Josh Carlson blogs on the Ashland 12 Super D

Hi guys,

On June 18 I had my first attempt at Super D racing at the Ashland 12mile Super D. Held in the hippie little town of Ashland, Oregon the race started up at Mt Ashland and descended down into a little park just above the town centre of Ashland. Starting at an altitude of 7500feet and finishing at 2000feet, it was an epic descent and THE most fun I have had on my mountain bike by far!!

I was fortunate enough to hang out and ride with the guys from the US Factory GIANT Team all week and definitely learn a few things along the way. Riding with guys like Carl decker and Adam Craig was wicked and cool to watch some icons of the sport shred their bikes on the same track right in front of me.

The track was a mix of everything. Nothing super hard or technical but it had some really fast sections and a few corners and straights that were easily fast enough to scare the crap out of myself! I was a bit tired after a fun little race in Bend on the Wednesday but overall I was feeling good on the course and definitely getting my shred on every run I did during practice.

On the Friday prior we raced the chainless challenge. A race where we literally had our chains removed and was forced to rely on our ability to pump and create momentum as well as hold speed with our bikes, without the ability to rely on pedal power..WICKED FUN! After a practice run and argument with a solid bush that I used as a braking stop around a sharp bend..it was time for the race run. The course was a dry fire road that was pretty slippery and full of water bars and fast sweeping corners which needed you to hold your nerve and not brake so you didn’t wash off too much speed for the next straight. It was actually pretty amazing how fast you can really go just by hacking a few bits and not braking a whole bunch! poo you pants scary sometimes..but amazing! ;)

So my race run came and I had a great start. gaining speed pretty quickly and feeling good. I came up to a right handed corner full of water ruts and tried to hold my speed through it so I could jump the water bar that was immediately after the corner....ROT ROH!

I tucked my front wheel and hit the deck HARD! as I was sliding along the dirt, my SEAT actually hit me in the back of the head and flew down the track in front of me..WHAT THE!

I dusted myself off, realising my seat was non-existent now and totalled, jumped back on and rolled down to the finish with a few big breaths and trying to suss out where the sore bits on my body were...I realised the sore bits were in ALL the wrong places. OUCH! A nice gash out of my arm and a good whack to the nether regions thanks to my broken seat and I was done with the chainless and now getting ready for the big race on Saturday. I finished with a time of 5min flat..20 seconds off the winners time of 4min41..SPEWING!

Thanks to Adam for letting me borrow his dropper seat post for the race run, I was back in action and now getting my head into gear for the race come Saturday morning. 6.30am and we were in the team shuttle bus and headed up the hill. FRESH AS up at Mt Ashland at 7am!! I was off at 8.30am and carl and Adam were off at 8am.

I was super nervous the morning of the race and asked the boys for a bit of advice before my race run.."Slow is Fast!" was the comment from both lads..so I listened! I took off for my race run and rode on the conservative side, aiming to put together a solid run and get a result. All good being super-fast in practice but if you don’t finish races..it doesn’t mean anything!! The course conditions were OPTIMUS PRIME for the race run. I paced myself well up the first climb and then settled into a good flow on the D's. Once i come to the end of the run, in the tight twisty berms and little doubles I relaxed a bit and let her loose knowing the finish was near.

I finished with a time of 34min30seconds.I had a wicked run and super happy with how I felt. I was smooth on the d's and turned myself inside out on the climbs. This put me into 4th overall! YIEEWW!

Adam Craig won in 33.58, then Aaron Bradford was 2nd with 34.16, carl decker beat me by 5 seconds with 34.25, then I came in 4th with 34.30.

Super happy with how my first super D race went and stoked to get a good result on the board. Next time hopefully I won’t ride so conservative and let it loose a bit. but for now...HAPPY DAYS!

I raced my GIANT Anthem advanced sl, XTR equipped bike with KENDA Slant 6 tyres. All worked perfectly and was a great package for this race.

The whirlwind trip continues on as I’m leaving for Wisconsin this Thursday for the next Pro XCT round. I’m feeling really good lately and frothing to get into these races with good legs and some form.

A massive thanks to Frank and Felice from the US Factory GIANT Team for their help and support with shuttles and wrapping my bloodied arm up for the weekend and to Adam and carl for their advice and words of wisdom. Also thanks to US Shimano for their support and killer products and KENDA tyres.

Luv ur work!

JC