. Hella fun. Gypsy was awesome with some rock faces and drops and is one of my favourite trails yet. Though the drops had flat landings and that wasnt too nice on the body, hahahahaha. Got to the bottom and met Greg again and we did 2 runs of Livewire and one run of Gypsy. I was finally matching Gregs speed on the first run of Livewire and cleared all the doubles, tables and gaps including this step up which shot you 6 feet in the air and you're landing on the backside of the step up 15 feet below you. Was hella fun.
All in all, Northstar was a blast and i'm glad i managed to make it out there. Wish i could afford a season pass right now so i wouldnt have to spend extra on races... but oh well, gotta do what you gotta do i guess...
Pics to come... XD
Did one run of Livewire and omg, it was my first time there and i was coming short on some of the tables and cased a couple doubles. Though it really sucked as there was one really small table which was like 6 feet big, i launched the hell out of it and nosed down for the landing only to find that there was no landing... Hahahahaha. Oh well, i know for next time. After Livewire, i followed Grant down Boondocks and man that trail was awesome. Felt like a real DH course with rocks and kitty litter just covering the trail. A couple places i have to admit i was really worried about my XO derailleur... hahahaha. I was following Grant and SpasticSlingkee was behind me. We were going down and after a while i lost sight of Grant only to find a little lip and nothing below. I just thought, cant be that high. 3 feet the most. Launched it and it turned out to be 6 feet at least, hahaha. I love DH trails making you adapt to your surroundings no matter what they are. Hella fun. Made it to the bottom and damn, lifts are closed at 5pm... All in all a fun day... XD
Met up with Greg and Tim in the middle of the hill and we did the lower section of the park back into the parking lot. The lower section was super fun and flowy with some stuff to hit. Was fun... We loaded up the truck and headed to the river to clean up. Then we went to this Mexican place called El Sanchos or something and had some sweet Burritos... Greg bought dinner. Greg is awesome... XD After dinner headed to the campsite and set up.
Me being me and clueless about camping, only brought a sleeping bag. We met up with Damon at the campsite and he hooked me up with some pads, blankets and a jacket. Thank god or i would be freezing my butt off at like mid 30s... Haha. We stayed up and BSed til we were tired and went to sleep.... Was really cool. I havent seen that many stars in a while. Even saw a shooting star. Very cool!!!
Sunday morning came. Sun rose at 5:30am. I woke up at 6am. Didnt get much sleep as i kept waking up. Could hear Tim walking around the camp grounds... lols. Oh well, ahahaha. Got up, took a dump, packed, had breakfast and watched Earthed 5 on my laptop. Left, went to Northstar and registered. Registered for Sport 19 - 24. Was gonna be my first time racing Sport on terrain which i've never ridden before. Just awesome!!! Super stoked. Got on the lifts at 10am and did a practice run of the course. The course was upper Karpiel and then Pho Dog into the Stadium Jump. I've never ridden rocks like these before. It was sooooo awesome. It made almost everything else i've ridden look like childs play. Karpiel was rocks and trees which we had to dodge and Pho Dog was loose silt and kitty litter with berms and some jumps. Hella fun. After doing one practice run, did another one to try different lines and boom, no more time for practice. Went up and waited for my race run. Wished i had more time to rest up as i did not have water and gelled up for my race run. Also, times were pushed back by 20 minutes as the lifts stopped running for a while.
At 1:20pm, i lined up. I could only see the entrance and the trail ahead of the line. Everything else is silent to me. All but the 5 beeps and boom, pedaled my butt off. Went through some slalom like sections at the top with loose gravel and into some roots and rocks in the inside and slid out to the outside and regained traction. Pedaled wherever i could and one of the rock sections, i was a little too agressive, went too fast in a pinballed and couldnt hold my line, came to a stop. Ran my bike, got back on pedaled as fast as i could. Down through these bermy sections and then more roots and rocks. Didnt remember my line from practice and went straight into a tree head first. God i love my helmet... hahahahahaha. But got back up as fast as i could and pedaled went down. The rocks shot you off into some potholed berms and down a shoot and on this huge fireroad which i started pedaling my butt off. Flying down the fireroad and i see a guy pointing down this shoot on the left. Brake, slide and into the shoot. and that was Pho Dog. Loose slalom like sections with berms and tables and doubles. Finally some more familiar terrain, haha. Went down it and launched off the stadium jump at the finish. Those 2 major mistakes caused me big time. But it was fun and that was what mattered. I'll make sure to be more conservative on the next runs...
Got down and met Joey, Grant and SpasticSlinkee and a bunch of other guys from mtbr and ridesfo. Really cool to put faces with the names. All cool guys... XD We went up and did a run of Livewire and i was trying to match some of their speeds and it was alright for a while. Then we took a quick break for food and sessioned the bottom for some pics. Didnt do the top as going to the top with 3k of camera equipment didnt seem like such a good idea... After some sessioning, I did Livewire and Gypsy with SpasticSlinkee. Hella fun. Gypsy was awesome with some rock faces and drops and is one of my favourite trails yet. Though the drops had flat landings and that wasnt too nice on the body, hahahahaha. Got to the bottom and met Greg again and we did 2 runs of Livewire and one run of Gypsy. I was finally matching Gregs speed on the first run of Livewire and cleared all the doubles, tables and gaps including this step up which shot you 6 feet in the air and you're landing on the backside of the step up 15 feet below you. Was hella fun.
All in all, Northstar was a blast and i'm glad i managed to make it out there. Wish i could afford a season pass right now so i wouldnt have to spend extra on races... but oh well, gotta do what you gotta do i guess...
Pics to come... XD
