Tony called me last night and told me that the Sunday session was still on. A little snow on the jumps doesn’t keep us down in Minnesota. Buck pulled himself out of his sick bed to shoot some video.
Digging out the jumps took a surprisingly short amount of time with Tony and I shoveling and Buck buffing everything out with the broom. I broke a personal record when on the first run I clipped a pedal and went over the bars on the run-in to the first jump. Bruised, pissed and limping with a swollen knee, I got back on the bike and eventually hit the whole line but the fall knocked me off my game and I spent most of the day taking pictures.
Tony stepped up and killed it for the cameras. The whole thing worked out much better than I expected. Here’s to more winter jumping sessions!
We had a great session at the Hwy 8 jumps this morning. There were at least 15 mountain bikers and bmxers out there sessioning the jumps. Scott took some amazing photos as usual and Shad put together a great video.
Last night I took a solo night-ride at Lebanon Hills. I took all the photo gear because I wanted to try taking some nighttime photos. The results are less than spectacular but not a bad start I think. I had several more spots that I want to set up on but I ran out of time.
One week after an epic week in Whistlerwith the MN crew, I was back in Whistler 5 days later for another round in the bike park; this time with a couple of the Vultures from Santa Barbara.
My friend Rob put together a little video from our Whistler trip in August. It’s hard to stop riding and set up shots when you are churning out runs in the bike park so most of the footage is from the “River Runs Through It” trail. And there is a little Santa Barbara dirt jump and dancing filler at the end. Enjoy!
Just got finished with a great week in Whistler. We didn’t have the greatest weather for picture taking but the trails were in great condition despite some slickness. This trip, like all trips to Whistler wasn’t without carnage. Buck went through a couple of wheelsets. Thor blew up his rear shock and ended up buying a brand new bike. Pete broke a frame and had to rent a bike the last day. I left a good portion of the skin from my back on the trail as a penalty for brake checking before the wooden booter creek gap on Dirt Merchant. Daryl ejected off the 4X course and landed all the way over on the dual slalom. JJ almost lost a couple of fingers due to the cold and Brandon cracked the lowers on his 888 due to overtightened pinch bolts. But the “Crash of the Week” award goes to Scott who fell about 6 feet to his head off of the rock wall ride on Golden Triangle and concussed himself hard enough to forget the whole thing. He kept asking us the same questions over and over for about 20 minutes. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so scary. OK, it was pretty funny.
We’ve been in Whistler for two days now, but we’ve been having too much fun to stop and take out the camera. I did manage to get a couple of pictures yesterday.
On Sunday I got a chance to ride Evenflow, the new trail at Keystone. This trail has been highly anticipated because it provides a bypass for part of Wild Thing. Not that Wild Thing isn’t a great trail, but it’s a tough trail and riding it every run can be a little brutal.
Evenflow is a great little trail. It’s got some steep, twisty parts up top, wood switchbacks in the middle and a rock jump at the end. My only complaint is about the placement of some of the grip tape on the woodwork. In a couple of sections the grip tape was placed immediately entering and exiting a turn but there is no tape at the apex of turn when you are leaning you bike the most and those 2×4s can get very slippery when wet. But overall it’s a great trail and a great addition to the park. Keystone keeps getting better and better.
This past weekend my wife hosted a girls’ weekend at the Colorado house so when the boys flew back to Santa Barbara, CA I tagged along. The trails we rode were steep and loose. They had Manzanita trees that tore at my flesh and stumps that grabbed at my pedals, but they were incredibly fun and at the end of the day cold beers at the Chino Shop helped clear the dust from my throat. It was a great weekend!
The Bull got laid up with altitude sickness, so while he was at urgent care huffing oxygen, Nik and I were dodging thunderstorms at Keystone Bike Park.
Yesterday we drove over to Granby CO and rode Sol Vista. They have a great little setup over there. 3 or 4 downhill trails, free lifts from 10am - 3pm on the weekends and the biggest, smoothest and most fun booters I have ever hit.
Nik (aka The Jackalope) and Rob (aka The Bull) are visiting from SoCal. I picked them up from the airport yesterday and brought them up to Breckenridge. After the bikes were unpacked and rebuilt, they needed a shakedown so we hit up the Breckenridge Freeride park that is located next to the 4 o’clock run.
If you’re going to be in St. Paul today for Grand Old Day be sure to check out Willingham’s BBQ. They have the best BBQ I have ever tasted! Look for them at Grand and Chatsworth.
Got out today and rode the newest collection of singletrack in the Twin Cities area. I’ve been out there a couple of times for trail work this spring but it was my first time seeing the entire trail. I was also testing out my new Small Block 8 tires. I was loving them until I got a flat after the log ride and of course I neglected to bring a tool to remove the bolt-on rear wheel so I had to walk out. Other than that I had a great time.
I finished construction on the new step-up today. The last one had a terrible transition that was way too tight. You just got spat out the top. This new ramp should be much smoother.
littermag.com has pictures of the new prototype V-10. That thing is so damn sexy. I would have thought that only the Syndicate would be running these this year, but it looks like Big Crank Racing might be as well.
Spring is here! Whistler Bike Park’s first bike park report of the year is online.
Crankworx is coming to Colorado. I’m supposed to be in Colorado immediately before and after this event. I might have to make some changes to my schedule. I’d love to see this event.
My friend Rob just got a new computer and has been busy editing his backlog of footage. Knapps Castle and The Hucklebuck.
On Monday night the St. Paul skyway system once again played host to the Red Bull Ride the Sky bike race. I wasn’t able to race this year because of my knee but I volunteered to be a course marshal.
Helmet Cam footage of the course.
There’s more great media and discussion here and here.
Unaffiliated is a movie made by my friend Nik Blaskovich. It features riders riders and trails from Montana and Wyoming in the summer of 2004. It’s good. Go watch it.
The 2007 Red Bull Ride the Sky Race through the skyways of St. Paul MN is going off on Feb. 26th. Only 50 riders will be allowed to race so get your applications in. I rode in the race last year when it was known as the SkyRide. This year’s race should be even better as it sounds like the stairs are fair game. Unfortunately I won’t be racing this year because I’m going in for ACL surgery in Jan. and I don’t think I’ll be in racing form by Feb.
A couple of members of the crew came down with a bad case of Nomad envy. The Jackaolpe and El Toro did the only thing they could. They got a couple of new bikes themselves.
