Racing mountain bikes has been in my blood since '89. 10 years ago I segued into racing ultra-endurance events: 24 hour, 100, 350, 500, 1100 and 2000+ mile races. I've centered my life and my career (rarely are the two distinguishable) on enjoyment of the backcountry, and I've quietly built my racing reputation based on hard work, ingenuity, and perseverance.
My current obsession with long travel bikes has a mile-wide grin plastered on my face this week. Thanks to Devin Lenz, Brandon Schmitt, and Skippy Wixom for pushing me harder and faster than I'd previously gone before. Which, of course, means that now the bar has been raised, the comfort zone has ben enlarged, and next week will be harder and faster still.
Awesome.
All 4 of us were (are!) riding LenzSport PBJ 29" park bikes. Devin and Brandon are on Manitou Dorado 29 forks. Skippy and I are both on White Brothers Groove 200's. All of us are riding wheels that I've laced using DT 440 hubs, Sun MTX 33 rims, butted DT spokes and Prolock alloy nipples. All four of us are riding the WTB Dissent treads in 29 x 2.5".
Put simply, these bikes just flat rip. The best way to explain it is that they are built for the riding you don't know how to do *yet*, but are willing to learn.
'nuff with the verbiage.
If that doesn't make you wanna ride, you might wanna check for a pulse!
A ~week worth of pictures from down low, up high, and a lotta the spaces and places in between.
It kinda, sorta seems to be a vibrant time of year, eh?!
When your biggest problem is trying to squeeze more into every already-packed day, you need to pinch yourself and realize that it doesn't get any better.
To all that have been involved in our lives this summer--from helping with the move, to getting us out on bike rides or fishing days, or merely just tolerating our chaos while we try to settle in, *thanks*. Really.
I've been spending increasing amounts of time riding in bike parks the past two years. Simply put, I stink at getting airborne and being graceful while up there. And because I'd never seen anyone else get 'up there' gracefully on a big wheeled bike, I kinda sorta wondered if maybe being fluid in the air wasn't among the easiest things to do on a 29"er.
Devin and Brandon disabused me of that line of thinking up at Winter Park a few days ago. Devin was light and fluid and smooth through all of the jump and drop lines in the park. Uncharacteristically smooth--he rides like he weighs 100lbs less than he does. Brandon sessioned the slopestyle park and, quite frankly, blew any preconceived notions that *I* had about airborne big wheels out of the water.
See?
Keee-rist!
Although Brandon had thrown umpteen no-handers throughout the day, it wasn't until I saw him execute the one above that I realized (with a shiver!) how wrong I'd been. Grace in the air is a simple function of rider experience and comfort, NOT wheelsize.
See?
Lower down:
I guess I was just guilty of believing what I'd heard from so many industry 'wizards' and local bike shop owners through the years. Big wheels are too weak for DH, are too cumbersome in the air, only work for taller riders, blah de facking blah.
I'm counting down the days to an end-of-summer fling at the biggest and baddest bike park on the planet. Thanks to superstar riding by Devin and Brandon, I've got a new goal for the time I spend up there.
A psick no-hander?
Nope.
Hucking it huge?
Nah--I'll leave that in Skippy's capable hands.
I gotta start smaller and work my way up. Whenever I find myself way up there I just wanna be able to keep my eyes open...
Did anyone else sense that the back of the summer was broken (snap!) about a week ago?
I couldn't help but to notice. From a sweltering 100+ to a cool 85* is impossible to ignore. I'm sure there'll be a bit more heat, and maybe even humidity, but we're clearly heading down into fall and to that myself and the rest of my fellow desert dwellers say Hell yeah!
The drop in temps allowed us to do something pretty much unheard of in summer: ride (comfortably!) deep into the afternoon. L and I headed to a favorite local trail and did some ledge sessioning both uphill and down. Nothing epic or brutal or awful about the ride--just lots and lots of good solid fun.
There was one small section that L couldn't quite wrap her head around. She attempted it from several different angles but was never 100% confident that she was on her game enough to pull it off. So she'd roll the approach (smoother each time) then clamp on the binders, curse at herself, then head up for another go.
Here she's getting into character and preparing to head down for one more shot at it:
No pics of the successful execution (the photogeek was needed as spotter--just in case...) but she smoothed it and spent the rest of the day 'giddy' as a result. Nice.
I also managed to do the first (of, hopefully, many) afternoon rides with the Tweedles.
Great to get back on that program, and maaaaan am I looking forward to continuing that tradition over the next few months. Great riders push you to become better than you are, and better than you think you can be. Call me a sponge--the shoe fits.
Lastly, the week wouldn't have been complete without a Fishin' with Fang (and L!) fix...
Last week I found myself in temporary possession of not one, not two, but three LenzSport PBJ downhill bikes. Scott, Skippy and I managed to sneak away from the oppressive local heat and stuck-in-the-80's local trails for a few hours of riding up at Winter Park.
And it was *good*!
Neither Skippy nor I had had a 'fix' since last September in Whistler. Somehow, Skippy did what he always seems to do: Hopped onto a never-before-ridden demo bike and proceeded to rip the hill a new one.
To my knowledge, this was Scott's first real bike park experience. It was fun to watch (and hear) him adapt and learn, and by the end of the day he was popping the lips, carving the berms, and manualing through chunk like, well, like he was on a DH bike!
We all had our moments of panic, usually following and followed by some relative moments of brilliance.
Say what you will about riding lifts and skipping the uphill--I say the same! But it cannot be argued that riding in the park is the fastest way possible to up your skill level. A few times a summer it's just what the good doctor ordered. Not to mention that it's so much ding dang fun!
In our brief time there the trail crews roughed in and opened a few more short sections of track. We were impressed with the foresight and skill shown by these crews--they may not get things exactly right the first time, every time, but they come damn close, and they're always willing to tune and tweak as much as needed to get every line dialed.
Chapeau, gents, we enjoyed your trails and can't wait to get back up.
Late last summer Skippy and I made a pilgrimage to Whistler BC. Our first day we rode one of that valley's classic XC trails, then the next three days we rode the lifts and played in the bike park.
Riding the park was an eye opening experience in so many ways. So much so that right now we're making plans to head back up at the end of this summer. T-minus 7.6 weeks and counting!
A few thoughts about my '09 experience in the park: -It was/is much bigger than I expected. We rode open-to-close for three straight days and I'll bet we didn't touch but ~30% of what's there. Maybe less. -There are two basic kinds of trails therein. First are the machine built variety--wide open and fast, and with some stupid big moves. The others are steep and wet and slick and tight, and are usually fairly slow speed affairs. I couldn't have told you exactly why as we were riding, but we gravitated (<-ha!) towards the machine built stuff when given a choice. The reason for that choice is pretty clear to me now: The machine built stuff is so different from our local trails, all of which lack speed and flow. Given a whole summer to ride and explore the park, I'm sure I'd grow to love all of the steep techy slower stuff. But give me just a few days and I'll likely spend all of it on that which I can't get anywhere else: Fast, flowy, and with unlimited potential for air. The vids below show a lot of machine built track--mostly Crank It Up, A-Line, and Dirt Merchant. -You can take the slow speed rider out of his normal environment, but you can't just stick him on a DH bike and expect him to 'get it'. I can count on zero fingers the times in my life (pre-Whizzler) that I've been in the woods doing ~25mph *and* boosting tabletops and gaps. I was NOT prepared for this. How could I be? -29" wheels work *great* for DH. No, you can't simply bolt your stock XC wheels onto a DH bike and expect them to last. Just saying that the wheelsize isn't a limiter. I rode a one-off bike that was mind blowing in it's smoothness and capability. That bike has since been refined and released to the public as the LenzSport PBJ. My prototype bike lacks some of those refinements but let's be honest--I'm no downhiller. An early proto is plenty good for me. More details on my bike can be found here. -It is truly amazing how fast you can develop *skills* simply by repeating them in a controlled/"safe" setting! I can count on one hand the number of 8' or better drops, step ups, step downs, and gaps I'd done before Whistler. During and after? Dozens more. The limiter now is not the bike and, surprisingly, not the rider. It's a matter of finding that kind of terrain to ride. -Three days of riding DH and we were *shot*. Completely wrung out. Adrenal glands had been milked for all they were worth then left to wither. Muscles were depleted, hands were bruised, and although it was one of the most fun things I'd ever done, I simply couldn't have ridden a fourth day. Not without a day off in between, anyway. That odd fact has been noted and planned for this year.
My somewhat rushed and myopic helmet cam vid compilation from '09 is HERE.
Skippy's much more complete helmet cam edit is HERE.
Watching either or both of those, you might get the idea that we were having fun up there.
Tee hee. That trip fundamentally changed the way I ride, as well as the way I look at trail regardless of the bike I'm riding.
Since this year's trip is now coming into view on radar, I took a few minutes and edited down the rest of our '09 footage into the two vids below. I didn't bother to find appropriate music for either of them. To me, the sounds of speed and giggling are better than any soundtrack.
Here are the highlights from our second day in the park:
And here's day 3:
Both clips feature Skippy out front and me following on the PBJ.
Each time I watch these clips it just blows me away how little the speed and size of the air come through on the screen. Bad camera angle? Poor quality vid? Or maybe I was just scared and it really wasn't that fast or that big?!
Ha. I can believe the first two, but it *really* is THAT fast and THAT big. Go see for yourself!
In the (paraphrased) words of Mark Twain: "You won't regret it. If you live."
Twice in the last week I've involuntarily fallen asleep while doing something else. Something that didn't remotely involve sleeping. Sunday I was walking to the kitchen to fetch something when I inadvertently, unintentionally ended up facedown on the couch for an ~hour. When I woke I mopped the drool off my cheek, noted my groggy but oddly refreshed state, then continued my day.
Then, pretty much the same thing happened Wednesday.
Apparently I've reached critical status with needing (or at least wanting) to cram too much in every day. An easy thing to do for us OCD types with the days approaching their longest of the year.
As afternoon wended it's way into evening I made a mental note to change it up a bit. I didn't have the gumption to get kitted up for a ride, didn't even have it to change shoes and go for a hike. At the time I only knew that I needed to NOT build another wheel, NOT sit down to answer more wheel-related emails. I needed to step aside and let my own personal hurricane spin on for a spell without me.
I plucked the car keys from their hook, instantly bringing Fang out of his own facedown-on-the-couch state and into ~half alert. When I grabbed the camera, tugged a hat on, and wordlessly headed for the door I heard his nails clicking on the hardwood behind me. Atta boy. I'd noted earlier in the day that the M&M supply had run dry, and no further reason was needed to head to the store to re-up.
On the way we stopped by a small local park that, on a heavy traffic day, might have 1 other person and 8 ducks. Today there were seven ducks and zero persons. Fang isn't anti-person, but he *is* a fan of that kind of person-to-duck ratio as it means he can be off-leash roaming and sniffing.
And fetching. I lazily tossed the ball out there then I'd just sorta let my eyes wander. Watched the aforementioned ducks. Pigeons. Starlings. Red-winged blackbirds, and I think a few Grackles.
A few minutes later I'd notice that Fang was standing next to me. Still with the ball in his mouth, still dripping, just watching the birds, same as me. I lazily tossed it a few more times and paid attention to his response on each. His signal for 'I've had about enough' is to watch the ball splash down, pause for several seconds, then turn and give a long look that (to my eyes) says, "Didja have to throw it so far?". Then he'll reluctantly go after it. Never seen a more disinterested 'triever in my life.
Atta boy.
After that last toss we wandered around the park, back to the car, then down to the M&M department. Knowing that a guy can't show up to the checkout with a five pounder of processed sugar and a sheepish grin, I snagged 2 pounds of romaine and a pound of corn (ok, ok--Fritos...) on the way out.
After, we adjourned to the back yard and visually stalked more traveler birds as the day brought itself to a close.
Then, sensing what good had been achieved by stepping out of the whirlwind for a few hours, I stepped back in.
Most of a decade ago I was purposefully wandering around at Interbike, looking for sponsors with low expectations and deep pockets. I didn't find any, but I did meet some extraordinary people at the Zipp booth. We inhabited hugely different worlds--their niche was the international road and tri scene, mine was, well, too small to be called a niche. They wowed me with gee-whiz-enginerd-geekspeak blended with good old midwestern hospitality; I tried to relate what I did through past results and future plans. We struck up a sort of offhand relationship whereby they'd send me preproduction rims to build and ride. I was a mileage machine in those days and I'd do what I could to grind them into dust, always unsuccessfully. Through the years we kept in touch as best we could: I'd send pics from my travels and races, they'd send encouragement and occasionally new product.
As the years went on I met many of those that made up Zipp, both at trade shows and during a visit to the factory in Indianapolis. Jim Douglas started low on the Zipp totem pole but his enthusiasm and work ethic allowed him to climb quickly. When I called in to Zipp I usually spoke with Jim, and we developed a friendship as well as a camaraderie. Jim was always game to answer my questions and help out with tech stuff, but he was waaaaay more interested in talking about epic rides in the mountains, singlespeeding, dogs, fishing, skiing, what have you. When we couldn't talk we'd exchange pictures from our travels and adventures, me from around the western US and Jim from all over the world.
What seemed to push his buttons most were the pictures--he just couldn't get enough. You could hear the enthusiasm in his voice jump a few levels as he asked about the locations and all of the details. It became a sort of theme; we might go months without speaking but the pics would be flying back and forth every few weeks. It was great, and it continued right up until a few days ago when I took some of the shots in the vid below.
Unfortunately, I can't send Jim any of these pics, because Jim was killed in an accident last weekend.
I can't pretend to make any sense of it, even though I've heard the story from several sources. Not that it really matters what sense I can or can't make. Jim is gone. Just...
...gone.
I still have his last few emails in my inbox. One stands out above the others--where he calls his 9 month old daughter Annabelle 'So cute she can't be mine' and then proceeds to detail towing her around in a bike trailer all weekend long. An email is far from a tangible thing but it's hard to let go of the verbal visuals he shared and how proud he was to be a dad.
I can't send him these pics, but I can share them with you, his family and friends, and maybe somehow that'll help to ease the sting or fill the void. Probably not, but it's really all I have to offer.
I'm not a religious type, not one to pray. But I feel inclined to ask everyone that reads this to keep his family in your thoughts. Whether they need guidance, strength, or faith, it just might help if we all send some healing energy that way.
Instead, would you settle for a little color and texture?
From the time I first held a camera I've been smitten with the idea that you can share a specific part of your world with someone that hasn't been there. From that idea it has usually followed that you can not only share certain parts of it, but you can omit the things that you don't want them to know about, or that you'd rather not see.
Case in point was last week's vacation to SW Utah. Sure, there were a few other people out there, but you wouldn't necessarily know that by looking at the pics that follow. And the weather? Well, it was pretty good--a mite windy (hence overcast, with poor light) most of the time and a skosh hot (hence washed out skies) at others. But again--the ability to point the camera at things that show what you want to remember (color! texture! light!) and away from things you don't allows a guy like me the ability to paint the vacation as some sort of idyll.
In a way it *was* idyllic, and that's the point. It's not that I don't want to think about the heat, wind, or crashes, it's that I'd rather dwell pleasurably on the stunning scenery we saw, the laughs we had, and the lasting impressions that made it back home with me.
So, pay no attention to the fact that ~1700 shots were deleted from the trip. Instead, sit back and enjoy the ~100 that stayed.
While you're watching, maybe ponder what it means to roundfile 1700 shots. To me, it means that I'm taking more snaps than ever. Exponentially more, actually. My overall success rate is *much* lower because I'm experimenting more and failing often. But the ones that I do keep? To my eye, they're better than ever in composition, creativity, and clarity. Which is not to say that they're *good*, merely that I can see progress!
Enjoy.
We camped atop Gooseberry Mesa for 5 nights. Ride shots are from the trails on Goose as well as nearby Guacamole, Grafton, and Little Creek. Hike/swim/rap shots are from Pine Creek in Zion.
Big thanks to B for ushering me safely down Pine Creek and attending to the important details while I alternated between awestruck quivering wonder at the scenery and abject whimpering pee-down-the-leg-of-my-rental-wetsuit horror when it came time to clip in and swing out. I hope to return the favor someday soon...
Spring continues her slow-speed steamroll right over the top of us. Most flowers are blooming and some trees are fruiting, yet temps have hardly felt springlike and we're halfway to June. Wonder if that means the snow might stop coming soon?!
Sure don't mean to sound like I'm complaining. I've been enjoying the heck outta our unseasonably cool temps, as have a few of my local compatriots. Hard to believe <-that vid was shot (mostly) in the same county, and on the same weekend, as the one below.
So be it. Relish what presents itself, I always say.
Without further ado, a few million pixels from the last ~week outside.
The season is in full swing from a riding and bizness standpoint. Every minute of every day seems to be accounted for, even if only to watch rain dripping steadily from an eave or turning lazily and sloppily into wet snowfall.
Somebody's gotta do it...
Flowers are blooming, blossoms on trees are fading, soon to be replaced by fruit. The world is green, except where it isn't, and around here that's where we put the tires, which is what puts grins on our faces.
As always, words can't quite paint the picture quite the way a million-plus pixels can.
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