Hello Racers. The first annual Mt Hood 3 Day Enduro Downhill is just around the corner. We’ve updated a few things, so be sure to read below about Free Lift rides and awesome lodging deals for the event. We know it’s tough to have racing on a Friday, so we’ll be sure to get you to the starting line as long as you are preregistered and on Timberline’s Magic Mile Chairlift by 5pm Friday. Preregistration ends at midnight on Wednesday September 8th, so be sure to register before then to save the $10 late fee. All riders will be required to bring their filled out Timberline waiver from Ski Bowl Registration in order to get their pass at Timberline. Preregistered riders names will be left with Timberline in the event you cannot make it to Ski Bowl by 2pm. Just check in at the Timberline Lift purchase area.

Thursday September 9:

The Glade Trail will be open for practice via self shuttle. Just drive to Timberline Lodge and park, then ride past the lodge toward the Magic Mile Chairlift.  The track will be open from this point (6,000′) on Thursday. The trail will be marked for practice, but IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so keep an eye out for people on the trail.

Friday September 10:

Registration: 9am-2pm at Ski Bowl in Government Camp. Show up and you are in! Plenty of room left. Registration includes lift tickets for Timberline and Ski Bowl.

Practice 10am-1:30pm.  Riders will catch the shuttle in the Ski Bowl Parking Lot to Timberline. From the lodge, riders can catch the Magic Mile Chairlift (FREE LIFTS AT TIMBERLINE COURTESY OF FLUIDRIDE)  to the base of Palmer Glacier (all day ticket 10am-5pm) for the new top section of the track. This section is all warp speed lunar looking fire road, and adds about 4 minutes of high speed action to last years track. Racing starts at 3pm, with Pro’s riding first. This track starts at 7,000′ and descends to 3,000′ in less than 20 minutes! There is a some pedaling in the bottom section of the track, so be sure to save some energy.

Fluidride Enduro DH #2 | Stage 1 | September 10, 2010 | Mt. Hood Timberline, OR from Fluidride on Vimeo.

Saturday September 11:

On Saturday, we’ll be racing the middle section of Friday’s track, starting at Timberline Lodge, and ending in Government Camp (no chairlift needed). This run is about 2,300 vertical feet with no real need to pedal at all and is all about pure speed. Racing starts at 11am. Shuttles will run from Ski Bowl starting just before 10am. There is no formal practice this day, but riders are welcome to drive themselves up for a practice run in the morning, then can catch the shuttle to the top for their race. There will be shuttles provided for riders to get their cars from Timberline at the end of the day.

After descending into Government Camp, we’ll have an afternoon party at The Ratskeler. There will be food specials and $2 PBR’s for racers looking to unwind after the first two days of racing. There is no formal practice for Sunday until Sunday morning.

Sunday September 12:

Location: Ski Bowl. Sunday’s race will be the shortest stage, starting at the top of Ski Bowl and ending at the lodge. This run is about 5 minutes in length, and descends about 1400′. This will be the most technical portion of the race. All riders will descend the same run, which will include sections of various Ski Bowl trails. This run will be slightly different in layout than our normal DH races. A full DH bike will still be the fastest on this track, but it will be able to be ridden on a smaller bike too. Petr from Hurricane Racing is paying for the lifts at Ski Bowl, so be sure to thank him for your pass when you see him. Practice 9-11am with Racing at 12pm. Awards directly following event. There will be cold Pilsner Urquell served in the Beerstube for only $1 after the race for those 21 and over. We’ll also be having a raffle at the race courtesy of Momentum Bikes in Sandy Oregon, which will include a Mountain Cycles Battery Slopestyle full suspension frame for one lucky winner. Check the bike out here.

Rules: RIDERS MUST WEAR FULL FACED HELMETS FOR ALL STAGES. Riders must ride the same frame and fork for all three stages, but may switch any other parts in between stages. The winner of the event will be decided by the fastest combined times over the three stages. Series winners will be decided by the fastest combined times from Dog River and the Mt Hood 3 Day Race.

GREAT LODGING DEALS:

WINDELL’S: Windell’s Ski and Snowboard Camp, located about 25 miles from Ski Bowl is offering an amazing deal for our racers. Bed’s (very nice shared bed rooms with separate living rooms with Flat Screen tv’s etc) are $15/nt Thursday- Saturday night. All you can eat breakfast is an additional $5. For those who haven’t been there, this is perhaps the ultimate playground. Riders staying Windell’s will have access to the areas world class dirt jump and park style areas for unlimited shredding. Call Tim Windell at 503.539.4445 to book your spot! Check out the goods at http://windells.com/. We’ll have the place pretty much to ourselves since they are in between seasons right now.

COLLIN’S LAKE RESORT: Collin’s Lake Resort has a great deal going on their very large Chalet style houses. The places are really nice and HUGE. They are 3 stories, with 2 bedrooms and two bathrooms, full kitchen and living room. They also have large garages in most, so you can park inside, and still have plenty of room for working on bikes. There is also a washer and dryer in each unit. Pricing is $310 for two nights. These units are just across from Ski Bowl, in Government Camp, centrally locating you for the event. Call 503 928-3498 to book your spot.

Here are the updated point totals for the 2010 Technical DH Series so far. We’ll hope to see you all the the 3 Day Enduro on Mt Hood from September 9-11 or for the Technical DH Series Finals at Ski Bowl on September 24-26. 2010 Fluidride Cup Overalls

Blue skies and a full tilt track greeted riders at round 3 of the Fluidride Cup Technical Downhill Series. The top half of the mountain was open for the first time this year, bringing a riders a truly challenging track for every category with over 1400 feet of descent per run.

Sunday mornings race started off with the Evil Bikes Men’s Pro Qualifier, where Mikey Sylvestri (Specialized/All Ride) showed riders how it’s done by posting the fastest time ever on the track with a blazing 3:48. In the final, Sylvestri was again the fastest, posting another great run to take the win with a 3:49. Charlie Sponsel (Evil Bikes) came back from a slow qualifier due to a mechanical and some rough falls in practice to claim a hard earned and well deserved second place. Kyle Thomas (Evil Bikes) took home the bronze in the 15 rider Pro field.

In the Loeka Pro Women’s division, Jamie Reese (Bike Hub) backed up her win from the last round, with Chelsea Stevens (Bike Hub) taking the runner up spot. The Cat 1 Junior Men’s race was closely contested and very fast, with Adam Ransavage (Evil Bikes) taking his first major win over Brian Mullen (DropnZone, Transition) and Cole Wetherell (Project 529/Santa Cruz).

Round 4 of the Fluidride Cup Technical DH Series is scheduled for August 20-22nd. There will be full practice offered on BOTH Friday and Saturday. Originally, we were scheduled to have a long break during Saturday’s practice for a wedding, but now have the schedule sorted to allow a full weekend of riding. For those who haven’t been to Schweitzer before, come ready to ride. This track is going to be big and long, with over 2,000 vertical feet of descent per run. We’ll hope to see you there!

Complete Round 3 results Here: Copy of Fluidride Cup 3 Skibowl

Here is the Maxxis Post Race Video, produced by Andy Tran – Enjoy!

The weather forecast is calling for 70-80 degrees and sunshine all weekend at Mt Hood Ski Bowl in Government Camp for the Fluidride Cup Technical DH Round #3, presented by Fat Tire Farm in Portland. The top of the track is now open after hours of shoveling snow banks courtesy of Todd Olsen, Eric Loney, and a number of other northwest rippers, effectively doubling the vertical drop from the last race. The dirt is rumored to be in perfect condition after last weekend’s rain, and the last bit of snow melt…things are shaping up for an epic weekend!

The FAT TIRE FARM is kicking down big time for this event, with extra cash for the Pro Class. The Evil Men’s DH will boast a $1,000 1st place purse, while the Loeka Women’s Pro DH will offer a $500 1st place purse.

MAXXIS is hooking it up for amateur riders, with a Maxxis Minion 3c for the winner of every class! This is an $80.00 prize – and there is one for every amateur category.

There is a NEW CATEGORY 2/3 woods section which has been added to the bottom part of the course, making the CAT 2/3 track, long and challenging. The most technical  woods portions of the track will now offer line options for riders of varying abilities. There have also been a few changes to the Pro Track for 2010, with the re-introduction of the log step down at the bottom of the woods.

REGISTRATION:

Online registration closes Wednesday 7.08 at midnight. On site registration is also available at the following times:

FRIDAY: 10:30am-6pm

SATURDAY: 7:30am-6pm

SUNDAY: 7:30am-8:30am

Race Registration is $49.00. Lifts are $34 for 3 days (Friday-Sunday), $24 for 2 days (Saturday-Sunday) or $10 for race day only.

PRACTICE TIMES:

FRIDAY: 11am-4pm. All Categories.

SATURDAY: CAT 2/3 8am-12pm. CAT 1/PRO 2pm-6pm.

SUNDAY: 8am-9:15 with racing beginning at 10am.

All categories will take one race run. Pro and Cat 1 Juniors will have a qualifier Sunday morning to decide starting order for the final.

We couldn’t make this happen without our sponsors, so be sure to support these great companies: FAT TIRE FARM, BIG TREE BIKES, CLIF BAR, LOEKA, BRASHER’S AUTO AUCTION, DAKINE, ALPINESTARS, EVIL BIKES, ARROW RACING, PINKBIKE, MAXXIS and BETTER LIFE HEALTH AND FITNESS.

Blue Bird Skies and perfect dirt made for some great riding at Fluidride Cup Round 2 at Mt Hood’s Ski Bowl. Congratulations go out to Keith Thompson on his big win in the Evil Men’s Pro Division. As one of the hardest training NW riders, Keith’s win was long overdue. In the two run format, Keith had the fastest time on BOTH runs, taking what was still a narrow win over Project 529’s Eric Loney. Alexander Mc Guiness took third, with Jim Johnston and Nick Coutour rounding out the top five in a very competitive field of ten Pro riders. Jamie Rees took the win in the Loeka Pro Women’s Downhill while Brian Mullen scored a win in the super fast Cat 1 Junior Division with a run fast enough for tenth overall and a small share of the race purse. Chris Bentley took the win in the Cat 1 40- 49 Division.

We were a bit short handed at the last event because of Hurricane’s Greg Aldrich’s absence due to a Gall Bladder removal and the birth of his newest family member Jonah. Congratulations go out to Greg and his family. We are looking forward to having you back at the races in September!

Here are the full race results: fluidride cup 2 dh @ skibowl

NEXT RACE: Mt Hood Ski Bowl July 9-11. Look for big purses courtesy of FAT TIRE FARM. $1,000 1st place Pro Men and $500 1st Place Pro Women.

Thanks go out to Evil Bikes, Big Tree Bikes, Fat Tire Farm, Shiloh Cyclery, Arrow Racing, Maxxis, Clif Bar, Loeka, Brasher’s, Dakine, Alpinestars, Better Life Health and Fitness and Pink Bike for their support of the Fluidride Cup.

For now, here is a video by Syndrome Racing’s Andy Tran – check it out!