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.