Taylor's Fontucky Flat.

Charles Taylor Libolt for Amino Vital.




Yo Chris, I just got done unpacking from another fine weekend of racing in Fontana. The weather was great this time, the rain held off for the entire weekend. The DH guys had a bit of help Saturday night when the clouds came in and decided to rain just enough to keep the dust down to a minimum on Sunday. The course was brand new, and a lot of fun to ride. It was fairly simple, nothing too tricky... just some high speed turns at the top, a gnarly "g-out" near the middle, and some mild rocks at the bottom. The key to this one was: just don't touch the damn brakes! The Pro field dwindled a bit this weekend, but still had about 30 riders that showed up. My race run went well, I was able to keep it clean at the top of the course, and didn't make any mistakes. I turned up the heat a bit near the bottom of the hill, and dove into the final rock garden with some good speed. I jumped a bit further into the rocks than I had expected to, and managed to land my rear tire on a sharp rock. I heard it hit rim so I stopped pedaling to glance at the tire, but I didn't notice any immediate pressure drop, so I just got back on the gas and sprinted the last wall section to the finish. It wasn't until I crossed the finish that I noticed I HAD actually pinched my rear tire going through the rocks! It was completely flat! My Kenda Short Tracker held air just long enough, and managed to finally go flat just as I crossed the finish. But even with the tire steadily losing pressure in the final sprint down the wall, I managed to be only 12 seconds from EC who won this weekend. Times were super tight this race, and I'm sure without the flat/slow leak I could have picked up an extra second, which would have equaled about 3 positions! There were 3 of us that finished within the same second, and I was the last of the bunch.

-Taylor