Schweitzer - All Gravity Series #3

So excited to have the van back. This was our hotel on Friday night.

In the most awesome news right now, I finally got the van back! The Ford dealer found a new tank for me and I am able to finally have a running vehicle again. I picked up the van on Friday morning and hooked up the trailer so we could head out to Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho for the 3rd round of the All Gravity Series. Alex Eley, Charlie Sponsel and I left Issaquah at midnight on Friday and started our journey. After a few hours of sleep at a rest stop, we arrived at Schweitzer early Saturday morning.

Charlie and I were really excited to race Schweitzer. The course was always regarded as the roughest course on the NORBA circuit and many world cup pros still talk about Idaho and wanting to go back. Watch the video above of the Alter Boy sections. I believe the last race there was in 2004. A new lift has been built where the old course was and most of it has been destroyed. Last year they built a new course right before the race. The course had some fun parts, but needed some work in places. Considering it was a first year course, it was pretty good and we were excited to head back and see the changes for this year, expecting great things.


What the Schweitzer track looks like now pinkbike.com

Much to our dismay during our track walk, nothing had changed. It was still narrow single track, over grown weeds, no course tape, sketchy woodwork, too much traversing, etc. I want to preface all of this by saying that the course was still fun to ride. If Silver was as good as this Schweitzer course, I would be excited to go to Silver. However, due to Schweitzer's past, we hold it to a higher standard. We were expecting to see a National/World Cup level course, but that wasn't the case.  It had fun steep sections, but then overly long, narrow traverses that were really lame. We bushwhacked a bunch of weeds on the course for line of sight and to reveal dangerous hidden stumps. The bridges were made with rotten stringers and had 1x6 planks with 6 inches of overhang. walking across them was scary as multiple boards came loose.

This section was really cool. More of this please.

Charlie and I suited up and practiced all day. Schweitzer has an awesome set up in terms of lift access. A high speed quad takes you straight to the top with a beautiful view of Lake Pend Oreille. The parking lot is really close and everything you could need is available at the mountain village. The town of Sandpoint is a few miles away at the bottom of the hill and a great place to find candidates for www.peopleofwalmart.com

Looking down at our gypsy campground.

After poaching a quick dip in the hot tub, we headed back to the wagon wheel gypsy campground and hung out for the night. I love the people at the All Gravity Races. It's really relaxing, laid back, and fun. My trailer made the last side to our wheel and put up a race tent in the middle. Rylie was enjoying running around with all of the other dogs and swimming in the pond nearby.

Bafus going down in the triple drop section. Hard.

Sunday went according to plan. Charlie and I got a few practice runs and then dominated the race. Charlie beat me by 3 seconds for the win. I had some minor issues with my run from the start when I couldn't get clipped in, along with a lot of over braking in the corners. I ended up second with Evan Gilsdorf in 3rd. The gap from 3rd to 4th was 14 seconds! I changed the geometry on my bike to the middle setting and I think it liked it a lot more. It shortened the wheel base and steepened the head angle along with raising the BB slightly. It worked really well on the course. I love the way the bike is performing and with the adjustability it is so easy to make it suit the track.

Just because the course needs work, doesn't mean we aren't fast on it!

I was stoked for Charlie as that was his first pro win. We loaded up the trailer and headed for the long drive home. Trying to put the track out of our minds and focus on the old Schweitzer made the drive go by a little faster. We'll probably be back next year with our fingers crossed that some of the issues have been fixed. It was a fun weekend and when I look at the weekend for what it was, I enjoyed it. I was just hoping for more.

-KT

Prototype Diamondback Downhill Bike: The 2nd Generation | Vital MTB

Early morning photo shoots in Whistler are hard

 I just got back from Crankworx and managed to get some media coverage for the new Diamondback DH bike. Watch and listen to the feature from VitalMTB.com for all of the details.
Sorry for sounding groggy, this was shot at 7am on Sunday morning during Crankworx. I was a little tired...

Prototype Diamondback Downhill Bike: The 2nd Generation | Vital MTB

Enjoying the Whistler mud.

I also shot a feature with Ian Hylands for Pinkbike. Keep your eyes open for that as well!

-KT

NW Cup #4. Mt Hood revisited

Definition Epic.

A lot of people think most good racers are cocky. Part of being a good racer is mentally knowing you will win. To a lot of people, this trait comes off as being cocky. However, downhill racing is 90% mental. It’s the ability to tell your body to go faster, push harder, brake less, and jump further.

Coming into the 4^th round of the NW cup, I was in a good mental state. I had a brand new bike that was feeling great, I knew some of the typical “fast” guys were not going to be there this weekend, and I was excited to ride the course. I actually felt like I was going to win this round before I even arrived. Being down in the points after my flat in the last round meant I had to have a great race to close the points gap with only one round remaining.

With both of my cars still out of commission, I managed to grab a ride down to Mt Hood with Bobby Stenson and Cameron Hoefer. Pro practice not beginning until 2 pm meant we weren’t in a huge hurry to leave Saturday morning. My phone died during the night, so I was woken up with Cam pounding on my door. I grabbed all of my gear and hopped in the truck for the 4 hour ride south.

We arrived with over an hour before practice started, so Bob, Cam, and I registered and hiked the course. Nothing has really changed in the last two weeks, and with that knowledge, I donned my gear and headed for the top. I always tell myself to just go slow and take a cruiser run on my first run, but it never ends up happening. The rock traverse about halfway down the course has been the location of a lot of carnage over the years, but I’ve always been really fast and consistent through it. During my practice run I tried to double two rocks I’ve never jumped before and landed a little off of my line. My front wheel bounced a little off the course and caught a big stump. I ended up face planting down the trail. My left leg took the brunt of my crash and started knotting up quickly due to the impact.

Crashing in this section hurts. A lot.

I got down to the bottom of the course and tried to shake off my crash. I still managed to get a few more runs before ending for the day. Other than my crash, I was feeling great. When you crash in a section, you usually end up going a little slower through that area for the rest of the weekend, but I knew I couldn’t take it easy this weekend.  The new bike was absolutely amazing. I really felt faster than I’ve ever been and think that might have been the cause of my issues. I was going into sections so much faster than I ever have, but the bike handled it great and was looking for more.

We ended the night with the premier of Clay Porter’s new film, “3 Minute Gaps.” I had been wanting to watch this film for a long time and was really excited to see it. I was blown away by the filming and the story itself was presented very well. The movie ended with a standing ovation from the audience, and rightfully so. A quick soak in the hot tub before popping some painkillers ended my night.

Go see this movie. It's better than Avatar.

Waking up on race day is never fun. I was surprised at how good my leg was feeling though. It was still sore to walk on, but much better than the previous night. A sausage and egg brekfast at the Huckleberry Inn provided some sustenance for the day. I was feeling in a good mental state and ready to do some damage to the overall standings. I headed up for my morning practice run with the food settling in my stomach.

The upper part of my practice was good, but then I dived into the rock traverse. Right before the waterfall, I went to grab my rear brake and it pulled straight to the bar. Sitting on your bike, knowing that what is going to happen next will hurt, is never a fun feeling. I tried to hang on through the corner at the bottom, but it wasn’t going to happen and I hit the deck hard. I snapped my rear brake line and smashed my shoulder, elbow, and cut up my hands. I slowly rolled down the rest of the course without a brake and rushed to fix my bike before heading up for qualifying. Fortunately,  Todd Olsen had a spare brake with him and loaned it to me so I could qualify and race.

Todd saved my weekend. Thanks a ton!

Quickly working on your bike is never fun, but with the help of some friends, we managed to get my stead back in running order. I was the last guy to drop in for qualifying and with the points on the line, I knew I had to have a decent run. I sprinted past where I flatted last race and came into the 180 left hander on the ridge trail. Without warning, I lost the front end and laid the bike down. I got up quickly and continued my run, being pretty conservative and sitting and pedaling in a few sections.

I came across the line into second place just a hair back on Jared Hobbs who through down a killer run. I was right ahead of Eric Loney, who is my main competition in the overall points chase. With my slide out in the run, I was feeling really confident for the finals. I figured I could shave at least five seconds from my run.

Hobbs on his way to a personal best, 1st place qualifier. Nice Job Jared!

I grabbed the microphone and started announcing for the rest of the morning while the lower categories came down the hill. Matt Patterson managed to hook up his laptop as well and we had the live feed from the Windham World Cup broadcasting. Everyone huddled around the feed while we watched Aaron Gwin destroy the field and take his 4^th win of the season!

Gwin on his way to winning 4 of 5 rounds so far!

After the beginners started, I had to hand the microphone to Casey Northren and head up for my race run. Riding the chairlift solo is always a mental nightmare, but I put that behind me and enjoyed the view of Mt Hood on the crystal clear day. Once again, wait for the beeps and drop in! My run felt like it was going really well. Off on the side of the trail where I had flatted two weeks ago, I saw Eric Loney. He had crashed and was waiting for me to pass. This gave me some confidence that I would be doing well in the points chase. Blasting down Cannonball was fast and fun trying to avoid all of the blown out bomb holes, but I felt faster than I had all weekend. I came into the rocks a little conservatively, but kept it smooth. My only real issue on the track was in the lower woods. I tapped a stump and hit the brakes to avoid crashing, which slowed my momentum into a flat section. Other than that, the run felt pretty good. I sprinted the final straight into the finish, confident I had won.

I barely paid attention as Petr wrote the final times down, before looking up to see my time listed as a 4:04. I’ve never been that confused at my race time. I crashed in my qualifying and sat down in the pedal section, but somehow ran 4 seconds SLOWER in my race run. I felt much faster, and couldn’t believe my time. I tried to keep a good face as I congratulated Luke Stevens, the race winner, and the rest of the guys that beat me. This race was brutal to a lot of racers. Adam Ransavage was pinned all weekend long and a major threat to win the race, but crashed in his final run and broke his collarbone. Adam still managed to finish the race in 9^th place! Adrenaline is a heck of a painkiller!

I'm not a doctor, but I don't think X-rays should resemble works by Picasso.

Everyone grabbed a beer and headed over for awards. I always like awards and gave my raffle tickets to some little kids who ended up winning prizes. After the raffle, Casey found two more handlebars and decided to have some contests to win them. The first contest was a spinning contest, and while that was happening, I bought two pitcher of root beer and put on a chugging contest for the other bar. Everyone was blown away at the chugging winner who literally finished the pitcher in 3 seconds.

The awards wrapped up, I grabbed my money, and Bob, Cam, and I left Ski Bowl. After a short pit stop at a Chinese buffet, We headed back to Seattle. We’ll be taking a break from NW cup races for a few weeks. Next weekend is Crankworx, followed by All Gravity Series #3 at Schweitzer Mountain. I’m looking forward to a change of pace for the next few weeks. I’m going to take most of the next week off and nurse my wounds and see everyone at Crankworx!

Mini Mission DH part 2.

The completed project!

With the rear end on the bike and working well, it is time to tackle the next part of the equation. I am on a mission (haha!) to lower the bottom bracket and slacken the head angle. My initial thoughts were simple, run a shorter shock and if needed, add an angleset. However, like all good plans, it was never that simple.

The Mission has an  8.5x2.5 Fox RP23 on it. The next  availible size down from that is a 7.875x2.25. this would shorten the eye-to-eye (and lower the BB/slacken the head angle) but it would also reduce the travel of the bike. I didn't really want to reduce the travel, but it seemed like the easiest thing to do. After fitting the new shock and cycling the suspension through the travel, it was apparent that the shorter shock wouldn't work. Installing the shorter eye-to-eye, even with the reduced stroke, was still going to bottom out on the seatstay brace. I was prepared to trim the seatstay brace to accomodate the new geometry, but I didn't want to remove the entire thing!

The basic plan

After doing some simple calculations, I realized that shortening the shock that much would lower the B/B way more than I wanted anyways, so I'm glad it didn't work out. However, I now had to figure out how to still lower and slacken the bike.  The next simplest way would be to use some offset shock bushings. These essentially shorten the shock eye-to-eye length. The only issue with making those is that I don't have a lathe. It's on my list of things to aquire, but I don't have one right now. So that left me with the option I chose; cut off my upper shock and move the shock hole slightly higher.

Sacrificing a perfectly good bike is hard to do, but fun!

I went down to Diamondback and picked up an old medium Scapegoat frame that Billy Lewis rode last year and brought it home to face an unfortunate demise at the hand of my dremel. My plan was to remove the shock mount from the medium Scapegoat and bolt it onto my large Mission. This would move the shock mounting hole higher than stock, therefore, lowering and slackening the bike. The best part with this plan is that I can now change the geometry of the bike just by changing the plates on the bike.

New upper shock mount plate. By swapping plates, I can now change the geometry.

I cut off the upper mount on the scapegoat and after crossing my fingers, trimmed off the upper mount on my Mission. I bolted the whole thing together using some hardware from the local Home Depot. I had to make a new upper shock bolt. I luckily have a few old frames laying around my apartment. I had an old Transition Gran Mal frame that had a longer 8mm shock bolt that would work. I cut it down to size and assembled my contraption. I had to shave down one of the bolts to clear the end of the shock, but after a few minutes with the Dremel, that went together with ease.

I was really hoping I didn't just ruin my frame.

The hardest part was lining up and determining where to drill my holes. I didn't draw any of this out on paper, I didn't have any measurements, this was a complete estimation project. Fortunately, I was successful in my guesses and after a lot of assembling, removing, and reassembling, I had a complete bike. I removed all of the air from the rear shock and compressed the bike. As I expected, the seat stay brace hit the seat tube. I made some marks with a sharpie and started cutting. I'd trim back about an 1/8 of an inch at a time, compress the bike, trim some more, compress the bike and so on. I got it to the point where it wasn't hitting the frame under full compression. I had to remove about half of the thickness of the seat stay brace. The rear end is still stiffer than the stock offering however, as the brace is now a large "C" channel cross section. The rear end will still barely touch the seat tube if the bike blows all the way through the bottom out bumper, but that doesn't normally happen, and is something I'm willing to live with on this project.

Cutting out the seatstay brace

I had to remove a lot of material, but it's still stiff.

It's hard to see, but I had to grind down around the seat stay/knucklebox pivot too.

 The bike is now complete! The final geometry is now a 13.3" BB height (with the longer travel Fox 36 fork), a 65.5* head angle and a stiffer rear end. I managed to hit all of my goals with the project, won a DH race on the bike, and had fun making sparks in my living room! The bike is a little harder to pedal uphil with the new geometry, but a blast on the way down. I'm not racing XC with it, so I don't mind a little more of a workout on the way up. I'm going to keep this bike around and put a chainguide on the front to make it even more DH worthy. Hopefully some of these changes will be able to trickle down over the next few years and end up as features or options on future Diamondback models.

The blue tape on the shock is the size. I had 3 different sized RP23's and wanted to make sure I was measuring the correct one.

 Since I wrote this story, I've been hammering on the bike without any issues. Simon is currently riding it in Whistler and sent a message saying that the bike is awesome! There has been enough interest in the bike that there is talk of making a few Mission prototypes with this geometry to test out (Obviously with some refinements). Hit up the DB facebook page and let them know if you want to see this thing go into production, otherwise, I'll be the only one who gets to enjoy this set up!

-KT

New Bikes, Bachelor Party, Anniversary, More Racing, and America's Birthday!

Diamondback marketing overlord Jon Kennedy gave me a call on Friday morning with some amazing news. My new DH bike had arrived! I've been giving feedback on the DH bike I've been riding for the last 6 months and have been working with Diamondback's development team to create the next prototype. The new bike might look similar to the current one, but that's about it. Every piece of metal has changed, the factory has changed, the geometry has changed, new cable routing, more tire clearance, different tube set, clear coated raw frame with team graphics, etc.

This is as much of a preview as you get. Check VitalMTB.com and Pinkbike.com in the coming weeks for more details!

I rushed through building the bike and got it all dialed for the weekend. After a long day at the office, I loaded up Ruth's Beetle and headed east to Silver Mountain, in Kellogg Idaho again. There wasn't a race this weekend, but a friend was having a bachelor party that involved riding all day and taking over the bars at night. Ruth took the bus out earlier in the day to attend the bachelorette party. I managed to grab 2 hours of sleep at a rest stop before arriving at the hill to try my new bike. We loaded the gondola and set out for the top. Instantly I could feel the new geometry working wonders. The bike is a lot lower and actually steeper, which made it ride great. We raised the main pivot, which made it pedal better and the new internal cable routing was dead silent. I was loving the bike. The bachelor party rode numerous laps all day, which put a huge smile on my face. I can't wait for Mt. Hood again this weekend. Time for some redemption after my flat at the last round.

Sunday morning left me a little groggy from the previous night's festivities, but after having some coffee and the hangover helper at the local cafe, Ruth and I loaded up the Beetle and headed west again. Sunday was a special day for us, as it was exactly one year earlier that we were married. We didn't have much of a plan for the day other than to spend it together. It was a great day and I'm a lucky man.

For some strange reason that I can't figure out, this girl seems to like me!

I was also looking forward to following the Mt St Anne World Cup race, but as luck would have it, my phone died and the phone charger wasn't working. I didn't find out who won until later in the evening. I swapped out Hannah for Bryceland in my fantasy team, which turned out to be a smart choice. Bryceland qualified 3rd and finished 2nd for his first world cup podium! Minnaar had an off day however, and crashed into 18th. Gwin once again showed it that this is his year and took the win. The young riders dominated this race. Not a single legacy rider was in the top 10!

The next generation.

I started off monday with another new Diamondback bike. A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers was talking about getting a road bike. Somehow I got it stuck in my head that I should ride to work. I live 35 miles away from my office, so I was going to need something a little more efficient on the road than my Mission. After a quick phone call to Kennedy, I was loading a Diamondback Podium 6 road bike in the the yellow Beetle. I haven't ridden road bikes in a while, but growing up in North Dakota, road riding was pretty big. I missed the speed of the road bike and was excited to get back on one. After digging out some old lycra and a Dakota Cyclery jersey, I set out for a little 30 mile ride around Lake Sammamish this morning. I am probably the only person to run Shimano DX pedals on a 16lb road bike!  The ride was great, and the weather today was perfect. I was a little jealous of everyone enjoying the lake and the smells of the grills warming up for the BBQ's later in the day.

My new asphalt ride. Passing roadies is fun.

Hopefully everyone has a great 4th today and takes some time to remember why we celebrate this day! I also just finished the second half of the Mission project. It will auto post here at 12:01 AM Wednesday morning!

Politics aside, remember what this stands for and why it was written. Happy Birthday America!

-KT