World Championships of Snow Slalom
While those poor Californicators endured tacky loam today, we Boulderites got to ride snow and ice.
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The more you click, the more I can post. Lee Likes Groceries dot com! |
 Joey. Course A. |
Santa Cruz, CA: 60 degrees and sunny
Boulder, CO: 20 degrees and cloudy
Brrr. We here in Boulder are restless! With the last snow starting to pack down, Steve Wentz rallied the troops for the first occasional World Championships of Snow Slalom.
It was best of two runs, in two classes:
• Modified – spike tires
• Stock – regular tires
The spike tires made a HUGE difference. I wouldn’t say spikes make snow riding easy, but they make it a bit less random.
 Brian Buell rocks some modified action. |
Course A
Old school slalom. Just place the markers and rip. In this case, place the markers and slip. The icy off cambers rewarded careful line choice and mature speed modulation.
Modified
1. Steve
2. TJ
3. Neven
4. Brian (but he lost a shoe)
Stock
1. Me, Lee
2. Lisa
3. Rudy
4. Joey
5. Arthur
6. Bama
7. Jess
8. Alex
9. Rob
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Hey, um, Joey? … Yeah, that “berm” is made of snow. |
Course B
New school. David dug ruts in a couple turns, and the aggressive riders attacked them like they were dirt. He also dug a set of speed trenches coming out of Turn 3, which were brutal. WHAM – BAM – BAM! People were losing it all over the place.
Modified
1 Steve
2 TJ
3 Brian
4 Mike
5 Neven
Stock
– Joey and Alex tied for first then did a head-to-head tie breaker.
1. Joey
2. Alex
3. Me, Lee
4. Rudy
5. Mari
6. Rob
7. Lisa
8. Bama
9. Jess
10. Arthur
 I know what I’m supposed to do, but on snow it doesn’t always work out. Photo by Lisa Myklak. |
The modified World Champ is definitely Steve Wentz. In the stock class, I guess I get it for consistency, but Joey and Alex flat killed it on Course B.
Steve: Thanks for wrangling the crew. David: Thanks for the timing and course work.
What a fun day. So nice to get out.
See also: Snow slalom – on bikes!
your just jealous of out conditions. but it was about 50 at pleasanton dirt jumps
Hey Lee, Good times riding today. Just wanted to let you know my name is Alex, not Eric…No worries though. See you at many snow slaloms to come.
Cheers,
Alex
Gotcha Alex. All fixed.
Looks like fun, most definately a skills builder!
Hey Lee,
Just wanted to say thanks for the great book, my skills at determining what went wrong just before I hit the ground have improved immensely. Hopefully next year will be more of a rubber side down type of summer.
As for winter, try Idaho. The trails around Boise are frozen solid, and rather fast to say the least. Getting up in the morning in order to ride the trails before the temp and sun make them muddy is a bit of a chore, but that first look at a completely unblemished snowy trail leading up and around the bend and outta sight, makes it all worth it.
The snow makes it easier to see the cougar tracks, too. The knowledge that the cougar is probably hungry makes it easier to go fast, also.
Thanks again Lee for all the excellent advice. When is the video coming out?
Robert
The morning after …
I know I can go faster. Gotta let it hang out farther. It’s snowing again: Excellent.
Robert:
To quote a shark researcher I once interviewed,
“Any time you enter the water, you enter the food chain.”
Ride with a buddy — cougars go for the slow one.
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Video: We’ll start shooting in a month or two. Hopefully get it done by late this season.
I had such a good time! Havn’t laughed like that in a really long time, thank bamma for that! When its nice out and i’m bored and not skiing i’ll be up there! Anyone interested in doing the same should give me a call! I have the hook up for orange flags, friend works at a hardware store!
Agree with Robert – Boise’s trails (when frozen) are fast and fun. I love riding in the Winter now (former SoCal guy) since it’s like having whole new set of trails to rail in the foothills. Rocks with ice on them force you to finesse and balance better, improving skills. Right on.
Yo dude, you need to let me know when those are going down!
“Yo dude, you need to let me know when those are going down!”
I agree Sensei, keep us in the loop.
Having said that, We may have to have a suburban ghetto jump jam and gate start session, have used the snowblower to clear most of our end of the block. Scott
I’ll look for a place that can handle lots of people. We’ll draw more racers than the Deer Valley “4X” …