Jeep King of the Mountain World Championship Series
Seeing an event poster downtown last week piqued my interest, especially since it was to be held on private property belonging to the Madonna’s as in Madonna Inn fame, on the south slope of San Luis Mountain.
Now one would think this kind of event would be held in Marin County (Mt. Tamapias?) or Mammoth Mountain, but here in lowly San Luis Obispo, CA?
This morning I dusted off my MTB – having not ridden in two years due to lion sightings, of which the officials have been playing down; you know: those cute cuddly cats which happen to maul humans?…lest I digress into rattlers, grizzlies, sharks and wolves.
The tires were soft yet somewhat resilient like Wonder Bread. 50-pounds of air went in, as there was a 2-mile ride on pavement to get to the site. Once there, crews were doing the finishing touches on the course, a sound crew and MTB news network laying comm. Lines, photographers and camera men testing locations, all the while the 16 contestants were practicing their starts and testing lines.
The starting gate was this huge inflatable horseshoe-shaped object, and within the interior portion was what resembled the image of a Jeep grille and the Jeep logo in large print; the finish chute ¼ mile downhill had a similar setup with one large passage.
A climb to the start on my MTB required the lower gears and huffing/puffing on my part, but it was rewarded with a close up of the contestants and the horse race-ish starting gates, two each. The start master would give a get ready call, in seconds (was it 80?) and the contestants would balance in front of the gate, which contained a lighted countdown fixture. The gates would slam open and the two contestants would usually wheelie off downhill.
There were two lanes, one for each of a pair that start together in adjacent but not side-by-side gates. One had blue flags and the other red. About 10’ from the start gate there was a two-hum whoop, filled in ~1/2 way in the middle. Then a single whoop, 5-flag slalom, and then the twain “wye”, merging before another single whoop immediately followed by a LH bank, RH bank, LH bank, a mini tabletop, bank, up onto a cargo 20’ container, one long rhythm section (a series of whoops), a few more bankers, a drop off, then the finish. At the end, a few Jeeps were shuttling the contestants and their rides back to the top, at least the heat winners, who would pair up with another winner.
Yesterday qualifying took place; they called it “seeding”, similar to tennis, albeit here they had to qualify – whereas in tennis, one of low ranking has to go through the qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw. Here, all those seeded are essentially in the main draw. The highest seed, #1, would be paired or race against the last seed, #8 for today; the second against the seventh, and so on. The rider first through the finish gate would make it to the next level, the loser eliminated, and so on, sixteen competitors altogether; 8 men and 8 women.
There were riders from the Czech Republic, Britain, Netherlands, US (two locals), a few Aussies, and a New Zealander. These pros were the real deal, well sponsored and talented.
Most would lift up the front end on takeoff, and the best would do the same through the whoops or roll them in a manner so the rear tire was always in contact with the ground for drive purposes. One even did a balance-no pedal wheelie over 100’ downhill during the introductions! When they were competing, they were all over their bikes like monkeys; or better yet their bikes were whipped up and down so fast it appeared as if their torsos remained stationary, while legs and elbows shot out in all directions while they shot downhill with unbelievable speed – only out of control on my motorcycles would I have a chance of keeping up.
Some moderate air was had; they would even do tail whips, but no nac-nacs. Most if not all of the guys would double the whoops, yet even the gal’s speed made me look like a weak kid in comparison.
The bikes had billet hubs, anodized in a variety of colors, while stickers gave the impression some parts could be had by Joe Average; certainly not!
Back at the general spectator area, there was a public expo of locally made gear and bike shops, a food stand. The only motorcycle shop (cross training?) in town, which happens to sell red, yellow, green and blue bikes, had a sampling of 125, 250, & open-class MXers on display, along with a 50-mini, CR85 and quad.
The hosting Inn distributed tri tip sandwiches free! And every 15 minutes or so there was some other free give away. I was able to secure two downhill biking videos. Parking, as well as entrance, was free. Where do they get the $ for this? Jeep?
Seeing an event poster downtown last week piqued my interest, especially since it was to be held on private property belonging to the Madonna’s as in Madonna Inn fame, on the south slope of San Luis Mountain.
Now one would think this kind of event would be held in Marin County (Mt. Tamapias?) or Mammoth Mountain, but here in lowly San Luis Obispo, CA?
This morning I dusted off my MTB – having not ridden in two years due to lion sightings, of which the officials have been playing down; you know: those cute cuddly cats which happen to maul humans?…lest I digress into rattlers, grizzlies, sharks and wolves.
The tires were soft yet somewhat resilient like Wonder Bread. 50-pounds of air went in, as there was a 2-mile ride on pavement to get to the site. Once there, crews were doing the finishing touches on the course, a sound crew and MTB news network laying comm. Lines, photographers and camera men testing locations, all the while the 16 contestants were practicing their starts and testing lines.
The starting gate was this huge inflatable horseshoe-shaped object, and within the interior portion was what resembled the image of a Jeep grille and the Jeep logo in large print; the finish chute ¼ mile downhill had a similar setup with one large passage.
A climb to the start on my MTB required the lower gears and huffing/puffing on my part, but it was rewarded with a close up of the contestants and the horse race-ish starting gates, two each. The start master would give a get ready call, in seconds (was it 80?) and the contestants would balance in front of the gate, which contained a lighted countdown fixture. The gates would slam open and the two contestants would usually wheelie off downhill.
There were two lanes, one for each of a pair that start together in adjacent but not side-by-side gates. One had blue flags and the other red. About 10’ from the start gate there was a two-hum whoop, filled in ~1/2 way in the middle. Then a single whoop, 5-flag slalom, and then the twain “wye”, merging before another single whoop immediately followed by a LH bank, RH bank, LH bank, a mini tabletop, bank, up onto a cargo 20’ container, one long rhythm section (a series of whoops), a few more bankers, a drop off, then the finish. At the end, a few Jeeps were shuttling the contestants and their rides back to the top, at least the heat winners, who would pair up with another winner.
Yesterday qualifying took place; they called it “seeding”, similar to tennis, albeit here they had to qualify – whereas in tennis, one of low ranking has to go through the qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw. Here, all those seeded are essentially in the main draw. The highest seed, #1, would be paired or race against the last seed, #8 for today; the second against the seventh, and so on. The rider first through the finish gate would make it to the next level, the loser eliminated, and so on, sixteen competitors altogether; 8 men and 8 women.
There were riders from the Czech Republic, Britain, Netherlands, US (two locals), a few Aussies, and a New Zealander. These pros were the real deal, well sponsored and talented.
Most would lift up the front end on takeoff, and the best would do the same through the whoops or roll them in a manner so the rear tire was always in contact with the ground for drive purposes. One even did a balance-no pedal wheelie over 100’ downhill during the introductions! When they were competing, they were all over their bikes like monkeys; or better yet their bikes were whipped up and down so fast it appeared as if their torsos remained stationary, while legs and elbows shot out in all directions while they shot downhill with unbelievable speed – only out of control on my motorcycles would I have a chance of keeping up.
Some moderate air was had; they would even do tail whips, but no nac-nacs. Most if not all of the guys would double the whoops, yet even the gal’s speed made me look like a weak kid in comparison.
The bikes had billet hubs, anodized in a variety of colors, while stickers gave the impression some parts could be had by Joe Average; certainly not!
Back at the general spectator area, there was a public expo of locally made gear and bike shops, a food stand. The only motorcycle shop (cross training?) in town, which happens to sell red, yellow, green and blue bikes, had a sampling of 125, 250, & open-class MXers on display, along with a 50-mini, CR85 and quad.
The hosting Inn distributed tri tip sandwiches free! And every 15 minutes or so there was some other free give away. I was able to secure two downhill biking videos. Parking, as well as entrance, was free. Where do they get the $ for this? Jeep?
