Bear Mountain 2008 DH - Day 1

Well, today was day one of two for the Bear Mountain BC Cup race. Today there was an XC race as well as pre-runs for the DH.

I volunteered at the race today and tomorrow and I will race the DH tomorrow. I arrived reasonably early and was given the task of clearing out the parking lot of cars that did not belong in the area and I was the gate keeper to the VIP area for parking. In the end I kept the lot clear so that the shuttle vehicles could easily come and go and all the VIP's got to park close to the race.

Race central at 8am

After my time was up for the volunteering I managed to get in 2 shuttle pre-runs of the course. Now a few weeks ago I had a rather nasty crash on a jump near the top of the course. I will be the first to admit that it is still looming in my mind.

Shuttle system: School bus and a trailer with a HUGE bike rack

On the way up in the shuttle bus a few riders recognized me and asked about the video and a few even thanked me as it has helped them to memorize the course. My two pre-runs today were pretty mild. I know the course reasonably well and I was really just riding to get a feel for the course conditions which are SUPER dry.

The Fraser Vally Mountain Bike Association is the group that is putting on the race and give how smoothly day one went, I am sure it will be a huge success for the association and should raise some money for tools and supplies for the trails.

Overall, day one was pretty good; the shuttles were running super efficiently and in fact they even started early!!