US Open - Practice and the People

May 22, 2009

The sky is blue here at the US Open at Diablo Freeride park in Vernon New Jersey. Weather is amazing and the riders are loving the track. The general consensus is that it's ROCKY up there and that the lower section is fast and open. The teams are filling up the pits and the athletes were mulling about.

Check out the athlete video and pics inside (Giant Slalom qualifying results inside too):

Andy and I wanted to get you an idea of who is here for this year's race, so we went around the pits and tackled racers for their take on the course. Check out the who's who in this video:

US Open Day 1 and the people:

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The view from our room is pretty much bad ass:


There are approximately 110 pro men and 20 pro women signed up for this year's US Open. Names like Sam Hill, Stevie Smith, Gee Atherton and Curtis Keene will all be battling it out for their cut of the cash purse, while on the lady's side the start list reads like a USA versus Canada for who'll take home the money, but we can't cancel out strong riders like Fionn Griffiths and Joanna Peterson as they battle Kathy Pruitt, Katie Holden, Miranda Miller and Micayla Gatto.




The pits are all nice and close to the chairlift and the rest of the base area at Diablo. Today was set up day and dialing in bikes, but you can expect that tomorrow the pits will be full of the viewing public.




Men's Giant Slalom qualifying results:

1 FAIRCLOUGH Brendan Pro Men 40.71
2 LOPES Brian
3 HILL Sam
4 BEYTAGH Geritt
5 CARTER Eric
6 RANDO Jared
7 AIELLO Kevin
8 RYAN George
9 CONDRASHOFF Ryan
10 MCCAUL Tyler
11 BINGGELI Logan
12 SCHWANKE James
13 ROLLAND Etienne
14 MEMMELAAR Jason
15 ORTIZ Alejandro
16 JEANNET James
17 McCAUL Cameron
18 PIPER Brian
19 HAUER John
20 GRAVES Justin

Jill Kintner

Women's Top Qualifiers for the Giant Slalom:

1 KINTNER Jill Red Bull Pro Women 45.13
2 BUHL Melissa
3 PRUITT Kathy
4 GRIFFITHS Fionn
5 PETTERSON Joanna

Video shot by Andy Tran.

Select action shots by davidt.pinkbike.com

Here is a schedule of the weekend's events.

Check out the US open Photo Gallery here.

US Open Site