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!