Fontana Pro DH #2; The Athertons and Rotor Bolts.

Yo Chris,
Just got back from a day out at Fontana. It was stop 2 of the annual winter series. The course was a lot of fun, not very challenging, but fun to ride. The recent rain storms made the dirt extremely tacky, conditions could not have been better! The pro downhill class had some pretty stacked competition today- former world champ Gee Atherton showed up to race the downhill, and took the win over Eric Carter by about a second. Also present was his brother Dan, and sister Rachel, who did not race. The course, for as easy as it was, really took its toll this weekend. Several pro riders suffered crashes, mechanicals and flats during their race runs.
My run was far from perfect, and I'm going to blame the 5yr old Hayes brakes I am still running (does that sound like a decent excuse?) I was third in line in the start gate when I noticed I was missing a rotor bolt, and two more were half way backed out! I couldn't find a torx wrench within the 2 minutes I had to spare, so I raced on it as it was. My front brake was almost useless during my run, every corner the bolts backed out further and further. My rotor now has some white Marzocchi paint on it from rubbing my fork legs for most of my run. By the time I finished, I only had 2 bolts left! Needless to say, I took my run very cautiously. I was in no hurry to find out what its like to sheer off a rotor at full speed... with the mechanical issue, I wound up 26th out of about 40 riders. I guess not too bad considering the circumstances, but hey, something to improve on next time out.
And a big congrats to Darter, who won his class today and posted a top 10 pro time!

-Taylor