DFT United Race Report: Cascadia Dirt Cup - Round 2

After a solid 4th place finish at the NW Cup #2/PRO GRT in Port Angeles, WA and a hard fought 4th place finish in the Cascadia Dirt Cup (CDC) Round 1, Louie Blair was wanting more. As a last minute entry, enabled by CDC title sponsor and DFT Team sponsor, Full Speed Ahead, assisted him in getting a chance to have race at the Post Canyon Enduro last weekend in Hood River, OR. After doing a shuttled pre-ride the day before the race, Louie was very excited to race these “super fun trails”.

On race morning, Louie’s ride buddy woke up not feeling well and opted to sit this one out. Louie was dreading the prospect of riding all day solo, but he embraced the true spirit of Enduro racing by making quick friends with another racer in his category and ended up having a blast riding bikes all day long.

After endless downpoors and a complete slop-fest the weekend before in Port Angeles, the sun came out finally making it feel like the start of summer. Pacific Northwest residents know the feeling of summer doesn’t truly arrive until July 5th, but we happily embrace the taste of summer when we can get it until then. Racing U17 Sport, Louie would be competing in 5 Stages, beginning with a monster of a 6.5 mile climb out of the start to finally arrive at Stage 1. Stages 1 and 2 were each just over 1 mile in length with a short transition ride between them. A quick text update from Louie after completing Stage 2 stated “I just finished stage 2 and I am feeling so good.” This was great news after 9 miles of riding with 3 Stages still remaining. Stage 3 would be the longest totaling 2 miles in length, with the rest of the stages pretty much stair-stepping down with minimal climbs in the transitions. It was radio silence from the little ripper until he was heard from again “waiting in line for Stage 4”. Sport category riders skipped Stage 5 taking a short transition ride up to Stage 6 for their final timed run. The tracks were fast, flowy and most importantly...dry!!!