US Gravity Nationals 2012 - DH Finals Photos
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 It rained again the night before finals, and in the morning the dirt was soft, really soft... |
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| The tree that took out Gwin and Ropelato last year, and the view of the track beyond it. That's where the rock garden splits, high line on the left, and the lower, slower line to the right |
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| Patriotic spirit was out in abundance at National Champs. |
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| There was a dj in the rock garden, blasting music for the spectators, and people with horns and cowbells and all sorts of other noisemakers. But the chainsaw was not allowed. Seems to be a bit of a double standard at play, when he started it up I could barely hear it over the other noise. |
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| Quick, grab your children, there's a giant bunny on the loose! It doesn't get much better than real tree camo and and an American flag... |
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| The rock garden at Beech Mountain is a bit on the gnarly side, and not just because of the rocks. It's also fairly flat. That means it's easy to loose your speed, and if you come to a stop there is no easy way to start pedaling, running is probably your best option. |
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| Once you got out of the main part of the rock garden there were still a lot of obstacles, and multiple lines to get through them. |
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| Lauren Daney never seems to look that fast in practice, but she always seems to pull something out for the final. Fourth place, on the podium, just short of a medal. Here she takes the left hand line. |
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| Jaime Rees, third place for the NW rider, maybe the right hand line is faster? |
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| Melissa Buhl won the slalom, but hasn't been training DH quite as much lately. She still managed to pull out a 2nd place finish behind Jackie Harmony. |
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| Jacqueline Harmony, taking the National Title and winning by over 9 seconds in Pro Women. |
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| Cole Picchiottino blasting out of the woods. Cole crashed in qualis, but kept it together in the final and finished up in second spot in JrX. |
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| Specialized rider Cody Kelley, 4th place in Pro Slalom, and 2nd in JrX DH |
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| Alexander Willie won the JrX DH class with a time that would have placed him 13th in Pro Men. |
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| Jay Fesperman, Jr 15-16 winner, with a time that would have won JrX 17-18 and placed him 13th overall in pro men. Watch out for this kid! |
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| Austin Warren got a little too much off the hip in qualifying and went otb to his head. Not a total KO, but definitely a little shaky afterwards. Bubba definitely didn't make the same mistake in the final. |
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| Eliot Jackson crashed in qualifying and started mid pack in the final. His run put in the hot seat up until Neko Mulally came down, he ended up in third overall behind Neko and Gwin. |
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| Kevin Littlefield has been training hard and it shows. The Evil rider ended up in fifth spot here. |
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| The 2011 National Champ Logan Binggeli put in a great effort, but couldn't repeat this year. Fourth place |
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| Neko Mulally had really wanted to beat Gwin here, and put in a lot of extra time on the course looking for every possible second. After his third place chainless qualifier it looked like finals might be a bit of a battle, but it wasn't to be. Second place, and 3 seconds behind Gwin. |
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| I'm not sure what kind of intuition made me step out of the main photographers area at the podium and shoot from the side when Gwin grabbed the champagne, but I'm glad I did. Full on frontal attack... |
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| Chris Herndon, former national slalom champ, and the man responsible for the DH and slalom tracks at Beech Mountain. |
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| Budweiser and Real Tree, 'Merica! Cody Warren represents. |
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| Ryan Condrashoff flew out from the west coast on Friday night after work. He only had time for 5 or 6 practice runs before qualifying, and ended up in 35th spot overall. Redemption came in the form of a photo. Big whip over the hip... |
Full results can be found here
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42 Comments
- 13 0
jut8
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:13)
This sport needs more people like Chris Herndon
- 2 0
scott-townes
(Jul 23, 2012 at 22:18)
More than enough quality riders, not enough quality trail builders... not saying there isn't guys out there that build ill stuff already, of course!
- 5 0
chrisk
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:30)
Melissa Buhl is in med school at Arizona State University. She's quite a role model. I'm a teacher and I have her come to my school to talk to my students every year. She rocks. Jackie Harmony rocks too. Go AZ ladies!!!
- 6 0
Karpiel073
(Jul 23, 2012 at 17:53)
Great pictures as always Ian! Isn't Buhl working on a medical degree? Hard work does pay off.
- 1 0
meathooker
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:21)
That or psychology. Impressive.
- 1 0
captainbringdown
Mod
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:32)
Don't think she is in/through yet. I think she recently graduated from undergrad at ASU(The school I work at...) Noting her Blog, perhaps she got into UC.
- 1 0
seanyboy760
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:44)
From my understanding she is studying to get her Phd. Professional Biker and a Doctor the woman sure has talent and determination.
- 1 0
captainbringdown
Mod
(Jul 23, 2012 at 20:19)
Nice, I knew she was kinesiology/premed undergrad here but don't know more than that. She's out of our system. Pretty impressive...
- 1 0
IanHylands
(Jul 24, 2012 at 3:07)
At the moment I believe she is out of school and spending all her time trying to find a job.
- 1 0
captainbringdown
Mod
(Jul 24, 2012 at 6:31)
Ah. Thanks for the info Ian.
- 5 0
oldmanguge
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:39)
Where's the PBR
- 1 0
bspill1
(Jul 23, 2012 at 20:05)
cannot confirm but PBR might actually be an American company unlike Budweiser now
- 2 0
RpedalNgoGOGO
(Jul 23, 2012 at 20:15)
i drank one and it somehow attached itself to my sunbrella. dont know what happened to it after that
- 2 0
bstill30
(Jul 23, 2012 at 21:21)
Amazing photos as usual, Ian. Can someone please tell me why on Monday evening, there is still zero video footage of our national championsip races?
- 2 0
IanHylands
(Jul 24, 2012 at 3:09)
Because there were zero people there filming it aside from a few kids really. While it's the US National Championships I would have to say that it's really not taken very seriously. Just look at the numbers, 10 women and 63 men entered in the Pro DH field, that's an incredibly small number.
- 2 0
trekrider4mgm
(Jul 24, 2012 at 7:51)
A full video (around 8 mins long) should be up in the coming weeks.
- 2 0
louevilcyclist
(Jul 24, 2012 at 8:55)
The Dirt Passion crew was there filming the whole thing from multiple spots on the course and slalom too. They are covering everything from the am to pro classes. They said it will be a couple weeks before they get the complete edit done. From the set ups they were using it should be well worth the wait.
- 1 0
IanHylands
(Jul 24, 2012 at 20:24)
Good to hear, that's a little late for real news coverage, but I'm sure everyone will be stoked to see it.
- 1 0
josephgrimes
(Jul 24, 2012 at 18:52)
IAN! Great photos - thanks for getting our boy Emerson in the ghillie suit! It was good to meet you and next time you're in NC let me know we'll get out on the trail bikes.
- 1 0
IanHylands
(Jul 24, 2012 at 20:22)
I really enjoyed my time at Beech, great mountain and great hospitality, thanks to everyone there! Not sure when I'll be back, although I'm shooting down around Brevard right now and the riding is amazing, might have to come back for more of that!
- 1 0
ivebeenfelt
(Jul 25, 2012 at 5:58)
Brevard eigh? Will we (the inquiring public) get to see those pics? I'm sure you have plenty of people telling you where to ride and shoot, but don't forget DuPont!
- 1 0
IanHylands
(Jul 25, 2012 at 9:55)
You will probably see them at some point, although they won't necessarily have my name on them. I'm shooting for a specific catalog project, and no worries, I've spent a full day at Dupont as well...
- 1 0
ivebeenfelt
(Jul 26, 2012 at 6:01)
Excellent! I can't wait to see the photos.
- 3 0
BLIPDH
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:25)
sooo two riders got 2nd in jrX??
- 1 0
JKSR
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:32)
Two age groups.
- 1 0
scott-townes
(Jul 23, 2012 at 22:21)
Alex won the Jr. X and Jay won his 15-16 class but would have won the Jr. X if he was in that class... just comparing times is all.
- 4 1
MrHuckmeister
(Jul 23, 2012 at 20:56)
last pic POD anyone?
- 1 0
markmark57
(Jul 23, 2012 at 22:48)
Thanks Ladies for putting Arizona on the map.......Melissa you are a example of what you can do if you put your mind to it.
- 1 0
scottdmr
(Jul 24, 2012 at 3:08)
Cody warren has packed on the weight haha
- 1 0
gumpi27
(Jul 25, 2012 at 13:46)
THE RATE OF AMERICANS IS TOO DAMN HIGH!
- 3 1
bmbass
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:00)
Merica! Awesome weekend!
- 2 0
captainbringdown
Mod
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:32)
Great pics, nicely done again!
- 2 1
Jester1826
(Jul 23, 2012 at 19:02)
Looked like an awsome weekend!!
- 1 0
celiaferguson
(Jul 23, 2012 at 21:01)
Awesome Jackie! aCOS represent! A culture of speed!
ACultureOfSpeed.com
- 1 0
dez69
FL (Jul 24, 2012 at 4:15)
what happened to luke strobel?
- 1 0
louevilcyclist
(Jul 24, 2012 at 8:57)
He crashed on the first drop and DNF'd
- 1 0
dez69
FL (Jul 24, 2012 at 9:04)
ohh bad luck, deserved a good result! he was so pinned and smooth in that pivot video at bromont
- 1 0
trekrider4mgm
(Jul 24, 2012 at 14:37)
Technically he did finish, rolled through the finish line. But yeah he DNF
- 1 0
IanHylands
(Jul 24, 2012 at 20:23)
Went huge on the first drop and got picked up by the wind, he's lucky to be okay in his words...
- 1 0
bstill30
(Jul 24, 2012 at 14:32)
Glad to hear that some video will be up soon. Big thanks to all involved.
- 1 0
Kinsey
(Jul 24, 2012 at 15:27)
Great job Jaime Rees! Atta girl!
- 1 0
xignigenax
(Jul 23, 2012 at 21:28)
Jackie Harmony FTW!
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