Shake, rattle and roll… No underground weekday afternoon downhill race is complete without an Elvis impersonator.
Mikler
We also ventured over to West Virginia, where we encountered entirely different types of trails less than 60 minutes away and hung out with 24-hour racing pioneer Laird Knight. Laird led us on some of the classic trails in and around Blackwater Falls State Park, a region that boasts one of the longest and richest off-road racing heritages anywhere.
It all ended with the Friday afternoon Six Pack. The shadowy nature of the event precludes me from divulging details, but I’ll just say that if NORBA downhill racing were this fun, I’d be saving my pennies for an Iron Horse Sunday and a proper suit of body armor.
The Invitational is the most prestigious event of the Six-Pack season, and in most cases the organizers demand inventive letters of intent from anyone wishing to start. The series is named after the entry fee that was required back in its formative years, but these days a more constructive price of admission is required: volunteer trailwork. I was fortunate to see the end result of all this elbow grease while riding Harrisonburg’s trails, many of which have been constructed in the last year.
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The Six Pack works like this: Entrants flock to the trail where the race will be held (always revealed the night before) and then ride en masse uphill to the start. In this case, we hoofed it up the super-steep Groom’s Ridge to a starting point on a rocky peak with an incredible view. The 60 or so starters had to squeeze together to fit on the high knob overlooking the rippling fall colors below. Then, ladies first, the entrants bombed the course in 30-second intervals.
This Invitational course was a flat-out speed assault, all about pinning it through the rocks. The fastest riders completed the 1,500-vertical-foot descent in just over four minutes. Sadly, my first downhill race since the advent of suspension ended in disappointment when I inexpertly slammed my front wheel on one of those mean rocks and instantly flatted. All was not lost, though. With costumed Elvis’s and blue-haired descenders flying past me, I replaced the tube and rode the rest of the course. What a hoot.
Haywood defended her title in the women’s category. After trying to follow this veteran XC racer and Harrisonburg resident through some insanely sketchy terrain all week long, that’s no surprise. What impresses me most about Haywood is her all-around trail-riding skills. How’s this for versatile: After winning a downhill race in Virginia, Haywood heads for Costa Rica next week to try her hand in the grueling La Ruta de Los Conquistadores four-day stage race.
Check out Bike magazine for plenty more on the burgeoning trail riding scene here in the mid-Atlantic. We’ll have a full feature on all the mind-blowing goods in an upcoming issue.
And for more on the Six Pack Invitational, check out the Shenandoah Mountain Bike Club’s web site at shenandoahbicycle.com.
Haywood took time out from her La Ruta training to defend her Six Pack title in the women’s category.
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