Pirate Ride #3
The masses gathered at Horse Linto Campground for a tradition that predates anio domini, the Chinese Downhill. We returned to last years venue, the Gross Anatomy, with a slightly higher turn out then our previous solar cycle. The course was obscenely sweet. Motorcycles had paid some recent visits to the Gross and managed to sweep, groove, and berm the trail in superb fashion. The morning began with anxious moto enthusiasts ripping up and down the hill in anticipation of the afternoon's approaching Dis Gravity event. To the despair of all a good friend, Paul Wilson, swapped while coming down the road and was toted to the E.R. with a severe knee injury. Thanks to Jason Reimann and Christina Reyes for shuttling the fallen soldier back from the outskirts of civilization. Riders soon recovered from this shock and began practice runs down the Gross developing a variety of line strategy on what would be a free ride assault. Soon it was time to begin, not too soon seeing as events were over an hour behind schedule. The ten lab rats were driven to the top of the hill, bikes were laid flat, one hundred paces, turn, and the foot race began. The start was as tight as one might expect, riders battling for position early found themselves, literally, stacked upon one another at the entry to the single track. A few managed to slip ahead and the battle seemed to be between Jared Delong, Sean Tetrault, and Jed Olson. Much dicing was reported, as Tetrault punked Delong on the pedals, only to be played later on by Jared's sly line selection around that which is called "Steeper then All". This was enough to over come Tetrault and drift his way through the final corner and on to victory. The surprise of the day was Robbie Rhall, who quite literally 'cam out of nowhere' to steal second place. "I didn't see him the entire time, and then I get to the bottom and he is kicking it in a lawn chair!" Said Shane in regards to Rhalls sudden materialization. "I turned off to go through the 'V Trees' and I see Robbie just rip straight on down the road, I'd gone that way before but I didn't know which was faster" relayed Olson while pondering the lads route. Apparently Rhall was turned on to a very secret line which rocketed him into thrid position behind Tetrault, overtaking Olson after he suffered a terrific crash on one of the trails steepest chutes. Then Rhall took a hint from the leader, dodging Steeper then All, nearly colliding with Tetrault at the intersection and holding him off. Rhall had no choice but to ride the final rutted chute, and it payed off as he sprinted through the line with Tetrault right on his wheel to claim his best Pirate finish to date. Despite crashing and finishing fourth Jed Olson, who sported the leader's Jersey for the day maintained his overall points lead, increasing the distance between him and the competition. The ride wound up with more casualty clearing as three riders paced their rigs off the trail with flat tires, Joel Graves explained "I was coming down the final steep section and my rear end just started sliding all over, I stopped to see what was wrong and my tire was flat, I wasn't going to risk it, it sucked." By the time the ride wrapped up most were ready to do their own thing, so the first Dis Gravity event turned into a mass moto ride over the ridge while others sessioned the ol' Tish Tang championship course. Soon enough all were back, enjoying the barbecued grinds provided by piratedh.com, awards and prizes were presented, and all talked of the days events and those to come. Keep your eyes open for a fresh rider profile soon with first person Chinese details.
Placing
Rider
Finish Split
1
Jared Delong
6:45
2
Robbie Rhall
7:01
3
Sean Tetrault
7:05
4
Jed Olson
7:36
5
Shane (shady)
7:42
6
Ray Williams
9:42
7
Tom Larson
9:55
8
Mark Matthews
16:26
9
Joel Graves
Flatted Out
9
Eddie Kemper
Flatted Out
