Angelfire post

We went to Angelfire New Mexico for the 4th round of the ProGRT last weekend. It's a long story that I'll hopefully have up next week. Until then, I'll let the photos do the talking...

Kill #1 being moved out of the road.

Kill #2

Ouch.

Story and more photos coming soon!

-KT

Team Trip - Bend OR

Last year we had our team trip in southern Utah which was such a fun trip! This year was a little closer to home (for me anyways) in Bend Oregon. I went to Bend a long time ago with my family, but I haven't been there since. I've heard the riding was great and was excited to go down there.

The trip had a grand total of 29 bikes for 8 people!

The first day we rode the deschutes river trail. That was the trail I rode years ago. It follows the river bank and is a nice view the whole way. The purpose of the trip was to get some good photos for the website and online catalog. We stopped along the way and grabbed some great shots.

Deschutes River Trail.

Along the trail we found a rope swing. Charlie, being the newest team member, was forced to try it.

He obliged.

In the afternoon we rode the Whoops trail. That was so much fun! The trail has a bunch of small jumps and berms down a gradual slope. I was loving that trail and would go to Bend again just to ride it! We ended up taking photos on a berm and shredding it to pieces! I pulled a tire off my rim and Charlie blew his tire apart cornering! 

Top of the Whoops trail.

Sunday we rode some more fun stuff. We started by riding Funner trail with Lev and Kirt Voreis. They were great tour guides as expected and the trail was once again amazing. Slightly downhill the whole way and high speed wide turns. I stole Porter's Sortie 29 and didn't want to give it back. That is the perfect bike for Bend.

Proof that even robots smile on 29'ers.

Loading up the Cog Wild shuttle truck in the morning.

We spent the the next day riding Cline Butte. Cline is awesome. We got some great shots on the DH bikes and the trail was really fun. Rocky and Dry! I have having a lot of fun and Justin Olsen was getting some great photos. We ended the day with a berm busting session in the parking lot before heading back.

My van at the top of the Butte. The view from here was amazing!

The motley crew

I  got a lot of shots in the first few days, so I opted to head home a little early and save some days off from work. The rest of the team continued to Mackenzie River and some of the shots looked GREAT! I really missed out, but now I have a few more free days to play with for the rest of the year.

We stopped at Skibowl for a little break. Hopefully all that snow has melted by this weekend!

Keep an eye out for the shots on the Diamondback website over the next few months!

-KT

New Bike - NW cup #3

I'm really lucky to have the amazing support I receive. One of the best perks has been helping design the new Diamondback DH bike.

It's much "Redder" in person

I build up the new bike the day before leaving for Port Angeles for the 3rd round of the NW cup. The new bike is not too much different from V2 (The raw aluminum one). A few changes were lengthening the headtube, tapering the headtube, adding an integated fender for the rear suspension, new drop outs, improved internal cable routing, and shaving weight.

Rolling to the race in the VW. Ruth had to work and joined me with the van later in the day.

Rylie watching the drug dogs closely.

The new frame looks great in bright red! I didn't have the best weekend in Port Angeles, but with a few mistakes in my run I still managed to pull 11th in a stacked field. The competition is tough this year and any mistake can really drop you down the results sheet!

Lots of fast names far down the list. It was a huge field and times were tight!

Ruth has been riding really well lately and is currently 3rd overall in the NW cup points for her category. She broke a few ribs riding Whistler a few weeks ago, so we'll see if she can still ride an hold her position. She was really looking forward to Mt Hood and Stevens pass. Those tracks will suit her riding style a little more than PA.

Ruthie adding a NW cup to the family collection!

The race was really fun! It's sad that there aren't any more races at Port Angeles this year. Scott and Casey put on such a great weekend that I never get tired of going back. This year they even had  a long jump contest on the final jump. It was CRAZY! Lucas Chalcraft and Dean Tennant sent to final jump nearly 50 feet! Lucas won the height award by almost twice anyone else. Dean ended up going 1 foot farther though and won the prize.

Dean sending the final jump. That lip is 2 feet tall. flying 50 feet is insane.

My preferred method. GET LOW!

Strobel ended up winning, which is always good to see. The Canadians are killing it this year though. We have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to get faster for the next NW cup at Mt Hood.

Strobel representing as the only American on the podium.

My number plate for the weekend. It clearly says #1.

-KT

Footwork Fluridride Video

Wow guys! It's been much too long since I've posted an update. Sorry for those who come here looking to find out what I've been up to. Anyways, I've been absolutely slammed with work and riding projects and I'll do my best to fill everyone in!

First up, I've been working with Simon Lawton of Fluidride on my riding techniques. Simon is a great coach and I highly encourage anyone who wants to get fast to take a class with him. You throw money at your bike (which won't make you faster) or you can spend an afternoon with a coach and actually learn to become a better rider!

Simon has a 3 part mini-series about cornering. We just finished filming part 2 this week. Part one is posted below. Hopefully this helps and feel free to send me any questions you might have.




-KT

Productive weekend

This was the most productive weekend I've had in long time. I started Friday morning with a little maintenance on my dirtbike. The rear brake pads were on metal and the front pads weren't much better. I also installed some hand guards to hopefully protect my hands in case I run into any more trees!

Yeah, that needed to be replaced.

Ruth had my van for the day, so I either had to go pick it up, or try to load everything in my Rabbit. I went with option B. I was positive my dirt bike wouldn't fit in the bed of the Rabbit, but I loaded it in diagonally and even managed to close the tailgate!

It fits!

I drove up to Walker Valley and had a really fun ride. The snow has melted off and the trails were in great shape. The only issue I had all day was when I was on the highway, the truck would start making this HORRIBLE noise about 57-58 mph. If I would turn or slow down it would go away. It sounded like a tire was rubbing really badly against something. With the amount of weight in the bed, that wasn't a far stretch of the imagination. I pulled over and looked all over and under the truck. I couldn't find anything wrong. Once again though, 58mph and the noise was back. I stopped a handful of times again before realizing what was so loud. The fender of the dirtbike actually sits higher than the cab on the VW. The wind was rushing over the cab and causing the fender to resonate with an earsplitting tone! After realizing that my truck was working just fine, I enjoyed the rest of the drive.

Saturday was yard work day. I had started removing this overgrown hedge in our yard last week. We didn't have much of a plan for it other than we wanted it gone. I had removed all of the brush, but the roots and stumps were still in the ground. We spent all day pulling and digging out the stumps and roots. The work was not fun, but it looked so much better when it was done.

This is a before photo (sort of)  I forgot to take a before picture, this is from Google Maps in 2008. It hadn't been trimmed since then. When we moved in, the hedge was as tall as the stop sign and you couldn't see the fire hydrant.

We ended Saturday by heading into Seattle to meet up with some friends for Cinco De Mayo. Michael and Gretchen threw a great get together with some amazing carne asada tacos and margaritas! Thanks guys, it was awesome!

Cinco De Mayo!

Ruth and I awoke sore and tired on Sunday, but were determined to enjoy another day of beautiful weather. The original plan was to meet up with a bunch of different groups at out Exit 38 and shuttle some DH runs. I started calling people once I woke up and it seemed liked the interest was waning. A few people decided to head north, a few decided to head east, a few were hung over from Cinco De Mayo etc. So Ruth and I decided to head out there and just deal with it. We got out to the trail head and were were the only ones around, so we took Rylie and hiked a few runs. It was fun to take it easy and Ruth was riding really well. She is really getting used to the DH bike.

After a few hours, we headed home to work on the yard. We decided that we should plant a garden in part of the area and landscape the corner. One big trip to the Garden center later, and we started tilling the ground and planting our first garden.

On the corner of the lot we planted a Japanese maple and a few smaller shrubs along with a few big rocks from the old pond in the backyard. We were really happy with how everything turned out and can't wait to start removing and replacing the rest of the overgrown yard.

Rylie sitting in the yard overlooking the finished product. On the far right, you can see the start of the garden. The rest of the overgrown landscaping will be removed soon.

While we were working, our neighbor came up to us and said "I have a brand new grill that is too big for our family, do you want it?" Ruth and I decided to BBQ some chicken and have a fire in the backyard to finish the weekend. It was a great weekend. I love being home.

Ruth adding some BBQ sauce to the food. It tasted great!

We head back to Port Angeles next weekend for the last PA race of the year. I am picking up my new DH bike tomorrow and there is always more to do on the house. The next update will be posted soon!

-KT

A few more photos from the weekend

I found a few more good photos from the weekend.

Colin Meagher capturing me coming through "Fairclough Falls" in my race run. Check out the crowd! Freedom and Liberty via Pinkbike.com! 

Paris Gore got some great lifestyle shots. Sitting in the pit before my race run via Pinkbike.com

Matt Delorme catching Charlie and I on a course walk via VitalMTB.com

I'll add more as I find them.

-KT

NW Cup #2/Gran Prix/ ProGRT

What an AWESOME weekend! I just got back from Port Angeles for the 2nd NW Cup/ProGRT/US Gran  Prix race and it was great!

Last year in Colombia. Rockero and me.

A few weeks ago, Ricardo AKA, Rockero sent me a message on Facebook saying he wanted to come to Port Angeles for the race. Rockero is a really fast rider from Guadalajara Mexico, whom I met when I was down in Colombia last year. We sent a few messages back an forth before getting everything set up for his arrival. I picked him up from SeaTac and sent him to Port Angeles with a few friends so he could practice on Thursday.

This section was originally called Ninja Falls. After Brendan crashed hard here, it was re-named Fairclough Falls. This photo was taken on Friday morning. 450 racers and three more days made this section REALLY gnarly. Watch the day 3 Dunbar video posted below to see this section in action. A few others hit the same tree that claimed Brendan's shoulder.

The course conditions were great, as long as you aren't from California!

Rule #1, Don't hit trees. Rule #1 is not always followed.

I got out of work a little early on Thursday night and caught a late ferry to PA. I arrived at 2am, but after a few hours of sleep, I made the short drive to the hill and set up the pit and did a course walk before practice started. PA normally has great courses, so to say this was the best one, is a major title. The course was "White Knuckle" up top, to the new fresh cut "Chunderdome" for the lower half. It had high speeds, steep chutes, big holes, perfect ruts, and hard jumps. It was perfect! I actually had a hard time not over practicing. It was so much fun to ride the course. The only complaint I heard was "There's to much loam." I think we can live with that...

The take off looking down. The ruts just grew bigger as the weekend went on.

The landing. Note all of the tire marks on the wrong side.

 

Bash guard marks in the landing. Bike suspensions were put to the test this weekend.

Yours truly sending it for the crowd.

The hardest part of the course was near the bottom. There is an old logging road crossing, that could be jumped. You come out of a corner and at the end of the corner is a little jump over the old road bed. The landing is a big hump. In the dry, clearing the gap would be no problem. In the mud, with 450 racers creating ruts, it was near impossible to clear. You didn't have a choice though and had to jump it if you wanted to be fast! Out of the 104 pro men, only 3 cleared the jump to the transition in their qualifiers!

Typical case on the jump.

The day 3 Dunbar video. Watch some of the crashes, wow!

The first time I decided to hit the jump, I was waiting for the track to clear before I dropped in, when Greg Minnaar (#2 in the world) rode by. I figured, "I'll watch him make it look easy." A moment later all I heard was "BAM!" as his rear wheel smashed into the case pad on the landing. It didn't give me a lot of confidence to try it after that! I got over it quickly though and jumped the gap, casing it as well, but it wasn't as bad is it looked. Suspension soaked up most of the hit and you seemed to keep speed pretty well after the jump. It was fun to have something on course that was challenging for the pro field.

Greg Minnaar watching me in practice. I'm assuming he's saying "I hope he didn't see me case that jump" I know Charlie will have some fun with this photo and some caption bubbles later on Team Robot.

Rockero hanging out with the big dogs! Gwin and Neko.

Speaking of the pro field, this was a stacked race! There were so many big names in attendance that it felt like a real World Cup race. Gwin, Minnaar, Bryceland, Atkinson, Strobel, Hannah, Delfs, Fairclough, Leov, Graves, Mullaly, Smith, Riffle, etc. along with all of the fastest Canadians and American national riders too. A top 20 would be a great result for the weekend.  I didn't have any expectations going into the weekend, as it would be the first time I'd see how I compared this year to everyone. My goal was to go have fun and enjoy riding my bike.

I built these wheels on Thursday morning. They survived for 72 hours. PA is fast and rough. I rode the Kenda Nexcavator 2.35 RSR tires all weekend and they worked great! I'm really excited with the new Kenda stuff.

Saturday morning rolled around and I had another few good practice runs. We capped the day off with our seeding runs for Sunday's race. I had a good run. I put in a few pedal strokes, but focused on hitting my lines and staying smooth. I rode most of the track well, but coasted between a few sections. At the end of the day, I ended up in 23rd! I was right in the mix with everyone else and I couldn't have been happier! It's nice to see that my hand didn't slow me down to much and everything is back up to speed.

Lots of big names on this page. 23rd for me.

 Saturday night was a great dinner with the guys from Shimano. They've treated us really well and we can't thank them enough! 

Verg rolling up to my house in style. I haven't met all of my neighbors yet, so this was a nice introduction to the neighborhood!

Alex from Modus ordering Thai like a boss. His meal was served in half a pineapple!

Sunday started with everyone only being allowed one practice run. I took a run with Remi Gauvin, who won the first NW cup race. He was riding really well and it was good to know I was on pace with him. The run was going well until I tagged a sharp rock and flatted. I had to walk the rest of the way down the hill and never got a full run in. I sat around most of the day waiting for my race run. I did the usual cheering, taking over the mic while Mike Estes did his run, hanging out with Ruth and Rylie and cleaning my bike. I went up for my race run and did a short warm up before dropping in for my run.

Rockero having some fun in practice. The conditions were a little different than what he's used to in Mexico. Unfortunately, a crash in practice would slow him down in the finals.

 I left the gate and sprinted the first straight really hard.  I turned the first right hand turn into White Knuckle and was going a little to fast and had to lock the brakes up. Shoot, I took a few pedal strokes and was back up to speed. The next corner was the same, come in too hot, lock the brakes late, have no exit speed, sprint to get back up to speed. I had a few little bobbles in my run, but nothing major. I came across the line with the same time as my qualifier, but I had put in twice the effort from having to compensate for my over braking and skidding. I ended up 27th, which was still a great result considering the competition, but it always hurts to know you could do better. I'm not bummed though, I did beat a lot of really fast riders and didn't get junior'ed or chick'ed (beaten by a junior or a girl).

Pro podium. It might as well be a World Cup. Steve Smith taking the win.

Adam has a broken collarbone. It didn't stop him from "cheering"

Charlie put his bike in the stand backwards. I nearly kicked him out of the pit. Forgive him, he's a slow learner.

Brad Delzer had this little custom 20" full suspension bike for his kid. Some day I'll be doing this as well.

Ride of the weekend goes to Kole Wetherell. He practiced Saturday, skipped seeding, and drove 6 HOURS to Clatiskanie Oregon to attend prom on Saturday night!

After not sleeping,  he came back Sunday morning and crushed it in his race run for 4th in Junior X! (Yeah, the photo is from the last race, but it's sweet)

I love having a house, a house means I have a hose. It's so much easier to clean bikes with hose.

We returned home after a quick stop for some food and cleaned the bikes before Rockero had to fly home. Another weekend in the bag and I'm really happy that I'm back to speed and I learned a lot from the race.. I'll shake the cobwebs quickly and be on top of the podium again soon!

-KT