Taylor's Deer Valley NCS Report

Here ya go Chris, my take on the Deer Valley Nats;

The Deer Valley spectacle is always a good one, plenty
of dust to choke on, plenty of trees to hit, and lots
of sharp rocks to puncture on. But this is exactly
the reason that we race. I don’t think there is a
great trail or race course in existence that doesn’t
have rocks and trees to impale yourself on. That’s
what makes Deer Valley so fun to ride and race, the
courses are always challenging, with just enough
altitude thrown in to make your lungs scream for mercy
when the tempo goes up.
My race run started off well enough, I cleared the
first super technical section known as “Little
Niagara”, which was taking down one out of every three
Pro riders the first day of practice. Following that
section was some great fast single track that
transitioned into a brutal rock section, reminiscent
of something from the Flintstones. In fact, it was
nick named “Barney Rubble”, and for good reason. It
was in this section that my spectacular run came
unglued. I noticed my rear tire sliding on the rocks
a bit more than I expected, and I shoulder nudged a
tree as a result. I was slowed down by the tree just
enough to hear the air rushing out of my rear tire,
and to hear spectators making sighs of disappointment
as they noticed my flat tire. Not wanting to hold up
the riders behind me, I headed for the fire road and
commenced my slow ride of shame. I cut back into the
course with a fine time of 6 minutes, only 3 minutes
off the pace of the fastest semi-pro rider. I guess
these things happen, all I can do is prepare myself
for a kick ass run at Sonoma. If anybody gets in my
way, they will be maimed severely.

Taylor