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Handmade in the USA

Cannondale bikes are one of the last bike brands that still prides itself on the fact that their bikes are manufactured in the USA. Especially during this time of recession it is more important than ever, that jobs stay local. For those people that are looking to buy bikes, the fact alone that the company is completely American will be a huge selling point.

I had the privilege of stopping in Bedford, Pennsylvania at the factory and got to take the grand tour of the factory. The metal comes into receiving looking like this.

The raw bikes are then created.

I've been to a couple of bike warehouses before and this is by far the biggest. Bikes for as far as the eye can see, it was pretty much heaven.

The beast had made it home.

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America Bound

I just made the trek across this fine country, from Seattle to Park City and then from Park City to Maryland, and all I can say is what a great country it is. I was lucky enough to spend the 4th of July in the Utah mountain resort of Park City, which was my second time doing so, and I absolutely love it there. Typically I detest parades but theirs is actually pretty cool, and they had a very nice fireworks show as well. This picture is our stakeout for the fireworks show, which was prime... until the sprinklers turned on mid show.

I got to stay there for over a week, and rode everyday heaps, from cross country to dual slalom, to downhill, I was loving it.

I then set off with the cannondale trailer to our east coast destination. The drive was long, but I had never done it before so I figured it's one of those things you have to do at least once in your life. So now I can check that off my list. Here is a picture of my home for the past few days.

I tried to take at least one interesting picture from each state we went through, but there was honestly nothing going on in some states. But here are some photos from my trip. This one is mid Wyoming, I thought these windmills were really cool.

I've already checked out the trails out west, now it's the eastern front I plan on tackling.

Nebraska was better than I expected, very pretty with heaps of rolling green hills and little farms.

And then there were the corn fields. Iowa on, pretty much just boasted these fields, for hours and hours this was our view out the window.

And then there was the Mississippi, which I had never driven over before, so I was pretty stoked about this.

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Git Sum

I-80. Wyoming. Mid-day. Hours of driving. Equals, LAME. I gaze out the Cannondale trucks bug smeared windows at the desolate rolling brown hills. “There’s really nothing out here” I think to myself, half hoping to be wrong in my conclusion of the state.

Suddenly, I catch a glimpse of a streak of silver in the corner of my eye. I glance up and see some mysterious vehicle is pinning the access road next to the freeway, with delicate ease and a most glorious hum, overtaking us as we travel at 80MPH. A dust cloud fills the sky like a streak of lightning behind this pure bread machine, marking the route just taken like a map in the sky. Another car jets out of the dust cloud and over takes this first in a graceful action as it closes the door and takes the lead. A full on race in the middle of the po-dank! Rad! We accelerate to 95 to try and keep up but the racing cars are pulling away… fast. Their obvious superiority in build and driver skills is apparent, and we watch hopelessly as they head for the horizon.

But wait, up ahead is a corn/fireworks stand. They gear down and full out drift all the way around the building, creating a tornado effect with their respective dust trails. The car in second hits a pot hole and spins out of control into the corn field. The stand owner runs outside with a broom flailing in the air and screaming in some foreign language. He only got a few blows on the front windshield by the time the driver was able to get back in gear and escape from the pissed store owner leaving him in an oasis of dirt.

The first car had gone only a few hundred yards down the road, and in a blatant display of sportsmanship began pulling the rowdiest doughnuts while waiting for the competition. The dream machines pull up next to each other on the little country road seemingly catching their breath before the race could continue. Suddenly they pin it, and just like that they are off in the opposite direction. I watch for a little bit longer, straining to see the action and cherishing each second I am able to witness the race. They are just about out of sight, when quickly they turn into a field of corn and head towards the Rocky Mountains.

God Bless America!

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The Season has Started

Summer is officially here, and with the change of season comes weekends atop mountains, days in trucks, and riding bikes on sweet trails. I know it’s not just me that needs the promise of the summer season, and the assurance of daily shredding to get through the rest of the year. For me this year was exceptionally dreary as the weather in the N-Dub seemed perpetually damp and dark for the greater part of 8 months. Needless to say I didn’t get in much riding this winter, and I’m pretty sure I was going crazy, having to spend far to many hours in the gym and too few on the trails. I graduated college on the 14th of June and that day I peaced out to my favorite mountain bike mecca, Whistler, for some much needed rallying.

Whistler marked the beginning of my 7,500ish mile road trip around North America, with my next stop being the NMBS national in Deer Valley, Utah. First off can I say thank goodness with gas prices nearing $5 a gallon that I am not taking my own car, but rather bumming off the Cannondale trailer and it's driver Eric.So thanks Cannondale and Eric for letting me bum and putting up with me for the next few weeks.

I don’t particularly like this NMBS event; the downhill race course is haggard, and the altitude always takes it out of me, but I needed to meet up with my ride, so I could make it to it to the East Coast, free of charge.

Downhill practice was stressful, the course was blown before the first rider went down the course, and some changes were made that chopped up the flow and made the course even more sketchy. There were three different sections: the top was fast with some big shale rocks and a section dubbed “Little Niagara.” As each day passed the top section became more and more beat and sections that were no problem the day prior would be shredded and rocks and roots would become even more exposed. The next part was fast and flowy through the woods, and had a rock garden called Barney Rubble with a new addition before the entrance making the section even harder. The difficultly was due mostly to the fact that each time you rode down it would be different. Most of the rocks were lose and what may have been a butter line the run before might have a massive boulder precariously placed the next. The last part had a big drop/roller onto the open ski run, which then shot riders into the forest to powder switchback corners to a drop to the finish.

The key for the race was to not crash, as the course was claiming victims all week, many of the girls even pulled out of the race for fear of getting hurt. The men’s field however, had a lot of big names and the top riders had no problems with the course at all. Justin Leov had an amazing run killing everyone else by about 6 seconds.

Pro Men
1. Justin Leov 3.01.4
2. Amiel Cavalier 3.07.2
3. Sam Blenkinsop 3.07.3
4. Aaron Gwin 3.07.4
5. Chris VanDine 3.11.2

Pro Women
1. Joanna Petterson
2. Darian Harvey
3. Lisa Myklak
4. Amy Bauer
5. Leana Gerrard

The dual slalom was rad, with a short, fast course and loose corners. The times were around 17-20 seconds and not many pedal stokes were needed as speed was reached quickly and people were blowing out corners like crazy. The pro men’s field had 26 riders, so they did heats starting with 32 and the women’s field had about 9 riders so it was reduced to 8. With such a fast course heats were close and racing action was great. The race took place in the evening so there was even a large turnout of spectators. My road trip buddy Cam Cole took the win, in a very dominating way, not losing a single heat all night.

All photos are credit to Eric Saletel.

Pro Men
1. Cam Cole
2. Petr Hanak
3. Chris Boice
4. Aaron Gwin

Pro Women
1. Melissa Buhl
2. Lisa Myklak
3. Leana Gerrard
4. Joanna Petterson

Some of the best heats of the night were with Chris Boice and Aaron Gwin both having some super close races. I had a pretty tight semi final race against Lisa Myklak with her taking the first round by almost nothing and me taking the second round by about the same, but she beat me out by .004 of a second. It was sweet racing, I was stoked to be in there with those girls.

I raced my Cannondale Rize for the first time as well, I had actually just put it together so my time on the bike was limited, but it felt great. It weighs around 26 pounds and accelerates like crazy, and I want to thank everyone who helped me get it together in time for this event.

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Pump Track Sesh

My impromptu boyfriend Nick Tuttle had a SnoquOzzy Fest 2008 party at his house with a killer pump track session. It was my first opportunity to ride my new Rize aside from the BMX track so I was super stoked about it. Might I just say that the bike is freakin awesome. It took some work to make it feel like I wanted it to, but the moment we had it right it felt like magic.

Lucas, still on the broken list, and still not stoked about it.

The late night pump track sesh was extended due to some strategically placed bon fires.

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Graduation: College flashback

So I did it! I can't believe it, with all the hours, effort, blood, sweat and tears I've finally got my bachelors degree. It's funny because high school was so easy for me, or rather I could put in a consistent amount of effort and reap much greater yields. I got a 3.9 GPA in high school, with a large heaping of AP and advanced classes, but for some reason I struggled through college.

It's funny looking back at how much I've changed since high school. I remember I couldn't go to sleep at night if I had any homework not done, and I would stay up past exhaustion to get it done. I don't know what happened to me sometime during my freshman year at Fort Lewis, but I came to the realization that it is just not worth freaking out about, and I adopted a much more relaxed lifestyle. That year was for surea learning experience for me as it was my first away from my parents, and I matured a lot.

For my sophomore year I decided that Durango, Colorado was not for me, and headed back home to Washington and took a quarter of classes at Green River Community College. I then took my winter quarter off and moved to Brazil to spend some time with my family down there, and also learned a lot about life during that trip. I finished the spring quarter at GRCC, and somehow was still on schedule to graduate on time.

I got accepted to Western Washington University, and was super stoked to be close to home but far enough away to not have to go home that often. I didn't really know about the town until I moved there and immediately fell in love with the location. The trails in town were sweet and I was only three hours from Whistler. I loved the school, it had a laid back atmosphere but enough people to meet someone new every day. I had started with a double major of international business and marketing but dropped the international bit after I realized it would take me another year to finish that major.

Photo: Went Knipe

My senior year was alright, very challenging as I had to take very full loads to graduate on time. It wasn't until this year that I made some of the most incredible friends, and really grew to love marketing.

With school now done, and the summer just beginning I am planning on being on the road for the greater part of the season. I don't know what I am going to do after the races are over, but I know that what ever path I chose to go down, with the support of my family and friends I will find success.

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