Harlan takes 2nd at Vertical Earth Super-D at Blue Mountain Pennsylvania.

This past weekend I embarked on a journey to the top of Blue mountain to race one of my favorite formats. The Super-D! If you are out of the loop, the super-d is a cross between a cross country race and a downhill race. The course is supposed to be a test of a person's all-around skills. In an ideal world the winning time should be at least 10 minutes and the style of the track should not favor to heavily either discipline. The courses demand riders with versatile skills and a bike that can do-it-all. That is one of the main reasons I got the Fisher HiFi Pro 29er. I knew it would be an outstanding machine for the super-d.


What that means is you get to go downhill really fast and then bust your lungs on a couple hills. It turns out to be some of the most intense few minutes on a bike you can have. Your mind is 100% focused on staying in control! It is one of the best times on a bike I think you can have.

Entry fee to the race gave you two days of lift service at Blue Mountain, so I went up on Saturday to pre-ride. That was a wise choice because I felt like a fish flopping around on the boats bottom. The course was fast, loose and full of high speed berms with an intense section of jumps. As a XC racer I wasn't comfortable on the jumps at all. Still, I tried rolling them, or I took what looked to be a line around. A couple I couldn't avoid so I jumped them as best I could. The sections through the woods had some tricky spots that I stopped and tried a couple times, looking for better lines. On the second to last run I burped a tire and mildly tossed myself off the bike, loosing my glasses. Bye Bye!

Then on the last run it started raining. Time to leave.

Sunday my race started at 12 so I got up early enough to get there and have a couple hours to practice a little more. Unfortunately I had some toll booth issues and ended up getting there with only enough time to get one run in. Fortunately that one run felt great and my confidence was high. The rain the night before actually made the course a little easier and washed away some of the looser gravel turns.

We lined up to a Lemans start, which meant we ran to our bikes in a big confused mass and started racing for position into the woods. On the start line was Brian Lopes (World Champion) and local legend John Gabor. At the 'go' I had to sky over another bike and came around to mine in not the best position. I ended up 4th into the woods. On the first climb I came around two riders and went back into the woods in second to Lopes. The intensity of trying to go as fast as you can, but not making a slip is freaking addictive. I was able to hold Gabor off till the jumps then I let him by, knowing there was a climb immediately after. I took the jumps faster than before, but it still wasn't real stylish, while Gabor just floated everything. 

I did barely manage to come around him on the short climb, but he was throwing down. In the next section of turns and berms I was able to hold position and rolled across the finish line in second, but Gabor finished within the same second on the clock!

It was a great time!

I can't wait till Bear Creek races!



Thanks

Harlan