Oakridge Super D

The Oakridge Super D on Sunday August 7th was a great event. The weather was perfect and the trails were in great shape. This is about a 12 mile course with 4,700 feet of elevation loss and 900 feet of climbing thrown is in 3-4 small climbs, one long climb and several gentle rises. The starting elevation is somewhere between 5-6000 feet in a high alpine meadow, which featured spectacular once in 7 years flowering grasses. The trail is not for the timid or the weak and it is more like a hard Indie series race as it winds down and around, then climbs then drops, and then gives you super fast trail with "No crash option" exposures, plus a climb or two with consequences if you fall over off the trail downhill. After ripping about 11 miles the final cross hill with exposure had some gnarly bits and some sandy slidy narrowness with awkward ups and one sharp turn and steep short climb, but by then you could see the finish area and were happy to be getting done with it. Matt Jaeger and I rode it twice Saturday, and that second time down really helped get the trail printed in my brain and set up a good strategy for ripping and then conserving strength on climbs. I hit my goal and made the race run in just under and hour 5th place Cat 2 over 40. Mat J hit the podium in his class. Also representing capitol forest were Cory Canfield and his Son Cody.
Todd D