My life kicked back into gear over the past few weeks in a very good way. Real Estate closings and new DH bikes are never bad things to have in the world of Jut. Lately on rides I can see and feel improvents in my skill level and my fitness is coming back as well. Windrock, Black Mountain, Farlow, Kitsuma, Wilson's Creek, DJ's, street and some local underground flavor. You name it, I've ridden it in the last two weeks.
Most recently was the trip to Wilson's Creek for the third annual NORAMM. Having raced ORAMM for the last three years on a variety of different bikes with varing degrees of hangovers, I figure I will finish, no matter how much I try not too. So, I decided to mix it up and go for a ride that has 100% more single track and 1,000% more jumps, with beer stops along the course and at the finish. A crew of seven lucky party goers under the instruction of the one they call Tomato descended upon Wilson Creek and managed to neither hurt ourselves or meet the park ranger and his dog. The night ride was one of the best in a long time and the days adventure on new trails never let me down. Wilson Creek was as cool and fun as people said it was and I can't wait to go back. Beer stops were enforced and I think I probably maintained a 5/1 beer to water ratio during my entire time at was at Wilson Creek. For all the boys that were a part of it, thanks for the good rides and the laughs. I'm already looking forward to NORAMM next year..
Now onto something really dumb.. The big bike itch just would not go away so I did what any bike addict does and rationalized a plan that would give me my fix. In short, trade two bikes, two frames, and a number of sweet parts out for a super bike that will allow me to dumb stuff. Once you set that plan in motion and do two weeks of squishy bike research this is what you get.
2008 Specialized Demo 7 II with all that pimp shit and a new set of I-9's to bling it out proper. OH FUCKING SNAP! This bike makes you feel like superman. Yea, I use to make fun of this sort of machine in middle tn as dudes rode around hamelton creek but lately I have been looking at lines that really call for some big bike action. I see myself floating over 25 ft step downs and riding 200 ft long elevated skinnies and that's just on day one. Well... reality checks are a bitch......
I got home on Saturday from NORAMM to find this beauty sitting in my living room having been delivered from MOAB by my oldschool bmx brethren turned mountain biker Martin Holten. I took her for a 5 minute cruise then got busy switching the wheels out to my new Industry Nines. These wheels are so hot you gotta touch them with cooking mitts. And the amount of pivots and engineering that went into the suspension is mindblowing. Note that from 2004-2008 I rode bikes with one gear and 85 mm of travel so I feel like I am in so new territory here where I can stop fighting technology and embrace the fact that having a bike with 2,000 moving parts can be fun and allow you do to really rad and at the same time stupid things like hitting this jump on day one of owning a big bike.
Yea, I was dumb. I got a little ahead of myself and thought I could do anything with a big bike. Well, I will do a lot as I realized by hitting the jump in this picture (i took this shot of scott sending it) as well as the third one in the set and sailing a cool 30 ft over a 25ft deathgap stepdown. It felt amazing! Hitting these jumps gave me more hangtime that I have ever felt on a bike and I was pulling it off. Then I got a little over confident and went for the whole set having not done a practice run up on jump #2 which was a good 23ft gap with a shorter lander. Well, the trail floats a little to the left and I thought it went straight. I had the distance but missed the lander to the right and ended up dropping to flat from a good 10 ft up. Caught some dirt or a big rock with my pedal and had all the power transfer into my ankle. What felt like bones breaking only turned out to be a really bad sprain. We'll see how quick I can rally with a sweet bike gathering dust. In the end it was probably good for me to be humbled on my first day out. Going big is fun but you gotta be ready to pay the price for 3 seconds of hang time. So on that note, I am down but not out.
Long time, no blog. In short, there is a lot going on these days. Several real estate transactions are in the works and if all goes according to plan I will cover the rent for a few months and get back to the business of having fun. The R.E. market seems to be picking up here in Asheville and my head is finally back in the game. And speaking of game, I would love to check out this new film that focuses on the foreclosure crisis in CA through the eyes of skateboarders. Bad for homeowners, good for skateboarders. Hell yea score one for the cool kids it's good to know someone is making the most out of California's problems.
As for jut rut.. I have been going downhill fast. I do not mean that my life is out of control or that I am in some dark place. No, life is good and with every shuttle run or trip up a mountain on a chair lift I am going downhill a little faster. I was worried last summer when I bought a full suspension bike that I may one day opt for the downhill (gnar) experience verses the ninja line required by single speed with 85m of travel upfront. Well, I put up a good fight but lately the single speed has been collecting dust and main riding I have done has involved riding street, dirt jumps and going downhill as fast as possible.
I did my first real downhill race a few weeks ago. The Beech Triple Crown was both humbling and inspiring. The race was awesome and it pushed the limits of what I thought was capable of on the bike. I also learned that the Maverick will take quite a beating but there is a reason DH bikes don't have a 69 degree head tube. I give it up to the Maverick for not coming apart on the last step down of the course which required leaving the ground for a good seven ft drop over a good 16ft gap to a three ft lander. It also held up last week during a Windrock beat down with T-Dog and the K-town crew who were all on bikes made for riding 80 degree slabs of rock, 14 ft gaps, and running into - then jumping off boulders. My fourth place, yet still mediocre finish at Beech encouraged me to step it up and if nothing else get a bike made to handle the sort of punishment that feels sooooo good. After a year of feeling content with my bike fleet I once again feel the need to buy a new bike (damn). This time around something must go, the most pimped out surly cross check ever @ 1,300. I also must let go of the ultimate Pisgah hard tail, a Dekerf implant complete with matching fork and one super dank custom paint job (1,000). I have been racing the Soul Cycles this year and the Sycip frame has been collecting cobwebs for months now and it is just too nice to have sitting on the floor so it could be yours too (name a price). I think getting rid of a few odd bikes should cover the cost of this bad boy. Oh, and if someone is taking a trip to the beach or the north pole and needs a pugsly, holla.
Post enduro it's been back to business. The party lifestyle has been wonderful but all good things must come to and end (or at least be put on hold). For the first time in two years I have been spending more time selling and listing homes than riding bicycles. I have also been catching up on the hours/days of sleep I missed over the last few weeks. It has felt good to get back to some sort of responsibility and professionalism. However, days at the office and showing property has meant little time for a blog wrap up of the enduro. So, in punk ass bitch fashion I am just going to poach someone elses write up. So here is my guest blogger for today, Beth Roberts and her ED9 wrap up.
In addition to be being a major reason this event actually happens, Beth not only organized, keep score and took care of the logistics for a two day event but she also documented it over the last few nights. For those that weren't there this will give you an idea of what took place over 48 hours of riding bikes and partying like it was 1999. Sit back, pop a top on that tall boy and wish you were there.. and if you see Beth out on the town buy that girl a beer. It's back to business.. Jut Rut
The Second annual Enduro from Crow’s Next Productions consumed the lives of a few dedicated riders this past June 13th and 14th.Known as the ED9 or Enduro De Nueve, this race awards the title - Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World, to the rider that accumulates the most points over the course of the weekend.The weekend consisted of the following events:
Cross-Country Race
Skinnies
Wheelies
Speed Trials
Night Time Pump Track Time Trial
Dodge Ball (non-biking)
Derby
Uphill Race
Downhill
Short Track Downhill
LakeJump
The Enduro is really just an opportunity for a few people with mad skills to get together, show off these skills, push their skills and have an unbelievably fun time doing it.Last year it was thrown together at the last minute, on a shoe string, underground, and sketchy, and turned out amazing.And the all the same goes for how it came together this year.Points were awarded a little bit differently this year.Last year the only people scored were those that were there for pretty much the entire weekend.This year we gave anyone, even random passers by, the opportunity for points in this event.The number of people participating in any one event equaled the max points awarded and it went down from there.In addition the first, second and third place winners of each event received bonus points (3, 2, 1 respectively).The above events were 11 of the 12 events of the weekend.The 12th event was “Winning the Party”, which is determined by, the main score keeper at the commencement of the party, which of course is when the Party Winner is done. And finally, additional participation points were awarded - the number of events participated in was added to the total (1-12 points).
It all began at a local trailhead Saturday morning.Marshall Hance pops out at the end of his ride just as people begin gather.He had just completed the course in 47:30, so that was the time to beat.Marshall came and raced before everyone since he had to work all day and miss out on many events which he would have certainly dominated in.Eventually everyone racing made it and was ready to go. Chief Volunteer Kylee Cross and Organizer Beth, lead the racers out down the road to the official start.Special guests to this ride included Adam Ray, pro road racer, hill climber extraordinaire, and Adam Engell - a totally random guy to us who had just finished riding this trail.Adam Engell was training for an up and coming race that covers the same ground and seemed pretty stoked to hop on to this little group ride, for a cool down maybe?The race began and Adam Ray kills it up the climb, dropping everyone but Adam Engell and they kill it till the end.Also on this trail were people who had never seen this technical challenging fast hard trail before.This included Eric Nicoletti, from Georgia, who arrived the day before with his pregnant wife of 8 months, her friend and their 4? year old child.Eric, who got turned around on the course, still managed to come in top 5, setting the tone for the weekend of subtlety killing it across the board.
Results for the Cross Country Race:
1.Adam Ray -45:45 2. A. Engell - 46:52 3. Marshall - 47:30 4. Dunn - 51:03 5. Nicoletti - 51:05
From here we traveled to Industry Nine, where the afternoon events took place.Snacking on fresh pasta salad and Pisgah Brew riders spent the next few hours preparing for the Skininies, speed trials, wheelie competition, and a dirt sprint with jumps. We were sad to have to bail on the Bunny Hop and Dirt Jumping competition, but a lot had already happened and a lot still needed to happen to finish this day of events and it was a sacrifice, benefiting some in the end, hurting others.
As photographers Jeff Zimmerman and Bryan Bloebaum began to catch air on camera, Johney Massey dominated the skinny ride, Travis and Justin killed the speed trials, and Ryan Taylor showed everyone how to ride wheelies.
Skinnies
1. Massey
2. Travis
3. Jut
4. R. Taylor
5. Bruce
Speed Trials
1. Travis
2. Jut
3. Nicoletti
4. Winston
5. R. Taylor
Wheelie
1. R. Taylor 2. Nicoletti 3. Dunn 4. Massey 5. Gabe
Before heading out to take a break and grab dinner, we fit one more quick race in. A “dirt sprint” through part of the jumps and pump track of Industry Nine’s back yard. Our youngest rider began his participation here in this quick ride through the yard. Ian, Otto’s son, laid down an amazing time it just like his dad.
Dirt Sprint
Kevin Burkhead
Otto
Bruce
R. Taylor
A. Winston
While dusk set in, ferries descended upon the Kenilworth pump track and set up tea lights throughout the dirt and grass.Around 9 something it was dark enough to start the time trial, and Otto and Ian went out for the first runs so that Ian (4 yrs old) could make bed time.This event was nearly impossible to score as each “pedal stroke” was a 7 second penalty and with it being dark we had to go on the rider’s honest opinion as to how many pedal strokes they had or had not needed.I do feel confident that the top riders nailed the whole course without penalty, and therefore got the points that they deserve. Otherwise, sorry, ya know… its really just a bunch of people hanging out so it doesn’t really matter.
Jeff Moreadith (1st) and 3rd place Marshall Hance are two people who know every curve of this track so well they could ride blindly and then there is the out-a-towner-Eric Nicoletti, 2nd place, never been here before, dropping jaws. We did find out later that Eric rides a lot at night.
Night Time Pump Track Time Trial
Jeff Moreadith
Nicoletti
Marshall
Callum
A. Winston
From the pump track those that were still in it to win it, cruised on to the ole flint street bike house to continue to work on the keg from Pisgah Brewing Company.
A killer party ensued and once ready we took off for the local park where we separated in to 4 teams of 5 and had a quick dodge ball tourney where we had our second major injury of the weekend – Travis seriously rolled an already bunk ankle in a heated match on the old fenced in basketball court.Again this year, Justin brought his team in to the final match and dominated to be the last man standing.
It was getting late.. was it 1.. 2..? Participant numbers were getting low but we still had to have a derby.The derby happens fast.Everyone gets on their bikes and as soon as your foot goes down you are out.Adam, the local favorite, dominated again.
Derby
Winston
Denny MF Stevenson
Troy
Jut
Nicoletti
We began to loose more and more participants to the lateness of the evening.This is when the “winning the party” competition begins.A posse of seriously ready to dance ladies and a few key dancing participants, Callum, Justin and Massey tore up the rug and bounced the bass under our roommates room (SORRY!).I battled the majority with respect to the volume.It was too hard to fight for a low volume as the Enduro is a once a year, unprecedented, history making event and this was all part of the competition.Eventually (around 4 am) I finally seized on a dancing break and killed the music.Up until this point Eric Nicoletti was still hanging out (!!!), with a 4 year old and pregnant wife sleeping above. He eventually caved as the last 4 chatted it up on the front porch.Adam, Callum, Justin and Massey and I had one last laugh and said good night and see ya in a few hours at the next trail head for the uphill/downhill battle.
The following post is day 2 of the ED9, day one is below.
Sunday Morning, just like Saturday morning, I sleepily emerged from my room around 7 am to find Eric Nicoletti beaming in the hall. Drinking coffee and hanging out with his 5 year old before another big day of events. Just another test of the Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World - Who can get their ass out of bed after a late and long night of dancing, dodge ball, derby and drinking.
Arriving only a little late, we found the folks who didn’t hang the night before were at the trailhead doing laps getting ready to throw down on this uphill. This trail’s a favorite downhill ride - fast, straight and steep. As a climb it was steady, rideable and painful, yet short. At 12:26:00 riders started the climb. Finishing the climb at 12:49:03, Marshall came in just ahead of Will Black, who, word on the street has it, that either he let Marshall win, or he didn’t really know where he was going. Either way, these are the finishing times we got.
Uphill Race (start 12:26:00) 1. Marshall 12:49:03 2. Will Black 12:49:06 3. Denny MF Stevenson 12:50:27 4. Adam Winston 12:51:02 5. Ian Baldwin 12:51:41
Two bikes allowed each this year meant more bikes to carry.
Kyley and Laura had sprinted up the hill ahead of racers, to set up for timing. I cruised with first aid kit, watch and Jesse to the finish of the downhill. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, Marshall pops out of the woods to report on how intense the trail felt, “it felt like my bike was flexing all over underneath me, but it was really the trail moving.” A scary downhill, but oh so much fun! Suddenly rider number 2 pops out – Otto. Marshall knew instantly that Otto had gone faster by only a few seconds. No surprise that Justin came in third on his Maverick, he definitely wanted it enough. But then wait.. It’s Eric Nicoletti!, who had NEVER ridden this trail, EVER. Wow! It’s not an easy descent, and he really nailed it.
Downhill 1. Otto 3:52 2. Marshall 3:59 3. Jut 4:17 4. Eric Nicoletti 4:18 5. Ian Baldwin 4:19
From here we emerged from the woods and were on our way to the finale at John Caldwell’s Compound. Just days before, I.R.L. Construction Cooperative had secured the lake jump, but still more work had to be done to make it safe. We needed to line it with shingles, test the water depth, then test the jump. Callum Robertson, of I.R.L. Construction, didn’t hesitate for a second before jumping in the algae covered lake to confirm that it was definitely safe. And before we chopped off the top foot of the jump, Callum was the first to launch off. Meanwhile, I am sucked in to a computer, compiling times and places, and converting them to scores.
It was time to get the short track downhill started, but the scene was just not safe. Friends and riders helped fix that. Lines were set up, areas cleared, and the 30+ second short track downhill formed. It ran through garden dirt jumps, huge step-downs, through a small clan of folks barbecuing, road gap, mega monster log pile, to sprint finish by the lake where I recorded the stop time. With crude a walkie-talkie and stop watch timing mechanism, Laura and I attempted to properly record, very short times that came down to the hundredths. Everyone had two runs, and after the first run it looked like John Caldwell might take it with the home court advantage. However, seriously amazing bad ass Kevin Burkehead was clearing the road gap and saving seconds with mad skills. Otto, winner of the mornings downhill race, nabbed second, with Caldwell barley beating Mike Mooney on a Tall Bike or really, what we might call a Monster Bike.
Short Track Downhill 1. Kevin Burkhead 0:30.34 2. Otto 0:30.83 3. Caldwell 0:31.02 4. Mooney 0:31.87 5. Jut 0:31.91
It was time for the event I had been dreading the most and was the moat excited about – The Lake Jump. Knowing that it was going to be safe really eased minds and then it was just a matter of who was going to hit this thing. 7 people stepped up to the competition: Callum, Kevin Burkhead, Mooney, Winston, Denny MF Stevenson, Eric Nicoletti, and Justin. With hound dog Walter yelping his heart out with every lake jump, the crowd cheered and the judges judged, from the banks of the lake to the bass fishing boat. Three or four judges averaged their scores on a 1-10 scale based on wow factor, style, effort and other things that I don’t know at all because I wasn’t judging. I was running the downhill course over and over again, having missed out on all the spectation of this event, it was nice to at least get some runs in.
As Dunn and Massey caught fish and Bryan Bloebaum made history with his wicked shots of lake jumpers. Pictures tell many more words here.
What was likely the winning jump - #1 Callum Robertson launched off in a cork screw rotation with serious speed and awesome overall enthusiasm.
Second place lake jumper Kevin hit the top of the ramp so hard the front wheel tacoed and shot the tube out of the tire (look closely).
3rd - Mike Mooney with absolute showmanship Adam Winton Denny Muthafckin’ Stevenson
Eric Nicoletti
Justin Mitchell After the last lake jump, we commenced to the lawn and enjoyed a classic southern home cooked bbq. Points were added, and the final winners were announced.
Eric Nicoletti with 119 points, stood out at the MBAMBW. A total stranger to the area, finds our totally cryptic blog post, gets in touch with us and shows up to crash on my Flint St. floor with his very pregnant wife, her friend and their kid. Wow. With full participation, his event placing broke down as follows: XC (5th), Skinnies (6th), Trials (3rd), Wheelie (2nd), Dirt Sprint (6th), Pumptrack (2nd), derby (5th), Party (4th), Uphill (7th), downhill (4th), Short Track DH (6th), Lake Jump (6th). Never winning any one event, but having so much overall talent and tenacity. If we had been as lax with passing out bonus points as we were last year, or as arbitrary with how they added up, he would have surely received serious bonus points for showing up and pulling it all off in all of the ways that he did. Thank You Eric Nicoleti. Hope we can do it all again next year.
Final Scores (number of events participated in)
1 eric nicoletti 119 (12) 2 Winston 102 (12) 3 Jut 100 (12) 4 Denny MF Stevenson 87 (12) 5 John Massey 77 (11) 6 Otto Meinert 74 (7) 7 Marshall 72 (5) 8 Greg Dunn 71 (9) 9 Kevin Burkhead 67 (6) 10 Gabe 56 (8) 11 Travis Nevill 54 (6) 12 Ryan Taylor 52 (4) 13 Callum 44 (5) 14 Matt Johnson 35 (4) 15 Mike Brown 34 (6) 16 Troy Foster 31 (11) 17 Mac 28 (6)
Major thanks to - All of the rest of the people that raced and played along.
Justin Mitchell for coming up with the whole idea, for his determination in seeing the lake jump come to fruition and for graciously passing the title.
Kyley Cross for racing to the top of trace ridge Sunday morning, dragging multiple racers around from point to point, taking pictures, record keeping, having fun and a bunch of other things.
John Caldwell and Nicole for hosting the afternoon’s festivities. Your place was beautiful and the bbq was unreal!
Lela Stephens and everyone else that I didn’t notice because my head was in a computer, who brought and cooked other excellent food. It was a long weekend, we were hungry.
Pisgah Brewing for providing a Keg of James Brown and Lori Diehl for her love for us at Pisgah.
Industry Nine and Jeff for letting us create a huge liability in your back yard while we do amazing things on your wheels.
Jeff Moredith for the Kenilworth Pumptrack.
Lara Lustig, Laura Goetz, and Kelly Cowan for hanging and helping and general shenanigans! And Lara you will be more in charge of scoring next year, fyi.
Chris Bennett for his incredible cookies and help at Industry Nine.
And to Ian and Melissa for not kicking us to the curb after the party.
I hope we can make it all happen again next year. The sooner you let us know that you are interested in participation, the sooner you will find out the ever so important "Save the Date". Otherwise you might not hear about it at all.
In between partying to the point that we were burning money on Friday night and jumping 3,000 dollar bikes into a pond on Sunday we covered ALOT of ground. We rode our bikes as though we were rock stars for two days for nothing more than a t-shirt for the winner and the title of MBAMBW. To me, the Enduro is what riding bikes is all about, hanging out with your friends, making new ones, testing your comfort zone, forgeting about all of life's worries and getting rad time after time. Here is the quick run down of events..
Saturday's events - XC race at Kitsuma > dirt jumps, skinnies, speed trials, pump track time trial, wheelie contest at I9 > night time pumptrack time trial at Kenelworth > nighttime dodge ball Monford Park> derby on Flint St> dance party till 4:30 am at the bike house.
After 3.5 hours of sleep it was once again time to rally. Sunday we met up at N. Mills for a crushing hill climb XC race up Trace Ridge > Downhill time trial Spencer > then it was on to camp Caldwell for the final events, Short Track Downhill race and then the finale, Lake jumping.
It took me a day just to recover enough to get this post up. My body still feels the effects of the weekend (as it should) and even though I gave it my all it was Atlanta's very own Eric Nicoletti that is now officially the Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World. It was great to pass the MBAMBW title to someone who not only rode his bike with stamina, style, and speed all weekend but also who was still on the dance floor at 4 am AND had the courage to bring his wife who is 7 months pregnant, his son who was 5 years old and his wife's friend who had no idea what to expect and stay at the flint street house where we were bumping hip hop till 4:30 am. For all you boys who didn't show because you had some excuse, well, you should take a lesson from Eric. My boy lives it and I could not feel better about handing the title off to someone of his caliber. Just so you know I still made the podium and picked up a third place. Adam Winton, took second beating me be by only two points. Final results and some amazing photos will be on the Brew Crew Blog in the next day or two for each event.
Overall the weekend could not have been better, with all recklessness that took place only three people got hurt to the point they could not continue, and no injuries were serious enough to make a trip to the hospital. We were also very pleased that no one went to jail as bailing someone out on Sunday morning would have increased the 20.00 race donation considerably.
Big thanks to our sponsors Pisgah Brewing for the keg and to Industry Nine for the pimp wheels and letting us take over the facilities on Sunday. Jeff Moreadith and John & Nichole Caldwell were incredible hosts and I thank them for allowing us the use of their properties to make my ideas come to life. To all the people who cooked awesome food, timed the races, helped with scoring, took amazing photos, drove several hours to ride all weekend or just hung out and contributed to the good vibes of the weekend I thank you all! This event could not and would not happen without all the wonderful people who came out to play and are a part of an incredible bike scene.
Yes, in these rough waters we all need stuff to look forward to. And for those of you looking for something to get excited about, consider me your new savior. Now, you may think that statement is a little over the top but I know something you don't.
THE END-uro IS COMING, ARE YOU READY?
If you're not, you better get down on your knees and pray to the mountain bike Gods for the skills, liver and legs you will need to make it through a weekend that will test every aspect of what people do on big wheel bikes these days. Just so you know how to prepare for such a feat I suggest putting in long miles, riding pump tracks in the dark, hitting dirt jumps, riding logs, bunny hopping everything in sight, practice your wheelies, going down the steepest rockiest trail you can find at speed then climbing the longest steepest hill you can find, and you probably want to know how to swim too. On top of all that, you need to practice doing all of that with little to no sleep with a six pack buzz. Pisgah Brewing will be supplying the refreshments all weekend long so you stay properly hydrated and loose. If you were at last years event then you have an idea of what to expect but know that we have a few new challenges up our sleeve to keep it freshhhh. if you were at the event last year, check your email and hit me back. If you've heard the stories and think you have what it takes to for go for the title of M.B.A.M.B.W (Most Bad Ass Mountain Biker in the World) then track me down and get the details. It's capped at 25 riders to keep it tight so you better let me know. Get ready to jump off..
I have been on vacation. No blogging, very little riding, even less working. Well, all things come to an end so it's back to work in every aspect of what Jut Rut does. I got a for a few good rides last week, showed property and started working on a new listing that will hit W. Asheville soon. I will say that now that the drought is officially over it can stop raining now.. I am heading to some do some ridge riding this afternoon and hopefully it's not too wet out there.
In the OTHER NEWS category.. This years Enduro is just a few short weeks away. The plans have been made and we will once again test 30 souls and find out who is the M.B.A.M.B.W. (Most Bass Ass Mountain Biker in the World) Two days, 15 events, two kegs, two bikes, and countless good times. Details on how to sign up are coming by the end of the week so stay tuned as Jut is back to win so tell your friends.
Wooh. Gearheads was fun. I spent quite a bit of money to have dirt jumps and a bad ass track built in a 65,000 sq ft arena and invite all my friends but hey, you only live once.
To all the peeps and sponsors who came out to play and sell some stuff I hope you enjoyed it. It will happen again only we are going to do it a little differently. As most of you know I would love to see some more cool events happening in this town and if have my way Gearheads will improve with age like a fine wine, and I am truly grateful for the companies and individuals who came out to test my first batch.
After only getting a few hours of sleep over the course of several days and taking three weeks off the bike due to working like a madman and destroying my knees on Laurel Mtn Trail it was time to come off the couch and race PMBAR. I was a little worried that my girl would rip my legs off somewhere deep in Pisgah but the race ran smooth and we had a great time. I have no idea how we finished but I am willing to bet that our route offered more single track and fun lines than anyone in the top ten. If you are racing PMBAR then gravel roads are the way to go. If you are enjoying PMBAR, then you do the whole Black Mtn trail twice, make decisions based on what would be the FUN way to go and stop and enjoy some creek time and overlooks. I know we could do that any day of the week but riding 65 miles and climbing around 14,000 ft in elevation is something you rarely do "just because".
With Gearheads and PMBAR behind me I can now focus on getting back to my Real Estate Business. Spring is bringing out some buyers and sellers along with the spring flowers and I looking forward to doing something I am familiar with rather than creating from scratch like Gearheads. As for riding, I plan on one week off the bike before starting to train for this years enduro and by training for the enduro I mean, drinking, riding anything and everything I can think of, and building up an enduro bike worthy of hanging on to my title of MBAMBW. The Enduro will take place on June 13-14 so mark it down on your calendars and get ready to both suffer and smile.
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Most recently was the trip to Wilson's Creek for the third annual NORAMM. Having raced ORAMM for the last three years on a variety of different bikes with varing degrees of hangovers, I figure I will finish, no matter how much I try not too. So, I decided to mix it up and go for a ride that has 100% more single track and 1,000% more jumps, with beer stops along the course and at the finish. A crew of seven lucky party goers under the instruction of the one they call Tomato descended upon Wilson Creek and managed to neither hurt ourselves or meet the park ranger and his dog. The night ride was one of the best in a long time and the days adventure on new trails never let me down. Wilson Creek was as cool and fun as people said it was and I can't wait to go back. Beer stops were enforced and I think I probably maintained a 5/1 beer to water ratio during my entire time at was at Wilson Creek. For all the boys that were a part of it, thanks for the good rides and the laughs. I'm already looking forward to NORAMM next year..
2008 Specialized Demo 7 II with all that pimp shit and a new set of I-9's to bling it out proper. OH FUCKING SNAP! This bike makes you feel like superman. Yea, I use to make fun of this sort of machine in middle tn as dudes rode around hamelton creek but lately I have been looking at lines that really call for some big bike action. I see myself floating over 25 ft step downs and riding 200 ft long elevated skinnies and that's just on day one. Well... reality checks are a bitch......
Yea, I was dumb. I got a little ahead of myself and thought I could do anything with a big bike. Well, I will do a lot as I realized by hitting the jump in this picture (i took this shot of scott sending it) as well as the third one in the set and sailing a cool 30 ft over a 25ft deathgap stepdown. It felt amazing! Hitting these jumps gave me more hangtime that I have ever felt on a bike and I was pulling it off. Then I got a little over confident and went for the whole set having not done a practice run up on jump #2 which was a good 23ft gap with a shorter lander. Well, the trail floats a little to the left and I thought it went straight. I had the distance but missed the lander to the right and ended up dropping to flat from a good 10 ft up. Caught some dirt or a big rock with my pedal and had all the power transfer into my ankle. What felt like bones breaking only turned out to be a really bad sprain. We'll see how quick I can rally with a sweet bike gathering dust. In the end it was probably good for me to be humbled on my first day out. Going big is fun but you gotta be ready to pay the price for 3 seconds of hang time. So on that note, I am down but not out.
