2009 National Championships: Sol Vista

The dust has settled and I have cleared my head allowing myself a chance to analyze the weekend and my performance at this year’s National Championships. This whole season of racing had been in preparation for this weekend, my training was geared so I would peak at my highest level for this race, a lot of time and effort had taken place and it was time to perform on America's grandest stage.

Training pre race

Being a Colorado resident this race is perhaps considered to be in my backyard, home court advantage if you will, but let me tell you this, there was no such thing as home court advantage this weekend. After inspecting both the dh and four cross tracks which were new tracks being introduced at this years National Championships, I realized that it will take a lot of effort to do well on either track due to the massive amount of terrain, the difficulty of the obstacles and the risks that will be taken to enable a fast run.

Thursday: Both tracks were in need of getting ridden in, especially the four cross track. To get an idea of how large and tough the four cross course was, I practiced Thursday morning on my Kona Stab downhill bike instead of the Cowen hard tail like usual. Practice went well, the course got burnt in nicely and I had a ton of fun on the big bike. The Pro only downhill track was raw, to get a good idea of what it was all about imagine clearing an 8 foot wide path through loose baby head rocks, deep sand areas and toss in three large doubles ranging from 30-50 feet, then add some high speed berms, jumps and moto whoops. It was a recipe for a hard race course that was great for spectators and the progression of the sport. Practice went extremely well minus a near weekend ending case on the 48 foot gap on my very first run. I did 5 runs and was feeling completely up to speed was a great feeling. Thanks to some bad sausage I ate that night the rest of the weekend was turned upside down and left me playing catch up.

Friday: I woke up feeling absolutely miserable Friday morning. I couldn't even sit up without getting sick, laying down was the only thing I wanted to do and the only thing that was at all comfortable. I had to get up though, the sun was baking me out of my sleeping bag only causing more discomfort, it would end up taking a monumental feat of will power and mind over body to rise to my feet that morning. Unfortunately I would be unable to practice both downhill and four cross due to my illness, instead I sat still in a camping chair in the Team Geronimo pit all day, unable to help with our junior riders, paralyzed with sickness from a few bits of sausage that had obviously expired. Towards the end of the day I felt my body fighting the stomach bug off and I was able to ride around and later watch the Cat 2-3 four cross. Team Geronimo Rider Roy Benge did extremely well on this demanding track finishing in 3rd place, good job Roy! Team Geronimo Riders Tanner and Tyler Spence, Robert Pettit and Alec Toney also had great runs and did very well impressing me as all were extremely competitive out there. The day ended well as I was starting to perk up a little with the help of my wonderful mom and her extensive knowledge of Chinese herbs.

Race Day Saturday: DH practice & Four Cross

Four cross would have to wait until the end of the day, there was DH practice to be had. I awoke this morning alive, awake and best of all nausea free ready to ride and make up for lost time. The three amigos jumps on the downhill course had been in my thoughts ever since I cased number three hard Thursday, I didn’t have a fear of them as there was nothing to be scared of, I had just wanted to hit them for the last 48 hours. Downhill practice went really well and on my first run through I greased all of them without a worry, over clearing all of them a little bit actually, it took a few more runs but by the end of the day those things were second nature. Highlights from that practice included a top to bottom helmet cam run with Mike Kreger. Thursday I had the chance to ride and film behind Shaun Palmer, which was pretty cool! I was nuking it through the roughest part of the course and high sided landing hard on my back and head, thank goodness for full body armor. After I got up and dusted myself off I realized that my helmet cam mount had snapped off leaving my camera sitting on top of the rocks…rough!

The one hour of practice for mountain cross ended and I was extremely exhausted! Where did all of my energy go? Yesterday’s sickness was starting to take a toll on me, luckily I had a chance to recover while watching CAT 1 qualify, I also ate a fair bit of Almonds and a Laurabar that my mom provided me. Without a real reason I waited and was one of the last to qualify. My quail run was fun and full of hucks to flat, Canadian head slaps and rear tire roosting me into 9th place overall. The hard tail was a bit rough on this course but it made it that much more fun. After many, many delays, debates and decisions the pros finally got their chance to run it at right around 8:30pm. The lights were causing funny shadows on the course and made things a bit distorted as it wasn’t completely dark yet, luckily I had just switched into clear lenses. Here is a round by round reply of how things went down:
Round of 32: Heikki Hall had opted to not race making this a three horse race. Logan Bingelli and I would easily advance after a sketchy start by us hard tail riders.
Round of 16: This time the round was packed and I was left with 3rd lane choice. I had a great gate start and pimped Logan on the inside and rode second all the way down on the wheels of Mitch Ropilato.
Round of 8: Again was dealt with 3rd lane choice and was going up against some great gate starters, because of this I let them all get in front of me and tangle up in the first corner allowing for me to go from 4th to 2nd again riding the wheels of Mitch to the finish line.
Round of 4: The final! 4th gate choice as I was the slowest qualifier. I was going to stick with the same strategy as the previous round but during the first straight I had a great start, hesitated for a second and then saw the bottom of the turn wide open. I came out 3rd behind JD and Mitch, JD would crash trying to take Mitch on the inside of a tight flat corner. I was in 2nd looking to make a move on Mitch when I missed my high line through the grass, this allowed Houseman to slip in on the inside to take 2nd position, I fought for position but Houseman is a big man. This is how we would finish up, Mitch 1st, Houseman 2nd, Me 3rd, JD 4th.

Immediately fallowing the race I was informed I had to take a piss test, this made me ultra excited as I had never had a reason to do this before, I had made the big time at last. It was an insane race, so many spectators, it was night and somehow I managed to make it to the final of the National Championship four cross with the defending national champion, the nation’s best young racer and probably the most talented mountain biker. It was a pretty surreal experience overall, the whole night I never was a bit nervous, I had no expectations, I felt right at home and it was more like a jam sesh then a race, somehow I kept coming back up to the start. The crowd definitely was pumping me up as they were chanting my name and yelling people’s champion, great stuff! The best part was my whole family was there on hand to experience it live and a bunch of young ski team groms I coach were also in attendance just soaking it all up as well as our junior racers. I just felt like a kid out there, not a care in the world just having a blast doing what I love to do!

I would have to thank my brother though for giving me the low down on practice the day before and also my mom for keeping me energized and of course all of my supporters out there that were behind me the whole time making it a night to remember!




Some Videos:
Fallowing Mike Kreger Helmet Cam:

Go Pro helmet cam Brian Buell fallowing Mike Kreger on the Sol Vista National Championships pro only DH course from Brian Buell on Vimeo.

Mike Kreger chesty cam:

Pro Downhill Track POV Cam - 2009 U.S. National Championships from Litter Mag on Vimeo.

Filmed and edited by Noah Sears for Western Slopestyle Productions & Bike Magazine: Just click on the image below!

2009 US National DH Championships from NoahColorado on Vimeo.

Whistler to Colorado

Pretty mellow ending to Whistler, once the Lanes left the weather got crappy and cold. Phil and friends arrived but we were only able to muster one top to bottom run with them as the rain was taking its toll on us and the mountain. I felt like I was swimming while riding, everything was soaking wet, I was riding a bit sketchy, fast but taking some risks especially since I could see anything. It was a good few runs total, but in all honesty, I think we had our fill of Whistler. After loading up and drying off we headed over to Brian Lopes's cabin where the crew was staying, hung out then hit the road.

The wet weather had foiled my plans of riding hard all day and then riding the next day in Vancouver with Kristen Smart, a ripping local, but it was best we just start trucking. Then Pacific Northwest is a real cool place in all weather conditions as the fog and clouds make the landscape look incredible which made for a nice drive to the USA Border where we would run into the grumpy patrol. First off, as we pulled into the open lane, the dude working it decided to leave...huh? After backing up and driving to a new lane the guy comes back, nobody helped Michael back me out and into the new lane, they just sat there all pist of looking. We pull in and turn off the loud diesel handing over our passports and get the usual barade of questions and reasons why there are only two of us and 13 total bikes in the trailer. Not a surprise we go to immigration, grumpy patrol man treats us like we are criminals and rotten eggs and at the end of the search pretty mush tells us to get the hell out. I'm gonna check off the possibility of being part of the border patrol. Did some fueling up at in the USA and later that night found a parking lot ontop of Snowqualme pass where it misted on us all night, somehow I still fell queckly to sleep.

Day 2 of travel was long! Washington and Oregon are so slow, speed limit of 65, give me a break! Also on one of the hill climbs the truck overheated and when we popped the hood I realized that the propane line was broken of and was spraying liquid propane everywhere, not a good situation! We got that fixed and put some water in with the coolant and away we went. Made great time in Idaho and Utah hovering around 80 something the whole way. With no working fan, the windows were open the whole day and for periods of time I felt deaf as I could not hear a word Michael would say to me. Camped out near Green River on HWY 6 at a, enduro dirt biking spot we found a few years back, really wish we had em today, would have been awesome! Michael climbed in the cab and gunned it towards the finish line way before our navi system(navigator Nancy) said we would get home, I finished a book I started at the beginning of the trip, success!

It sure is hot out, but it was great to get back! The Ranch is so nice, I can relax a bit, sleep in my own bed and eat great! Now, all I can think about is getting prepared for National Championships! More to come about that, hope you all enjoyed fallowing us around the Northwest , get ready for some more racing action as the National Champs come to Sol Vista next weekend, I'll be ready!

More from Whistler

Yo Everyone, Michael here,
Weird you may be thinking, Michael is actually posting something. I definitely don't get a chance to post as often as I'd like to. Most my time usually gets eaten up pretty quick with Team stuff and what not. I think about posting a lot and then never get to it. I guess I tend to all the other stuff so that in turn Brian gets a chance to spend time doing this kinda cool stuff :)Brian's been doing a pretty good job though of keeping everyone up to date on our sweet adventures. This seasons definitely been awesome, feels like its lasting forever yet flying by at the same time. We've had a bunch of sweet adventures and a ton of good riding, in a lot off cool places, currently up in Whistler BC at then end of a sweet trip which included a race in Mt Hood and two awesome day's riding just outside of Seattle.
We'll there is my short post for now, mostly just wanted to add a few photos of myself, since Brian seems pretty partial to posting all the sweet ones of himself. So enjoy, and hopefully I'll keep up a bit better with this blog thing here. These are photos from throughout the year as well as this trip.
But before I log off I wanted to extend a thank you to Ace and the rest of the Lane family for making this last trip possible for us!!!
One more day here at Whistler tomorrow, then back to Co, next stop Sol Vista and National Champs

Whistler

First real day was a Beauty eh! Rode all day long, not much more to say. Trails are a bit dusty, but I was chucking my meat all day long and having a great time. The day was capped off with a sweet hike a bike up from the top of the mountain to a sick bandit trail, oh it was EPIC!!! The trail also ended right at a killer food joint with the biggest plate of nachos that I have ever seen in my life! Overall, about a 10.8 on the stokage scale for the day. Pics and stuff to come!!!

Sick, just saw a Turner DW link bike cruise by! I'm chilling here at the GLC restaurant which is located at the base of the hill and has a great view of the riders coming down the mountain. Its been a great stay here in Whistler with Ace and crew, we had a ton of fun, learned lots and progressed! Michael and the Lanes are currently on route to the Vancouver airport leaving me here to fiddle around and rest. I've been needing some rest as the week has been filled with adventure and constant activity, mostly mountain biking:) We got here on Canada Day, July 1st, experienced the 4th of July in the great White North, had some great Lake adventures, Village adventures and of course adventures on the mountain. The Magic Bus is on its way back home too right now, safe and fun travels to them, it was epic! Lets do it again!!! I'm not totally alone though, part of the Sol Vista Crew and Alex Vidal has made it out, and we are going to shred tomorrow, our last day here. The weather here has been awesome, sunny and very warm, I was a sweating machine, but it made for a great atmosphere. At the moment it is misting and I can't see the top of the mountain, this means the trails are going to be super sick tomorrow! Can't wait to ride again, but resting is just what I need at the moment, I went so hard yesterday afternoon, I closed down the park! Anyways, feeling fast as hell and the Kona is killing it. More stories of the weekend to come, for now here are some pictures, yes I finally took some yesterday and they are pretty cool! Check em, out!

Also, in the mean time check out this quick vid from Mt Hood that I dug up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOmM4GVpWJk

Road Trippin: MT Hood to Whistler

Status update! Didn't make it too far from Hood. Yesterday we headed up North on I-5 to Seattle. From Seattle we hit up I-90 East towards Snowqualmie for a little riding at some secretive locations. Just Mike and I as the Bus shot straight up to Whistler, we will meet up with them shortly! Non of the guys on the bus have been, so they were all anxious to get up there. After some fun riding, we found a lake with a rope swing at the bottom of the trail, did that a few times to cool off and clean up before heading back to where we are now, Renton, WA. We stayed the night at Sully's (owner of Rotec Cycles) house and are now hanging out watching his daughter paint, she is quite the little artist. Soon we are going to go ride some XC with Super World Cup Pro Luke Strobel and maybe a little dinner with Colorado friends Mikey Gilbert and Jenna Greene. More adventure to come...

Made it to Whistler! Had a good time in Seattle, rode some sick trails with Strobel and Cam, even found some time to sit down with my good friend Mikey and his faience Jenna at their place in Renton. It was great travels, even found our way up near Mount Baker to camp for the night last night. Made it through boarder patrol and all of the construction, Michael played limo driver as he picked up Ace and family from the landing strip in Pemberton, and I looked after the trailer while he was gone. Now we are just chilling in the Village, we have our very own room in the middle of the village equipped with a stove, so we are all set! Tomorrow we will ride all day, do some coaching with Ace and family then hopefully meet up with the bike crew and shred! I will also get some pictures up shortly, but in the mean time check out the video from Mt Hood that I posted in my Mt Hood feature! Enjoy!!!

Mount Hood

Recap:

Took off after a long day of packing late Wednesday afternoon and started heading west! Made it to spanish forks and hunkered down with the smell of cow crap lingering in the air. Woke up to some cows looking at us really confused like, they were starring like they were trying to figure out what were were. Anywho, we drove all day yesterday in the big rig and finally made it after a sweaty ride resulting in no AC fan. Luckily MT Hood, Oregon is nice and cool. The DH is rad, such a fun track, everyone loves it! Our pit/camp spot is prime and the magic bus is great, what a good road trip this is turning out to be! This is a bit short, but I'm about to be kicked out of this milk shake joint and I need to find some new interenets because this one is pretty slow. Pictures and Video to come as well as race reports! Peace!!!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

Qualified 2nd and ended up in 5th! Pretty stoked, got paid...enough to make it to whistler;) Here is a little something to check out before I get the full recap up later on because now were heading out to hang out at the sickest lake ever!

Race Day, June 28, 2009

Just ran my qualifier and nearly achieved my goal of qualifying 1st. Lars Sternberg of Transition Bikes bested me by .2 of a second. My run was pretty good, had some mistakes up top, took the fire road a bit conservatively and rode a smart line into the bottom flat out sprinting to the finish. Pretty happy but I wanted to be the last man down the mountain! Michael is fixing a flat so his run didn’t go to well. We are both looking to get after it in the final. I’m setting a few goals for myself for this afternoons final run:
• High Energy, calculated/smart riding.
• Calm “in the zone”
• Loose body
• Look ahead
• Pedal hard but rest and relax, open the lungs, shake the hands out!
Ultimate goal: On the box with the top spot.

Just checking in, still dripping wet from the lake adventure! Awesome day thus far, and tonight we are going to party like its on sale for $19.99! First, here is how my run went down:

Made no mistakes up top like I did in qualifying, went real fast on the fire road section and nearly had a catastrophic crash going real fast but kept her rubber side down, no biggie, just a bit of a scare. Smashed some rocks going 100mph then sat down to catch my breath. Sprinted into the bottom woods section of the course, rallied the rock garden and ripped the loamy berms, all was good until everything went dark. The dense forest does not allow for light to enter in and it is impossible to see exactly where you are going, so instead you ride by feel! I rode this section calculated and kept my line, didn't feel very fast though, still was told I was going quick. The very bottom section where the begginer/sport and Expert/Pro course merge, it got blown out by race day and the berms were break bumped out and loose. I went so slow through that section to make sure I didn't do anything stupid that I was forced to peddle extra hard all the way about 20 seconds worth to the finish flat out! Bummed I didn't get on the hot seat and that I was off of the box, but I was a mere 3 seconds of 1st place on a 4 minute track and I was less then 2 off of 2nd. Joey ended up 4th, 1 second in front of me. A good run, but not great and I have yet to find the top step, but I feel it coming and with Whistler looming I feel the speed and a big result rapidly appraoching. Pretty stoked on 3 straight podium finishes, gonna keep this momentum going into SOL VISTA for National Champs! Anyways, hands are freezing up outside the huckleberry inn and the guys are probably waiting for me back at camp, so I'm gonna sign off. Thanks for the read and take er easy out there, good night!

P.S. Made a salamander friend at the lake today, her name was Sally!

Qualifying video to come! My finals video didn't turn out as the batteries died on the Go Pro 10 seconds into my run.

MT HOOD Video:

Helmet cam of 2nd place qualifying run:

Fluidride #3 Mount Hood 2nd place Qualifying run from Brian Buell on Vimeo.

Here is a quick video clip of the podium finishers from the FLUIDRIDE Cup last week:

Crested Butte Wildflower Rush

Its almost time! State champs is this weekend and I'm extremely excited to get out there and ride to the highest of my ability and get a good result which will hopefully be State Champ! I've had my eye on this title after a rough outing last year where rain, lightning and slick rocks ended my chances for the title. I feel stronger and faster than I did last year and I'm on a new bike, so I'm looking to give everyone a good run this year. Keep checking back for daily updates and my thoughts during this weekend!

Photo Caption: Yeehaw!!!

Saturday Evening Update:

First off, let me extend a big ol Happy Fathers day to the big man! Dad ,without your constant love and support non of this would be possible, THANKS YOU!!!!

Its amazing how fast you can go from being on the top of the world, everything seems to be going your way, and then it all comes crashing down on top of you! Well, today I experienced this exact feeling, and it made me sick to my stomach! Before I start explaining myself, let me give you all the full weekend update.

Arrived Thursday evening and secured an awesome pit spot right next to RPM, Roy gets mad props for helping with the setup, good work Roy!!!

Friday: Early morning sunshine brought about a beautiful day! Things started crackin when we met our good friend Bergin Parks, our Mechanic for the weekend. Registration went smoothly, then all of us loaded the lift to do a full DH run inspection. The lift lines were out of control, took 30 minutes to get through the line ride to the lift. The course is pretty nice for a National Forest approved trail, a little lame in spots, slow and hard to maintain good momentum! There are 3 sections that pretty much divide up the track, all with different terrain, flow and speed. Bergin was an awesome help as he dialed in all of the kids bikes and ours too. Feels good to have a mechanic, definitely allows us to focus on ourselves more for a change. 4X track is new and was really fun, short but fun. A bit of everything mixed in, lots of wide passing opportunities, grass turns, good rhythm section to the finish. Got in as much practice as we could muster until we both started to get light headed. Rest of the day was full of working on bikes, hanging out with friends and making delicious food before an early bed!

Saturday: Woke up to an overcast sky and cool temps. Made a proper breakfast full of eggs, sausage, beans and toast! Early DH practice ensued and about a minute in I got to know the dirt on the inside of a berm real well, took a bit of a soil sample, wacked my hands and tore my jersey(which was brand new). It was a good rest of the run as I was looking at lines. 2nd run took a top to bottom, I'd say about 80%, not too much peddling and got down to the bottom with a 3:55. I predict the winning time will be a 3:39 depending on the trail conditions. Qualifying is going to be interesting, I'm going to go hard and try to simulate a race run, peddle hard and put up a good time. Top 5 is the qualifying goal, top 10 is reasonable too, but only if I don't have a good run. Finished off the day with two more fun Dh runs, fallowed and discovered more lines and started to find my speed in various sections of trail. Bergdog is doing an awesome job, he is keeping my bike in good shape, nice and clean. Next up was 4X.

4X dialed in the lines, had fun interacting with the crowd and friends. SMBA/EMSC Athletes Grant and Ross Ellwood were here cheering me on and giving me good impute on my runs. The rain,drizzle started to come down as qualifying got underway. I opted to watch riders take their runs hoping the course would get tacky, however that was not the case. It rained hard for long enough to make the course slowing and slick. I qualified 8th with a conservative run. The rain picked back up and Michael and I went back to the pits and switched to mud spikes for the finals.

Race: Round of 32. Gated my way into first and cruised the rest of the way down advancing, Michael would do the same. Round 16: Me and Tommy T gated everyone, T made a very aggressive move forcing me inside, the rest is a bit of a mystery, but the next thing I knew I was on my back and my bike off the course. Definitely a huge disappointment as I was feeling and looking good out there. The day wasn't so sour as Michael made it to the final and ended up on the podium in 4th. The mountain cross was really fun and the mud made for some awesome racing. Props to the kids as they killed it today too: Roy 3rd, Bobbo 4th, Alec 7th, Tyler and Tanner also did well, but I forgot their places. It was Tanner's birthday today too! A lot of things went wrong for a lot of racers today, I'm happy Michael capitalized and kept up the moral leading into tomorrows DH race. Note: After I got back on my bike, I won the unofficial flat turn contest with a full out moto style drift in the mud, so at least I got that going for me. I"m stoked and pumped to get after it tomorrow on the downhill course especially after today's result! Might need to find some extra strength for tomorrow as today was very tiring! I'm determined though, so lets hope things work out. I need to sleep!!! Buenos Noches :) Pictures and video to come!

Weekend thoughts: Thoughts on
DH course: An improvement and a step in the right direction. I think they did a good job of creating a fun race worthy National Forest approved public trail. I know many, especially the locals would agree upon this, it is a fantasy of mine and I hope it comes true, that someday we are going to have a race in Crested Butte, the cradle of mountain biking, that will use all of the terrain and potential this mountain has to offer. Favorite part of the course would definitely have to be the ski jump above the finish arena, the spectators were so loud!
4x course: This course was well thought out start to finish! There were a ton of things that I liked about it, it definitely made up for the course length: variation of terrain, flat and bermed turns, wide open, line choices, passing lanes, grass(I would like to see more of this), rhythm. Suited all riding styles but the mud added a degree of difficulty making things fun and interesting. To do well being fast wasn't going to be enough, riding smart and assertive was the name of the game. Short but very sweet!

Qualifying Run: I felt great after my qualifying run! Ran cut spikes on the front and swamp things on the rear so I wasn't too weary of the greasy spots on the track, but I still kept it pretty conservative. I wanted to simulate a race run in a way so I peddled a good amount just to gauge how hard I should go in the finals in order to have enough fuel in the tank all the way to the end. I went about 85% and finished with plenty of strength, or maybe I was just so stoked on the biggest bar hump I've ever done in my life on the ski jump that I didn't notice the pain. I was just stoked to hear I came down number one!

Final Run Plan: Pretty much emulate my qualifier run minus the bar hump. I took what I learned from my qualifier, to peddle hard and keep good momentum all the way throughout a faster tackier track then we had for qualifiers. One thing that I did not plan for was an epically gnarly headwind going into the bottom jumps! I was psyched to be the last man down the mountain with a goal of running a 3:39.

Final Run thoughts: I would like to congratulate Chris Boice first on his run, because he had a great final run plan and pinned it to perfection. I had a good run and as I came through the finish line I thought that it might have been a winning time but I would have to get lucky as it wasn't great. I went to hard up top and should have chilled out a little more, I didn't take any time on the course to open up my lungs, I was straight sprinting every time peddling was necessary. I botched a few key turns where exit speed was important and had to stay on the gas hard to make up for it. I toned it down through the bottom single track aspen tree section, but when it came time to sprint and squash the table tops I felt sluggish and could not pump the landings very well, so I only maintained speed instead of accelerating down the transition. If you watched Greg Minnaar's run in Fort William you could see how important pressing and sprinting those jumps were and how much time he made up on Sam Hill in 30 seconds. I was immediately disappointed because I failed to achieve my goal but Chris was the faster rider and deserves top spot and I'm definitely more than happy to be standing beside him in 2nd as this years DH race was extremely competitive with a lot fast riders all gunning for the top spot. Also, I thought 1st place would be a great fathers day gift to my dad!

I would like to thank: My parents and family, my brother/teammate michael, my mechanic Bergin Parks, Team Geronimo and all of the junior riders/ parents for their enthusiasm and support, Ace Lane @ Bonsai Communities, Willy Warren @ Kona Bicycles, Gene Hamilton @ Betterride.net, Mark @ Rockgardn, Basalt Bike and Ski, Smith Optics, Ergon Grips, Sram, and everyone else who has supported me throughout!

Next time we'll be on the top of the box :)



Sunday: 1st Place Qualifying run:

Crested Butte 1st place qualifying run from Brian Buell on Vimeo.

final run 2nd place video:

Crested Butte Final Run GO PRO HERO Helmet Cam from Brian Buell on Vimeo.

Sick Geronimo Bike Park Ride Sesh

Did some shuttling today with Mayhem, Roy and Mad dog! First day on the DH trails, was a ton of fun!

Here is a link to our sweet Dual Slalom track video:http://vimeo.com/4424421

Geronimo Bike Park Dual Sl Test Ride!!! from Michael Buell on Vimeo.

Last weekend we took a mini trip to Sol Vista! Got in a ton of DH and had a wicked good time with friends on the best tracks in the state! Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't take any photo or video.

New mexico Road Trip Part 2

After a very eventful and tiresome weekend, one that will be remembered for its close calls and bad luck, but also for an extreme boost in confidence as I was riding extremely well all weekend with good focus and having fun, Michael and I headed to Albuquerque where we would spend our days riding, eating and playing freerider 2! Joey and Camillo joined us as we convoyed out from Angel Fire. We would also be providing and ride for Vince Sanchez(trail guide) in exchange for a bed. After a glorious lunch at Quadilahara(sp) restaurant, I got the fish tacos, its a great dealio, we headed to the Santa Fe area where mucho DJ'ing would take place! Vince provided the local knowledge and led us to this great spot called the Garbage Pit. Protected from the wind and boasting great dirt jumps and a single slalom track, we were all psyched to ride, even though we were all beat up from the long week at Angel Fire. After an hour or so we demanded Vince bring us to the famous riding local known as the Santa Fe Dirt Jumps! I had seen video and was excited to ride this spot. There were some sketchy yet inviting locals who enjoyed our presence as the busted out sketch ball tricks and their cameras when things got too hairy. We were all feeling good and progressively moving our way through the lines towards the large jumps. It was a little windy but the conditions could not have been much better. We would session the the jumps until we were all well worn out. Big props go out to Camillo Sanchez, Yeti Regional Team rider, for not riding trails too much, his confidence grew and he managed to hit every single line without much problem, he was mucho estoked! The night would end at Chris Boice's house where his family gladly welcomed us to stay in their home!

The next few days were a blur of riding, eating, riding, video games, bowling, ice cream, crashing, photo shoots, we all felt like 15 year olds again and it was awesome! We were so well taken care of at Chris's house and the NM locals showed us a lot of great riding. Sandia DH was soooo mcuh fun, Chris gave us the full tour, these trails are incredible, no wonder why Chris is so fast! The fun didn't stop there, dirt jumping was just a short pedal away at Vince's house. We rode until dinner time which was 7pm every night at the Boice Residence. The jumps were technical and fun, thanks Vince for letting us shred your yard!

Thursday: Rest day and shredding at Vince's. All was well until Camillo went OTB onto his shoulder. He sustained some damage, but nothing broken and he seems to be recovering quite well. Heal up quick little Colombian buddy! Another awesome day spent riding, playing a ridiculous amount of freerider 2 and eating a glorious dinner and desert repaired by Lisa and Mark, thanks you two for all of your hospitality and kindness!

Friday: Half day spent ridng DH and filming and shooting with Long Nguyen, check out his pictures, they are mint! We shot the loamy turns on one of Vince, Boice and crews newest creations for a long time, it was so much fun! We made our way down slowly, searching for great spots to shoot. We were all pushing ourselves and pinning it the whole day! More freerider 2 and Dinner ensued later that night to cap off another great day spent underneath the NM sun.

SAT and SUN: Early wake up call Saturday morning as we packed and left our home away from home and journeyed our way to Pajarito, NM. This small ski resort located just above the famous city of Las Alamos known for its involvement in Nuclear research in the early 20th century. It was an interesting drive, all bleary eyed from too much freerider 2 and X Box, the terrain changed rapidly and somehow we went from a barren desert to an amazing lush, rocky forest with humongo aspen trees. The Pajarito Punishment was a great Locals race! Only 9 pros showed but it would still be really competitive and fun. Practice Saturday was fun, Loamy new course designed by Chris and Vince ( Kung Fu trail designs) something like that, I'm pretty sure they made that up on the spot. Well done though boys, it was fun. Only got in two runs, had some mechanical s, changed tires to wets and the lifts shut down. Camillo the Colombian Camera man got a ton of foty of us riding each section of this steep technical track. Later in the evening we did a bunch of dirt jumping and ridng on the mountain. I finished off my night by revamping the jumps and digging until I could not see anymore! A great starry night sky was out and was great to stare at before I went to sleep. Sunday, race day came around and I got in 3 quick laps in before the morning practice ended. I banged my rotors up a bit and barely had time to fix them before my race run. It was a best of two run format as there were not very many riders and there was enough time to do so. I really enjoyed this format, except for the short recovery time between runs. The course was tough to ride top to bottom, my brakes were bad to begin with and by the time I was nearing the bottom I couldn't hang on very tight. I took it pretty easy and made it down, that was the goal. Next run I would ride a similar race run, trying to be smooth and on lines all the way down. I hit the top great and had a similar run all the way down, just barely holding on, my breaks were shot! In the end I would finish 3rd behind Joey(2nd) and Chris Heath(1st)I won $100 bucks and a chile pinata filled with candy...AWESOME!!! It was a great race, Tony Gradillas from BikeWorks bike shop did an awesome job putting things on. Too bad he was injured and didn't ride with us.

We left town and started our trek back home but opted to extend the vacation one more night at the Great Sand Dunes. I had never been to the Sand Dunes before so we high tailed it there! Rallied the Rover hard on this sand wash road, so much fun, ate dinner, took Camillo's bike out for a spin on the Dunes, which was soooooooo much fun! Did some more Rover rallying and fell asleep next to a roaring camping fire.

What a great road trip, thanks for all the good times friends!

New Mexico Road Trip

Sweet Weekend write up and a picture of me on: http://mountainflyer.com/news.cfm?itemid=206





Here is the race report and some other randoms from the first half of our NM road trip! Lots of stuff to read, will get pics or vid soon. For immediate Angel Fire enjoyment visit littermag.com!!!

Day 1 Thursday, May 21st –

Here I am sat in the passenger seat of the Rover(switched seats with Michael due to a food coma induced by the Leadville burrito cart) while the high alpine countryside surrounds me outside. It’s a wet and rainy travel day as it has been on and off the whole trip down. We currently have no clue where we are and we like it! A dear just ran out in front of the car! I feel like I’m in Europe, the mountains are still patchy with snow and there is a heavy fog in the air, if these are the current conditions in Angel Fire, we are bound for a fun weekend of racing and riding in the wet. I’ve been looking forward to this race since missing it last year in preparation for Europe. Let’s see if the off season training has paid off! Time to get back to gazing at beautiful views of this incredible landscape that has been laid out in front of us. Course updates and further thoughts about the weekend ahead to come!

I’m laughing my ass off right now! That beautiful drive that we just experienced was a huge detour. Somehow we missed the 285 exit and stayed on hwy 17. I really don’t care, it was really enjoyable, and it’s extremely funny as we are now farther away from Angel Fire now as we were 1 hour ago. Time to buy a map I suppose or learn how to use Michael’s iphone. Looks like we will be rolling in late…

Day 2 Friday, May 22nd –

KONA!!! I hucked a sick jump to a flat landing Canadian style today on the downhill course my first run out, it was sick! This particular jump rumored but yet to be confirmed, built by Shoey Juicler is a complete huck to nowheresville! I’m pretty sure I was the only one that hit it all day, but it had to be done, the Kona had to be tested and as expected it handled the flat landing like a PRO haha. Anyways, the first run I was having a blast, it felt so great to get back on a rough course on a different bike that brought like Obama a little change and excitement back into life/riding. This change brings expectations, I’m not gonna raise the bar too high here as I’m still dialing in my bike, and my hands by the end of the day could not hold on very tight, but I would really like a podium. Looking at the competition on course there is nothing I am not doing that the others are. Qualifying will be a good measuring stick to see just where I am compared to the rest of the field. We get a few more hours tomorrow which I’m really looking forward to.
MountainCross!!! The newly designed track modified by Wentz and co was a pretty big hit today. I had a lot of fun experimenting with some new lines on a section of course that is completely different. Racing is going to be tight, lots of rubbing I think, but it should be exciting. Tactics and line choice will eventually show and become more evident tomorrow morning as the full field should be practicing and pinning it. I fell good on the course, a few things to work on still, but I think I can do really well on this course.

Other random facts: Everyone is in new kits so I can’t tell who anyone is, I expect they will say the same for me. The Rockgardn Warbird helmets are a hit, everyone thinks they are a custom pain job. Broke and bent a few things on the DH bike, MRP G2 came loose and smashed up a derailleur(it is Angel Fire)! Working with the suspension, trying to figure out the winning combination. Walked the course, about to visualize, but it definitely helped big time, sooooo many lines I did not see riding. Kristin is stoked on her new DH bike, she loves it! Can’t wait to see her pin it on it. 11pm, my bed time, up and at it again @ 7am for 8am 4X practice. Pretty sick day!!!

Day 3 May 23rd…I think –

Thought it was June, only three days in to this trip and I’m already losing track of time! Heartbreak city, the Nuggs lost, we were all a little bummer over that outcome especially as it had already been a tough day. 4X in the morning was fun, but I got tired. Right after swapped pedals and loaded up for some of the slickest greasiest DH EVER! Two runs and a derailleur later I was fried. The day however was not over…4X qualifying was to come! I made some food and tried my best to get some energy back, was even thinking about a nap, the rain made that a little difficult today, heck, it made everything a little difficult today, except for the 4X. Without any practice for most Pro’s qualifying went off. I was super tired and was exchanging yawns with a few folks and knew I had to snap out of it. I waited until I near the back end of the group and then entered in for my gate, ran the course through my mind once over and snapped out of the gate. I felt relaxed the whole run down, no tricky moments, just solid riding, safe really. After keeping as low as possible over the triple set and casing the last one a bit the clock read 52.51 with a 4 next to my number. I got a few thumbs up and was told it was a good run. It didn’t feel spectacular, just no mistakes, and good cruiser run. Fixed bikes and ready for another early morning tomorrow! Bring on the rocks!!!

Day 4-5 May 24-25th –

“The races are over, everyone has packed up and got out of town, the arena is empty except for one man who keeps driving and striving as fast as he can, the sun has gone down and the moon has come up and long ago someone else left with the cup”… This weekend has reminded of this Cake song which I poorly quoted. Things definitely did not go my way this weekend! It wasn’t because of lack riding ability, I was riding as fast as I ever had this past weekend, I qualified well at both events and from many different people both riders and spectators was told I was destroying it in practice. Most people didn’t know who we were since we were on different bikes, and in a different costume. I was focused and properly prepared for both races this weekend which is always something I strive for. I had my lines dialed for both events. This is how my race runs went down…
4X – Choose lane one and was going to go inside on the first corner. Had a good gate, Wentz and I both started to move towards each other and his bar went on top of mine and he went down, I advanced but was later DQ due to the UCI 10 meter lane violation rule, which was in my opinion BS and I had video to prove it. Michael was on a role until he took himself out in the second round.
DH – Qualified 7th with a cruiser run, hit my lines, and kept my energy up! Race run I was focused and relaxed, made sure I made it into the woods and once I was there it was a smashing good time! I was going so fast skipping and doubling over everything! I decided to let it all hang loose, it was working well until I destroyed myself on a rock huck to flat. I thought my Kona could take it but I was off balance and ended up catapulting into a sapling! I got back up and was determined to finish strong but I ended up hucking huge off a rock into the flat peddle section all sideways, nearly died, ran out of the tape, then back in and then nearly high sided after sustaining a front flat! I was happy with how things were going. Lets see how things go next weekend!!!

March, Training, skiing and riding!

I'm bored and figured I should do something somewhat productive since I have no homework these days. It is now march, its 70 degrees out and prime biking weather! With it still being the offseason, it is quite a funny feeling to be consumed with the thought of riding my bike instead of by powder sticks. I have a feeling it is going to change soon, given that March is always one of the snowiest months I still am looking forward to finishing out the ski season strong, I still haven't really gotten to use my skins yet! The offseason has been the most productive one since i've started racing! For the first time I have stuck to a structured training schedule and it feels good to be good about the beginning of the season as it has always been my weakness. For example, my first race last year was the Andorra WC race, this year I already have a race under my belt and felt great. Its been great ski coaching this year, I cannot wait to carry on to the bike season as we have a ton of great Juniors riding for our team, TEAM GERONIMO, NICOLAI, SRAM, MRP, DT SWISS, ROCKGARDN. We are super excited about the new sponsors for this year, should be a steller year! Still working on the schedule for this year, getting things ordered and settled...bike season is upon us!

We are still alive!

To Brian Bailey, Cory Ross and anyone else who occasionally checked this blog!

It has been a very long time since I have last posted, there have been many events that have happened since my last post!

The bike season is over! The season was a long one, it ended pretty well with a second place finish at the collegiate national championships. I finished 3rd overall in the RMCC Collegiate ranking behind Cody Wilderman who took two 1st place finishes at the conference championships to take second overall. My teammate Joey Schusler destroyed the field every week and won conference and the Collegiate National Championships. Collegiate racing is so much fun and I hope to try and accomplish my goal of becoming the D1 National Champion, that means I'll have to still be in school next year which will most likely happen but where? That is still to be determined! I would like to also thank my mom again for feeding the whole entire CU Cycling team, and even though most of the kids seemed to under appreciate her efforts, I know I really enjoyed all she did and having her there!

Other highlights from the bike season and the trip to Banner Elk, NC included: 1st place at the CSM collegiate open race. Getting a full page picture in Bike Magazine. Joey manipulating the presidential race in North Carolina. The Mud fest in Durango. 2nd place in the Sol Vista G3 stage two race. 4th in the Sol Vista Dual Slalom. Dirt Jumping and shredding with friends. Golf course sliding contests. Getting 2nd to Joey in every race almost. Um...lots more...

After the bike season ended the ski season has officially begun. Michael and I are in full swing coaching mode working full time! I have school and Finals, so I'm unable to work full time right now. I will be taking a semester off this winter as I look for new educational opportunities, devote more time to coaching full time and to train hard for the 2009 bike season! Michael and I started training 3 weeks ago using James' MTB Strength Training Program which has so far been a great experience! Better than any past weight training programs I have tried thus far that is for sure. I really enjoy how the program utilizes and recruits muscles used most while riding, I recommend this program to all aspiring mtb racers!

Thats about it folks, other than the Buffs missing out on a bowl game, the broncos playing different every week, not too much else is going on. This time of the year things seem to slow down, most of the sponsor requests have been sent and now we play the waiting game. Next year things are again looking to be very promising as we will once again be part of a new growing MTB team, Team Geronimo, and will most likely be sporting some new sponsors.