Brain off, mouth closed...

Yep...

I've been consistent as far as riding every weekend as the weather has allowed, and have been trying not to overthink things when I ride. I've got the right line on Chorus down to where it doesn't bother me anymore (to the point of exploding my rear wheel on the third one and not being shaken up enough to quit riding for the day), and have begun to get comfortable enough in the air to start moving the bike around. Even though I am hitting bigger jumps, I was still doing the dead sailor, and I'm making it a point to get rid of it.


Blown wheel after casing a 30 foot gap...


Sending the step-down on 2Chair later that day after borrowing Mike Estes' rear wheel

I took my 4XXXX to Syncline two weeks ago and did three runs, one on Agony and Little Moab, one on Coyote Canyon (where I broke my leg in July 2007), and another Agony and Little Moab run. The third one was by far the best. I took off in front of everyone and rode my own run all the way to the bottom. It was the closest thing to a snowboarding run I've felt on a bike. Maybe because the bike was so light and nimble compared to my big bike. Although if I had the choice, I'd ride the big bike at Syncline every time.


Sweet shot by Dirk of me railing the cliff line on Lower Agony


A couple people showed up for the Syncline ride...Yep, just a few...

Also hit Black Rock last weekend for the first time in 7 months. The hike up is brutal (my knee actually gets bruised from the pins rubbing inside), but after I relax and get my knee to stop throbbing, I remember how buffed that place is. Post is rad, but Black Rock just has something about it. They rebuilt the landing for the road gap on Granny's (my favorite jump there), and it was even funner than I remember. I was hitting it a lot smoother and a lot faster, too.


I can't believe it's not butter!!

My new wheelset has my bike feeling WAY more balanced, and that has me feeling way better on it as well. I'm actually sending it to dirt on the Stimulator in Basic Training, and getting some bar turn and hip action in the process. I was never comfortable doing that before, so I can only guess it's either the wheelset or lots of riding at Post Canyon having me look at Black Rock in a different light. I think a little of both. Whatever it is, I'm stoked on it.

Build day this weekend, and big ride on Sunday. Again, stoked!!



Chris and Scotty hitting the Stimulator jump in Basic Training

Post Canyon, Aug. 26th, 2008

I'm enjoying my vacation week and after 4 10-hour days in Cisco training and a stellar weekend at Whistler. Mike Estes is psyched to ride all week, so I headed out to Post Canyon yesterday to keep what little mojo I had left from the weekend going.

We did a few warm-up runs down Middle School and Drop Out, and I could tell I was still feeling some of the weekend flow. Having to hold back gravity from lift-assisted riding is a lot more noticeable on the body than riding Post Canyon's trails, so I felt pretty aggressive yesterday compared to normal. We did a speed run down Seven Streams, then up to Mitchell Ridge and the "Minute Thirty DH" section. That is such a dope trail!!





We sessioned the roots for a few minutes to get some pictures, then a few spots down. Mike's wife Laurie took an over the bars digger rocketing out of the berm after the roots coming down the bypass, but shook it off and kept shredding. I was feeling loose and focused and generally enjoying the hell out of workin' my bike!!



Looking forward to the weekend and the right side of Chorus.

Whistler Bike Park, Aug. 22nd-24th, 2008

Well, I finally made it up to Whistler with my bike. I could end this whole post with the word WOW.

Friday around 1:00 PM, I met up with Jameel and Bernie at Trail Head Cycles and we installed one of Bernie's bike rack mounts on Jameel's roof rack (another story entirely), and headed north towards the "Land of Eh."

We drove for about an hour and decided it was food and beer time, and ended up in deepest, darkest Centralia (AKA Scent Trailer) eating marginal Mexi restaurant food. Back to the freeway. Stayed the night at Jameel's father's friend Theo's house in Bellingham. It may as well be called a mansion. We ate marinated steaks that melted in your mouth and had some of the best food I've tasted in years. Add to that, we all had our own rooms with queen sized beds. Breakfast Saturday morning was equally spectacular, as was the coffee. Back on the road we go.

We arrived at Whistler around 10:30-11:00-ish and geared-up to ride. Bernie led us down Crank It Up for our first run. One of my new favorite trails. It pretty much set the stage for the rest of the day: lippy jumps, big berms, stay off the brakes, stand into the jumps. We ran into Hack, Jamie, Chris, Fat Larry and April in the lift line for the second run and chatted. I guess Jake was taken down in an ambulance we saw on the first run with a concussion and a tweaked hip. Heal quick, Jake!! Bernie took Jameel and I down A-line for the next run, then all the way to the top to Freight Train. The top of the hill is a different world from the bottom. It was rain-slicked and had lots of rooted, rocky sections covered in trail snot that I found myself walking while giving myself shit for doing so. I worked my way to a trail called Sideshow and loved that ride. Duff Man, not as much in the wet. Lower Freight Train to A-Line was sweet. We actually rode with Jamie and Greg on two runs and hit Dirt Merchant (I'm sure Jamie's only memory of me from this weekend will be my riding around a step-up on Dirt Merchant to tell them Greg flatted his tire), Crack Addict, Crabapple Hits, Ninja Cougar, and Karate Monkey. Beware Monkey when wet!! Ninja Cougar would've been more fun on my 4XXXX, but every other trail was definitely big bike territory. I'm still tripping out how easy the GLC drop was, and hit it about 5 times on both the left and right side. I pedaled into it my last run down A-Line and boosted out about 3 bike lengths off the right side before I landed and got a cheer from the GLC bar patio, which pumped me up huge for the rest of the day. I wanted to hit Schleyer and Detroit Rock City, but will wait for a dryer trip. As sick as the biggie trails were, my last drunken blast down Crank It Up/Heart Of Darkness at the end of Saturday afternoon was just money. Nice and loose and full of liquid courage. My bike likes Whistler...Oh yeah, me too!!

Saturday night was a gong show and a half. We got blindingly drunk, conducted "safety meetings" while walking around the village, figured out how to scam the Buffalo Bill's nightclub and didn't pay cover, got separated from Bernie who was drunker than Jameel or myself (he's Austrian and got picked up on by an Austrian woman working at Whistler who was partying with her friends from North Van. They dropped him off Sunday morning), and basically were amazed we found our way back to the hotel at the end of the night. I was amazed how many people stay and party at Whistler outside of the park activity. Many 30-ish married women in groups drinking heavily. Our next door neighbor at the hotel was from Regina, SK and had the most stereotypical Canadian accent I've ever heard and said "eh" every sentence. He was super trashed and fed us beer and doobage over the balcony while rambling (more than me) with his girlfriend. They were digging the park, too.

Sunday morning we awoke to sideways rain and I reluctantly decided not to ride, as did Bernie. Jameel wasn't going to let a little mud stop him, and bought a sampler ticket and did 3 wet runs. Bernie and I had a few safety meetings and walked around on some of the MMTFs left in the Boneyard from Crankworx. If you think a 40 foot step-down drop looks gnarly from the ground, try standing on the lip. Traffic was awful leaving the hill, as was visibility. We ended up missing our turn for the border by 10 miles and crossed in Alderbrook, which ended up being a clearer shot to Bellingham and the I-5, and probably saved us an hour at the border. The drive home was uneventful aside from the fact that Jameel's roof rack moved back almost 7 inches over the course of the trip. But it didn't fall off, none of us got hurt or had a mechanical problem, and made it home safe and happy.

Whistler's bike park is downright amazing, and easily worth the 7 hour trip. I'm already planning my next bike trip up (hopefully within a month), and then I have the snow season and Blackcomb freshies to look forward to.

Just WOW!!

Broken barriers and tiny marbles...

That pretty much sums up the last few biking trips I've made. After figuring out that my Passat will carry either of my bikes with the front wheel off, I've been trying to get out and ride my bikes as much as I can recently. I even went to Meldrum with my hardtail and relearned the meaning of really hard dirt. I don't really see a lot of hardtail DJ sessions in my future, so the P2 is going to become a performance chip and diverter valve for my car....Yep. Oh yeah, riding...



I've been making a point to be more deliberate in my movements on my bikes, and it is paying off. Something as simple as pumping the bars over a bump or a slight bar turn in the air makes a big difference, and keeps you controlling the bike, instead of the other way around. I've been putting in a lot of time on my 4XXXX riding the Drop Out and Middle School trails in Family Man at Post Canyon, then using my Shore for shuttle runs.



The 4XXXX has kinda been my "training bike" since it is a lot less forgiving, but gives back way more if ridden right. It makes you clean up your riding style and become more fluid. I can see why Darren and Casey like riding mid-travel bikes.



Riding with Mike and Miles has also helped me tremendously. They are old-school Post Canyon locals, and have helped me to look at the lines differently and overcome many of my fears on the trails. You can't help but up your game riding with these guys.






My goal this season has been to continuously progress my riding, and branch out into things that scare me so that I can overcome them. So far it's been working, and I've walked away from each subsequent digger with no more than some ego bruising. All the practice on the little bike has been paying off when the big bike comes out.



Every weekend or so has been a new one off of the list. The Barn Door on Egg Hunt was yesterday, and it was a huge progression step for me, which is ironic after you discover how truly easy that drop really is. Mind over matter!! Sorry, no Barn Door vid - too busy riding!!

Come on, Spring!!

I'm so itching for dry summer weather to come back on a regular basis I can hardly stand it. Regardless, it's been a great start to the 2008 riding season. Went down to Black Rock with Hack and Maing, and met up with the usual characters. We had a good crew today; Hack, Casey, Jamie, Darren, Chris (Don Coyote), myself, and a few new riders we've picked up riding over the last few weeks.....Oh yeah, we hooked up with Crazy Jake out there towards the end of the day, too.

I decided to take the "little bike" (my Norco 4XXXX) down to get used to it and to see if I could continue the progressions I've made recently between the two bikes. Mission accomplished, baby!! I hit the road gap with the same speed I usually hit it on my Shore and landed a full bike length deeper into the tranny and almost overshot the berm. Hit the Halette, and the little bike actually landed cleaner than the big bike usually does....How's that work?! I think that new ladder drop to bank after Halo/Halette is going to become one of my new favorite stunts there.....Sooooo butter!!

Darren had an unintentional dismount on the Stimulator and I had one on the stump jump, but in both instances, no major injuries and riding continued. Lots of sending it, with only a few bruises after the fact....

Pics and video to follow soon. Such a sweet day!!

Getting some of that....

This winter has been epic for me, and not in the way I would normally write about it. All bike this time, baby!!

I've been trying to ride as much as possible recently and stay consistent. Other than my knee and ankle aching like a muthafucka every time I hike from the parking lot to BT at Black Rock and taking an inordinate amount of time to warm up, I've consistently progressed a little each time I ride. It's kinda ironic; some of the stuff that still scares me is technically easier than some of the stuff that doesn't scare me anymore. Figure that one out?!

Sending the road gap last week

I'm finding once I decide I'm just going to do one of these stunts and just do it, it gets pretty easy. I've hit the road gap a total of 7 times now, and 7 was the lucky number, as adding 4 pedal strokes on the run-in provided a buttery landing to tranny. I may have to man-up and hit the entry line to Sunday Stroll now, too....

Oh yeah, a few new additions:

Drivetrain upgrade on the Shore


2007 Specialized P2 CrMo (24's and single-speed)


2006 Norco 4XXXX Custom Edition with 10th Anniversary 2007 Marzocchi Z1 RC2 ETA

This whole biking thing is more addicting than crack, yo!!

New year, new bike....Kinda....

Made a few upgrades where I thought the bike was lacking and holding me back, or at least not instilling the confidence in me I'd hoped for, whatever. Since my stock Fox Van-R shock died the first day I tried a new spring on it, I figured it was a good time to make some needed changes while I got the stock shock dialed-in at Push Industries.....


2007 Marzocchi Roco RC World Cup with 475 lb. spring


2007 Marzocchi 888 RC2X VA to compliment the new rear shock.

The new Minions and the 450 spring on the stock shock made my Shore feel worlds better than it ever had, so I'm guessing the new fork and shock will only magnify that.

I can't wait for Black Rock tomorrow!!

Syncline - New Years Day, 2008

Went out to Syncline with Michael from Pink Bike and Todd from Myspace (the other McCarthy with a Demo) to ride Syncline with Mike Estes. We all met at a coffee shop in Hood River, then over to White Salmon to pick up Carl Warren, our photographer for the day, and off we went.

The top had a lot more snow than we thought we'd see, and had almost a foot in some places as we made our way to the trail head. Once we got there, the snow gave way to ice covered mud, then plain frozen mud.







Traction was amazingly good, and we only had one flat and one blown shock when the day was said and done. A great way to start the new year!