I just got back from Chile where I spent the last two weeks with team members Fraser and James. What I trip, Chile really is a great place. The mountainous terrain and dry climate make it moutain biker's paradise. The Chilean people were very friendly and eager to show us all the splendors this country has to offer.
Besides some off season training runs, which consisted of one hour long epic descents from the edge of the Andes mountains into Santiago, we were also there to compete in two events.
Fisrt up was the now infamous Valparaiso Urban DH, where James Jeannet was competing along with 90 other riders from around the globe. This three minute race course combines, some big gaps/drops, box jumps, hundreds of stairs and some high speed street sections. Throw in about 6000 screaming Chilean spectators along the course not to mention plenty of stray dogs on the course and you have one hell of an event.
After a couple of hours of practice on race day a qualifying run was held where the top 30 riders move on to a final run later that same day. It was Cedric Gracia who qualified first with a time of 2:43, Steve Smith was sixth in 2:52 and James Jeannet took 10th place with a time of 2:57.
In the final Cedric once again took the win in a time of 2:37, Steve Smith was third in 2:50 and unfortunartly James crashed off a jump and had to settle for 25th with a 3:10.
On to the Andes for the second leg of our trip, we were staying at the La Parva ski resort at some 10,000 ft of elevation! The Chilean National DH championships were being held that weekend and all non Chilean riders the "Gringos" were put into an international class so we could race in the event.
After a shortened day of practice due to a barrage of snow,hail and thick fog, racers were back on the course the following day and greeted with sunshine. The foul weather of the previous day left a few inches of wet snow on the upper part of the course and turned some lower sections muddy and slick.
Great news for the "Gringos" who were a little more comfortable in these conditions; Just like racing back home!
Just as the race got underway thick clouds and fog rolled back on to the course and reduced visibilty considerably. James had a good race run and made it to the podium to take third place in the international class with a time of 3:12, overall that time would have put him in 11th place which is pretty good considering the depth of the top Elite Chilean racers at this event.
Our two weeks in Chile were now over and we left with a life time of great memories and can't wait to come back again next year.
great report
and a great video at:
http://www.vimeo.com/downtoearth
http://freecaster.tv/mtb/1007546/valparaiso-cerro-abajo-2009
cheers