LAKE PLACID, NY
Race day. It started to rain this afternoon just before finals, but luckily for us it wasn't for too long, and the dry tires stayed on. Pretty cold up top though and some bits were a little slipperier. My run started good, but once into the first trees, I caught a root with my pedal and kinda got ejected. That took some time to get unstuck, as did a pant-leg caught on the seat further down, just hit a couple roots awkward and got sideways, super slick in there, jeeze. Once I got out of that top bit though, I had the best run of the weekend on the bottom. 9 min is a long time to race downhill and anything can happen. Successfully pulled a tear off, whoo hoo! rode pretty good, learned about finding the edges of tracks where it is smoother to save energy. Still need to not brake on wet roots, but managed 2nd place today and the overall win for the Pro Gravity series.
Tracy Mosley had a dominating run, sub 9 min for the victory,me 2nd, Jackie Harmony third, Jess stone 4th. I am really glad this weekend is over!! 3 runs combined into one really takes it outta ya. Lots of upper body strength and fitness.
For the men, Trek World Racing placed 1,2,3. Leov, Neethling, Neko. Then Chris Heath 4th, Waylan Smith 5th. Guess Logan "Bitchin" Binggelli had a big crash to the head this morning, Gerrit Beytagh a mechanical, Kieran caught the guy in front of him who wouldn't pull over, and crashed into the guy when he crashed, etc. Anyway, Justin is a killer on these longer courses and did well to win by 10 seconds over 2nd place. Good thing too, cause with Neethling taking 2nd, Bryn maintained the overall Series!! Not a bad year for Transition Racing and the TR450 Dh rig!!
The organizers of this mountain were pretty pumped on the event, heard a few cowbells in the woods too. Prize purses for Pros were pretty good too, men's 1st $1500. This was one of the most technical tracks in the North east, Longest too, 3+ miles of downhilling.
Anyway, that's it for now. We fly back to Seattle tomorrow, then Bryn goes into the Chop Shop tues to fix his thumb, and we chillax for a couple months. After that off to Australia and Jan- Feb in New Zealand to ride some awesome terrain!! and it starts over again next april.
If anyone has a wheelbarrow full of cash and would like to support Transition Racing next year, give us a shout. :) Fund raising time....
LAKE PLACID, NYMost difficult place ever to do a full run. Jeeze!! so long, rough, and hard to hold on..... Here are the times from seeding- Everyone mixed together. Leov and Mosley took top times. I was 2nd. Bryn is not racing, he broke his thumb in Mt.St.Anne,,, the ligament pulled the bone off. Makes it hard to hold on for 8 min if you can't use your hand:). Final race of the Pro GRT. event info : downhillmike.com
LAKE PLACID, NYSo,, day 1 of practice on this 5 kilometer downhill track is complete. After about a week of rain, we were for sure mudding it. Top layer of good dirt has dispersed though, and we got into dark black slippery dirt and exposed roots. Drying up though.
Not too many people in attendance, maybe 20-30 pros?? Trek's full team, 1/2 of Giant, 1/2 of KHS, 2/3 of Transition, Kieran Bennett, Heikki Hall, Waylan Smith, Mammelarr, Beytahg, few locals etc. Our good pal Jared Rando has declared this his last race of his last full official season:( He'll probably race a few rounds in OZ from time to time, maybe a US round somewhere in the future, but is gonna settle down. We will miss him a bunch on tour.:(
There are some good sections to this track, kinda felt like trail riding. It is super rocky, rooty, ridiculously long, and a lot of work to make a full run. Top section from the start is straight and high speed, scares me every time, then into slow wooded switchback section, rock garden, fireroad, stream crossing, root traversing, etc, it just goes on forever. Some old school high speed flat fire road turns, which are sketchy getting sideways. Our mechanic Marshy and I were making passes on eachother through there:) After 4 runs, It feels like the objective will be just to hold on and make it down with some kind of flow. The guys who have ridden here were claiming 8min 45 in the dry, but it'll be longer than that probably if it stays wet. Rain has stopped for a minute, but cloudy skies are still looming..
LAKE PLACID, NYFrom quebec, straight down to NY. Lake Placid is a pretty nice place, not a lot going on though. They do have plenty of lakes, an Olympic training center for winter athletes, golf courses, resorts, and Whiteface Mountain is a lot bigger of a than I expected. Not sure if that is a good thing though, cause they are trying to race a 5k long DH track, averages about 8-9min. Plus it has been raining the last couple days non stop, so it's gonna be a trudge. HELMET CAM Final PRO GRT DH race of the season.
MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBEC
Tracy Mosley and Sam Hill took the rainbow stripes yesterday!!. Pretty rad event, but jeeze what a big week. Think over the 6 days of practice, we had a heat wave, dust, rain, humidity, fog, downpours, rivers running down the course, sloppy mud, drier mud, more rain, and other stuff. Lot going on , lots of changes, track was different nearly every run. Biggest holes too. Crazy how tiring that run was; weeklong battle, a few crashes, and the slow muddy track.
For race run I was in the start watching the rain fall. Not that rain is bad, mud is fun, but Not being able to see is my least favorite thing ever!!! I suck at pulling tear offs, and forgot to do it in the one spot I needed to, and rode tenative. Oh well, main thing yesterday was riding aggressive and not braking, but it is really difficult to do in such conditions. I had a good time, but not that speedy of a run compared to what I was capable of. Saint brakes were working too good:).
I still took a top 10, which is actually decent for my first year downhilling. For sure need to build up my tolerance to full runs and speed in rougher conditions. Congrats to USA teammate Leigh Donavan- 8th!! not bad for a part time racer/mom/business owner. Once a World Champion, always a racerhead I suppose:) Best fairytale ending for Tracy though, she smashed everyone, after 15+ years of trying, so a monumental day for the Brits. Frenchie 2nd, Ragot 3rd.
Sam Hill's win was a pretty good story too, but strange. He was out with a busted ACL early in the year, missed most of the world cup, recovered then busted his shoulder, missed more world cups, then comes back last week, keeps his speed under the radar, and straight killed it here in St Anne.
I was kinda hoping for a tighter battle between Peaty, minnaar, Gwin, etc, but sam had a dry-ish run and the last few guys down got a substantial amount of rain falling on em. Stevie Smith rode out of his skull, and took a 2nd for Canada, which is his best result. Got an evil bike up there on the box.
Kinda hard to believe we gotta go race in NY again this weekend, but it'll be good to take this ass kicking and turn it into some more speed. DH Mike from whiteface is running us down some 5k dh track- 8 min or something. Bit painful, but whatever. Last race of the season.. Till then....
MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBECA whole day for just an hour of practice. Actually the Juniors and elite women get an hour, then the elite men had an hour to themselves. Cleaning all the mud off my gear took longer.
This morning it was raining, so at 9 am I was out there in my rain gear and spike tires ready to go. Tried to squeeze a few runs in today, the rain tends to bring out new lines and building speed takes awhile to feel good. Anyway, I caught most of the downpour on that first run, lots of tear offs, muddy head to toe, yada yada,, Upper turns are the slipperiest. The holes are bigger when you ride slower in case you were wondering, braking effects the ol hands too, so a lot more physical today. Even saw a few rivers running down sections, so I hopped in em and tried to float down:).
Once the rain actually stopped, and I could see, the track was ripping. There is like a sandy stone texture in the dirt out in the open that holds well. Overall there are about 5 or 6 different types of soil and textures though, so adaptation is also a skill. I was having good fun feeling at home in the mud, not as fast, but fun.
Bryn got his ankle strapped up this morning and was gonna give it a go, but had some problems clipping out and has now injured his thumb, stretched the ligament we think. Dunno why this place treats him this way, but it is my mission to get down this hill quick for him:)
Didn't see much of anything else.XC bandits had their race just now, bit of rain bit of sun. Looked like an awesome track, but tons of climbs. Poland took a win in ladies, willow Koreber of the usa got a medal!! Spain won the men's race and our ol teammate Burry Stander took a bronze.
Boxxer world champs were pretty fun too. Len vs Evan in the final. Dawson was knocked out in the semi:) HB was on the megaphone, wearing a US national jersey, Fuzzy shorts and camo crocs, which is his normal outfit sans jersey.
This event is where Rock Shox technicians rebuild a World Cup boxxer, head to head contest for who can do it first. There may be alcohol involved, and to finish, you have to build the fork but also skull a beer. Think it started with a shot too, so finalists are in prime form after a few rounds. Real prestigious event.
Matti Dupelle had a fan club being a quebec-qua and all. I din't know his nickname was - Turtle, but I guess he does looks super turtle-y. He is Pivot bikes mechanic this year, but used to work for sram, and used to wrench for rennie on Santa Cruz. He had the Rennie army photo from last year taped to his back. Pretty funny.
MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBEC
Another practice day, but I decided to have a rest from the DH bike, 6 days in a row is a bit much on this track. Instead hiked down to scope lines and watch practice. Hard to really see good lines unless you take time to look objectively why it's better and how to execute. I think certain skills take time, but I am learning and seeing things in a new light:). Bryn usually helps a little bit with this, but his sprained ankle has kept him sidelined the last couple days 
.
There was some light rain last night, which caused a few top turns out in the open to be slippery, but the rest looked surprisingly dry, only effected the top layer in most spots. Lot deeper holes in the turns. I probably learned more by watching practice and resting, then if I rode. Some of the boys have really creative lines out there, Ben Reid, our lucky little irish friend was quite crafty.
Couldn't really help myself though from not riding entirely, pump track world champs are saturday night, which doesn't suit DH racers sun am rce schedule, but I did manage a hot lap or two. There is about 90% less soul at this pump track worlds than at the one in OZ last year though. The course is built alright, couple good turns, but seriously lacking in technical difficulty- wasn't that impressed and I love pump tracks. Lopes is here to pump it up:) Didn't expect that, but I like when he comes to races and hangs out. Think they are having some kind of legends race for the 20 year anniversary as well.
ANyway, gonna watch 4x finals tonight, and then tomorrow another hour or so of DH practice, then sunday finals. Supposed to have some rain tonight. ever changing.
4X FINALS We watched the 4x on Freecaster.tv last night, and were laughing so hard from the commentary. Pretty good entertainment, glad I wasn't racing though. Seemed like it was really hard to see at night, dark spots and flashes going off. Rad to see a girl on her DH bike from Brazil almost make the finals:) Was gutted for Jared, he was leading the final, slowed down too much and got passed in the last turn. Kind of exciting, but I feel his pain . Caroline won with a snappy gate start, followed by the 2 Czech BMX ladies.
MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBEC3 days of practice and a timed full run done and dusted so far here at worlds. The track has evolved a bit, but this practice schedule is extremely drawn out, with an hour and a half or an hour each day, and still 3 days to go. Today was a mandatory timed run, but it didn't really count for anything, except putting a full run together. So far, from that one run, and the conditions being as dry, blown out, and dusty as they were, I can tell you that it was extremely difficult to hit all the right lines, and keep speed everywhere without stalling. The track is 5 min + for chicks, and 4.40 something for guys. The length wasn't really that big of an issue except my hands felt it, and you are on a very fine line most of the way down at such high speeds. Guess your brain has to focus that whole time which is hard too. Minnaar and Mosley took top times. I was 5th in Elite WOmen. FULL RESULTS
Bryn rolled his ankle yesterday, so he had to sit the timed run out,but is getting better. Probably a good thing really to keep him fresh and just react to the track later in the week- After this alleged weather strikes. Hot temperature and humidity are putrid, but the tail end of a hurricane might be a little worse. We will see if "Earl" shows up or not.
I feel like I should be taking more pictures for all of you, but racing downhill now, there is a lot less time for wasted energy. Just kind of manage my time so I have something to report when it counts. Save the photo taking to the professionals at Pinkbike, vitalmtb, dirt, etc.
Guess the only unusual thing I did today was hand tailor my usa Jersey to fit. Dunno how many times they have screwed up my size, but I definatly had to do some quick needle and thread work. Red bull had my spare one professionally tailored for sunday so I don't loose mega time, Thx guys!!.
Here is a pic of my fancy world champs frame. It's looking pretty sweet all built up, but I haven't take a snapshot yet.
Our homie Amado made a team video for Transition at last week's world cup....click this video link >>> VIDEO
MT.ST.ANNE, QUEBECWorld champs week going on right now. We drove northeast from Windham, NY early monday morning, crossed the border, then arrived just in time to be the last on the lift for the monday track walk. Pretty tight schedule considering it's an 7-8 hr drive. It was dark by the bottom, but at least not too hot, scorcher days here. Mosquitos were out too, but I somehow killed one with a single blink of the eye. Ninja:)
The venue here in Eastern Canada has been a staple of World Cup racing for like 19 years or something, so to have the grand finally of the season here is pretty special. I have never ridden DH here, but so far the track is really fun, fairly straight forward, fast as hell, awesome technical bits in the woods, and right now dry dry dry. High speed turns in loose skatey rocky terrain. Felt a bit timid not wanting to eat shit and die in the fast parts, but linking turns up is the most crucial part and finding flow in the blown out sections. Only had a couple runs on the course, so it will find it's way as will I by sunday.
Not stoked on being super hot and sweaty by 9am, heat wave or something. Rain predicted later on in the week.
WINDHAM, NYDH Race finals today on US soil. Lovely day, track was ripping fast and dry, except for two spots, and everything was set.
I got about 10 seconds, maybe less into my run and had a crash, bending my bars a little, and moving my break lever, bar to quad right on my nasty bruise, and kinda couldn't use my brake right, so that was it. Nice initiation. Doesn't mean I didn't have fun all week, and felt good out there. Just meant I tried to go too fast and made a mistake. Lesson learned. Rachel Atherton won on the day, after her shoulder injury a month ago, adn Frenchie (sabrina) took the overall.
Bryn had a flat I think near the road gap. Marshy has this little system rigged up on our wheels to keep the air in, so Bryn rode most of the course with about 10psi, till it finally went. Super unlucky.
Exciting racing from everyone else though. The Men's overall came down to .37 seconds between Gee Atherton and greg Minnaar, but Gee had it. Poor peaty though, he was about a second and a half up at the last split, and crashed right near the bottom. So it goes, some have lucky days others not so much.
Rad to see so many US fans out here cheering. I felt terrible coming through all dirty, like I let everyone down. Gwin kept it together for the USA though with a 4th, and 4th in the overall world cup.
Moving on to WOrld Champs next week in Quebec.
WINDHAM, NYMore fans rolled in today!! Saw a lot of homies from nearby Diablo Freeride Park, some guys from Plattekill, NY, etc, we've been picking up east coast friends all year from our National ProGRT Rounds. I'm liking all the USA support out there on the hill!!!
Bit of practice again today, XC bandits are racing now, and 4x tonight. I went up last night to watch a bit of qualifying for 4x, but am really happy with my decision to focus on Downhill, been having an awesome time this weekend.
Main objective for practice was to boost some gaps, and I got em done, thanks to Bryn's help. Super scary, but not too bad. I'm Lucky to have such a ripper of a BFF:) He is riding really well. Check this SVEN MARTIN photo off Vitalmtb.com, It says it all. Race day tomorrow.
WINDHAM, NYDownhill qualifying today, top 80 men, 20 women. Proud to say I made the cut, 7th with room to improve. Bryn with a 9th, and is riding better than ever, so proud.
Tracy mosley took the top time. She boosted one of the sketchy gaps, which was a ton faster, but rode awesome and put a lot of time into us. Nice one. Frenchies and Rachel in the top 5 after that, then me. Keeping it real for american fans:) Most of the girls sort of avoided a couple of the bigger gaps till everything dried out a bit more. slick in spots in the woods, guess ther are natural springs trickling down, but the track was a lot easier today than it was yesterday.
Quite a few people got wrecked out there. After Minnaar crashed yesterday and dislocated his elbow or whatever, he came back today and put himself in a position to still win the World Cup. Race is on for gee and him. Talk about toughing it out. Meanwhile, up on the hill, sic mic took a digger into a tree and broke a collarbone/ hit his head, matti did something to his shoulder earlier and had to pull over in qualifying, etc. All my scrapes and bruises and missing skin on my finger seem quite insignificant now to all of that.
peaty won mens quali, which is rad to see. Probably had some time to himself to finally focus. Good timing right for worlds. Idisnt look too close at results. Quali isn't too important, as the race is Sunday. But it helps for knowing how to find more speed. Pinkbike.com dirtmag , vitalMtb.com .. Check the media for more coverage, dunno why the Internet always sucks and I end up tapping updates from my phone with two bars of signal. Enjoy..
WINDHAM, NYFirst day of DH practice done. Track was super slick in the am, but by the afternoon, dirt was drying up, ruts formed, and speeds picked up. Still a few natural sprigs in the track. I was having a good time out there, doing my thing. Lots of tricky sections, and rocks getting unburied, roots exposed. If it stays dry, should be really fun, but sketchy as hell:). No need really to go too fast or do anything stupid day 1, but just scoping, feeling the flow. Track is something like 2min 40 sec for top guys. Sam hill is back in action, which is cool. Rachel is back too and riding well. Only real thing I heard from practice was that Minnaar hit a tree and had to go to hospital, hope nothing broken. He'll be back if is all good, fingers crossed.
WINDHAM, NEW YORK DH course walk today. It's been raining a bunch out here in NY, guess for three weeks, but considering how much it has rained, the dirt dried up pretty quick in some spots. Other spots, like in the flatter zones out in the open, are pretty screwed and unwalkable:) They cancelled all of 4x walking and riding today and maybe tomorrow, but anything goes for DH. This track is a lot steeper than most east coast tracks, seems like straight lines to steep shoots, few rock hucks, some jumps, few sketchy high speed bits, lots of trees, and soft in a lot of places which means it's going to have big holes and ruts over the next few days. Other than that, looks good and challenging, they have done a nice job getting everything together here. Rad to be in the USA after 4 years of not having a world cup here. Home soil is always better. I'm excited to see how it goes:).
There are some really good pics on pinkbike.com of the track today..
The Hot Shoppe just sent these pics over of my National Champs jersey!! Think they turned out rad. If you ever need jerseys printed up , Hot Shoppe is the best!! There are two cause we only have black shorts, but I liked the white one a lot:) might have to get crafty.... Custom painted bike on deck:)
Pretty stoked on this latest batch of helmets!!! Just in time for Worlds. Airtrix does an incredible job painting!!Thx to Red Bull, Chris Wood at Airtrix, and Cat from Sauce Creative Group!!!
Mitch Ropelado and I won the Pump track event last night! It was a super tight course, and the pursuit format was interesting, added a bit of suspense. We didn't get to practice how to start, but no hands or feet on the bike, 1,2,3, go! Kinda funky if you miss the pedal or are slightly off, just jump on and ride it.
Single elimination format too, which meant one lap to advance or be eliminated. Seeding was kinda a factor to get through the rounds, cause you got to pick which side of the stage to start from. One side was kinda uphill, and had a harder turn bit.
So two competitors start going opposite ways, full lap, and the first person back to the stage won. Timers were in place. There were almost a bunch of collisions back on the stage, Chris Van Dine, with the most dynamic bail off of it. Vories also had some cat like moves off the deck. Couple guys launched onto the stage and nearly took a frontflip from the wooden decking overhanging the berm/exit a tad.
The showdowns were pretty good. I was kind of in awe of how freakishly well some of these guys rode the track; Danny hart, Austin, Mitch, Brenden,Troy, C-Dub, E.T. In practice I had some little gaps and manuals, but they weren't consistent or fast for me, but mitch and a few others were riding in such rhythm were able to jump through multiple sections. Troy Brosnan vs Austin Aldrich was super impressive, and the final Mitch vs Brendan would've been close if brendan stayed up. Both those guys pride themselves on their pumptrack backyard skills, so it was fun to watch.
Organizers were going for a "Bro-Down" kind of event, and there was some serious bro-ing down I suppose. Practice was the most fun, cause you could just ride and try stuff without being eliminated. Liked that the spectators could all huddle around and heckle for the finals though, and we all pumped around till we were blue in the face. 12.5-14+sec laps.
From the backyard to main stage. Just wanted to say thanks to my buddy Travis for having a pump track in his back yard, and letting me dig, and also Transition for having one at the shop. It's sometimes more art than riding, digging takes over and gaps/ transfers ensue. It's nice to ride without having to drive anywhere sometimes. later
PHOTOS: Ian Hylands PINKBIKE.COM- http://www.pinkbike.com/news/crankworx-pumptrack-2010-results.html
RESULTSHad enough runs to need a good solid break from A-Line trail!! Kinda bummed on my run today, lost control on a high speed turn heading back into the trail off a fireroad and nearly came to a stop, back wheel over the top of it. Oh well, next year. Finished 4th by not much. Anne Caro won, Ragot 2nd, Rachel Atherton 3rd. Lots of women racers, which is always nice to see.
Lopes won his 6th Air DH in a row for the pro men!!. He's almost to whistler as Peaty is to Lisbon. Anyway, Bryn was the hero in my eyes, 4th today, and some of the nastiest scrubs both ways, fans were very impressed. Fans would have also been impressed by our pal Eliot Jackson, he's new to MTB, but used to race Moto, and is sooo good at scrubbing and riding, he and Bryn were having a field day yesterday. 1st Lopes, Sam Blenkinsop 2nd, Gee Atherton 3rd, Bryn. Poor ol Kovarik, took a digger off the GLC Drop, which is such a crappy place to fall. THat is probably my least favorite part of the track. Anywho, all good.
After A- line, we went up to the pump track for practice. The race is tomorrow night. Super tight track. Mitch Ropelado was putting a stamp on it. It'll be a good showdown between him, brendan, Troy brosnan, and Bernard Kerr, I think.
Went to go see this Deep Summer Photo contest as well. 6 photographers over 3 days, put together a photo slideshow, and are judged. Really impressive work. I liked it a lot. Jordan Manly had such a crisp beautiful collection of shots. He is legit, and took the W. Our homie Sven Martin was in the mix as well, with sort of a racer perspective other than the freeride scenic approach, so there was lots of variety. Anyway, rad event.