Whiteface Mountain Bike Park opens for the season on 6-19-09

[highpeaksdrifter]

sweet. what chairlift is that under? very scenic pics.

+1......i'll make it.

Freeway Chair aka I lift

[downhillmike]

That trail under the racers chair is called Slickrock. Many riders favorite trail. Smooth, then in and out of some world class single-track. Slickrock Trail also leads you to the stream crossing in the other picture.
I guided that group down at the end of the day on Saturday. They rode the shuttle all day, and joined us for our daily 4:00 pm ride. Big fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a picture from Decline Magazine of pro downhiller Lars Tribus on the same trail in the fall:

[downhillmike]

The 2nd race in the 3 race Whiteface Mini dh Series was this Thursday July, 23. The course used for this race was the North East Shore. This proved to be a fun and challenging course. 11 racers showed from 2 countries and 2 states. The fastest time of the day went to Lake Placid local Bruce Shilstone Jr.
Bruce Styling it out:



This was this kids 1st race and he's only 13. Greg St. Amand:


Jake from Vermont:


Racers at the finish:


More pictures from the race can be found here:
http://www.downhillmike.com/index.ph...&limitstart=12


Official Results

Mini dh race # 2 July 23, 2009

Category 2 15-18

Michael Harris 198 cat 2/15-18 2.00.41 1st

19-29

Bruce Shilstone Jr. 207 cat 2/19-29 1.40.49 1st

Simon Beauliee 197 cat 2/19-29 1.45.02 2nd

Jake Morrill 199 cat 2/19-29 1.47.24 3rd

Sebastien Leclair 195 cat 2/19-29 1.49.84 4th

20-29

Matt Young 214 cat 2/20-29 1.45.20 1st

30-39

Bill Frazer 213 cat 2/30-39 1.50.39 1st

Bob Witt 201 cat 2/30-39 2.13.50 2nd

40-49

Keith McKeever 200 cat 2/40-39 1.57.06 1st

Category 3

10-14

Greg St. Amand 192 cat 3/10-14 2.14.49 1st

15-18

Ben St. Amand cat 3/15-18 1.46.10 1st[/url]

[highpeaksdrifter]

well all right, my boy KM came in first in the old guy division. I'll drink to that.

[downhillmike]

Here's a close up of him:

[downhillmike]

[I:)skiing]

If anyone reading this has not been to WF yet or met Down Hill Mike (operator of White Face mountain biking) please know that he is a consumate professional and knows how to treat his customers. Stop in and say hey....if you are around.


We took my 4yr old son up this weekend. He had a blast on the pump track, till he hit some soft sand on his 4th turn around. THough he believes the bus ride up to the track was the best part...of course. We called it "Mountain Bussing"

We then biked down trail 10....lots of traverses and a bit of woods. 3-4 roots and a few rocks...but very easy trail. THere were 2 steeper turns that we had to walk down before regaining our traverse. As you can see in the photo...we had a great day to boot. 2 hours at the North Pole and then off to Mountain Biking...what could be better!

[highpeaksdrifter]

If anyone reading this has not been to WF yet or met Down Hill Mike (operator of White Face mountain biking) please know that he is a consumate professional and knows how to treat his customers. Stop in and say hey....if you are around.


We took my 4yr old son up this weekend. He had a blast on the pump track, till he hit some soft sand on his 4th turn around. THough he believes the bus ride up to the track was the best part...of course. We called it "Mountain Bussing"

We then biked down trail 10....lots of traverses and a bit of woods. 3-4 roots and a few rocks...but very easy trail. THere were 2 steeper turns that we had to walk down before regaining our traverse. As you can see in the photo...we had a great day to boot. 2 hours at the North Pole and then off to Mountain Biking...what could be better!

I've seen the pump track, it does look like a blast. Glad to hear you and your family had such a good time.

[downhillmike]

Here's a race report I just made with some pictures, captions, & stupid commentary:
http://downhillmike1.wordpress.com/2...-race-report//















Winning time by the youngest Men's Pro (16) in the United States. Neko Mulally with time of 7.48.15 and a check for $2,000.00


The 1st place went to Pro Women's Dawn Bourque with a time of 9.41.29 and a 1st place check for $500.00:

[downhillmike]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 1, 2009; Conshohocken, PA, USA: New York’s Whiteface Mountain lived up to its billing as a wild ride this past weekend. The Whiteface 5K featured a lot of rocks and even more roll as 202 competitors in 19 classes attempted to become one of the few to crack the 8 minute barrier down this massive mountain. With the downhill portion of the Gravity East weekend also counted as the final event of USA Cycling’s new Pro Gravity Tour national series, an east vs. the nation was expected but never materialized as the home field advantage saw Gravity East regulars on top of the podium.

The weekend began with the Gravity East e.thirteen Dual Slalom and the Lars Tribus “How (not) to Snap the Start” clinic. The dual slalom track at Whiteface is out of character for the venue as it’s about the only part of the mountain that can be described as smaller than average, making the start even more critical. In his second heat, Tribus (Chumba/Rockshox) anticipated the start – but guessed wrong. Snapping into the still-closed start gate, he went over his handlebars right at the gate. Tribus was able to come back and, having already demonstrated how to take out the front end of one’s bike on the start, showed how to take out the back end in the final for third and fourth against Kyle Sangers (J & J). As the gate dropped, Tribus snapped so hard that he snapped his cog into pieces, costing him the race but putting him in serious contention for the unofficial “Hulk-Out” of the year. In the pro final, Pennsylvania’s Neko Mulally (Specialized Team America) bested Pro GRT competitor Logan James (Pedal the Peak-e.thirteen) from Utah.

On Sunday, things got more serious as both the speed and the consequences for failure increased significantly. Whiteface served as the eighth round of the 11-race Gravity East Series. It’s also the longest downhill course in the East, and one of the longest and fastest in North America. With the inaugural Pro Gravity Tour title also on the line, it was ‘game on’ from the start of the day. The Pro seeding runs saw NY veteran World Legend Jurgen Beneke (unattached) run an 8:18 to take the first seed ahead of Dave Trumpore (Evil Bikes) and Neko Mulally (Specialized Team America).

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day with sunshine and cool, autumn-like, temperatures. Throughout open practice, it was clear that the track was getting consistently better, and faster. Giant Bicycles had planned to give a bonus to fastest rider through Whiteface’s infamous speed trap. Unfortunately, the speed gun broke down, causing officials to change plans and award the $200 to the best amateur time -- and make just about everybody ask the question, “Why don’t speed guns ever break down when they’re pointed at my car?” Compounding the ignominy was that the bonus was won by a rider who isn’t even close to being old enough to get a speeding ticket. 14 year old Gravity East regular Richard Rude Jr. (Santa Cruz Allride) had people shaking their heads in disbelief when he came down the mountain with a time of 8.17.80, two-tenths quicker than Jurgen Beneke’s pole-winning pro seeding run. When the dust had settled at the end of the day, it was realized that Rude’s time would have placed Richard in 10th in the men's pro field and was quick enough to win his class by over forty-eight seconds.

It was obvious now that the build up to the Pro runs were going to be insane. First in the Hot seat was none other than the consummate Pro Gavin Vaughan (Sinister Snowfire) with a time of 8:19. Vaughn sat in the hot seat awhile before some astounding times sent him back to the pits. First to break the 8 minute mark was Jason Memmelaar (Hayes/Manitou/SunRig) with a 7:58. Memmelaar’s time was quickly smashed by Jurgen Beneke's 7:52. Then Gerrit Beytagh (Morewood Bikes) clocked an amazing time of 7:50. Finally, as all eyes watched the mountain, Neko Mulally came in with a record time of 7:48.15 to win the $2,000 dollar first-place portion of the Men's Pro Purse. Fastest of the visiting ProGRT riders was series leader Chris Heath(Manitou/Hayes) from Colorado who grabbed 6th to clinch the Overall for the Men's ProGRT champion’s Jersey from USA Cycling and the Helmet Trophy from Dylan Dean.

In the Pro Women’s race, the first to sit in the hot-seat was Massachusetts native and well-known northeast pro Karen Eagan (Sam Adams Brewery). Eagan held on to the hot-seat as rider after rider was unable to eclipse her time of 10:05.50. Eagan stayed in the hot seat until top seed Dawn Bourque (Rhino BikeWorks) of New Hampshire blew away the competition with a 9:41.29 to capture the Win and the $500 Women's first prize. Jennifer Wolf (Vixen Racing) was the only Pro GRT series regular to show for the women’s race. Unofficially, Wolf scored enough points to take over the runner-up position in the final ProGRT standings as Darian Harvey had already clinched the season title following her win at Windham Mountain. Final points are still being calculated for the Pro GRT women's series.

Following the official race, 39 riders got “pumped” and went back to the top for the chainless race. Some took the race more seriously than others; Richie Rude showed up at the start with two none-drive side crankarms, eliminating his chainring and bashguard. For the second year in a row, the win was grabbed by none other than Moorewood Bikes own Gerrit Beytagh. Beytagh grabbed the win with a time of 8:03.73, smashing 2nd place finisher Jurgen Beneke’s time of 8:24.72. Rounding out the top three was Heikki Hall with an 8:30.03.

The next Gravity East weekend takes place at Blue Mountain Resort in Danielsville, Pennsylvania on September 26 and 27. The double-header weekend will feature not only the Gravity East Downhill, but also a round of the Gravity East e.thirteen Dual Slalom series on the Neko Mulally-designed slalom course at Blue Mountain. For more information, see http://www.GravityEastSeries.com.