Awesome year

So I guess that it is time to reflect, what else is there to do when awake at 3:30 am?

All in all what can I say, it has been great. I have gotten through my first year as a pro with in my opinion some success and definitely some great thing to learn from. But instead of sitting here and talking about my results that already on on the right of this page I will enjoy the trails I got to ride and Awesome people I have met.

I started a race series this year to try to give back to the sport that has given me so many great and painful times. I have been having so much fun with the races from hanging out with the racers to making there leather number plates. It has been a great time and I look forward to continuing the series.

Then I was able to travel for several months this year with Intense and do a bunch of demos for them. I was able to ride some of the coolest trails in this HUGE country, I know I drove across it twice, and also Canada. I have always liked the Intense product and the guys and gals that work there make it so much cooler.

To keep from drawing this out to long I am stoked with were things are at and can't wait to move them forward. Top of that list...? My racing, must get faster!!!

Merry Christmas and I hope that next year is an even better for all!

ITT...well some of it

Today Brian ^ and I decided to go for a good ride. About 2hrs of climbing was on tap, or at least what we had planned. Not sure how much we ended up doing but we stopped when we couldn't pedal any more. The snow about a quarter of the way up was 18 inches deep. It made for great times and extremly cold feet. Enjoy the pics, we certainly enjoyed the snow!!!

1.25 hrs in the not so So Cal weather

Today I had to go out for a ride in the rain. Why? because I have not been able to ride in a couple of day and well we race in any condition so I may as well train in it. It was a short ride because it was cold, 40 degrees, and my fingers went numb. It became difficult to tell if I was braking so I decided to be smart and head home. It was a great time and the faces of cars driving make it all worth while. Thanks to Bill Dixon for providing me with all and more winter gear than I could ever use! I just need to use another set of cloves next time and I will be able to ride longer!

Good times!


From the last trip to Brian Head, Ut. Brian missed the bridge and just rode through the water.

Staying out of the storm

Sportin the pink

At least that is the jerseys for winning the winter series. It is a really cool jersey and trophy! It was great seeing so many friends there and most were winning there catagories! Congratulations to all that got an award for all of the hard work that they have put into it! Thanks also to Donny for the cool awards after a long season.

I raced in the Asterisk Charity race yesterday. What a great time that was. The weather was pretty cold, windy and even had the occasional rain shower, but was some of the most fun I have had in a long time! It started off with a fun ride that was lead by none other that Motocross racer Mike Sleeter that organized the event. Mike has even come out to the last several events I put on and he is tearing it up! He has some serious fitness! After the fun ride there was relay race where Mike paired up a "Beginner" rider with a "Pro" rider. I got to be the other half of the team with Dr. Alexander, a local Dr that fixes all of the top moto guys when break things. Sounds like a great guy to know, just in case. After it all was done I got out a shovel and did some TLC on the Short Track course for the next race.

Dr. Alexander rode like a true champion and by the time he came back from the first lap he had us right where we need to be! I had to chase down a few guys but got the job done and Dr. Alexander and I took home the gold rings for first place. They are cool prizes as they actually came off Sleeter's bike so that made it even cooler! Oh and the skull was my dads years of photography school kicking in.

I also posted the video from the last XC race that I took from the seat post cam.

6 flats in 24 hrs

So here is the NEW flyer for the race. We are going all out on this one! Its a stage race that you can do as an individual or a team! It is going to be a ton of fun and we hope that you will make it out!

Onto this past weekend of riding. I got a ton of long rides in and it was great. All week I was doing a bit longer of rides and then I topped it all off with 3 four or more hour rides Friday- Sunday. Saturday I went for an early morning "pedal" with Rob from X-factor performance and my bud Brian. We started from basically Murrieta High and rode to the towers above Lake Elsinore. Now there is an easy way and a hard way to do this, we took the extremely hard way. It started off with us climbing up SuperMan, then Gerald Davis hill, back to blowout and then to the single track. That was not even all of the riding but it was a great start. We ended up getting almost 40 miles on the day and it was great! Ahh except for all of the flats I aquired. I ended up getting 2 on my bike and then I was going to leave Brians house and had a completly flat tire on the van. I apparently picked up a large piece of metal debris from the road and it went flat while we were riding. The bummer of it all was that we got back to Brian's a little before 1 and I did not make it home till after 4. I guess napping on his pourch and not having the proper tool to change the tire was on tap for the day.

Then I got to go on a ride with Eric Carter, Waylon Smith, Rich Houseman, EC's mechaninc John and Cris who helped develop Whistler bike park. We ended up ridng some trials in the San Juan area that I had never riden before. It was a blas and I can't wait to get back on those trails! Riding with those guys is so much fun. It really pushes me to ride with them but we are all there having a great time eating candy as we are doing some epic trails. All in all a great weekend. Oh and as a side note I pulled out the bike from my van in the morning and the bike had a flat, on the ride I flatted, and the van has a slow leak in another tire now. Ahh good times.

All that being said it was still less than Brian got in his first 4 laps of his first 24hr solo race. He got 7 flats in just about 4 hours. I don't feel so bad. Have a great day!

And one more

Not to let a good friend, Keith Moore, down that has been off his bike for 2 weeks we made sure to take care of his needs. This particular day it was "Fell the wind in my hair." Always good times to be had at our races!

That is all for tonight, now I recover from a day of laughter!!!

Quick report from the race today

Results are now posted and there is also a video handlebar cam from a pre ride of the Super D here. Enjoy!

With the perfect weather and awesome trail conditions we were set to have a great day! And we did. For tonight however I am just going to post a few pics on how to go 3 wide on a single track. This was in the Super D race and Jerome Lacote and Brian Crooks and I were the subjects. Look closely and you can see we were actually overlapping bars!

Thanks to all who came out today and supported us!

Inspiring friends

So I spend the last 2 days at Vail lake for the 12 hour event. It was so cool to be able to NOT race and watch and help out where I could! It so great to see some great people and friends get the top spots on the day. So many friends were racing I forgot how it all went down but I know that most everyone finished in the top two.

For the ones that really were out there giving it there all was the solos. Not that the teams were not giving it there all but it is a different level to be a solo, from someone that has done a few solo's. On the men's side was personal friend Luke Wiens, and James Koch. Those two had a race going from the start and it was awesome to watch. Luke has more experience and proved that he has been training for these for a long time now. Luke finished 2nd to Ben Bostrum, who race in my event last weekend, with a super strong last 3 laps! Luke and James finished with 11 laps each and James finished in forth in his first 12 solo!! AWESOME work gentlemen!! I was definitly impressed with your performances.

Now on to the womens pro/expert side of things. Let me tell you from the start that this was the battle of the day!!! Allison and Shalyn both took this from wire to wire with several lead changes. They both were pushing each other so much that they ended up passing ALL of the Pro womens field and finishing just 1 lap off of the top male solos! It was so cool to be able to help out a little and watch them pushing so hard to make it to 10 laps!!!! I was and still am blown away by the performances that it took for these two to take the TOP 2 spots on the PRO podium. That was amazing to watch these races unfold throughout the day! Awesome work ladies!!!!!!!!

To top it all off this was no easy race or course as it was perhaps the most challenging course I have EVER seen in an endurance event!

All in all it was a great weekend and I am proud to be a part of it in the smallest of ways!

Congrats to all that competed, regardless of how the results shake out!

The heat was brought today by all!!!!

Tom Koerner having a good time, he is just hiding it under the grin

Luke getting in some pre 12hr speed work! Doing great leading Michael Bell and the expert field

Jumping the pipe, good times on the FRO!!!

55 ready to go XC racers ready to get the Hillbilly Bike Bash under way!

Awesome shots provided by Paul Chan

Here are some of the race photos from the race this past weekend. I still can't belive how much fun it was to be out there with everyone. Thanks to all who made it an awesome weekend!

Well the race weekend was awesome to say the least! I had so much fun I still can't sleep. So I will post some of the pics I have handy to try to show the great times. Thanks to all that came out and helped out and this this so successful!

Gettin HillBilly wit it!!!!

Just a quick shot from the last Brian Head trip

With less than 24 before race start we are all systems go! I will be out today marking the ever illusive XC course and getting final preparations ready for you! The number plates have been made and the trail is buffed out beyond belief, due to all of the gracious help of the volunteers.

If you enter all three XC of the series races this Saturday then we will give you a bonus 2 raffle tickets for the drawings of all the wonderful bikes! Remember we have a complete Cannondale R7, $1,000 off a new Ellsworth frame, and $500 off a new Intense Cycles frame. Thanks to all that have made this raffle possible and look for lots more to be added as the series picks up steam!

For those that are still on the fence about coming out, think lots of industry trailers for your support, hillbilly games, and race to fit everyone's style! That's still not even all! We have a DJ that will be playing in the village Saturday night next to the bar and carne asada taco bar open for mountain bikers to enjoy! So much going on I may have forgot, but just don't hear about it come out and join us!

Also we will be having information to pass out on site for the newly enacted season passes. They are going to be a great thing for all of us that love riding in the dirt and a good portion of the membership will go into the construction of new trails!

It looks to be great turn out and we look forward to seeing everyone this perfect weather weekend!

For a complete schedule and list of events go to Hillbilly bike bash

Robert Herber

Race Series excitement!!!!

So here we go with less than a week before this new series kicks off and the Industry support has been pouring in. It's so exciting to see all that we have to give to the racers! They deserve it!!!!
And thats just the beginning of what we are giving away. Ellsworth and IE Bikes have just come on board for $1,000. off a NEW frame!!!! What do you need to do to get one of the 3 grand prizes? Uhh well show up and race. The more races you enter the better chances you have to win!!!!!

So with much delay I finally bring you this post. I have been out of town riding/ working some of the coolest trails! I was in Fruita this past weekend to do a demo for Intense Cycles. It was a great time and the people were a ton of fun. I had a fleet of Tracers and the challenge became keeping them around long enough to clean them a bit before they went back out again! All in all everyone loved the new bikes and had a great time trying them out on all of the different trails Fruita has to offer.

I have a ton of pics and videos of the great times coming soon! For now enjoy the pics of the Trail work crew from yesterday and the new trail we cut into to the top of tunnel of love. We are yet to get a name for the new trail but I am sure its just a matter of time!!!

A HUGE THANKS goes out to ALL that helped out yesterday, without you guys this trail would not have been completed in a mere 2 hours. It even has 2 harder rock sections and bypasses. Awesome work guys and Gals. The workers for the day were: David and Addison Hinrichs, Keith, Rod, Jason and Shalyn Gates, Gordon and Robbie Coop and Lilly, Cheryl, Daisy and Duke .

Robbie conquering the hill with Cheryl, Keith, Gordon, Lilly and Duke helping out!
From left to right: Gordon, David, Addison, Lilly, myself, Duke, with Robbie coaching us along.
Left to Right: Addison, Me, Duke, Robbie and Cheryl stomping in the trail
Jason Gates getting the trail started at the top!
Ahh the van ride...8 people and 2 dogs!!!

Thanks again for all of the help! Now let's all enjoy the hard work!

Some pictures from the latest adventure to Brian Head

A look into Bryce canyon
Brian on the Edge...
The road to the top!
A muscle man at the top 11,307ft. Brian head in the back ground
Recovery after great riding at Bootleg Canyon "One could die here" Some other MTBer
The day before it snowed, from our camp site!
Duke got lost...
Brians' first real snow experience
Who would not want to move here?

HillBilly Bike Bash

Whew another great time has passed of riding and this time in the Snow!!! My friend Brian and I drove out to Brian Head this weekend to get some riding in and it was awesome. Really cold but hey thats we get!

Also here is the latest news to hit Vail Lake. The HillBilly Bike Bash is now official and I will be running the XC race there. Can't wait to race the Super D and DH there also! Hope to see everyone there, it WILL be a great time!!!!!

Week long MTBing road trip

So last Saturday Amon and I drove back from Interbike only to get ready to turn around on Sunday and drive past Vegas again to start our trip. It was a great trip with no major plans besides that of riding a ton and relaxing. Sunday night we stayed in Mesquite so that we would be ready to go Monday morning to Gooseberry Mesa. Monday we got up and headed out to the Goose to ride and with some perfect weather it was a great time. We took lots of pics and videos and even ran into some other riders from the area. We even saw Tony Ellsworth out there leading a group ride.

After Goose we drove to Brian Head for a night of camping and a early morning ride of Dark Hallow. We woke to gun shots and quickly realized that it was hunting season. In fact some hunters got a large deer just a few hundred feet from our camp site. Ahh exciting. We ended up riding to the peak at 11,307ft then we dropped into the Hallow. Such a great trail and with all of the leaves turning colors it was truly remakable!!! After ripping the Dark Hallow it was time for the road ride back up. Whew what a ride up it was on our 6" travel bikes! After some lunch and showers it was off to Thunder Mtn. Now that was a great trail and we had a blast as we just ran out of light. The pictures are so cool and the trail was a BLAST!!!

The next several days were spent rideing the best trails in Fruita. We even had a great place to stay and awesome guide with Guido! Thanks for all that you did! Fruita has some great riding and the people there are stoked to keep it going! It was a nice change of pace!!! After more great rides than I can remember it time to head back to St. George for anonther ride and head back home.

We rode the Green river valley trails there and man they were a ton of fun! We all had a blast and the trails were like a giant pumptrack! After some fun in St. George it was time to head back home and get back to work on the race series.

So until I get some pictures this will have to do. Hope all is well!!!

Racers and Chasers Holiday Shootout!!!

So summer is finally over and the heat has left So cal so that means that it is time to get going again with the race series. This time around we are going to do things a bit different. We are going to host a race about once a month. We are going to call the series a Holiday Shootout and encourage the costumes to come out and race with us!

There is going to be some changes to the series but rest assured that it will still be the same Racers and Chaser that we all love!

RacersAndChasers.com

The end of Racing

Well at least for the 24 hour races. I have said it now for a while and this time I AM going to stick to it! They are a ton of fun and the people that have allowed me the chance to ride with them, it has been nothing but great times. It has just come time to realize what my goals are and to stick to them. I am going to be really select on the races that I do, only the ones that will get me to my final racing goal!

So on to a recap of the weekend. Whoa what a time it was and what a camp site Team Heat put together! It was truly amazing with 3 refrigerators and an oven and even a chef. Not to mention the support from all of the the staff and friends of Idyllwild Heating. THANKS a ton guys!!! Maybe that had something to do with the FACT that everyone that pitted out of our site won there category. The truly amazing feat of the day was Dez in his amazing 22 SOLO laps that he did and took the Victory by over a lap! Then there was the Team Dust Bunnies, Of Wendy Walton and Shalyn Gates, that would have won the women s category had there been one, and there should be one! Then Jason Gates and his team also won there 5 person category.

Then there was Team HEAT, Kenny, Kevin, Chad, Brian and myself. Well lets just say that we got off to a GREAT start thanks to Brians' awesome first lap and the rest was, well history. By the time that dark had rolled around we were 1 lap up on the next team and we had a lap average of less than 45 minutes per lap. It was truly a great time as we finished with 29 laps in total and just missed the 30th lap by 31 seconds!

I would like to give a huge shout out to both Solo riders that I know through my race series! Luke Wiens and Brian Crook both took on the SOLO category and came out with huge performances! Luke finished with 16 laps and 4th place. It was truly awesome especially beings it was his first ever 24 solo. I saw him out there and amazingly enough he always looked fresh! Great work Luke you have definitely put in the work required!

Then Brian a friend of mine that just bought his first bike 7 months ago had a great race with 11 laps! He even got off to a bad start with 7 flats in the first 3 laps but still continued! It was cool to see him ride so much and still have a ton of fun!

Great work to everyone that was there and competed!

Also I just confirmed the next Racers and Chasers event. October 25th, bring your costume! More details to come soon!

So much riding

So its always the making of a GREAT weekend when I know that I am going to racing both Super D and XC, with a side of dirt jumping at my house after it all.

It all started on Saturday with Brian picking me up from my house then a quick trip to my Mom's to get her. Time was a bit closer than we wanted so we just drove strait to the race site and got ready to race Super D. I heard it was pretty cool using mostly single track and being about 2 miles long. We got up there with just eneough time to get going. We all lined up on the fire road as we took off. Well long story short it took about 14:30 to finish and a ton of it was fireroad but was still a great time. I won on the 29er and Brian finished after quite upset that his bike was not working that well and he had to even get off several times to fix it. Brain still finished in third!

Later as we were unloading the bikes I noticed that brian had completly broken his frame right above the front derailer. Well that explains the shifting problems! Luckly we had still another bike for him to use in the xc race on Sunday.

After a great eveing in the house that Timmy let us use for the night it was off to race XC, me on my FRO and brian on the 29er. Brian took off first and had a great race and WON his class and was the 4th fastest Sport rider of the day. He has only been riding for 7 months!

Then it was time for my race, I was stoked to race XC as it has been about 8 weeks since the last one and yet a bit nervous on how my legs would respond. Well it all went pretty well with the legs responding fairly well and me being content with a 2nd place! Mike Tettelton made a guest apperance and rumor has it that he may be racing more XC next year, Maybe because he WON it all! Nice work guys!!!

Then as the awards finished it was off to the races as we drove home in time to get the ride party on at my house. It was another great time as a ton of friends showed up and we all had a great time riding and eating tons of food!

Hope your weekend was GREAT also!!!

RC cars, Bikes, Dogs and all around great times!!!

So today was another great day. Why? Well I got lots done and even got a good ride in the resulted in two 29"flat tires. So I had to get back home so I called up Brian "The Pro Super D racer" and he gave me a ride back to my house.

Not even 2 minutes after we go back to my house a flat black van pulled into my drive. Needless to say I finally figured out who drives it! I had seen it a ton driving all over town mostly when I was riding my bike. Jeremy Steinberg and Taka pulled up looking for a place to drive there new RC cars. We both laughed as this whole time Jeremy said the same thing that he had seen me riding a ton... must of been the times I saw him driving the Stealth black van around.

Well onto the good times! Before long I hear the sounds of RC cars rippin around the back yard with my dog Duke chasing after it. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen him do but I had to put him back after a but cause he was catchin the car. Before long the guys had the cars launching the 18 foot doubles and hitting the best lines we have here.

So what is learned from today? I need to paint my van Stealth Black and get more jumps built, oh and FMX riders even kill it with RC cars!

Weekend of riding

It was a great weekend as it seemed that I was able to ride a bike all weekend long!

It started off with a 4am wake up on Saturday morning so that I could get to Bill Dixons house on time. Bill, his riding partner Jeff and I all took off in Bill's truck to Irvine where the century was set to start for the day. It was a great ride and was perfect for my legs as I am still trying to get them back after the long road trip I was on. It followed the coast all the way to downtown San Diego. It was a great time and we had no flat tires the whole way!

Brian on his "Road Bike" #168

The crowning achievement of the day however does go to Brian that rode over a hundred miles on his mountain bike! He did it all by him self with knobby tires and 6" of travel. Way to go, you rode more than us and we were on road bikes!!!

Sunday

Ahh yes after eating lots and sleeping lots it was time to get out the mountain bikes and have some fun on my jumps in the backyard. Before we got to ride though Mike, Toots and Brian all came over to help out with maintence on the jumps. We spent several hours working on them and it looked great what those guys all got done! Thanks guys, that is what its all about!

Then it was about 5 so we put down the tools and got ready to have some fun! In turns out that there was quite a turn out with a bunch of people hanging out and a bunch of us riding! It is always a ton of fun as we get pushed with everyone around. It all went well except for the one minor mishap that had me going over the bars. It was pretty funny as the board that I was riding across broke and pitched me over the front. No Damage done as I got back up as we all kept riding and I went to turn the lights on for some after dark riding. In total we cooked a ton of hamburgers and rode till about 10 at night.

Not a bad weekend! Hope yours was awesome also!