Supah Dee

Ashland, where this past weekend's 12 mile super-d was held, once again (we were there to race the Spring Thaw XC a few weeks prior) fell nothing short of Arcadia. Emigrant Lake Campground, where we camped out for three star-strewn nights, had us perched, evidently, above Emigrant Lake. At dusk we consumed fire and tinfoil meals, with the extending gold and purple valley as our guest of honor; come darkness, we found ourselves in sleep by losing our thoughts in the murmur of frogs; and at dawn, we awoke to the sun caught in the lake where muted frogs now scavenged for food. One more day, and we swore we would have awoken to unicorns and fair maidens prancing around the tent.

Despite having gone off course for a few seconds (which is A LOT of time considering the race weighs in at a sub-45 minute duration), I otherwise turned myself inside out and was satisfied with my riding... that's not to say I don't already have a list of points to improve on, one of them which falls under the category of fire road descents at warp speed. Yeah, I need to find my comfort with such gravely situations; oh, and stay on course. All in all, it was an honor to race with the big kids... check out the results posted below (due to a huge scramble with start times, they have my name posted twice. I assure you my time was sub-45 and NOT sub-3h). Woot, woot, ladies.


A few shots from an epic weekend chock full of sweet riding, good folks, and beautiful terrain.

Rainbows en route to Ashland. Can you say... magic?


Wookie eating the magic.


Mornin' view at the campsite.


Despite their ability to poop air frequently, wookies make excellent race mechanics and killer breakfasts.

The opening fire road descent. Yes, there is still snow, and yes, we were FLYING.


First "climb", which took about 5 minutes, but still fulfilled its duty in making you feel as though you were going to ralph.


Pre-riding in the land of pine. Woot. Woot.


Anthem (yeah Ayn Rand, I feel ya), which rode superbly, watches a sun go to sleep across the valley.


Raw Rev kept me fed ALL WEEKEND LONG... much appreciated.


Wookie, some racers, and a fuzzy Mount Shasta in the background. Yes, that is California.