BYOB

3.2%?

Are you serious? Where have I been?

Utah had its highlights. The venue was Deer Valley, about a ten-
minute walk from Park City. The scenery was great and the small town charm was very much intact.
Parking tickets were 3 dollars, 3 dollars for a parking ticket. If
you didn’t pay it went up to 20 dollars after ten days. No helmet
law, mortals zooming around on two-wheeled death with only shades and
a smile to protect them. At least we had helmets.

The race course at Deer Valley is chocked full of goodness. Steep rock
descents, off camber switchbacks and lots of high speed all coated in
inches of what seemed to be moon dust. The first day of practice is
an eye opening experience; the dry arid dust is completely unstable.
Applying the brakes seems to have no effect at all. We stomp through
practice unscathed but with quite a few near misses. We collect ourselves for tomorrow where we plan to turn the speed up and most likely the “ouch”.

As the sun rises the real beauty of Utah emerges, rolling hills low tree lines and those clear skies. We head out to the mountain with the intention of nailing down all of our lines and stepping on the accelerator. The lift line for practice begins to fill rapidly and once on the trail we find it difficult to ride without stopping for all the other riders in front of us. The lower section of the course has you traversing an off camber section into a deep dark valley. The valley has tight switchbacks and is incredibly steep. This is where time can be made or lost, come race day.

The next morning we begin to prepare for the race. I’m nervous, usually there are butterflies but today I am especially nervous. The racers from this area are super fast; they have ridden this type of terrain hundreds of times. We shall see what I can pull out of my… The audible beeps and I’m off the start gate and down the course. The rock section known as the “Waterfall” appears and for the first time, I take the sissy route. I take that sissy route as fast as I can. I fell way too many times in practice to risk it. The brake bumps are horrendous on the trail. As I enter the woods section I’m pressing hard and get knocked completely off the course. I scramble to get back on the course and regain my flow. The next section approaching is the switchbacks and I am rolling even faster to make up some time. I descend down the last steep chute and exit the woods to see one of the largest spectator crowds; I can’t wait to cross that line. I take the ledge drop and cross the line. When the dust settles I take third. I’m satisfied.
But if I had just ridden a little faster, who knows?

Another notch in the belt and now I'm currently ranked 6th nationally.
Utah is a beautiful place with a tremendous amount of open space.

And yes, they are serious; the beer only contains 3.2% alcohol.

BYOB