Chalk Creek Report 2005

My weekend was pretty rad, and here’s the story, cuz I know you wanna know! Ha!

Saturday was spent at watkins roostin’ turns and jumpin’ jumps. Jamie brought out the 100’ tape measure just to be sure. 70 foot table top? Check. 40 foot doubles? Check. 50 foot step-up? Checkaroo. We ran 3 motos out there, each with unwittingly increased times. 20 minutes, rest. 30 minutes, rest. 40 minutes, done. All the while pumping tunes through my new ipod shuffle... Sweet! I didn’t know moto could be fun to a soundtrack – but I guess that’s why all the videos have heavy metal playing in the background, right? A quick stop at the dirt bike store for air filter oil, new grips and some replacement lenses for my goggles and then off to nathrop for the chalk creek stampede.

Arrived in Nathrop around 8:30 pm, had dinner with Matty and EJ, talked about the state of affairs, went to bed early at Keith's place. 7:00am wakeup: fruit, biscuits and gravy at Keith's in-laws (they live next door) and off to the track to get it dialed. All the usual characters were there, vibe was good, weather was perfect! Most everyone loved the new track we built, but some people were grousing... "I thought it would be faster" or "it's too pedally and technical" or "there's still no passing" blah blah blah to which I simply say to them: "pedal harder. Step it up. Ride smarter." Chalk Creek Stampede 2005 had the second largest Mountain Coss turnout the MSC has ever seen – 176 riders, and it seemed like nearly half of them were juniors! The junior sport and junior beginner cats are blowing up which is just killer news for the sport! Stoke-age! Not only was the junior turnout strong, but them grommits were riding to beat the band! 9- and 10-year-olds jumping everything except the biggest stuff, tons of great passing, pedalling, it was insanity! I'd say in about 5 years colorado is going to have some serious talent emerging into the national scene! I just hope there still is a national scene in five years!

A couple runs down the course for me, and I'm finally starting to feel comfy on my new wheelset – I went to way lighter rims and tires, and it was great for gates but was throwing off my equilibrium over the jumps. Got that straightened out and finally stepped up to the challenge of the third straight™: a difficult triple-double combo. Long big rounded double, tall short double, then a small double into a berm with me flowing like water over the whole deal. Radness! Honestly, I'd forgotten somewhere in all this moto funny business I've been doing how much fun racing mtn bikes is. Qualifying came around... I'm in the gate, calm, relaxed, smiling. "okay riders, set 'em up! Riders ready, watch the gate! Beepbeepbeepbeeeeeeeeeeep!" and as soon as that gate hit the ground and I was out pedalling, I remembered.

After that qualifying run, I couldn't have cared less about how well I did, and seriously cold have gone home a happy man and not even raced elimination rounds, it was that good. Turns out I qualified third, just a hundredth of a second behind my buddy steve valenti, who ain't real slow.

THIRD? Me? Stoked? Check.

Lots of fun ensued throughout the day, with some really great racing in all the classes and loads and loads of fun to be had by all. My two friends Bobbi and Lisa were heading up to race their next moto at one point, and this sort of frivolity ensued:

Evan: hey! You two do good out there!
Bobbi: Thanks! You do good too!
Evan: Oh I'm gonna. I'm on the "do good" programâ„¢ this year.
Bobbi: Really? I wanna be on that program! How much does it cost?
Evan: It costs two thousand and eight hundred dollars, but it comes with a dirt bike!

For posterity, here's the rundown of the pro classes: Bobbi Kae Watt took home the big win in pro women, she was riding awesome as all get out. Jessica Vogt and Lisa Myklak rocked 2nd and 3rd, with wendy lee rounding it out. Ross freaking crushed the competition, it was so not even funny. Jamas Stiber pulled hard for 2nd, MT took third with some of the best 4x riding I've ever seen him do, and Dave Zig-zag-man took fourth after fighting back from a 31st place qualifying disaster.

VetEx class? Let's just say when the final round came up, it contained all of the top four qualifiers. Three hardtails and 4 pairs of clipless pedals. We crossed the line like we qualified.