This was the road to bypass the first lift
The course was fun but rocky
As you can see, the lifts were the weak link. On top of the limited bike rack, they could only load about a quarter of the chairs at a time. You had to wait for them to cycle around to designated chairs for riders. 
Sean almost lapped me the second time right here. I hate flats!I raced the six hour Super D at Kirkwood with a couple friends today. The format was pretty simple take the chairlift up ride down for six hours. Whoever had the most laps wins. There was a slight twist however, the chairlifts and the lines are really slow. If you were a strong rider you could beat someone riding the first chair to the base of the second. In fact all the fast guys pedaled the first lap and gained at least a half a lap on those of us in the lift lines. The top riders never rode the lower lift at all.
The race surprised us with plenty of tight technical single track. There was a little double track, but very minimal. I think the ideal set up for me would have been a five inch bike with full downhill tires. My fire bird was awesome but didn't really encourage me to climb from the bottom. My tire setup is were things went south for me and many others. I have been running Maxxis UST tires at thirty pounds for quite a while now with almost no flats. Unfortunately the rocks at Kirkwood are very sharp and plentiful. On the third lap I punched a hole right through the tread. I had to walk down to the mid mountain were the awesome lift staff gave me a tube. I got back on the lift and tried again. I almost made back to the mid mountain before I blew a hole in the back tire. I decided to walk all the way down and get my own tube and tools, that I never should have rode without in the first place. All things repaired I headed up again. After my "fourth" lap Sean and I decided to bail. Hiking down the mountain twice and a lack of backup tubes was enough that I had no chance of even running a decent race.
Over all I think it was a great race. I would love to do it again, with a little more preparation. Everyone was low key and having fun.
The race surprised us with plenty of tight technical single track. There was a little double track, but very minimal. I think the ideal set up for me would have been a five inch bike with full downhill tires. My fire bird was awesome but didn't really encourage me to climb from the bottom. My tire setup is were things went south for me and many others. I have been running Maxxis UST tires at thirty pounds for quite a while now with almost no flats. Unfortunately the rocks at Kirkwood are very sharp and plentiful. On the third lap I punched a hole right through the tread. I had to walk down to the mid mountain were the awesome lift staff gave me a tube. I got back on the lift and tried again. I almost made back to the mid mountain before I blew a hole in the back tire. I decided to walk all the way down and get my own tube and tools, that I never should have rode without in the first place. All things repaired I headed up again. After my "fourth" lap Sean and I decided to bail. Hiking down the mountain twice and a lack of backup tubes was enough that I had no chance of even running a decent race.
Over all I think it was a great race. I would love to do it again, with a little more preparation. Everyone was low key and having fun.
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