On November 9th, the 4th annual AT’s Showdown wrapped up at the SF Bike Expo. Our man Carson Storch was there competing and just sent in this update:

About a week ago, I drove down to Santa Cruz to stay with my buddy R-Dog for AT’s Showdown in San Francisco. First day on the course was a little off… The course was pretty wet from rain, no one had guinea pigged any of the jumps yet, and it was cold. For a few hours everyone helped dig to get the course dialed, and before I knew it I was one of the first to drop in. My first run went incredibly well, got through it to the end first try. Then it was on. Everyone was shredding, starting to trick a few of the smaller things on the course. Then out of nowhere the wind snagged me on the big 35 footer, I 50-50 cased, went over the bars to flat on my shoulder and head. I sat out the rest of the practice day, thinking I separated my AC joint. I was also riding my DB Dreamliner Slope Style bike, which I ruined. Day two was Qualifiers and Finals, so I was stressing a bit, not knowing if I was even going to ride, and I would have to ride on my hardtail if I did. After watching practice for a bit, I knew I couldn’t just sit it out. I hopped on my hardtail and started to ride a pump track near the SF bike expo. I worked through the pain and started to ride the course. I was feeling pretty good by the end of practice and decided to flip the 35 footer… something that I had never done, because normally backflips aren’t my thing. I was stoked after that, rode well in qualifiers getting the 15th spot out of the 35 riders, then it was finals time. This contest was bracket elimination style, and when it came my run, I choked on the first feature. This psyched me out the rest of my run and my buddy Andrew Bigelow took the win. I was still pumped though. I had a ton of fun, stayed healthy, and even threw a couple 720’s and Flipwhips. I cant wait until next year to do it all again!  - - - CS