Young Wins at CrankWorx Colorado

Contributed by Jubil Young






Super Downhill is FUN!! The course really played to my strengths of fast sprinting on the climbs and super fast bermed downhill sections. The All mountain super D had just under 10 minutes of climbing and 15 min of descending.


The race started with a technical 5 minute climb on which I blew by the competitors on their squishy 6"+ travel bikes and on the 40mph downhill road section that followed they gained some time on me. Once back on the single track I felt more at home and laid it all out to maintain my position to take the win.


I wasnt planning on racing the Super Downhill because I wanted to save money so I could race the XC, however, I had to much fun in the first race so I withdrew from the XC to race the next SuperD. In the SuperD we had a lemans start and I out sprinted everyone to my bike and climbed to the singletrack in first place.


Immediately, on the ST I hit a loose rock and my front end washed out costing me 2 positions. From 3rd I felt better because I could see the lines of the riders ahead of me but I kept getting too close and the dust obstructed my view. I couldnt hold my line around a berm, mainly because it came up so fast when I couldnt see, and had to bail over the edge.


This put me clear back in the back of the pack, 7th out of 8 riders, and I knew that I had to make up some time on the next short climb. The climb came right after a flat, non-bermed 90 degree corner which was perfect to attack from. Once I cleared the corner I went to attack and the rider directly infront of me dismonted and I couldnt avoid hitting him. I may or may not have said some foul words.


I hoped back on the my bike after putting the chain back on and got on the pedals hard. I sprinted up the entire 1/4 mile climb out of my saddle and passed 4 riders to move into 3rd. From there I had to race to hold off the guy behind me and to try and catch the 2nd place dude.


The terrain was filled with bermed corners, 2 foot drops, and a 5 consecutive 30 mph ladder drops which were tought to tackle on my 5 inch travel Trek fuel in comparison to my competitors squishy bikes. I actually opened my gap on the rider behind me but didnt have enough trail to catch the guy ahead of me so I took 3rd.

Check out the results here: http://crankworxcolorado.com/index.html

. . . and the pictures here: http://crankworxcolorado.com/photos.html