Interbike

My first poster!

As the race season is winding down, it starts to become that time of year where we start looking towards next seasons new products hitting the shelves. The best place to find the latest and greatest new products, along with the vast majority of the cycling industry, happens to be at the Interbike tradeshow located in the desert wasteland that is Las Vegas. Interbike 2011 was actually my first time at Interbike and I had no idea what to expect.

I wasn't able to attend the dirt demo for the first few days. I decided to fly out early Thursday morning. I was working late on Wednesday as we are working mandatory overtime. I had to get from Everett to Sea-Tac late at night. Normally this involves a trip through Seattle down I-5 and pay for parking. Alternatively, if you happen to work at a company that maintains aircraft and is delivering one to the airport you are departing from, you can get a nine minute flight straight to your terminal. Getting to go on a flight at work is almost a badge of honor for us, so being able to take one that was also utilitarian was awesome.

Private flight!

The pilots were really nice and even let me ride in the cockpit in the jump seat. I am not a huge fan of flying, but being able to look out the front window of the airplane while flying over Seattle and seeing the lights at night was a sight very few people get to experience.

The view is much better that this photo shows.

This started my trip on a great note. After riding in the cockpit, it's hard to know you have to go sit in coach. However, I managed to sleep the whole way to Vegas. I awoke to beautiful sunny tempuratures and headed to the tradeshow. After finiding my way through the maze of cycling eye candy, I arrived at the Raleigh America booth. Raleigh is the parent company of Diamondback, and they had a combined booth at the show. The booth looked amazing and was packed all weekend with bike shops and media personel.

New DH prototype on display!

The 2012 Knucklebox Frames on display along with the Utah trip video.

The end of the first night started with Billy and I heading to a dinner with Kali Protectives. I had been to Vegas before, but this was a little different experience. Starting the night with steak and lobster was hard to beat. I want to send a huge thank you to Brad and the rest of the Kali crew. Their new product is amazing and I can't wait to get some riding time on it.

Pure nightclub VIP area overlooking the Strip.

From their we headed to a party at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace. Go-Pro had a VIP area reserved on the second level was impressive to see along with overlooking the middle of the strip. From their our party ended up at the Wynn for the Contour party which was the best part of the night. Such a good atmosphere there along with running into a huge crew.

Anytime your night involves Cedric and a Limo, it gets a little hazy.

The rest of the night gets a little hazy from this point on, but I ended up back at my room at Treasure Island to get a few hours of sleep before the final day of the tradeshow.

Friday morning wasn't as painful as it probably should have been. A few liters of water, a good brekfest, and some coffee can make a person feel pretty good. I walked across the street to the Sands Convention Center and began my journey for the day. Casey and Scott from the NW Cup series were unable to attend the show and asked if I could do some promotion for them. I spent most of the day talking to potential sponsors of the series and my own sponsors as well. I'm really excited about my program for next season and the NW cup should be in good hands as well.

2011 was good, 2012 will be great!

As soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, the booths started being torn apart. I gathered all of my belongings and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Raleigh was having a big dinner to celebrate a great show. We met up at a sushi restauraunt and sat down for an experience. I like sushi, but I was blown away by the meal that was put before me. The meal consisted of amazing sushi, along with Kobe beef cooked on a hot stone at the table, plus crab legs and other stuff I'm sure I can't pronounce. That was the best meal I think I've ever had in my life.

Sorry for the bad photos. Camera phone photos don't work very well in low light.

From there we were told to get dressed up for a night on the town. Everyone was waiting in front of Treasure Island when a stretch hummer pulled up. Sitting in a stretched hummer, blasting Black Sabbath, cruising down the strip wasn't on my bucket list, but I am adding it now that it happened. The limo pulled up to the Mandalay Bay and we were ushered to the top floor. There was a little private club up there that overlooked the strip with one of the most amazing view I've ever seen. A DJ was playing music while go-go dancers were doing their thing throughout the club.

Best view of Vegas!

The night ended with a stop at Mcdonalds and a short trip the the Casino. I turned three dollars into ninety dollars before losing it all. I need to learn when to stop. Net total only losing three dollars in Vegas is considered a win! 

This guy was passed out next to us at Mcdonalds. He didn't move the entire time we were there. 

Being back in Seattle is a treat. I am probabaly the only one who was happy to come home to some rain. The trails really need it and I've never been a fan of warm tempuratures anyways. I head to North Carolina on Wednesday for National Champs! I'll have another update when I get home!

-KT

Random Update - Surfing on the Coast, New Tires, Kachees Ridge, and a Neck Helmet

Ruth and I on the Oregon Coast

The light at the end of the tunnel is slowly appearing! There are only a handful of races left this season and we're in the home stretch. Don't get me wrong, I love racing, but after being on the road almost every weekend, all summer long, it is nice to know you will have a few days at home to rest and relax.

Abbey Road?

I skipped the Mt. Spokane round of the All Gravity Series to head to the Oregon coast with my wife and her family. 4 days of relaxing on the beach does wonders to rejuvenate someone. We went on some fun hikes, Rode horses on the beach, and went surfing. The only sad part was that it had to end.

Ruth, Me, and Austin sitting on the porch of our rental house.

I arrived back in Issaquah to find another box from Kenda had arrived for me. This time it was the DH tires! I mounted up a 2.5 Nexcavator in the new 42 durometer compound to the front of my DH bike and put a 2.5 Excavator Stick-E (50 durometer) in the rear and headed to Exit 27 to try it all out. The conditions right now are really dry and blown out, but the tires hooked up well. They felt predictable and held their edge on corners much more than the Nevegals I've run in the past. I'm excited to get some rain again and test them in proper northwest conditions.

New shoes! I've been really impressed with these tires, I'll give a more thorough review once it gets wet.

Last weekend, Jill Kintner called me and asked if I wanted to go hit up Kachees ridge in Easton Washington. I've heard that it is a fun all-mountain shuttled ride and was excited to go. Her fiance, World Cup racer Bryn Atkinson, broke his femur earlier this year and was relegated to shuttle driver. Bryn said the road was really fun to drive and actually seemed the most excited out of any of us to be there! He is back walking again and hopefully will be back on the bike soon. Travis Erickson, Jill and I rode the first lap and ran into a bunch of other riders for the second lap. It was a great day of riding and I was blown away by the scenery.

Bryn walking again!

The view from the top of Kachees is amazing. You have an amazing overlook of Mt Rainier and the surrounding mountains, along with looking down at Lake Kachees. The ride is an all-mountain ride that has a few really technical decents, one hike a bike and some really fun flowy trail following a creek for a few miles. I was loving the trail, but on our second lap, I clipped a rock with my rear end and ripped my derrailur off the bike. fortunatley the trail flows pretty well, so with a little scootering, I was able to coast to the last downhill and rip it back to the car. I need to get out and do more rides like this. Riding new trails is always fun!

I forgot my camera in the truck, so these are the only two photos I have. Jill should have some more on her phone. If I can get them, I will post them.

In safety news, I decided at the beginning of this year that I was going to run a Leatt brace this season. A Leatt brace is a neck brace designed to keep your neck from snapping in the event of a big crash. Diamondback helped get me set up with one and I'm glad I will be wearing one now.

Will Smith in "Wild Wild West" sporting the original Leatt brace.

At the Mt Spokane race that I skipped, a friend of mine and all around good guy, John Henry had a nasty crash and ended up breaking his neck and back. Fortunatly he can still walk and has complete movement. He was fortunatly wearing a Leatt brace and it probably saved his life.

Get well soon John!

In the interest of fashion however, I decided that I didn't want the basic stock color. Rob Crump had told me he dyed his and it looked great. I decided I would give it a go and try to make it not white. I decided to make it red to match the Diamondback team colors, as the the plastic parts are already white and black.

Step 1. Buy Dye.

Step 2. Cook pads in tomato soup.

Step 3. Profit!

I also just booked my tickets to National Champs at the end of the month. The rest of this month is filling up quickly. World Champs are this weekend, my parents are visiting next weekend, then Interbike, National Champs, and Silveroxx. After all of that, only the Moscow race will remain to finish the season!

Sam hill runs a Leatt, so it must be fast!

See you at the next ride.

-KT

National Champs course and new tires.

Some photos have been posted up over the last few days of the US National Champs course. I'll be heading down there at the end of September for the race. The venue is at Beech Mountain in North Carolina. It's a brand new venue with a new course, so it should be an even playing field, which will be fun to see. Chris Herndon is designing/building the track and looking at the photos, it looks good. I'm assuming it's steeper than it looks in the photos, but other than that, looks technical and rough.

I see rocks...

I see jumps...

and I see hucks to flat!

US National Champs Course Preview pinkbike.com

In other news, I also go some new tires this weekend. Tires are really expensive and Maxxis has been the standard for a decade now, but a few other companies are making a comeback in the tire market. I've ridden Kenda tires in the past and the tread patterns were good, but the compounds were always too hard. That's changed now and I just got a shipment of tires with Kenda's new RCR compound. It's a 42 durometer compound and the Nexcavator looks like a Minion with more mud shedding capabilites. I've been riding the 2.35" version and after the way it's been hooking up, I can't wait to get on the 2.5" for the big bike.

The Nexcavator! This is the 2.35" version.

Open tread pattern and soft compound. It's a good mix for the NW!

The other one I'm really excited about is the Happy Medium. It reminds me of a Highroller semi-slick. It has great cornering knobs with a semi-slick center tread. I've been running that tire on my Dreamliner and it works great. Fast rolling and great cornering! I can't wait to see what else Kenda comes out with in the near future.


-KT

Re-Inventing Diamondback | Vital MTB

The Diamondback team

Earlier this season, Seb Kemp swung through Seattle on his way to Whistler and put together this really neat story about the new Diamondback program. Check out what my team is all about below by clicking the link! 

Re-Inventing Diamondback | Vital MTB

2011 NW cup finals!

Lib Tech snowboards sponsors the series. They are from Squim Washington. Brand new 2012 T.rice Pro board! 

I'm normally not nervous going into a race, but this weekend was a little different. I won the overall NW cup last year and anything less this year was going to be a let-down for me. Thanks to a flat tire at the 3rd round, I was sitting second in points going into the finals. I was 21 points down on series leader Brian Mullen and only 2 points ahead of Eric Loney. Knowing that qualifiers was worth 75 points and the finals were worth 200, meant that it was anyone's race. 

I had spent all week calculating points and figuring out where I needed to place and running all of the possible point scenarios. But no matter how many times I did the math, it all came down to the same conclusion. I had to beat both Brian and Eric in the finals. 

Ruth has been working all summer and hasn't been able to come to many races, but she just got a new job and now has a normal work schedule. She drove up to my office and we headed for Port Angeles on Friday night.  We checked into our five star accomodations at the Super 8 motel, and got some sleep in preperation for the weekends events.

Last time setting the pit up at Port Angeles this year! Rylie guards the important stuff.

Saturday morning started early with setting up the pits and doing a course walk. The course was the same as the ProGRT but due to some logging, there has been some minor changes to King Diamond. A road had been put through the middle of the course which allowed for a road gap and a new technical section with a huge natural gap right afterwards. Due to the summer heat, there was no moisture anywhere to be found. The track was esentially concrete covered in loose marbles. I normally hate these conditions but for some reason I was excited to ride.

Fox has been awesome all year providing support at the races. Thanks Lewis, Nick, Mike, Justin and anyone else whose worked on my stuff this year!

After a practice run or two I was really starting to feel good on the track. I was hitting some new lines and feeling really confident. My DH bike was working perfectly and felt like it was flying down the hill. I normally do 4-5 practice runs, but I think I had done 9 by the end of the day. I was having so much fun I just couldn't stop.

The shuttle trucks were boiling this weekend. I managed to snag some runs with Scott Tucker which really helped out.

We gathered a big crew for dinner and hit up the best Thai restaurant in PA. Bryn Atkinson showed up to watch the race and came out with us for food. It was great to see him out again and he is walking with only one crutch now. Bryn broke his femur and his elbow earlier this year in a scary crash at the Plattykill ProGRT race in New York. It was good to see him back and hopefully he'll be healed and racing next season.

Number one!

Sunday morning was rough. I went to the grocery store to pick up some food, but it didin't matter. I took a sip of my coffee, had a bit of a bagel and that was all I could force myself to eat. I've never been that nervous going into a race. I was feeling great on the bike and on the track, but I knew what was at stake. I took two practice runs. I coasted the first one and pedaled through the second one. I felt good and went to collect my head before qualifiers.

I just wanted to cross this line in one piece. That, and do it faster than everyone else.

I was the second to last person to qualify and had a pretty decent run I made one big mistake in King Diamond that left me unclipped for the last section of that trail, so I lost a few seconds there, but overall, it was pretty good. I ended up in second place right behind Charlie Sponsel. I didn't care about not getting first, but I was excited when I learned I had put a few seconds into Eric's time and even more into Brian's. Based on my calculations, I was now the virtual points leader!

This kid got faster this year. Story behind this photo: Eric Loney rides for project 529. Charlie ended up with number plate 529. He wrote "sucks" after it. We took this photo and sent it to Eric.

Mike Estes handed me the microphone to do some announcing while he went for his race run and I was finally able to eat a little bit of food and relax after my qualifying.  I still had to go all-out in the finals as the points were even closer, but at least I was on the winning end of this this time. While I was annoucing, lewis from Fox Racing Shox was busy dialing in my suspension. Some new fancy parts for my fork would make my bike look (and perform) even better for the finals.

We gave away a Diamondback Mission as well!

Eric, Brian, Charlie and I got the VIP ride to the top in Scott Tuckers truck. As I was heading up, I heard that Rob Crump had crashed on the new road gap and dislocated his shoulder. Hopefully it isn't that bad and he can heal up quickly. Rob was looking so fast in practice and would have put down a very competitive time in CAT I. I tired to put that out of my mind as I waited for everyone else to drop in. I was the second to last rider to go and waited for the beeps. The first little section of trail felt great, I hit the road gap and started cranking for the Wu-tang gap. I hit the gap and ended up going a little farther than I should have and missed the berm completly! I ended up in the brush behind it and lost all of my speed. I quickly started pedaling to try and make up time. The rest of my run went pretty well until the last little rocky section. I came over the hump and somehow got sideways infront of a crowd of specators and thought I was going to lose it with the finish line practically in sight. Somehow I managed to keep it together and sprinted for the finish line. I came across the line into the hotseat. I realized I had just won the series and couldn't have been happier. Charlie came across the line and bested my time for 1st place which was awesome for him. He's been riding really well lately and not having the stress of the overall helped him out this weekend I'm sure.

Another weekend of Charlie and I dominating!

Awards wrapped up and I walked away from the weekend with back to back championships. Ruth and I stopped by Frugals Burgers for some greasy gut-bombs and a chance to reflect on the weekend. After a long ferry wait, we were back at home ready for a few weeks of rest and relaxation before the next big race. Looking towards the rest of the season, the next big race is National Championships in the end of September. I have some more fun trips planned between now and then, so stay tuned!

Greg Tubbs took this photo. He was a few cars ahead of us in the ferry line and got on the boat. We had to wait for the next sailing.

-KT

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!