Roxbury, New York: I’ve been racing here since 1996 and while the series has added races and the participation (read liftlines) have swelled some things about this place remain unchanged every year. Honestly, where else can I be assured of parking my car with a view of my fellow pro racers tuning their mint looking bikes and race gear out one window, and the Marlboro man dressed in orange camouflage duct taping hockey pads to himself out the other? Plattekill is an institution to East Coast racing, with race courses rivaled only be the characters who show up here every spring. And come back every year.

The first race of the year is always an adventure of sorts. I rolled into the parking lot at about 2:00 in the afternoon after realizing 45 minutes into my drive down from Vermont that I had abandoned my helmet in my driveway. Hardly a big deal, really. Chris Firth, of former Mountainbike Action fame, still hadn’t put his bike together. He and Iron Horse honch Todd Seplavy had yet to make tracks down the course. I pulled my brand new Orange 222 out of the car to the laughter of a few racers who rolled by. It was pretty obvious to them that this bike had just been built the night before (I had, in fact ridden it about 10 feet) and it was pretty obvious to me that these guys were absolutely covered in mud. Can’t imagine why my clean bike and gear gave them reason to be amused. Surely they knew something I didn’t. So while my teammate/roommate Cyrus and I made our way over to practice, his dog made his way around the pits peeing on people’s coolers . . . . .

The usual subjects were there, most of whom have been fixtures on the East Coast scene since such a thing was invented. I’m spelling some of these names wrong because I don’t feel like looking them up, so deal. Lars Tribus had his new Oompa Loompa, er, Chummba Wummba. Derek Nobman was there; all 8 foot 4 inches of him. Jesse Whittsel came to watch (no bike???) and appeared to have brought a few extra winter pounds of beer with him as well. Chris Chiaci had a new deal going and if nothing else looked like the fastest guy on the mountain when he was standing still. As always, the Canadians showed up for the 1st round probably not to return for the rest of the year—you can almost feel the pro class breath a collective sigh of relief since that Laurin kid is not known for going slow, or losing here EVER! George Ryan was not in the house nor was fellow Vermonter Kyle Ebbet. They were busy giving the finger to SARS and ripping apart some park event in Toronto. Congrats to “muffin” Ryan for landing himself of the BeOne world team!!! This boy is fast, but the world cup team? Apparently they wanted an East Coast rider (does that make us the new “freeride,” the next marketable fad in the bike industry???). But, if you want my opinion the best choice of all the guys out here is, well, George Ryan. He’s young, fast, and can ride anything from dh courses to urban streets. He made the trip down from T-town on Saturday night, drove ten hours, took 3 practice runs, didn’t clean the mud off his bike . . . . . and got 4th. Remember this is the kid who won races here last year with a cast on his arm.

The course was sweet, nothing too hard but lots of corners and a healthy amount of speed and rough sections. I’d only ridden my Orange Patriot a few times at some local dirt jumps with Ebbet and the local kids, so this was my first time out on the 222. It took me all week to get the Evil chainguide, Atomlab wheels, Truvative, and Titec parts, and intense tires sorted out on the bike. Nothing like waiting until the last minute but hey, that’s what makes the first race of the year so interesting.

Ok, so a race was going on too. I only know what went on in the Pro class since I left early to get home and correct papers and get ready to teach high school on Monday morning . . . working-class downhillers, this sport is full of them. I’m waiting for the day when Lars races in a suit. So the Laurin kid won by like 5 seconds (at least it wasn’t 9 like last year), Nobman took home 2nd, Lars 3rd, George Ryan woke up from his fetal position nap on the top of the mountain and found his way to 4th, and Dominich Menard was 5th.

I had a sweet run and would have been on the podium for sure, one of the only times I’ve crashed and known it for sure. I hit this oddly angled double root drop off thing (what, like you have a better idea of what to call it) and instead of jumping it low and cranking a right hand turn off the downside I got a little excited and over jumped it, missed my chance to turn and landed in a tree before my Dorado had even rebounded. I rolled down the hill and my bike stayed behind. The whole act of crashing, running back up the slope to my bike, unwrapping the 3 loops of course tape from my bars and stem took a solid 7 or 8 seconds easily. Riding the bottom fifth of the course with a numb left hand and no front brakes surely didn’t make me go any faster. . . . I missed the podium by 10 seconds. My teammate Cyrus would tank it in the same spot, only he crashed into a tree above the drop and lawn-darted his way back onto the trail. All things considered, I’m pleased with how things turned out. It’s racing, and crashing is a reality. We can play the “what if” game all day but I still crashed so no point making excuses. At least I know that I’m up to speed with the rest of the Pro class right now. See you all at the next race, by then my mangled left hand should be healed and our new Transcend/Orange jerseys will have arrived from Verge. Stop by and say hello . . . even if you duct tape pads to your skin and look like your mother married a fraggle.

My well highly qualified (pretty much useless) predictions for the next Plattekill race in June: The Canadians don’t show, George Ryan wins, Lars is on the podium somewhere, and I’m going to stay on my bike this time! Oh yeah, and Plattekill and all the folks there who keep putting on these races will continue to be evidence that racing isn’t dead. Make sure you let them know you appreciate it.