July 7, 2008
As I lay on my couch channel surfing, completely shattered from four days of charging in the park in full on summer heat, I stumbled onto a Star Wars movie marathon. This was the perfect score for my ruined body and mind that was quickly succumbing to the effects of alcohol, due to its dehydrated state, from the single cold beer I found in the fridge. Somewhere between Return of the Jedi and Attack of the Clones I started to think about "The Force" and what its relevance was to down hill mountain biking. I came to the conclusion that there is indeed a "Force" aside from gravity that has an effect on us as DH riders. The force is that indescribable feeling you get when you are having an "on" day and everything is clicking. More often you notice the force when it is absent or when you experience it for the first time. It is like a weird moment of biking clarity when the effort goes away and you experience pure flow. Sometimes it occurs via a clean fast line through a gnarly section or with the rhythm of a jump line, it can last for a fleeting second or for an entire run but it is a tangible feeling. I know I am not alone, nor am I the first to find the DH Force, I have heard others describe it.

This week the fire hazard climbed up into the extreme zone which means a few things; the trail crew has to slow down production and do some fire watch while they work and riders need to be extra diligent following the no smoking regulation on lifts and trails. Fortunately the boys are working on the dual slalom course which is away from anything that could burn so production there can go full throttle. The course is going to be rad this year as the vision of Andrew "Gunner" Gunn takes shape. My favorite section so far is the gunslinger start with both riders facing each other as they drop in and meet in the middle at opposing berms.
 
The crew in Garbanzo are working on a new segment of trail that will ultimately add the missing middle link to Freight Train so we can finally get that flowing top to bottom. At the same time the No Joke repair is being planned out so we can reclaim the sections that were closed or lost during the construction of the Olympic race course. The Airdome jumps are all complete and the final phase of the retrofit will start next with the construction of an observation platform and drop training feature into the foam pit.
 
The empire continues to grow and judging by all the bikes on racks rolling into town, the alliance is getting stronger. Ride hard Jedi and "May the force be with you".


See you in the lineup - Brian