Just a few items of note

The important stuff first. According to my sources Milwaukee Ray's indoor MTB park will be open by the first of the year. So that's good news. I can't wait to get out there as I have been experiencing severe riding withdrawal. Riding on the trainer and riding on slippery snow covered trails just isn't cutting it.

I'm currently working on a helmet fitting video with the largest trek dealership in the country. Most of the video has been shot and I am in the editing phase of the project. It will be posted on a number of websites, including the Airborne and Wheel & Sprocket Facebook pages.

Lastly, I am still working on my latest MTBing video, but I need to take a trip to get the outside footage I need. I'd like to get to Austin, TX or somewhere similar to shoot some video. I'll keep you posted.

Welcome to the off season

Well, we had a great MTB racing and riding season. I won my first race, moved up to CAT 2 and snagged a podium finish there too. While I had a great time this summer, I'm sad to see it being replaced with frozen snow covered ground.

I'm currently relaxing and recovering from the season and feeling like I'm completely neglecting my bikes. It's only been a couple weeks and I miss riding so much. Hurry up spring.

In the mean time I'm working on a few video projects including a brand new MTBing video, a helmet fitting video featuring Kali Pro products and possibly a promotional video featuring a local pro rider. Beyond that training will start for Sea Otter early next year. I plan on competing in the XC, DH, Dual Slalom and Super D races all on Airborne bikes. So I have that to look forward to while I wait for Ray's indoor MTB park to open here in Milwaukee, WI.

Winning is nice

After 3 years of trying I finally won my first WORS race 2 weeks ago. Making it even sweeter is the fact that it came at my favorite course at Lowes Creek County Park in Eau Claire, WI. Chippewa Off Road Biking Association (CORBA) puts on a great event every year. This year was no different with the return of the all-you-can eat dinner and breakfast, free kids playland and of course the prerace movie. This years choice was Leadville: Race Across the Sky, which was a nice change of pace from the usual adrenaline downhill/freeride movies of the past few years. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy those movies, but it's nice to see an interesting movie about the XC discipline.

This is what I learned from this race experience: It's better to be in front. In years past, I had to breathe the dusty air of the riders in front of me and settle for their pace in the technical terrain. Not so at this race. I had clear air and smooth sailing after out sprinting the field to the singletrack. In years past I was content to let the race unfold in front of me. Not this year. This time, I went out with the intent of leading the race and making everyone chase me. It paid off with a 1st place overall finish. It nice to see hard work and perseverance pay off.

This past weekend me and couple Patrollers went up to Levis Mound to patrol the Levis/Trow 100. Levis is one of my favorite places to ride in the state so patrolling this race was a no-brainer To watch some of the racers ride 100 miles of that trail is insane. We had a hard enough time just riding 2 laps and we're no slouches. But the good news is no one got hurt while riding the technical terrain and no one got dehydrated pushing themselves too hard. Way to go racers!!!

On the way home we stopped to ride at Blue Mound which is my favorite trail in the state. By far the most technical riding in Wisconsin, it challenges your riding skill as well as endurance. On a trail this gnarly flat tires are common place so I wasn't surprised to see Ryan flat in the first mile of riding. Then a few miles later Ernie got a flat and at mile 9 is was my turn. It's good to know Blue Mound is equal opportunity that way. It doesn't play favorites with riders running tubes or tubeless setups. Flats all around. Other than that it was some of the toughest and most fun riding I've had the privilege to conquer.

In Airborne news, Airborne Bicycles is sending the flight crew new bikes. I can't wait to get mine. I chose the Zeppelin Elite as my 2nd bike and I'm excited to put miles on it as it stands to get much more use than the Taka here in Wisconsin (not that I don't enjoy riding the Taka. Opportunities are just a bit limited in this region). There will be lots of pictures and video to share of the Zeppelin Elite in action. It should be here in a few weeks.

The Alterra Coffee Bean Classic is coming up this weekend and I hope the weather stays dry between now and then. If it does the course will be great; if not the race will give way to a slow speed affair where the biggest challenge will be staying upright. Not worth destroying a chain in my opinion but we'll see.

Racing the Airborne Taka and rocking Kali Protectives gear

As of last weekend the racing schedule really ramps up. Last weekend I competed in an endurance race and my very first downhill race at Nordic Mountain. In the endurance race, the 12 hours of John Muir, my buddy and I, Ernie, competed in the 6 hour duo race and I raced in Cat 3 for the Downhill race. Being my first downhill race and all, I thought cat 3 would be appropriate.

The endurance race didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. But I guess that is to be expected when you don't train for an event:). We have been getting a ton of rain lately and it really messed up the trail for the race. The layout of the course was hard enough, but add to that muddy and slippery conditions and you have the makings of a really tough race. The race director saw fit to delay the start of the race 2 hours to allow the trail to dry some. The trail really needed 2 days to dry out. On the 11.6 mile course I managed 2 laps of about 1:05 and my buddy averaged around 1:17 so we were only able to finish 4 laps which put us in 6th place out of 7 teams. Not a great result, but we had fun and Ernie can now call himself a racer.

The downhill race on Sunday was my first opportunity compete with the Airborne Taka (the downhill bike in the Airborne bicycle lineup). I was hoping to finish somewhere mid pack in cat 3 and not totally wreck myself in the process. I thought that was pretty ambitious for my first downhill race. However, after my first timed run I saw my time was only 3 seconds off the lead. So I started thinking about how to pick up 3 seconds. And the solution of course was to lay off the brakes. I ended up winning in cat 3 by .5 seconds which was AWESOME. I've always wanted to win a WORS race, I just didn't think it would be a downhill race.

I think being able to just jump into a race and win (even in cat 3) really says something positive about the Airborne Taka. The bike always felt well composed which was really confidence inspiring to a new downhiller like me. I couldn't be happier with the performance of the Taka. I hope I get another chance to compete in downhill race this season.

I also can't say enough about Kali Protectives and the quality of their gear. I wore the Kali Avita Carbon helmet for the endurance race. Let me just say that this is the most comfortable and light helmet I have ever used. And besides looking like it means business I found the airflow to be at least as good as my Giro Xen hemet (or any other I have used for that matter). I was wearing the Aatma full face helmet and the full body armor for the downhill race. The armor isn't the lightest out there, but it is very comfortable and distributes the weight so well that during the course of the race I never even knew I was wearing it. The helmet is very light and comfortable beside looking awesome.

At this point it's hard to comment on how well all of the protective gear actually performs it's primary function of protecting you, but let's face it... We were this gear in the hopes that we never have to test it's protective capabilities. And I would be completely fine with that. But in reading the design philosophy of Kali, it makes sense. Plus the design engineer over there, Brad Waldron, was called on to do structural work on the F18 jet fighter and Stealth B2 bomber. Anyone trusted with that task can design my protective gear any day of the week.

Anyway, like I said before the race season is ramping up, so look for updates ever few weeks. Thanks for reading.

Oh, and if you are interested feel free to subscribe to my youtube channel where I now have 16 videos posted. Just go to http://www.youtube.com/user/poontank3 and click on subscribe to be notified when new videos are posted.

And we're off and running

With the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) season opener in the books the Wisconsin mountain bike racing season is officially underway. The Iola Bump and Jump is located at the Iola Winter Sports Club and features a 60 meter ski jump. The race course offers rolling hills, open ski trails and sandy wooded singletrack with quick ups and downs. You even have the opportunity to wind underneath the ski jump itself and several chances to catch some air jumping into the jump bowl.

The goal for this year's rendition of the Bump and Jump was to win. Several factors, not the least of which was a chain issue on lap 2 while right behind the leader, contributed to a 2nd place finish instead. I could get into the other reasons, but I'd rather just say overall I had a pretty good race and I had fun. Which of course is what it's all about for me.

So while I was having my chain issue, I was passed by the 3rd and 4th place riders (maybe more, it was hard to tell). I eventually caught back up to the 3rd and 4th place riders who were still running together with a couple miles left. On the last climb of the course some guy on a 29er comes out of nowhere and and passes all of us like we were standing still. I had no idea where he came from but he appeared to be shot out of a cannon. So then there were 4 of us riding together with me at the tail end of a our small group.

I followed the guys through about a mile of singletrack and took the opportunity to rest up for a final push. In the second to last wide open section, I sprinted past 4th place. In the last clearing I sprinted past 3rd and 2nd place (2nd place was that guy who blew past us on the last hill) and finish in 2nd place 9 seconds behind the leader. It was a really exciting finish and I had a great deal of fun.

Big thank you's go out to Erin at BBG Bashguards and Race Face for their contributions to the 1x9 setup I used at the race; Erin for the superlight bashguard and Race Face for the sprocket. BBG Bashguards offers light weight but strong bashguards at an ultra-reasonable price of $18 ($12 for the guard and $6 for shipping). Thank you so much. You guys ROCK!!!!

I'm really looking forward to the next couple of races. The first is the only downhill race in the state of Wisconsin where I will be riding my new Airborne Taka (assuming I have it by mid June) and the next is the Subaru Cup Pro XCT. The downhill race will be my first ever downhill race and the Subaru Cup is one of five premier mountain bike race events held in America during the 2010 racing season. Suffice to say I'm really excited.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments.

I think I actually hurt myself

For those of you who saw the video of my crash posted on my facebook page, you know that I jumped right up after the fall. I was fine for two days after that, but today....Wow!!! My ribs are so sore. They feel like they are bruised; just achy with some sharper pains when I move a certain ways. Aleve had really helped. I'm sure I'll be fine.

Besides that, I finished building up my race bike today. It just needs a few adjustments here and there. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I posted pictures on my facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

I'm getting really excited to ride the Airborne Taka. I've been researching all the places to downhill in the midwest. So far I've found 2. One at Nordic Mountain, WI and one in Redwing, MN. Both places have races that I would really like to compete in once I get my Taka from Airborne. If anyone knows of any other options, I'd really be interested in hearing them.

That's it for now.

Well Sea Otter has come and gone, but my passion for riding has only gotten stronger because of the experience. I went to Sea Otter knowing I was going to come home with either a cross country (xc) or all mountain (am) rig. But I could never have guessed what was going to happen.

It was my last day at Sea Otter when I finally took the Taka, Airborne Bicycles downhill/freeride offering, out for a spin. Having only taken my xc bike out on a downhill (dh) course once before, I didn't considered myself much of a dh or freerider, but I do ride my xc bikes pretty aggressively.

The Taka (Japanese for falcon) is an incredibly fun bike to ride. Despite being a 40+ lbs downhill bike, it feels designed to take flight. Once airborne, it is well composed and confidence inspiring because it predictability. And what good is all that if a bike can't handle the landing? No problem for the Taka. Landings are eaten up by the Marzocchi shock and fork setup.

The ride was, dare I say, plush (this is coming from a xc rider who knows about plush). I didn't know exactly how a downhill bike should feel, but if I had to guess, this would be it. But for some reason, I expected a bike like this to be somewhat harsh, but that's just not the case.

The bike begs to be ridden fast through it's FSA/SRAM drivetrain. No matter how fast you're going, it seems to scream at you "faster!!!!" And I was only so happy to oblige. As speeds increased, so did the smile on my face. Controlling the speed are a set of Avid Juicy 3's which perform the task with no fuss. The Maxis Minion's on the WTB laserdisc wheels are not the stickiest tires in cornering on the type of trail ridden (hard packed sand), but they seem predictable and did not complain under heavy braking. I'll be able to give a more comprehensive comment on the tires as I ride them on differing types of trail.

I arrived at Sea Otter as an aggressive xc rider and left a changed rider, adding downhilling/freeriding to list of things I love about mountain biking. Thank you Reed for encouraging me to take the Taka out for a ride. I would have never guessed how much it would change my life. With the current sale prices at RScycle.com it's an absolute steal. I can't wait to get it to my local downhill course.

More from Sea Otter

I will never forget this experience. And it's not just because of the EXTREMELY sunburnt and painful neck. This is probably the best biking experience I have ever had. And that's not because of a lack of good mtbing experiences, because I have had plenty. The biking was choice, but what really made this so special was the people.

Firtly, I'd like to thank all the guys at Brunner and Airborne for giving me this opportunity to meet so many great and enthusiastic people. It was awesome getting to know and hanging out with all of you.

And to the flight crew: You are some of the best people I've ever met. Thank you for making Sea Otter such an outstanding experience. In my opinion, Airborne could not have chosen a better group of people.

It's going to be hard to go home tomorrow knowing that I won't see you guys at Sea Otter, but I know we will continue to communicate and I hope we get a chance to share some rides in the not too distant future. Thank you everyone!

The first blog entry

Today at the Sea Otter Classic in beautiful Monterey, I had the opportunity to race the new Zeppelin Elite in the Super D competition. This was my first foray into Super D and I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

They had us lay our bikes down at the finish line all facing the same way. There was so many riders in my group that the bikes were stacked 2 deep. Then they had us walk back about 20 yards, sit down with our backs facing the bikes with our hands on our heads. When they said "Go!" we sprinted up to our bikes and ran up the grassy field up to the fire road. I got a great hole shot from the run and I think I was about the first one to my bike. However, that was short lived.

My goal here was more to finish my first Sea Otter racing experience with all limbs still accounted for so I really didn't go at it with all the vigor I might have given more experience. That resulted in a lower than usual finish, but I also wasn't involved in the big crash that resulted in one participant leaving in an ambulance. I hope he is okay, but at speeds of about 35 mph, it isn't surprising that a crash would result in a major injury. But like I said I hope he is okay.

The race was about 4 miles mostly downhill on wide open fire road with a few climbs thrown in just for fun. After about what felt like 5 minutes of flying down hill, I at the finish line feeling like I wanted to keep going, but that was all there was. And that was my first racing experience at Sea Otter.

The things that stood out to me during the race about the Zeppelin Elite were the ability of the brakes to handle the extreme conditions. I never felt like I had any lack of power or noticeable fade. For a value oriented brake (Tektro Agura Comp), I think that says a lot. The Rock Shox ability to adjust from 85mm to 135mm of travel was also handy when making the transition from a rapid decent to a steep climb.