Friday Video’s are back

Vodpod videos no longer available.I did not get to go to Crankworx this year, but it is always fun. This video is from the Enduro event, which I would love to do.

I don’t really care about this video as much as I care that the date stamp says January and look at the riding available if you are in NC. In Wisco, we will be under 6 feet of snow at that point. Ugh…

Brandon at Crankworx Slopestyle. Ya, we all wish we could ride like this.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

As you can tell, I am consumed with Whistler these days. If I could be there now I would.

Riding with the pros at Dyracuse

This week Scott and I got a chance to participate in a really cool event. The Vesrah Suzuki Offroad team hosted the Trek World Racing Downhillers to a day of offroad motorcycle riding at Dyracuse motorcycle park. Tracey Mosely was not with us, but Andrew Neethling, Justin Leov and Neko Mulally (@andrewneethling, @teamleov, @nekomulally) were all great fun. The great people there at Dyracuse really put out the red carpet effort to make us feel comfortable and at home there. They opened up early for us, groomed up the motorcycle track, sent out a reporter from the local paper etc… Thanks a ton.

Downhilling a bicycle is a lot more like riding a motorcycle than people would think. What that means is that these guys were not slouches. Here is a little video to show what they normally do.

They can ride. We had all of our bikes out there, prepped and ready to go. We also had a camera and video crew with us. Some of the photos are below and eventually there will be a video that I can link to as well.

We rode and rode and rode. Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

I also taught my friend Matt Pickersgill (@mattpickersgill) to ride a motorbike. He is 34 and never ridden one. I know, hard to believe. But, he is hooked now.

That is Matt, thinking about if he can do this. Nervous.

Out for now.

Joe

Finally another post

It has been a long time since I have posted anything here. I am sorry if you have been faithfully checking back, waiting for a post. I will try to make that up here, I will not be so absent again. I don’t really have a good reason for no posting, but I HAVE been really busy.

It all kinda started with the crash in Whistler. You may recall that I crashed really hard in Whistler in early July, separating my AC in my right shoulder. That really set me back. That was about 6-7 weeks ago, I have been training since then, but it is coming back really slowly.

This is what it looked like before it all went bad.

Byron HS

The Byron HS was a real old school HS. I am talking about really tight 90%woods 4 mile course. It was soft and it became really really rutted. So rutted that of course it was really really tough riding. This one was really hard to ride with my shoulder. I fell over a couple of times and that was quite the ordeal with a shoulder that was only about 50%.

I got a crap start and arrived late to the woods. There was about 18 people on my line and getting to the woods in 15th or so was a challenge. The course was mostly single track and passing was nearly impossible. At the woods I knew it was going to be a long day. I had my work cut out for me.

I managed to pass a few people each lap and ended up 5th. John and I were both in the +40 A class. There are a bunch of really fast guys in Illinois, especially in the A class.

But, I was completely shredded after the race. It is completely amazing what an injury and a few weeks of inactivity can do to your aggression and fitness. I have a long way to go for sure.

It was crazy hot on the line at Byron. I must have sweat out a gallon before the start.

Tight turn at Byron. The whole thing was tight, so calling out a single turn as tight seems silly.

Scott

Stone Lake HS

This was the next race on the agenda.  The series had been to this venue before, but I had not personally.  The first time around was when I was in Whistler with the family in early July.

Stone Lake is near Rice Lake Wi.  I know, I know…the Wisconsin lake thing.  It does get confusing.  Anyway, Stone Lake is up in northern Wi.  I love coming up here.  The northern part of Wisconsin is a special place.  The forest is great, and there are not many people.  But, the terrain can be challenging.

Stone Lake was a long loop.  8 miles around.  There was not a huge crowd there, only about 9 people on my line.  The course started out on a really really great MX track.  Great dirt, groomed to perfection, huge uphill jumps, really nice bermed turns.  Yow.  Then it went through some GNCC width trails.  They were fast and furious.  Then a great grassy field section and then 3 miles of the toughest roughest rock infested trail I have ever raced on.

Of course it rained the night before the race.  It is ME at the race after all, so it has to rain.  The rain didn’t hurt the MX track or the fast trails.  But, the rocky 3mile section was murder with mud.   I am talking standing up 100% of the time, trials type riding over wet slippery rocks that are flipping your bike right and left.  It was a workout.

I got another crap start (seems like my shoulder injury has turned me into a week starter).  I fell trying to get off the MX track, but pushed anyway and got up to 2nd before we got off the fast GNCC type trails.  I was passed by a guy I did not know going into the rock infested part of the race.  For 2 laps after that, I could still see John and that 2nd place guy on the MX track when we would get back to that, but then my fitness fell apart and I went backwards.

Oh well.  Those are not too bad of efforts for a guy with a bad shoulder.  I am starting to feel closer to 90% now, so I think I should get back to the front after this.

JD ripping

My Girl Gang

Me, but not going anywhere near JD's pace

Yep, that is about how well it went for me.

Out,

Joe

Friday Videos – some great ones here

It has been a while since I put up much on the blog site.  I have been super busy with work.  2 trips to France in July, our worldwide sales meeting etc…  Wow, time have flown by this summer.

I have not done as  many races as I had wanted to.  But, fall is coming and for the months of Sept and Oct, I will be racing almost every weekend.  Looking forward to that.

Anyway, here are a few gems that I have found on the web.

That first one is a great little video that I found of a kid who can rip on a no pedal bike.  Impressive.  You can see where the next generation of kids that ride flow courses will come from.

That is my favorite bed intruder cover.

If you were wondering where that came from, this is the original made from the  raw footage from the news story.

Whistler DH this week.  Wish I was there.

One last video to show why we all want to go to Whistler.

That is it for me today.  Racing starts again this weekend, so we are psyched to get back to writing about racing.

Joe