Thanksgiving

     I would like to thank all of my sponsors for their support during the 2011 season.  I appreciate the support Transition Bikes, Sixsixone, Smith Optics, and Maxxis Tires have given me as I would not have been able to compete at a high level or travel as much as I did without them.


     Transition Bikes is a company that I am more than happy to ride for.  They make the sickest bikes.  The TR 450 was a major upgrade to the rides I have had in the past.  It has every feature I value in a downhill race bike.  My Bank is so much fun to ride, and jump.  It was on a Bank that I found out how fun and important dirt jumping is.  But above the bikes are the people; it really feels like I am riding for a company that actually cares.  Lars Sternberg, the race director at Transition, is very optimistic and one of the most determined people I know.  He is great to work with and I am sure he will help me make next year my best racing season yet.


     Sixsixone is one of the most useful sponsors out there.  I love the Core Saver torso armor and Evo knee pads.  Both are the most comfortable pads I have ever worn.  Knee pads are very important as many World Cup riders know from experience.  Often riding with the Evo knee pad I forget the pads are even there.


     Without vision, Down Hill mountain biking would be impossible.  Smith Optics allow me to have perfect vision no matter what the weather conditions.  Their goggles are not only at the peak of performance, but they are one of the  best looking goggles around.  I rode with the intake the previous two years.


     I have been riding on Maxxis tires since before I can remember.  This year I made the switch to running a Minion on the front and rear, instead of the high roller in back.  I was satisfied with the results, as always with Maxxis, there was a high level of consistency, and grip.  I hope to still be riding on their products in the 2012 season.  I thank them for supporting me and I hope to continue our relationship in the future. 

Bobsled-Thanksgiving day 2011

Thank you sponsors 

Looking forward to 2012

        

                   

The Moab Ho Down bike fest

    The Moab Ho-Down is a low key race held every year around Halloween in Moab, Utah.  My dad thought this might be a fun end of season race so we left early on the Friday before Halloween weekend and headed south to sunny Moab.  On the way down we picked up Tanner Hart, one of my good biking friends, and a completely fun person to hang around with.  After a quick three and a half hour drive we found ourselves in the beautiful Southern Utah desert.  Due to his vast experience in the town of Moab, Tanner was officially titled as our guide for this trip.

     After getting our truck temporarily fixed, the clutch pedal was sticking,  we headed to the Chili Pepper Bike shop to sign up for the race.  I registered as a pro but was told there might be a JR category, and that if there was, the race officials would put me in it.  After Tanner and I dug through the free stickers for a while we found some pretty pimp ones.  Departing the shop sticker rich, we rallied to go practice Amasa Back, the DH course.

     Tanner directed us to the start of the trail and then we began the long hike to the top.  He was wearing some gnarly shants, which must have helped him on the hike up.  We stopped frequently to practice and debate lines at the more technical parts.  It took us a long time to reach the top, and then from the top we rode down and took one stop about midway down.  All in all we spent about 4 hours practicing the course.

    The next day we got up fairly early and went into town to eat breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe.  They have delicious food that is a little spendy but worth it.  After breakfast we made our way up to the race course.  On the hike up to the top I stopped and practiced a section for a little bit, then walked up to the top non stop.  The course was more like a super D than a Down Hill, so I knew whoever pedaled consistently throughout the entire course would be fastest.  I don't remember much from my run, except that I sat on my seat a lot (which was probably a good move) and that I pedaled fairly consistent all the way down.  I ended up in first place and Tanner got fifth out of like 10 or so JRs.

The winning Junior DH run.

Tanner airing out the drop

   


























 

    After the race we went out for lunch and ran into Mikey Sylvestri and some dudes from Cove bikes.  One of the people he was with was going to be in the Dirt Jump Jam the next day, and we all put our bets on him to win it.

 

     Sunday we showed up to the jam right as they finished putting up the in run (ramp off a huge shuttle bus).  The Cove kid who's name ended up being DJ (how fitting)  was boosting them.  The first jump is the most lippy, and cranker jump I have ever hit, but the next two were not too bad.  I made it into the final some how and was set on gooning it up as much as possible, with Mikey as my coach I got pretty goony.  But the over all highlight has to be Tanner trying to hit the first jump on his downhill bike.  He spent almost all of practice putting more air in his fork, and pumping himself up to hit it.  The best way to describe his attempt is an almost back flip to super man bail to huge case to  belly slide down the landing...  I have to give him major props for his effort.   I will conclude that was definitely worth some G.N.A.R.  points.          

    

Hitting the first booter

DJ the winner of the Ho-Down Jump Jam

   
            

Lastest Canyons Sessions

A little eye candy from last weekends Canyons Session

Winner winner chicken dinner....

unofficial

 whipoff winner

Brad Pastir......... fall style

Brad doing B-Rad stuff

Posse headed back up during the afternoon jump sesh

Parker Degray re-entry

Scrubbin

Sending the bottom feature on Alley Cat

9/11 sk8 park and Canyons Bike Park

Things got a little wild today.  The day started out mellow enough.  The plan was to meet Guru Dave at Guthrie Skate Park for a photo shoot and some short edits.

Guthrie is a local park with skating allowed sometimes and biking allowed the other times.  We decided to mix it up with a little of both so we arrived around a half hour before skaters were allowed and the park was empty.  Perfect for a photo shoot.  This also gave us some time to figure things out before Dave arrived.



Dave is a long time Snowbird skier who blogs about the snow conditions in Little Cottonwood and specifically Snowbird.  In the summer he likes to ride carve lines in the skate park so we decided last ski season to meet and do a photo/video shoot.

Luck was on our side as we had the park pretty much to ourselves for about a half hour.  We put the empty space to good use and got some good footage.  We are going to go back later this fall and do a more hardcore shoot.  Hopefully Dave will be there as we had fun.

 In the afternoon we headed up to Canyons bike park.  A couple of new surprises down the first run on Alley Cat almost put me over the bars.  Almost immediately we met up with Mike and Cody and started doing some steezy runs.  Before long Dave Beeson and Mitch showed up and things started getting rowdy.  Needless to say there are some new lines on upper Alley Cat.  The evolution of Canyons Bike Park is going to be something to behold the next few years.

cheers 

Canyons

squashing some tables

The Canyons is in the process of building a new bike park and today we went up there to check it out.  We met Tanner and Bill Hart who we often hook up with on gravity rides.

We knew going into this they only had one or two trails with plans to build more.  The flow trail they have completed is called Alley Cat.  Alley Cat is similar to the Giant Slalom in the Whistler Bone Yard.

Drifting the first corner on Alley Cat

The entrance to Alley Cat has a small double filter feature followed by a drifty corner (see above photo).  Further down, after some small features,  the trail cranks into some high speed berms with some larger tables and a floaty step down.
 

The Canyons has a plan to expand the bike park over several years and if they keep building trails like Alley Cat, I am in for a while. 

Brad (The Honey Badger) steezing a hip

 

Brianhead 2011-Feeling Bad for Parker

      After a four hour drive down to Brianhead, Utah, my dad and I got our camp sight, met up with some friends, and got our gear on to start practice.  After four or five runs, we had the course figured out pretty well.  I had a good time talking to Sam Casper about a future project that will take place during the ski season.  A lot of people were not too happy with the course that we were running, but it was a fun, proper downhill race, with a gnarly sprint near the end.

    

     That night along with some of our friends we decided to get a pool poach in at the hotel that some of our friends were staying at, The Grand Lodge.  The Grand Lodge is a pretty awesome place if you ever get a chance to stay there.  They have an indoor pool with waterfall, two hot tubs, an outdoor covered patio with dual fire pits, a bar, and a band.  Pretty outstanding amenities in the middle of the Utah desert.  

   

     It took a while to find the correct hotel but we eventually got there.  The pool was amazing with two hot tubs and a large waterfall.  We got a little crazy and almost got kicked out of the pool.  Actually, two adults that were with us did get the boot (Wilson's dad and Bill).  It was pretty fun and funny.  

     The next day was race day, and I got 3 or 4 practice runs in before the race.  I ran into Parker Degray.  Parker is an 18 year old pinner who was trying to make it to worlds, but despite having very solid results all year, he was not picked.  He seemed kind of disappointed when we hooked up, and for good reason.  Looking back on it he would have benefited from having a deeper history in the previous year as well as more focus on a couple of important races this year.  Note for the future. 

     I crashed in the race and got last, but on the brighter side Parker won, like he should have.  In spite of the crash I crushed tons of kids who all mysteriously seemed to have amazing crashes and clean kits after learning that I had taken a beater.  Unlike the other kids who had "crashed" my kit, hair, and even teeth were full of dirt.   I had broken my hand and still managed a reasonable time.  This has been the year of the crash.  If I can stay on the bike I can win races.  The best is yet to come.        

Logan enroute to the pro win

Final 2011 Crankworx Slideshow

Here is the final Crankworx 2011 post.  Enjoy!!!!!!!!


2011 Crankworx Final Edit from Shawn Carter on Vimeo.

Crankworx 2011/In the books

The strangest things happen at Crankworx.
 
People are connected in unusual ways.
 
Last year my dad jumps on Fitz with three total strangers.  He really doesn't pay attention to the whose who of the biking world like I do.  He ends up riding the chair with none other than Brian Lopes.

Being clueless seems to put him into contact with the superstars of the biking world.  The funny thing is......... he relates to them and actually makes friends with them without any concept of who they are.  Perhaps his vibe is different because he actually relates to them about issues that really have nothing to do with biking.

Yesterday my dad and uncle were waiting in an obvious spot on the enduro course in order to re-supply me with pb+j sandwiches as well as give me unwanted advice.  They had waited quite a while when another dude who had also been waiting, with full face helmet and goggles in hand, approached them.  He seemed concerned that he was perhaps waiting in the wrong spot as his girlfriend had entered the enduro and he was to swap helmets.

My father assured him he was in the correct spot and that was that.  Unknown to all of them, the race was behind schedule due to logistical issues.  After some time passed my dad decided to walk over to the end of the fourth stage on Blackcomb Mountain and asked the chap if he would like to join both he and my uncle.  The stranger thought that was a good idea and joined them for both the walk over to Blackcomb and then a conversation at the end of stage four.  They spent around 30 to 40 minutes talking about whatever it is that adults talk about.

My father learned many things about the stranger.

He was from the Isle of Skye

The surfing isn't good there because its an inner island but the outer islands have epic surf. 

He had been jumping earlier in the week over at Crabapple Hits and had injured his back and felt fortunate to not be hurt worse.

He was shooting a movie for the next month in Vancouver.

He mostly road "street".

In fact my dad learned so much about this guy that he is certain that at some point he will move to Vancouver.  Without directly saying it the stranger had told him so with his description of the perfect place to live.  My father feels fortunate to have gotten to know him the way he did.

What he did not learn is his name.  Just like when he road the chair with Lopes he did not put two and two together until after the fact.  After finishing the fourth stage of the Enduro I even asked my dad who he was and he just said "some guy into biking from the British Isles".

My dad had just spent the better part of an hour with Danny MacAskill.  Danny might be one of the most talented bike riders on the planet.  If you don't know who Danny is, here are a couple videos to help you understand what Danny is about.

 







Whistler's energy is something else.

Cheers

Kokanee Crankworx 2011/Day 9 Canadian Open Enduro

The Canadian Open Enduro finish-GLC drops on a trailbike 

     The course for the Enduro is long and pretty challenging.  The first three stages are very cross country/xc in nature.  The race starts in the Whistler Bike Park using some of the easier gravity trails , then goes over around Lost Lake.  The Lost Lake area has some outstanding xc trails and the course is designed to take advantage of this  under utilized area.  Anyone visiting Whistler who is into mountain biking should spend some time exploring this trail network.

    The transition to the fourth stage has a big steep climb using a logging road to access Blackcomb Mountain.   Blackcomb has its own trail network.  Because of its proximity to the Whistler Bike Park the trail network on Blackcomb sees very little traffic outside of local use.  The fourth stage of the Enduro is a technical and rocky descent.  One of the kids I was racing was running light XC type tires, and he got a flat on this stage.

     The last transition involved riding two lifts up the Whistler Bike Park and a short ride down to the "Containers" where the last and fifth stage started.  At this point I was comfortably in second place and well out of first so I just tried to keep my run smooth.  That strategy worked and I ended up back on the podium in second.   Not a bad day.  

Second Place in the Canadian Open Enduro

Kokanee Crankworx 2011/Day 8 Whip Off Worlds

Today there was an unofficial Whip off on Crab Apple Hits.  I thought Brendog was going to kill it and it was going to be a comp for second place, I was wrong.  On the way over there I meet up with Mikey Silvestri, little Nicky, and the boys.  Together we bombed over to Crab Apple Hits for the Whip Off.

Whip Off Worlds - More Mountain Bike Videos

The hits were packed with spectators and whippers as well as dozens of pro photographers.  Because of this many riders were doing silly things way beyond their ability level.   We took a few laps, and when we were hiking back up we heard someone crash.  As soon as Mikey and I got up there we realized it was bad.  The dude was out cold, for almost ten minutes.  Then he started making weird sounds.  There were rumors going around that he messed up his sternum, collar bone, shoulders and obviously his brain was fried.  He got hauled off the mountain on a stretcher.  

The whip contest continued, and an obvious star came from no where.  Bernardo Neves from Brazil smashed them all.  He consistently went over the 90 degree mark on his whips, and was a real crowd favorite.  There was some humorous stuff going down.  One guy hit all the jumps with his naked butt hanging out.  Toward the end of the powwow I started cranking some big ones, but still nothing like Bernardo.

Super Brendog impressing the groms

Bernardo doing his thang

   

Bernardo Neves-Whip Off Worlds Winner

Crankworx 2011 Day 7/The GS.....Finally a Podium

The Giant Slalom Race was today.  I have been riding the course for fun all week, so I know it quite well.  It is similar to riding A-Line except faster with a slightly more technical nature (step up and step downs).  I was debating whether to use my hardtail or my DH bike, but was convinced that it would be faster and smoother on the big bike.  In practice I timed three runs and they were all pretty consistent.

In this race you had to take two runs and it was the combined total of both runs.  My first run went well and I ended up in third.  I was a little nervous for my next run though.  Never the less I came down in the next run and got third again so I was on the podium.  It feels good to finally get that monkey off my back, because I finally got one.

Finally....a podium

This Sunday is the Kokanee Canadian Open Enduro  It is going to be a very tough race and is set up with a format similar to European style enduro's.  There are five timed sections linked together with four transition stages.  The transitions are not timed but have time limits.  If a rider doesn't make the limit they are cut from the race.

A couple of the transition stages have navigational challenges through complicated trail networks.  Jack Iles, a local ripper, and prince of Crankworx, was very generous and helped me out.   Together we pre-road the Enduro Track.

Jack Iles the Prince of Crankworx

It should be quite an interesting race, the course is long and  has one brutal climb, up Blackcomb Mountain followed by a long and techy downhill.  We stumbled into a bear that ran across the trail in front of us then stopped.  It wasn't like most bears here that don't pay any attention to humans and are busy eating grass and blueberries.  This bear was interested in us.  It even started walking toward us at one point.  We ended up walking around it and it didn't bug us again.    

Mitch Ropelato and Jill Kitner are the King and Queen of Crankworx 2011.  Mitch is the only Pro man to win two races at Crankworx this year, and Jill killed it in all the races she entered.

Mitch and Jill the King and Queen of Crankworx

   

Crankworx 2011 Day 6/ Ultimate Pump Track Challenge

Rain and mud

Having not lived in the Northwest this is possibly the muddiest day I have ever ridden.

Mom and sister leave

My mom and sis left today and I miss them.

Kevin Menard

One of the special things that happened today was riding with Kevin Menard.  Kevin is one of the owners of Transition Bikes, one of my sponsors.  I had spun several laps with Kevin and some other riders when Kevin began to wonder who I was and how I had obtained my sled.  I still don't think he realizes I am only 14.   

Pump Track Race

My dad and uncle walked with me up the dual slalom and giant slalom course to the pump track.  As we approached I saw Cody hanging out with the other athletes.  He seemed upbeat and after talking with him the reason was obvious.  Both he and Mitch had qualified in the top four and had first round byes.  They were riding well.

Cody and Mitch during pump track practice

Mitch gettin all style conscience during practice

As we watched qualifying continue it was obvious who had mastery over the track.  The disparity was that great.  Mitch,  the defending champion,  made everyone else look like pretenders.

Mitch sound asleep seconds before destroying another victim

In one of the semi's Mitch was racing Slavik who fell on an inside corner.  As Mitch went by he attempted to high five with Mitch, basically a gentleman's way of conceding.

Thomas Slavik on the gas

Sierra Smith looks good in jeans, sorry no picture.

Had Cody not bobbled on the final straight against Brosnan he would have advanced to the semi's.

Cody at the start of his race against Troy

Utah did real well tonight.

Crankworx 2011 Day 5/Air DH Race Day

Wheels, wheels, wheels.  Today my dad was going to pre-ride the enduro course to give me the beta and lo and behold someone had ripped off our trail bike wheelset out of our truck.  No pre-ride today maybe tomorrow.   To add to the wheel drama I failed to switch my wheelset to race wheels for the Air DH.  Doh!!!!!  And my mom's car had several wheels/tires without enough pressure in them and to top it all off someone ripped of her windshield wipers.

Back to the race.......the wheels cost me about 3 seconds and I failed to ride the faster line as I went into autopilot and hit some jumps that were not necessary to hit.....another second or two.  Never the less, I was crushed by a local kid (13 seconds) and even if everything went off to perfection would have had a hard time making top three (podium).   Ended up 8th out of 43 kids.

At this point in my racing career the local knowledge is hard to overcome.  Eventually my breadth of experience will trump local knowledge but at this point its hard to take, as podiums are thin and far between.  After talking with several pros I am going to change my training regime and should be very competitive next year.

On a lighter note.......several of the pro Air DH racers made the decision to not race and just steez out the course.  Brendon and Troy came down together (one waited for the other) and had some fun doing it.  That is the thing about Whistler........no matter what happens.......you can always have a good time.

Tomorrow should be interesting...........           

Win Some You Lose Some

Today was a bear of day.
  

I had a very bad race today but you win some and lose some.............. I guess.  Today was practice for the Red Bull Joyride comp and it was pretty cool watching them huck from the lift.  I am looking forward to watching it go down.  Here are a few shots.

Unknown Rider

Super crazy flat spin whatcamacallwizzmo

Continuation followed by backflip

Looking down the gladiator pit

I can't believe Crankworx is half over.

Kokanee Crankworx 2011/Phun Day at the Hits

     Today was a fun mellow day here in Whistler.  Because of the amazingness that went down this post is going to be short on words and long on photos.  A quick rundown of today went like this

...............practice on the Garbo DH with crash and broken finger.  Lots of muddy phun in store for tomorrows race.  Expect carnage.

...............After practice feeling pretty bad, so back to the condo to get treatment, eat, and sleep.


...............After recuperating it was off to Crab Apple Hits for a photo session.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are around 8,000 words worth of pictures.

Unknown Steez masters

Brendog playing locomotive in a long train

Brendog and Zink

Neethling, Strait and Riffle later in the same train

In all seriousness they broke the whipometer

Kyle Strait had a sick whip but this re-entry was just too interesting to pass up

With all the style flowing I had to "get sum".

REALIOUSLY??????????

Stay tuned its getting interesting

G