Crankworx Colorado Trip Day 1 and 2

Yesterday was day of traveling. I had to get up early to finish packing, some how I fell asleep before I was finished. I got everything all packed up. I had everything I needed in two bags. One bag was my Dakine duffle bag which had pretty much everything in it except my bike, and my bike was in a massive hockey bag on wheels. It is pretty much the best investment I have made in while, it has paid for it self several times over so far. I take my bike partially apart and it fits right in. I check it in on the plane as my sporting equipment and there is no fee!

My sister was nice enough to give me a ride to the airport. I flew out of YVR and the have been doing a lot of work inside to get it ready for the Olympics next year. I thought I was going to fly through security, almost did. I made it through customs in record time. Headed to the security scans and put all my stuff through, it went through and then they asked, if my Dakine Apex Bag was mine. Turns out your not allowed to take a 5mm allen wrench as a carry on, something about how I could dismantle the cabin of the aircraft….

I had a Connection through Portland. It was really hot there something like 106 F. After getting to Colorado, I wait by the exit for the rest of the BC people to show up. Nick and Ryan Meyer, Alex Pro, Brendan Howey, and their mechanic Mike Rotherdam came out. We picked up their gear and headed out. Huge thanks to Mike for giving me a lift to Winter Park.

Today is not the official first day of Crankworx Colorado, tomorrow is, but today we got our first chance to try out the course for the first time.

The course has a similar lay out as last year. The rock roll to drop is still in the same spot, but they have added a cork screw to it. It been dubbed the Toilet Bowl. After it is probably the gnarliest feature, The Catchers Mit. Its a huge step up to a some what narrow landing into a banked corner with a step down off. There a smaller “Kokanee Kicker” from Crankworx last year that super fun. A small dirt spine/hitching post into a wall ride. Straight jump to berm to another berm. Then there is the step up and step down obstacles from last year, into the final feature.

Practice was spotty with weather conditions. We are in the rockies at 10,000 plus feet so the weather is unpredictable and can change with out notice. We had everything today, rain, both light and extremely heavy, lighting and thunder, sun, wind and even hail!

The air is noticeably thinner here. By they time your near the end of the course your out of breath. Even the mellow hike back up can make you pant.

At around 3pm it started to to rain, it was the second time durning the practice session that a shower occurred, so every one stayed to wait it out. It did not stop .It just rained harder. Everything is soaked and it’s just stopped raining. Hopefully everything will be dried out for practice and qualifying tomorrow!