I suck...

 I got two hours in on the bike today, dirt, it was my commute to work. One hour each way, with less than 1.5 miles on pavement, I told you I suck. More tomorrow...

Oh yea.

For "work" this weekend I lined up a shuttle on Mt. Lemmon and a ride on the 50 year trail.

Oh one other thing.

For Friday we are riding out at Fountain Hills for R&R. So basically I HAVE to ride for "work". Three days in a row.

I suck.

:)

35 years old and the adventures of humpback whales in the high desert

Shake's is showing the famous two headed dog style of his ancestral kung fu

Me. Just explaining to Midget that what we ate was not Mexican food it was Mexican't.

Pretty sure I will never try Fudge Cheese...anyone???

Shakes explaining to me that he needs a bigger fire, that he was perfectly happy at 90 degrees and sub 40 degree temperatures are for Michigan people stuck in Mi.

So we went camping and found out how well we acclimated to AZ. It was cold. The wind was gusting upwards of 30 mph and it was still kick ass. We shopped ourselves a real camp stove and had a fantastic meal of red beans and rice. I stupidly forgot beer. FAIL.

So we 21st century camped after that and fired up a movie on the Mac. We watched a movie while my tent heater fired up. ( take hot rocks from fire pit and place in metal bucket in center of tent. )

After the movie we stuck our heads turtle style out of the front door and watched the moon race across the sky. Pretty awesome.

At 4 am we were awakened by the sound of the great humpback high desert whale. This is commonly confused with the great Elk. All one really has to do is pay attention. The trumpeting is most decidedly humpback whale and not the mating call of the great Elk. I really should let those scientist types know how wrong they are...

By the way, coolest sound ever to wake to.

Enjoy the desert...

faster than you

start training real hard.

these girls come from farmer and farmers wife.

enough said.

losing my mind????????

I am in a weird way. I am getting stir crazy and not spending time on my bike. I have no 'cross rig, no road bike, and am thinking of selling my mtn bike.

 OK. I am selling my Mtn. bike.

 I do plan on getting another. I just want/need/really want more of a trail bike. To me that means more than 5 inches of travel. I now only have four. Sounds a bit like penis envy but I now ride areas that more travel is better and the bikes I ride can climb well with that travel.

 Here's your chance to bid on my ride.

 A large Black Mach 4. XT wheels, XT brakes, thomson X4 stem, Ritchey carbon Lo riser bar, Xt drivetrain which includes a new set of XT shifters and XT shadow rear derailleur. Featuring DW link and Fox suspension.( above picture does not show XT drivetrain--that's why it's new)

 Now don't get too crazy. It always makes me laugh a bit when people think we get our gear and rides for free. I did not. I paid a fancy price for it. I did not pay full price. Full price is $4200+.

Shipping will be free. WOW. 

 Yea I know pics. Those will follow. Bike is clean, fork has cosmetic issues-- not too major. Wheelset is true and can be run tubeless. 

are we there yet?

Sorry for the blurry images but I was up at 3 45 am to catch a flight back to Vegas for the indoor portion of the show. We built up a standard Mach 4 at this incredible weight for a size Medium. It will retail for under $8K and the parts are fully ridable for one year based on our testing- and we don't do easy tests. OTHER companies really skimp on weight in critical areas, areas that will fail. We rode the crap outta this stuff and it is doing nicely thanks.

Most definitely not our bike but pretty cool. 

Guess which happy campers may be riding Pivot next year???????

Again not our bike but pretty pretty. It just reminds me I am missing Iron Cross VI. AH well, I won't be getting beat by any girls then....

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Next weekend I am joining up with some PIVOT folks and getting my ride on shuttle style in Moab. I am really excited to get back to DH on a super rig. Even though I guess you need more than 6.7 inches for it to be a DH rig....oh well I am breaking out the body armor, full face and letting er go. I do believe I have earned it a bit.

Cheers. and please get some fall riding in for me will ya?

Leaving Las Vegas

  I recall a time when I used to get excited about the annual meeting in Las Vegas. I would burn through pages of each and every magazine that covered the show in attempts to find my next must have items. This was before the Internet turned out images and news long before the show, and before you could just tune into this or that blog/review site and have a pretty darn good idea of whats what.

  

  A few long years back I went to the show as a shop rat and had a blast. Except for a minor surgery that is. I was able to see the show live and drool over cool bits. A kid in a candy store.

 Now a days I am in the industry and part of that show. I spent the last two years with a small time operation trying hard to find a way to break in. I learned a lot in those years. How the industry works, how sponsoring riders work, and how to really make things happen-----more importantly how not to make it happen. 

  I do not want to sound jaded or bitter but Inter-bike killed me. I just came off the road for 8 months and was looking forward to some time off with Midget and getting to ride everyday should I want. I was looking forward to only setting up the bike I was riding, and not 50 others. Well, that was a delusion at best. Instead I grabbed 3 days rest and went back to 12-14 hour days getting ready for the show.

  

  How does one get ready for Inter-bike? Start by building a demo fleet from scratch. This year was 60 bikes, evenly split from road to mountain. Mix in catalogue bikes-- that's four mountain bikes times two of every color. Then you must have a new road catalogue as well so add 6 more bikes, two colors and several options on parts and gruppo's. There you have near 20 bikes you are not going to use for show or demo. Just for pictures and then after the show you can use them for other uses....say our factory showroom or whatnot.

 Ok. Now you can build the demo fleet. Then you must pack catalogues, displays, tools, spare parts, give aways, the whole enchilada so to speak. Everything has to be there should something go wrong, and you must plan for every JRA that can or will happen. You have to get your dealer programs ready, market breakdowns, and you must have you technical knowledge ready to roll of the tongue---- about 1000 times a day. The crowds do not stop. They just grow.

  My Vegas experience was started on Sunday morning with a 3 am departure for Bootleg Canyon. KT the design guru and I headed out for a 10 Am load into the outdoor demo area. Come late and you have a logistical nightmare. We were 1/2 hour plus early---and late at the same time. Parking was still OK. But I would have preferred to be first in our area--I was second.

 Dirt Demo was CRAZY. I work for one of the three most popular IT  bikes it seems. The crowds sorta confirmed that. We had every bike gone all day and 2-3 hour waits for our new bike. All in all it was a good two days, busy beyond comprehension but good. After Tuesdays 6 am start I had to follow that up by driving my rig back to Phoenix right after Dirt Demo ended Tuesday at 6pm. We were loaded and I was rolling at 7pm. Made it home to Phoenix and in bed by 12.31 am Wednesday. 

More on I- Bike later......

 

got my camera back...so here are some pics again

The trail the Dark Horse 40 follows ran through several distinctly different land areas. This was the most picturesque. 

I then show you the view as I drive into NY to do a demo.

We ate pizza and I noticed some crazy things hanging around what appeared to be an abandoned building across the street.

Turns out some crazy cool art was to be seen.

Definitely not me.

And that pretty much wraps up the demo tour shots I was able to get. A few days later the camera was stolen, and my ability to take any shots down south.

Perhaps more after Interbike.