Del Sin

Ok managed to get myself down Wisemans Ferry way for some DH action with the WSMTB club at their new little venue At the Del Rio Water Ski Park.

Wow. Nice techie trail in a very pretty gully with some big drops, techie roll downs and fast single track.

WSMTB put on a good show and the Del Rio resort have given them a bit of room to play with the DH track up and running a freeride area under way and XC trail in the works.

At the moment it is only open was a club track but WSMTB usually has a "practice day" a fortnight or so before the club rounds where anyone can turn up (Small site fee and day license fee if you are not a MTBA member) so check out the calendar and have a gander.

The track is fun but tough to race. It was funny having a bunch of riders standing around discussing line choice on a trail 30cm wide but hey Dh race is all about 100th of seconds, or so they tell me anyway) and at Del Sin it wasn't so much a matter of working out line to avoid the hitting rocks as working out lines that gave you a choice of which rocks to hit...

Anyway it had been a while since I'd been on my DH bike and even longer since I'd raced a proper DH trail but few people had entered elite when I registered so I stepped up for my first crack and the big time...

After a tentative sighting run, eyeing off the big lines I used my second run to work some of the lines and stopped to watch how others were approaching the triple test. This started with a little booster rock into a steep roll down. Hit at speed andf you miss the roll down and drop about 8 foot onto no- quite-flat. This leads to another big rock which you could roll up and over before hucking another 8 foot or so to a steep rough chute into a berm. best bet was to tap the brakes wash off speed and try and land early to set up for the berm.

Me... With a OS trip coming up soon I was a bit shy at first and kept hitting the B line> Come race run I was off the first bit and into the b line before I knew it anyway

A little further on and you have a small step into a near vertical rock face with a 3 foot drop at the bottom. Once more into a berm. First race run and I get all sideways but somehow hang on to it. BLM (Bowel Liquifying Moment) for sure

Then things get fast. A small flattish section with small jumps and drops and the club line soon take a 90* right hander and spits you down the most hectic line of the day. Just get the weight back, try not to brake too much or too little and hang on.

Come into the finishing straight grinning like an idiot, load up and do it all again.

Now it has to be said that there is a bit of a push up from the shuttle drop off and the top of the track. Well when I say bit of a push up I mean there is the easy, longer way and the take-an-oxygen-tank-and-climbing-gear short way. And When I said easier, longer way it is longer and ha s a bit less hauling your bikes up vertical rock faces but still take the oxygen tank... But a Great Trail and venue that includes onsite bistro and bar makes up for all that.

Catch you all out there some where

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6181277

Oh and for the record I managed 9th. Sure it was a some what depleted Elite field but I got a top 10 in Elite )