Mountain bike season is officially underway. Following release from full time duties at Humboldt State University we’ve raced four weekends in a row, and are seeing the legs come around after a late start to the 2011 season. Blew off the rust at the Shasta Lemurian Classic, a rocky and rigorous cross country race. Had a solid showing coming in 18th overall. The next weekend tested the endurance further in California’s toughest road century, the Tour of The Unknown Coast. Weather was superb, as was comradeship, and my legs got a six hour wake up completing the arduous ride for the fourth time. This got the blood pumping for the Ashland Spring Thaw the following weekend.

After knocking out our last final exam we headed to Ashland Oregon to participate in the annual mountain bike festival. Conditions were superb on Saturday as we practiced and got the bikes set up for the weekend. This was my first real race weekend on the new Operator and was very excited to see how it would handle. I set the bike up stiff and light for the moderately steep and pedally course. With single ply tubeless wheels the Operator is sitting at 37 pounds. The bike felt snappy, stiff, and quick on course. Read More→