Saturday afternoon hosted two events here at Big Bear Lake, CA: the short-track cross-country (STXC) and the SoBe dual slalom (DS). The STXC competitors didn't take their mark until 4pm, so the crowd was on hand and the cerveza was flowing as the racers made fast and furious laps around the dusty track that circled the base of Snow Summit. Following the rollerderby of cross-country mountain biking came the gate banging, hip-wiggling, wheelie-riding dual slalom.

Cheri Elliot wasn't holding back from the start. She ate HUGE in the early rounds with some over-the-bars acrobatics after she hit a hay bail near the finish. No biggie - she stuck the runs that counted and earned herself first, beating out Leigh Donovan (2nd) in the finals. Elke Brutsaert (3rd) and Nicole Grant (4th) found themselves in the consolation finals.

As for the men, it was old school meets new school - with some major upsets. Australian Chris Kovarik sent a surprised DS master Dave Cullinan to the consolation finals while Rich Houseman beat up on Mike King. Kovarik continued teaching and showed Houseman how it's done to take first. Houseman had to settle for silver. Cullinan took third leaving King for fourth.

With the world cup DS and DH competing in Les Gets, France, this weekend, some of the top riders are missing...SoBe-it! The competition's been fierce so far and a few fresh faces have left their mark. Stay tuned - things get faster when the downhill riders mount their motorcycles, I mean full-suspension rigs, to prove who's fastest.

— Lucas Kane, Slurping SoBe's for MountainZone.com