Winning/Random videos/Old bikes

I won the NW Cup in Port Angeles this weekend. It was mega dry, dusty, and fast as hell. I had a lot of fun on and off course hanging out with the rest of the Hatchet Crew (Team Robot+Team Krunkshox=Hatchet Crew/mayhem). Kevin Littlefield broke his fibula, and Killian Funk and two other people got their bikes stolen. Full race report on the way, but in the meantime...



I've had these waiting to go up on Team Robot for a while. Pick one, and watch it.

bowl to be a trail jam 2011 from bowltobeatrail on Vimeo.

Trail jam at a super unique, creative spot. It's a concrete snake run bowl with dirt jumps built to run into and out of the bowl. Pretty incredible.






More Mountain Biking Videos

You've probably seen this whip footage from Crankworx already. If you haven't, get out from under your rock and watch. Eliot Jackson's scrubs required pedaling in, full commitment, and he could still case his front wheel. Bernardo Cruz from Brazil takes the win, and it is well deserved. Every time he lands a whip it looks like he's going to die.

Lapierre at Crankworx - More Mountain Bike Videos

This Crankworx team video isn't especially rad, but I like it. If you don't, you suck.





At one point, all of Team Robot rode for Mountain Cycle. Sweet, right? Aaron, Patrick, and I all had Shockwave 9.5's, each in different colors: White, Blue, and Black. These bikes came complete with 67 degree head angles, 5 inch tall headtubes, 21.5" effective toptube lengths, 15.75" bottom bracket heights, and 9.5 inches of earth crushing travel. They were terrible bikes by today's standards, and even then we kind of knew that. But it was my first real downhill bike, and I loved, and rode, that thing to death.


Mine ended up in Idaho:




Aaron's ended up in Great Britain 4 hours away from Fort William:





And I'm not sure where Patrick's ended up. I have a hunch, though:

Team Robot and Transition Bikes Trail Jam

Reasons you should show up and not be a loser:

1) People who don't suck will receive sweet prizes, high fives, and maybe beer, all provided by Transition Bike Co.

2) Awards for "Rad Best Trick," "Totally Dialed Best Style," and "Lets Get Totally High Boost." Maybe for best skid, too.

3) Really big jumps and berms that are awesome and made of dirt

4) Beer from the fine Craftsman at Pabst, Olympia, and Raineer. Bottles, cans, and 5 gallon buckets



Riders: recommended $10 donation to the trails.

Altenative to donating $10: Robot Armageddon


Training for this super important contest should include bar humps, boner airs, dog pissers, one handers, ET's, and rad skids.

666 Posts

Team Robot's 666th post + Slayer = Dialed







In case you thought I just hated slow mo, you're an idiot. Here are four perfect uses for slow mo:


1. Bubba:



Of course the music is terrible. But watch how far forward he is on the bike. He's riding the handlebars the whole time. Bubba is the fastest rider alive, no question.





2. Nature:

Смертельно и невероятно красиво from ibigdan on Vimeo.

3. Balls:







4. Balls:

Funny bike, funny noises

The best noises I've ever heard from someone after a crash. After the guy hits the tree, it kind of sounds like an alien is eating his organs from the inside out. Also, please note the stellar 2003 freeride bike and the failed attempt to throw the horns while laying, almost passed out, on the ground.

Race news

If you don't suck at life, you already know that there's a NW Cup race at Port Angeles this weekend.

Here's a helmet cam of the Pro/expert course with some fancy, new bits:






Here's a pretty cool website for nerdy racers. Roots and Rain shows you how you are improving (or sucking) as a racer, how you compare over the last two seasons, and shows you who your arch-nemeses are. Pretty nerdy, but for all the Eric Loney's out there it's a pretty useful site to geek out on:

http://www.rootsandrain.com/




Somebody beat me to my ultimate race vehicle:





In quasi-racing news from a quasi racing event, Allride and Trigger Vision are still making killer videos, and this crankworx edit is no exception. Tussle pretty much teaches a style clinic at the Whistler DJ's:

Specialized AllRide Crankworx 2011 on pinkbike.com

Holy crap

I don't know if I've already posted this Fort Bill Gee photo, but...




Average consumer = never going able to utilize that sort of bike.

For that matter...

Average World Cup racer = never going able to utilize that sort of bike.

MBA vs. Pinkbike

While it's true that most of the tech editors at Pinkbike haven't finished puberty yet, I'll still take Pinkbike's staff over MBA's "Wrecking Crew" any day. If you've ever read an MBA bike review, or better yet one of their "bike shootouts," and wondered what the hell they were talking about, this picture should answer a lot of questions.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The people at MBA who are telling you about how a $7000 race bred, World Cup winning downhill bike performs are either:

A) Richard Cunningham; old, slow, repetitive.
B) Jimmy Mac; Old, slower, repetitive-r, plus a soul patch.

Or

C) this guy:




At some point while reading the "Wrecking Crew DH Bike Killer Shoutout Special" you probably thought to yourself,

"Self, there's no way MBA relies exclusively on the input of those old, slow, boring guys with soul patches. They must bring in some fresh, young blood every once in a while. You know, some younger guys who know the ins and outs of modern downhill riding, guys who are in touch with today's riders. Right?"

This guy comes so close to fulfilling your hopes and dreams, but is so many miles away.


Young? Check.
Hip? Maybe.
Gelled faux hawk right before going riding? Check.
Clearly rental knee pads? Check, not a good sign.
Shorts tucked into top of rental knee pads? Double check.
Mom's gardening gloves? Check.
Stunned stupor as he hears SRAM's Shawn Cruikshanks use terms like "low speed compression damping," "spring rate" and "geometry." Check, check, and triple check.


This is all why MBA is always my first pick when it's time to read a mountain bike magazine. It's comfortable, it's predictable; it fits like an old glove. It's so refreshing to pick up a brand new magazine and see that only the pictures have changed since I was 12 years old.

Useful Diagram

Can you believe we used to race on 888's, Hayes brakes and Intense Tires?