Downieville Classic 2023
Race: Downieville Classic 2023
Date: July 15th - July 16th
AVRT racers: Kelly Brennan, Alex Rusoff, and Riley Chapman
Top Result: Kelly Brennan (4th XC, 3rd DH, 3rd Overall). Alex Rusoff (2nd XC, 6th/96 Overall). Riley Chapman (middle/end of the stacked Pro Mens category in all events).
Course:
Day 1 - XC course (26.5 miles. 4000ft of climbing): Biking up an 8 mile gravel road in 100 degrees. Single-track to Baby Heads (not as bad as it sounds). Through a river. More single track to meet Butcher trail. Then, the course does Third divide and First divide.
Day 2 - DH Course (14 miles. 500ft of climbing. 5000ft of descending): Slightly different descent from the XC day. Single track to a brief chunky gravel road. Through the famous waterfall. Across the bridge and up “cramp hill” to Third and First Divide. A good time is under an hour.
NOTE: The upper section of the courses are windy, flowy, semi-technical and fun. The lower section (mainly First Divide) is flat, technical, and has some exposed sections. In this lower section, it is especially important to stay vigilant on the trail and stay within your comfort zone (i.e. no shame in walking!). There is nothing crazy hard on the course, but the consequences of falling in some areas can be very high…
There is no cell reception anywhere on the course. After having our own close call and seeing an emergency response during this event, I would highly recommend carrying a satellite communication device…
Bike Setups: The bike setup is really important for this event because you have to race the same bike with the exact same components both days. Our bikes were approximately 26.5lbs.
Kelly and Riley: Specialized Epic Evos
Alex: Santa Cruz Blur TR
Strava: XC: https://www.strava.com/activities/9458003312; DH Time Trial: https://www.strava.com/activities/9465173263
The Downieville Classic is a bike party in a small town! Coming into this race, we were all a hot mess. Alex broke his rear wheel while pre-riding the course. Riley’s rear shock was constantly losing pressure. I held a ton of anxiety about the exposure on the course because a friend had a scary fall off a retaining wall on First Divide during our pre-ride 3 weeks earlier (she is okay! We walked out. But we were very lucky).
Riley and Alex quickly got their bikes back in shape, and I decided to approach this weekend as an “event” rather than a race. My goals were to: (1) stay safe and (2) have fun. I was debating whether to race clipless or in my flat pedals. Ultimately, I decided to race in my flats. Flats are my comfort food.
XC Day: I immediately felt out of shape while climbing. I figured this was the altitude (7000ft). About half-way up, the 100 degree heat and sun felt intense. At the top, there was a party! A DJ was playing and volunteers were ready to cool us down by pouring water on our backs! I was probably 2nd in my age group at the top.
The initial descent was more technical than I was expecting due to the blind-ish rock rolls. I messed up one of them and got in my head. I started trying to go slower and I lost one position here.
Continuing the descent, “Baby Heads” was much more reasonable than I expected. I felt fast and controlled throughout the chunky, loose descent. The remaining descent to the bridge was technical. I remember thinking “this is hard”.
At the bridge, I felt myself getting hungry. I passed everyone in sight on the 5-6 minute climb to briefly stop at the top to inhale a gel (it’s hard to eat on single-track!). I wanted to maintain my nutrition for the next two sections because I was really anxious about Third and First Divide. I hadn’t ridden Third Divide before and First Divide has some significant exposure. I took these two sections really slow - I lost a position here - to (1) stay safe and (2) have fun. It was helpful to realize that Third Divide was fine and I actually felt pretty comfortable on First Divide. I decided to commit myself to doing these trails at full-speed the next day.
DH Time Trial Day: The organizers were starting people 30 seconds apart at a predetermined time.
Riley went first! Unfortunately, he flatted on Butcher before the waterfall. He lost about 5 minutes plugging, applying CO2, and later using a pump. He decided that he will run tire inserts the next time he does this event. He finished in 57 minutes.
Alex was next! He had a clean run and clocked in at 54 minutes. Unfortunately, the podium guys did their runs around 52 minutes, so this bumped him to 6th place overall. Shaving off a couple of minutes may be possible with a little more aggressive passing and some more pre-riding.
For the DH Time Trial, I was the first woman in my category so if any woman passed me, I would know that they were going faster than me.
On the upper section of the course, I made a couple of mistakes in taking poor lines that cost a little bit of time. With some more pre-riding, I believe I can do this section a lot faster. I passed my first rider on the waterfall by using my cyclocross skills to run my bike. I passed a couple more riders on the descent to the bridge. On the climb to Third Divide, I sprinted up the hill, knowing this would be a place that I could make up time.
About 2/3rds down Third Divide, an emergency response crew was stopping riders. They had a guy on a backboard with a very serious injury (broken femur and pelvis) and were trying to walk him out to the road. I was effectively stopped for about 2 minutes. While waiting, two women pulled-up behind me - ack! My competition was right there! Before the “wall”, the crew stepped off the trail and asked us all to pass quickly and quietly.
After Third Divide, I used the stretch of gravel road to First Divide to try to put a gap on the two women. I started First Divide strong, but eventually the woman on the pink bike caught up to me. She was very technically sound and a great rider. I let her pass when I got off my bike to walk the first exposed section. I walked a few more exposed sections, but threw down power everywhere else. Ultimately, I’m stoked that my time on First Divide was good. While I’m still not a fan of exposure, I’m proud of myself for facing that fear head-on this weekend and doing the trail safe and fast.
In all, my time was 1:05:38. Without the stoppage time, my time would have theoretically been 1:03:48, but this wouldn’t have changed my podium placing. Next time, my goals are (1) do this race clipless, (2) continue working on my climbing tech + exposure and (3) go under an hour some day.
Overall, the Downieville Classic is a bike party! It is a famous and loved event because of the fun trails and all the support, music, entertainment that goes into it. It holds up to the hype and is a 10/10 weekend!
Our key learnings are:
Book a campsite when the dates are announced (It’s easy to move campsite dates or to cancel. If you wait until you actually register, they’ll be sold out).
Use tire inserts if you descend hard.
Take Friday off and come up on Thursday night (more shuttling, pre-riding and hangout opportunities = less stressful Saturday morning).