Archive for April, 2009

Fluidride Cup 2 - ProGRT 1

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on April 30, 2009
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Pro Men's Podium ProGRT 1 - Fluidride Cup 2Sunday Update: The rain came down over night and made the topsoil greasy. Practice runs were sketchy. Many riders went down trying to find race speed while getting used to a new course. Many riders were dragging their brakes from the uncertainty of a new situation. The course was quickly changing, berms being blown out, ruts disappearing.

When racing started, the best riders rose to the top. In their words, you had to adapt quickly. Curtis Keene continued to dominate the Port Angeles track. He won the 1st ProGRT to go done in history as the first to put on the ProGRT leaders jersey. Luke Strobel and Ryan Condrashof followed. That’s two in a row at Port Angeles for Curtis Keene. Katie Holden won the 1st ProGrt for the women. Followed by Kathy Pruitt and Katrina Strand. Seattle’s own Luciano Worl held off Pink Bike’s Kyle Marshall for 1st Junior Cat 1 leader’s jersey of the ProGRT. Now that’s a trivia fact that I will always remember. Way to go Luciano. Luciano and Kyle would have been 14 and 16 respectively in the Men’s Pro rankings.


This video is covers the whole weekend with practice, qualifying, and finals footage plus interviews.

Photos by Pat Branch of PBMedia.us

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I got to go up in a helicopter and shoot the Dry Hill staging area and pits. Right from my downhill run to the sky in a tiny little helicopter. Nice. Look for the footage in the upcoming video.

FR Cup 2 - ProGRT1 Results (Excel)

FR Cup 2 - ProGRT 1 Results (PDF)


This Helmet Cam Video is silly. Be warned. There is also a crash. I had the idea of jumping in behind a few riders who were faster than me and getting some quick pull away action for use in the main video. The problem is I underestimated how hard it would be to get up to speed. Lesson Learned. More Quickshot videos

CarlFRCup2Saturday_12.jpgSaturday Update: So, qualifying went down and so did the rain. Just enough to grease up the track and take more than a few Pros and Cat 1 Juniors down. But the real heavy rain came down after, as everyone was running to their cars to go eat.
The Cat 1 top qualifiers were: Kyle Marshell with a 2.45.71 followed by Derek Teal, Cameron Woods, Luciano Worl. The Top Women Pro qualifiers were Katie Holden with a 3.08.33 followed by Kathy Pruitt, Leanna Gerrard, and Katrina Strand. The Top Men qualifies were Curtis Keene with a 2.43.26 followed by Bart McDaniel, Keiran Bennet, Michael Sylvestri, and Joey Schusler.

Photos from Carl Warren.

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These photos will be available for download and purchase of prints after the weekend.

CarlFRCup2Day2_08.jpgFriday Update: Well, it’s fast by God, faster than it’s every been and that’s no foolin’  Oh, and everyone is loving the track.

Racing starts tomorrow with the Cat 1 Juniors and Pros qualifying. The Beginners race first, but the rain is suppose to come right when the fast guys take the track. Don’t count on that though. The weather report has been all over the place. If it holds off to the evening, we all get a new track on Sunday. Nice.

Thursday Update: It was cool seeing so many riders from the national scene ripping up the local trails. The course was fast today. Maybe faster than I’ve seen it before. The talk is of rain on Saturday and Sunday. This will definitely add an element to the racing. A larger than normal number of riders and rain could make for constantly changing course conditions. That’s downhilling at its best.

Article on PinnedMTB.com

Cat 2 Riders and Other Fluidride Cup Pics Gallery by Mark Brent

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Phil Wiering’s Training Trail: Video

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on April 25, 2009
in Outside The USA, Rider Profiles and Video
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I met up with Phil Wiering in Portland, Oregon on my way down to Sea Otter. Charlie and Patrick from Team Robot joined in on the run.

Phil is an up and coming Pro Downhiller who rides for the new Team Fluidride/Evil. I wanted to ask him what kind of training he does. We talked about the benefits of being fit. But, it was his training trail that got the focus. Steep, rooty, off-camber, muddy turns. I’ll let the video tell the rest.

Note: Phil was riding a Sunday in this video. He raced a prototype at the last Fluidride Cup where he placed 7th out of 40 pros. When I shot this he was still waiting on his new Evil.

         

Sea Otter Classic - Live Updates

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on April 16, 2009
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SeaOtter2009DHFinal_31.jpgSunday Update: Pro DH - Mick Hannah continues his come back at the Sea Otter Classic beating Greg Minnaar, Andrew Neethling, Justin Leov, and Brian Lopes to top the Pro Men’s Podium. The track had not received any real moisture in over a week. The weather was well into the 80s. After a weekend of practices by well over a thousand contestants, the course was blown out in so many spots. However, it remained very fast if not on the edge. While many mock the difficulty of the Sea Otter DH course, the speed and conditions of this years course made it tricky. Many riders blew off the course. Tracy Moseley won the Pro Women’s DH followed by Melissa Buhl, Kathy Pruit, and Claire Buchar.

Men’s Results Women’s Results

Sunday also saw the Pro Dual Stunt finals. Brandon Semenuk beat Kyle Strait in the final. Brandon seemed to be training hard to fit into his tight pants. This training really benefited Brandon, as with Dual Slalom, the better one does the longer they compete. Brandon was as strong in his final against Kyle Strait as he was in the first round. Check out Miles’ Dual Stunt video below.

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Check out more Photos from Pat Branch at PBmedia.us

Dual Stunt Video by Miles “Shovelpick” Sullivan

SeaOtter2009DS_28.jpgSaturday’s Pro Dual Slalom
Sam Hill broke the qualifying curse and beat Cody Warren, and Jarred Rando then Gee Atherton to take top spot in Pro Men’s DS. Melissa Buhl carried on her winning ways and beat Olympian Jill Kintner and Kathy Pruit to take the top spot in Pro Women’s DH. Many riders crashed do to the dusty dry conditions and the deteriorating course. Ducan Riffle, Eric Carter, Kathy Pruit, Jill Kintner, Mikey Haderer, Nathan Rennie, last year’s winner Greg Minnaar and many more.

Men’s Results Women’s Results

The competition was stiff. Jared Rando and Gee Atherton actually tied after posting two head-to-head runs. They gave the tie breaker to Jared due to his winning of the last run. The sun was hot, over 80 and no clouds. This added to the break down of the course as the mornings moisture was wicked away. It also added to the fatigue of the riders. Before his final’s match with Sam Hill, Cody Warren told me he was falling apart. Cody stayed close to Sam in the first run, but then crashed in the second losing any opportunity to make up the differential with Sam. Melissa Buhl was tough all day. Check out the photos from the competition. Our video on the Dual Slalom is going to be a full on documentary with over 30 interviews to work with. We expect to release that as a Feature Video with in a week to 2 weeks.

Note: For those of you from the PNW. Darrell Jameson and Clinton Fowler each took 2nd in their respective Cat 1 Dual Slalom competitions.

Friday’s DH Practice.

Friday Update: Wind is gone and the sun is out baby! Tomorrow is the Pro-Dual Slalom. It’s going to be sick. Tonight’s video work covers Pro DH practice.

In general Sea Otter is chaotic, frantic, windy, dusty, crowed, but it’s like the first day of high school. With everyone looking for their old friends, taking runs with people they only see while racing, hanging out at the pump track and looking at all the NEW GEAR.

This morning JD of SRAM set me up with a new cartridge for my Boxxer Team. I never let go of the bike. I rolled up, he pulled the old cartridge, adjusted the oil, put the new one in and test the fork. Then I was gone. Thanks SRAM.

Team Mechanics Talk Bike Setup for Sea Otter - riding examples

Thursday Update: When we arrived it was windy to the point of making riding difficult. Now the wind is gone, but it is cold. Seattle cold. Can’t complain though, because we all have the opportunity to be on our bikes. Or, with bikes.

Gravity Event Course Builder Interviews - Course Previews

         

Before Sea Otter Classic

Published
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on April 14, 2009
in Mark Brent, News and Info, Quick Shot and Video
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I came down to central California early to get some sun and ride and shoot local trails. In this first video I met up with Evan Turpen a few days before Sea Otter 2009. We road his training trails. He explains the importance of training trails versus downhill trails. We then go and hit up some dirt jumps.

They say this weekend’s weather will be in the 70s or 80s. Can you say Sunblock? Eat your heart out PNW. Love you all!

Another Pre Otter Video Coming Tuesday Night. Then stay tuned for our daily videos from Sea Otter. Follow immediate results from my phone via Twitter.

         

ProGRT Port Angeles Schedule

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on April 9, 2009
in News and Info and Race Schedules
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2009 Fluidride Cup # 2 / PRO GRT stop # 1
April 30 - May 3rd - Port Angeles, Washington. USA

Schedule of events

**Note** Road Closure Notice!!!
The Hood Canal Bridge (which is the only access to the Olympic Peninsula from anywhere north of Olympia, Wa.) will be closing at midnight the evening of Thurs the 30th. If you are coming from the north and will be taking the Port Townsend/Keystone ferry this does not aeffect your route. If you are planning to take the Seattle to Kingston, Bainbridge, Bremerton, or Southworth ferries this will affect your driving plans!
You can find all the necessary detour routes here: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR104HoodCanalBridgeEast/Closures/drivedir.htm

Pro GRT Schedule (download)
We will be capping the amateur entries at 350 riders!!! The Pro entries are unlimited. We highly recommend you Pre-Register for the race to assure your entry. All 350 slots will most likeley be filled before registration ends. You can do so on the Ski Bowl website here: http://skibowl.com/index.php?page=race-registration

Entry Fees:
Thursday Practice, Friday Practice, Saturday Practice and Sunday Practice and Racing - $75
Friday Practice, Saturday Practice and Sunday Practice and Racing - $65
Saturday Practice, Sunday Practice and Racing - $55
**please note fees are slightly increased due to additional Thurs practice**

Thurs April 30th
10:00 am - Registration opens
12:00 am -  6:00 pm - DH Practice (all categories)
4:00 pm - Registration closes

Fri May 1st
8:30 am - Registration opens
10:00 am - 2:00 pm - DH Practice (Cat 3 & 2)
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm - DH Practice (Cat 1 & Pro)
4:00 pm - Registration closes

Sat May 2nd
7:00 am - Registration opens
8:00am - 10:00 am DH Practice (Cat 3 & 2)
10:00 am - Registration closes (Cat 3)
10:00 am - 12:00 pm - DH Practice (Cat 1 & Pro)
1:00 pm - Racing starts (Cat 3)
2:30 pm - Pro Qualifying
4:00 pm - Registration closes

Sun May 3rd
7:00 am - 9:00 am DH Practice (Cat 1, 2, Pro)
10:00 am Racing starts
Awards immediately after racing ends

         

Fluidride Cup #1 2009

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on April 7, 2009
in Mark Brent, News and Info, Quick Shot, Race Results and Video
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Beat up,
But not beaten down.

FR Cup 1 Results

Lars Sternberg ties with Curtis Keene.
They make a new rule that gives Curtis the win.
His qualifier was faster. Tiebreaker.

Bart McDaniel gets a top ten
With a full head against the tree OTB.
Chris Boice tells me he’s “humbled” by our scene.
He gets fifth in Pro. I’m humbled by Chris Boice.
He’s a true competitor.

Contributing Photographer Galleries: Ki Kopkau Erin Landry Matt Patterson

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There were 410 registered racers.
47 Pro men. 10 Pro women. Over 50 19-29 Cat 1
and most surprising  23 Cat 1 40+
I haven’t seen so many old guys on a list that wasn’t at a funeral.
Grass roots racing? I don’t think so.
The Fluidride Cup is legit

Carl Warren’s Gallery

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The course was tacky
It withstood the pounding of a three-day event.

Coming down the start ramp
Sprinting for 100 yards.
Turn and dive down White Knuckle
Toward the booter that floats you all the way to the breaking bumps.
Dive right, then left taking the inside line to the inside line.
Setting up after the 2nd floater
Diving into the roots setting up for the woods.
Mash, Mash. Mash the pedals.
Tight turns, taking the high line to get the speed for the exit.
Step down, sweeping right through the shale and steep down again.
Mash those pedals again for the jump into the woops.
Don’t over cook the step-down into the rocks.
Got to get the shoulder tight to the tree on the right
To get over the rock and turn left. Needle tight chicane.
Step-not to Camel’s Hump, got it clean,
Carry the speed through the chunder
To assist with the short climb.
Home free now baby. Stay off the breaks
And own those berms.
Coming out now. Double to the bridge and sprint
Sprint for the final berm and the
Finish line.

Race Day Video By Mark Brent

more quick shot videos

Shout out to NDub Productions, Hurricane Racing,
Simon Lawton, Fluidride, Dirt Corps, Recycled Cycles, ODI
Mike Estes, Carl Warren, Miles “Shovelpick” Sullivan, Mutoli Racing,
Erin Landry, My Team, go DWB!
Dan Kim at Port Angeles Super 8.
My lovely wife for understanding why I ride.
And my bike for putting up with my mistakes.
All the young riders for their passion and speed.
The other old riders for their drive,
The Pros for showing the way,
And all the lady racers for taking up the bike
And “schralping” their way down the mountain.
And Leanna Gerrard for the Word Of The Day.
And if I forgot you, you’re not forgotten,
I thank you too.

See you at Port Angeles May 1
for the 1st stop of the ProGRT Tour.

FULL RESULTS COMING