Here's a road trip story from Jackie Baker!
. I'm back from a hectic road trip. Went to Downieville, then straight to MT for a wedding, then to SLC for 2 days, then to Snowmass.
Whilel in MT, Dain, the groom--Joe, and I went to Big Sky to check out the DH trails there. I had both the DNA and the R9 on the car since I'm in full travel mode. This crazy-looking dude rode up on a Splinter to ask about the bikes on the car. It was Dan Diaz. He was riding lifts for the first time. It was kinda crazy to randomly meet him, especially after running into Zeph at Downieville. Sinister's everywhere!
In SLC I rode with my friend Re who's a ski photographer. We went to Alta and the wildflowers were going off. I rode the DNA since we had to push up most of the trail anyway. She got some sweet photos, so hopefully something shows up in print next year.
The Snowmass DS course was awesome. It was the techiest course I've been on yet. I made it to the final, but ended up 4th. I was hoping for a little better, but got a bit squirrly at the end. Nonetheless, I took 3rd for the overall NORBA Series in All-Women's Expert MX/DS.
In DH, I was so gunning for the win. The top of the course was super fast and brake-bumpy. The R9 was riding like butter. I've never ridden a course where you could just let go, and it was so fun! There were two little tricky sections, but the whole thing was super fast. It got really dusty by Saturday morning's pro practice. Our race was at 4pm and it started downpouring at about 2:30. My practice run was crazy. It wasn't muddy yet, but the wet dirt on top was flying everywhere and sticking to everything. Luckily I brought extra goggles, but had no fender, no mud tires, and probably should have been on flat pedals. Anywho, I gunned it out of the gate on my race run and realized I was riding way to fast for the conditions. About 5 crashes and several drifting close calls later I was 4th. Although it wasn't the race I wanted, I certainly learned a lot about being prepared for anything. That put me 8th overall in the DH Expert Women's 19-29 Series.
Dain and I were hoping to got to the MSC race in Keystone,
CO over Labor Day, but it's way too expensive/complex to get there
without driving. It looks like we'll be hitting some local CA races
through September and then I'll be at Interbike representing my JayBay
team. I'm going to apply for my pro license soon--although I didn't get
quite the season I'd imagined, I did podium every race and I'm stoked
to take my skills farther.
Jackie
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