Hello all.
I will do a brief personal account on FCR Elsinore as a RACER! I am however writing a story with pictures and mpeg on this event so this will be brief.
I only attended Saturday's race and I don't know what they did on Sunday so here goes.
I read somewhere that this hill was steep and fast. Steep and fast are scary terms for some people with loose trucks on short wheelbase skateboards. I thought the hill was quite reasonable. I decided to film M.Dong with my digital camera while he shot a practice run. Pushing once ahead of him going straight downhill, I was quickly over taken by Michael and my speed built quickly to a point where I needed to drag my foot about half way down. The gist being that it was fast, yes, but turning around cones is more stable and faster than shooting straight downhill for a prescribed track length on a short board. Pumping downhill, accelerating seems to be more stable than simply stand up straight pointed down shooting the hill on a slalom skateboard.
The wind was a factor too!
The hill was in the lee of a ridge and as it swirled over the top, gusts would hit you, particularly about half way down the course. These gusts would slow you down quite noticably but not enough to throw you off balance.
But the hill was fast and the course was set appropriately for it. The surface was smooth and I used the softer of Avalons and many others chose this wheel as well.
I asked Ed E who set the course and he stated names like a "who's who" of slalom skateboard racers. Apparently it was set by no less than a few racers dropping cones and then a discussion on placement. I would call it a hybrid, tight (7' or so) placed cones and then a rythm breaker or an off set here and there. The hill was about a six or seven foot stack of Turner cones, maybee more.
I had only practiced twice since Morro so I was quite shaky and a bit in need of some confidence. The first run I hit a couple of cones half way down and foot dragged to a stop without finishing the course. Walk back up, next run, one cone whole course, next run clean. I practiced running it about 10 or so times. Granted, I am slow compared to racers who practice. Decent times were something like sub 25's for Open at the point of when I checked after qualification. I ran a 27 point something and a 29 same.
Slow I am, fun no less.
Seeded, I pulled Ravitch, a friend who I have practiced with in Arizona. I like John and we raced. When I raced John, my time dropped to like 25 something and John was 4-6 cones ahead of me at the finish. Man, racing, RACING makes you faster. I ran the course clean both races with John but was eliminated so ending my first FCR race.
I watched some other guys, Chicken, Hackett, Olsen, PD, Attila, Cross but they no longer had my attention, they are now distractions. I had my own things to think about, I am a racer now and I can do this and if I practice, I may even be able to compete and one day place in the Open class.
What a blast.
To all of you who I talked with and those of you who I didn't, thanks for being VERY cool and letting me be a part of the scene.
...more to come.
P.S. To Lynn.
I tried to respond to you at
http://www.ncdsa.com but my post was quickly deleted so I will say it here.
Congratulations on your first FCR race!
Now you are a racer and not a spectator.
I can't make the next race but I will definately make LaCosta.
See you there.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Adam Trahan on 2003-03-30 23:41 ]</font>