Sunday morning in SC,
Paris Mt. parking lot is unusually complete, even the fields are used as parking places, the smell of competition is around, and for sure this is going to be a different day. I don't want to say crowds of people, but more than I expected are walking up to the trials, is a single race in the calendar, but a clear event used for local riders to enjoy the competition side of the MTB.
The down hill race uses the stiffer section of the trail area, start on the area I did last year video, and will be never used as a normal down hill race, unless this is the best mountain you have around. Even do, the upper section has some technical areas where you can show "your best" and where a good rider made a clear difference.
The day was perfect, nice temperatures with some clouds just, the perfect light to shoot some pics with the fall colors around. The riders were a mix of top notch local riders with some amateurs just riding for fun, but that made the perfect american picture of what is MTB about here.
I was walking up the trail, so the first pics I shoot were at the very end, where the riders and volunteers were all mixed up in a small chaos, not easy to find out were the final of the race was, nor who was riding or just there for fun, or who was just walking up to the best sections.
It's fun when you are just walking up the trails I use to ride, and it's even better to feel how difficult are some sections just by watching others riding their bikes. So I guess I'm not that bad when I'm almost able to ride all the trail without problems, even do I recognize some sections I just walk, as I don't want to take any risk.
Going up there is a small section, where is almost "up hill", this is a section I love to ride with the Ibis Mojo, as you can relax for a moment before the last climb, but during the race it's one of the worst places, as most of the riders have to speed their machines and pedal hard to overcome the small bump (I said this is not a normal down hill race...), on this section I found two guys with their cameras in the perfect spot, protected and at ground level to take great shoots...I will ask them another day.
The bridge, is the step before the nicest part, or the final step depending on how you ride...brand new after some work of the volunteers, with some metallic strips to avoid humidity causing some damage to the people on the moment they land...
And then the best, the stiffest section, with a left turn full of rocks followed by a wood bridge turning right, this is the point where the good riders flight over, the average ones suffer, and the bad ones....we just walk.
Flowing, flowing, that was nice
Of course, some riders got problems, and I was there...
But the best, the flight over the handle bar, and with the camera on the helmet...clearly this is not a good position for a camera on a downhill
Did I told you it was a nice fall day? did I told you the colors where great? I think so, but a picture is better than my words, no color was missing...
See you soon, from SC, Xavi Paricio
