This past Sunday, July 20, was Northstar at Lake Tahoe’s 2nd race of the series.

The course was Boondocks, a black diamond trail, that is almost as sandy as the beach. This trail has a nice rock drop, a steep rock slab, tight turns, LOTS of rocks, and a few jumps. A perfect course for the Versus Trigger.

Saturday morning we watched a bit of the W.E. Rock Crawling event at Donner, then headed to Northstar for some practice time down Boondocks.

On Sunday, the race started at Noon. My drop in time was 19 min after the start. I was up on “the rock” with the beeps about to start, when someone yelled out, “She has a flat!”. I looked at my rear tire and it was completely flat! Instantly disappointed, I pulled off before my run started. The timer told me I would be able to race at the end. That gave me over 2 hours, and I got excited again…I get to race!

My race run ended up being worse then my practice runs…I ended up in 4th place, with a stack and dropping my bike in 3 super sandy turns. Pretty sloppy!

Although, not stoked on my race run, I had a blast. Northstar did a great job with the race and everybody seemed to really like the course. I’m looking forward to the next Northstar race!

Photo Credits:
Bikeguy@charter.net

I decided to race the dual slalom this year at Sea Otter using my Versus Jab, which is set up for dirt jumping (Single speed and rear brake only).

I was a bit apprehensive at first considering most of the slalom bikes I have seen are larger, have a rear shock and run a derailleur.

I went with the gears I had on it (31 tooth up front, 14 in the rear) and raped my all-mountain bike for a front brake.

I definitely needed a better gear ratio because I was spun out. I was pedaling so much with no resistance that I felt I was slowing myself down!

I was stoked on how the Jab handled on the course. Having the smaller bike was so much fun…I could throw it around effortlessly!

I placed 4th…losing out of the finals round by nobbies!

I plan to change my gearing and use the Versus Jab to race dual slalom for the rest of this season.

Dirt Jumper on weekdays, DS bike on weekends!

(Note: The derailleur rule has been eliminated from the NORBA rule book (just found out). You can pretty much just slap a front brake on your dirt jumper and race Dual Slalom or Mountaincross…yay!)

Tara Johnson, our DH and DS/4X grassroots rider, describes how the Jab rides.

Grassroots Rider Tara showing how doubles are done!

Tara is our new grassroots sponsored rider who rides a Jab, the 4 inch bike, and a Trigger for DH. She is from Marin and obviously knows how to ride!

(Pacifica, CA 2008-03-13)