BACK TO THE ROOTS, FOR A DAY.....

Somewhere up on the East Wall in Radly conditions

We all have very special places that we like to call home, some of us have great summer homes on lakes, some of us have beach houses in exotic lands, some of us have shacks in the woods of the Carolinas. I have Arapahoe Basin, The Legend, the place I just feel at home everytime I go back. After spending 14 years skiing every inch of the place, everyday of the ski season, it just makes me smile to go back, and have everything be the same and familiar, including some of the old "crew". And the beauty of Arapahoe is the more brutal the weather, the more I love skiing there. Big wind is the Basin's friend, and it's the skiers friend who braves it, for when you find the APs, which are all over the mountain, you have found skiing bliss. To top it all off, with ice cold temps, the mountain skied like it was February today, April 30th. It dumped and blew and was bitter ass cold, perfect. Pali was insanely good, Gauthier does not ski better. But the oober treat was the East wall being open both from the Lenawee gate as well as the stairway up Willie's, which drops you off close to 13,000 ft if you take er to the top, just like the good old days. The hike and the skiing still have me smiling, for you can feel no more alive than I felt today. The same steep ass hike, the same rock outcroppings from 28 years ago, the same buttery turns coming down, and the same smile I had when I was a young man skiing the same freekin lines. I love Arapahoe Basin, and I hope it felt some soul while I was there feeling young again today. Awesome. Damn it was a good day. Unreal skiing and so good to see OLD friends.

Sitting tight in a cool zone in foul weather.
Did someone say something? The wind was RIPPIN.


40-50mph winds with heavy snow? PERFECT. I've been told there is an idiot born every second, well, I guess I was that guy when my second came up, but damn this was fun.

Pretty high pooh factor on the otherside of this, you CAN'T fall in here.

The drive home was fairly entertaining on Vail Pass..

TOUR OF THE GILA HIGHLIGHT DAYS ONE AND TWO..

Brought to you by two of our favs at A2B, Brian Patrick of OnsightMedia and none other than Dave Towle...good stuff!

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF SNOW?

Good morning from Eagle, Colorado, Arpil 29th, 2010. I would have rather had a double prostrate exam scheduled for today than deal with this....

THIS IS ONLY A TEST....

The VHOLDR ContourHD camera pretty much crushes the competition, get one, here is test run #2.

MORE SINGLETRACK OPEN IN EAGLE, VHOLDR CONTOUR HD TEST RUN..

Just one greazy spot on Pipeline. Wolverton spring loop is still a week or more out with snow in the forecast for the next five days, maybe longer....

This was the first true "test run" for the new Contour HD wide angle camera which they hooked me up with. BIG advantages over the "other" camera I used previously are the easy on/off switch, lower profile mounting system, the sound is MUCH better quality and the HD picture pretty much rocks it. The camera also has an internal removable rechargeable battery which charges right off of your computer USB port, which is killer. A 2gb card will get you about 40 minutes of record time, 8gb near three hours! Needless to say the Contour HD camera gets a HUGE THUMBS UP from A2B. Look for more cool vij from the ContourHD Cam coming soon.

I JUST FELT LIKE POSTING THIS

THE RAT IS BACK....

Kenny Linsman, the original "RAT"

Many years past, when I was a tad younger, I was a bit of a ferocious NHL fan and enjoyed cheering for the New York Islanders. The "Broadstreet Bullies", AKA Philadelphia Flyers in those days, were a huge rival with ALOT of talent and one player who was what I'd classify as a bit of an arsehole and an expert antagonist. Kenny Linsman, who was nicknamed "The Rat" would go in the game, stir up the shit with his cheap shots, and then have the team enforcer and all around thug, Dave Schultz come and beat the living crap out of the guy which he would start the shit with initially. Below, I introduce to you my latest personal version of "The Rat". I feel the name fits perfectly for obvious reasons if you have an inkling of road cycling savy. Is this an unfair label? I really do not care, as usual. Vino obviously has talent, and the fact that he decided to cheat and now comes back as if nothing happened is a bit disturbing to me, especially when the guy wins a biggin like he did last weekend, it's a bit like Dave Schultz beating the crap out of one of my favorite hockey players years ago, yeah, he's strong, but I don't like the m'fer. It's going to be intersting to see how this plays out with Contasnore in the Grandies. I like Conty, but he's just too good to cheer for anymore for me, he is too easy to pick. With that said, make no mistake about it, the RAT is back.....

As reported in Cycling News

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) bested breakaway companion Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) to win Liège - Bastogne - Liège for the second time.
Photo: © Roberto Bettini

TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE MSC SERIES?

This section of single track was actually part of today's RACE COURSE at the Mountain States Cup season opener in Rabbit Valley outside of Fruita, Colorado. This is a SICK place to ride bikes much less race em and it was WARM, and DRY The road out to the meat of the course had some spectacular scenery, too bad the racers had zero time to check it out...
Jay Henry led the lead group out to the back section of the XC course, vicious attacks came soon after this section I was told, by J Dubs, who was in the group.

Mountain Bikers should thank the motos next time they seem them out here, as the moto-heads are the faction responsible for the majority of the singletrack out in this neck of the woods.

With all this said, there is a new force to be reckoned with from ove Utah way that showed and throwed on Sunday. Team Cannondale pretty much crushed the pro field on Sunday, substantially, and appear to be the new force in town if they hold form. Young and fast, these kids made a statement on Sunday going one-two.Yeah, that's Frenchy, who else would it be?

Men's Open top Ten

Benjamin Sonntag Cannondale Factory R 2:01:30
Alexander Grant Cannondale Factory R 2:02:06
Bryan Alders Pearl Izumi 2:03:40
Ross Schnell Trek / Oakley / Cran 2:03:41
Travis Brown Trek 2:06:37
J Clark Pro Cycling 2:06:54
Brad Bingham Moots Cycles 2:06:58
Kalan Beisel ProCycling 2:07:03
Jay Henry Tokyo Joes 2:07:21
Jake Wells MafiaRacing/Pabst/Fe 2:07:25

THIS GUY SHOULD WIN A WOODLE

BRING ME SUN AND SINGLETRACK..

Rabbit Valley Time Trialin, the course had a couple of "attention getters".
The Colorado Mountain Bike Race season officially kicked off yesterday with the Rabbit Valley Time Trial, which will be followed by an attention getting 31 mile XC race by the top pros in the Rocky Mountain region. The TT course was a 4.5 mile loop with about a 1/4 mile of techy stuff. Colin Cares was the quickest, at just over 15 minutes on the circuit.

Hermallini, Davis and T chillin, in sun and warmth, finally.

More Chillin

L Dubs at Spaghetti Junction, could not ride a mile without running into ALOT of people we knew, it was killer.

Soler has got some mad downhillin skillin

RAD NEW CAMERA IN THE A2B HOUSE, VHOLDR CONTOUR HD

A super badass camera has landed in the hands of Elgee compliments of Z-Dawg. The VHOLDR CONTOUR HD just came onboard the A2B house today and will be making the trip to Fruita for the First MSC race of the season. I won't be racing because as you all know I'm now reitred, but I will be riding my arse off and will check out this tasty new toy at the race venue..this outta be good, stay tuned, I'm kind of in a hurry, more later.

Killer easy editing software...I like that

FIXIE SHMIXIE

Hipsters in London crushin it mod style...look out below.

THE FRIGHTENING BUNCH CRASH AT LA FLECHE WALLONNE

This crash from just a couple of days ago is pretty good documentation of the risks of professional road racing, and why these guys are BAD ASS. HATE to see this...

LA FLE'CHE WALLONNE, CADEL EVANS TELLS CONTASNORE TO STICK THE FINGER

The three big stories of 2010 thus far, Cancellera, Horner, now Evans

In case you missed the mid week classic news from Belgium this week, Alberto Contasnore attempted to pull his finger out at Fleche Wallone when Cadel Evans, the world road champion said not so fast my

frieng. Evans was able to take the win at the summit of the Mur De Huy and take a monster victory. Not sure if this result is to be expected in the classics yet to come, but it does make things a little more intriguing.

That's going to leave a mark...

It aint all a bowl of cherries out there gents...

all photos from cyclingnews.com

WANNA RACE CX NEXT TO MONSTER TRUCKS?

And race in a demolishin derby arena full of 5000 fans at the New Jersey State Fair? SpectaCross is your race. This looks rather entertaining for an event in New Jersey, where I was born and raised by the way. I wonder if the race is opened by Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi singing the National Anthem?

CAN A SHOP IN THE USA PLEASE ORDER THESE?

I want several of these "Skullies" right now, this is the official light of Cult Cross 2011, all though I'm not sure ya can get em here.

A2B BRINGS TO YOU, PORN, BEER PORN

I drank two of these babies at the Longmont OBB on the eve of Boulder-Roubaix (which rocks by the way) and man they were delish, I'm not sure what it is about OBB brews, but man, they both kick and kick my arse, and that is a very good thing indeed.

Gubna Imperial IPA from OnSight Media on Vimeo.

THE CONFERENCE BIKE, FILED UNDER WTF?

After a typical Amy Hermes encounter at Yeti's Grind in Eagle today, I was directed to the following hardware attached to wheels. I introduce to you the conference bike. I believe the center device is perfectly designed to hold a keg, of Ten Fidy. Can you imagine the Cluster Fuck this thing would provide. I want to be one of the morons in the front facing backwards. This brings an entire new meaning to seven monkees fucking a football. I think this should be a race class at the 24 Hours of Moab this year....I'm not so sure if it has brakes or if it actually stops itself after running over the people on the front after they fall off from laughing their asses off...

Is that "Meatloaf" sitting in the front seat with the blue shirt on?

This is how you sell em, get six people on there for a test ride with some rastafarian dude who just burned a big ol spleeeeefe. You'd make more money selling fresh underwear to the people who just got of this fucker after two laps with this guy driving.

EAGLE, COLORADO BMX TRACK CONSTRUCTION STARTS, TODAY....

There is a very bright new future for the youth of Eagle, Colorado and surrounding areas as of this morning as construction of the town's own BMX track started this morning thanks to many volunteers and donations from local forces. There will also be a pump track built on the old dirt jump park site adjacent to the Ice Rink in Eagle. This is going to be HUGE for the area and look for sales of full faced racing helmets to sky rocket along with BMX bike sales as we near the racing action this summer in Eagle. Of course I highly recommend the construction of an announcing/officiating tower as well, wink. See you out there soon along with a bunch of CHARGING BMXers. Jay Lucas is the driving force behind this project and you can reach him at 970-390-6601 for information.

Best of all, most of us can see this site from our homes, a five minute bike ride away.

STANDER TAKES THE SPRINT AT SEA OTTER

South Africa's Burry Stander/Specialized redeems himself after dropping out of last year's Sea Otter classic with a victory in a trio sprint which included Geoff Kabush/Maxxis and teammate Todd Wells/Specialized. The Specialized riders played perfect tactics against Kabush from the sounds of things as Stander led most of the final of 5 laps (apparently a new course for the pro field this year) with Kabush marking his moves. When Todd Wells came around very late Kabush had to cover giving Stander the chance to sit tight and recover for the sprint finish which he won....Georgia Gould won the Women's open/pro race earlier in the day.

Photos: © Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net

BACON....AND RIDING WITH GREAT FRIENDS

Pardon me while I have "a moment", on a great day, Let's Roll!

Today was one of those really cool days, a couple of cycling buds from Steamboat made the trip over to Eagle today to find some dry dirt to ride which I promised would not disappoint, I do not think it did. And the day started with a rock solid posse of red and blue coats yuckin it up accompanied by the newest Eagle transplant Stephen White along with Tokyo Joe's very own Jay Henry. Throw in Jono and Colemansk and ya got a grouppo. The riding was off the charts fun, the trails perf, and I was REALLY hungry for BACON after 4.5 hours in the saddle today.
This vij came compliments of Dr. Watson I presume.

Then I came home and decided to go through an old back pack of mine, when I found these in one of the side pockets. "Kelloggs" Nutri Grain bars and a day pass to Abel Tasman National park in New Zealand. The story has it that myself and my girlfriend at the time had found this killer illegal campsite right on the ocean at low tide, which became our own private beach at high tide. When we decided to go swimming naked in the ocean the next morning, the "boat ranger" came in from about a mile out and asked to see our camping permit and told me he would not issue us a ticket if my naked girlfriend went back to the beach to get this park pass. To which I looked at her and replied "What the hell are you waiting for, go get the pass!"
That is a true story...

I think these are about 11 years old. Anybody want them before I put them on Ebay?

POACHERS

Below are two poachers I ran into today on the top of the "Ice Rink" trail. They were kind enough to come back up for a photo after passing me on their way down once they realized there was no way out and that they were basically fucked, and breaking the law. I watched these two drive past 4 signs telling them they were not welcome on BLM Land, which they ripped right by spraying dirt in all their glory. Apparently they reside close by in Eagle, if you know em, tell them to knock it off, or we can make them famous.

TODAY WAS A POWDER DAY...

The singletrack is RIPPIN in Eagle, get your arse down here and ride. It's all pretty cherry below Scratch and Itch, a few muddy spots on Itch, give it a couple of days. Worlds Greatest Downhill needs a little bit more love from the Sun Gods as there are about half a dozen muddy spots up high, give it a few days and it will be there. Abrams is stellar.

And ever wonder what a old and slow bastard like myself has on the top shelf of his refrigerator? I drink ALOT of chocolate milk.

EAGLE IS LEGAL...

Eagle, Colorado, which is the center of my personal Mountain Biking universe, as well as a few others, officially opened last night at midnight to ride. After laps early on already open terrain, the crew spent several hours consuming za and malty beverages before heading out to bust out the new season on the "Eagle is Legal" opener, and the trails did not disappoint. So it's on, the 2010 has been unofficially officially kicked off.

And a huge thanks to Dan and Erinn for refilling the coffers late and keeping it rolling....

With a BMX track coming to Eagle, and races slated for nearly every weekend, Charlie Brown is stocking up for the onslaught

And of course, the actual ride itself was what you would expect from adults that just do not know any better. No summonses were issued, so far as we know

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT, IT'S LEGAL IN EAGLE

Tonight, at 12:01am, the trails which are accessed out of Eagle Ranch through the town of Eagle Open space become legal. Tonight is the first annual "Legal in Eagle" night ride out of the Mountain Pedaler Bike Shop here in Eagle. Thousands (well maybe six or so) of riders will pillage singletrack at the sound of the gong at midnight as this is the exact hour that wildlife decides to leave the area, stop breeding and having babies, and morph into species that are suddenly not bothered by mountain bikers until December 15th when the morphization suddenly goes back in reverse and the animals must have their singletrack trails back to travel and live on as the people of Eagle Ranch drive their cars on asphalt just a few feet away, not to mention let their dogs run free as a 60's nymph at the Woodstock Concert. Enough said, let's go rip it at midnight...

DUDE....IT'S TIME TO RIDE

THIS JUST IN....

Tiger Woods and Ben Roethlisberger are douche bags.

TO MY LEFTY ACCUSATIONISTS....

This my friends is PRIME singletrack in the EAGLE area, it sits on BLM land which both you and I own, it is accessed legally, and it IS NOT The Boneyard. There is currently HOURS of riding out here near EAGLE, Colorado which you should come and enjoy. The Hardscrabble Singletrack Coalition is here to help promote and steward these trails. The riding is AWESOME if you want to do a little work to get to there. Eagle Ranch is NOT the only way to access these trails, and if you do not know that, well, that's YOUR problem not mine. One thing the HSC asks this season is if you see trash on these trails, please pick up one can or piece of garbage and take it out with you. I know it sucks to stop, but do it, please. Thank you, and enjoy YOUR public lands, you pay for them.

CANCELLERA IS GONE

When every rider lined it up yesterday at the 2010 Boulder Roubaix they had a dream of attacking like this and going on to victory, for most of us, that was not the case. This is a move.

I THINK I JUST SHIT MY CHAMWOW...

The fields were GIGANTIC

I am extremely dissappointed to have zero pics or vij from the Boulder Roubaix today, but while Cancellera was producing an epic result at Paris-Roubaix, many of the western slopers headed to Boulder for our local version of the race. As most know, (especially the other 150 or so riders in the peleton with me today) I'm no road bike racer, but today was damn epic and frightening all at the same time. Miles of bumpy dirt roads with MANY corners, plenty of crashes, shit tons of flat tires, and a guy next to me getting the speed wobbles at around 35mph and almost taking me with him. I guess this is what it is all about, and it was farking NERVE RACKING. A HUGE group of 35 and 45+ cat 4's rolled out together on the dirt roads north of Boulder and went at it for 40 miles. For myself, surviving was a victory in itself, and staying with the lead group until three miles to go was a war, but damn exciting. If you have never raced the Boulder Roubaix, don't ever miss it again, it's one GREAT experience on two wheels, if you can keep them inflated and upright...I'll try and dig some pix or vij from somwhere. I had to split and head back up the hill to work as soon as I crossed the line. Thanks to the Diesels for the support!

Ahhh! All photos poached from 303 Racing.