#9 WHO AND HOW FAST?
Mike Castaldo did 9 laps in the Kirkwood Nine to Five to take second.
Dan Nelson builds really cool custom titanium frames. No big myster about what he rode to take second in the Super Master (age 50+) category.
Only the faster men did 8 or more laps in the Nine to Five. Chrissy Earnhardt did it with only one gear!
This old skinny guy came out and did 11 laps. He's doing the Masters World Championship in Brazil in a couple of weeks so he says he was taking it easy..."I don't want to overdo myself.," he said. Right Tink...
#8 DEZ HAS A J-O-B.
Normally Dez Wilder would be out on course...he won last year's Kirkwood Nine To Five. But this year Dez has a job taking the Cannondale Demo center around to shops and events. With Cannondale's legendary Tinker Juarez racing today Dez is working support him...keeping him fed and hydrated and his bike lubed and rolling. We're sure Dez would rather be out on course, but duty calls.
#7 THEY'RE ROLLING!
KIRKWOOD NINE TO FIVE & 24 HOURS OF KIRKWOOD
This morning at 9am Vic jumped on the Suzuki and led the field of riders for a one and a half mile jaunt around Kirkwood to get them spread out before entering the first singletrack. Tinker Juarez was third to the singletrack and by the end of his first lap, he'd pulled over three minutes on the chasers.
More photos and reports to come!
#6 MINDEN GRILL CLIMB
What mountain biker doesn't want a nice gas grill? Heck, even the vegans among us like a grilled veggie kabob, right? So when the good folks at Minden Gas Grills wanted to sponsor a hill climb we knew we had something cool to include in the Kirkwood Mountain Bike Festival. We started the riders down in front of the Kirkwood Mountain Bike Center and sent them 2.3 miles and 1400' of elevation up the service road all the way to top of Chair #2. The rules were simple, the first one to the top owns the grill. That rider was local Robert Braun followed by 9er's Fuzzy Mylne. For Braun the Grill Climb win was a sort of redemption for his DNF in last Saturday's Kirkwood Challenge Cross-country, and as you can see here, he was sort of happy to take home a nice new BBQ grill!
#5: TAHOE RIM TRAIL RIDE
In my 26+ years of riding mountain bike I've had the good fortune to ride all over this big planet of ours. And I have to say that today's Tahoe Rim Trail Ride ranks in the top ten best rides of my life. The combination of technical trails, flowing singletrack and breathtaking scenery is an experience that every mountain biker should have. A big thanks to locals riders Ellen and Jim who served as ride guides.
Oh, and Mac the wonder dog (the short one with the back-pack), he spent the day hiking the Rim Trail with Kathy. He gave the Rim Trail two paws up!
BLOG #4: MARKING THE 24 HOURS OF KIRKWOOD
In contrast to the previous days, Monday was very kick-back for Team Bigfoot....no races or staff to manage...it was just me, a staple-gun, some course arrows and signs, my bike and a couple of riders to keep me company as we went out to mark the 6.1 mile course that we'll use for next Saturday & Sundays Kirkwood Nine to Five and 24 Hours of Kirkwood. It was yet another gorgeous day here in the Kirkwood Valley. Accompanied by Greg, a rider who learned about the Festival from MTBR.com and an old friend Mark Payne, we took a leisurely lap together.
Mark is someone I knew back in the 90s when I lived in Big Bear. He moved up here in about '96 and I hadn't seen him since and didn't even know that he lived here. But last week when I first arrived here in Kirkwood I was just finishing a ride when I heard a familiar voice, "Hey Vic!" It's funny how we sorta picked up our conversation where it left off fifteen years ago!
Today (Tuesday) is the Tahoe Rim Trail Ride. A couple of riders from the Alta Alpina Bicycle Club will be there to serve as the local trail experts. Jacquie Phelan arrived last night with a couple of students who'll she tutor privately today; and she'll conduct her group skills clinics on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tomorrow is the Jet Lites Night Ride, Thursday is the Minden Grillclimb in which we'll truck a nice gas-grill to the top of Chair 2, first rider to touch it owns it! Friday morning is "Take A Lap With Tinker" and then of course Saturday and Sunday are the 8 and 24 hour events. It's gonna be a great week.
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BLOG #3: WHAT A WEEKEND!
Friday's Super-D was really fun and the riders LOVED the course! The photo below was taken from the starting line, the rider is about to swing onto the singletrack there on the left.
Saturday's Cross-Country came off well too. It was a bit windy but the riders reported that it wasn't very noticable on course since most of it is in the trees. Our overall winner did a nice write-up: http://claassenmtb.blogspot.com/2010/08/kirkwood-challenge-xc-race-report.html
The weather was perfect for the Short-Track on Sunday...the gusts had subsided and the temps were in the 70s. One of the shop rats from the Kirkwood Mountain Bike Center won the wheelie contest, but he's underage so the case of Descutes Pale Ale ended up in the shop 'fridge...and big surprise...it was gone within an hour of the shop closing!
The Huffy Toss was a hit with 13 Tossers reporting to the tossing line. The Tossing Court was lined with spectators too as Kirkwood weekenders spotted the scene and just had to watch the carnage. Fun stuff!
More to come. Today we mark the 24 & 8 hour courses, tomorrow at 9am we do the Tahoe Rim Trail ride. Join us at
Big Meadow parking lot on hwy 89. It's on the east side of the road, north of Luther Pass. Park there and get on the TRT heading southeast, your options are endless. A few locals are coming out; they know the trail well. No fee, no fuss, just fun!
BLOG #2: August 19, SUPER-D MARKING AND 24HR/8HR COURSE INSPECTION
Wow, what a beautiful day it was here at Kirkwood...AGAIN!.This morning I took a ride up the mountain to the top of the Super-D course with Marty from the Kirkwood Mountain Bike Center. The view from the top of Chair Two is incredible...no wonder they call that point "Vista." Up there on the ridge you're on top of the Kirkwood Valley and can see over to the next valley and down onto Caples Lake. The Lake may play into our plans for 2011. How many of you would be interested in a Kirkwood Tri-Sport Adventure...a trail run, mountain-bike and kayak race? Hmmmmm.
Marty and I rode down and marked the Super-D course along the way. It's all set to go for tomorrow afternoon. Later I went out and walked a portion of next week's 24 Hours of Kirkwood & Kirkwood Nine to Five course. I spent most of the hike tossing rocks off the trail and making notes of the few sections where I'd still like to drag a McCleod before next week. The Upper Corral Trail is in full bloom with wildflowers. Kathy is a botanist so she really enjoyed our hike. And of course MacGregor, our head of ground level trail inspection, had a good time too.
BLOG # 1 August 18, COURSE MARKING & SUCH
We arrived here in beautiful Kirkwood on Sunday night and on Monday took a lap of the Kirkwood Challenge Cross-Country course. The course is in GREAT shape! Kirkwood's trail crew has done a great job of grooming the trails here.
We also rode the new sections (Dangberg Trail and Robie Wolf) that will be used for the 24 Hours of Kirkwood and the Kirkwood Nine to Five on August 28 and 29. Once again the Kirkwood trail crew is to be commended. Both trails are super fun. For those of you that rode Danberg in recent weeks, you're going to be very pleased--the rough creek crossing have all been either smoothed out or have had bridges built over them. It's going to flow real nicely.
We spent all day Tuesday marking and doing some fine polishing on the Cross Country course. It's all ready to go. If you want to come out and take a lap or three you can pick up the course just up the slope from the Kirkwood Mountain Bike Center. Just follow the yellow arrows.
Vic and trail meister MacGregor marking the Lower Corral trail on the Kirkwood Challenge Cross-Country Course.