oh the holidays

Well it sure has been a long time since I had a rant on my blog but man I haven’t been this frustrated in a long ass time!

First off I think I have ordered my last thing from Price Point. You might save some money but in the end if it isn’t what you want you end up spending way more!

So here we go. I always get to purchase my own Christmas gift on behalf of my mother because she doesn’t like to give me cash or gift cards and never knows what to get me.  Nothing new here, I went online to get something bad ass for biking. I checked all the sites and none of the had the shorts I wanted.

 I wanted some loud colored mtb shorts. I searched and of course it ended up that Troy Lee would be the brand to go with.  I was really digging the Cam Zink’esk TLD Moto shorts. Started looking for the best price. I found them at Price Point for what I thought was a good price, $84. Went through the check out and $11 bones for the shipping. I was like dang that’s a lot but no big deal, it will be worth it and no other shop had them in stock. So click and purchased them. $95 bucks total and got them in a week. Sweet they are so dope, try them on they don’t fit…WTF, I wear 32inch pants, I followed the sizing chart and ordered 34 inch waist! I know I didn’t gain that much weight in 7 days. I waited 2 days tried them on again, nope they just don’t fit. I looked at the return policy.

Pricepoint: customer is responsible for all shipping when product is returned for not fitting… Ok that is lame. I wanted to make sure that the shorts were not just mis-labled or something so I called around and of course no bike shops even carried TLD products at least not clothing. I called Bob’s Cycle and they did, so I drove over to Bob’s and they didn’t have any shorts but they did have few styles of pants. I tried them all on and the 34’s fit a little better but definitely needed 36inch! Damn it. Well time to return them.

I went to the post office yesterday to send it, wow what an experience. I show up 1 person in line. I walk up to the lady and was like, hey I need to return these and would like to ship them as cheep as possible what is my best option? She says all the boxes are there on the shelf and the price is on them.  Ok? Zero help. So I went  to the shelf and start looking. Find a box that works and by that time 5 people have walked in. Back of the line I go. I get everything filled out and box loosely put together make my way back to the front and the lady is like, what are you not going to tape it? I was like I don’t have any tape, can you tape it? No we don’t have tape for the public but you can buy a roll right there for $3.50. I stood there for a second, like are you serious? So I ask well do I have any options that don’t require me to go get tape. She is like a priority package. I was like I don’t really need priority but how much is it? She is like $10. I was like no way and she was looking at me like hurry up, making me all nervous and the line was growing behind me, so I was like fuck it give me the box and I will go home and tape it and come back. $2 for a box. On the way home I was like that was dumb I have a box at home for sure. Oh well $2 down the drain. I get home pissed off at this cumbersome process growing ever more frustrated with Price Point and now the US Postal Service. I get it all packaged up but now it is too late to take it back so I ask Kelly to take it back today.

To put this inter prospective. Per price point policy I have 30 days from delivery to return the produce. I received the shorts on 12/14/12 that means  I have till 1/13/2013 to get it back to them for them to except it.

She is there going to send it and they said standard shipping could take up to 14 days. So that is cutting it super close so she has to send in priority anyways and price point requires insurance and I wanted delivery confirmation. All in all it ended up costing almost $13 to ship it back! Plus $2 for the box, so $15! Totally not Kelly’s fault and I’m thankful she could help me out but that sucks big time! Thanks super unhelpful USPS lady, you could have told me when I asked what the cheapest way to ship it back that regular is not cheaper!  I should have just shipped it priority to begin with and saved my self $5! Man postage has gone to the roof. I was just a pair of shorts going to CA. I’ve sent packages to Germany way heavier then this for the same price or less!

Needless to say I am super annoyed. I spent $26 to find out that the shorts I wanted didn’t fit and now I have nothing to show for it! So I might have well said fuck it and donated $26 to a good cause and not to Fed Ex and the worthless USPS! Oh and forget PricePoint not worth it they have low prices but get you on the shipping… I’m not sure I’m 100% done with online shopping but I’m not happy with this experience at all! I can’t say it isn’t some my fault for not being patient with the online shopping and doing some more reviews but if the sizing chart says it will fit it should damn well fit!

That said I don’t have much of a choice since the local bike shops aren’t that great they don’t stock anything that I would ever want. If you don’t ride road, are a fixie riding hipster, ride XC or a fat bike your fucked! Yes they probably can order just about anything that QBP sells but at an inflated price!

I’m at a loss. I don’t know what to do! I wish I could just move but that isn’t realistic at this time! It would  be great to be able to just go down the street and buy cool shit locally. No waiting, no extra costs, no head aches and good for everyone!  Heck the closest bike shop is 10 miles from my house and there isn’t even one in Cottage Grove…. Oh well thanks for letting me rant. I feel better now and I guess it is another life lesson learned!

Keep it real!

Survey TIme!!!!!!

Hey everyone it is game time! MORC Gravity Advocates has released a survey to gauge the interest in alternative riding such as gravity, freeride and BMX

Click here for survey

..... hmmmm

Hey hey hey every buddy! That was my Fat Albert reference of the day for all you old school lovers out there! Anyways, life has been going in warp speed but it's going great. Heck we finally got some snow and it is finally starting to feel like winter and I love it. I still live in this state because I love the seasons. I love riding my bike only second to my family but even the most hard core riders need a break to recover and refuel our drive.

I don't plan on taking as much time off as I have in the past. I want to come out of the gate full speed next spring so I have decided to bust out the trainer and put some flats on the Surly LHT and tossed that in the basement, along with my kettlebell and hope to get tons of use out of them to stay sharp for next year. On top of that the really money training will come from racing indoor BMX. As you know I bought a 24inch BMX bike and I plan on using that and honing the skills over the winter by going back to my roots and racing BMX. I hope to learn some new skills from my BMX cohorts!

I was going to start today but this awesome winter weather has kept me home bound but I did get to rock the XC skis so that was cool. Hopefully next week! On top of the XC skis I got to spend some serious time with the family! It was awesome, did a little back yard sledding with Kelly and Jerry. We then went to Kelly's parent's house and helped clear snow and decorate the Christmas Tree. Tis the season and with this new snow it is really starting to feel like it. I will tell you, you know that you are a dirt bag mountain biker when end up shoveling your drive way with a flat shovel, haha. That definitely makes it take way longer! Menard's here I come!

Things have been moving quickly with MORC and other bike related endeavors. I hope that some of them can come to fruition. I have a meeting with Cottage Grove Park's Commission to discuss building a bike park in Cottage Grove. I hope that goes well, it would be great to have another bike park in the metro and great form me to have one this close to my house!

Vail Resorts purchased Afton Alps, also really close to my house, and this could be huge news for mountain biking but we will have to wait and see! Vail Resorts owns Vail, Breckinridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek, Heavenly Valley, Kirckwood and Northstar. Keystone and Northstar are home to two of the biggest and best
bike parks in the nation and almost all of their resorts have mountain biking and they are expanding into lift access riding in many of their other resorts.

Afton has tons of potential and the best possible terrain near the metro area. They have close to 350ft of elevation loss, 300  acres of land and multiple chairs. They could run the bike park off of lift 2 and 14 and with a few pedal strokes you could access the entire ski area and since you are on a bike you could even ride to areas that do not have ski access as riders could cross the rode and trails could be built through tree areas! The potential is massive and I hope that Vail realized the potential market here as there is no other lift access gravity riding near the metro. Only time will tell. It would also be awesome for them to redo and upgrade some of the XC trails. Per the US ski association, the average ski hill that runs a lift access bike park they average $190,000 in income during the bike season! That is better then letting your lift sit still and doing nothing and this would not interfere with their Golf area!

Well enjoy the snow and keep it real!

The Movement!

I have to admit I spend a lot of time talking with my riding buddies about what we can do or should try to do to get more "cool" riding in and around the metro and MN area in general. By cool riding we mean more technical, preferably gravity driven, pucker you butt and all around bad ass riding spots! Well the fire has been sparked, well it was sparked a long time ago by a couple of my buddies Tony B and Adam Buck AKA Buck but it has been resparked recently, by the Duluth Crew and Hansi our local IMBA rep, so lets start this scene a blaze.

I would like to think I have had some influence on bringing this style of riding to the main stream with my instrumental roll in getting the Lexington Street Bike Park designed and built and my relentless barrage of the local forums with Gravity garb and reasons to ride longer travel bikes with flat pedals, but lets be real I probably haven't done much in influencing anyone but maybe my friends. However that might be changing!

I have recently joined the MORC board, I was first just going to be the "gravity liaison" but decided to take the full plunge and really get my hands dirty and try to get some real changes to happen with a move in what I consider the right direction. I really think the current board is super open minded and on board with most of my concepts and I know the new President Reed and the local IMBA rep Hansi are all about diversifying the local riding scene into more disciplines such as gravity and freeride. IMBA's main focus at the global summit this year in Santé Fe New Mexico was bike parks, I love bike parks and think they are amazing and the most bang for your buck and best use of your land, so I guess my ideals are right in line with IMBA and MORC is also moving in that direction, so what better time to throw my time and effort their way and join forces for the good of all bikers! I would say man kind but that's a bit of a stretch! haha.

So like I mentioned earlier I spend a lot of my time chatting with my riding buddies about how we can get more cool riding spots around here and finally we came up with a great idea. Well I shall give the credit where it is due, to my buddy Trevor. He was really the one that came up with the concept of reaching out to more divers populations of riders and that sparked the discussion of how we can do that. That expanded into the idea of how can we show MORC and the land managers that this demand is here and what do we do with this information and how do we make this concept a reality? Well after a good couple days of chatting and swapping ideas we came up with what we felt was a pretty solid plan and then we decided to talk to Reed and see if MORC maybe wanted to join the cause and get involved with this.... We'll long story short they loved it and now we, Trevor and I have partnered with MORC and have started the movement that we call, wait for it..... Upper-Midwest Riders for Gravity/Freeride/BMX!!!!!!!!

So what are goal is, is to advocate for more Gravity/Freeride/BMX ride spots in and around the Twin Cities, the state of Minnesota and the entire Upper-Midwest. We are going to take the success of places like Copper Harbor and the buzz that Spirit Mountain and Mont Du Lac have started and really try to harness that energy and focus it here in the Metro and use it to grow and develop our riding scene and take it to the next level!

Which in turn we hope will help fuel other projects through out the Upper-Midwest! I know there is going to be an awesome new addition to the WI scene with The Rock Bike Park, and we are hoping to the do the same thing here. We currently are involved in various stages of the planning process with 4 potential new ride spots through out the metro area and this is above and beyond the normal single track that we all no and love and lets be clear about this, single track has always been and will always be MORC’s bread and butter and main focus. So all of you XC lovers, don’t worry it’s not going any where! MORC is just trying to diversify its portfolio to help grow its rider base and member population! Realistically why shouldn’t they? It is Minnesota Off Road Cyclist not MN XC riders or even MN mountain bikers, so I feel that MORC should be involved on some level with all forms of off-road cycling whether it be the classic XC style trail, Gravity trails, bike parks or even BMX tracks. We should be advocating and assisting to the best of our ability to see more of these places become a reality in and around the metro so we have more people putting their wheels to dirt! The younger the better! They will be better riders in the future and become life long cyclists sooner!

Like I said earlier I’m a huge advocate for Bike Parks and not just the BMX style bike parks but the full blown awesomeness of a place like Valmont in Boulder CO. I believe this is the future and a project like this can really unit the riding community! A place where you can basically ride any bike you can imagine and any style of riding you can imagine! That is my dream and that is why we have started this movement and are beginning to assist MORC in the avocation process!

So how can you help? Well first off go this Facebook page and Like us, then share the page and then go to the IMBA website and become a member, that is how you join MORC and then go to the MORC website and start getting involved in anyway you can!

I know there has been some stigmas and stereo types about MORC and their members in the past that weren’t viewed too favorable in the gravity/freeride/bmx scene but things are changing, actually thing have already changed. Like I mentioned earlier MORC is now under new leadership and heck I’m now officially part of that leadership! So please put the past behind you, keep and open mind and join me, join us in this movement! We are on the edge of something great!

Keep it real!

Winter?

Woke up this morning, its in the teens and there is a light flurry out side... nice... Oh hello winter are you going to take off your jacket and stay awhile or just passing through? well either way I hope you stay.

For me the cycling season is about over. I probably have a couple rides left in me but I'm not one of these hard core guys with fat bikes, lights and winter riding gear.. why? you ask... well it is too GD expensive that is why... So I fill my winter with hobbies that I already have the gear for like sledding, xc skiing, dh skiing (Kelly's family is big on this so I get hand me downs), pond hockey and ice climbing.

This last Saturday I went to Red Wing for one of the last DH sessions of the year and it was a blast. It was great to ride with Jed, Trevor and Reed one last time before the snow and cold comes. The trail was in great condition! Hero dirt, all we did was move some leaves and sessioned for like 2 hours or so! Everyone that wasn't there missed out! no rain, sunny skies and 10 degrees warmer then the metro! Over all just a great day to ride!

Saturday night we went to the Zac Brown Band concert. That was awesome! One of the best concerts I've been to in a long long time. Even the opening acts were sweet! I loved Blackberry Smoke, some good old Georgia boys playing some bad ass southern rock! The rest of the weekend was spent hanging with Kelly and Jerry and just relaxing. It was great. Sunday, no plans. I haven't had that in a long time. Sleeping till I just woke up was awesome!

MORC board meeting tomorrow night, othe then that will play it by ear to see what the weather brings us!

I'm sure you are familiar with Valmont in Boulder CO, if not click here: http://bouldermountainbike.org/valmontbikepark and the history of it here: http://bouldermountainbike.org/content/historyvision
Now WI is going to take a crack at it and are building the Rock Sports Complex , it will be a multi sport complex, however it will include an extensive bike park including chairlift-served gravity course, a BMX track and cross-country trails. This will be located in Franklin WI which is near Milwaukee.
Here are a couple articles about it :
http://bfw.org/2012/11/08/epic-mtb-p...g-to-franklin/
http://bfw.org/2012/07/12/wisconsins...b-ride-center/

I truly believe that bike parks and this bike specific sports complex are the it thing in riding these days and the way of the future. It started in CO and has spread to the West Coast and is beginning to get steam on the East Coast and now in the Midwest. WI is really stepping up, they now have the largest MTB race series in the nation, Ray's indoor MTB and now the rock. This on top of Nordic Mountain and Mont du Lac that offer shuttle or lift access DH on a semi-regular basis. I was also told by Grant at Alpine bike parks designs that they are working with Cascade Mountain Ski Area near Madison about adding a lift access bike park.

In my opinion this is very exciting opportunities and I hope that we here in MN can take this momentum of the bike park/ ride complex and support whats happening in Dululth and maybe make some of these things happen here in the Metro and other locations in MN!

Keep it real!

State Championship Race

The high school mountain bike league state championship race was yesterday, 10/28/12, at Buck Hill Ski Area. It was an amazing day for a race. The sun was out the temp was cool but not cold and the atmosphere was awesome. Gary Sjolquist and the rest of the NICA crew can put on a great event. I was really looking forward to this race. I knew the venue was going to be the most challenging of the year and I had only been able to attend the first race of the season at Salem Hills, due to other personal commitments. So I was amped up to help the team pre-ride and really feel out the course.

The course was actually cooler than I thought. I had heard some horror stories of endless climbing and limited descents but really it was pretty equal and all the climbs were wide open which makes them a bit easier. The descents were single track and were a lot of fun. Tight twisty single track! I might actually show up for a Thursday race or two next year… I need to focus more on fitness next year.

Overall the race went really well. Our only girl racer ended up having some technical problems with her brakes and finished 6^th, Andrew our team masochist, loves the climbs, left it all on the trail and finished 5^th in the JV division, followed by Kevin, Vaughn and Nate in that order. The other racers didn’t compete for various reasons.

Here is a link to some pictures from skinnyski.com and Griff

http://www.skinnyski.com/

http://mountainbikegeezer.com/posts/photo-album-mn-high-school-mountain-bike-race-at-buck-hill/

Over all it was a great season. I had a great time getting to know this group of young rippers and enjoyed helping them hone their skills. They really grow and developed as riders. It was a rewarding experience. All the riders from this season’s team are graduating and it is extremely time consuming. I am on the fence about coaching again next year. We will see what the winter and spring bring but I feel my time might be better spent developing the local riding scene. I feel I can reach more youth by simple providing them more exciting places to ride and possibly putting on some skills clinics!

Who knows? I’m pretty young still and would also like to focus on my own riding career for a few years. The High school league is young and I did my part to secure it and it is on the verge of exploding and I plan on coming back in a few years and helping again!

Keep it real!

Giants Ridge DH race

Giants Ridge Down Hill race was this last weekend, 10/13/12, and it might very well be the last Jolly Rogers Series race ever and the last race put on by Midwest Freeride Community (MFC), which is sad but I understand how difficult these things are to continue. Buck and Tony poured their hearts and souls, time and money into these events over the last half decade and really helped progress and grow the sport in the Midwest. It is unfortunate that they are bowing out right now as the sport is finally starting to get traction and grow in popularity here in MN but I understand as we age our priorities change.

The race was awesome, the course was phenomenal and hands down the gnarliest course I’ve ridden in the Midwest and maybe anywhere… the black hills might still have it, but it was a real test. It was truthfully the first time that I felt out gunned and that my skills might out way the bike. It probably wasn’t so, I probably didn’t reach the limit of the bike but more my limit on that bike. Which is awesome, that can only lead to growth as a rider. The venue was sweet and the people were amazing as usual. I just love being with 40 like minded people talking bikes and having a good time.

The race started at 12pm (noon), I woke up at 4:25am and got ready, I was packed the night before, and headed out the door to Trevor’s house by 4:45am. We loaded his car and were on the road, headed north by 5:15am. We arrived in Biwabick around 8:30am. Put the bikes together and were on the first shuttle heading up the mountain by 9:30am. The first run down was clean and slow. I was just trying to get my legs under me and check out the course. I had never been there before and never ridden that course so I wanted to feel it out.

To be honest the course kicked my ass for the next 4 practice runs. I either crashed or flatted every run down so I wasn’t feeling too confident going into the race. On top of that I was a little flustered as it took almost 30 mins to change my tube in on my new rims. It was pretty embarrassing actually. Those new Stan’s rims are awesome to ride but horrible to put a tire on or take off as they have a very shallow valley in the middle of the rim. I broke my tire lever trying to put it on and actually Tony was the one that finally got the tire on, thanks Tony! Haha.

The race finally got going, since it was my first downhill race and I wasn’t left too confident after the practice runs I chose to race Cat 3 (beginner) I knew that might be playing it on the safe side and I might get some shit if I actually pulled it together but who knows… 95% of the guys racing Cat 1-2 (open) were on full DH rigs, so I was definitely out gunned on my 150mm Giant Reign, heck most the dudes in the beginner category were on DH rigs!

I crashed first run, just a minor slide out and then rode through some tall grass after coming out of a corner wide, so that really killed my time, or so I thought. I put up a 2:18 and was in the lead, the next fastest was 2:28. Now I really felt like a sand bagger, haha and I was already hearing it from my buddies, haha. The next run I decided to just put it together run conservatively where I knew I might have trouble and pedal my ass off where I could. I wanted 1 freaking clean race run!

Viola, I did it I cleaned the tricky stuff at the top and was feeling pretty good. I pedaled my ass of in the flats and put down 2:08, which was good enough for first in the beginner category. However I would have only placed 3^rd in the juniors category! A couple of those groms were quick! I would have been in the top 15 I believe in open but nowhere near the top. Top 4 were all under 2 minutes.

Thor won with a 1:45, Paul second with 1:49, Jed third with like 1:54 and Pete forth with 1:57 I believe. The official results aren’t up yet. Either way it was an awesome Saturday. I had a great time, I got to do my first DH race and I can’t wait to do another. I won a sweet sword as my trophy and also took home some swag, a new set of green Chromag handlebars, a set of DMR pedals and some stickers and all the Red Bull I could drink (thanks Buck).

The future is looking bright for gravity riding in the Midwest, Copper Harbor has plans to add a new double black diamond DH trail next summer, Spirit has 2 DH trails with plans to have many more and Mont Du Lac has few trails now open and plans to continue to build! I can’t wait for next summer!

Duluth, the new Whistler?

Ok maybe that is a stretch but it definitely has the potential of being the true hot spot of the Midwest, the epicenter of MN/Midwest mountain biking. With the Duluth Traverse getting under way and when that is finished they will have over 100 miles of single track in side the city limits. Then there is Spirit mountain that currently has two completed runs (closed to the public till spring) and will be the first and only full time lift access bike park in the Midwest. It will most likely run Friday afternoon through Sunday night once they open. There are big plans for expansion, however it is kind of up in the air right now on total runs I've heard 5 to 25 so who knows but if they get 10-15 solid runs they will be very successful in my opinion as there will be nothing on that level around here. They are working with 700ft of usable vertical and a high speed quad lift.
I know it is technically not in Duluth but Mont du Lac, just south of Superior WI is very close and they are moving very quickly to offer the area an alternative to Spirit Mountain. As of right now they are not lift access but are offering shuttle runs. They are working with something just north of 300 vertical feet so a fair amount shorter but to my understanding the terrain is steeper and they are on private property so are really only limited by the owners and how much insurance they want to pay. The bonus for them is that they are in WI and WI has much looser insurance regulations. I have also heard the rumor that they may be moving to lift access in the near future for sure.
Either way, two legit down hill/gravity/free ride areas with in a short trip from each other and 100 plus miles of single track can make for a great mountain bike scene. Through on top of that one of the strongest dirt jump scenes in the state and a rather large college you have a good mix for potential growth. There is a great organization in COGGS backing this program and the regional IMBA rep is located in Duluth and is supporting this project with all his might.
There are other rumors of a new bike park being built in Duluth loosely modeled after Superior Bike Park in CO and my very own creating the Lexington Street Bike Park.
Exciting things are to come so stay tuned in and help support the local bike shops and organizations MORC, IMBA and COGGS, they are really what make it happen, so if you aren't a member join IMBA or your local club.
Tides are changing and soon very soon I think you will see some seriously bad ass trails developing!

IMBA Flow School

I know that this is a recurring theme, me not writing forever and then apologizing so this time I'm not going to apologize. I've been really busy at work and just life it's self and we only have one working computer at home and it's Kelly's work computer and she was gone for all of last week. So it was just Jerry and me.

The Tuesday night before I was scheduled to go to trail building school my back started to feel tight. I'm not sure what caused it. I could be from the crash in Copper Harbor, it could be from the hard crash at the bike park the Friday before or just who knows. Anyways I got home from bike park maintenance and was laying on the couch with Kelly and Jerry and I could just feel my back tightening up. I got up I stretched and foam rolled and went to bed and laid on the heating pad. I woke up about 2 am to go the washroom and basically had to roll out of bed in pain. My back was f'd. Serious pain, I hadn't been in this kind of pain from my back in years. I went down stairs to try and foam roll, no dice I couldn't even lay on it. I grabbed the ice pack and some ibuprofen and tried to go back to sleep hoping I'd feel better in the AM. Nope still felt like shit so I had to call into work for the first time in my professional life and find a chiropractor that was in my insurance network and that had an open appointment. I had to wait till 230pm to get in so it was more ice and heat and stretching to try and loosen up. I did this pretty much as a cycle till I went.

Jerry was super frustrated with me. He didn't get why I was home and not playing with him, I didn't smell sick so what was wrong. After the chiro I felt a little better but then worse. However in the morning I felt a lot better and went back to work but brought my ice pack and heat pad with me. Each day after that I felt better, I went back to the chiro on Friday, hoping that I would feel like a million bucks after the second go, but only felt about 75%. Super bummed. I had to drive to Duluth in like 3 hours and was really hoping to be able to shred and build like a mad man!

I left work about 245pm and headed north to Rudy's house in Hermantown, suburb of Duluth. It was good to see Rudy and Leslie again and they were gracious enough to let me crash at their place for the IMBA Flow School. Rudy was attending to so that was even better. We had a meet and greet at Spirit Mountain later that evening. I love these things, 20+ like minded people sitting around talking about bikes and excited about what is to come!

In the morning I was feeling about 80%, it was an improvement but still not were I wanted to be. Luckily the school that day consisted of a morning full of class room time explaining what "Flow" meant to IMBA and the two awesome trail builders that were teaching the class. Huge thanks to Aaron and Dan! Then we had a little presentation from Vermeer Equipment and then it was time to see the trail. I didn't get up there early enough to check it out like many of the others had the day before. A lot of them had already ridden it too.

We rode over to the trail. It was seriously cold out, not sure the exact temperature but the rain had turned to freezing rain and sleet. The trail looked super sick! I was just bummed I wasn't feeling 100% I really wanted to let loose on this thing, but I knew that probably wasn't a good idea and wouldn't help my recovery. So I rode the giant pump track at a gingerly pace while most the other people were tearing it up and trying to turn rollers into doubles and whip it out of the hip jumps.

This trail was truly a work of art. Aaron had done and amazing job so far. It was one of those trails that could really be fun for all levels of riders. Beginners could roll the trail with out ever having to leave the ground. The better riders could avoid pedaling all together by pumping and manualling everything and the good riders could start to really fly by doubling up some of the rollers and pumping the backsides of the jumps.

This picture brought to you by Hansi Johnson, our awesome local IMBA rep.
These photos have been blowing up all over the local forums and the Internet. Pro's like Richie Schley and Pinkbike have shared them on Facebook and they are getting mad reviews! I can't wait for these trail to open up and the lifts to start running! This will change riding in the midwest and MN forever and for the good! We might actually start seeing some longer travel bikes in shops as well as full face helmets, pads and even flat pedals!

Sunday came and I was feeling about 90% and it was time to start learning hands on and start building some trail. We had multiple stations were we got to watch Aaron work his magic in the mini-Ex and then rough shape the features, finish the features and then play with the Vermeer Equipment they had brought out for us to demo. Over all it was great day. It went too quickly. The end of the day was a bitter sweet day. I didn't really want to go home but it was time. I hadn't really got to give this trail what I wanted to or get to ride the other trail smorgasbord to even see what that had to offer. That was the first trail built out there by the on staff trail builder Glen, and this trail will be labeled blue as far as I know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdDsGg9ebuY&feature=player_embedded#

Over all it was a great weekend and I truly learned a lot of about building trails. I have the experience building BMX tracks and Bike Parks but now I have added another skill to my bag of tricks and will continue to expand and learn. It sounds like they will have another trail school next year in the midwest, an IMBA Jump Trail School and I hope to be there for sure!

How cool would it be to be able to make a living from building trails and riding my bike! My life would be complete, a great wife a sweet dog and a killer job doing what I love! Well maybe some day my dreams will come true, until then I will just keep doing what I do!

Keep it real!

The long and the short of it!

Ok so I said Copper Harbor was a blast but it was expensive! In terms of weekend trips in the midwest, at least for me. One gas was like $4.25 to $4.50 a gallonl dang! and then I desided that I was going to race the enduro! right on, good time, well now I need a new helmet, actually I got one, Fox Transition Hardshell, compliments of Random Bikes and my wife. This was actually on order prior to going to the UP as my birthday present. It was going to be my jump/freeride helmet but is now my everything helmet.

Then on top of that I crushed my wheel

so now I am rocking this rim on the front thanks to the Bicycle Chain

and do to a minor miss hap I will be rocking this rim on the back now, again thanks to the Bicycle Chain and taking care of me and making things right!

But over all it was an awesome trip, met a bunch of cool people got to network the mountain bike community a bit and ride the best trails in the mid west and rock cool shit like this!!!

Keep it real!

the prodigal son has returned

Hello world I just woke up from my blogging coma.... sorry.... Yeah so where the F have I been.... Well lets see, I've been super busy with the bike park and the new High School Mountain Bike league.

I'm volunteer coach with that. Basically I'm doing it to keep the youth from being 100% brain washed by the clip riding Lycra wearing dirt roadies, I just want the kids to experience MTB for them selves, make their own decisions and become quality life long riders. I want to give them the tools and skills to grow as they please and became serious shredders. You bet your sweet ass I encourage all my riders to rock flats and 26icnch bikes. Most are rocking flats but only 1 rider has a 26 inch bike but I'm not blaming them I'm blaming the industry for removing all the reasonably prices hard tail 26inch bikes, WTF! These kids don't have money to buy full suspension and that seems to be the only place you can get a 26inch bike these days and with that you have to get 130+ travel as well. Oh well they will make it.

The bike park is coming along. I finally feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Its about 85% built and the jump line is about 66% done. Just have the final return jumps to build and then its done. Then just some fine tuning and maintenance! I can't wait to just show up and ride!

The highlight of my hiatus was definitely the Bells Mountain Bike Festival in Copper Harbor MI! They are hands down the best trails I have ridden in the mid west! Trevor and I went up to the UP for like 4 days and rode and partied our asses off! I still might be recovering from it and it was over Labor Day, haha!

We raced the enduro and I crashed pretty hard on the last run of 3 going down Down Town, the dh run at Copper. It is a super sick trail and I simply never took it at race paced, miss judged my speed and missed my line by 6 inches destroyed my rim and broke my helmet but wasn't hurt so I got up and ran out the last 1/3 of the race and still finished 20 or 33 and there were 2 DNF so 20 out of 35 with 2 crashes wasn't bad IMO. I washed out in a corner on the Red Trail as well but that wasn't so bad just sucked some time. I totally know I could save a minimum of 3 mins off my total time with out the crashes and a little more training. Flow trail killed me. Its more of a slightly down hill flowing xc trail. There are a couple of mid run climbs that just trashed my legs, haha! But that's enduro you have to be able to ride it all and be consistent and do it all on 1 bike! I loved it! I can't wait to get back and crush it next year.

results: http://www.copperharbortrails.org/sites/default/files/EnduroTimes-2012-Final.pdf

Photos: http://ryanholt.smugmug.com/Photo-Galleries/2012-Bells-Beer-Copper-Harbor/Enduro-Race/25213846_hvchnH#!i=2069921520&k=28jcnXR
That should show you after my crash, haha
http://universalklister.blogspot.com/2012/09/enduro-copper-harbor-fat-tire-fest-2012.html
compliments of Hansi Johnson

keep it real!

The days of yore

Hello,

How are all of you? Well life has been hectic as F for me! haha.... It is full speed ahead. Sorry I can't keep up with the blogging like the days of yore.
What have I been up to? Hmm.... The bike park is coming along slowly but its coming along. We buffed out the first berm in the return line last week and we will either do the next berm or finish the forth jump this week. I wish I had more time and a wee bit more help and commitment from other people. It is taking awhile with only two people doing the work. Anyways super excited to have it done and just be able to go their on Tuesdays and sweep, water and ride.

High school mountain bike league has officially started. We have had a few practices. We have 3 die hards and a few others that come and go as they see fit. The fourth amigo is a camp making some money right now so soon to be 4. I am the odd one out. The only person so far rocking the 26inch bike and he only full suspension rider but its all good. I crushed them on the short lap race we had the other practice... haha I know I know they are only 17! but I am way out of shape and on 6inch bike and they are on 29er hard tails and there was nothing technical about this short course, haha. I'm sure in a few weeks I will be back at the back of the pack were I belong.

Last weekend was the Brown County Fair or BCF as the youth are calling it these days and my 27th birthday, haha God I'm getting old! I don't really feel old. I still heal pretty quick, I'm healthy and bounce off the ground pretty well! I will say I'm a few LBS over my ideal weight. I was 5 lbs over my ideal weight of 175 when we went on our honey moon in June and put 9 more lbs on top of that to top out around 189 and have only managed to get down to around 185 and now I'm stuck. I'm hoping all this riding with the whipper snappers will help me get my ass back into shape. I have also started to take my nutrition more serious.

Ok enough of that boring stuff back to the BCF. It was a blast! Not as crazy as years past but still a really good time. The concerts were great. Jerrod Niemann and Dierks Bently tore it up! It was good to see the family and friends.

Unfortunately it wasn't all tulips and butterflies. A classmate and a friend, not a super close friend but we grew up playing sports together, decided that life wasn't worth living anymore and took his own life. It really saddens me. I guess I just don't understand but he wasn't the first class mate but I damn well hope he is the last! My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and close friends! God rest his soul!

Last night was a Salsa demo at Carver Lake and since I was already there for practices I grabbed a Horse Thief and gave it a short ride. I know you can't make up your mind in 4 miles but I was rather pleasantly surprised by the ride. I was forced to ride a Large as the medium was out and I didn't want to hang out too long. It was a bit too big for me but maybe if I had a short stem and a dropper post it would have been ok. The bike was surprisingly nimb and didn't really feel like I was on a 29er when we were at pace. However I knew right away I was back on a 29er when the speeds decreased and things got more technical. I would like to give a medium a go and really get out on a trail where I can put it through it's paces, like up at Piedmont in Duluth or the Black Hills. It would also be nice to have the bike that fit better and was set up more for me. The bars had a goofy swoop, I like my answer pro bars, 1 inch rise 9degree swoop and it had a 90 or 100m stem I would rather have a 50mm. I like a tight compact feeling bike as I really like to be able to muscle a bike and through it around. I did feel like I was on a bit of a monster truck but it was probably the best feeling 29er I've ever ridden and if and when I'm in the market for a new bike I would consider it. There are few more that I would like to try first. Rocky Mountain Element 950, Yeti SB 95 and the new Giant Trans x29er

Well I hope you all have had a nice last couple weeks. The weather feels like October already. I hope that doesn't mean an early winter. I still have some more riding I would like to do but if winter does come, I hope it really comes. I would like some snow to play in this year!

Keep it real!

The Freaken weekend and what not....

Well last week wasn't too bad. I, along with some other people built some jumps and then went on with my business through the week. On Thursday I met up with Trevor at Lexington for 45mins of pump track and and some jumps. Then we headed over to Lebanon were we were to meet my buddy Stu at 6pm. I thought I was feeling pretty good, Lexington was a nice solid warm up. Chatted with Stu for a few minutes and then saw Dave and Craig. I forgot Thursday's were the Lebanon Group ride. So we hoped on the tail of that . I realized quickly that Lexington was more then a warm up as I was feeling the early stages of bonking. I was pretty bummed with myself. I have let myself get out of shape. My work outs are few and far between and my nutrition is terrible. It has just been a tough year for MTB in general.
Spring came early and was super busy with other more important life events and then summer never really came. The weather turned to rain shit and then go unbearably hot and now with fall quickly approaching it is like where has my summer gone what happen to my physical abilities... Who knows? My tech skills are still there. They hardly go away but being able to use them relies heavily on having enough energy and strength to do it when the time comes. I do not have this ability. Last summer at this time I would rip out 2 + laps at Lebanon on a normal ride! Now I am surviving 1 lap.
Back to survival. I was quickly fading and falling to the back. With Dave the animal in the lead. This guy has the XC motor and the DH skills, total package and unless you are on your A game, hard to hang with him! By about 1/2 way through the ride I was in no mans land sucking water just getting pissed at myself for becoming such a POS. We regrouped and started on our way through the blue out. About 1/2 way I caught my second wind and was able to hang with the group a little better and was feeling alright as we go to the green section.
We were barrelling down the first two big berms and bam! Not sue what happened but Craig was 2 riders in front of me and all I saw was dust and then heard him swearing up a storm! He some how clipped the only rock on the trail with his pedal and went down hard. The pins on his pedals did a number to his shins! Stu and I grabbed our spare tubes and used one as a tourniquet and the other as a wrap and got him up and on his way back to the parking lot.
He had to go to Urgent care and ended up with a 3 inch gash and 13 staples! Ouch!
This ride was my wake up ride. I went to the store on Saturday AM bought some protein and a vitamin and I am going to start building form nutrition up! I also started doing the no weights needed prisoner work out as well as planning on taking my rides more serious like last summer and making each of them count as a training ride in some form or fashion!
Copper Harbor enduro race is coming quick and I want to at least finish and not be dead! Then there is the Dirt Bag and Giant's Ridge DH.
Plus the high school mountain bike season is starting and I can't be a worthless slob role model for those kids! Time to step it up! Iit is never too late to get serious!
See you on the trail!

Keep it real!

where was I?

Well I'm sorry I haven't been posting much these days. I have been busy still trying to finish off the bike park. So I can ride more and maybe move on to the next project.

We were to have a build day on 7/21 but that got rained out pretty quickly. About 30mins of work. Total bummer since we had Ben the city operator out there with a skid steer ready to do some damage. Oh well that is how the ball bounces.

Last Wednesday I headed up to St. Cloud to pick up my new 24inch Cruiser DJ bike. It's a Haro 124 and it is a blast. The pump tracks are easier, faster and way more fun, not to mention I can get steezy over the jumps now! The icing on the cake is that my MTB wont get over abused now. I can keep that for the trail and DH stuff and bash this bad boy around on the jumps and pump track!

My buddy Griff came out last Friday when Trevor and I were out there doing a little work and a little riding and snapped some picks and helped us sweep and water the tracks here is his write up on www.mountainbikegeezer.com

Yesterday was a great day at the park last night. Ben the city operator came out and moved some dirt for us during the day and for once we had a solid turn out of people, not sure they were there intentionally to work but got shovels in their hands! Had about 12 people over the 3 hours running shovels, brooms and rakes! It was great. Lot of work got done!

Hip option added to the advanced pump track. Intermediate pump track buffed a bit and is riding great-just a little more work needed on that one, buffed out some of the skid steer marks on the run way, the second jump got extended to add more pump ability for the next jump, which is a total sender now and we carved in the face of the forth large jump and shaped the back side of that jump. there is a safety berm there now but it will be getting bigger and more ridable. Spoke with Ben and he has his instructions for some additional dirt moving! If we keep up the big turn outs on Tuesdays and we could have this bad boy whipped into shape in no time!

Keep it real!

North Country!

This past week my friend Anna came to visit from Germany. She will be staying for about 10 days to get a little MN fresh air. Of course last week was also the 4th of July and like all respectable America's we celebrated Independence day however it was pretty lack luster compared to holidays of the past simply because of the day of the week the holiday fell on. We didn't really do much. We went to the Afton city parade and ate freezies and then took naps because the heat and the sun kicked our ass. After we woke up we just hung out and then Anna fell asleep again. She had just gotten in early that morning since her flight from New York to Milwaukee was delayed and she missed her flight to MSP the night before. So I'm guessing the jet lag was kicking in. Kelly, Jerry and I sat in the front yard and watch the fireworks that were going off in Kingston Park. They were pretty sweet but we could only hang out for so long before the bugs discovered there was fresh meet out there to be had! Back inside and off to bed! I have to say I felt pretty old. No partying or anything like years yor! haha

We did however make up for it a little bit on the weekend. We headed up to the lake cabin and the weather was fabulous! I don't think I could have asked for better weather. High in the low 80's and lows in the low 60's, great sleeping weather. We did some boating, grilling and tubing! I love tubing! We played some battle tubes and I dominated, haha. Unfortunately the only bummer was the extreme sun I received on my back. It is itching like crazy now. I put sun screen on multiple times but I guess it just wasn't enough! It must be the partial ginger in me! haha

I think the girls had a good time up there as well and I know that Jerry did! He always does. He loves to jump of the dock and go swimming! It makes me happy to see him so happy. I wish the cabin was closer! He was pretty tuckered out though. He slept the entire 3 hour ride home on Sunday and most of the day when we go back.

Over all it has been a good start to July and I hope there is a lot more awesomeness to come! Starting August is the HS MTB season so that will be exciting and interesting and will definitely fill up my schedule for the next couple months!

Keep it real!

additional insite

Ok so I thought I would follow up on this and try to put Spirit Mountain’s potential into perspective. I have emailed a few people that may know more than me and I will get back to you about that as soon as I hear from them.

My source for this information came from www.mtbparks.com and I just picked a few parks to list out from across the nation from east to west.

Highland Bike Park, New Hampshire: 627 vertical feet

Marquette MI: 600 vertical feet

Terry Peak, Black Hills SD: 1100 vertical feet

Trestle Bike Park, Winter Park CO: 1700 vertical feet

Stevens Pass, just outside of Seattle: 900 vertical feet per mountain and they have 2

Whistler Bike Park, Whistler BC Canada: this one had 4 numbers so overall total 4400 ft, however from the main bike park lift it is only 1200 feet of vertical loss

(Number reflects the vertical loss from top to bottom used in the bike park)

As you can see these numbers very significantly from each location, however they are all success full parks.

Spirit Mountains Bike Park has a potential vertical loss of 700 feet! That would put it above Highland and Marquette.  I understand that vertical loss isn’t the only thing to be taking into consideration here. How steep are each? What type of terrain and natural features do they have to offer? I can’t speak for all of them but I know Spirit isn’t as steep as Whistler but it has a plenty steep descent to make it worth riding and the natural rock that they have there would offer some sweet riding. On top of that if they do bring in professional trail designers and builders they can add tons of sweet obstacles to make it worth your time! I’ll keep you all posted as information becomes available!

Keep it real!

MN MTB's beacon of hope

Could the Duluth area be the savior of MTB in MN and the mid west? Can it bring us out of the dark ages and back to the 21^st century?

What could I possibly be talking about? First yes, yes the Duluth area could be the savior of real MTB in MN, they have the terrain and with the Duluth Traverse they may soon have the trails.

 Well what I’m talking about, aggressive forms of MTB, dual slalom (DS), four cross (4x), Super D racing, Enduro racing and most of all Down Hill riding and racing and not just having dh runs but having shuttle and lift assist riding!

Yes that is correct! Until recently for shuttle runs you either need to go to Nordic Mountain near Steven’s Point, WI, Marquette, MI, out to the Black Hills to Terry Peak or to Copper Harbor to ride van shuttle dh which is great however a little slower but now Mont Du Lac in Superior, WI, just over the bridge is offering shuttle runs on their 2 and soon to be more DH runs as well as their 1 super d, slightly more pedally, run. However the big news is not the Tuesday and Saturday shuttle runs at Mont Du Lac, even though that is awesome and a total step in the right direction, the big news is that in the “master plan” for the Duluth Traverse there are plans to add “multiple” DH runs at Spirit Mountain. I’m not sure how many that is. I have heard rumors but no one has been able to confirm anything but I have heard from a couple people that Spirit would like to have 5 runs done this summer alone! With a goal of 15 + on the mountain!

Spirit Mountain has 780+ feet of elevation loss from the top back to the lift line! That is awesome. If you are riding at places like whistler and others out west, they are typically running their parks in about 900 feet or so of elevation loss and less out east! That means Spirit could actually be on par with some big name bike parks, if they do it right!

I was up in Duluth the other weekend and we actually rode some of the rogue DH lines around Spirit Mountain and some of the single track at Spirit Mountain and I was truly shocked when standing at the bottom of the “mountain” looking up. It was quite a long way to the top, much larger than any of the ski areas here in the metro and was quite delighted by the terrain and natural rock this place had to offer. If they do as the Traverse plan states they will and bring in professional trail builders and designers, there could be some serious runs formed here. I hope they also build some more bike park style runs with larger drops and big jumps! I’m not sure how IMBA plays into these things. I understand sustainability and all of that, however I’m not sure of IMBA’s stand on DH and bike parks as to my understanding, IMBA isn’t involved in any bike parks at this time. They are all privately owned and operated and basically do as they want. I know IMBA will most likely be involved with this project and I sure hope that they do it right and do not stifle its potential to be an actual major draw to MN and the mid west.

As it looks right now from everything I can find on the Duluth Traverse website, Spirit Mountain’s website, MORC and talking to the few locals I know up there. The new lift they are putting in this summer should be up and running this fall and they may do some “test” days, to see how many people actually want to do this kind of riding. I hope a bunch of people show up, even though this will take a few years to grow in popularity for a couple reasons. One being that there is nothing like it around so people do not have DH bike and most don’t even have DH worth bikes and the second correlates to the first a lot of people may be scared to try this out. However if the rumors are true, this lift will be capable of running year round and basically takes you to the top and at that point you could access within a few pedal strokes a plethora of runs when the park is complete.

An actual DH/Bike park will take time to grow but will be a huge success with proper marketing. They will need to have a solid set of runs, I’d say close to 10 and at that point if they are high quality with an array of difficulty. I’d say 2 green, 4 blue, 3 black and 1 double black run they would be able to start really putting it out there in magazines and such and if they could grow that to closer to 15 to 20 runs they could compete on a national level and at that point they would want to start bidding to host a national level DH race and really put the bike park on the map.

However in order to do this the runs would have to be legit, basically meaning that green could be run on a HT or 4 inch bike but from that point up you would want a full suspension bike. Blue would be ride able by a 6inch bike but more fun on a bigger bike and the runs after that you would basically need a full freeride/park bike 180mm+ or a DH sled 200mm bike. The bike park would also need to start offering rental equipment, bikes, helmets and pads so that new people can give it a try so that they don’t need to dump $2000+ into a new bike just to find out that this type of riding is too difficult or not for them.

Also once it is up and running, they may want to find an area where they can build a jump park and pump track area that they can offer as part of your general lift pass or separately for a lesser price.

The park should also consider hosting local events and series similar to other parks like Whistler. They run Thursday night Tunie races. It only cost you $2 bucks to enter, on top of your lift pass, and works like a split pot to my understanding. Spirit would get $1 buck and the other dollar would go into the pot and winner takes all. On top of a cheap race they may want to consider running Saturday night races to draw people from farther out and charge a bit more to like $20 bucks to race and offer more pay outs and possibly get a bike shop or company to sponsor the series and offer swag for the armature levels and really get the youth involved. Another thing to consider doing would be starting a high school and collegiate DH racing team. The collegiate team could race other schools like Michigan Tech and travel further out as well.

All of this is still a pipe dream of mine and they need to start with simply getting the lift up and running, committing to offering lift assisted riding and building the runs to draw the crowds! How I see it, it is like the field of dreams, if you build it they will come, but you have to have faith and commit to it full on!

If and when they do this, I feel the bike shops will see a surge in new bike purchase as the locals will need and want to buy new bikes specific to the style of riding and the economy will definitely see the effects. It might take a few summers but I feel that this will be a draw to people from all of the surrounding states and will bring people from a lot farther away. Especially if they do it right from the beginning and make the runs worth it!

I know personally that I will most like end up purchasing a bigger bike if and when this becomes a reality. I will also probably buy a season pass and make multiple day and weekend trips a summer up there to ride; which would mean that I would be pumping cash into their economy and I know that I’m not alone, there is a growing demand for this type of riding in the Metro area and Duluth may be the catalyst that the Metro ski hills need to get them in gear to start building DH trails and offering lift assist! Let us all hope!   

Keep it real!

North Shore Enduro

I have been super stoked for this ever since Rudy contacted me about it a few months ago. Then his crazy weather started and I seriously didn't think this was going to happen, at least not this weekend anyways. Duluth area had some serious record setting rain fall in the week before and some of the town had received some pretty extensive flood damage. On top of that, the rumor mill was flying, you know half the city was gone, no way in no way out, zombies and all that non-sense. However, I was staying optimistic. I try pretty hard to be the glass half full guy.

The week went on and it drew closer, Friday Rudy told me the ride was still on so I was going! I was super excited! Kelly was to have a girls weekend in my absence and in turn I would have a guys weekend with the Duluth boys!

Friday night I could hardly sleep. I knew I had to get up early. I was slightly nervous as the weather forecast had a chance of rain up north and I was so amp'd to ride. I had never ridden in the Duluth area and Rudy had been telling me about some new lines he had roughed in that sounded right up my alley, rough sketchy and technical!

When I finally fell asleep, 4:45am came way too dang quick. I was super tired but as soon as I realized it was Saturday morning and go time, I woke right up! Grabbed my gear tossed it in my car, loaded the bike, grabbed a bag of sun flower seeds and a bottle of water and hit the road. I could hardly contain myself. I wanted to call Rudy and see how the weather was up there but it was 5:20am any normal person would be sleeping on a Saturday morning.

After a couple stops for breakfast and to use the bathroom I arrived in Duluth, 2 hours and 45mins later. It was a great drive a few showers and a beautiful sun rise. I called Rudy around 8:10am and let him know that I was in Duluth, got his address and headed over to his place. Right after I pulled in, it started to sprinkle, then rain and then back to sprinkle. It continued to do this until about noon.

Rudy's buddy Dave showed up about 9:30am, there was a short discussion about still having the ride or not. It didn't take long to decide it was still on. Dave, Rudy, Griff and I loaded up our gear and headed to the trail head where we met a couple more people.

Rudy decided it would be better if we started to at a different trail head as not to encourage riders to ride the XC trails as we would only be riding Rudy's home brew DH lines that I would come to find out that consisted of mostly rock.

When we got to the slightly hidden trail head we unloaded, Rudy gave us a brief overview of the day and we immediately began to climb to our starting point. 10 minutes later we were perched on top of this big exposed rock knoll. He gives us a short explanation of what to expect and in true enduro fashion I dropped in with no previous runs on these trails. I was following Rudy at a decent pace, it was time to put my skills to the test. I got low and in the best attack position I could. Trying to be loose and scan the trail as far in front of me as  I could. It has always been difficult for me to follow people as I tend to watch them and not the trail.

The first trail was short but it had a couple sweet technical moves. There was a three tiered drop/step down and if you didn' pick the right line you were almost guarantied to go over the bars. Spencer learned this first hand as his fork bottomed out, his weight shifted forward as he dismounted superman style over the bars into a very graceful roll!

Well I guess the ride is on, haha. He stood up laughing and the next 3 or 4 guys chose to walk it. Only Rudy and I rode that section successfully. The next couple stages were more of the same short, technical, rocky sections through out Piedmont trail system. There were a few that stood out the most to me and they were these sweet rock rollers. I don't have too much experience on rock rollers as there is zero rock here in the metro to ride. It was awesome. I was really feeling it today. With every move my confidence grew. The next rock roller had two sick rock features after it. I don't know my trail vision just kicked in on this one. I saw what looked like a triangle rock before the big rock at the bottom and just launched over the big rock using the back side as a transition and right over the next big rock. It felt great! At this same location AJ, I thought, was our first casualty but some how the over the bars 10 foot drop didn't phase him! It definitely didn't look good at all!

After Piedmont we headed to some washed out ski and snowmobile trails and the pace quickened dramatically! I wish I had goggles on for this as the mud started to fly and the terrain was unpredictable. I was hot on Rudy's tail and we were at about volume 9, comfortable but pretty quick for a first run on something I'd never seen. Jumping and bunny hopping over ruts and rocks, some multiple feet deep, we quickly loss elevation and dropped out onto a road that was closed due to the flood. It was easy to see way. Have the road for about 80ft was missing and the crevasse was about 30ft deep with a shed from a house next to it at the bottom. Some of the devastation up there was pretty amazing. I have never seen devastation like that first hand.

After those sections we rode the road for a bit before catching on to some rail road grade trails as we made our way to Spirit mountain. I had never been there but they elevation that place has is quite a bit larger then anywhere in the metro, that is for sure! At Spirit we rode some really awesome, raw, natural multi-use trails! I really love the riding up there. It totally reminds me of the Black Hills, especially the Centennial Trail!

Legs  slightly burning we left Spirit Mountain and on to some underground DH trails and the hike a bike began. These trails were awesome! Super technical, very steep and tons of fun! The hikes were long and the descents we fast. Half way down the last descent I had to switch my foot position to the pedal in he middle of the foot and even then the legs were burning going down hill! That is how you know you've had a good day of riding!

The enduro was over but the ride wasn't. We were basically at the bottom of the big hill in Duluth and had to get back to the top and the only way to do that was to ride or walk. It took a while and my legs hated me by the time we got to the top. I am definitely in the shape I would like to be. I definitely need to get back on the horse, set a training schedule and stick to it!

The day was going great. We just go done with some stellar riding. Rudy had brats on the grill. I had a beer in one hand and hose in the other cleaning my bike. We sat around drinking and eating for a while and the people started to dwindle. Around 6 or so we moved inside it was just Andrew, Dave, Rudy and I swapping war stories! I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Saturday! Riding, making new friends, drinkin' beer and grilling in the sun, oh yeah the sun came out in the afternoon! It was great!

Then around 8pm everyone was leaving so I went to my car, grabbed my phone and had 13 missed calls and like 20 text messages. I was like WTF is going on. I only had to read a couple to know something was wrong. Kelly had Jerry in the ER vet as he was puking and acting weird. I called her, she explained that he had a piece of a corn cob stuck in his duodenum, the first section of the small intestine. The vet had him on fluids and watch for the next 6 hours. They were discussing possible surgery to remove it, if he wasn't able to pass it in that time. My heart sunk, mood totally changed and I knew I had to grab my shit and get home. I told Rudy what was happening and told him that I had to bounce. There went the fun guys weekend for me and the relaxing girls weekend for Kelly. I loaded my bike, not sure if I was in the right mind to drive but the adrenaline kicked in and I was off, back towards home. I didn't stop once on the way back. I got home Kelly and her friends were back from the ER Vet but Jerry was still there. Kelly was a wreck and I was trying to hold myself together and be the strong one but it's tough. He is like our child. All I could think of was how hard it was to watch Jerry last summer locked in his cage doped up on sedatives after his rock removal surgery.

Anyways, long story short. We had a sleepless night but finally got good news in the morning that the second x-ray showed no sign of blockage and Jerry was acting more energetic and not vomiting any more. We were able to pick him up around noon today. Unfortunately that incident cost us about $1100 bucks but at least we have our Jerry back and in one piece!

I hope your weekend was less eventful then mine!

Keep it real!

Shimano Steps up to the plat in 2013

Shimano has stepped up to the plate, at least IMO. I don't have the money to get all the sweet new bells and whistles usually but shimano is not only going to be offering the major bells and whistles in their slx line up- ice tech brakes and shadow plus on their rear derailleur as well as some other cool features for the trail minded ride: http://www.sicklines.com/2012/03/01/2013-shimano-slx-and-wh-mt66-wh-mt68-26-29er-wheels/

They have also introduced a whole new line up Zee! with pretty reasonable prices for the more gravity driven rider and they also come with all the major bells and whistles that saint comes with, 4 piston ceramic brakes, large flow hoses, ice tech, 10speed and shadow plus to name a few: http://www.sicklines.com/2012/04/18/2013-shimano-zee-new-gravity-m640-components/

ZEE MSRP Pricing:

• Shifter – $49.99
• Rear Derailleur – $109.99
• Pre-Bled Disc Brake – Front $249.99
• Pre-Bled Disc Brake – Rear – $249.99
• Crankset – $159.99
• Front Hub – $69.99
• Rear Freehub – $89.99

I know that both of these lines are on my radar for my fading bits! I know that I will have to be purchasing some new parts here in the next season or so and this makes me lean towards shimano over sram. I really like the Ice Tech and Shadow plus factors on their parts. I hate chain slap and brake fade! I have also seriously been thinking about going 1x 10 and with the prices of both the SLX and Zee line I think i could actually afford it, bit by bit.

Check it out!

Keep it real!

Heaven part 2

Ok so where was I? On Thursday it was Kelly's birthday, happy birthday hunny, again! We were planning on going white water rafting, however since it was early season there wasn't enough people to go rafting so we had to postpone it till Friday. On Kelly's birthday we went to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre. It was raining and there wasn't much else to do since we had done enough shopping on Tuesday. It was pretty sweet but wasn't all that large. We watched a 20 minute video and then a 20 minute tour of the place we were done. We stopped out front and watched a guy carving a totem pole. That was pretty sweet and he asked what were were up to and if we were locals? Sweet, he thought we were locals. He was probably pretty confused as to why locals were at the museum, since 90% of the locals are either ski bums, bike bums or both and probably don't frequent the museums that often. Nothing else really stands out in my mind, except that we ate at Ingrid's Delicatessen for like the 2nd or 3rd time. It was this sweet little deli that wasn't too expensive and Kelly really liked their turkey sandwich. Oh and her parents sent us a delicious chocolate cake, 2 beer glasses and a 12 pack of beer from the local brewery, Whistler Brewing company. It was awesome I ended up drinking most of it since Kelly only liked the Grapefruit Ale and there were only 3 of those, haha. The beer was great and definitely a step up from the Cariboos I had been drinking but heck I had to give it a try if the STUND'd boys are drinking it and sponsored by it and they are shredders, maybe it could help me out. hahaha and it wasn't really that bad. I'd buy it here if I could and it was only $7 bucks a 6 pack when everything else was $10-20!

On Friday we finally got to go rafting. I was super amp'd to get out there and see what the Squamish River had to offer. We have rafted in Colorado a couple times and in Tennessee and Kelly had rafted the Kicking horse River in Banf Canada so I had pretty high expectations. We weren't disappointed. The water was freezing cold! Fresh from the glacier up there and it was moving pretty quick. The hits were pretty big but fairly spaced out. There were a few good runs and it totally left me wanting more. We lucked out and had some cool people in our boat. An older couple that was with us did a multi-week trip in the Grand Canyon and our guide Bob was from New Zealand and he was pretty dang funny! He reminded me a lot of Sam Hill from he interviews I've seen. After the trip they had this huge spread for us. Chips and salsa, fruit, vegies and these bomb ass burgers! It was a great way to end the day and the cherry on top was that we were at this farm in the Squamish valley and we had such an amazing view of the mountains and the glacier!


Here we go, this is what all you bike nuts have been waiting for and what I waited patiently and drooled over for 5 days! It was time to ride! We got here at 9:30am, 30mins before the lifts opened so we could fill out all the waivers and get fitted for our gear and bikes! I was so ready to get on that sled and shred the mountain.
Kelly also was going to ride. I was so proud of here! She was being really brave, because she hated going down hills on our bike ride, I was a little surprised that she wanted to give it a go but it was awesome!  We decided to go with the 4 hour bike rentals with a 3 hour guided. It wasn't too much more then renting all the equipment and lift ticket so it was a good deal at $174 bucks.
My guide was a dead ripper and it sounds like Kelly had a shredder too. They split us up by our skills. They gave us all a quick interview and told us to be honest and then had us ride around in a circle for a bit. Then they split us up. It was me and a girl from Scotland. She had been out there for a few days and done a couple clinics. She was pretty good but definitely still a beginner but better then the other 3 in the group.

We met some of the guides buddy out there. Two of them we local pros, Trish was from the UK and rode a sick Green Transition 450! I was so jealous! But my bike was pretty sick the Giant Glory 2, my guides bike was really bad ass, the Giant Glory World cup! We watched Trish and not sure either her coach or boyfriend ride Fade to Black it was sick. I really wanted to try it. It had probably a 7 or 8 foot tall  10 or 12 foot long road gap with a hard right right after it. It was the turn that freaked me out.
Really I only rode blue trails. I only got 6 runs in 4 hours. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to the top and then 20-40 mins to get to the bottom. It depends on the trail you took, how fast you were riding and if you took breaks or not. I would have to say that if you were a dead ripper and pinned it, you could probably do it in 12-15mins but I couldn't do that.

It took all of 4 runs before I was feeling comfortable and my 5th run was the best. We shredded Crank It Up for the second time and I was really starting to send some of the jumps and really whip it out.
On the day I rode about every blue and green trail that was open in some form or fashion.  We started on B Line and then moved to Ho Chi Min, Karate Monkey, Ninja Cougar, Long Horn, Crank It Up, and even more then I can remember. I really wanted to do A Line and Fade to Black but I just wasn't feeling comfortable on my bike. If I had more time to ride say another day or two I would have definitely been bombing some of the sick runs. The infamous Dirt Merchant opened the day after we rode. I've heard nothing but good things and you know it must be bomb when they put the opening in the local paper, haha.

Only if I could live some place were mtb was that big of a deal! and my guide lives the life. He lives next to Richie Schley and rides and knows tons of local pros like Brandon Semenuk and the Athertons!
I had such a blast. I could have been out there and rode every day but there is just so much to do there that a week just isn't long enough. After the biking we did he Peak to Peak Gondola. That was sick, great views and there is still 5-6 feet of snow up there! The odd thing is that its only 7000ft high, you can get higher in SD but they don't have snow year round. Mother Nature is a strange bitch but I love her!

On top of the bike park they have a sick public dirt jump park, pump track, skate park and skills area about 5 blocks from the village center. I took lots of pictures and notes because I really like the lay out of the jump park and might use it in some of my future projects. It has to be good, I heard that Brandon Semenuk had his hand in the design.

On Sunday we just hung out, packed our bags and wandered around the town as we got ready to end out trip. It was a great week and I would highly recommend heading to Whistler and I will be back. We have talked about celebrating our 5 year anniversary out there. I'm all for it!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Keep it real!