2010 St. George Desert Rampage

What a race! Perfect weather, familiar faces, new faces, and great riding. This is the first time racing on my new Gary Fisher Superfly and it worked wonderous! It had so much control and stability because of the big wheels. The bike felt so good. Everyone else on the technical rocky climbs were just falling over and I just zoomed right up. I don't know if it's me or my bike but I think it's mostly me because I can go up these trails just fine on my old 26er also. But it was still a lot easier on my new 29er. I had a war with some guy on the first major set climbs in the race. Every time on the start of the hill he would pass me at the first of the climb then every time at the top of the climb I would pass him. Then another climb, he would pass me again at the first of the climb then I pass him at the top. I think he goes too hard on the climbs and slows down at the end. Well, he did beat me on the downhill because I am not a good on the downhills(something I need to work on). I think I finished 7th place, I need to get in better shape though. I raced in the Beginner 30-39 age group. The next race is in April at Hurricane and I can't wait.

First mountain riding on the new bike...

Last Tuesday, I worked until 2:30 then headed to Provo to go to the bike shop to purchase new shoes and went on a bike ride on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail afterwards. It was great at the first half of the ride then it turned into a nightmare. I got a flat, put a new tube in then I didn't have enough CO2 air to fill it up real good so I thought I could go slow and miss the rocks on the way back. As soon as I got the rear wheel on the bike, the chain was in a different cog ring than where the rear derailler was set up, I didn't know about it so I cranked it hard and then broke the chain. I didn't have a chain tool with me so I thought I could just run and walk back to the car which was 3.6 miles but the hills were so steep though so it was going to take a while. After I walked about 50 yards, Chris Holley rode by and said hi then thought I was somebody else, I told him I was in his team(Mad Dog Cycles) but he didn't know me I guess. Looks like I need to go to team group rides this year so I can get to know everybody. Chris Holley is a professional mountain biker and races for Gary Fisher/Subaru and also for Mad Dog Cycles. I then asked him if he had a chain tool so he did and fixed my chain and put a little air in my tire. I got back to car by the time it got dark. The bike handled good and climbs really great. Chris told me that on the new Superflys, they put on stock tires on them and shouldn't trust them. So I ordered better tires and I am not taking CO2 pumps anymore! They're nice, but they don't hold a lot of air. I just put in my hand pump in my seat bag so I hope I am all set now!

JHK on my bike

National Champion mountain bike racer Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski on my bike(Gary Fisher Superfly). Sweet or what? Jeremy is a 9 time national champion and Olympian. Raced in 30 countries and has a sweet bike like mine and is cool like me.

New Gary Fisher Superfly

My bike finally came and it's a sweet one. It's a 2010 Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. Carbon fiber frame and 29 inch wheels. Well, when I first rode it yesterday, I did notice a big difference because of bigger wheels than a regular 26 inch wheeled bike(my old bike). It was harder to accelerate but it's supposed to ride better on the trails so since there are still snow on the ground here, I haven't really tried it on the trails yet. So hopefully the snow will melt soon so I can try it! Everyone on their 29ers has been telling me that you have to be on a gear or two lower than on a 26er wheel bike but on this bike, it's supposed to be so light that on this one, it doesn't do such thing, so you are still on the same gear and go a little bit faster. The bike is at 21 pounds(now that is light). I guess I read about this gear thing in a bike magazine and I kind of noticed it on the ride yesterday on the climb on the canyon road. I don't know for sure so I have to ride it some more though. My old bike is 26 pounds that is a 5 pound difference, that is a lot though. I love the brakes and the Sram shifters and deraillers. The carbon fiber crankset is full of awesomeness. The bike fits me better than my old bike because Klein bikes make longer top tubes so I am not really leaning forward too much. Well, it's a great bike.

Little Moab Camping/Biking Trip

I just got back from a great weekend with the Tony Barlow family at Little Moab. I did a lot of riding during the whole trip and it was great to be riding on the dirt again. The weather was great, not real great but it was awesome jacket weather for February. I did a lot of climbing up some steep hills and everybody else rode their motor bikes and buggies. We all did bb gun shooting, rc racing, potato cannon shooting, hiking, watching movies, etc. Tony and family does have a lot toys so you can never get bored around camp camping with them. It was great. We did go to Nutty Putty Cave one day to see it buried and see the guys grave who got stuck and died in the cave last fall, it was very sad. My condelences to his family and friends. The trip was great and I had a good time.

Looking forward to the season opening!

The Green Valley Raceway is a favorite for most mountain bikers but the ones in the summer in the mountains are still my favorite. But this race is great when there's snow in Ephraim and is 40 degrees. While it's 40-50 degrees here in Ephraim, St. George which is about 3 and a half hours away gets like in the 70s! This trail is also a great technical trail for a XC race. Last year I did the race and I actually died at the top, like twice. Hopefully it won't happen again this year but it probably will because it's so early in the spring and everybody hasn't done any riding because of the brutality of winter unless you had guts to ride out in the snow with 0 degree wind chills, then you'll probably do fine. But most people from north go riding down there a lot during the winter because there has to be somebody with a bad case of biking fever. I like this video I pasted on because it's in riding order of the race course, the dude riding in the video is not me. The dude in the picture above is me riding in the race last year. Looks like I actually died. The race is on March 6!

Funniest video ever made...

I can watch this video over and over again all day and still laugh my head off! I found this on youtube the other day.