Kick Ass Weekend

So, I'm gonna keep it short and sweet here, Friday I went down to Corona to meet up with the head of marketing at Troy Lee Designs for an amazing tour of the facility and to get sized up and dialed in on some kick ass new 2011 gear. The head of the helmet department came out and custom sized my helmet for me and they set me up with some amazing GP Air kits. Their building is unreal and the history and art on display really impressed me. I recommend anyone in the area stop by as the front showroom is open to public.
After a nice afternoon at TLD and a night on Balboa Island we made our way to San Pedro to board the early boat to Catalina for the return of the infamous Catalina Grand Prix. This is an epic motorcycle race that has not been run since the late 50's! I was stoked to say the least. The vintage class went off first and the recent rain made the soil rich and tacky. The bay was a bit foggy and cool which added to the feel of this epic event. Here are some shots I got from the race and pits...

Coming Up, The 2nd Annual New Years Eve Day Ride

Check back in the books here for pics of last years ride. It was a great time and I hope to have more people out this year to kick 2010's ass out with an epic ride!

Slab City Riot 2

Here's a video my buddy Heath put together from a recent trip out for Biltwell's Slab City Riot.

Good times and lots of fires...

Down n' Dirty

Aren't Bikes Awesome

Jeff Decker Tour

Alan and Jake, Jeff's father and brother live here locally in T.O. and I've know them for years and am always thankful for their hospitality and help whenever it came time to need parts for my jalopys. Jeff lives in Utah and although I've only met him a few times at the Decker's compound, he's a down to earth guy and truly loves what he does, and it's apparent in the quality of his work. Check this video out:



And here's a cool unrelated picture, cuz I like it.

My Interview with Dan Atherton at Sycamore BMX

As many of you probably know World Champion Dan Atherton broke his neck and nearly lost his life and all mobility earlier this year. He came out to Sycamore yesterday to watch the photshoot with Mike Day and Leatt brace. He's got a bit of cabin fever as he's here in the states with not much to do and just getting out of his neck brace. Check the video of his recover and a couple shots I took at the track...

Veterans Day Salute

Watch these guys have some fun, and throw down some serious 360's and back flips without a helmet on a pretty crappy hardtail...
Impressive

Boys In Combat - The funniest movie is here. Find it

Nightmare bike run down Death Mountain

Buick and Robby are rippin in it up!

It Looks Smooth...

Testing the new Leatt Bicycle DBX Braces | Vital MTB

But don't let the video fool you. Going downhill is hard work, every muscle is firing to keep body over bike...

Its official

On the road again

might be the best hat ever

Are You Ready To Rumble!

It's almost time again. This weekend is the return of the biggest baddest mountain biking event of them all...


More Mountain Biking Videos

Interbike 2010

Twinkie milkshakes for life

It's Almost Time

Say Cheese

So as if I couldn't love Canada anymore, this trip I was taken to a new little diner in Squamish (aka Squampton) called Grilled Fromage. JJ is friends with the owner so we got a nice treatment with some fancy appetizer sampler bits. The menu here is on the wall, and it is a large wall. Over 60 types of grilled cheese sandwiches. It was incredible. The vibe in this place was rad, it was a gloomy sunday and they had Mr. Cash singin the blues. The decor is amazing, any place that has Burt Reynolds on the door to the mens restroom is OK in my book!
After thinking long and hard about my order, I narrowed it down to two sandwiches; The K-Ched, and the Maple Leaf. What a treat that was! A grilled cheese with special Canadian cheddar, maple syrup, and you guessed it Canadian bacon. How can you beat that!? You can't that's how. Be sure to check this place out on your next trip up to Whistler, it won't disappoint.
http://grilledfromage.com/

If You Don't Know

Now you know.


Duane Peters is rad

Day 2 Complete

WOW

No this wasn't a black metal show.




http://declinemagazine.com/
Check for new updates and more pics shortly.

Red Bull Day 1

(Yours Truly)
Year two of Red Bull's mass start down hill event kicked off without a hitch today. Course designers have pulled out all the stops to ensure the 5,000 feet of vertical descending is a crowd pleasing and unrelenting experience for all.

Today we finished up registration and had a nice bit of practice in the morning. The conditions were extra greasy with a side of fun. Being the thin skinned Californian I am, I have been regretting my selection in gear all day as the mountain has been foggy, damp and did I mention cold?

With so many riders the qualifying round today took several hours to get through yet it all ran smoothly and we are now seeded for race run tomorrow. I went off just about last today, and had the pleasure of starting just behind Chris Kovarik. That was the last time I saw him until I got to the bottom and pulled my helmet off all blurry eyed and out of breath. Lactic acid really starts pumping on a 15 minute plus black diamond trail. There is no resting on this track. Even on the access road sections speeds are so high and visibility quite low, that if you sit down and lose focus, a skull sized rock will bring to back to earth in a hurry.

Although the course is very demanding physically and mentally, all riders were smiling at the bottom and excited for tomorrows finale. Here are the top results after qualification today.

Pictures to come soon...

1. Chris Kovarik 13:14
2. Steve Smith 13:25
3. Tyler Morland 13:36
4. Curtis Keene 13:40
5. Tyler Allison 13:51

Raddest Shoes Ever

So I'm hanging out with some friends at a nice BBQ type deal at the lovely home of Carlos and Nicole; and Scott Hart floats up wearing the most incredible foot ornaments I have ever seen. Notice I say float because it is not possible to walk on such a sacred man. I digress
So I'm now in Whistler and just ate breakfast, quite delicious. Time to finish putting the bike together and head up to meet Cody from Red Bull and head up for course inspection and practice. Apparently he thought it'd be a good idea to have World Champion silver medalist Steve Smith along to embarrass me. Guess there's no better time to ride over your head than when you're on the heels of the best...

EFFE

My Weekend

Is looking like it's gonna kick ass. Postings may be on hold for a few days though I will do my best. For daily race pics and info check
Declinemagazine.com




Last Chance to Enter Red Bull 5000 Down Race: "img src='http://www.h3publications.com/nucleus/media/6/20100907-2009_09_05_Exodus_BJ-1198b.jpg' width='600' height='398' alt='' title='' /br /
Coming up this weekend is Red Bull"


RTP

Life Cycles Official Teaser | Vital MTB

Life Cycles Official Teaser | Vital MTB

Since I've been lazy and on a video kick, here is a trailer for a pretty impressive looking flick coming out soon.
Enjoy

F Yeah Friday

Elliot Jackson! Congrats man, good to see you pinning it.

Transition Racing Windham World Cup Finals from amado stachenfeld on Vimeo.

Ramble On

After spending some time in Marin County last weekend I took a beautiful drive up to Truckee and North Lake Tahoe to ride Northstar bike park. I gotta say, I was quite impressed as I had not been up there in years and they have put some serious work in. It ended up being a pretty amazing weekend all around. I ran into a bunch of people I knew who were also up there riding from all over. What I thought was going to be some alone time riding a bike park soon turned into party trains slaying the fast dusty trails of Northstar. Can't wait to get up there again with a healthy knee and some more time! The trails are pretty amazing and if you like fast loose and rocky lines thrown in between some nice trees, you'll feel right at home dancing your bike down the mountain. Live Wire was nothing like A-line as everyone had been claiming for years, (In my opinion). I did find some of the hits and parts of this trail to be more fun than A-line however. Grins all around for sure.
Anyhow, on the way back I decided it was important to make a stop in the town of Lodi. After hearing CCR sing about it so many times, I decided I needed to take a gander for myself. Aside from the amazing western store I went into, that place is pretty drab. I would not want to be stuck there myself for any amount of time. Let alone seven months.
RIde On

It's Almost Time!!

DirtTV: World Champs Wednesday Practice | Vital MTB

I'm hoping for no rain this week and keep the track dusty and loose, might be our only hope for Gwinny to get on top.
Fingers crossed

Wack Track Wednesday

It's Monday again

On a side note, I just got back to town and if you weren't aware yet, burning man is apparently happening this week. Here's a tip if you're out on the road and find large amounts of brightly colored feathers blowing all over the side of the highways and the gas station smells more like patchouli (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=patchuli) than gas. Chances are you've stumbled onto a main thoroughfare of the hippy migration. I think I saw both of these guy's on the freeway between San Francisco and Tahoe. I could smell the hemp fumes a mile back...






Just because this first one's so short, we'll go for two.

There's No Helmets In Klunking

I'm in a rush and low on battery but the long and the short of the day was this. I had deep fried French Toast for breakfast. (Automatically means the rest of your day will kick ass no matter what) Did I already mention the French Toast?
Anyways, next I went to Fairfax met some friendly locals and went for a ride up the highly revered Mt Tam. This is like a pilgrimage for mountain bikers and I truly feel like a man now. As a side note, since I wasn't really planning on doing any trail riding, all I had was my single speed, 1 water bottle and no other trail riding gear. So, it was an interesting ride, but hey if you're gonna ride anywhere without a helmet, this is the place to do it. Aside from not having a helmet I also didn't have a pump, which normally wouldn't be a big deal except that my bike had a pretty fast leak and I was just able to find 3 people throughout my ride who had pumps to use, with little to no back tracking. Lots of swear words though.

After reaching the beautiful peak of Mt. Tam I turned around and jammed down the hill in hopes to make it back to my van in Fairfax with enough air in my tires to not send my helmetless carcass to the boulders at an extremely high rate of speed. (Long sentence, I told you I'm tired) After getting to the van I took a French bath and headed over to visit my friend Mike over at Marin Bikes. Mike gave me the 24 cent tour and I must say, I was impressed. Apparently before Marin bought the building it was owned by the Grateful Dead and was there hang out and recording studio. I got to see their old sound room and some of their left over equipment. I think I still smelled dope in that room. After the tour we hung out in the office a bit and headed back to freshen up for some tasty burritos. Now, on a full belly and an empty brain, the night's scheming begins.
FTW

Wheels

This week has been short on time and subsequently, I have not done much in the way of producing any kind of material that would be of interest to anyone, really. Can't totally say that's a bad thing since that usually means awesome stuff is happening for me at a rate much too fast to keep up with and post here. I am currently sitting outside a library in the beautiful (and historical) town of Fairfax, Ca.

The mountain and trees all around here are amazing and I am looking forward to heading over to Fairfax Cyclery to check out some of their historic stock piles and artifacts. I'll be headed up to Tahoe next for some riding at North Star. Haven't ridden there in quite some time however I hear the bike park has been blowing up.

In other news, check out Scott's site as he threw is swingin photo party Friday night and it was amazing. Big props to Scott for all the hard work and dedication he put into this project. I feel very proud to have been a part of this and fortunate to have it documented so well. Check out http://www.itsbetterinthewind.com/

It's Better In The Wind - Book Release & Opening Party from Scott Toepfer on Vimeo.

As a side note, if you ever find yourself tired while driving through Marin County, be sure you wake up and move your car often since they have a law here that only allows you to sleep in your car for 4 hours. I found that out early this morning with a nice wake up call by the Marin Sherrif's Dept. Thank you Deputy.

I've decided that Monday mornings I'm going to host a contest; a contest of skill, luck, and determination. Moronic Mondays will consist of reader submitted videos with any kind of ridiculous content. Since this is the first Monday we'll start it off with a dual!



Happy Monday!



I'll work on gettin a link up so you can post your videos, for now you can email me direct. Lookin forward to seeing what you guys can come up with!
FTW

Das Right

Poached from The Sensus. Keeps the theme of the day goin...

Wish I Was There

Well, earlier this week Chris came back to the office with a grin as big as the Cheshire cat telling us we needed to get bikes built in a big hurry and he would be leaving town in a couple days. "I'm goin riding the Geore Bush!" Well I offered to be Chris's body guard for the event however I guess he felt I was needed more here, at my desk, helping the people.... I digress, We are all stoked that Chris and Steve got to go out and ride with W. (except Salty, he's a hippie) Regardless, being able to ride with a former President would be a pretty amazing experience and I would love to do a sweet wheelie pop high five as I rode past Dubya, maybe get a picture of me jumping over him or something I don't know. Anyways, they're out in the Bungport now shreddin the New England trails and truly livin the high life, crab cakes and Presidential mansions, life's tough!
Ride On

Anyhow, here is Chris's personal account. Tales from the trails with Chris and W.

Well the ride went fantastic and we had a great time. The morning started with all of us waiting for The President to arrive. Soon a convoy on Suburbans rolled into the parking lot. The President stepped out and greeted all of us in person. I was really nervous but had been planning my greeting since yesterday. He hung out and we chatted a bit. There were just 7 of us total. The other riders were the regulars on "Peleton One" , The Presidents regular riding group since 2004. After some small talk we were off on our ride with The President leading the way. We all followed along with 4 Secret Service men on bikes and a detail of Suburbans. We had a short road ride to the trail head and had traffic stopped along the way as we traveled up the road, very weird to see.
We hit the single track and we were going at a really fast pace. The SS guys were really struggling and I was a little worried to, and glad I have been doing the Tues night rides!!! The pace settled in and we formed a train as we snaked through the woods of Kennebunkport. The trail was tight and twisty but with very little climbing. There were plenty of roots and rocks to dodge and negotiate. The President kept a very good pace and Steve and I were having a blast following.
At the end of the trail The President declared it was his personal best time on the trail buy 3 min and we shared a fist bump! He was really happy and seemed to really like the Jet 9. He is going to ride it again tomorrow. Brendan told us The President does not pull any punches and if he did not like it he would have requested his regular bike for the next ride.
We are riding again tomorrow morning but with a much larger group 18-22 people so I doubt we will get the same attention. Steve will be staying later Fri to visit The Presidents home, I will be returning to LA to catch my flight to Europe.
All in all The President is a real guys guy and a lot of fun to be around. He was very down to earth and easy to talk to, although I think I was pretty star struck the whole time and felt like it was a little like a dream.
Thank you for making this happen, with out all of our efforts this day would have never come. I hope you are all proud that Niner Bikes has been able to enjoy this moment of recognition.

Chris Sugai