The Fest went great! Tammy Donahugh and I were flown out to coach a pump track class and a mtb skills class. Not only was it pouring rain when we landed Thursday evening but we also had an epic thunder storm (1 sec from flash to crash!). Friday started off wet then the sun peaked out in the afternoon and started to dry some poo-mud. By Saturday morning it was gorgeous and sunny out but we still had to do an emergency rebuild on a couple of the sledge turns on the pump track before class started.
The pump track class was a blast, focusing on pumping rollers and railing berms, and a new “on your back on the ground pushing the bike away from you” drill added by Tammy . We also had some amazing assistant coaches come to town to help out, Cortney Kundson who drove all the way down from Tahoe and Lindsay Currier from Shine Riders Co plus former racing buddies Heather Wagner-Jauregg from ABS and journalist Joh Rathbun. We had quite the girl gang going all weekend. The mtb skills class went well too, making the most of a not-so vacant dirt road skills area then applying it to the short track. I loved meeting all of the students and watching them absorb new tools for their riding repertoire.Thanks to Brooks McMullin for being our team mechanic.
Other highlights included hitting an airbag for the first time, realizing what a soft landing it is then hitting it over and over and over like a 13 year old. I met some really cool kids too, 11 year old Daniel who we met at the dj’s, Alex (whose hair went from green on Saturday to pink and purple Sunday), Gavin the 3.5 year old who landed a no-footer on the 5′ table top, seeing 5 year old “Mini Shredder” Gavin who wowed us all at the Seattle Bike Expo, and 13 year old Garrett who kicked our bootys in the dj comp. Also great to see my freinds Liz-a, Kierith (who was my personal assistant for the weekend), Lisa, and awesome bike industry friends.
We had a wicked dj sess at the Polo Fields, with a couple of lady trains, learned how to ride backwards down a wedge, how to ride facing backwards on a bike, and that my muscles really do like food after playing on bikes all day and it’s 7pm and still trying to jump bikes, and I’m casing everything. Oh and did I mention that the sun does exist, it’s kinda hot sometimes and it likes to make your skin turn red then peal off exactly above and below your elbow pads. Aha.