The conditions for the Hood River Super D turned out to be perfect. Things started to dry out on Saturday and by Sunday the ground was fast. I had the latest start time of my life, 3:01pm. I got to ride the course one last time that morning before the race started. They rerouted the bottom area so for those of you familiar with the course you no longer have the last climb from the power lines. Now you drop down to the right by the river and its small ups and small downs all the way to the finish. There was no one complaining about that. There are three bridges to cross however and during my race run I came in hot around the corner and found myself in a 2 second balancing act right on the ledge of the bridge. In the end the bridge won as I landed right knee first bike up side down in the water below. I had a hard time getting it together after that because I was pinning it…The race release was one minute. I passed one girl at the bottom of the log drop and another girl at the power lines. I had the power line girl in the back of my mind as I went for a swim but I still managed to keep her off my tail as I crossed the finish line. I came in 7^th out of 20 in my age group. I have a lot of room for improvements so next year, watch out!

It has been great to see so many of our Oly friends and race teammates. We are going for a ride with Todd and Brandon today. Tomorrow we are headed to Portland to have the bikes checked out and then back to Oly for a few days to visit. Hope everyone is well.

Hood River Super D in the morning! This picture is from my pre race run...it has stopped raining so, fingers crossed the trail will be dryer.

First race of the season!

Trey and I arrived in Ashland, Or last week to do a little riding and found out there was a DH race happening that weekend. We were both very excited to sign up even though we didn't feel quite ready to race. Saturday we rode the race trail multiple time. The course was perfect fast flowy dry. Sunday morning we woke to cold, rain and snow. This changed things completely for race day. Trey and I did not do a morning pre-race run in order to keep our bikes and clothes dry. People looked very muddy.

Here is Trey getting ready to do his race run.

 Here is me...

Me during race run. (Trey was on it)

and lastly me taking second place on the podium!! yeah!!

After Ashland we headed to Bend, Or. GOD! I love it there and want to move there when we are done traveling. So does Trey. Trey got some video and I will work on that and post it later.

We are in Hood River now and we are racing this weekend. Wish us luck.

U haul hitch

Starfish and other strange sea stuff

Mountain Biking in Santa Cruz!

What a  great day in Santa Cruz!  Natalie and I met up with Mort and Brian. They’re locals that love mountain biking and they know the trails. Serving as our guides today for a trifecta of riding. We sampled some XC/AM, FR, and DH terrain with temps in the high 60’s with plenty of sunshine. The trails don’t come easy here. Most are illegal and unmarked which is surprising because S.C. is home to the likes of Ibis Bikes, Fox Racing, and of course, Santa Cruz Bikes. There’s a great bike shop and some great pro riders residing in the area too.  I’ve uploaded a Headcam video clip following Mort through the Freeride Park jump-line.

Mort is an Orthopedic Surgeon who we met years ago in Whistler at the “Summer Gravity Camp”. We’ve kept in touch and have looked forward to meeting up with him in Santa Cruz to do some riding. He has a “killer” house over-looking the ocean with a pump-track in his yard. YES! 

Now that we’ve had a chance to get in some good riding on the trails, try-out some of the restaurants in town, and explore the beaches nearby, we really understanding the reputation Santa Cruz has for being a highly desirable place to live.  It definitely goes on “THE LIST” of places we would want to live. The biggest “CON” is it’s expensive. Also, there’s tons of poison oak everywhere and ticks are a real problem. I’ve had at least 3 on me and Joey has had 20 or more!  I’d highly recommend a visit if you get a chance for the biking, surfing, beaches, weather, and scenery.

Cheers,

Trey

mountain biking Santa Cruz with Mort 001

Oh...Trey saw a whale but by the time we all ran over to the water it was gone...WAAA. I wanna see a whale!!

It was great to spend the day with Tom and Andy. We beach explored and ate at a couple different restaurants. Here is a picture from a beach called "The Bridges," only there is one bridge left and here it is. The tide pools were cool...

While walking the streets of Santa Cruz today with Trey, we meet a guy who was riding an old Santa Cruz “Bullit.” This was probably an early 00’ model, all original parts. He was explaining to us about how the fork’s springs were blown so he had to put about $8 worth of quarters in the fork in order to make the springs more stiff. AWESOME!

Talked to Andy today, her and Tom are flying into San Jose tomorrow and it looks like we are going to be able to meet up with them. Our first visitors from Oly!! We are so excited.

My birthday was great. Trey got me a Rockshox, Reverb!! Got to try it out on the trails of Santa Cruz yesterday and I'm in love.

Fyi: We plan on racing the Hood River super D and hope to see our GL6 team there. I would love to hear who all is coming.

We are mountain biking on Saturday with a friend of ours we met in Whistler a couple of years ago. Trey plans on wearing his Go-Pro so we should have another mountain bike video soon.

Hope everyone is well.

From the camper.

McWay Falls

Big Sur!!

We spent about 5 days in Big Sur. Trey has tried three times in the past to get there and it took quite a detour this time to make it. Hwy 1 is in a constant state of repair as the rain causes land slides every winter. We had plans to go to Big Sur last month only a huge washout occurred and apparently it is bad enough that there is no plan to repair the road. So, Trey and I drove the windy hwy 58 across Cali to get around the landslide. Two hours and thirty gray hairs later we arrived at hwy 1. Big Sur is a beautiful place and the waterfalls are worth every effort to make it there. McWay fall is a 120ft cascade which lands right into the ocean. We boon docked the whole time and had amazing views every morning.

BIG SUR

We made it to BIG SUR!

Bobcat

Trey and I arrived at the coast just outside of San Luis Obispo last week. Our plan was to mountain bike and explore before our drive to Big Sur. We camped our first night in a state park. After getting set up camp Trey went for a bike ride and picture ride and I was inside the camper eating a snack. While looking out the window at what I thought was a log I realized the log had a very slow and subtle movement to it. I grabbed my camera and very quickly but quietly made my way outside and around the corner from the camper. I had a feeling it was some kind of cat. Not an ordinary house cat but a 30lb wild cat. It wasn’t until the cat jumped on the gopher it was hunting that I could see it was a Bobcat. This was very exciting for me because I have never seen one outside of a zoo. This was a young bobcat and pretty tame considering he let me get very close (within 5ft)

Here are pictures and video of this lovely afternoon visit.

Bob Cat