So I played hookie (sp?) last week to go do some photos with Mr. Jeramiah Dylan Dean and some other riders (Mclendon, Warren, Condroshoft, Hauer, Swangen). I managed to ride like a hack, prolly because I have been off the DH steed for so long, no worries though...I had a blast. Here are some pics care of Dylan Dean (Dylan-Dean.com)
go to the Baja 1000 with Jorge and Wes. It w
as good as usual, we made it down and back home without a single problem. Unfortunately this was the deadliest Baja in recent memory, with many highway accidents and even a helicopter going down in the Mike's Sky rancho area. Sucks, add to that the fact that there is a rise in cop-shakedowns and armed assaults against tourists. The Race-Dezert.com forums are blowing up with people being al negative and downright ignorant towards Baja and Mexico/it's people. My dad went all the way down to Cabo chasing the M.C's and brought uncle Mark's class 1 to the house for a couple 
of days. Nothing like the property value doubling because of the race car that is sitting in your backyard huh? Anyway, I've been getting fat. I have been going backpacking with Wes and feeling allright but the fact remains that I sit at a desk for about 7 hours a day and that is not helping in the least. Interbike came and went and as usual I came home from Vegas with no sponsors, nothing new there. 
Well, for the third year in a row we headed to Snowmass, CO for the NORBA national @ Snowmass resort. This year was different however, the downhill course was not the usual "banzai" DH that we had seen for the past 2 years. Instead we were put on a course that as a good 3 miles from the Village, Mountaincross course and the main lodging area for most of the competitors (horray NORBA/Snowmass resort). Not only was the DH course itself far but the finish line was a good 1/4 mile hike up the mountain which meant next to zero spectators on the hill come race time. The course was fresh cut an featured many fast sections as well as flat pedaly ones and even an uphill creek crossing, wow. The course was anything but technical, combine that with the many pedaling sections and you have a course that is not suited for my riding style...Oh well I suppose. I had a couple of crashes during practice again, luckily the course lacked rocks and I came away relatively unscathed to spite the high speed dismounts.
The fact that lodging was so far from the DH made the race seem "dead" and under attended. Snowmass is a unique venue in that the Village is on a rather steep grade so getting around (even when the DH was in its old location) is quite the chore. Add the fact that there is a major construction going on in the middle of it all and you have a great recipe for disaster. It just did not feel like the typical NORBA, there were small crowds, the venue was practically dead and the whole "vibe" was missing...
A couple of notes from the race:
Bradical wrapped up the series and is the top JRX rider for the NMBS 2007.
JD killed the course and won the JRX class with a blazing time of 4 minutes flat.
Our new friends from Colombia did rather well with Marcelo Gutierrez finishing in second for the JRX and Mauricio Estrada coming in 7th in the pro men division.
As for my race day, I lost my chain in my quali which was not too bad, 20 seconds off pace with no chain...But my race run came and I decided to launch over the bars in one of the fast/steep sections near the top. I fell and was treated to one of my worst dirt-in-mouth moments, as I tried to spit all the dirt out I realized I could not see a thing and scrambled to try and take my goggles off my face as they had also been filled with dirt. I scrambled up the hill and found my bike in the haze and proceeded to mount and finish my ruined run. 19 seconds off pace! GREAT! I could not have asked for a more disappointing end to the season. First Deer Valley then Saint Anne now this?? I'm going to take up ping-pong!
Right now I will try to re-group and look foreword to riding in Northstar with my friends and brother over labor day...Interbike will follow and once again it will be winter. What next year will hold for me in terms of racing will be decided by the amount of support I get from this industry, this sport that I love so much but hate all at the same time.
I decided to go up to Northstar with Sanj a few weeks back for some riding and to race. I rolled up to Orange County right after work and hung out with Wes for a few hours while Sanjay got everything ready. We ended up leaving Irvine at around 9pm, ouch. We arrived promptly at 4am and caught a few hours of sleep before we actually go to riding. Northstar is as good as ever thanks to many new trails and trail improvements throughout the mountain. A few highlights include the "livewire" trail that is and absolute blast to ride, and of course all the classic rock-laden trails that are part of the Northstar experience. I did not get any riding pictures because...we were too busy riding. However, we got plenty of pictures of the shenanigans that went on after the lifts closed. We did get to race, Sanjay won followed by Lealand and I came in third (thanks to some mistakes on my run). All in all it was a good weekend trip up to the 'star and I am looking foreword to going back up in a few weeks for Labor day. 
The weather could not have been better, upper 70's with partly cloudy skies made for sick riding. The mountain was pretty packed with riders, mainly trail and XC riders but it was good to see a bunch of people out on their mountain bikes.
Not much to write about...We went off-roading on the backroads on Sunday and due to Wes' "driving" we got a flat a couple of miles out in the wilderness. Check out the pictures that pretty much tell the story of the weekend:
Well, it turns out that I completely threw away the most important race of my would-be career. I was feeling well on race day, did one practice run to make sure my wheels would make it through the qualifiers. Got plenty of rest, went through the bike one final time and headed up to the gondola with Hank to do our qualifying runs. My qualifier was good, that is until I heard the noise of my chain clanking against the spokes about a minute into my run...No worries, I would just need to keep up my momentum and hopefully have enough to qualify. I suppose I did a good job of this because I was well in the top 40 at the split without having a chain. I got through the high speed section well and proceeded to make my way into the lower tree sections. I had a slip in the lower rock garden where my brother and Wes were set up, no worries though I still had speed. pumped the lower section like never before and boosted over the final rock section and onto the bridge huck. I smashed this as much as I possibly could for as not to lose speed upon landing. I pumped the last open ski-run and held the throttle wide open into the last tree section which ultimately led to my demise. I spotted a straight line through those trees and attempted it at full speed. Just as I was to exit this final section towards the finish I hit a tree with my shoulder. The force from the impact caused me to spin off my bike and land in the centere of the course. As I lay there I shouted for someone to get my bike off the course for fear of getting hit by the next rider. Nothing was done and I lay there confused and dazed with a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Once I got my wits about me, I scrambled to my bike and grabbed on to my bars, a piercing pain struck me as I mounted and I almost dropped to the ground again. I managed to pedal-kick myself down the next small slope and towards the finish line. As I came across the finish the pain in my shoulder was very strong, and I felt as though I damaged it severely. When I came across the line I was inspected, taken to first aid and it was determined that I had bruised ligaments and a minor separation in the shoulder but nothing was broken. After some time back at the hotel room it finally sank in that I had thrown away one of the biggest opportunities of my life..it angered me for a bit. Even more so after I saw the split times and the fact that I had missed qualifying by a couple of spots in spite of all my time lost.
Everything happens quickly at a world cup. Before I know it I am sitting in the Media room on the eve of race day. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing I still cannot decide, one thing is for sure, tomorrow will be a long day. I found it a bit hard to get up today, I was not tired but feeling rather sick. My first run was a disaster, I fell twice and lost a couple of spokes. I took a break to mend my broken bike. After the break I headed up for another run...when I got to the bottom my wheel had again failed. I re-tightened the spokes and went up for another run, my wheel's final stand. When I came down I noticed the wheel more off balance than before, upon closer examination I noticed a large split in the rim and many deep dents in the sidewall. I will need to find a set to borrow for tomorrow. The course is fast and tough, I will need all of my skill and experience to even qualify tomorrow. Wish me luck, I will for damn sure need it.
omfy to ride in. The weather is sticky and warm, it has been raining most of the time except for during practice times. From what I hear the top section is quite different from last year. The top section is mostly man-made and was quite nasty early in the day, I definately got loose in that section. The wide-open section under the lift is fast as hell and the berms are tight and some have massive holes in them already. Everyone is pinned,
I got to ride up the lift with some Spaniards and they were super cool and pointed out some lines. 
ikey, his mom, Ian, Shwankey, Christen the JRX chick, Kieran, Adrian and I assaulted the Denny’s. Suffice it to say that we made at least one family walk out of the restaurant and made at least one waitress mad. After dinner we passed out. Julious had an early morning flight and was out of the room without waking any of us up. We however had a late night flight and would haveto kill as much time as possible, no problem right? Eh, well…it was. The complementary airport shuttle dropped us at around 1pm and our flight did not depart till 11pm!!!! Than meant that the SLC international airport would be our home for the next 10 hours! We kept ourselves entertained with whatever we could. Julious called me at around 3pm to rub in the fact that he had arrived at Montreal. I had regular check-ins with my road-trippin mates who were in Ohio last I checked. My brother must have spent at least 6 hours on 
