Evan's blog

...but I came wicked close, it turns out.

Let's just say that my race weekend was just kinda so-so... HA yeah right! I had a really fun weekend, it was good to see everyone down in Nathrop to dice it out on the dual slalom and Original 4X tracks. The short version is this: 6th place qualifier and 2nd place finish in dual slalom, 5th place qualifier in 4X but put out in the 1/4 finals.

In dual slalom I raced Expert Men 30+ and I qualified tied up with my friend Jerry, but won the coin toss so I was seeded 6th and he 7th. Either way, this was the first time since I started racing dual slalom in 2000 (or was it 1999?) that I lined up in the gate in my first round knowing that i qualified faster than the guy next to me. I was STOKED. My first round was against Brian Bailey, and he crashed in the first heat giving me a 1.5 advantage, still I rallied in the 2nd heat just to make sure, and took the advance.

read the rest

I booked a mountain bike ride with EcoRide in Puerto Vallarta for a little two-wheeled happy fun time action while I am here on vacation with the family. Turns out, being a gravity junkie, I made the right choice of the three main mountain bike outfitters here in town! Rogelio set me up with a guide named Alonso, and also on the ride was local ripper Anibal and a Nor-Cal XC fella named Stosh. Stosh and his buddies had met Alonso last year up in Whistler, and were in Puerto Vallarta visiting and riding for three weeks solid. The four of us planned to rock the Las Agujas Downhill trail from 3,300 feet elevation way outside of town nearly all the way to the beach. Here's a shot of the building to look for when you head to PV next:

read the rest

Me and my friend Grant headed up to Lory State Park yesterday to check out the jump park/pump track they got going up there, and here's a report if you haven't been!

So first things first - if you go, BRING SPARE TUBES! The ground is still pretty littered with goatheads, and it can make for a long day if you don't bring tubes. We talked to some people that said they Slimed their tubes just for riding here. Grant and I both caught flats, and had to wander over to Road 34 to pick up spares. Thanks to Matt who was manning the counter at Road 34 for getting us what we need! We rocked the thorn-resistant variety and that seemed to work very well! I'd be willing to bet that the more the park gets used the goathead problem will eventually go away as more people pick up the nasty little buggers with their tires and take them out of the park.

read the rest

I rode downhill at Vail yesterday with the Tulsa Freeriders and it was SWEET sweet action... We hit the '94 WC track first: fast, flowing, rooty and fun. We took a little detour at the bottom to the Mini-Bailey's drop, which is like a smaller version of the Bud Light Bail Out near the bottom of the 2001 Worlds DH track. Mini-Bailey's might have been mini, but it was techy and skeery lookin' - I passed but several of the Tulsa Freeriders crew hit it. Nice! At the bottom of that, our tour guide Kyle realized he had snagged his shorts on his shifter and broken it clean off the bar. Doh! Since it was about lunchtime so we hit Moe's Original BBQ for some grub while Kyle searched for a shifter, and it was super tasty. Refueled, we headed back out, with plans to hit the Magic Forest/Old 9/Main Lane decent.

read the rest

Spring racing action returns to Nathrop, CO! The anticipation for the Yeti Spring Series has been at an all time high this winter, and we plan on delivering the goods.

Note the change in schedule from last year, as we have added SHORT TRACK to the lineup. Also, we will be mirroring the Mountain States Cup format and have XC and STXC racing on Saturday, with MX racing on Sunday!

April 1st & 2nd XC/STXC Saturday MX Sunday April 22nd & 23rd XC/STXC Saturday  MX Sunday  May 13th & 14th XC/STXC Saturday  MX Sunday 

read the rest

The MSC finals at Keystone pretty much, without question, r0x0rd my s0x0rz. Loads of racing and fun and more racing and stress and more fun and DAMN GINA where are my pants? So there is a lot to speak of, let me summ up and essplain one at a time. ready? Oh kay!

Friday I got out of work late, I had to work on freelance late, the race promoters called and needed this that and the other thing (namely missing awards and coroplast), and things were just generally balled up, so even though I originally wanted to head out, I called it and just went to bed. Ah yes, a good night's sleep does the body wonders. Saturday morning I got in to keystone around 7:30am, got registered, dropped off awards and coroplast, got into my gear and headed over to the dual slalom course.

read the rest

My weekend was pretty rad, and here’s the story, cuz I know you wanna know! Ha!

Saturday was spent at watkins roostin’ turns and jumpin’ jumps. Jamie brought out the 100’ tape measure just to be sure. 70 foot table top? Check. 40 foot doubles? Check. 50 foot step-up? Checkaroo. We ran 3 motos out there, each with unwittingly increased times. 20 minutes, rest. 30 minutes, rest. 40 minutes, done. All the while pumping tunes through my new ipod shuffle... Sweet! I didn’t know moto could be fun to a soundtrack – but I guess that’s why all the videos have heavy metal playing in the background, right? A quick stop at the dirt bike store for air filter oil, new grips and some replacement lenses for my goggles and then off to nathrop for the chalk creek stampede.

Arrived in Nathrop around 8:30 pm, had dinner with Matty and EJ, talked about the state of affairs, went to bed early at Keith's place. 7:00am wakeup: fruit, biscuits and gravy at Keith's in-laws (they live next door) and off to the track to get it dialed. All the usual characters were there, vibe was good, weather was perfect! Most everyone loved the new track we built, but some people were grousing... "I thought it would be faster" or "it's too pedally and technical" or "there's still no passing" blah blah blah to which I simply say to them: "pedal harder. Step it up. Ride smarter." Chalk Creek Stampede 2005 had the second largest Mountain Coss turnout the MSC has ever seen – 176 riders, and it seemed like nearly half of them were juniors! The junior sport and junior beginner cats are blowing up which is just killer news for the sport! Stoke-age! Not only was the junior turnout strong, but them grommits were riding to beat the band! 9- and 10-year-olds jumping everything except the biggest stuff, tons of great passing, pedalling, it was insanity! I'd say in about 5 years colorado is going to have some serious talent emerging into the national scene! I just hope there still is a national scene in five years!

A couple runs down the course for me, and I'm finally starting to feel comfy on my new wheelset – I went to way lighter rims and tires, and it was great for gates but was throwing off my equilibrium over the jumps. Got that straightened out and finally stepped up to the challenge of the third straight™: a difficult triple-double combo. Long big rounded double, tall short double, then a small double into a berm with me flowing like water over the whole deal. Radness! Honestly, I'd forgotten somewhere in all this moto funny business I've been doing how much fun racing mtn bikes is. Qualifying came around... I'm in the gate, calm, relaxed, smiling. "okay riders, set 'em up! Riders ready, watch the gate! Beepbeepbeepbeeeeeeeeeeep!" and as soon as that gate hit the ground and I was out pedalling, I remembered.

After that qualifying run, I couldn't have cared less about how well I did, and seriously cold have gone home a happy man and not even raced elimination rounds, it was that good. Turns out I qualified third, just a hundredth of a second behind my buddy steve valenti, who ain't real slow.

THIRD? Me? Stoked? Check.

Lots of fun ensued throughout the day, with some really great racing in all the classes and loads and loads of fun to be had by all. My two friends Bobbi and Lisa were heading up to race their next moto at one point, and this sort of frivolity ensued:

Evan: hey! You two do good out there!

read the rest

So let me tell you all about my adventure to the Snowmass National this past weekend. Better buckle up and get some soda and snacky-snacks, cuz this is gonna be a long one!

Thursday :: I finally put pants on around 10:04 a.m. And rallied to get the truck locked and loaded. On the road at 10:37 a.m. For a (hopeful) 1:30 p.m. Arrival in snowmass village, which was barely enough time to grab the chameleon, get registered and hit the track for mountain cross practice at 2 p.m. I knew the track was being changed from the regional race we held about a month ago, and I wanted to get it styled and dialed. The promoter had told me earlier in the week that the features were bigger and badder, so I was a bit nervous.

read the rest

I pretty much rode bikes this weekend, and notta lotta anything else, with downhilling all weekend starting at Keystone on Saturday, then Vail on Sunday.

Saturday was excellent conditions, I don't think the track at Keystone has ever been better. I feel like I slowed down, concentrated on being smooth and flowing though each of the sections, and wound up being way faster overall. It probably helped that I was also chasing Yeti factory rippers Ross Milan and Jared Graves down the hill! There's one part where you have to "navigate" down three burly steps packed tightly together, then gap from a stump to backside of a big rock, while missing that tree just on the left of the rock. I came in smooth and on target, weight low and centered, and for the first time ever, just let go of the brakes and floated down it. It was way cool! Ross was at the bottom and cheering me on, saying I came through that section faster than he did, and that I looked über smooth and fast. Nice! It's not everyday you ride that at the end of it you can say... "I am a better rider than I was when I woke up" but Saturday was certainly that for me.

read the rest

So yeah, I spent the last couple of weekends at Angel Fire riding bikes and having a sweet ass time of it all. In case you were all wondering where I done been for a while, that's where. That and working my ass off, riding a ton, and generally having two of the most stellar weeks of my life.

Memorial Day weekend I went to Angel Fire just to get some much-needed DH riding in. I haven't really been on my downhill bike for a long long time, and it was excellent to get out, bombing some real gnarly-style trails and having a good time. I got to ride with tons of cool peeps, including (but most certainly not limited to) the Mojo Wheels crew, half the Yeti Cycles factory squad, world champion downhiller Missy "The Missile" Giove, and a couple of Australian Funn/Foes riders. Needless to say, muchos muchos fun was had, and I got to pick up a few tips about throwing elbows from The Missile.

read the rest