PORT ANGELES — The Olympic Dirt Society can do more than just shovel around dirt.
As it turns out, the downhill mountain biking club based out of Dry Hill is also adept at turning lemons into lemonade.
Six months after vandals tore apart the staging area for the club’s spring and summer races, the club has rebuilt everything in time for the opening event of the year today through Sunday.
“We’ve taken the opportunity to make it better,” Dirt Society co-founder Scott Tucker said. “But, yeah, it’s been a lot of work.”
In short order, the club replaced a loading ramp for bikes, fixed the awards podium and repaired damage done to the trail.
Now, Dry Hill is ready to host an estimated 400 riders — including as many as 100 professionals — in the first leg of the Northwest Cup downhill mountain biking series.
The event, which is tied in with the Pro GRT, is essentially the opening race of the season for North American racing.
It begins today with practice runs in the afternoon, and will be followed by all-day action Friday and Saturday before concluding with the actual races Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Professionals from across the globe will compete in the races.
Among them are former Olympic bronze medalist Jill Kintner of Burien, 2010 NW Cup winner Bryn Atkinson of Australia and former 4-cross world champion Jared Graves of Australia.
“It’s the first real race of the year for anybody really,” Tucker said. “All the guys from Yeti Cycles today were breaking in their brand new bikes.
“They had Fox suspension up here tuning their bikes while they were practicing today.
“It’s going to be crazy.”
There will be no new trails unveiled for the races this weekend.
But with all of the rain that’s fallen during the past few weeks, things should be softened up for some good rides.
“The trails are in perfect condition actually,” Tucker said. “The only thing we’re a little scared about is a little dusting of snow [Wednesday night].
“We’re just hoping if it does come it goes as fast as it comes.”
Admission is free of charge each day for the event.
Dry Hill is located about three miles west of Port Angeles off U.S. Highway 101. Head south on Walkabout Road off Highway 101, then take the first right.
Given the limited amount of parking available, carpooling is strongly encouraged.
For more information, visit www.nwcup.com.
