It's not all rockstar and parties. His head's down because he's got a softer side, too.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Your bike doesn't fit, bro
This is all I see anymore when I watch people ride. Either that or "your fork is too soft, bro." Once you see it, it can never be unseen.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Friday, October 16, 2015
New Poll
My favorite is the all new 2016 carbon Felt Decree 3. Sure, I love my all new 2016 carbon Felt Decree 1 in black checkerboard carbon, but how cool is this bright orange colorway on the all new 2016 carbon Felt Decree 3?
And let's talk about what a great value the all new 2016 carbon Felt Decree 3 is. XT 11-speed, Schwalbe tires, a Debonair rear shock and Soloair Pike, all on a carbon frame for only $4499? What a steal.
Can't wait
All this RAMPAGE!!! action is getting me so excited to ride the new 2016 Felt Decree:
@feltbicycles #carbon #decree #gamechanger #naturalcompetitor #longlowslack
More big news
This was also top secret until now. When Felt pro Nicola Rohrbach got 2nd place at Roc d'Azur last week, he was actually riding the new 2016 Decree FRD!
#feltdecree #feltbicycle #fastashell #newbike #650b #trailbike #mountainbike #mtb #trailriding #enduro #mtbenduro #racing #rocdazur #rocseries #enduroc
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Big news
Hey guys, sorry I've been away from the blog for so long. We've had a media blackout at Felt, so no one could talk about our awesome new trail bike... until today.
Now that I can finally share it with you, it's without any further ado that I present you the brand new 2016 Felt Decree carbon 140mm trail bike:
Team riders on the new Decree at Lake Tahoe.
From Felt: "Light, stiff and incredibly capable, the Decree features XC-like climbing, descending prowess and adjustability to match any athletes’ ultimate ride. Felt’s team of mountain bike engineers designed several versions of the Decree to ultimately create the final frame. From shock tuning, to stiffness testing to carbon selection, the engineers spared no expense in perfecting every detail of the Decree."
The straight talk from TEAM ROBOT: I've been working with Felt's engineers on this project from start to finish, and they really knocked it out of the park on this one.
From Felt: "The geometry can be adjusted by rotating eccentric chips located in the seat stay pivot. By changing the orientation of these chips, the bottom bracket height will be raised or lowered by 10mm and the head angle will be slackened or steepened by 1 degree. The adjustable geometry allows riders to personalize the Decree to unique riding styles."
The straight talk from TEAM ROBOT: Flip your geometry from awesome to awesome-r.
From Felt: "The cables are all internally routed with an entrance at the head tube and an exit near the bottom bracket. Both sides have removable plugs to fit Di2, shift, or brake cable that can be configured to suit the rider’s needs. These features result in a clean, snag-free design."
The straight talk from TEAM ROBOT: I know, I know, you don't like internal cable routing and normally neither do I. But this time it's been done so cleanly, I think you might change your mind. Keep your mind open.
From Felt: "The seat tube pivot is around 20mm lower than on previous models to allow for more seat post insertion on the smaller sizes. The seat tube lengths have also been made shorter to allow more clearance for the mechanisms on dropper posts. With this option, riders have a wider range of fits on the bike."
The straight talk from TEAM ROBOT: I'm tall so I don't have a lot experience with this, but apparently smaller people have trouble fitting their dropper posts in their frames with room to spare. Felt solved that.
Check out more on our website, and check out the full product development cycle that I got to be part of: http://www.feltbicycles.com/decree/
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Torch: passed
The new Sam Blenkinsop is officially: Phil Atwill.
Using way too much energy the whole way down the track to keep us entertained.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Sponsorship season
All around the country, marketing managers' inboxes are being flooded by 15 year olds who want blue handlebars, by aging and increasingly irrelevant has-beens trying to squeeze a couple more years out of their past success, and by "team managers" for regional and junior development Cat 2 race teams.
The amount of self-aggrandizement, unwarranted stoke, and lack of self-awareness being unleashed right now makes American Idol tryouts look like AA's confession night. The misspellings alone make a fourth grade spelling bee look like a Harvard study group.
The only people who aren't sending in resumes are the real athletes. There's two reasons for this. First, real athletes are relevant and most people in the industry already know them, but second, a lot of real athletes are mouth-breathing neanderthals and don't know what a resume is. Of course correlation isn't causation, but for instance, there's a strong correlation between my ability to type coherent sentences and my apparent inability to qualify at a World Cup.
So if you find yourself short on race results this October but you still need to line up #freeshitbro for next year, there's a right way and a wrong way to do this dance. Given that we're in the 21st century, consider a demo roll or video resume. It's a nice change of pace for marketing managers who are used to reading page after page of race results and flipping through black and white photocopied images on cheap printer paper. With the power of music harnessed in your video, you have the ability to set the emotional tone for whoever is watching your resume. Video resumes show that you're fluent in new media, a necessary visual language for anyone in the marketing business.
Done correctly, a video resume can really set you apart from the competition:
Or as I like to call them, "buyers clubs."
The only people who aren't sending in resumes are the real athletes. There's two reasons for this. First, real athletes are relevant and most people in the industry already know them, but second, a lot of real athletes are mouth-breathing neanderthals and don't know what a resume is. Of course correlation isn't causation, but for instance, there's a strong correlation between my ability to type coherent sentences and my apparent inability to qualify at a World Cup.
Ogre from "Revenge of the Nerds" or Sam Dale on a bad hair day? We report, you decide.
So if you find yourself short on race results this October but you still need to line up #freeshitbro for next year, there's a right way and a wrong way to do this dance. Given that we're in the 21st century, consider a demo roll or video resume. It's a nice change of pace for marketing managers who are used to reading page after page of race results and flipping through black and white photocopied images on cheap printer paper. With the power of music harnessed in your video, you have the ability to set the emotional tone for whoever is watching your resume. Video resumes show that you're fluent in new media, a necessary visual language for anyone in the marketing business.
Done correctly, a video resume can really set you apart from the competition:
Friday, October 2, 2015
What we're all thinking
With the notable exception of Lopes and Bingelli, this is what every single rider in the pro field wants to do in their Sea Otter race run:
Stand Up & Pedal - More Mountain Bike Videos
Fact: by the time he pulled over, he'd already hit 95% of the photographers and video guys.
If you're not on the first page of results at the Otter, trust me, no one is going to know whether you got 26th or 79th, whether you had a flat, whether you finished your run, or if you got abducted by aliens midway down the track. As far as established media is concerned, manual-no pedal guy from the video had a complete race run.
This is partly because the rest of the track looks like hell and the jumps and berms up top always look decent, but mostly because the pro photo guys are as burned out on Sea Otter as the racers.
Side note: look how small this XL frame from 2013 is. Circus bear on kid's bike.
When this photo landed on Pinkbike, you could tell it's a Margus Riga photo by how far down the track he walked to take it. None of the other photographers on retainer at Pinkbike would ever bother walking to the end of the first uphill for photos. This is clearly the work of a young up and comer, full of piss and vinegar, of dreams and hopes, trying to find a new angle and set himself apart artistically from the established guys. In other words, a try-hard.
The young guys don't realize it's a long season and there will be plenty of time to flex your artistic muscles on your own projects and with other clients. If you're even at Sea Otter, this is not an artistic exercise. This is purely commercial, and the only thing that matters is meeting the extremely low artistic expectations of your corporate overlords. Meeting those expectations can and should be done on the first jump straight at the top of the hill, easy walking distance from the road, and preferably seated, with a beer in hand, fully embracing the absurdity, hopelessness, and nihilism of your existence.
Stand Up & Pedal - More Mountain Bike Videos
Fact: by the time he pulled over, he'd already hit 95% of the photographers and video guys.
If you're not on the first page of results at the Otter, trust me, no one is going to know whether you got 26th or 79th, whether you had a flat, whether you finished your run, or if you got abducted by aliens midway down the track. As far as established media is concerned, manual-no pedal guy from the video had a complete race run.
This is partly because the rest of the track looks like hell and the jumps and berms up top always look decent, but mostly because the pro photo guys are as burned out on Sea Otter as the racers.
Side note: look how small this XL frame from 2013 is. Circus bear on kid's bike.
When this photo landed on Pinkbike, you could tell it's a Margus Riga photo by how far down the track he walked to take it. None of the other photographers on retainer at Pinkbike would ever bother walking to the end of the first uphill for photos. This is clearly the work of a young up and comer, full of piss and vinegar, of dreams and hopes, trying to find a new angle and set himself apart artistically from the established guys. In other words, a try-hard.
The young guys don't realize it's a long season and there will be plenty of time to flex your artistic muscles on your own projects and with other clients. If you're even at Sea Otter, this is not an artistic exercise. This is purely commercial, and the only thing that matters is meeting the extremely low artistic expectations of your corporate overlords. Meeting those expectations can and should be done on the first jump straight at the top of the hill, easy walking distance from the road, and preferably seated, with a beer in hand, fully embracing the absurdity, hopelessness, and nihilism of your existence.
A philosophy of Sea Otter photography.
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