Blue Mountain Enduro

Earlier this year, Blue Mountain re-opened its bike park.  They spruced up existing trails, built new ones and have constantly been adding more features as the year progresses. It’s super fun, super technical and super gnarly. And with it only being 20 minutes from my house, it’s the ideal place to practice my downhilling skills (even if it’s only on my XC bike).

Thanks to Matt Stiegler for the photos!

 On Labor Day, Blue Mountain put on it’s first ever enduro. There were 5 stages that showcased the best of Blue’s trails. Due to a storm the morning of, the trails were slick and an inch of mud coated my bike at the end of the day. Luckily the rain held off for the rest of the day and it ended up being a great day to race. My first 3 stages were a bit chaotic. Although my Schwalbe Hans Dampfs gave me more confidence, it took a while for me to adjust to the slippery conditions. By the 4^th and 5^th stages, I felt like I had finally got my groove and as I swiped my chip at the finish, I was bummed it had ended.

Matt Miller getting air!

Overall, the race was challenging, well organized, and a fantastic time. Matt ended up 2^nd place and I came in 1^st. It was a great Labor Day for Giant Mid-Atlantic!

Check out Blue Mountain Bike Park as well as their Oktoberfest Super D!

http://www.skibluemt.com/seasonal-activities/mountain-biking/

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/oktoberfest-super-d

Yellow shorts are cool!

The gray and black combo is cool too!

Giant P-XCR Composite 29er 0 Wheel Review

Credit where credit is due: These rule.

I've never been much of a guy to worry about wheels.  Lightweight and the ability to spin have been my perennial features of performance indication.  But then I started blowing wheels up... like pretty often for a guy who weighs 130lbs.

Giant asked if we could try their new wheels for the season.  Made by Dt Swiss and up to Giant's standards, I couldn't say no.  And actually, I was stoked!  Given I would be racing Enduro almost exclusively for 2013, I was worried and those around me were worried for me.  It was worth a shot?

The first thing I noticed was how stiff they were! Man, steering precision like no other.  It was an immediate realization of what an elite level wheel felt like.  The spoke tension is super high and the carbon rims are clearly helping that.  Super lightweight and nice and snappy, even for a 29er with fat tyres.  Plus, the bearings are really really good.  I switched it to an xD driver in the rear for the XX1 cassette.  It was so easy a baby could do it.  And 1430grams??  Really?  YES.  Super light and super strong.

How strong?  Try road gaps, creek jumps, 3 straight days of lift-accessed bike park downhilling, black diamond dh trails and some dummy who biffs every jump hitting big table tops.  They've raced enduro, super d, and XC and have already netted the team almost a dozen wins already!

The inner diameter is pretty narrow, especially given my tire of choice is the Schwalbe Hans Dampf 29x2.35.  However, the provided rim strip is really nice and makes a good seal; I've only burped once and it was off of an awkward off-camber shoulder-height step-down.  A truing wrench has yet to hit the wheels after three months and the bearings don't show any signs of slowing down.  No cracks, do dents, no fuss; I am in love.

They have continued to feel solid, ride fast and take a beating. 
Isn't that what everyone wants?

Matt

Old Fashioned Butt-WISPing

By: Jordan

The look of happiness

As a general rule of thumb, I leave decisions to race epic mountain bike races in the rain and mud until the last minute.  This past weekend was no exception, making the decision to gear up for a trip to WISP mountain in western Maryland a day prior to the race.  Helping to nudge my decision to go in the 'yes' column was my buddy Weaver, who offered to drive, leaving me some extra time to relax in the passenger seat for once.  It was splendid!

The race itself was a blur of fast doubletrack descents and climbs, mixed with swooping, muddy, fun singletrack.  First-lap rain turned to mid-race sun and ended in last-lap peanut butter.  The ever-changing course conditions left us on our toes all day and made for some interesting mechanical situations.  But who doesn't love standing off course playing with their bike mid-race?!  Thanks to our fancy-schmancy new SRAM XX1 drivetrains though, I experienced little problems in the shifting department.  BAM, take that mud!  Also, my choice to role with the Anthem X Advanced 29 over my XTC hardtail proved fruitful over a 31+ mile course.

Through the attrition and mud, I emerged in second place, feeling lucky just to have made it through.  Yay me!  The courses at WISP are as challenging as they get, and I would definitely recommend heading out for the next one.  Now for a nap!

NUE #3 Wildcat 100

This being my first 100 mile MTB race I have to say that I was a different type of nervous. Instead of feeling nervous about call ups, hole shots and positions it was "can I finish?" "How long will it take me?" "What the heck am I going to EAT?!" But everything you think is going to happen never does in a race and there is never any need to be nervous, its just wasted energy. So I prepared the best I could for the race by eating well the few days before, giving my bike the once over and heading to bed early the night before like a proper pro should. The morning of the race was a wet one. The weather calling for showers all day and a high temp in the mid 60's was going to make an already hard race even harder with epic conditions of mud and my body trying to maintain some level of normal body temperature. The start was pretty chill with a semi neutral roll out the Williams lake where we rode through the famous cave and rocky single track. Then it was onto a mix of fire road, pavement, single track for the last 95 miles. Justin Lindine and I had a pretty good gap on the rest of the field and kept the pace up for the first 10 miles until a little wrong turn let the group behind catch up. I hung one with my Single Speed until Glory Hill climb mile 20ish... where my 32-16 gearing was to stiff of a gear to keep up so I paced myself up the climb and caught back on when things leveled off. By that time Justin and Christian Tanguy had taken off and I was left to draft the top 5 geared guys for the rest of the day. At no point during the 100 miles of mud, rocks and mixed emotions did I think about quieting. that's just not an option. I did a great job of pacing and keeping my head space right to finish 1st in my Class (Single Speed Men) at 7hrs 30min and 3rd overall just 10 min behind the 2nd place Pro Justin Lindine and inside 30min of Christian Favata. I have to say I don't know what I was thinking but now that its all over with I can say that I had a blast and I would do it all over again...Maybe...

~S