pics from the 3rd annual Chicken Crit

the annual Chicken Crit has come and gone......once again i drew up enough courage to ride the tyke bike as did almost twenty others. I probably shouldn't have rode and just sat my arse to the sidelines to officiate ; ) as i ended up scoring one of my roughest crashes of the year and also managed to come across the finish line with my shoelaces completely wrapped up on my pedal spindle.......thinking back i don't think that's happened to me since i was about 6 years old. Oh well......the things that happen when you tip a few back.

So here's the race wrap up......Dillon, our good pal from Missoula was easily the fastest thing on 16" wheels but with a slight self made course modification he earned a DISQUALIFICATION !!!! Thats right...you heard me correct, first time ever in CC history. But don't worry...... Dillon more than made up for it by being one of the first to go down the cattle ramp, sacked up for the fire jump and easily had the finest dress attire of the bunch (allthough B George's embroidered shirt made for a close second). But anyway......that gave Hamilton's very own Tim " Big Kahuna" Buhl the victory. And we all know how he deserved it......he trained hard all year. Ate the right foods and substained from alcohol and sex. We're proud of ya timmie. Hot on tim's wheel was my beautiful wife Tracy......she was smoking fast and she made pedaling the small bike look natural. Third place was taken by Lance....very well done sir !

AND......the offical standings:

1 - Tim "BK" Buhl 51sec

2 - Tracy D 54sec

3 - Lance P 57sec

4 - Chaybo 1.01

5 - B George 1.03

6 - Dan Gager-bomber 1.07

7 - Alaska Jim 1.08

8 - Cassie 1.10

9 - the flying kiwi Warwick 1.13

10 - Shrek 1.16

11 - Dean the machine 1.20

12 - Jeff 1.23

12 - Shiela 1.23

14 - Jerome 1.26

15 - Thomas 2.18

and a few pics before, during and after:

socializin'

cass & tra

yours truely laying out the course and the rules (which changed by the minute)

safety first.

the course......first you had to chug a brew, and then thread your way down the cattle ramp. Once safely down the ramp you headed off into darkness and around the barn.

if you were lucky enough to make it this far, eventually you were guided by the light of the bonfire, a bunch of hecklers and small jump

gotta love this photo, which gives "trusting in your partner" a new meaning.

after you got past the jump you headed around the power line that Jenny tried taking out with her subie and then back down the road and across the teeter-totter from. A few more feet past this and you arrived at the finish.....and if you made it around the course without crashing you were one of the few. Easy to do......if you didn't par-take in the socializin' : )

and a few other noteable pics, the hecklers:

campfire hucking

campfire hucking gone bad

new schwalbe fat alberts

these are the new Fat Albert front and rear specific tires and an increase from a 2.35" size to 2.4". We also have the regular sized Albert that comes in 2.25"

750 g for 2.4" size

670g for 2.25"

End of the year gathering

Aaron's new CX

Here is aaron's new Fall inspired creation. His new Gunnar Crosshair cyclocross/dirt road bike dressed up with Shimano's Ultegra grouppo and built up just in time for the upcoming cross season. So Aaron.......do you suppose you're going to be in shape in time for that first race over in Butte ??

making hay

picture from yesterday

Motorola classic

Here's a prestine Eddy Merckx with team motorola paint job. It's a new addition to the barn unless of course you'd prefer it hanging from your garage instead of my barn. Size 58, equipped with 8spd Campy Record and aero calipers.

she's a sweetie !

Felt 09'

Felt Bicycles 2009....looking awefully tasty ! Check out the link HERE to see what's in store for next spring.

the $1600 Felt Nine Race

sneak peek 09' Titus

here's a few pictures of Titus's new 09' models.

Titus El Guapo:

the FTM Moto

the New RX

Coeur d'Alene Bike Trail

Spent the past weekend in good company as our small group of 8 decided to ride an out and back along the peaceful Coeur d'Alene bike trail. Putting in at Mullan Idaho and pulling along our camp gear for an overnight trip using BOB trailers was the plan, so we pedaled along taking an entire day to pedal the 60 miles. Taking the opportunity of stopping at every small town and every good view along the route. It wasn't very hard to find the views, plus there was also lots of wildlife abound (sand hill cranes, deer, snakes, turtles, birds).... but nothing near as wild as what we encountered at the sleepy town of Harrison, which also happened to be our lake shore overnight destination. Mix together some cheap beer, some good pizza, and a sock hop and you have yourself the making for a damn good party in Harrison at a bar called 'One Shot Charlie'. I'm still not exactly quite sure what a sock hop is.......but i'm guessing it involves beer, good music and an active dance floor. Good times followed and we stayed out late making the early a.m. wake up and 60 mile return trip a little more difficult.


Here's a decent photo sequence of the entire route: Mullan To Harrison

Swan Crest

This past weekend we had the opportunity to ride some amazing trails near the Flathead.....high alpine riding at it's best with fantastic views into the Great Bear Wilderness, Bob Marshall, Glacier Park, and the Flathead valley. 2 days worth of riding......the first day was a tough 28 mile segment of the crest that had purt near 7000 ft of climbing and almost 10,000 of decending. Day 2 was on the same trail but the northern tier, this portion was also a handful and much different in the way scenery.....overgrown brush, lots of grizz scat, and the huckleberries were soooooo abundant. 25 miles in all and a fantastic 6 mile downhill finish back to the valley floor that left us all pretty darn gitty. I owe Warrick big time for dragging us up for the ride and also for being such a great host for 2 days. Thanks dude !

day one pics:

warwick getting his fix

full moon

Full moon night rides are always a blast......i'm glad Shrekie spear headed the ride this past saturday to ride warm springs ridge on a beautiful full moon night. We started pedaling about 8pm and had about an hours worth of daylight to make it up the 3 mile climb and then on out to saddle mountain where our trail stemmed off. Just as we were about to duck into the trail we switched on the lights and then from there it was about 3-4 hours worth of singletrack bliss. I did manage to stop long enough to soak in the moon glow from the top of Warm Springs Ridge and also just long enough to snap a few pics.

Knolly Endorphin

Nathan's new Knolly Endorphin

random pic

solo bonus

sometimes rolling solo has major perks. You get to see things at what ever pace you like. You can also leave, stop and go anytime you like. In this case my ride down piquett creek was a success due to the fact that i scored some plump morel shrooms. The ride ended up short...... however, the outting was long as i had a very hard time leaving an area ripe for the picking. Morels rock ! Grilled on top of a steak, bathed in melted butter. A cold can of kokanee while tending the barbie.....yummy.

how bout' that front chainwheel

before shimano biopace of the late eighties they had:

happy b-day ride

yessir.....i'm officially 36 years young. My wife Tracy and i had the afternoon to ourselves and decided to invite the bikes along for a little celebration. Willow creek style.

12 mile dirt road climb that eventually leads to trail, but before we could ride trail....2 hours of fantastic hiking through very deep snow drifts.

the bday surprise....yours truely smiling at the thought of dry singletrack and a fantastic 7 mile drop

Tracy

chad

Tracy

weekend

This past weekend was quite interesting and also a darn good time. Friday after work Brian and i headed toward Dillon MT (with our mtbs) to volunteer our services as mechanics for the annual RATPOD road ride which is a 140 mile, single day ride around the Pioneer Mountains and actually up and over them. On our way over to Dillon we stopped at the May Creek trail for a short mtb ride along a nice slice of smooth and mellow singletrack. It was a nice cool evening for a ride until you stopped long enough for the mosquitos to settle in. Damn Mosquitos !! So with pests at hand we quickly loaded the Toyota back up and headed toward the big hole valley.....and of course you can't stop through Wisdom MT without stopping at Fetty's for dinner (and a beer), and finally further down the road we ended up at Jackson Hotsprings to soak (and drink another beer) and to spend the night in one of their more affordable rooms which also happens to be a singlewide trailer parked out (far) back in grass that was 2ft in height. The cheap bed seemed just about right for a weary head.

Next morning came very early and Brian and i were back into the toyoter as we were expected to be in Dillon by 6am.

there was an early morning buzz as 500 cyclists all gathered for the 7th annual ride for Camp Mak-A-Dream fundraiser. Brian and i soaked up the excitement until our assignments were handed to us and then we SLOWLY followed small groups of cyclist until a nice view obstructed our attention and then we'd pull over for awhile as cyclists passed by....hoping that one or another would need our assistance.

an early view from the rearward mirror:

a picture of Joe, Rick, Brett, and Rick.

early am cattle drive

scenery over Crystal Park

so all in all it was a purdy darn good afternoon. Brian and i reckon to have worked on approx 25-30 bikes...some easy and some not so easy repairs. After the ride the ride organisers provided dinner, good music, and handed out awards for the top fundraisers (which was $18,000!!!).

The following sunday afternoon, Brian and i rewarded ourselves with a mtb ride in the Pioneer Mountains and on a trail that neither of us had been on (you know....since we were in the area we kinda felt entitled). And it was purdy darn good too !

Phil's El Guapo

late coming....but still worth sharing.

Philips new Titus ElGuapo....we built up the ti frame using a Fox RP23, 36 Talas RC2, new XT kit, XTR crankset, King De-Evolution headset, Industry Nine wheelset, Formula ONE brakes, MAxxis Advantage tires, and thomson stem/seatpost. A super nice project that we were happy to be part of.

have fun with it Phil !!

sundays ride

sleeping child drainage....it's a fantastic slow speed, highly technical ride that seems to be always throwing manuevers at you in the ways of large, slippery pieces of granite....some covered by ground cover. Scree fields also litter the trail and demand mucho concentration if you're going to attempt to cross them pedaling. It doesn't see much usage at all so the vegetation growth always starts to take the trail back during the spring. Love it, most leave it. Here's a couple pics of Joe-joe showing us how it's done. I should also note that our good pal Rick started the ride with us only to have a sram X9 rear derailleur take a crap on him only 200 yards into the trail. Ride was pretty much over for rick at that point, but i must commend him for keeping his cool and not tossing the $75 derailleur across the stream.

Thomas' Ventana El Rey

Here's a nice picture of thomas' new El Rey and of course one picture of him taking it out on a proper initiation ride up Crazy Creek trail in the southern portion of the bitterroot mountains.