At about 10:30 last night the skies opened up here and it didn't stop pissing until 7am. Back in the good old NW, maybe you'd have to put a set of spikes on but even then that's questionable. But out here knowing what tires to run was a crapshoot. We arrived at our 8:30 Dual Slalom practice with spikes ready to be installed. Yes we come prepared. Needless to say, they were the money choice. The course was so muddy they cancelled Slopestyle today, and pushed DS back a few hours to wait for the dirt to dry.

When it was time to qualify, the dirt had dried up a little bit. But there were some massive sniper rutted holes that had formed, which claimed a fair share ov victims. When everybody had their two runs in, Jill ended up first, and I ended up second. Pretty good showing for the lil' Doubles. They were riding killer. It was pretty chill until the finals. Lot's of familiar faces milling around hanging out. Pretty good atmosphere. Jill post quali interview

You may recognize these two Transition Shredders

In the first round, I went against Brad Oien, and he had a bit of bad luck unclipping in one run, and looping out on the last jump. So made it through the first one.

Come second round, I had a pretty good run on the Blue(slower) course, only a few thenths down. I knew all I had to do was have a smooth run in the second. Unfortunately I was unaware of the mega lead I had on homey and pushed unnessarily hard. I ended up running over just the inside of a gate in a tight section and was immediately disqualified. Pretty much ended my DS victory hopes and dreams right there. Oh well. Don't mean shiv if you're the fastest guys out there if you can't put it together. I'm trying to learn from these dumb mistakes. Someday I suppose. Jill got a little clip of one of my first rounds.

Now it was time to help Jill out. I quickly changed and got into filmer/bike pusher mode. No rest for the wicked. During some of the mens heats a bunch of the faster qualifying guys got picked off/crashed out. Rando, Lear? Jake the snake, Bitchen Bingelli, Petrs hammock to name a few. While we were waiting ssnepped this pic of the best cammo dog in existence. Can you say where's Waldo?.

In her first heat, she won both rounds. and being that there were only 4 ladies in the finals the next round was finals! once again she was matched up against Buhl'y. Pretty common theme this year. She had a small advantage after the first round, and was ready for Melissa to attack on the second round. She was able to just squeze here out on the slower course which gave her the win. Another win For TR Racing! We're going to have to dedicate an entire wall back at HQ for all the big checks from the team this year. Pretty cool.

Buehller?

A small note, there were a good amount of homies in the amateur field on Transitions. The Banks and Doubles were out in force. Most notable was Jimmy? Carpenter who made the final on his Bank. He's from Florida and bought his TR from Drop 'N' Zone. About as far as you could go out of your way to be a dedicated customer. Pretty cool as well. I cought his run, Jill's, and Pro mens final on vid from the megatron. Check it.

Props to Jason Mmellar, who won, and Brian Buell who got 2nd. Till tomorrow!

Time flies, it feels like we were just here. Actually we were...

Jill and I flew out to Denver last night for the early Dual Slalom event here. Practice was at 9:30 this morning sharp. Tomorrow is quali's.

The course is pretty cool, it winds down between the Slopestyle course. A couple good corners at the top, some fun little jumps in the middle, and an all out drag race to the finish. Should be around 15 -20 seconds. Short and sweet as they say.

After practice I caught Jill for a few words.

After practice we headed over to the main venue area and took our Doubles up to cruise down the DH course and inspect it. Apparently it's left open for all to ride before the UCI event starts practice on Fri. Pretty lame if you ask me. It also looks to be well over 5 minutes, which is outside of UCI regulations. UCI Double Standards? You tell me. Hopefully Jill won't get fined for wearing our Red, White, and Blue TR jersey instead of the Champs one. If so, I may have answered my own question.

On the way down I cruised over to watch Slopestyle practice. Here are a few clips of the fellas practicing.

There you go, a quick overview of what's happening here today. I'll get a clip of both Jill and my quali runs tomorrow, and some more of the Slopestyle shennagins.

Later!

Here is an update from Bryn regarding the latest world cup in Champery. If you saw the coverage of the event it looked like the worst weather possible combined with some of the most steep and technical terrain of any world cup.

Tough weekend here in Champery, my first run of the weekend started with a big over the bars, taking a massive body hit, kept me a little sore.. Conditions were tough, consistent rain and a track that is not up for World cup numbers, resulted in an all out, sloppy battle, basically survival. No excuses here though.. Thanks to ol' Marshy, my bike was more than great the whole weekend, I just slammed some trees in my final run, and got stuck in the mud a few times, finishing 20th.

We're off to Val de Sole, Italy in a few days for the next round. I'm sitting 19th in the Overall, patiently waiting for that ripper of a run!

Okay, I know this has been out for a bit, but I just found it and had to share for those who may have missed it. This is the sequel to performance!

So i've been riding the new SRAM 2x10 drivetrain for a couple months now and i will say i'm pretty impressed. I never thought i'd go carbon cranks on any of my bikes but after riding them i am blown away by the stiffness...and they just look awesome. If you are on the fence about 2x10 you really should do yourself a favor and really look into it. The new gear ratio setup is just brilliant. I am riding a 26x39 front gear combo with an 11-36 rear cassette (yes that is correct, 36 teeth on that cassette). I've never been a fan of the traditional 22t front chainring as i felt it was just too small to really be usable but the new 26 tooth ring is alot better for day in and day out use. WIth the 26 you can still get a crazy low gear given the 36t rear cog but you can also use more moderate gears without shifting in the front ring. It just makes sense. Also, the front derailleur performance is way better than the traditional 3x9 setup you're all probably used to. I have for quite some time avoided front derailleur setups as i felt the front shifting performance was just not all there. Well that is a thing of the past with the new 2x10 and the highly optimized shifting ramps. It just shifts up/down easily even under load. Pretty slick....

If you don't believe me then you should definitely make a point to catch up with SRAM as they make their way around the country touting their new drivetrains on fully custom Coverts. We are more than stoked to be part of SRAM's 2x10 Experience program and we're sure that once you ride the bikes with the new drivetrain you'll be impressed. Check it out at a shop near you!

The second installment of our No Big Deal video series rolls on with Mike Metzger taking us to the Camp Of Champions jump compound at Whislter. This episode features no canders and handulums. Special thanks to 365 Sports for providing the airbag, we owe you guys a case of beer.

2010 U.S. Nationals, DH from Bike Magazine on Vimeo.

So Jill and I just got back from the Snowmass MSC, and Nationals in Sol Vista. We had a pretty bitchen time, and aside from the 24hour solid drive home no complaints. I think the last update I made was from practice in Snowmass. We ended up finding Xerxes, kind of a long story, but the dude was a perfect fit! Bouncy stilts, face paint, and bubbles, nuff said. I was mega stoked on the course. The last time I was there was in 2006, and I was terrified of going as fast as you could go there. I ended up 45th or something. So to come here and be flat out WFO on the first day and loving it was pretty cool. I know Jill was enjoying the course as well.

We opted to not race the event on Sat after riding the course once. I think Jill summed it up by saying that she never wanted to ride that trail again in her life. Pretty funny, but oh so true. We talked Darner into donating our entries to the family of the boy who passed away in Angelfire earlier this year. Peace be with you little homey, and our thoughts and prayers to the family.

Sunday was pretty good. No qualifying, just race. Pretty rare these days. Jill tomahawked on the high speed upper section. Not sweet, and then g'd out coming out of the first tree section and smacked her chin on her stem which resulted in 6 stitches. Needless to say, she got last. Oh well, we were able to joke about it afterwards. I rode ultra conservatively, and was still pretty tight in my race run, talking to myself and everything. A sure sign that my head is not quite there yet. But it was pretty smooth. Although Brad Bennedict told me he timed myself and others from the chair, and the slowest dude had put 3 seconds into me in the last 30 seconds of the course. Maybe I need to eat some doughnuts? I opted to increase my standard tire PSI instead of a bearclaw binge to increase the rolling resistance. I ended up 4th. Gwin smoked us all by 15 seconds. The guy is a machine. Still blows to get smoked. Lesson learned, I knew I had to make some changes to the prep etc. for next weekend.

On our way to Granby we crashed the Specialized Dealer event in Keystone. Sorry guys! We may or may not have overheard a few times "who in the heck invited Transition to the Specialized product launch?" We bounced the next day, it was kinda wierd. We stopped and met our homey Justin Frey from Fox Racing Shox at Winterpark on Tues and shredded some relaxing DH runs. Park was ok, but is was good to just get out and ride.

We arrived in Sol Vista on Wed and set up right next to Fox, pretty sweet spot I must admit. We hiked the course, and got everything ready for practice. The course was a mix of natural and man made terrain. It was getting mixed reviews. I for one appreciate how much work the Sol Vista Crew put into the courses. What a welcome change these days. Thurs, Fri, and Sat was practice. I registered for 4x at the last minute, and rode the course about 5 times. I set up my Covert as best I could, and qualified 6th. The course was fun and challenging, but it was looking like there was going to be MEGA carnage with 4 dudes out there smashing it out. So, I opted to not race. Felt wierd at first, but when it was all said and done I was pretty happy with my decision. I am so focused on DH these days I can't really be bothered. Plus I really felt like I had a chance this weekend, so I didn't want to blow it. Our homies Crusher, and Nevin took the National 4x titles- Congrats!

Sunday- Jill qualified 1st and won in the finals. I'm so proud of her. She wasn't really feeling it at first at all. But she proved what a champ she really is and completely turned it around and by Sunday, had sacked up and boosted all the jumps she had set goals for. Pretty stoked to be able to learn what I can from the champ. She is about as head strong as you are gonna find.

I was feeling really good in practice, the bike felt perfect, and I was ready. I approached this weekend a completely different way than ever before. I started practice really slow, and didn't pay attention to what anyone else was doing. By Sunday am, I knew exactly where I should be braking, pedaling, and what speed I needed to be going. I felt really comfortable on the bike. In seeding, I just rode like I had in practice. No stress. I didn't feel the wind for one second, I was not talking to my myself, and most importantly I had a blast riding my bike. I ended up qualifying 3rd, I felt even better knowing that I knew exactly where I could go faster, and how much faster I could go in those places. Unfortunately, in my race run I smashed some rocks a little harder than I intended and ended up flatting. I was pretty dissapointed as this was pretty much my last chance to earn a Worlds spot. All I really had to do was stay up and finish. Gwin took the win again. Damnit I thought I had him this weekend. Oh well, the universe works in mysterious ways sometimes...

Craig Glaspell photo.

in all it was a pretty mega hella sweet trip, but we were ready to come home. We punched it straight through- 24hrs. Now were here for a few days then we're off to PA for the NWCup finals this weekend, and then back to Winterpark for Crankworx Colorado and the 4th PROGRT.

Craig Glaspell photo.

Seeyabye!

P.S. we found some sweet viewing material on the way home. Sorry Jill, I couldn't resist.

"No one will ever know"

I just got home from Claymore and prior to that Goatstyle.  Here is my Goatstyle edit. 

I will have my next edit from Claymore coming up shortly for you.  Goatstyle was awesome!  I had a ton of fun.  I cruised up to Spokane and met up Joe Perrizo and then we cruised up.  I learned a ton at Goatstyle and really am starting to get a good idea of how to approach contests, qualifying, and practice.  I have a few more things to really work on, but plan to be making for finals this year and all of next year.  I am really excited for Crankworx Colorado coming up.  Due to limited practice, it was hard to get a ton of footage, but I think the edit came out well.  Scott Hart over at Decline is having me do the article for Goatstyle so I will be published in two Declines in a row and hopefully more!  I will have the Claymore edit and write up for you shortly.  I am off to Crankworx Colorado and an invitational here in Colorado right after.  From there I will be heading up to Whistler for Crankworx.  I wish I could make one of the Transition weekends, but already have my schedule and tickets booked for my trips and wont be able to make it, hopefully next year!  Thank you for everything.  Talk to you soon and another edit coming up shortly

Since my first installment of Trail Building 101: Booters on a tight dirt budget"  I finally got a photographer to come out and shoot it for a pinkbike photo.  It's hard to get someone who is good and will do it for some bike gear.  Check out the other photo of this hit in my albums.  I'm not as whipped in this photo as the others unfortunately. Click Here

The latest episode of Wyn TV features our European mechanic Jason Marsh riding in some sweet clothing on his TR450. It also features explosions, which are rad. Enjoy!

Hot off the press! Lars just called and it sounds like Lars Sternberg qualified 3rd in the Pro DH amongst a nicely stacked list of the top US DH racers including last year's National Champ Aaron Gwin. Nice work Lars! Pin it in the final!

Also, it sounds like Jill Kintner had the fastest time in qualis for the women. Not a bad place to be going into finals!

I'll have another update once i hear the final results.

Our French/Swiss rider Aurelie Tournier has an amazing custom paint job on her Syren. Check it out!

I am a Grassroots Transition Pro Racer here in the very fast and competitive Mountain States Cup Series.  I frequently check the Transition blog to see what is going on.  I was excited to see that the Factory Transition Team with Lars and Jill were coming to race here in Aspen, Colorado.  After a few practice runs on Friday I saw them at their Pit and stopped by to introduce myself.  It was a sincere pleasure to get to meet them and got to talk about the courses and bike setups.  They gave me great advice I was able to apply immediately that immensely helped my riding throughout the weekend. 

This race featured 2 Down Hill Races, a more light weight Super-D’ish style 5 minute course on Saturday and a steep, rough, full pinner course on Sunday. 

In Saturdays race I put all the good advice to work and along with good strength conditioning I finished 8^th in the Men’s Pro.  This is my best finish so far in this super fast series and I was stoked. 

Sundays Bonzai downhill had all the major players and many from all over the country getting ready for the US Nationals in Sol-Vista Colorado next weekend.  Because of my finish the previous day I was seeded late in the DH start list.  After most of the Pros had dropped in for their race run I looked around me all I saw were top level experienced factory riders.  It motivated me and I blasted out of the gate 4X style.  I felt great but made a few mistakes and always felt like I was in the wrong gear when I needed to pedal.  I ended up 23^rd out of 50 racers that signed up. 

I liked the top 10 feeling and will be gunning for some great runs at Nationals next weekend.  Big thanks to Lars, Jill & Transition Bikes for sending their race team to my local series.  I learned a lot and will continue to be better.

Eric Landis

This route is slightly longer than the more direct route, but much more scenic. We passed through Missoula Mt, Butte Mt, and headed south on the 15 towards SLC. This next stretch was a bit desolate until Twin Falls Id which you may not be aware, is the Cougar capitol of America, go figure. We stopped for some gas, and some dinner. After a fill up and a quick pass throuh downtown we stopped at what looked like a decent burger joint. Little did we know this place is renowned for the best burgers in ALL of Idaho, quite a statement. But they lived up to the expectation. Delicious! While we sat on the patio mowing through our burgers we took in the sights of the many coug's cruising around in all degress of inebriation.  What a strange place. Guess there's not much else to de here than get schwasted. This guy had a pretty cool setup though...

Back on the road for about 3 more hours and we finall made it to SLC. All in all we were on the road for about 12 hours today- what a blowout. Up and at em about 10:30 am on Wed and we hit the road with plans to stop in Fruita. I've ridden here about 4 years ago and remembered a few mega sweet trails. Once in Fruita we immediately found Over the Edge Sports, and went inside. Within 3-4 minutes we met Noah Sears, who offered to take us for a spin. We went out to the area called 18 road. Noah took us up Prime Cut, over to Zippity do da, abd back over uo th road to head down Kessel's. I took a VHOLDR vid of the most scenic part of Zippity.

 During the filming of this trail, Noah was rapidly on his way to heat stroke! Poor dude nearly keeled over on the way down Kessel's. anyway, mission accomplished. After donating a 1.5 liter bottle of water to Noah, which he drank in one pull, we went to his favortite little Pizza joint. Pretty sweet place, except for me getting a squeeze and then sidled by this muscle beach dude who was looking for a tight little homey. NOT SWEET! But worth a laugh. I think we counted over 9 dinosaurs in our short time there. We also saw a statue of a famous chicken who apparently got his head cut off, and lived for 18 months. true story.

Last push, and a quick viewing of 300 on the road. We accepted our new mission of finding someone over the weekend to nickname Xerxes.

Today we set up our pit, got registered, and prepared for practice. We rode for about 4 hours, and the course is run from just higher than the start of the traditional course they have used here since 2004ish? Anyway, it is wide open the whole way, super fast off camber corners at the top, a guick woods section, another mega fast whooped out section before another woods section, then a 9th gear 30 second sprint down the sketchiest singletrack you can imagine, Soo much fun though. Pretty much what I would imaging houling ass on a moto is like. Can't wait until tomorrow.