SEA OTTER 2017
Monterey, CA- April 19-22, 2017 “It’s pretty obvious that slalom is the main attraction at Sea Otter. Year after year it delivers some of the best racing, and I think the minor change they made gave us something to think about. I woke up excited for it, and kinda just appreciated how much fun I was having... wish we could race it more often. The optic handled the course amazing, and the sunshine and dust felt good :).”
“For Downhill, my legs were feeling it in on Sunday morning from all the pushing up hills and sprints. Practice is early and there is so much explosive pedaling in this “DH”. The course seems simple, but there is very little room for error and every movement counts, so I enjoy piecing it all together.”
CRANKWORX NEW ZEALAND
Rotorua, New Zealand- March 22- April 2, 2017 - The first major event of 2017 headed to the southern hemisphere to try to capture a piece of the New Zealand summer. The week started out quite wet from neighboring Cyclone Debbie off the coast of Australia, effecting both the EWS and and early Crankworx events. Luckily as the week unfolded, the sun came out and dried things out, a bit:).
Jill Kintner competed in 3 events (Air DH, Pumptrack, and Downhill) to demonstrate her ability once again across several disciplines.
Crankworx Interview
"There is only one Jill Kintner. This is one athlete who doesn’t stop, who takes podium after podium, who gives back to the sport and her community, who knows her limits, and never stops pushing. And as a competitor, she’s keenly aware of her threats, humbly, and unfailingly, working to stay on top. The numbers speak for themselves:
• 34 medals won at Crankworx
• 8 Crankworx pump track golds...
ROTORUA, NZ
Finally the start of a new season. Winter was a tad brutal, and the rain followed us over to NZ for the first few days of Crankworx. Oh well, ready for it. Bikes are all tuned up by our new mechanic Brad Kelly, and I'm feeling really good. A bit of rescheduling for a few events and we should be ready to roll. Wish me luck.
AUSTRALIA
Well, we were meant to have Christmas in Europe this year, but as it worked out, our product launch in Spain was cancelled, and we quickly switched our tickets to visit our other homeland of Australia!! Christmas with Bryn's whole family was pretty fun. We also stayed with our besties in the Blue mountains for a few weeks, got an amazing wedding in, saw a ton of homies, a surprise 50th bday party, caught up with a couple other pros for some mid day heatstroke riding weather, dinner with Jared Graves at his new place, and a little drive up the coast to Queensland. So fun.
Home, USA
The regular race season is over, so now it's time to do whatever the hell I want and be out enjoying fall weather in the NW. Resting, hiking, Chilling, catching up with homies, and regrouping. It's a time of randomness till my body feels like training again. Peace.
WHISTLER, CANADA
Pretty rad to have just wrapped up the Crankworx world series championship! Three rounds, 12 events, 8 wins, all top 5, not too shabby. Thx to Tris my mechanic, Bryn, fans, and sponsors for making the best gear!!! Feels good to wrap up my main target for the year!!....
RIO IS STARTING
I'm pretty excited to watch the Olympic Games. Obviously I have a few special memories, and wish the Athletes in the 2016 games the best of luck. Our BMX Squad has a lot of potential to bring back some hardware!! Good Luck Alise Post, Brooke Crain, Corben Sharrah, Nick Long, Connor Fields!! XC bandits as well!! USA
MAMMOTH, CA
Jill wins the Downhill and Slalom national championships, making for her 16th and 17th USA title across 5 disciplines. Aaron Gwin won the men's DH event, and Mitch Ropelato won the slalom and enduro titles.
Les Gets, France- June 14-19, 2016
Round two of the Crankworx World Series headed to Les Gets, which is new to the tour, and a iconic zone for mountain biking in the Alps. Home to the '04 World Champs, and also a european mountain bike mecca in the Portes du Soleil. Unfortunately, with excessive rain leading up to the event, the ground was saturated, causing difficult conditions for the organizers and riders. Delays and schedule changes pushed the limits for all events, particularly Slope-style, which was cancelled.....
May was kind of all over the place with racing and media projects :)
• PRO GRT 1 - PORT ANGELES, WA
• PRO GRT 2 - VERNON, NJ
• NYC + BROOKLYN BIKE PARK
• SHIMANO Di2 COMMERCIAL
• WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN
• LEAVENWORTH PUMPTRACK
• WHISTLER OPENING WEEKEND
• STEVIE SMITH MEMORIAL
• PHOTOSHOOT- FREEHUB MAG
MOUNTAIN CREEK, NJ
Round2 of the ProGrt National DH series went to Vernon, NJ, which is an hour and a bit outside of NYC. I really enjoy this place, it was once home to the US Open, which was an incredible event. Gwin and I took the victories. There was a good turnout of US riders, since its an easy trip to Scotland after that. Luca Shaw, Mitchypoo, Binggelli, Dakota, Max Morgan, Kiran Mackinnon, even Richie Rude came out for a lap. Unfortunately for Neko Mually he broke his arm, but other than that, good event, cool trophy, sweet prize purse.
WHISTLER BIKE PARK
Chairlift season has arrived! About time too, winter seemed to drag on forever, and all the homies were up in Canada this weekend. Dunno if I have ever been up there when it's that smooth, but fun none the less. Get up there and enjoy!!
STEVE SMITH TRIBUTE
Stevie's death is pretty hard to come to grips with. Some people seem like they will be timeless and never pass, but accidents happen and we lost someone special. I wrote this for him...
I remember Steve Peat taking on the nickname "cappachino steve" for his love of cappachinos, while Stevie commented one time that he just liked "shit drip coffee", thus affectionately being referred to as "shit drip steve" from there on out:)
PRO GRT DH NATIONAL
Round #1 of the US National DH series kicked off in Port Angeles, a spot I know all too well. The courses in PA are super fun, and Scott and Casey run events buttery smooth after years of hosting regional and top national events. It was a little smaller of an event this year with the timing of the world cups after Sea Otter, but super fun none the less. The course was my favorite one here, well there are a couple new favs actually, but this one is the best for racing. I won, as did some new faces in the men's classes. Tanner Stephens pro, Steve Walton Jr.
VELOSOLUTIONS PUMPTRACK
This place is amazing! The story behind getting this pumptrack made is even more touching and the people out in Leavenworth have set the bar pretty high. Good work to Claudio at Velosolutions and Craig paddle plus all the volunteers. More communities should get these made, it's the best skill building tool for bikes period, it has the most fun elements of bmx plus cornering, which you don't get in BMX. I love riding pumptracks:)
SANTA CLARITA, CA
The Wings for life run is the biggest race in the world. Everyone starts at the same time all over the world and runs until the catcher car catches up, thus eliminating people until there is one runner left. All proceeds go towards spinal cord research. Run for those who can't. It's simple, and such a worthy cause. I've had direct competitors effected by these injuries, so it feels good to do this in their honor. I think I was passed at 11.5 km, but waled to the 12km mark, and then some. It hurts the day after since I only run like once a year, but worth it. Run with us next year!! Wflwordrun.com
SHIMANO XT Di2 Commercial
Good times up in Squamish filming with the fellas from Anthill Films for Shimano. Anthill has made some real sweet MTB videos over the years, and had the fanciest gear I have ever seen. For sure a pro set up and the XT Di2 is gonna look real sweet on my tiny little bike.
Remeber to film on grey days kids, and also bring the intensity:)
SEA OTTER CLASSIC
MONTEREY, CA
The highlight of Sea otter, apart from seeing our friends and sponsors, is the slalom. This discipline is my jam, love it; high speed, big turns, tech skills. Fans come out with their USA flags and enthusiasm ready to watch head to head battles. Sea Otter is an expo for new products, and the racing pretty mellow, but highly competitive. It took me awhile to figure out how to win these events, but now I got it fairly figured out.. 10th pro win. Not too shabby, sick and all this time...
ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND
First event of the year in NZ was a nice sunny change to the dreary wet winter back home in Washington. I am happy to report that I won 3 of my events!!!!!! and did the whip-off on the biggest jump ever. Bryn also won in the Deep Summer Photo Challenge with photographer Simeon Patience. So yeah, an unbelievable way to kick off the year!! Thanks Crankworx for a good time. This was stop 1 of three- Les Gets and Whistler are next......
