Washougal MX

From crankworx friday night we made it home pretty late, slept for awhile, then picked up Luke Strobel in the early am, and drove the extra 3 hr mission down to the outdoor motocross race at Washougal. It's right at the bottom of the state near the columbia river, scenic all around. Bryn had been looking forward to this for awhile. He did a lot of off road extreme crutching all around the track. Hill climbs, rock gardens, etc:). Live action is always more exciting to see the speed, hear the sounds, wander the pits, get a mega sunburn, mingle with rednecks, eat Washougal dogs, kettle corn,  etc.

Exciting racing too, easy to see how the top guys pull away from mid range guys, same as downhill, better execution of skill, brake later, etc. Parallel world. I wish I had a motor sometimes, and squillions of doallas like these guys and their semi trucks and elaborate staff.

Dungey won,  his riding is so textbook and he earned it, but he's not really the fan favorite in our camp. Poor ol canard just came back from a broken femur and busted it again. Bryn was not stoked to hear that. Femur buddies stick together, it;s a horrific injury to endure.

Good times. We caught the freecaster stream of the crankworx slopestyle from luke's phone while we were sitting in traffic to leave the venue. best of both worlds.

Crankworx Giant slalom

WHISTLER, BC CANADA Giant Slalom I think is still finding it's groove, but the course this year was a hell of a lot better than last year!! Last year was a dual that was super dangerous heading into the first turn, take out city. So this year they ran one person at a time with two runs combined time format. The best year was when there were two courses side by side and it was just a bigger faster slalom event. Dunno, I had fun and won, love the Transition double, it's my favorite bike.

Took home a bunch of cash, and won the Queen of gravity crown for crankworx; slalom, pump track , GS wins, adn a silver in A line DH. Crankwor was kind to me. Mitch Ropolado was the king:)

Nice to have a couple weeks with Bryn there to support too:) He's crutching around pretty good these days:)

Slavik won the men's GS race, followed by Johannes Fishbach, Blake Carney. I thought Lopes looked really really good in practice, but just not quite quick enough.

Ladies, it was me, buhly, and an danni.

Crankworx Pumptrack challenge

Pumptrack turned out pretty good after a half day of rain. We were up there in the afternoon for practice in wet muddy conditions, so it got pushed back till the evening session. After a lot of hussle from the staff and some sun, the dirt dried out and the race was prime.

Turnout was huge, people surrounding the arena, stadium lights, live broadcast, etc. Little different format than last year, without the platform in the middle. pursuit format instead. Think all they needed was a flashing light for which side won the race, so the fans could tell, but other than that , pretty fun!!. Looking forward to a track next year hopefully with a few more tech lines and turns, that would be sweet.

crankworx dual slalom 2011

WHISTLER, BC Started Crankworx out properly this year with a win in the slalom! Woo. Mitch took the victory as well vs. Sic Mic. Gatto came 2nd in the ladies match, Manon Carpenter 3rd,,, Love slalom, and the little red double does too!! Thanks to Transition, Red Bull, Oakley, our co-sponsors, Bryn for coming out to support (his first major outing since his femur break, 3rd day on crutches), and of course the fans. Dirt.tv has the vid... More updates later... We pinned it back to seattle to get bryn home. I'll be back up for Air DH on the TR250.

crankworx schedule

I'm keeping a fairly mellow schedule this year for CX, just gonna do 4 events on small bikes. Double, bank, and 250 for A-Line. Gonna bring Bryn up on fri & sat for slalom action and to hang out, then commute home. Hopefully the sprinter will be back form the east coast for the later part of the week, returning on tues afternoon.. Dual Slalom A-Line Pump Track Giant Slalom

http://update.whistlerbike.com/2011/07/12/crankworx-trail-closures/

home again

SEATTLE, WASo nice to come home to family. Mom, the pup, Bryn , and I had a sunny day on the lake in the boat:)

It's Been a month since I saw Bryn, and he took his first crutch assisted steps today in rehab!! He's doing so much better, using his arm, getting around, driving. Not healed yet as the femur break was kinda complex, but doing really good with flexibility , range of motion and all that. Still a bit of pain tho. He lost his ass muscle on the right side, pretty funny all flabby, but on track. 5-6 more weeks till proper walking hopefully. Had a MRI today- news tomorrow.

Gona enjoy these 3 days home, then off to whistler on friday. From there 6 more days home, then Europe ifor 5 weeks.

windham finals

Not really a successful race run in WIndham:( I felt amazing in practice leading up to finals, but was a bit nervous, made a couple big mistakes, survived, but was just not at full potential. So I'll just be patient, work on braking efficiently, and try again.

Some good things to come out of this were: more experience, and I moved up a spot in the ranks to 10th , which is a protected position for qualifying at the next round.

Last couple weeks have been difficult. I'm loving the riding, but had a few big crashes and am really just sore and disappointed. Miss having bryn with me, this solo campaign isn't really ideal for a first timer, but I'm doing my best. Lucky to have marshy on the wrench, and scotty as my coach helping out.

It is my first official world cup year, but I hate losing!!. Not an easy pill to swallow for someone like me. Guess that is what will continue to drive my improvement.

Rachel ended up winning the women's class. Pinner off the brakes. She seems to step it up in the races, which is pretty cool. Pugin too, is riding well.

I went up to watch the men's final. American support to the max, flags waving, music pumpin, cheering, etc. Our boys did pretty good, with Gwin obviously dominating, but luke strobel in 15 and Bubba Warren (cody's little Bro)  getting 23rd at his 2nd world cup.

The whole Gee and Minnaar Battle is a bit funny, seems like the younger guys are less caught up in all the overall title worry, and are just out there to ride fast. peaty, who is rad, was 2nd and back up to where he should be in the ranks. He took the sign Peaty's plunge, the spot he crashed last year, up on the podium with him. Real funny.

Windham, NY - World CUp

I finished 6th in the qualifier yesterday after a bit of a weather delay with the thunder and a few sprinkles. Track is running fast. Extra day in the extra dry with xc racing going on. Practice today was fun, just getting everything dialed in with the dust. Race day tomorrow- sunday!! Ready to go.. Thx to dirt for the photos and coverage:)

WOMENS QUALIFYING

Race Day in Quebec

Yesterday was nice and sunny, mostly dry besides a downpour during practice. Stage was set, track was running fast, no complaints really. Race run didn't exactly go as smooth as I was hoping for.... going good up top, till the turn into the hip under the lift. My from wheel slid out just before the take off, as I was about to pull up, and it was nasty. My body cleared the jump, bike hit the front of the landing ,  and I went tumbling down the hill near the berm, few cartwheels, kinda dizzy, then. Had to find my bike from up higher and carry on with a numb shoulder and a a bit dizzy. Almost went over the bars a few times after that not being able to hold on. Still managed 12th? and it's a bit of a miracle I'm not hurt, sore as hell, but no damage. gnarly high speed crash. FOr sure a little stiff.  Mt.St.Anne wasn't very kind to me this week, even though I loved her speed and technical sections. Can't wait to finish a run:( speed feels good. no more #13, up to #11, kicked that curse at least.

So stoked for Brooke McDonald, he is on it, and such a beast:) Seen him take a few slams and still pull everything together. Troy Brosnan's run was amazing, running at full potential as just a little guy 17 years old and growing still. Josh Bryceland, dunno how he pulled off the 2nd, so pinned obviously. Super weird to see Minnaar go down while on point for the win. Gee too with a flat. These guys are pushing so hard to beat eachother. Anyway, good stuff.

Mt.St.Anne QUalifier

Today was an awesome day compared to yesterday's mudfest!! Still muddy as hell, but the puddles disappeared in most spots, ruts and holes were there the whole way though. no rain or mist in your face which make it so nice to be able to see. This place has it all- High speeds, rocks, roots, and everything else you want to put into a wild rodeo ride down a hill. That quali run was my first non fog run. It's been so dense that you can't see the ground from the chair lift! Haven't done too many runs yet, can count them on one hand. Body felt ok today, so that was fantastic after the carcus I had yesterday. My crash today was super lame , into a big slop mud bog, but I'm still in the mix for sunday.

T-mo and Minnaar won quali's convincingly today. They were looking good, and have both won here before. Big risks going that fast, but it held together. Gwin and Pugin 2nd, Bryceland and Rachel Atherton 3rd.

I ended up 7th. Rode the technical bits pretty good I thought, but didn't really let it roll in the fast bits too much, crash lost a bunch of time too. just wasn't feeling it quite yet. Qualifying is just that, make it into the top 20, although I'd love to get some points to loose my number 13. Have some stuff to work on. The ever changing terrain here should be drying up a little in the next couple days. Won the speed trap again, Woo!!

Mt.St.Anne Day 1 practice

VITAL/FLIPPER PHOTO: Well after a pretty crappy trip here; having been delayed in denver and a missed  the connection, stayed in a hotel in chicago and waited for the next flight, then arrived a day late with no bikes. Missed the track walk.

Got my bike bright and early this morning, Marshy built it up, registered, pulled number 13 again, had one cruisy run, then in my second run crashed so hard in the fastest spot possible on the track from loose rock "death cookie" under my front wheel. Swap of doom, landing on a bridge and rocks going fast enough:( . My gear had so much orange spray paint on it from the danger markings I landed on, not fun. I called it a day after that. one and a half runs in. Suprisingly, no major damage, swell-bow elbow and some bruises, but will be fine.

THe ruts and weather today were worse than anywhereI have ever seen. Track was in a constant state of puddles and poor visibility. Had myself a proper track walk instead of making my swollen joints any worse. Conditions are supposed to improve, but it's gonna be sloppy for then next couple days at least. Quali tomorrow is all about just getting in the mix top 20...

Pro gravity tour overall champ

Just got word from JDD that I have secured the Pro Grt overall Downhill series title for the second year in a row!!!! Pretty sweet title to add to the ol resume. Stoked to get it done for all my sponsors!! And support US racing. The series keeps getting better every year. I wasn't going to be able to attend the final round at northstar anyway, got all of august in Europe, so yeah, woo!!

QUEBEC

Heading to Mt.St.Anne, QUebec. World cup action coming up....

NW cup #3 in Mt.Hood

SKIBOWL- MT.HOOD, OREGONCouldn't find results anywhere but on facebook for the Regional NW race back in Oregon. Same weekedn as the National round in Crested Butte. Few top national guys in attendance. Mikey Sylvestry getting it done- on a roll. Local legend Kyle Thomas apparently had a flat in his run. Timmer pulling the deuce in some fresh non turquoise gear? and TR Charlie on podium with a bronze in his home state! nice one. Mountain Man keith was out with a busted body. If I wasn't global this year, I probably would've been in Hood, sick track, good people. Estes no doubt spitting gold on the microphone, per usual.

Top 5 Pro results: 1.Mikey Sylvestry 2. Tyler Immer 3. Charlie Sponsel 4. Adam Ransavage 5. Eric Loney

Pro GRT Results- Crested Butte.

Jared Graves and I won today!! Can't say it came easy either, so brutal pedalling here at altitude. Like I said before, not a very technical track, but a lot of effort keeping momentum going. Dry as a bone, no humidity anywhere, just a mad sprint in all the flat bits. Black Lung central.

This is from VITALMTB.com....

In the Men's final, Yeti/Fox racer and first place qualifier, Jared Graves, beat out DRD/X-Fusion/Intense's Cody Warren by just 17 hundredths of a second. Graves and Warren both put three plus seconds into the rest of the field. Cody Warren now leads the series by four points over Aaron Gwin.

The Women's race was a bit more spread out. Transition's Jill Kintner took the win over Vixen Racing's Jackie Harmony by 1.3 seconds. Kintner has won all three of the ProGRT events she has entered, and now leads the series by a commanding 60 points over Harmony.

DH Men Final

1 - Jared Graves

2 - Cody Warren

3 - Ben Furbee

4 - Richie Rude Jr

5 - Logan Binggeli

DH Women

1 - Jill Kintner

2 - Jackie Harmony

3 - Melissa Buhl

4 - Darian Harvey

5 - Rebecca Gardner

2 days in- Crested Butte

Race day And a seeding tomorrow. Been practicing away up here at 10,000 feet in the dust. Beautiful weather  in Colorado, bit windy, but nice overall. Parking lot looks like a camp zone, so many tents and campers, nightly bonfires, grassroots at it's finest. Course is a lot of fun to ride, but gonna be difficult to race Just with the air, or lack of , and the physical effort. I put in a couple full runs so far, and my lungs are hacking up all kinds of junk. Hard work , pretty flat near the end, so not only is there no oxygen, but you gotta sprint hard in a lot of zones. Not the most technical course, but good for learning efficiency, braking, high speeds, dusty corners and accelerating. Plenty of positive features to take away from any course really. Smooth is fast here, 3:40 something is an estimate of men's times, more for me probably...Feeling good, having fun. TR450 loves it.

Crested Butte Track walk

CRESTED BUTTEArrived in Crested Butte this afternoon after 4-5 hrs of driving form denver. Hot sunny weather, snow on the peaks, beautiful resort village, wildflowers,,, not too bad of place really.

Thunder Valley MX track was on the way outta town, an outdoor national is going on this weekend there, wish we could go watch the MX superstars doing their thing.

Anyway, back to reality, we are at some serious elevation 10,000+ feet out here in CB. Missed that chair lift up today for course walk, and ended up hiking/breathing heavily all the way up and down. Altitude makes you feel the same as some outta shape fatty, but we carried on up the mtn to have a look anyway. Course here is super duper straight forward. Very few line choices, more about riding with speed plus braking and pedaling. It'll be fun fast and hopefully not too dusty in my nose.

Anyway, we got a pimpin pad across from the pits, condo style, so I can't wait to get ater it this weekend. Thanks to Brad and Team Keene for taking me in :) Good times.

Oh, there is a slalom here too, but I am probably gonna pass. Normally I am all about slalom, but wasn't really a big fan of this course at first glance. Who knows, maybe it rides better than it looks,gonna take a hot lap for fair analysis, but gonna just try and save some energy. I only have my covert xc bike anyway.

The entire Yeti team is here racing, so Shaun O connor and Jared, plus the national team. That's good colorado support, plus khs, intense/xfusion/ddd, and the usual suspects at these ntl rounds. Buhly and Jackie are here for the ladies field. Most of the other top world cup guys and gals are resting up getting ready for Mt St Anne next week. I'm just getting in as much riding as possible, cause I love it! riding at altitude will help for next week too!! Feeling good on the bike, can't wait for Canada!!.

Colorado

Been hanging out in Denver for a couple days. Such a nice city, really like it. Buhly and a few homies live here, so we've been having a good time. Drove up to boulder too to ride at this Valmont bike park. Bit of a beginner park, but also had jumps an stuff which were fun. Leigh Donovan and her daughter grace just happened to be on a road trip through here, so we did some hot laps:) spent about three hours out in the baking sun, and have a nice sunburn to show or the effort. Good litte shred session with a ton of other pros and locals combined. Dunno if I would go back again, but it was fun for a day!

Up next, crested butte Colorado for the pro grt round/ mountain states cup. Looks to be pretty high elevation again, and pretty long track, so we shall see. Took awhile to get over the black lung from sol vista. Ol crusty butt sounds like a nice place, so can't wait.

N

Triple dipped

SOL VISTA, COLORADOMinnaar and I took the pro wins and tons of cash at the Triple DHip event in Colorado this weekend!!! Kind of an undercover race, as the dates changed last minute, but glad I decided to go!! They ran an awesome event, getting the town involved, and crazy good prizes; full sram group sets for all amateur classes, and best pro prize purse in the USA- 25k all up.

Not a bad day for Minnaar taking home $7600 for the men's win, 2nd-Mick hannah 5k, Neethling $2700, all the way back to 12th for the boys. For the ladies, we had a small turnout, and not as much scrill, but 2k is not a bad prize purse to take home, I'm stoked.

Think over the three days and 3 tracks I did 30 runs! Which is a shitload. People did even more than that I'm sure. Luckily the lift moves quick and the runs are like 3 min, so not too bad, but it was a solid effort of riding for one weekend.

Trails were a lot of fun and challenging , which is pretty good for a bike park. Natural terrain, not too blown out, good rock gardens, nice flow, jumps, etc. Chainless was my favorite race though!! It's not really a surprise minnaar won that stage, he is really smooth and big, carries good speed. Lots to be said for this kind of training.

1. Minnaar 2. Mick 3. Neethling 4.Mikey Sylvestri 5.mithc ropolado

1. jill 2.Jackie Harmony 3. Julie Olsen

Triple dippin- sol vista

Rainy muddy day today up on the mountain. Rare to see nore than an afternoon thunderstorm in Colorado, but the rain seems to be on a roll of constant dribble. Kinda make the sandy terrain better i think. There are some really boggy mud sections too. Usually bone dry and chapped with some sunburn, so being freezing cold all day was a surprise. With 3 different tracks to learn here for the omnium overall time, there is a bit of strategy involved with how to practice. Did a lot of runs cause its fun and easy to do, but took some contour footage too to help remember it all.

Wonder what the record today was, one guy did 15, but we ha practice from 10am-7pm. I got in 6 on the chainless track, 4 on the other one, none on the old ntl champs track from last year. I'm still feeling a bit tired from jetlag, add the altitude of 9000feet and it's big days.

Fun trails though. this chainless thing makes you think. Taking the chain off actually changes how you hold yourself without tension n stuff, braking is more important, smoothish lines, pumping- all good stuff. Lot of fun. There is a mini world cup crew, Mostly rock shox guys, mic hannah, Minnaar, Neethling, duncan, Mitch ropolato, etc. Lots of us guys too, not so many chicks:( but it should be an epic battle for the cash!!

Two races tomorrow, one Sunday....