NW Cup B-Line Racing Round #3 Report

Mount Hood Skibowl delivered all kinds of weather this weekend for round 3 of the NW Cup. Only a few riders braved the cold rainy weather for practice laps on Friday, but by Saturday it was game on. Riders endured practice and racing on a fast gnarly course in extreme conditions, including rain showers and even snow. By the time the first riders were scheduled to drop for seeding, there was already snow sticking at the top of the track. Becca was the only B-line rider to do a seeding run and, despite miserable conditions and crashing, she made it to the bottom ready to race the next day. Unfortunately, other team members were not able to participate in seeding for various reasons. The sun came out on Sunday for the race, a complete contrast to the snowy conditions in seeding the previous day. Even though the course was still slick, the warm weather made everyone a little happier to be riding their bikes. Becca improved her seeding time by 33 seconds but had a few costly mistakes in her race run, putting her in 4th, just a few seconds off a top 3 spot. Autumn didn’t have the race run she was looking for either but still came in 3rd behind some fast competition, impressive for the youngest rider in the Pro Women category. Some of the younger riders in CAT 2 and 3 were looking good this weekend as well. Jude Bender finished with a solid 5th place, and Alden Pate was looking quick and landed in 8th. Even though the conditions were not ideal to race in, it was fun to have the chance to ride such an awesome track. The team hopes for drier conditions at the next race and wishes a speedy recovery to Gideon after finding out he broke his left fibula and ligament damage. This will end his campaign to return to world champs in 2019 and nationals as he is looking at 3-6 month recovery post-surgery.