2012 US National Champs With Team BGB/Mountain Khakis

Two big races come round every year that we each wait for with anticipation, one being the UCI World Cup Roundin Windham, New York and two the US Gravity National Championships. Yes, Windham is an important race, butit’s more of a spectacle as it showcases the best in the world. The US Gravity National Championships is whereTeam BGB-Mountain Khakis, or any rider for that matte,r gets a chance to earn there stripes. It’s what we all trainfor, gives a rider the chance to advance categories, gives you bragging rights, and sometimes can even make orbreak a rider’s career.

This year is also a special one for Team BGB-Mountain Khakis as this is the last of a two year deal that BeechMountain Resort signed with USA Cycling for the event to take place in the “High Country” of the NC Mountains.Additional pressure would be on the shoulders of each of the Team BGB-MK riders to represent the SE region infront of the “home” crowd.

Anybody recall Race Day 2011…. aka the Slip and Slide Slop-Fest? Would we have the same race conditions as2011? Leading up to the four day race weekend the weather in the region had many convinced it was in the cardsyet again for 2012. As we moved into day one other than some typically mountain fog (well, we should call themclouds at that altitude), conditions were perfect for day one of practice. Cat 2 riders Jay Guidry and Nich Ifkovitswould only get one day of practice on the Amateur course before they took the stage. Pros Robert DeMao, RyanTaylor, and Max Morgan would have four days of practice before the big show on Sunday.

As the sun set Thursday evening , the precip came down quite heavy. Leading into Friday morning, race day for theAmateurs, the knobbies came off and the spikes went on. Morning fog kept that moisture mixed in with themountain dirt just in time for the first rider out of the gate. Kicking off at 0915 and cycling through each of theriders Jay Guidry managed to secure a 4th place podium position in Cat 2 19-24 and Nich Ifkovits Cat 2 15-18 a 6th.

 

Saturday morning practice before seeding started bright and early at 0800 with more of the same…. the highcountry fog kept that moisture in place for yet another day. The first practice run down the Pro Course RobertDeMao had an incident with a pulled neck/chest muscle that would lead him to call it a weekend. That wouldleave things up to Ryan Taylor and Max Morgan. In a field of 64 riders, Max qualified in impressive fashion in 20th closely followed by Ryan in 25th.

With qualifying in the bag early riders had the remainder of the day to walk thecourse to do some last minute fine tuning on their attack plan or simply call it a night for some fuel and shut-eye.The weather for Sunday surprisingly was projected to be better than the three previous days and that forecast heldup its end of the bargain. 1500 was the time for the BIG SHOW!!! The current fastest man in the world Aaron Gwinof Temecula, CA (Trek World Racing) obviously was the heavy favorite to take it all, but as in 2011 with a crashanything was possible. Of course in the end that would not stick and Mr. Gwin would end up earning the star andstripes sleeve for the 2012/2013 season. Team BGB-MK Pros Max Morgan and Ryan Taylor each had minormistakes in their runs earning them 21st and 30th position respectively. Either way with the stiff competition andfactory sponsored riders in the field, they each deserve a tip of the hat……. AWESOME run guys!

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 3 By Dirt Passion

Well, day there is the in the books….. just one more day left and we’ll determine who will wear the stars andstripes on his or her left arm into 2013. The big news of the day (not to many people surprise) was, Aaron Gwinqualified on top of the Men’s field +5.45 secs in front of Luke Strobel. For the ladies it was Jackie Harmony takingthe top seeding position over Melissa Buhl by a blistering 12.54 sec. Of local SE region interest (hey, Dirt Passion isbased out of the Carolinas, we can be proud and let everybody know) local DHer Ethan Quehl of Grayson, GA andwas also the 2010 Junior National Champion, qualified fourth out of a field of 64. Congrats all round! Note: Thefinal qualified list has not yet been posted to the USAC website)

On to the details…. Day Three started out pretty much just like Day Two. Overnight there was a steady rain on thetop of the mountain which lead to what we believe was thicker fog than previously. Riding the lift to the top wecould not see the lift house until, what felt like 50 feet. First up was the Cat 1 group practice which started in thefog and ended in the sunlight as the fog burned off very quickly. By the time the Pros made the way to the coursefor their two hour practice session the sun was a shining. As with Day Two, lots of time was spent dialing in thoselines one last time through the Rock Garden from HELL! Spending any amount of time there, one could tell thatriders did their homework the day before, smoothness and speed where definitely showing their faces today.

12:45 p.m. rolled around and the current USAC recognized National Champion Logan Binggeli of KHS FactoryRacing was the first down the course, followed by the two TWR riders….. the current fastest man in the WorldAaron Gwin and his young team mate Neko Mullaly. After the field of 64 put in their best efforts, it would be AaronGwin over the field. Ladies followed suite and it was Melissa Buhl smashing the field ahead nearly 13 seconds.

With the DH runs done for the day, all attention turned to the old Beech tubing slope and the new/revised/longerDual Slalom course. With almost 6 hours of track time, kicking off with practice, running through amateur raceruns, and proceeding to the Pro’s race runs, in the end it would be Neko Mullaly of Trek World Racing edging outBlake Carney for the “Best in the US” title for Dual Slalom. Congrats Neko!

Tomorrow is the BIG SHOW! First off will be the Juniors, Cat 1 50+ and Ladies 40+ at 10:15a.m., followed by the fullCat 1 field at 11:15a.m., then the main event kicks off at 2:30p.m. Who’s it gonna be? Place your bets!

Last minute addition…… the rain has again started to fall on the mountain (9:45 p.m.). Once again Beech hasdelivered. Should make things interesting on race day.

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 2 By Dirt Passion

Day one remained unscathed in terms of moisture, well at least up until the sun went down. About 8:00 p.m. theThunderstorms rolled in. Not sure of the total amount that actually fell, but about 0.5 miles away where the DirtPassion crew crashed, it rained for a good solid hour and for the next few hours it drizzled. 

That meant the next morning would be wet, not a repeat of race day in 2011, but still it would make the morningpretty interesting. At the top of the mountain visibility was about 0.25 miles….. the fog was THICK! The spikes wereout, tape was getting taken out left and right, spectators were slipping on the wet grass, and mud pellets weregetting thrown in every direction.

A chilly morning with the blanket of fog started to make its way out just after the first Amateur rider made theirway down for the first race run of the 2012 Nationals. With clearer skies (not sunny), the temps went up as did thespeeds as the Cat 2 folks started their race runs. Full results for the Cat2 and Cat3 folks can be found on USACycling at the following link. Congrats to All!http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2012-23 

With the weekend “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered” for the Amateurs, all attention will be directed at the Cat 1 andPro riders for the rest of the weekend. The Pro course being newly groomed for this specific event it wasguaranteed to be Greasy, Greasy, Greasy from top to bottom with no sign of things drying out soon, especially withthe threat of rain for the rest of the weekend.

With about four hours of practice split to between both the Cat 1 riders and the Pros, most of the time on course,reviewing lines, watching others, pushing up and doing it again and again was at the “Rock Garden” Definitely acrowd favorite, the attrition rate, those that either went down or those that had every ounce of speed sucked out  of them, was about 70%. Rightfully so, riders spent lots of minutes trying to figure how to successfully get throughthe twenty yard stretch of rock hell!

of them, was about 70%. Rightfully so, riders spent lots of minutes trying to figure how to successfully get through the twenty yard stretch of rock hell! Pro seeding start tomorrow just after the noon hour, then those that have entered the Dual Slalom will get theirchance to be named the best in the US for Dual Slalom. The night will be topped off with the “Brews and Views”,beer tasting, live music, and bicycles! What more could you ask for?

2012 US Gravity National Championships Day 1 By Dirt Passion

July 19, 2012 – Dirt Passion Press Release Day One of the Best in the U.S. – US Gravity National Championships Well, it’s finally here… the battle for the best in the US started today for the second and final round to be Beech in the Southeast for the first time in more than 10 years. Arguably, the biggest thing on the minds of most was the stars and stripes decorated that coveted annual sleeve. What would we see this year? Who has what to prove to who? Maybe nothing, either way I think it’s safe to assume it will be interesting.

The morning started early, with USAC trailers, Gear Vendors, Food Vendors and each of the team with their madscramble to get set up before the mountain flipped that switch for the lift at high noon. Trailers here, trailers over there, bikes, bike parts, tents, buckets full of gravel, rope, stakes, work-stands, bike racks, you name it was there…. Looked like a mound of workers ants.

With all of the moisture that has been plaguing the SE region on the past month, and it’s typically a reoccurring question in the “High Country”, how would the weather cooperate? Search the weather, all you see is those little clouds with droplets of precip and the word on the mountain is spikes, spikes, spikes……. Fast Forward 6 hours after the start of practice and would you believe, a little humid, but nothing but sun, sun, sun.

Overnight that did change with thunder-boomers in the distance which brought about 2 hours of rain. From Dirt Passion’s perspective based on what all the talk was on the Pro course, BRING THE RAIN!...... pointed toward,please wash those greasy rocks off.

Day two is the day for the Amateur’s to show what skills they got in store for us. First rider down in the race run forCat2/3 is at 9:15a.m. Yeah, they are Amateurs, but Grassroots is where it’s at. We’ve all been there! Rip it Guys