Ripper Update
This blog seems to be changing from a commuting cycling blog to a mountain bike race blog. Oh well I'll get back to the commuting roots of the blog sometime. Right now most of my spare time is spent off road.
I mentioned in the previous blog that Ripper 3 was upcoming. Well that was last Saturday. After Ripper 2 I was pretty thrilled. My partner and I had a fair ride and we finished in 6th place out of 5o odd teams. Not bad. Especially considering our team consisted of primarily skinny white guys that can climb well and the race was a Super D, not really our thing.
What is a Super D? Well it is supposed to be a downhill race with significant climbing as well. Considering the fact that the race started on CBC and finished at the bottom of Seymour mountain I guess we were lucky that there was any incline at all on course. Being climbers the only real hope we had was to go really fast on the uphill sections and survive the downhill -- of course it turned out to be ~90% downhill with 10% climbing. In the first part of the race, CBC, we lost 2 or 3 minutes. We caught all the teams that passed us on the first uphill and a few others, including our fast friends that had broken a derallieur. I guess the short uphill was enough -- It was quite enjoyable riding past a bunch of teams that were walking their bikes up.
Anyway 6th place in the end -- not bad. A video can be found here.
Ripper 3 was s different story. The first Ripper was half up half down. Ripper 2 was 90% down with 10% up, so you can guess what Ripper 3 was all about -- that's right fully downhill WITH stunts. I've never been in a downhill before. My buddies and I practice ardently for days before the race -- still I was nowhere near the times that my friends were putting in. No matter it was fun. I was able to complete a couple of jumps at the top. I fell off in the gerbil cage at the worst point, 6 feet above the swamp. Both feet soaked -- no hope of completing the stunt, time lost, bonus lost, despair. I did complete all of the rest of the stunts so my time bonus wasn't too bad. If only I could stay on my bike -- but hey it's a learning process. Ya so mid 40's finish. All my limbs are in tact and it was a bunch of fun. There is always next year.
Ripper 4 is the Triple Crown. Up Seymour Mountain, down any trail you want after the check point, up Mt. Fromme, down any trail you want after the check point, and over to Cypress mountain and down any trail you want after the check point. Here is a map of the route, I think. The climb up Seymour is about 2300 ft, the climb up Fromme is about 2000 ft, and the final climb will be about 2000 ft -- ah all in a day's work. And it is a poker challenge -- so we'll get a card at each check point -- the winning hand wins the race. I'm going to have to learn how to play poker.
I want to thank all the great Guys and Gals that are organising the Ripper Series. Both NSMBA and Dizzy Cycles are doing a great job at organising a community based fun race series. Thanks Guys.
I mentioned in the previous blog that Ripper 3 was upcoming. Well that was last Saturday. After Ripper 2 I was pretty thrilled. My partner and I had a fair ride and we finished in 6th place out of 5o odd teams. Not bad. Especially considering our team consisted of primarily skinny white guys that can climb well and the race was a Super D, not really our thing.
What is a Super D? Well it is supposed to be a downhill race with significant climbing as well. Considering the fact that the race started on CBC and finished at the bottom of Seymour mountain I guess we were lucky that there was any incline at all on course. Being climbers the only real hope we had was to go really fast on the uphill sections and survive the downhill -- of course it turned out to be ~90% downhill with 10% climbing. In the first part of the race, CBC, we lost 2 or 3 minutes. We caught all the teams that passed us on the first uphill and a few others, including our fast friends that had broken a derallieur. I guess the short uphill was enough -- It was quite enjoyable riding past a bunch of teams that were walking their bikes up.
Anyway 6th place in the end -- not bad. A video can be found here.
Ripper 3 was s different story. The first Ripper was half up half down. Ripper 2 was 90% down with 10% up, so you can guess what Ripper 3 was all about -- that's right fully downhill WITH stunts. I've never been in a downhill before. My buddies and I practice ardently for days before the race -- still I was nowhere near the times that my friends were putting in. No matter it was fun. I was able to complete a couple of jumps at the top. I fell off in the gerbil cage at the worst point, 6 feet above the swamp. Both feet soaked -- no hope of completing the stunt, time lost, bonus lost, despair. I did complete all of the rest of the stunts so my time bonus wasn't too bad. If only I could stay on my bike -- but hey it's a learning process. Ya so mid 40's finish. All my limbs are in tact and it was a bunch of fun. There is always next year.
Ripper 4 is the Triple Crown. Up Seymour Mountain, down any trail you want after the check point, up Mt. Fromme, down any trail you want after the check point, and over to Cypress mountain and down any trail you want after the check point. Here is a map of the route, I think. The climb up Seymour is about 2300 ft, the climb up Fromme is about 2000 ft, and the final climb will be about 2000 ft -- ah all in a day's work. And it is a poker challenge -- so we'll get a card at each check point -- the winning hand wins the race. I'm going to have to learn how to play poker.
I want to thank all the great Guys and Gals that are organising the Ripper Series. Both NSMBA and Dizzy Cycles are doing a great job at organising a community based fun race series. Thanks Guys.
posted by pedalmaniac at
9:03 AM
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