Crankworx 2015 is behind us. The dust has settled and the crews have had a day or two to catch up on sleep and maybe even take a peek at current affairs outside of our tunnel to see what else has transpired during the 10 days of singular focus executing an unprecedented number of events and activations
The highlight videos online can show you the best runs and podium performances but to me there were some moments you might have missed that I want to highlight.
First and foremost is a tip of the hat to the Crankworx team for matching the prize money at all race events for the men and woman. There is no 'woman’s tee' in mountain biking and equality beyond the course has been a long time coming.
Kidsworx though only a couple years old now, has blossomed into something incredible with hundreds of kids ages 3 to 15 getting a chance to participate in bike races in multiple disciplines. There were kids from across Canada, California, Pittsburg, Oregon, Washington, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and the UK showing us a glimpse into the future of our sport. Judging by the fact that their times on some courses were only seconds (not minutes!) off the top pros, you don’t need a crystal ball to see the groundswell of talent coming up in the next few years.
The final highlight for me was Brett Rheeder’s performance at Redbull Joyride. The amount of pressure on this athlete after winning the two previous Crankworx events this year was massive. Though Brett never made it to the bottom of the course due to two unfortunate crashes, his champion character was evident when he climbed back up the landing he had just crashed on and gave the crowd a bike hoisted claim before finishing his run for the fans.
The season is far from over with some of the best riding of the year coming our way as we buff out the ruts of Crankworx and freshen up the Park with some new offerings. We will be opening a new section of No Joke called '7 Year War' above the Olympic Tunnel on the Woman’s DH as well as the middle section of Freight Train which has been completely retooled. The dirt material through that section was less than abundant and not great quality so we have trucked in countless loads of better dirt from above in order to improve the riding quality of this Garbo staple. Now that the fire hazard has dropped and we are getting some overnight dew on the ground we can send a crew back into the Crank it Up 2 project next week.
The Creekside Gondola remains open for easy access to the Bike Park with return riding via Dusty’s DH and BC’s trail until September 7th and then weekends only until September 20th. If you haven’t checked it out yet you can drop in on Crossroads from Freight Train and No Joke just below the Raven’s Nest to get to the DDH trailhead.
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