Bicycle World TV Super D team at Flagstaff Super D race

March 20th, 2017 10:34am

It’s been an amazing winter of riding here in southern Arizona but with temps now creeping up into the 100‘s Dennis and I jumped at the opportunity to attend a Super D race in Flagstaff. This would also give us an opportunity to test out our new Pivot Mach 5.7s before the Oregon Enduro Series gets underway. Happily, we loaded up the Sprinter, left the desert heat, and headed north for pine forests and highs in the 70’s. We arrived Saturday afternoon as the MBAA XC race was finishing up. Once the trails were clear we pedaled up for a practice run. The course was super dry and dusty and relatively flat. We realized quickly this was going to be a lung busting challenge at 7,000 feet with a lot of very fast locals. Although there had been a lot of negative chatter on the forums about the course, it proved to be fun to ride and carrying speed through the dusty blown out corners was a challenge. Our 5.7s performed perfectly, easily accelerating up the climbs while still feeling plush on the descents. Knowing that the Pivot could handle whatever came it’s way was confidence inspiring, especially with limited practice time.

Dennis and I both felt good on race day and left it all on the course. Unfortunately, we found out after we had completed our runs that a 30 second time bonus was given to racers who chose to pedal to the start area rather than shuttling. That info would have been helpful to have before race run. We would have opted to pedal up to the start to remain competitive in our respective classes so we were both a bit disappointed but still pleased with our runs. Ahh... next time.

Fortunately, Flagstaff has plenty of trails to play on so after the race we took out the dog for a ride. She was stoked!

stoked dog on the trail

1 stoked dog!

dixie dog at MBAA Race
Dixxie enjoying the beautiful forest in Flagstaff

With no work on Monday we decided to extend our stay in Flag and enjoy some more riding in the cooler weather. After an epic dinner at Bigfoot BBQ and some eclipse gazing we camped at the trailhead and got ready for another day of riding on Mount Elden.

post ride lazy

Monday Mornings are rough.

dennis yuroshek going domestic
Even on the road there are still chores to be done.

dennis and his pivot in the open space

Dennis rips through an Alpine Meadow on his Pivot Mach 5.7

Now it's off to Bend Oregon. Till our next report!