Finals Photo Epic: Downhill Southeast - Windrock II 2020
Clouds and gentle showers filled the skies and replaced the warm and muggy weather that the DHSE saw on Saturday for qualifying runs. While the rain came and went early on in the morning on Sunday, the rain didn’t saturate the track enough to change the dry and loose conditions. The precipitation did, however, knock down the heat and humidity, a warm welcome for racers, workers and spectators alike.
The dry, loose conditions continued to play in the favor of the Californian Charlie Harrison on race day. He again took top honors on the day with a run time of 2 mins 48 seconds, a little over 4 seconds faster than Intense Factory Racing’s Neko Mulally (2:52) who came in second. Local southeast racer Seth Hanson once again rounded out the podium, making Sunday's podium the exact same as Saturday's qualifying.
On the women’s side of things, the top three would also remain the same as Saturday's qualifying! Norwegian born Frida Ronning once again took the top spot with a run time of 3:23, with Canadian Rachel Pageau in second (3:29) and Caroline Washam in third (3:36). The top three women also doubled up on race runs as they additionally ran the Single Crown Open class. Rachel would finish 8th in class, with Frida in 10th and Caroline in the number 12 spot.
Honorable mentions from the weekend include Specialized Gravity team member Chris Grice, who took home 4th in Mens Pro with a time of 2 mins and 59 seconds. A mere 2 seconds off of the podium, all at the age of 17. The kid is mature, humble and most of all insanely fast for his age. The future is bright for US DH racing with this kid.
Arguably (definitely) the MVP(s) of the weekend were the people who made the event happen. From the mastermind Neko Mulally, the backpack bandit Logan Mulally, to the shuttle crew, EMTs and everyone else involved with the series, your hard work doesn’t / won’t go unnoticed. Thank you for paving a way to get legitimate DH racing to the South East and getting everyone back to racing in spite of the current global situation. See you all at Snowshoe August 1st and 2nd.
The droplets on the ribbon are the extent of the rain that got through the dense foliage during the early morning showers.
Rayfeal during one of his many runs, he definitely got in a solid amount of riding over the course of the weekend. I'm still tired from watching push back up the hill trying to dial in his lines.
John leading Keith into the powerline section.
Charlie diving into the powerline section.
Colin dusting me out.
Isak launching over a rock garden near the top of the mountain.
Frida doing the same.
Brooks took home the win in the Cat 1 Men's 0-18 class.
The OG.
Starting grate awaiting tread.
Dialing in the mind before a run.
Cleaning up after a good breakfast.
More sprinting to the finish. Every millisecond counts here.
After going over the bars literally coming into the finish line, this racer went from otb to the hot seat. Needless to say, he was feeling the effects of the crash right after.
Post crash vibes.
Getting into race mode.
Smiles were abundant all weekend!
The steed awaiting battle.
Owen trying to mentally dial in his lines before his run, he ended up 9th in a stacked Cat 2/3 Men 0-14 class.
Nice views from the drop-in, the mountains in the distance were barely visible at the first round due to humidity.
Just one of the turns that greeted the racers.
The boss man laying down a heater in morning practice.
Klean kids.
Rachel diving into a turn as a fellow racer tries to dial in his line choice.
Chris putting his Specialized to work.
Charlie getting a few cranks in.
One of the several runs Chuck got in during the weekend. Grinding it out.
Jack has been staying at Dakota Norton's house, seems like the program is working for him. He takes third.
Cat 1 Men's 40+ podium.
Post run pain from the first and second place men's pro finishers.
Chris all smiles after finishing fourth out of 12 in the Pro Mens field.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Circle of life.
"I missed the podium by how much?"
Charlie floating his way to a first-place finish. The trip from Cali was a success.
Neko rocking the stars and stripes sleeve on his way to second.
Seth staying low over the final step up before the finish.
Airbourne Trek.
Respect is nice to see after race runs. Costs nothing to be respectful.
Sprinting through the finish.
What everyone wants but only a few achieve.
Dak was on the sidelines at this race. He is nursing a bum elbow at the moment, he hopes to be back soon.
The other Mulally brother. Colin was the youngest competitor in the Cat 1 Junior class but managed to come across the line in commendable 7th.
Caitlyn was lacking a chain at the finish but not lacking a smile.
In the Kanuga hot seat. Kanuga is an E-bike bike park in Brevard, NC opening soon. The mastermind behind the trail system is none other than the businessman himself, Neko Mulally.
Anxiously awaiting the arrival of fellow racers at the finish.
Father and son enjoying some racing and each others company.
The coveted top step.
The DHSE crew did a fantastic job at having results posted as classes finished. Here a few racers check to see how they did.
Rachel all smiles to be able to racing.
17-year-old Chris Grice will definitely be a hope for US DH in the very near future.
Full on moto scrub for Nathan.
Seth floating on his new DH rig.
Nice necklace!
Little homie couldn't have been happier with his run and the weekend as a whole.
Neko dealing with the paparazzi.
Impressive ride from the California native. Hope to see him back at some more DHSE.
Mens Pro podium.
Throwing on the gold.
Womens Pro podium, Rachel must have missed the dog memo.
Cat 1 Junior Men 0-18 podium. 8 seconds was the difference between first and third.
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Also if you'd like to cite literature: www.nber.org/papers/w27408.pdf
edit: left out word
Now if you are trying to paint me a some right-wing conspiracy guy, good luck because I find fault equally between both major political factions in this country...they are all full of sh*t in my book. My point again is noting hypocrisy, mis-information on both 'sides' , the shaming and holier than thou attitude and absolutism (you are 100% with me on all points or 100% against me if you dare to question anything) that is permeating everything lately. It's f*cking nauseating and has nothing but a toxic divide and conquer appeal that only politicians would appreciate.
Hope that helps. Ride on
I wish you well and hope your day on two wheels is a good one.
Most will agree that some things are more worthy of increased risk than others. Grocery shopping or doing work that can't be done at home in order to retain your job both increase risk, but in most situations are necessary.
This may be overly optimistic but I'd like to think those who chose to attend the race would also be willing to travel and show up to support civil rights as well. If not, that's their right, but that decision does say something.
Either way, once all this pandemic nonsense chills out, feel free to hit me up if you come through GA and are looking to ride.
Voting Biden? Yeah he'll fix it, he's only been in politics for 40 years, but this time he's serious...
actual scientists back the fact that UVC light kills covid. Get with the times
www.who.int/uv/faq/whatisuv/en/index2.html
While UVB is less effective than UVC, being out in the sun provides plenty of concentration of UVB to damage the virus.
This, and any other even without proper safety, security etc is absolutely f*cking stupid.
Yes, in spite of the current ongoing pandemic. Thanks for pretending that everything is ok and ignoring reality. Also, a big thanks to Trek Factory Racing and Intense Factory Racing for sponsoring and profiting from their athletes making bad decisions, and for essentially taking the stand that wearing masks and social distancing is not important, as long as you're going slightly faster than the other potential disease vectors.
Everyone was on board when the trendy thing to do was to make a sick stuck-at-home edit to post to your social, but that's over now. Back to racing. Sick!
These poor lads only have a 99% chance to fight this devastating plague... God help us all.
But it's never been about that. It's about containing the spread so that our grandparents don't die of it. A race like this...one infected person (who doesn't know they're infected because they're fit and healthy and asymptomatic) infects a couple more who go back to their towns and infect a few more, and eventually someone's diabetic uncle or 87 year old grandma gets it, gets intubated, and dies two weeks later.
137,000 dead so far in the USA.
www.google.com/search?q=us+covid+deaths&rlz=1CAZJXP_enCA879&oq=US+covid+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l4j69i60l3.8419j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I'm actually pretty shocked that this was such a divisive comment, but maybe that's naive. Why do you think the US is leading the world in covid infection numbers right now? Is it because everyone else is too dumb to realize that it's just not a big deal and are taking it too seriously?
Yeah, young athletes in peak physical condition are not likely to die from covid. But have some f*cking empathy for the people that you could be spreading it to. There's so little sense of community in America. Our cultural identity of freedom and independence is just a facade for deeply ingrained selfishness. This situation sucks for everyone. We all have to make sacrifices. And a lot of people are making much bigger sacrifices than abstaining from a bike race, or at the very least wearing a mask if you're standing in groups on the sidelines cheering and yelling. And yeah, we all have to decide what level of risk we're willing to take for ourselves, because we can't go on living under a rock forever. But seriously, things like bike racing are such privileges and it just seems like people take it for granted that we're entitled to carry on with stuff like this, even when we're in the midst of a global crisis.
It's a bummer....we're stuck with this thing for a while, especially in the US it seems. Let's figure out how to dot the things we love without being ignorant jerks and putting our communities at risk.
You mean to tell me the old and immunocomprised are dying from a disease?
I swear that H1N1, Influenza, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia do this too. But its like different, because of reasons.
Rubber side down all and #gorideyourbike