Western Slopestyle

Bootleg: Screamin Santa Double Down

2009-12-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Moments before disaster.....

Home safely from Boulder City where I checked out the Screamin Santa SuperD and DH races this past weekend. I clipped a pedal going mach speed in the first SuperD race run and thrashed my leg and lost my glasses - I finished last in Pro and opted out of the second course. Pretty much fully scabbed my lower left leg and charlie-horsed my thigh, but I'll survive! The crash didn't sit well with me (and I preferred not to drop another $50) so just watched the DH on Sunday. I did manage to get in a few runs on the Endorphin and V-Tach and both were as fun as ever! Despite the bad luck it wa still a fun weekend in the sun...as we speak it is snowing AGAIN here in Fruita. Bah humbug!

Big ole' white flakes...

2009-12-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

Its snowing like mad here, nearly as much white stuff as I've ever seen in Fruita. I've already been off the bike for two weeks due to Thanksgiving and the subsequent flu-like virus from hell. Finally feeling better and then this happens! I'm dying to ride my bike, may have to drive to Vegas and do the Bootleg Race the weekend before Christmas. Shame its so far, but I'd walk 500 miles to ride my bike at this point.

Oh yeah, I did this video awhile ago for MRP. I don't think I ever posted it, so here ya go.

Rumors abound....

2009-11-17T08:48:00.001-08:00

Rumor has it that the only American stop on the World Cup circuit next year (Windham, NY) may be off. What a shame if it is true. BRING BACK THE WORLD CUP TO COLORADO! Seriously, what better place than somewhere here in Colorado? We have a fairly sizable population in Denver/Front Range that I'm sure would make the trip to the mountains to see legends like Steve Peat and Sam Hill. And we have mountains - much bigger than they do on the east coast.

Link to Dirt

Before the storm...

2009-11-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it was sunny and in the sixties yesterday as I sit in the coffeshop today and watch the rain come down. I'm glad I got out and did some filming yesterday while I had the chance. I rode the Frontside Overlook trail which is a primative doubletrack that climbs a few thousand feet in just a couple miles. Its no fun to climb, but a blast to descend. Its a great way to practice high speed flat turns..because thats all it is! Well, there is some gnar in there and plenty of loose dirt and babyheads.

There used to be a great trail that trapsed across the top of the Bookcliffs beginning at the summit of the overlook trail. Yesterday a brand new carsonite sign adorned with "closed" greeted me after the grueling climb. I wish the BLM would expend as much energy building trails as they do closing them.

Enjoy your weekend!

She's a ripper!

2009-10-31T15:34:00.001-07:00

Hot new winter build for the V-Tach.....

2009-10-30T12:30:00.001-07:00

Whistler photos online....

2009-10-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Photos of last week's adventure in Whistler are online at Bikemag.com. That handsome chap with the naughty pink & white helmet in the first shot is yours truly!

I'm off to do a road ride, snow sucks! Helmet cam action of Whistler should be online today.

Ibis Tranny review online...

2009-10-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

My Ibis Tranny review from the Nov. issue of Bike is now online. Check it out here. I miss that svelte little ripper!

I have two reviews going in next months issue, be sure to pick it up! I'll have a Whistler video up soon too...cheers!

I'm in love....

2009-10-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Whistler. Holy cow, what an unparalleled destination for biking. I'm sitting in the Vancouver Airport right now heading home after 4 solid days of bike testing. I clocked 3 days in the bike park (private access, no less) which amounted to about 27 runs - or 35,000 vertical feet of decescending. Wednesday I tested swome trail bikes at the Lost Lake trailsystem, a totally different version of XC than I was used to. Happy to be going home but sad to be leaving such a welcoming place and tremendous folks. The crew at Bear Back Riding did a smashing job with the whole thing and the rest of the Bike crew has three more weeks to enjoy thier company.

I've got to get going - content coming soon!

I've arrived...

2009-10-18T19:50:00.002-07:00

I've made it to Whistler! I'll be here for a week testing the piss out of the latest and greatest downhill bikes. Here is what we're doing here.

I can do this from my phone?

2009-10-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten a new smartphone that can blog! Watch out!

You gotta see this....

2009-10-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

So I recently picked up Barred for Life and I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed. Wayyy too much slow motion. Some of the shots were great (the euro stuff especially), but they were few and far between. The opening sequence features a WRX ripping around, which was pretty entertaining and got me stoked - but then the movie failed to deliver the goods. This movie has been hyped forever so it's kind a bummer that it failed to come together.

One movie I'm not at all disappointed in is What's Next? by Aaron Laroque. It's free to download or stream, how cool is that? Most of the riding is pretty damn impressive despite featuring some pretty "unknown" talent. Watch it here or find a link to download it, sit back, and enjoy! Nice one!

Next week I'm off to Whistler for a week of product testing - boo yah!

Demand these shoes!

2009-10-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Support CRC - e-mail this gu y and request these shoes be produced. Cars-R-Coffins is dope, in case you didn't know.

Still Rad!

2009-09-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

I heard a rumor that Ross Schnell has just won the Singlespeed World Championships in Durango. 2008 All-mountain World Champion and 2009 Singlespeed World Champion...a pretty badass resume! Congrats!

STEVE PEAT IS KING

2009-09-05T22:56:00.001-07:00

Steve Peat just finally won the World Championships, sick! Congrats!

Crankworx Colorado Vid....

2009-08-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here is the Crankworx Colorado slopestyle video I did for Bike Magazine, hope you like it! Sorry for the lack of content lately, too busy riding and filming!

More bike videos on BikeMag.com

Crankworx Colorado: Day One

2009-07-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Crankworx Colorado is underway! Todays events included the Downhill qualis and finals, Dual Slalom qualis, and some slopestyle practice. Rain delayed most events and the slopestyle qualifications that were supposed to take place today are postponed until tomorrow.

Phil Ott picked up a cool $2k for winning the pro men's downhill and the oh-so likable Abby Hipply (pictured) took the womens win. I had a crash in pro qualifying and didn't make the cut for finals - very upsetting considering I've done pretty well the past few weeks in the Trestle Bike Park series (3rd and 7th in the last two races - top 25 qualifiers moved onto finals today). The wet conditions didn't help this desert boy's cause, I struggled to keep momentum over the slippery roots. I have another chance to redeem myself at Sunday's Super-D.

Despite my poor performance in the race, I made the most of the day (and my media access) and got quite a bit of filming done. Slopestyle practice started off pretty slow, but once someone had guinea pigged all the lines on course everyone started throwin down. The smoothest riders today were the young Canadians; Alex Pro, Semenuk, and Kurt Sorge. Those kids got the most out of practice and combined threw more tricks than every other competitor combined. Bearclaw is here, as are the Lacondeguy boys so tomorrows qualifying should be slammin!

More updates tomorrow! Full video recap early next week, here and on Bikemag.com!

Gwin is on it!

2009-07-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

It appears our recently crowned National Champion Aaron Gwin just came in third at the Mont St. Anne World Cup round! When was the last time an American was on the podium, let alone in the top 3? Badass dude....did I mention he's been riding DH for about two years now?

Surprisingly (or not) Palmer narrowly missed the win by 30+ seconds, finishing in 75th. Ouch.

2009 National Championship

2009-07-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

2009 US National DH Championships from NoahColorado on Vimeo.

Go fullscreen if you have the bandwidth, it's HD baby!

Trials goes mainstream...

2009-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

British street / trials sensation Danny MacAskill scored the starring role in the new Doves music video....

Crested Butte race pics.....

2009-07-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Oops! I think I clipped that Aspen going into this move.....

"Those rocks look hard!"

Super-D

Practice

Meanwhile back in Fruita...

2009-06-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Flock of Lizards from NoahColorado on Vimeo.

Crested Butte Wildflower Rush

2009-06-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

This past weekend's Wildflower Rush race was a blast! Crested Butte is such a cool town and the venue at the resort was super convenient. For me the race results were mediocre with 17th in Super-D and a big fat DNF in DH. I crashed hard and heavy entering the top of the rock drop bypass. I've got a black and blue left thigh as a result, not the result I was looking for. The course was much better than in years past and it suited me pretty well so the mistake was unfortunate.

Chris Boice won the pro class with a 3.41 - pretty freaking fast. The Maribor round of the world
Cup was this past weekend and once again our latest crop of domestic talent put down some solid results. Aaron Gwin ended up 14th and Luke Strobel 16th. Canadian Steve Smith had a seasons best 7th place finish. Fabien Barel surprised quite a few folks with the win, glad to see him back on track.

Last week Bikemag.com published one of my reviews, check out another in next months print issue!Drake on Icarus

Moab

Recent pictures...

2009-06-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Angel Fire DH - Photo from Vast Action

Kessel Run - Photo by Greg Luck

Greg delivers another great pic....

2009-05-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Greg took this awesome picture of Nancy on gunny loop during last week's "group ride". She's beautiful and blisteringly fast, I'm a lucky guy!