Chasing Singletrack

Too Soon

2011-10-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs passed away far to soon. Deepest sympathies to those close to him.

Ready for Snow

2011-10-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

I love riding bikes but I also love riding in the snow. I'm ready for some powder.

Gravity Bike

2011-10-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

This would be fun to ride:

down this hill (video was posted earlier):

Oregon Manifest Show

2011-10-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

There were some great entries in the Oregon Manifest 2011 this year. My favorite entry was the creative collaborations between Sycip and Fuseproject. There was also a student team category which intrigued me being a ID student. It got the gears turning a bit and I may have to approach my friend Curtis and see what happens.

Corner to Corner

2011-10-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

I had a recent discussion about Starbucks and it came up about the joke where Starbucks are on corners opposite of each other. Well, down on Robson and Thurlow, they are. Someone didn't think I was serious so via the magic of Google Maps, here you go:

View Larger Map

Foom!

2011-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

This guy is a great storyteller. Check the first vid for the original interview and the second for his music vid!

Power Lines Fall on Crashed Vehicle, Driver Trapped: MyFoxPHOENIX.com

Another Vid

2011-09-22T08:06:00.001-07:00

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS - APTOS from Anthill Films on Vimeo.

Trails

2011-09-22T05:04:00.001-07:00

Wish we had trails like this:

Boarding

2011-09-21T19:42:00.001-07:00

Went to the Banff Radical Reels show last night and it was a blast. This was one of the films shown that I thought was good. Enjoy!

Nice Plate

2011-09-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tennessee woman denied to display her love for tofu.

Still a Good One

2011-09-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Great commercial

Photo

2011-09-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a compilation photo from a ride. You can see my bike off on the right side.

Comfortably Numb Ride Data

2011-09-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here is my GPS info after riding a loop for Comfortably Numb in BC.

Post BC Depression

2011-09-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

It has been depressing riding the local trails. I love the tight technical trails. Our somewhat technical trails are becoming less technical as local Keebler Elves harvest the rocks out of the dirt.....mainly because they cannot ride over a two inch rock with five inches of travel on their bikes. Getting me a little PO'd.

Upon returning from the land of wicked awesome trailness, I realized that around these parts a hardtail is all you need. Not knocking the dualies...since that is all I have running right now. They are great and tons of fun.

Notice to those who dumb down our trails: Mountain biking is challenging. People love challenges and getting better. If you can't clean a section, improve your skills by attempting it until you can. If you don't want to improve your skills sell your mountain bike, turn in your sack or ovaries, and buy a fixie.

And if you do want to get better, this ought to inspire you. You don't become World Champ for being a D-bag.

Danny Hart: 2011 DH World Champ

Wait, are you from Boulder?

2011-09-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Went into a high end Specialized store in the city to go check out some new cross bikes. I've seen some cx bikes that are disc brake only that have peaked my interest. One was a Specialized Crux.

The girl that helped me was nice but she started off our conversation telling me she just move there from Boulder. Not exactly sure what that had to do with a disc cx bike but regardless I kept asking questions. So here is pretty much how it went down:

Girl: What can I help you with today?
Me: Just stopping by to check out cross bikes.
Girl: We have one here right now. I just moved here from Boulder.
Me: Oh, really? I went to school there. Anyways, I was....
Girl: Really? Me too? I just moved here from Boulder!
Me: Is the geometry similar to their road bikes? I just want to compare so I can see what size I would need.
Girl: Their different and you'll want to size down. You ever rack yourself on the top tube?
Me: No, I haven't had the pleasure...
Girl: Well let me tell you it's no fun! I literally just moved here from Boulder.
Me: So, I'm looking at cross bikes with disc brakes only
Girl: Well like I said I just moved here from Boulder and also saw all the new bikes Specialized is coming out with. They aren't going to offer the crux with disc only. You'll probably want to look at their touring bikes because some have disc brakes.
Me: Thanks.

Pretty Neat

2011-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

This Roundtail design caught my attention. Pretty cool.

BC Goodness

2011-08-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a couple of crazy weeks but so far I survived. Spent some time up in BC visiting family and riding some great trails. Love that Canadians keep their trails techy. Around home base people keep removing rocks and roots and make the trails super smooth. Might as well pave them then. If you can't ride over one rock in the trail maybe you should turn in your 6 inch travel trail bike for some curly bars.

Things to love about trails in BC:
- Tehcnical
- Flow
- Singletrack
- Trees
- Friendly people that say hello

Kind of depressing today when I went to ride the trails. Everything was blown out because people skid too much. The 100mm of travel felt like over kill. Now I'm going through withdrawals.

Everyone I met on the trails were on 26 dualies. No frills or marketing just rung what you brung. I'm sick of people telling me I need to be on a 29er and that's the only way to go. For me I don't think one wheel size is better than the other. It's totally personal preference. For beginners and people that lack technical skills 29ers are a good introduction into the dirt world as they roll over things better. Under a skilled rider 29ers can rip. That doesn't mean that 26 suck and should go away. I prefer a 26 wheeled bike so that is why I ride one. I like the way it handles. Why would I want to ride something I didn't like the feel of? That's why I think it's a personal preference. Anyone that tells you differently is probably trying to sell you one. I saw this in an ad "We believe that all Mountain Bikes should be 29ers. Once you go big, you will never go back. Little wheels are for kids bikes, big wheels are for grown-ups... enough said." Hmmm....I wonder why Julien Abasalon rides one.....

Enough soap box drama. So I saw a bear a lot closer than I prefer. I was cruising down some sweet singletrack and came around a blind corner. An adult black bear was sitting down looking at me. It felt like slow motion as I passed right in front of him as he (or she) just watched me go by. Wish I had the helmet cam on that one and there was no way I was going to stop for a photo.

Hit up Comfortably Numb. It's one of the premier trails in Whistler. I asked a guide company about it and the guy said "Well, you probably can't do it. Are you any good? I can look at you and can tell right away if you can do it or not. It will take you at least seven hours to do."

The next morning I rode out to the trailhead. I took my time and spend 34 minutes getting out there. Prepared for the worst I started the clock once I turned off the fireroad and headed into the singletrack. Got to say this is one of the best trails around. It was technical from beginning to end. I took some pictures here and there and attempted to helmet cam part of it but it was so rough my setup didn't even stay still or stand a chance at the rough terrain. 2 hours and 26 minutes later I dropped into Lost Lake at trails end. Super pumped. Did I mention my frame was cracked? Hit some of the sweet LL trails before heading back to the room.

I can see why this trail can take some people seven hours. It doesn't let up at all. I was mentally taxed from riding it but I can't remember the last time my smile was so big from riding a good trail.....maybe it was three years earlier on that epic ride in Squamish....

This is a smooth section of trail.

That's more like it.

Why yes, I'll take a float plane to go ride.

The Kidlets in BC are great riders. Worca puts on a lot of junior clinics and rides. Kids that are smaller than hydration packs ride wood bridges and drop down stairs. It's an awesome sight to see. If they lived here they would be mighty ticked if you removed a rock from a trail because you couldn't ride over it!

TDF 2011: Mountain Bikers Make Top 10

2011-07-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Cadel Evans on taking the win! Cool to see mountain bikers make the leap to the road scene. Three made the top 10 in the final GC. Got to say road racers are one tough group. Think about it, even the last finisher at the TDF is one bad mammojamma!

Cadel won the XC World Cup Twice

Jean Christoph Peraud was a normal on the WC Circuit

Tom Danielson rocked collegiate MTB nats for Fort Lewis

Dumping Out

2011-07-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

The girl on the right, with her bibs around her ankles dumping out, is probably wondering why out of all places during the stage did that gal have to crash right next to her.

Camp Vids

2011-07-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

This year I had the chance to head to Colorado Springs and be part of the USAC Junior Devo Camp. The group was great and I had a lot of fun riding, coaching, meeting new people, catching up with friends, and cracking jokes. Here are some videos I put together.

USAC Rocky Mountain Junior Development Camp from Ride Trails on Vimeo.

2011 USAC Rocky Mountain Junior Development Camp from Ride Trails on Vimeo.

Blog V5.0 Million or Something Similar

2011-07-14T13:12:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I posted here after moving to the I Ride Seven blog during my short stint on the Seven Cycles Development Squad. Priorities keep changing and to be honest there is no interest on toeing the start line anymore so I relinquished my spot so someone more deserving can be on the roster.

So back to this spot where I began. The posts may be far and few between but they'll pop up here and there.

Moved

2010-10-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

This blog has been moved here.