Getting down the hill fast… fastest is the name of her game.
Top spot podium shot # 2, nice work Lisa!!!
Lisa on here way to her 2nd State title under the lights at Sol Vista. All photos by Eddie Clark and Long Nguyen
Sol Survivor, in Sol Vista, CO was one of the best events I’ve ever attended. Let me list the reasons (race promoters take note)…
1. The courses were built by racers for racers. This means the downhill had huge jumps, fast corners, awesome rock gardens, and serious flow. No uphill shenanigans. The dual slalom was relentless. If you weren’t riding with the next corner in mind, you were probably stacking it into a berm.
2. Dual Slalom was under the lights!!!!!
3. There were fun random events like pump-track world championships and a mustache cup, free Dales Pale Ale and a rockin’ band.
4. The pits actually had a good vibe. No tumble weeds blowing through this venue.
5. No one wanted to leave the award ceremony – whowhat!!! Even with a race the next day, people stayed out and partied; it was awesome.
On top of such a good venue, I was super stoked with my race runs. In dual slalom, I stacked it pretty hard in my first run against Christen Boyer as she took the max differential. This just meant there was no holding back in the second run. I new she was riding well so to beat the max diff meant pedal to the metal — that’s when the racing got good. I met Rachel Bauer in the finals. She’s been stepping it up all season and I new she was hungry for a win. Plus she qualified faster than me. The course was lined with spectators, the lights illuminated this amazing long track, and the gates dropped. I didn’t see her after that. Oh it feels so good to cross that finish line first… twice;-)
Dowhill was amazing. I absolutely love to jump my DH rig and this was the course for me. There were two step downs one was 30 feet the other was 40 and there was a sweet 15 foot double into the most delicious berm you could ever sink your tires into. By race time a huge storm was rolling in, there was crazy lightening on the horizon and the skys were about to open up. Somehow the pro women were blessed with the quiet before the storm. The air had that uncanny still feel and it was charged with energy. Jackie Harmony had qualified less then 2 seconds behind me and I new she was going to push it for all she had (actually, we both promised each other we would). I also new the course was getting extremely beat up and everyone was complaining about blowing up in the corners. This was going to be one of those races of riding a fine line between smooth and daringly fast. Game on…
I was the last pro women in the start gate. I looked out over the brewing horizon and I told myself to just relax and stay lose. I didn’t want to go as fast as possible; I just wanted to go as smooth as possible. It worked. I hit all my lines and sailed over the jumps. It was such a good day. As I crossed the finished lined I heard Mike McCormack announce that it would be my second State Championship for the weekend. Thank God:)