Massanutten Report

The fog was a bit thick on Friday morning. Persistent rains and intermittent mist kept the mountain wet and muddy but through all the murky weather you could see smiles on all the riders as the first downhill race of the Gravity East Series took off.

Massanutten, Virginia would be the first stop on the GES tour. The weekend’s format would be skewed to Friday practice and Saturday race, giving us the ability to thank our mothers for giving us the chance to be here. With a truck full of bikes, riders and tires we made the journey down and were able to get a chance to walk the course and attempt to create a mental roadmap of the track.

TRACK LAYOUT:
The track was originally cut in 1997 for the UCI World Cup race. Not much has changed. With a start incorporating some large rocks and multiple lines it would give the chance to test our tires and nerves. The high left line would take a little practice to get into and some “egg shell” riding would be a valiant effort to keep air in the tubes.
This would lead you to the first fire road section that would shoot you back into the trees where the single track awaited. High speed prowess and some slick root management would be needed to flow through this section and keep the momentum for the series of high bank switchbacks that had plenty of riders with illuminated question marks floating above their helmets. These turns were high and scattered with small boulders so a concentrated entrance would reward you with a faster exit speed. Out of the woods you would hit the second fire road section, longer and a bit steeper you could increase your speed and try your hand at the “Speed Trap” your speed would flash on a giant light board giving you the ability to accurately read your velocity directly before death. In all seriousness it provided all the riders a new level of excitement in a sometimes-dull section. Back into the woods to tackle the last bit of wet roots and single track before dumping you out onto a longer rock garden riddled with baby-heads and square edge hits. Pedal, pedal and…finish line.

W.A.S.K. white-anglo-saxon-kid
Our buddy D. Wask with a busted knee would accompany the group down to the commonwealth of Virginia to help record the event for prosperity’s sake. He would join Treglia, Broughton, Marvelous and myself in making crude jokes and moto bike noises during the weekend. Dave and Matt would make the trip like the rest of us and attempt to look like we know what we are doing.

Practice would be rough as the cold rain and mud would discourage most riders from trekking out onto the track. Friday went well with no real big spills or upsets. Oh I almost forgot that Marvelous may have broken two fingers on Friday but other than that a clean bill of health. Saturdays temperature drop caught most of us off guard and during the dreaded wait under the tent adjacent to the start gate we huddled and tried to keep Matt warm. The race runs were pretty sketch for almost everyone. Treglia may have broken his wrist; Dave and Matt both took spills in their race runs as well. I faired all right no real big mistakes but many little ones that may or may not have cost me a position. But Marv pulled out the fireworks on his run, after the last rock garden he found himself gapping out to the road and found his suspension and form to be non-compliant. Over the bars and through the air the crash would end the life of the helmet and offer a separated shoulder and many tweaked muscles. Concussion? Maybe.
Massanutten put on a great race and the weekend ran quite smoothly from their end.


New bikes are on the way and the U.S. Open lurks around the corner.