Contrary to years past, the weather at the Sea Otter Classic this year was beautiful–warm, sunny and teaming with bike riders of all sizes, abilities and classes. The Kona Factory team was there along with a few Clump members doing what they do so well, riding bikes. Sea Otter is the official opening of the riding season here in North America and what way to kick it off. Racing for all ages and a few stunt riding zones to show off some skills.
The first two cross races were this past weekend and more podiums for Kona.
It was also Helens first two races on the Kona Major Jake taking first at FSA Star Crossed and fourth at Rad Racings GP of Cyclocross.
Portland, Oregon is known for two things. It’s one of the most cycling friendly cities in the US and it has the largest amount of adult dance clubs per capita in North America. Everyone on the RV could relate to both. When it came to the cycling side of the equation, the one day we spent in Portland was dominated by super urban shredder, Wayne Goss. The kid from Smithers, BC sure can ride the street.
Slope-style is very dependent on the weather and over the past few years there has been ups and downs all over the planet and this year at Winter Park mother nature was playing some games. On Saturday she decided to let up and let the best slope-style riders in the world finally come out to play. If the best slope-style riders were there that means so was the Clump.
The whole team came out and in the end Aggy and Paul Bass made it to the finals after a lot of unreal riding and a lot of spectacular crashes.
World Cups are the epitome of mountain bike racing at the highest level. This year in Mont Sainte Anne, the venue for the 2010 Mountain Bike World Championships, was no exception. With the industry factory pits, to the caliber of racers attending; it is really big show.
In attendance at this years event was Barry Wicks and Kris Sneddon on the Xc side and Joe “Smitty the Red” Smith racing on the Stab Supreme. Over the years Quebec has had a reputation for wet and greasy conditions to test the riders abilities as well as their mechanics knowledge in keeping the rigs up and running in such tough conditions and this year was no pop quiz.
2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships in Granby, Colorado. Kona Factory team was there and put the pedal down to take three top fifteen spots in) the the Cross Country event (Ryan in 8th, Barry in 10th and Tonkin in 12) and a 4th place finish in the short track. (Trebon).
Elite men’s short track
With about 10 minutes to go in the elite men’s short track national championships race, Adam Craig (Giant) launched an explosive attack to catapult himself from third to first. Once off the front, Craig grew his gap to take a convincing win ahead of Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Racing) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru/Gary Fisher) and Ryan Trebon in 4th place.
Leogang, July 13th – Sam Pigrim wins the biggest 26TRIX ever, Andreu Lacondeguy takes home the Oakley Sick O Award with a 40ft. flatspin on the Suzuki Air Time Line and Martin Söderström won the wildcard to Whistler’s Crankworx. Nick Beer wins the iXS European DH Cup and Boris Tetzlaff becomes Austrian Downhill Champion.
Graham Agassiz and Kona Euro riders Pascal Breitenstein and Niki Leitner with top ten finishes.
Whistler Creekside was thriving with energy as the seventh and final stage of the BC Bike Race rolled into town.
370 racers from more than 16 countries have tested their bodies, their bikes and, in some cases, their friendships this week while pedaling through more than 350 kilometers of singletrack in south western British Columbia.
The final Whistler stage was a mere 30km long, roughly half the distance of the other stages in the race. In speaking to racers after Stage 6 in Squamish, many were relieved to have less distance to cover on the final day…the finisher’s medal was within reach.
Squamish is known as the recreation capital of Canada and yesterday more than 400 riders in BC Bike Race understood why mountain biking falls under that umbrella.
The usual daily rider contingent was enhanced by a solid 15% today, as roughly 50 people got into their riding gear and followed the pack as they ripped out onto the highly anticipated Day 6 singletrack. Just before the start gun went off, the group of guest riders gathered together beneath the large, arching bob logo for a VIP photo. This included a few rag tag employees of Kona as well as few Freeride greats sporting spandex.
Thursday’s BC Bike Race route, the second one on the Sunshine Coast, was much anticipated by both BCBR staff and return riders simply because its notorious Hwy 102 trail brings riders to a slick and swoopy mountain bike nirvana. Not a bad way to wrap up a solid day of mountain biking
Beneath endless bluebird skies, the almost 370 BCBR participants queued up for the start of their Sunshine Coast – Part II adventure; their fifth consecutive day of mountain biking in south-western BC. During Stage 4 on Wednesday, many riders were cursing Course Designer, Rod Camposano, because of the relentless climbing he threw at them. However, by dinner time, the conversation had turned to how much riders loved the trails.
Ah, Canada Day – the holiday where “you can do anything” for one day. Maybe that’s not the holiday’s real motto, but it is certainly the experience that BC Bike Race organizers would like to create on this day for their participants.
How’s this for the start of the fourth day of epic mountain biking and a celebration of west coast Canada? A 4:30am wake-up call as pre-cursor to watching the remnants of a beautiful sunrise over the Georgia Straight while waiting to board the first BC Ferries crossing of the day. Then chowing on breakfast while admiring the view of the coastal areas off the bow.
Before the third stage of BC Bike Race was even underway today, event organizers were dealt a potentially show-stopping challenge this morning on course: sabotage. The course had been completely flagged for the third day and racers were lined up in the start chute ready to ride when the word came in over event radios.
Without hesitation, course director Jeremy Grasby jumped on one of the safety team dirt bikes and blasted onto the course to replace the critical missing flags while riders fidgeted on their bikes in the start chute. Sabotage is not uncommon during races like this; community members opposed to using the land for mountain biking make their point by removing flagging, placing obstacles on the trail and more. Beyond being a huge inconvenience for race organizers, such interference can be downright dangerous for riders. Incredibly, less than 8 minutes later, the flagging was fixed, the start gun fired and racers were off, spinning through the Village of Cumberland streets enroute to the trailhead.
The slight morning delay did not slow down the action on course. This was another lengthy day of almost all singletrack and riders appeared to really enjoy flowing with the trails, many of which were purpose built by local mountain bike enthusiasts or this segment of the BC Bike Race. Local course designers also conduct trail maintenance and preservation in an attempt to keep the trails active and open for riders. Again it was a battle royal for the top spots on day 3.
A fierce battle, indeed. Today, Team Jamis/Santa Cruz, Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard, blasted through the trails in a blistering 2:51:53, with rivals Team Kona, Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks literally on their heels at one second later. McGrath and Sheppard retain the coveted leader’s jersey for the GC but will have to work hard to keep it, with Team Kona only 73 seconds behind overall.
