Day at Sandy Ridge

The weather guy said to brace for some of the hottest weather of the year. he was right, we hit 75 today and it looks like it'll be around the low 80's for awhile. This type of weather makes our NW winters a breeze. Had an awesome ride with Laurie, Evan, Amy and Dennis today. Laurie is really progressing after only her 3rd time on her new bike. Here are some pictures and short vids from the day. (Don't all you million readers worry, i'll have my GoPro back up and running for our Whistler trip this year.) Oh some of the pictures are kind of weird because i only had the iPhone... and forgot to turn off HDR.













Wild Raspberry's were popping up everywhere.


Me

Sandy Ridge - More Mountain Bike Videos

Evan

Sandy RIdge - More Mountain Bike Videos

Amy and Dennis

Sandy Ridge - Amy & Dennis - More Mountain Bike Videos

A tale of two ridges

Took the opportunity to go out and ride Sandy Ridge with Evan and his wife Amy on Saturday and then hit up Raven's Ridge on Sunday with Todd and a few guys.

Saturday was awesome, great weather, great dirt and Amy and I took our new bikes out for the first time. She rides a Santa Cruz Butcher with a very custom spec. Evan kills at getting color matched components without it getting stupid.

Amy killed it on the ride, we did 3 laps, pedaled up the road and hit the trails down. The weather and scenery was so nice that i should have taken my GoPro... next time.


The hardtail I decided to build (banshee paradox) was in a ridable state so i couldn't wait to take it out. Not only have i not owned a hardtail for a long time but i've never owned a 29'r. In fact the only time i've ridden a 29'r was in a parking lot so i didn't know what to expect. Needless to say it ripped. I now know why people ride trail with big wheels.







Amy and Evan hit this turn hard then it was time to head back down to the car to go grab some chow at Island Teriyaki

Amy and Evan at Sandy - More Mountain Bike Videos

Sunday came around and it was time to get out the big bike and head to Raven's Ridge. I have never been on this trail so i didn't have a lot to expect. Needless to say it was rad, even if it decided to start raining a bit early on.

No photos but i did edit a short video of the day. Thanks to Travis for supplying the truck to shuttle full laps all day.

Raven's Ridge - More Mountain Bike Videos

Photo Credits go to Evan (the nice pictures) the other ones are by me.

Winter is slow and boring

My schedule is now work, exercise, sleep with some video games thrown in. At least i have a few bike things on my mind.... Vital and PB have been doing a great job keeping content flowing PLUS i bought a new lid for the season. I snagged a TLD Love/Hate carbon lid for a great deal on BikeBling of course i just found an even better deal here. Oh well, missed out on a savings of $20.00. Regardless i got to use their HOLIDAY10 coupon code and it'll arrive tomorrow.

I was thinking about getting the beta blue or the SuperStar Red/Blue TLD D2 helmet but everyone has one now and every time i had either added to my cart.. i just couldn't pull the trigger.

you won't see a lot of love/hates anymore because they are being closed out and according to the TLD site the D2 Carbon = on a hiatus.. maybe permanently... i don't know. Anyway here is the lid that will be on my doorstep tomorrow. I think the name of this helmet is great because you either love it or hate it :)

Anyway other good MTB things to look forward to: 17 questions by Steve Peat will be out on Xmas Eve... be sure to check it on Vital. Life Cycles BluRay has supposedly been shipped by PB That should be in my mailbox soon and I'm going to start stockpiling parts of a new Rune Build.... stay tuned for that as i'm just about done putting together my preliminary build list. Will share when i'm done. Have a Merry Xmas and I hope everyone gets a lot of rad bike related gifts.

"I Ride for Nick's Eyes" No Pity Party, just rider's wanting to help out a fellow rider and all around good dude.

I don't know Nick but i like to think the mountain bike community (especially the gravity part of it) is pretty tight knit and we're always keen to help out a fellow rider. Well Nick's eyes aren't doing so hot and long story short... health insurance doesn't have his back and no one wants nick to go blind so Demon Dirt, Banshee and others are trying to help Nick foot the bill for his surgery. Simply by purchasing a shirt, stickers or jersey will help Nick out. So reach into your wallet, don't be a pussy and buy something. Go to their store here: DEMON DIRT STORE



Straight from Nick -

PG kills it at Pacific.

Not a whole lot has to be said here, the polish legend w/ black links is sweet. Big props to PG, Robs says if you have a banshee, PG probably built it.




www.bansheebikes.com.
awesome

Mike Montgomery - shredding from Bend

Details of the Legend -

Here are some up close shots - Only had the bike on the dirt once but it got dirty..














thats the bike for now... i'll get out on it this memorial weekend, hopefully some legit dh.

The Legend is built and i rode it.

simple as that.

great work mike and justin

I met Justin at Sea Otter - he is a pretty cool dude and very talented in capturing visuals. He put this piece that premiered on Vital MTB earlier today about Banshee Rider, Mike Montgomery. This guy kills and he does a great job about representing the brand.

Spotlight: Mike Montgomery - More Mountain Bike Videos

Got out on a ride today at Blackrock with my Dad.

Got out on a nice sunny day to ride with my Dad at Blackrock. Dirt was great and the bugs were out. I'll definitely bring my deet with me next time.



on a side note, i found out the Blackrock Flow Cup is in 15 DAYS.. I'm hoping to have the rest of my bike here so i can ride the Legend in it.

speaking of the Legend .. i've been wanting to wait until it was fully built to put it on the blog, but it looks too good not to share.

The icing on the cake today though was dad brought down my Raceface Atlas FR cranks that were sent down from Canada last week. Not only are they rad but they came with a pint glass... i totally didn't expect that.

More to come...

Back from Sea Otter

Great trip down to California for Sea Otter. It started off with an early flight out to San Jose where i picked up a classic American-Made Ford Focus. Drove down to Monterey from there and met Rob, Dalen, Keith from Banshee and the rest of the folks for a few days of fun. We went to the Follow Me premier, hung out with a lot of industry players, went to the Race Face & Pinkbike dinner (tons of fun) and spent some time on the beach. I went to a couple races too. Here are a few pictures from the festivities.

Tada