Eureka - Race Report
Five members of our AFS crew made the trip to Eureka Springs for the first DH event of the Arkansas racing season. Three of us raced, and two rode for fun. Only Eric had raced downhill before. Kit and I were newbies. Kit and I arrived in time to get plenty of practice runs in on Friday.
Too bad that I had 4 flat tires that slowed down my practice runs. To my credit, only one of them was a pinch. All the rest were punctures from the infamous Boone chert (used by natives for arrowheads, knives, etc.) Anyway, that stuff will fillet your face! It was hot as the blazes of hell on Friday, so it was a bitch to have protective gear on all day.
Kit and I eyeballed the step-down gap for a bit. I watched him hit it once. Someone later asked if Woody and Don had brought the machine up the trail to reshape the landing. The truth is, Kit raked all that gravel smooth with his back. I couldn’t muster the balls to try it. We saw some other dudes make it look easy.
We all rode the big line at the rocky ledge drop.
We sessioned both lines for a bit on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The PTD dudes did a great job crafting a smooth tranny at the bottom of the big line on the left. It actually made it easier and smoother than any of the other lines on the ledges.
Apparently the rock garden is always a crowd favorite. Just kidding…it was a tube eating piece of shit. Maybe I just can’t ride it fast without pinching 2 out of 3 times. Anyway, there was some confusion about a sneak line this year. No worries for us, but a tape change mid-race forced us all through the rock garden of death. It ate my tire, of course, on my second run. Too bad ’cause I felt faster than the early morning run to that point. So…2nd run I flatted at the shithole rock garden and Kit and Eric both took a spill somewhere on the course. Actually, I think Eric just plain fell off his bike, because he was gazing at the beautiful berm right before the finish line. It was love at first sight.
The PTD crew built a sweet finish line double jump.
People were sessioning it all weekend. We saw at least one no-hander during the race. We were stoked just to jump it. The Flat-Tire Downhill was a great race with a great course. We will be looking forward to the Devils Den race coming in September.
