Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Decline Review

This is a great issue of Decline. There are so many amazing articles; it’s actually one of the best issues that I’ve read. I don’t think there were any articles that I didn’t enjoy reading. So as that implies there are just too many articles for me to write about so you should grab the magazine and check it out yourself but in the mean time. I’ll just go over a few of my favorite articles, so enjoy!
First lets start with a great article about the world cup coming back to the US. It does a great over view of the World cup race in Windham NY but the main story was how Gee wins over all championship. Gee Atherton is my favorite rider to watch. He is about my age and I wish I could be like Gee, haha, but seriously it’s always a good showing when he’s there. The article talks about his nail biting world cup championship win over Greg Minaar. Gee and his family, Rachel and Dan have a youtube series, the Atherton Project on youtube, you guys should definitely check it out. It’s so funny, plus it has some great riding. Next year they will have an actual TV Show but I believe it will only be shown in Europe,so hopefully it will be on the internet.
Neko is one of my favorite young up and coming riders and there is a great article about his bid for the Junior world championship at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.  This kid appears to be fearless and knows what he needs to do to make it to the next level. He is currently racing in the junior’s class and has at least one more season there. The article was good and talks about how he had to overcome an injury and still have a great season.  Check out some of his races and some cool racing in general with Trek world racing- a nice youtube series and its a little better rounded racing for the people that aren’t so into the gravity riding.
James Wilson has a great article about 3 tips to for staying strong this winter. He talks about the myth of the natural rider. Basically he debunks the misconception that great riders are simply talented. Although they do have talent and maybe genetics on their side they are definitely working harder than most doing what he refers to as “deliberate practice” and not just riding. He talks about how you cannot ride yourself better by simply riding for fun and not working on specific aspects like cornering when you are on the trails.
Alright these next three articles are by far my favorite and I will probably have to spend more time on this topic later. Ok the Oregon Super D series consisted of 3 races this year and will have at least 4 races next year. This race series is the premier all mountain racing series in the US. This year’s overall winner is Matthew Slaven. He’s a stud multi-discipline racer for Kona. A close second was Nathan Riddle of SRAM.  Hopefully Super D will grow and catch on across the US as it’s probably the best and truest form of “mountain” bike racing out there. Look for my next blog were I’ll go into more depth about Super D racing.  
The article “Under the Radar” is a nice interview with Matthew Slaven and the Super D series and what he’s been up to lately and the BC Bike Race might possibly be the coolest event ever and now is officially on my bucket list! It is a seven day endurance all mountain race that takes place on some of the most epic West coast B.C. single track, some of the greatest trails in the world. Honestly this is a destination race and I definitely recommend that you read this article and if it doesn’t inspire you to plan a trip out to BC, sign up for this race or at least add it to your bucket list, you should probably get your head checked or revaluated your riding aspirations.  
Another great article and the last I will talk about is riding the pros bikes. The pros bikes that they checked out where Gee Atherton’s Commencal Supreme DH, Aaron Gwin’s Yeti 303 DH and Justin Leov’s Trek Session 88. The tester rides all the bikes with the same set up that the pros races the World Championships with on the same course they races in Mont-Sainte-Anne. The basic run down is that Gee rides a really slack plush set up that allows him to hang out and float through the course. Aaron rides a really stiff set up and handles the bike more like a moto-cross rider, basically man handling the bike down the course and Justin rides a very low aggressive set up that allows him to stay on the middle of the bike and really attack the course. Basically the author states that there is not perfect set up, you just need to ride a bunch of different set ups and find what works for you.
There is a grip more of interesting articles that you should check out.
Keep it real!

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