Monthly Archives: May 2012

Kona Grassroots DH – Floris Snoeren Reports from Belgium and Germany

Posted on 05/29/2012 by eddy

13-05-2012. Minidownhillcup Filthy Trails, Belgium.
The track was very short but very nice, cool jumps and a nice rock-garden. Practice was on Sunday morning. i got all my lines together and it felt good. I was ready for the race. My first race run wasn’t that good, made a small mistake on the rock-garden. Luckily I got to redo my first run because there were some technical difficulties with the time registration. Did my run again and it felt better, came thru the rock-garden without any mistakes. My time was 37,02 seconds. Came in 3th. Second run was better, paddled as hard as I could but that wasn’t enough (working on my strength now haha). My time was 36,90 remained 3th. I had a nice day riding my bike, but wasn’t very happy with the results.

18/19/20-05-2012. IXS German Downhill Cup Winterberg, Germany.
Friday was trackwalk and practice, with the trackwalk I saw it was a real downhill track. It looked like good fun. During practice I had some trouble with staying on my bike, had a few big crashes. After that I rode a couple runs with Tom Bersselaar and he showed me some good lines. In the evening I did some dirtjumping with a few friends. It was fun. Saturday morning I had to get up early for another training session. I ran into Lars Veenstra and did a few practice runs with him. Saturday afternoon was the seeding run. Top section went really good. But at the bottom of the tracki had a small crash. I gave everything I had to make up a few seconds. When I crossed the finish line I was first and was really surprised cause I had a crash. BUT, there were still 3 guys who had to ride. At the end of the day I was 3th pretty stoked on that. My time was, 2:32.010. Sunday was raceday. It had rained so the track was muddy, mostly the bottom section. We all had one run, so it had to be spot on. To bad I crashed several times. I was very disappointed. My time was 3:24.176 and I came in 5th. Wasn’t that happy with my time but I had a great weekend riding my bike with friends.

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Trans-Sylvania Epic Stage 1: Barry Wicks 2nd

Posted on 05/28/2012 by eddy

State College, PA – Like clockwork, the sold out NoTubes Trans-Sylvania Epic p/b DirtRag greeted riders yet again with high temps and high humidity on the 20K individual time trial that kicks off the race. Despite mother nature doing her best to thwart the efforts, the mix of a little of everything possible from gravel to moto course to giant buried tires to Pennsylvania’s lush green singletrack kept racers smiling if not sweating in the hour long opening effort.

The third year of the TSEpic saw two time returning champ and Olympic Team hopeful Jeremiah Bishop of the the Cannondale Factory Team chew through the field catching every rider in the elite men’s category. However, the large margin of victory Bishop enjoyed in 2011′s opening stage over the rest of the field was not to be. Kona rider Barry Wicks held Bishop close and finished a few seconds more than one minute behind on the opening 12.5 mile course. These two world class racers hold a small advantage over Redline’s Justin Lindine and Aaron Snyder of the SCOTT Pro Mountain Bike Team.

Click the image to see an interview of Barry after today’s stage

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Alex Stock Wins the Hamsterley Forest Enduro

Posted on 05/28/2012 by eddy

From Dirt Magazine: What a scorcher!! With the weather hotting up around the country this past week and the elite start list stacked with the UK’s best enduro riders, round 3 of the UK Gravity Enduro was set for some hot racing. Hamsterley Forest near Durham was the venue and the weather stayed awesome with blue skies and hot sun both days, adding to a good atmosphere for the race. As mentioned this round saw the attendance of the likes of Alex Stock, Joe Barnes and Dan Atherton, the first time for any of these guys to race together at a UK endure round, so with the exception of a couple of names the best the UK has to offer in enduro terms were here to race and it was going to be interesting to see who would come out on top. Read more

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Team Kona Headed To Trannsylvania!

Posted on 05/24/2012 by wicks

Demo Dave has the trailer loaded up and is headed east to beautiful Pennsylvania. The 2012 Transylvania Epic starts Sunday. Team Kona riders Barry Wicks and Cory Wallace are headed out to battle some of the worlds best MTB stage racers on the heavy, rocky terrain around State College, PA. Team S+M/Kona Grassroots rider Alice Pennington is also making the trip out to battle the worlds best female endurance racers during the 7 day stage race. You can follow along with daily dispatches from the race from Team member Barry Wicks here on the COG, and also on the Kona Facebook and Twitter pages. You can find video coverage of each day, including rider interviews, from our friends over at Cyclingdirt. Good luck Guys!

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Free Strength in Numbers Online Premier Live for the Next 24 Hours – Watch Aggy Steal the Show

Posted on 05/23/2012 by eddy

On Thursday, May 24th at 12:00pm PST (9:00pm CET) Anthill Films will broadcast the online premiere of “STRENGTH IN NUMBERS” live on RedBull.com/bike. This is going to be a unique global event in the world of mountain biking: Watch the film simultaneously with tens of thousands of people from every corner of the mountain bike world through the interactive, live online premiere – for free! Read More→

Posted in DirtJump, Downhill, Freeride, The Team, Videos | Leave a comment

Spencer Paxson: The Truth And Racing World Cups

Posted on 05/23/2012 by wicks

After three international trips, four World Cup events, several big domestic events, and over 30-weeks of discipline and training, the formal 2012 Olympic Campaign is complete! For the last 8 months, with the support of my family, friends, and sponsors, I have dedicated my best energy to this pursuit. It was always a long shot for me, with my recent history as a privateer bike racer with a desk job (an “elite-amateur” if you will), lining up not just to participate, but to compete against the best in the world. The outcome? My name will not be on the list of two US riders going to London this August. Instead, I will remain an unofficial “alternate” for the Games in August. If USAC needs me to step in and fill somebody’s shoes, I will be there! But that is an unlikely scenario.

I have just returned from a long trip to Europe for Rounds 3 and 4 of the UCI World Cup. It’s easy to get wrapped up in something that you’ve dreamed about doing since you were a child, and to think, absurdly that if you put your best foot forward, it all has to work out just as you ever hoped it would…right?? Over the last few weeks, I have been channeling a mantra along the lines of “the pain of discipline is never as difficult as the pain of regret.” More than anything, this race season has been a profound and indispensable experience in personal growth! With or without a ticket to London, I am coming away from this endeavor a bigger and better person – I gave my best shot at pursuing an opportunity that very few receive, and that in itself is my true success. I will not look back with any regrets, whatsoever. Read More

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Cory Wallace Featured in Privateer Magazine

Posted on 05/23/2012 by eddy

Click the image to read the full feature. Get the magazine here

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Mitch Delfs Wins the 1st Round Canada Cup DH in Mont Tremblant Quebec

Posted on 05/23/2012 by eddy

Kona DH team mechanic Matthieu Dupelle reports: Last weekend was the first race of the Canada Cup series in Mont Tremblant Quebec and Mitch Delfs took first place by nearly 3 seconds on the pedaling fitness course that is not Mitch’s specialty, but it proves that his trainning is on the right track. Next week’s stop will be at the Bromont Classic which will be a big steep challenge.

Posted in Downhill, Racing, The Team | 1 Comment

Red Bull Bergline: Man Down – Antoine Bizet Broke His Collarbone

Posted on 05/22/2012 by eddy

We don’t have many details at this time, but were notified by photographer Ale Di Lullo who was shooting the event that French freeride phenom and Kona rider Antoine Bizet broke his collarbone during the Red Bull Bergline competition this past weekend in Winterberg, Germany. We wish you a speedy recovery Bizzy. Heal up well and see you in Chatel!

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Karim Interview On All Mountain Addict

Posted on 05/22/2012 by wicks

Interview with Karim Amour by the Portugese web site All Mountain Addict

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The Bike Gallery’s Sandy Ridge Demo Day Friday May 25th

Posted on 05/22/2012 by eddy

On Friday, May 25th we’ll be at the trailhead with our Trek and Kona mountain bike demo fleet from 10am – 4pm. We’ll be there all day riding, grilling food, and having a great time. There might be a frisbee being thrown as well.

Sandy Ridge recently completed work on a new staging area that has room for about 40 cars. There are two bathrooms as well. From the parking area, there is a trail that leads to the gate and road that climbs to the top of the trails. There are trails for all abilities, but a good portion of them are intermediate/advanced. If you’re looking for a new mountain bike, or want to see how these new bikes handle, this will be a perfect chance! Read More→

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Kona Sponsored Trail Day on Galbraith

Posted on 05/21/2012 by cory

the-geekFrom the reasoning of the Dawg name to the best comic book authors, from the history of the Hot to a timeline of industrial music, Cory has the trivia, and the opinions to mouth off about it.

On any beautiful May Saturday in Bellingham, WA, most mountain bikers are, well, mountain biking. This past Saturday, however, over 30 mountain bikers worked up on Galbraith to re-open one of the trails temporarily closed due to logging.

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