Saturday, March 6, 1999 - Sunday, March 7, 1999 -- Winterplace Ski Resort
Mountain Bike Slalom Race

[Coverage/Recap w/Pics] [MTB Slalom Race] [Cardboard Box Race]
[MTB & Box Race Results] [MTB Pictures] [Box Pictures]

Hey, are you sure we're suppose to be on mountain bikes?

Starting at around 12:30pm, the Winter Carnival's first big event got underway as the mountain bikers made their way to the top of Highland Run. What faced these competitors was a downhill slalom challenge where the riders would each race twice, once on the blue course and once on the red. Although they raced head-to-head, the winner would be determined based solely on their overall combined time. You'd think that racing a bike on a ski slope might be fast, but when mild temperatures change the hard-pack to soft-pack, it makes for quite a difference.

Chris Buck attacks the snow

As the first racers hit the gates, the knobby tires of their race machines proved to be no match for the soft snow. Pedaling the bikes through the course was difficult, if even possible. The top section was fairly level and the riders found it best to traverse by straddling their bikes and scooting along with their feet in the snow. The middle of the course took a sharp right turn and dropped downhill to the finish. Here the riders could hop back into the saddle and get a few peddal strokes to propel them to the finish. The trick here was to avoid having the front tire slide out and crash the bike and rider. At least when this did happen the crowd was there to give a roar of delight.

Ken Perkins gives up on the idea of bike "riding"

When all the racers had their chances and the finishing times were tallied up, it was Reggie Woodrum who claimed first place honors. He clocked the fastest descent on both the red and blue courses to take the victory in a combined time of 1 minute, 25.88 seconds. The next three places were closely contested as just 6 seconds separated them. Benefitting from a fast run on the red course, Marvin Carr took second place in 1:31.60. Third place went to a consistent Chris Buck (1:31.60) while Josh Bunting (1:37.73) had to settle for fourth after dropping several seconds on the blue course.