Chuck-T's Tahoe Report

So I just rolled back into my 'hood after a much too short trip to Northstar for a race this weekend. This whole traveling to races thing is starting to be a bad thing; because of it, I'm damn sure I HAVE to move out of Southern California now. Tahoe is amazing, and the course this weekend was everything I love about downhill racing rolled into one banzai 4 minute run. Unfortunately, everything I love about downhill racing entails high speeds and rocks, the likes of which usually eat bike parts for snacks. The damage report for the weekend is as follows: 1 blown fork (watch out, 'cause all the oil is somewhere in the top 1/3 of the course), 2 missing spokes from my rear Mavic DeeMax, and a splintered carbon chain guide. All broken parts aside, I made it through the whole weekend without any crashes (I know, I don't really believe it either...), and still managed a 12th place finish in Pro, out of about 25 riders. The times were really close, with the fastest times just pulling in under 4 minutes. The course was incredible to ride, lots of fun, and with a little bit of everything thrown in; Drops, rock gardens, jumps, man-made obstacles, and not a whole lotta pedaling! I came back to Northstar this year after being so impressed by the quality of trails and race courses they had last year, and they did not dissapoint with this one. I'll be at the next one on August 10th with a new fork (my Mani-blew is being traded in for a new Marzocchi this week) and aiming for a solid podium finish. With the tight times, I was only a couple seconds off the podium this race, and I'm sure if I smooth a few things out and have a working fork I stand a chance at a top 5 result. I'll keep ya posted! Race pictures courtesy of my Dad will be up as soon as my parents get back into town.





********UPDATE FROM TAHOE!*************************************












Hey Chris,

Just thought I'd let you know, I contacted Marzocchi today and they set me up with a super good deal on a fork. They actually sold it to me for about $150 less than what our price sheet listed. So, that bad boy should be mounted on my Tomac by the end of the week.

Also, I took a look at the results from Northstar this weekend, and I don't feel so bad about my run now. I thought it was a little lame and slow and saw a lot of room for improvement, then I noticed I would have won Junior X by about 4 seconds! Same goes for every other class, the only class I wouldn't have won was my own Pro class! Anyway, that kinda cheered me up after pulling that time with a blown fork and a rear wheel that resembles an octagon. I love this friggin' bike! Here is the results link from this weekend;



http://www.northstarattahoe.com/nsassets/files/bike-summer/DH-2-results.pdf



Taylor