Hitting the dirt

I had been talking to Maing about doing after work ride this week. After work for me but not for him. He ride's. Anyway...we planned to hit up a local DH trail that we hoped was not a soupy mess. Flying J decided to join too and it was on. We met at the bottom , by the beanie. Nope, don't touch it, and headed up. got into some mud early on and i was sliding around a bit. Super cool trail though. I hit a couple of steep roll downs and then on one i got slammed, rib's first into a log and rocks. Hmm. di another run and felt quite sore. I think i bruised some rib's. So much for my riding weekend. I'll be riding this trail again soon for some payback.

A nice day?

That's a rare thing lately around here, but guess what. 78 deg today and it was on a weekend to boot. (whatever that means) Rode some great single track with Chip and his daughter, Dave, and 2 of my kid's(Otto and Louis). We started at a fast pace and since the winter has been long Louis started bonking early but i kept him going by saying inspiring things like " Keep Going".

I'm still on the single speed as my other trail bike's are not built right now. It's good though, just stand up and pedal. Trail condition's were PERFECT, with only a few muddy spots. Creek crossings were bigger than the last time but that make for some exciting kid riding. We fooled around on some log rides and generally enjoyed riding and not being cold. Otto hit this log over that was half the size of his wheels(and since he's on 24" wheels that's big) and managed to make it over. I may half to check his big ring for bent teeth, or just get him a bash ring. It's always fun riding trails with the kid's, cause you never know what's going to happen.

Fluid Ride Cup #1 2008

What a long weekend. Maing was slated to pick me up at 6 am but he had some issues and was a little late. No big deal. Oh..but he forgot his shoes. That's a big deal. Since he was wearing sandals. In the rain. Anyway..we got his shoes and got fuel then the turn signals went out. Hmm? A sign of things to come? Nah.. Let's get going i say. We we're having a good time listening to the Crucified when i hear Maing say " Uh oh..no throttle" Hmm. So we coast into the rest stop which was thankfully right in front of us. Short story long...bad alternator. Oops! so we wait for the tow trust and stand in the wind. People watching and me taking pictures. Finally the Marine tow truck driver shows and he get's the truck up on the flat bed but can't get the trailer hitch switched out for Maings mini hitch. Maing showed he has what it takes and never stopped trying to get the stupid thing off and finally succeeded. Yea maing! So we drive, to the shop where Billy-bob is gonna fix the truck, we go to the Hick cafe called the Place. Never to early for grease right? So Billy-bob is done and we stand there way too long while they try to figure out what to do with a credit card , then we're on the road again. Very scenic drive but it's all ready a long day. We arrive in Port Angeles around 3 ish which is WAY too late but we're still positive. We find out the shuttle stops at 5 and we run to the trucks and get 3 run's in before going to watch the Dual slalom. Awesome! Man can those guy's ride. Got to see Nathan Riddle, and other N.W. pro's. Got some good video and pic's. So Maing wanted to do one more run since we had , like no practice ..so we hiked for 25 min and did another run. Good track. Nice and wet. Bailed for the Motel and got a big laugh when the moron at the desk said he gave away our reservation. I said " why would you do that?" He said "i thought it was you" Very confused at this point i come back with a good one " Did you ask for their names? He say's we only had 1 reservation so i thought it was you. Whatever. then he say's " I can't give you a room anyway. We have water problems and stuff. Trying not to laugh i ask if he can recommend a place. He say's no. I say " See ya never" and leave. What a gong show. I'm starting to wonder if we'll live the out the night. Found a place and headed for a good looking mexican place to eat. Saw Geoff Gulivich there and tried in vain to get Maing's wife to go up and ask for a autograph and say "Thanks Wade". that would have been rad. Crashed ( in the motel not the truck) and headed to the coffee shop and then the race. One practice run and then the waiting game. I did really bad but still had a great weekend. Dirk destroyed his bike, Derrek was crazy on his Hard Tail, Maing was bummed, Rob got 9th. Saw Katrina Strand and some other Pro's so that was really cool. Met Mike Estee finally. Looking forward to the next one.

A battle loom's on the horizon

One week until the Fluidride Cup starts. DH and Slalom. Maing and i are doing this series and a few other DH races this season, but this first one is gonna be a battle. Should be really wet and the ten day forecast calls for rain on race day, but that could change. I'm still waiting for my rear shock to come back from being re-built so I'm not exactly ready bike wise, but I'll be fine. Going to wear my new Troy Lee helmet so i hope i don't break it the first ride. We'll see. Stay tuned for a big write up of the race weekend. O..the pic is Olivia (our 4 y/o with my new helmet)

FRCup 1
Port Angeles
April 4th - 6th
FRCup 2
Mt. Hood
May 10th - 11th
FRCup 3
Port Angeles
June 6th - 8th
FRCup 4
Mt Hood
July 12th - 13th
FRCup 5
Port Angeles
Aug 22nd - 24th
FRCup 6(Finals)
Mt Hood
Sept. 27th - 28th

Black Rock Fund Raiser day

The Black Rock Mountain Bike Association( Check their site http://www.brmba.org/ ) has been building a great trail system for a few years now, and they have been doing a BIG raffles to help raise $$ for all that goes into that. We headed down in the Maing bus to ride, heckle and go to Padingtons Pizza. I'll sum it up.....Arbys is slow, People in Woodburn don't like us, the gas station was a gong show, Santiam Bikes locked the cash register when we walked in, Mtn Rider looked like a mugger, people in Falls city don't like us, no where to park and we see hardly any riders, Mtn Rider crashes, Lon Darts, Moostache, High 5's rule, packs laying in the bushes, load the stuff, get a flat on the van after driving 100 ft, unload the stuff, jack up the van, take off tire, dig a hole, put tire on, eat pizza, stand in line too long, Raffle too long, we heckle, we heckle, movie projector lame, Jamie's movie great but projector lame, drive home way too late, Mtn rider win's 2 year Sub. to unknown Magazine, Flying j has Grip, Raja cut off. I'm tired.

Port Angeles Shuttle day (AKA-Road trip #1)

A few years back i heard about some races at "Dry Hill" in Port Angeles, Wa. Sounded like a cool area but i never made it up there. I heard about the shuttle day's they had on forum's like ride monkey and mtbr.So a month or so ago i heard they we're having a spring fling thing and the first thing i thought was i had to get some of the freaks and go. So i got Maing,Whiplash, Rubberdown,Josh, Darren from Van and we headed up. The Raja and his band of thieves wanted to head up the night before so they could make a big entrance but we left EARLY sun morning. I went to bed too late ( as i was getting up at 3:45 and it was daylight savings) so when Irish Rob text messaged me at 12:30 AM and woke me up half way into my 4 hours of sleep i was not too stoked. Rubberdown said he would be at my place at 3:45, so at 4 i was thinking i should call him. I did. He's like " I'm just leaving man" I'm thinking .....ok....and he says " Mind if i get a cup of coffee on the way?" I was like How about on the way. So he shows up, and then a cop pulls in. After he charmed the officer away we loaded up and headed for Josh's. He was waiting a while but was still awake. While heading for Whiplash's house, Rubberdown figured out it was time to set the clocks ahead. He was bummed, and offered to buy coffee for all of us. but not at starbucks. So when we got on the road i was telling rubberdown how Irish rob woke me up with his text message, and i said " a few years back and i would have called there hotel for a 6 am wake up". He said " How about me". So he called the Red Lion and got the Raja's # and gave them a wake up call. SO... we had a good 4.sompin hour drive and got to the trails. Lot's of people there. When we we're driving through Port Angeles i was thinking "i hope this trip was a good idea" but after we registered,payed and did our first run i knew it was worth the long drive. The trucks were moving fast. One driver must have been having a fun time as he was rocking the truck really good. I was having trouble standing one trip up. Anyway...the trails were great. Rooty,rocky, and plenty of steep sections. Wet but not muddy. A few jumps, steep roll downs etc... The Pro course was nutty. I got stuck on one off camber rock slab but other than that i was good. The other trails i rode had plenty of cool tech sections. I did 9 or 10 runs with no crashes. I guess i wasn't riding hard enough. Whiplash broke off half of his visor, and bounced off a tree or two on the pro course. ( lot of visor problems lately) Irish Rob had some sort of crazy dismount, but was ok. Josh crashed once i think. We did about 5 Weeks of riding compared to what we do at Falls City. We ended up getting home around midnight. Typical. Up at 7 to go to work and try to stay awake all day. The video i took was sub par..but those things happen i guess. Thanks to the O.D.S. for the hard work on those trails and for having a great shuttle day, and thanks to the Westside Freeride guys who made a 21 hour day seem like no big deal. Looking forward to road trip #2

Falls City Again and again

Back down to Falls City for more abuse. Maing, Robholio and i picked up Lon from Boise for a sweet day of riding. Spring like weather and mostly good dirt. Flying J and Mtn Rider showed a litle after us and the fun started. MTN RIder was in Basic and was hitting the Simulator, did a big no footer and couldn't get the pedals back. He must have been 8 or 9 feet in the air and drooped like a rock. Slam! Looked like he fell out of a tree, belly flop style. Shoe came off, visor shattered. Visor shrapnel cut up his face a bit. Got up, took off the rest of his visor and went back and did it again. He's a tough guy and a great rider. I crashed like a fool on the entrance to Sunday stroll twice. Soft dirt is my friend. Mtn Rider crashed there also. Later Robholio crashed hard on a stump jump..o ya and Lon from Boise crashed in Basic. We showed Lon some of the other trails and he seemed to like the area. good day but way to much Carnage asada.

The last three rides

The last 3 rides at Falls City have been pretty fun. I saw the completion of the new and improved Sunday Stroll trail and the new HUGE take off for the ET jump. Pedaling into that all i good see was the jump. Kind of intimidating. Of course Mtn Rider was doing some sweet move on it,like hitting his head on a branch. Maing had a bowell jarring crash. I rolled into the lower section of Grannys foot. That is a cool section. More trail like that please. I had a good crash in Basic, when i nosed in of a down hill drop. Wheel,head then shoulder. I love soft dirt. Fat Larry was hitting up Sunday Stroll and cased so hard that he smashed his wheel. I thought those Atom Lab rims were strong. Not strong enough. He was out for the day ,so he figured he would ask his Girl to marry him. Chip hit the ski jump up top and cartwheeled almost into a tree. Very exciting. I got Dave out there for the first time and he liked the taste of the Black rock dirt. Crazy Jake's kid face planted and got some blood on the ground. The new ladder drop after the Halo drop is sweet. We hit that like 3 times. Irish Rob did the cliff drop and the drop won. Lot's more cool stuff went down.Jamie and I thought we we're working for a tool company at times but that's how it is sometimes.

Spring is coming!

I'm in Bike

Thank's to K.P. ( the photo master) It's the March issue, the Titec add.

Just Another Day

1/22/2008

Down to Falls City for more wet riding. The Red Raja picked me up early and we headed to the closest coffee drive through. We pulled in right behind Whiplash and Josh (who needs a nick name) Raja said “Let’s pretend we’re stealing the bikes” Sounds good. We got low and he started shaking the bikes, I slapped the side of the car and Josh came out ready to fight to the death to defend his new Norco A line. Funny stuff. Got down there really fast ‘cause the Trailhead Cycles van has one speed. Full speed. Played at Basic training for a while. Same ol thing. Josh was looking good on the A line. No one else was showing so we headed up. Stopped by Brake Check and Raja stepped it up and hit one of the jumps by the road for the first time. SMOOTH! We hit Dino’s re-route of upper Bonzi which is always a blast. Whiplash hit the Cliff drop. Again. He landed way down. At least 18 feet I think. Either way it’s big. Did another section of Bonzi then got on Granny’s Kitchen. The E.T. was closed for re-construction so we headed to the Halo/Halette drop. Raja and Josh were first timers on the Halette drop so that was good to see. Whiplash hit the halo really big. Biggest he’s done it I’d say. He compressed so hard and then for a second I thought he was going down , but he caught traction again and was good. Short ride for the raja and I but hey…it’s cold and wet.