Downhiller Ryan Nolan Takes Two Top Fives

- Mid Atlantic Cup Finals, Wisp MD
Saturday was a busy day for me, I had dual slalom practice, qualifying, and a race along with downhill practice in between. The dual course was great and was the best I have ever ridden on. The left lane was far superior to the right lane which made the hole shot very important. It took me some time to get the course dialed in and it was after qualifying that I really had everything figured out. I qualified in 8th place. By the time the race came around I knew I was much faster than in qualifying, so feeling good I managed to take 4th place in the race.
Sunday was the downhill race which was a decent course as well. The course was pretty smooth but did have some high speed sections in the last half, some rocky sections in the top half, and some big step downs, step ups,and doubles. I was at a slight disadvantage because I was the only one in my class on an all-mountain bike. Right now it is all I have and it did work good enough for me to pull off a 5th place finish.
Overall it was a good weekend of racing and I was happy to be in the top 5 in both my races. I was really pleased with the 4th in dual slalom because I very rarely race DS and I was on an all-mountain bike.


*****manager's note: Ryan, ya big pimp, you won't be on that trail bike too much longer...It's good to race for us, right?****************