Salem 100 cone challenge race, June 19, 2004

[Michael Dong]

The 100 cone challenge in Salem this last weekend turned out to be quite fun. This was a DUAL 100 cone course. Very surprising to see many of the guys running 100 cones clean (Gareth had 3 clean runs in the duals and 2 or more in warmups/qualifying). The cones were NOT spaced out evenly and ranged anywhere from 6 1/2 feet at the top to 9 1/2 feet at the bottom and no measuring instrument was used to space the cones out.

Again the Salem soap box derby track surface was smooth as butter. This place is screaming out for a major race next year.

We were all too tired after the challenge race to reset the course with closer and more regular cone spacing for a record attempt. Given the wide open spacing of the challenge course, sub 20 seconds on a tighter course is definitely a possibility.

All of you pro racers out there - you had all better get in shape to race Tay Hunt this year. He has one of the best wide cone spacing pumps of anyone. Everyone had a taste of this at the Slalomcross worlds. In the finals race he soundly beat me to the finish on both runs but hit too many cones. He is practicing tight to round things out and will be a major threat at LaCosta, Breck and the Worlds in any of the events including cyberslalom (he could win this).

Pat Chewnings new Chronocone timing system kept things flowing. It is SO NICE to walk up to the timing table and get a printout on the spot, of everyone's times, cone counts, etc. Fantastic job Pat. He did the race setup work with one good arm (separated ac joint slaloming last week).

I rode a new experimental foam laminate Roe Crossfire that is absolutely incredible. It is extremely stiff torsionally (secret ingredient here), has the same carbon snap as the existing foam cores but has a damping quality that gives it a super smooth ride.

See you all in Breck.