Trestle Gravity Series at Winter Park (DH and Air DH)

Noah and I headed out to Winter Park the weekend before last to race the first two of seven races in the new Trestle Gravity Series. There is something extremely fun about riding at a resort for 3 days straight and throwing in two entirely different, low-key downhill races. How could we pass that up!?

For most of the weekend I was on my brand new Transition TR450 and had only two practice runs before the first race as it started at 10:30am. Coming off a Canfield Jedi, I thought the 450 would feel pretty foreign… boy was I wrong. It was so easy to ride, I was able to hop on and immediately start killing it! For the first time ever, I didn’t touch one knob on the shock out of the box and was amazed at how well it performed. It performed so well that I pulled out the best race result of my life with it!

Saturday was a traditional Downhill race that started on Search and Seizure to Trestle Downhill, and finished on Witness. This course had a great mix of high speed berms and rollers up top with a rougher, high speed downhill throughout the remainder of the track. With only two practice runs in the morning, Noah ended up 11th and I pulled out an amazing 4th place (my best finish ever!) in the Pro class, even with some fast, well known racers competing.

 Sunday’s air downhill race was a completely different animal. I had ever raced something like this, a race on the upper portion of a jump trail called Rainmaker. You could think of it like a long, huge, rough, and gravity fed BMX track. It was about a 50/50 mix of trail bikes and full DH bikes at the start line. I used my Transition Bandit, and Noah pulled out the big guns with his Santa Cruz V-10 Carbon. Being able to scrub speed over jumps was the only way to do well on this track. Because we didn’t have much scrub practice, Noah and I didn’t do quite as well in this race, but it was still awesome none the less. Noah placed 13th and I came in 9th in Pro. The spreads were much tighter in this race.

 If you haven’t made it to Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park, CO yet, get there! Noah and I both became significantly better riders after 3 days there. They have more than enough DH/freeride trails to keep any level rider busy for a few days. However, before you go, make sure you stop into Grassroots to get your brakes and suspension tuned up because you and your bike are going to take a beating.

 Peter Knepper (Team Racer/Rider)

Crested Butte Wildflower Rush MSC #3

The Crested Butte trails are definitely a local favorite & Grassroots Cycles has a great relationship with the lift served resort mountain.  When a great event such as the Mountain States Cup “Wildflower Rush” goes down on the same weekend as the Crested Butte Bike week, Chain-less World Championship & Fat Tire 40 people come out of the woodworks & things get crazy!  

Below is a video on Crested Butte's website from the weekend featuring Jesse Ruland (at 14 seconds in) & Eric Landis Jumping the top rock garden  (44 seconds in).

Crested Butte Bike Week from Crested Butte on Vimeo.
Dont forget also about the "Crested Roots" video we shot with the mountain last fall!

Crested Roots on Pinkbike

These are not the 2 Beaver.

For many of us the week started out with sampling some of the classic high alpine trails such as Deadman Gulch or Dr’s Park. These usually consist of beautiful but leg numbing climbs which reward you with some of the best & flowey descents in the world.  Add in multiple creek crossings wildlife sightings, such as 2 Beaver in our case, & the experience is world class.

Eric & Sara heading out for a trail ride.

Navigating one of many refreshing creek crossing.

Sara getting ready to head down.

Racing got under way Saturday afternoon with the first of 2 Super D races.  This Super D is a race that had a mass start with racers sprinting up a wide open hill to be the first one to the single track heading downhill.  Once you get to the single track it is difficult to make passes but not at all impossible.  From there it is a 10-15 minute run which includes several uphill sections testing the riders physical stamina along with their technical downhill bike handling ability.  The first day of SD racing went down a relatively tame trail while Sunday morning brought on the air time as they raced down the Timeline trail which it littered with huge drops & jumps!

Noah laying down power

Jesse riding smooth

Several Grassroots riders rode great in this event including Noah sears & Jesse Ruland.   Noah races in the highly competitive Pro class & Jesse in the Open Men 30+.  This was Jesse’s first time racing Super D & none of us knew what to expect.  He said I am going to out power the competition at the start then out ride them down the trail.  That is exactly what he did earning 2^nd the first day & winning the 2^nd day!   

Noah has been training hard & although he had a tough first race came back strong in SD2 with a 14^th against some of the best in the country.  Good work Boys. 

Jesse on the top of the box. #1!

Sunday brought on the Downhill race.  Crested Butte’s track is a super fun mix of rough rock gardens & wide open fast sections with lots of corners & pedaling opportunity.  Hold speed & ride loose is the name of the game here.  Along with Noah & Jesse racing this event we also had Pro’s; Eric Landis, Craig Carlson, Andrew Templin & Cat 1 Riders Curt Clemetson,  & BMX phenom Derek Johnson.  

This was Derek’s first real DH race riding a borrowed Transition TR250 with single crown fork on it.  He was a little under gunned but rode his best coming down safely in 28^th Cat2 19-29.

Derek racing hard.

Curt Clemetson looked great in practice putting down impressive runs & looking dialed.  He thought he was on a winning pace but had a flat in his race run.  Even with that came in 5^th in Cat1 40+.

Yea Curt!

Jesse Ruland came out of the gate apparently swinging because he did not make it into the first tree section before going down hard enough for him to forfeit finishing the rest of his run.   I can only hope winning the Super D earlier that day took the sting off. :)

Looks like Jesse's medals are healing.

Noah was also dirty at the bottom of his run indicating he fell down but had a huge smile on his face.  He felt good & was going fast when he went down.  That’s racing he’ll get ‘em next time.  

Noah Goon riding before the race:)

The Pro’s were feeling good & ready to throw down against the formidable riders from all over the country.  Qualifying got underway which is a seeding run to place the riders in order, the fastest going last, for the main run.   In the finals Andrew Templin had a solid run placing 27^th leaving Craig Carlson & Eric Landis to battle it out for fastest Grassroots rider of the Day.  Craig beat Eric at the first DH race of the season in Angel Fire & a healthy team rivalry may be in play as they raced hard.  Craig threw down big time with a 3:47:66 coming in 15^th place.   

Eric had his sights on a podium run & was feeling great coming into that last run of the day.  He cleared the big rock garden jump in the top section only a few riders were doing but made a mistake & over cooked a corner costing him some time.  Coming across the line at 3:45:70 in 10^th place he was stoked with his run & knows he is making progress & has more to work on!  

Big thanks to Grassroots Cycles & check out all the team sponsors at the top right.

Angel Fire MSC #2 Chile Challenge Race Report

The roots crew represented at the MSC #2 Chile Challenge in Angel Fire, NM.  Not only was it an MSC race, but also a stop on the ProGRT Gravity Tour meaning that there was a lot of fast riders.   This race also had the only dual slalom race of the season.

Kevin, Jesse, Eric, Pete & Porter taking a photo with the famous Chris DelBosco (Center).

Our 7 hour trip started out with Myself, Jesse Ruland, Noah Sears, and Amy Knepper in my new “farm truck” which a 99 F250.  We ended up running out of gas 3.3 miles from Angel Fire at 2am because the fuel gauge doesn’t work all that well and still showed we had 1/8 of a tank left.  Luckily Kevin Soller was staying in the condo with us and was only about an hour ahead of us so they were still unpacking at 2am.  He came to our rescue and towed a loaded down F250 with his little Ford Ranger about a mile to the next gas station.  Thanks again Kevin!!!

Pete on the Podium in DS.

Due to the circus the night before, we all slept in a little later than usual on Friday morning, but managed to get some solid runs in on the dual slalom, downhill, and super D courses.  Saturday started out with dual slalom practice and qualifying early in the morning followed by some DH practice.  DS racing started in the afternoon and everyone did really well.  The course was on the old 4x course but ended before the three huge old jumps which made the hike to the top much easier!  This was probably one of the best DS courses I have ridden.  It had a lot of flow and held up very well under heavy racing and.  Jesse Ruland placed 9^th in his first every non-Ranchstyle DS race on CAT 2 30+ men.  He was knocked out in round one (probably because he slept through morning practice... haha).  Curt Clemetson and I raced in the CAT 1 30+ and got 7^th and 3^rd respectively.  Eric was knocked out in round 1 by less than 0.1 seconds but still managed to end up 11^th out of 19 racers.  Everyone threw down some impressive runs and it’s too bad that was the only DS race of the season.

Super D started early on Sunday morning and so did the wind. 

Noah hauling on the big wheeler!

Noah Sears was the only team rider to race SD, and killed it in the pro class with an 11^th fastest over all time. 

Pete soaking up the rough on the DH course.

Eric getting some pedals in.

Pro DH qualifying started at 11am on a brand new course.  Angel Fire originally had a shorter flowier course built, but the MSC came in and vetoed it the week before which led us this monster of a course.  The top section was filled with relentless off camber rocks, roots, and tons of dust, followed by a 2+ minute catwalk pedaling section with a massive headwind before diving back into the old race course which it followed all the way to the bottom.  Times were in the 6-8 minute ranges with the winning pro time of 5:46.14.  Craig Carlson flatted in his qualifier while Eric and I laid down some solid runs with no real issues.  By the time racing started the wind started to howl even harder making the long catwalk pedaling section much more difficult.  Curt Clemetson turned in an awesome time of 6:48.13 in CAT 1 40+ with landed him in 4^th.  Next up was Jesse Ruland in CAT 1 30-39.  He sprinted through the finish with a 7:13.97 trying to make up time for the two crashes he had on course.  That time landed him in 13^th in his first ever CAT 1 race.  With only the Pros left to go and the wind blowing even harder, the pros started rolling through the line with the same or only slightly faster race run times.  Craig Carlson ran first and destroyed the course with a 6:10.69 landing him in a tie for 25^th.  I ran next and had a really solid run with a 6:27.56 placing me in 46^th.  That was only 2 seconds faster than my qualifier due to the wind.  Finally, Eric came down with a 6:18.20 which was within 1 second of his qualifying run giving him a 35^th overall. 

It was hot for Gingers

It was a wicked good time, and we hope to see you all at the next one!  Thanks to all of our sponsors, wifes/girlfriends, and friend who helped us out.  Without you guys, all this would be extremely difficult!

Peter Knepper (Team Racer/Rider)

Resort Season Is Here!!!

With multiple resorts opening this last weekend, we can finally say resort season has started. So far I have gotten to hit SolVista and Winterpark for their opening days and both have been a blast.

If you haven't already heard, James has been working at SolVista building new trails and enhancing the existing. With a fresh addition of flow and some fun new jumps, this place is going off. With the recent opening of Winterpark you should expect to see the crowds here begin to dwindle.

The trail crew at Winterpark has also been busy. Many of the trails have been refreshed and some new ones have been built. The addition of a new road at the bottom of the resort disrupted Boot Camp (lower half is still closed) and Beall Ucanb. Beall Ucanb has seen some major changes on the lower half of the trail. The step up has been moved slightly and now leads into a drop zone. You have the choice of a rollable drop which you can send to make about a 10 footer or you can take a large 15' drop on the left.

The other major change was the addition of the new trail, Cruel and Unusual. This is an advanced trail with multiple features that are back to back.

With the lack of moisture, expect dry and loose conditions.
First Ride: Cruel and Unusual Trail at Trestle Bike Park - More Mountain Bike Videos


-Ian

Another Ranchstyle is done and dusted....

Another fantastic Ranchstyle event is over and done! It was a great weekend - except for the obnoxious wind - and the 'style was the best we've had so far!

I covered the event for VitalMTB check out my galleries:

Best Trick

Slopestyle

Slalom

Pinkbike has had some great coverage here and here.

Before main event on Saturday, I headed out to 18rd and filmed an edit on the new PBR trail with legendary rider Eric Porter. We made the most out of the dusty, dry, and windy conditions and the clip came out great! We've already gotten over 100+ likes on Facebook and it only went live this morning! If you haven't hit up PBR yet - you better get on it!


Trail Check: PBR - More Mountain Bike Videos

Early Season Racing

I love racing...I love racing bicycles more specifically. More specifically than that I prefer on dirt in a gravity assisted manner usually but when that is not available I race anyway. So far in 2012 I have raced CycloCross, BMX, local short track XC, a Road bike hill climb & most recently an XC race at 18 rd.
[Wearing Baggies & giving it on a 15 year old road bike. I took 3rd on the podium in Cat1]

[Me after the Monument Madness Hill Climb road race up to the Ribbon trail head. Of course my wife Sara brought up my new Transition 250 so I could ride down the ribbon:]

At each race I stick out like a soar thumb. I am usually riding equipment not really meant for what I am doing, wearing clothing from my DH race kit that don't really fit in, & attacking the courses with an aggressive DH mentality not traditionally associated with these more tame events. I am usually competitive, get my name & sponsors names announced on the mic & get much recognition for all the great people that support me such as: Grassroots Cycles, Transition Bikes, MTB Strength Training Systems, MRP, White Brothers, DT Swiss, Deity, Kali, Five Ten, All Sound Designs & More.[Using by dropper seat post to get traction on the flat finish line corner in the Rumble at 18 rd XC race, On my way to 2nd]

To be honest I am having a blast. Way more fun than I expected with these disciplines which are not that natural to me. I believe being fit & an all around rider will help me with my DH racing & being in the race mentality before the main season begins will be good also.

A couple years ago when I started working with James Wilson's MTB Strength Training Systems my life was changed. I went from a decent Cat1 to a competitive Pro throughout one winter. I realized that much of the difference from an amateur to a pro is being strong & fit.[Noah Sears, brand manager @MRP/White Brothers, & I still smiling after what was supposed to be a miserable XC race]

Racing the Trestle All Mountain Enduro race last season was an eye opener to what is to come with the future of gravity racing. Enduro style races basically take you down the heart of a full Down Hill course yet zig zagging through the XC trails also. It was all the fun & excitement of a DH race but much longer & there were many more opportunities to pedal so you needed to be super fit & you generally need to be on a smaller bike, which makes the rock garden sections that much more entertaining:)

So far my race calender has more Enduro races than DH not because that is what I am looking for but the fact is in one years time the promoter emphasis has shifted that direction. I am not surprised & I even expected it. For this year I built up new Transition bikes & changed my training early on to prepare for the year of the Enduro.

What I am saying is even though I had a great year racing DH last year & am fully looking forward to crushing that as well, I am having fun cross-training racing all these various events, & hope to be competitive in the diverse Enduro races also. I encourage you to get out there & race for the fun of it. It doesn't matter what you look like or how you do. It is good for you & Grassroots Cycles to support the biking community.

Who knows you might just have a great time too.
Eric Landis

Air Supply Day 1 2012

Prepping the Ranch for the season and events to come. Big shout out to the crew from the RFV coming to lend a hand. Always good to see you guys! Got some Gunnison love today as well. It's all coming together and with as much help as he can gather, James Flatten will get her built and dialed just in time for the Pro's to take it on (oh ya, we can play too). We finished enough of Air Supply today to put some runs together besides the first and last features. Heres a lil vid of the best way I can think of spending a Sunday evening.

Air Supply 2012 on pinkbike.com