Photo Epic: 2015 Downieville Classic
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Last weekend was the 20th anniversary of the Downieville Classic. The weekend of racing includes Saturdays grueling 30 mile point to point cross country race from Sierra City to Downieville. Sunday, 200 racers who were lucky enough to sign up in the first 3 minutes of registration race down the 4500'/17 mile decent. The trails raced are some of the oldest in the western United States most which date back to the 1800's when Downieville was a boom town in the middle of the gold rush. Today the trails are maintained by Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship and are enjoyed by dirt bikers, hikers and mountain bikers alike.
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 The weekend starts early on Saturday morning with a bike weigh in. To race in the All Mountain your bike must weigh the same for both Saturday and Sundays races. Scott Chapin gets his steed weighed up before a big weekend of hunting podiums. |
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| The front of the Mens Expert starting line. Angry single speeder Kurt Gensheimer stretches the legs out from too many hours driving the Yuba Expedition Shuttle. |
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| Billy Damon all smiles...until the climb starts. |
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| Lindsay Chirdon and Leslie Oley, 2 expert women getting faster every year. Pro next year? |
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| The first aid and sweeper crew led by Doctor Rob. If you get hurt on course these are the people you're really happy to see. Without the help of these guys and countless other volunteers the race would never happen. |
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| Their chariots await. |
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| The pro men start line. Check out the monster truck tires being sported by Sean Estes! |
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| Carl Decker bushwhacks his way to the pro men's start line, avoiding the riff-raff. |
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| Barry Wicks leads Colin Daw and Alex Wild followed by a chase pack with Menso de Jong leading Carl Decker, Jason Moeschler and Sam Anderson-Moxley. This is the first section of the 9 mile climb. |
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| A closer look. |
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| Further up the climb Alex Wild makes the pass on Colin Daw with Barry Wicks close behind. |
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| Carl Decker picks off Menso de Jong as he begins to reel in the lead group. |
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| Jason Moeschler setting his own pace on the climb in 6th waiting till later to attack. |
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| Scott Chapin on the hunt. |
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| Billy Damon pedals his Nomad up in between Jantaraboon Kiangchaipaiphana and Spencer Rathkamp. 6" trail bikes have come a long way. |
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| Squint and you'll see Carl Decker has made the pass on Barry Wicks and chases Colin Daw and Alex Wild up the beast that is the Downieville classic climb. |
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| Another closer look. |
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| I just catch a glimpse of Colin Daw as he leads the field up the last section of the climb and beats me to this photo location. |
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| Alex Wild second place heading into the last section of the climb. He would end up with a mechanical which would cost him the race landing him in 45th on the day. |
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| Carl Decker third place followed by Barry Wicks and Menso de Jong. |
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| Jason Moeschler looking comfortable staying in 6th place through most of the climb. |
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| Colin Daw, first to Packers Saddle. This is the top of the 9 mile climb 3500ft climb. |
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| After taking 2nd from Alex Wild, Carl Decker sets his sights on the lead. |
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| Still in 6th place local favorite Jason Moeschler gets ready to start kicking ass and taking names on the decent. |
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| Billy Damon leads Scott Chapin into Sunrise trail. This battle would last the entire decent. |
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| Scott Chapin right on Billy Damons wheel. |
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| Having passed Colin Daw, Carl Decker is the first in to the baby heads section. Photo Credit: My wonderful wife, Susannah Cantrell. She decided to take this year off from racing the Classic and with about 5 min of instruction with the camera shot some of the best pictures of the weekend from this corner of the baby heads section. |
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| Jason Moeschler Charging on his new Cannondale Habit. |
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| Billy Damon still being chased by Scott Chapin. |
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| Sean Estes letting those giant tires roll through the baby heads on his way to 15th place in XC....apparently those big tires roll faster than I had thought. |
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| Erin Alders cruises her way through baby heads to a 1st place pro women XC finish. |
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| Debby Sullivan battling with the guys for a 5th place pro women XC finish. |
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| This is Carter, the course marshall/ first aid/ pit crew one man band that never stops. |
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| Carl Decker holds on to the lead as he passes the last cliffy section of lower first divide. Only about 5 min to go in the race at this point. |
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| Colin Daw chases Carl Decker to a 2nd place finish on the day. |
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| Jason Moeschler ends up third on the day after getting passed Barry Wicks and Menso de Jong on the decent. |
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| Billy Damon climbed up to 10th place through the decent and still followed close behind by Scott Chapin right till the end. |
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| Anthony Medaglia, coming hot into the cliffs ended up 16th on the day. |
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| Jeff Kendall-Weed carving beside the cliffs ends up 27th. |
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| Kurt Gensheimer getting low in the first divide turns to a 3rd place single speed XC finish. |
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| Carolina Gomez-Villafane looking really strong in the exposed heat of first divide and cruising into town for a 2nd place for pro women XC. |
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| Megan Chinburg chases down Carolina Gomez-Villafane for a 3rd place finish on the day followed by someone on a really nice Ibis. |
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| Connor Kuhns rolls through the jagged white rocks or first divide to a 24th place finish in under 35yo expert men. |
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| Sarah Pittiglio with a 3rd place finish in under 35yo expert women. |
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| The Shimano cast off. They gave first place a rod reel and tackle box!! Not a bad days work. |
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| The river party. The Yuba giveth. |
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| McLoven with the biggest superman of the day. |
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| Ahoy party tube. |
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| Pro Womens XC podium. Erin Alders 1st, Carolina Gomez-Villafane 2nd, Megan Chinburg 3rd. |
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| Pro men XC podium. Carl Decker 1st, Colin Daw 2nd, Jason Moeschler 3rd. |
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| Jason Moeschler's Cannondale Habit still weighing the 27lbs it weighed the day before. |
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| Mike Turner playing around at the start of the DH. |
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| Carl Decker on Sunrise trail. A flat tire would set him back to 34th place in the DH taking away his chance for the AM win. |
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| Jason Moeschler charges his way to a DH win which gave him the AM victory. |
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| Colin Daw on a flyer down sunrise trail ended up getting a flat but powered out on a tube for 21st in DH and a 7th place finish in the AM. |
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| Jeff Kendall-Weed sporting a visor on Sunday rides to a 9th place in the DH and a 15th in the AM. |
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| Paul Freiwald navigates the most awkward turn on sunrise. |
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| Billy Damon rips a corner lower down on Sunrise for a 5th place finish in the DH and a 6th place in the AM. |
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| Jantaraboon Kiangchaipaiphana with a strong 8th place finish in the XC, he rides to a 16th place in the DH and finishes 13th in the AM. |
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| Ryan Gardner on his way to a 3rd place finish in the DH bringing him up to 5th place in AM. |
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| Quick down and up the gorge on Butcher Ranch trail. |
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| Spencer Jones has a sketchy moment unclipped but makes quick a recovery. |
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| Peter Rehage works his way through the wet rocky section on Butch Ranch. |
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| Ian Kirk takes the left line on the waterfall....well in non drought year its a waterfall. |
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| Justin Robinson drops in the right hand line on the waterfall on his way to a expert men DH win. |
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| The first sight of Pauley Creek mean your almost at the end of Butcher Ranch. |
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| Megan Chinburg going fast beside Pauley Creek on her way to a pro women DH win. |
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| Jamie Kendall-Weed sends it down a part of Pauley Creek that scares me every time I ride it. |
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| Nathan Barnett on a charge down Pauley Creek to a Junior Expert DH win. His time would have landed him in 6th place pro men. |
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| The Third Divide climb. This is the cramping zone just before the fastest section of the race. |
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| Melissa Hygelund cresting the second divide climb on her way to a expert women DH win. |
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| Pro men's AM podium. Jason Moeschler 1st, Scott Chapin 2nd, Carl Decker 3rd (not in picture), Cody Kaiser 4th. |
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| Pro women's AM podium. Megan Chinburg 1st, Carolina Gomez-Villafane 2nd, Erin Alders 3rd, Jamie Kendall-Weed 4th. |
Full results here.
MENTIONS: @holmesslice
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I was super bummed to throw away my All Mountain entry, but these amazing photos make me that much more hungry for redemption next year. Thanks for making our local trails look like the heavenly stretches of perfect dirt that they are. There's just a lot of rocks too!
www.genghiskhanmtbadventure.com/images/stories/genghiskhan/pdf/results/2015/L_MTB_M_Total_Result.pdf
What better way to prove it than to stick it under a Downieville AM winner!
An excellent time on the downhill is 55 minutes or less. 45-50 minutes is possible only for the fastest pros.
Super, super super fun race and must do!