Sure, why not...

Gear Down Clown!

The Red Bull District Ride shot out of hell this past weekend in Italy. The Euros over at "Freeride.cz" were on hand taking pictures and interviews. This photo taken by Kuba Vlcek shows just how off the wall these riders have gotten.

Travel

You know, we move around alot from place to place. I believe it to be in our nature to wander. I love being exposed to new things, seeing new places and knowing that you are so far from home. Thats the thing, I think we cherish it more when we have a place to call home. To sit in the basement of the "Hungry Moose" in Park City Utah, eating and drinking it felt to be one of the last places anyone would look to find me. I recall being in Thailand a few years ago and thinking to myself that the day before I was in downtown Baltimore taking some no-name his mail in some blah blah blah office. When there I was in traffic in the north western part of Bangkok at 3 in the morning in a cramped taxi with two friends and a driver named "Dak" using a broken speedometer to gauge our speed. Did Dak have any idea where I had just been the previous day? Did no-name know that I was now in Bangkok getting lost? Of course not. I have to tell you though that going from one mundane place to someone elses mundane place on the other side of the world or in a basement in another state makes you feel pretty alive. Do I sound confusing yet? Go buy a ticket, sit down, eat the damn peanuts and see where you end up, just don't chase the peanuts with the Kool-Aid.

BYOB

3.2%?

Are you serious? Where have I been?

Utah had its highlights. The venue was Deer Valley, about a ten-
minute walk from Park City. The scenery was great and the small town charm was very much intact.
Parking tickets were 3 dollars, 3 dollars for a parking ticket. If
you didn’t pay it went up to 20 dollars after ten days. No helmet
law, mortals zooming around on two-wheeled death with only shades and
a smile to protect them. At least we had helmets.

The race course at Deer Valley is chocked full of goodness. Steep rock
descents, off camber switchbacks and lots of high speed all coated in
inches of what seemed to be moon dust. The first day of practice is
an eye opening experience; the dry arid dust is completely unstable.
Applying the brakes seems to have no effect at all. We stomp through
practice unscathed but with quite a few near misses. We collect ourselves for tomorrow where we plan to turn the speed up and most likely the “ouch”.

As the sun rises the real beauty of Utah emerges, rolling hills low tree lines and those clear skies. We head out to the mountain with the intention of nailing down all of our lines and stepping on the accelerator. The lift line for practice begins to fill rapidly and once on the trail we find it difficult to ride without stopping for all the other riders in front of us. The lower section of the course has you traversing an off camber section into a deep dark valley. The valley has tight switchbacks and is incredibly steep. This is where time can be made or lost, come race day.

The next morning we begin to prepare for the race. I’m nervous, usually there are butterflies but today I am especially nervous. The racers from this area are super fast; they have ridden this type of terrain hundreds of times. We shall see what I can pull out of my… The audible beeps and I’m off the start gate and down the course. The rock section known as the “Waterfall” appears and for the first time, I take the sissy route. I take that sissy route as fast as I can. I fell way too many times in practice to risk it. The brake bumps are horrendous on the trail. As I enter the woods section I’m pressing hard and get knocked completely off the course. I scramble to get back on the course and regain my flow. The next section approaching is the switchbacks and I am rolling even faster to make up some time. I descend down the last steep chute and exit the woods to see one of the largest spectator crowds; I can’t wait to cross that line. I take the ledge drop and cross the line. When the dust settles I take third. I’m satisfied.
But if I had just ridden a little faster, who knows?

Another notch in the belt and now I'm currently ranked 6th nationally.
Utah is a beautiful place with a tremendous amount of open space.

And yes, they are serious; the beer only contains 3.2% alcohol.

BYOB

Commencal 2007

Photos of the 2007 line are slowly leaking there way through the internet, here is my contribution. New paint for the VIP Frames as well as new build kits. Well keep you up to date as more information and pricing becomes available. You can expect to see them on our shore around November.

Johnny Utah

Don't act like you ain't seen it on TBS or TNT a million times. "The ride is over, Bodie-man". Well thats where we are headed tomorrow. The lovely state of Utah and its main exports, bad movie names and polygamy. The Deer Valley NORBA kicks off on Thursday and I hope the knee is up to the challenge. We will be heading out to see the fireworks under the Mormon sky. I will try to send out an update when the dust settles.

Baghdad

You don’t know what it’s like till its gone.

Famous last words?

We all hung out at what was supposed to be a dirt jump contest at a local bike shop. I say “supposed to be” because with the rain that we received this past week and what seemed to be an overabundance of disorganization they were merely piles of clay baking in the sun.
The scene resembled wartime photographs of Baghdad, bombed out and depleted. The idea was a great one: get a bunch of kids out and hold a dirt jump contest where the winners received a cash prize and some swag. Just poor execution. Rest assured that with some more elbow grease you could hold a proper competition as well as have a great place to ride and hangout. I was a little peeved when I showed up and saw the dirt in such disarray but as time went by, my thoughts changed. We were sitting there talking and laughing, remembering funny crashes and drunken stupors. That’s when it hit me. Despite everything else we were still having a good time. We were making the most of the situation with out any real effort. It was good to laugh and smile.