4 ways in a day

RAMBO put on in March their annual, x-ways in a day, where x(2010) = 4. That’s: 1)XC TT CW then CCW; 2)Hillclimb; 3)DH; 4)DS. I talk Alex into showing up for the day. Nina came along only under the condition that Elliott would show up soon. This was also made possible by the nature of the day’s races- short TTs! (Take note dads)

I was pleasantly surprised to find a crowd of mostly locals there to race. A change from the usual suspects, for once. I felt like I was a little overdressed, donning my full FM kit with 2.5 bikes in the truck. We signed up for all the races we could, in hopes of becoming King for the Day.

1) Santa Cruz Chameleon, SS XC setup – XC TT
The day started out chilly, but warmed up quickly. I had a go at the CW loop once, then let Alex know what he was up against, as it was his first time there (I know, it’s practically our back yard). Alex had a go while I showed Nina some of the local flora and fauna. She was just excited to jump in the stream with her rain boots. Alex came within seconds of me, then repeated his performance on the CCW loop, earning us 1st & 2nd in the SS division; 2, 3 overall behind Specialized tire engineer, local badass and eventual King for the Day, Chris Wyatt.

Quick intermission for some free grub, then…

2) Giant cross bike- Hill climb
This felt like cheating for a while. I got up there and spanked the time to beat by ~12 seconds. Alex swatted twice, connecting on the second go around, and obliging me to return the favor, which I did, putting in a time of ~1:05.53 As Chris later told me, “I wasn’t going to let those cross dudes win it,” so he didn’t, and absolutely crushed my time by 2.5 seconds!

3) Chameleon, burly setup – DH
The DH run is in the way back, expert-only section of the park, along with a nice ditch run, a new and improved DS course and some DJs. Those running for the King/Queen titles ran the beginner DH course, while those that sleep in their full face helmets rode a different course with a bit extra gnar-gnar. The fam still hadn’t shown up with my full face helmet yet, so I was forced to run it in my XC helmet – now I was the one wearing sandals at a funeral. Nina wasn’t down for hanging out at the bottom so Alex retired for day, content to chill. My first run was fairly fast, good enough for fourth, but left me with a flat that wouldn’t, as hard as I tried and with much help from Mr. Wyatt, get fixed in time for my second DH run. The open gravity class was running for best summed times, and young Max Morgan killed it with a combined time of 1:46:00, more than 10 seconds ahead of No. 2.

4) Same setup, DS –
Again they split us up into the King and Open cats for the DS. However, we all ran the same course. They have done some serious work out there – fixing the old tabletops, building huge berms, and adding in one more huge tabletop. This was super fun! My 40.43 was fast enough for 7th overall, just behind His Majesty.
Wifey then announced, after my second run that she had the helmet! As Alex later put it, you just CAN’T look cool in a XC helmet while rocking full shin guards.

Chris was, without a doubt, crowned King for the Day, while Max earned his Gravity Czar title soundly. This was a great event, raced and watched by a fabulous local crowd. I wonder what they’ll add for 5 ways in a day? hmm