Nov 16th - Moab

Sunday we woke up looking forward to a quick ride before having to head home again. We opted to go with a easy choice - Porcupine again.


The dogs were playing in the morning as well.


One of the old faithful Coyote shuttles. These guys are laid back and fun at all times.


We passed a few people but never saw anyone from our shuttle again which sorta surprised us as we were stopping to take photos on a regular basis.


Fun little obstacles with amazing backdrop views.


UPS has to be one of my favorite trail sections that we have easy access to.


And they say that Moab doesn't have single track. Over the past few years the amount of easily located and rideable single track around Moab seems to be growing happily and constantly.


Lot's options to play on and around.


Amber was riding steep terrain really well this past weekend.



Once we joined the main Porcupine trail we decided to drop down the Porcupine climb as we have never done it and thought it might get us back to our car a little faster and easier. Riding back to town was probably about close to the same time as if we had continued down Porcupine but it it was definitely fun racing down Porcupine.

Nov 15th - Moab

We picked up a new bike rack for the FJ so the only option was to load the bikes on and head to the desert to take advantage of the incredible weather that the region has been having recently. We drove out Friday night and then slept in saturday morning before heading out to explore a trail we hadn't been on before.


The dogs were happy to be in the desert as well.


Slick rock in the middle of nowhere.


Happy dog leading Amber along.


Single track in the middle of nowhere


After some lunch and a beer at the Moab Brewery we headed out again and trotted up to Slick Rock to play before it got to dark.

Amber cruising the steep exposed switch back in the first section.


Happy face.


Slick rock is steep up and steep down.


On the way back the light was starting to get very pretty on all the Slick Rock.


And the shadows were getting long.


Another fun day in the Desert.

Oct 25th - 26th - Moab

We went to Moab and this time we did a self shuttle where Amber dropped me at the trail head for Burro Pass.

Wow, the The Whole Enchilada is brutally hard on your body. 5 hours of constant riding with a tough climb to start. 29 miles total and about 22 miles of that is descending. Lots of fun, lots of riding, very sore body at the end of the ride.

Sunday we got up and shuttled Porcupine again, this time both of us via a Coyote shuttle.

Riding downhill things is fun.

Oct 11th - 12th - Moab

Again still no camera but we headed to Moab to kick-off the desert riding season. I had a pretty bad cold so we started with a self shuttle of Porcupine from the Kokopelli drop. Amber went first and we timed her run as 2hrs 14mins. I went next but this time started from the Hazard County drop. My time from Kokopelli was 2hrs 4mins and there was about another 15minutes of great riding above it in the Hazard Section.

On Sunday we both took a pay for shuttle to the Hazard drop. We were both pretty tired from riding hard the previous day so we just took it easy and enoyed a relaxing romp down Porcupine from Hazard.

Sept 29th - Sol Vista Closing

Really out of date on keeping the Blog up to date. We lost our Camera for quite a while there so our weekends were without photo's.

This was the close for Sol Vista and it was very fun times seeing many of the people we raced with over the Summer. We took it easy just doing runs down things we had done plenty of times before. I had picked up a DMC moto trainer so I was getting some base times to be able to compare to next year. Sadly I was lazy with updating the blog so I have already forgotten them.

Anyway, a great way to wrap the Downhill Season.

Sept 20th - Crested Butte

Last weekend we decided to leave our tent up in our camping spot up Slate River Rd since we had had a lot of fun and the tent was wet when we woke up in the morning.

So that meant for this weekend we were heading back to Crested Butte again!

We had so much fun on 401 the previous weekend we decided to start the weekend on that again. The leaves everywhere were fully turned now and the colors around the place were just outstanding.


We have a new way of getting started in the morning when we are not taking the dogs on a ride with us. As each of us is getting ready someone takes a bike and rides the bike out along a trail and back again so they get a bit of a run as well.


I was feeling strong this weekend but Amber was still under the weather a little from a tough week of work and a cold.


Scenic vistas in every direction. Even the grass as it browns after the summer added to the color.


Crested Butte is good times and pretty views.


Amber was pretty beat up by the time we reached the high point and rested a little before we started downhill.


My bike has gotten heavy over the past 2 years but, oh boy, it is fun to ride!


Colors on the open slopes of 401.


The ride down felt like it was even more fun than last weekend.


This time we bought Bishop along as well as she can keep up pretty well. By the time we were in the tree section she started to slow down and we had to wait a little but it was not that bad.



Unfortunately rain came in while we were having lunch and then stayed all night and into Sunday. So we did not get another ride in for the weekend and headed home happy again.

Sept 13th, 14th - Crested Butte

Race season is over so it was time to bust out the small bikes fully again! After relaxing last weekend we decided that it was time to head back to Crested Butte as the summer was fast ending and we hadn't ridden there this year.

That means it is time to use the excuse of stopping for photos to recover breath again! I was curious as to how we would feel after spending all summer riding down mountains rather than riding up them.

We started with the classic Crested Butte ride - 401.

I was really looking forward to doing this ride as I thought that the downhill sections were going to be a lot of fun after all our DH racing and I was interested to see how it felt since last time we rode it over a year ago.

The climb up the road was easier than I remember which was very encouraging, unfortunately the climb through the trees was brutal as it had rained heavily a few days before we arrived. I thought that the single track in the trees might be muddy but was pretty confident that the downhill sections would be perfect.


Amber was on fire climbing the single track cleaning everything even though it was slick and nasty. I on the other hand was lazy and just pushed any of the steep sections.


It was pretty up there as all the mountains had a decent dusting of snow. Signs that summer was coming to an end were everywhere. The leaves had started to turn and the mountain tops were white.


Climbing, Climbing, Climbing.


It was fun to be out however and even with the mud we were enjoying ourselves. We definitely had that "end of a great season of riding" strength in our legs which made life very enjoyable.


There were a surprising number of other riders on the trail which was a little surprising considering how the conditions were. I expect everyone was a little like us - "oh crap! summer is ending and we still have so many rides to do!"


Once we started downhill the smiles really started! The trail was perfect and tacky and our improved skills and confidence from racing made the ride downhill just insanely enjoyable. It was actually like riding an entirely different ride compared to how I remember it from 2007.


Not a lot of photos as we were having to much fun to stop.


One interesting difference riding 401 at this time of the year is that up in the open sections the plants were all falling across the trail so that you had a hard time looking ahead at the trail. This made ripping along the trail at high speeds even more fun as you really had to pay attention and ride well.

Riding the section in the aspens was about the most fun you can do with a bike!

On Saturday afternoon we headed out and took the dogs up Strand. I had actually never ridden the "normal" Strand trail as we always bailed out of the climb up the jeep road and went around Strand to Farris Creek. That was a mistake every time! Even though climbing the jeep road is hard and boring the reward at the top is large! The decent down Strand is almost as much fun as 401. It is more tighter cornering and has a lot more steeper technical sections so it was a perfect complement to the ride we did earlier in the day. Unfortunately we forgot the camera but I am not sure we would have stopped for pictures that often as the riding was just that great!

We ended the day by sessioning the pump track in Crested Butte with the guys (and gal) from Big Al's Bike Shop. The jumps there look to be perfect to learn on with a really nice progression of difficulty available. We stuck to the pump track as I was too lazy to change our pedals to Flats.

On Sunday Amber wasn't feeling so hot having come down with a cold all of a sudden. That of course means I get a shuttle ride! On our way home we stopped at Doctor Park and I took Bishop (our energetic new dog) with me and after getting dropped at the top got to rip down to the Taylor River.



As far as fun weekends go, this one was really high on the list!
- 401
- Strand
- Doctor Park
Yep, Life is Good!

Sept 6th - Lazy weekend, Little Raven Trail

We pretty much just relaxed and cleaned up the apartment this weekend. It had been a hectic summer that felt like we were away every weekend and we would get home Sunday night dump dirty clothes in a piles, do some laundry and start the work week. As a result our apartment was a disaster and both Amber and I were looking forward to taking it easy this weekend!

We did head out on Sunday afternoon and check out a trail called Little Raven. It was recently worked on by the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance and they had put a lot of work in to getting it into the current state - which was awesome! It is not a long trail section but would be very easy to link into any of the other trails around Brainard Lake. The riding was excellent, it had a number of rock gardens that were fun in both directions and a narrow wooden bridges over boggy sections.

A fun little ride and a good relaxing weekend!

August 28-31- Sol Vista MSC G3

So this is the final race for the Mountain States Cup for 2008 and it was over a long weekend at Sol Vista. The format was G3 again where we would do three different races on each day and overall standings were determined by cumulative time over the three stages. You also got to podium on each individual stage of the event.

Amber and I both took Thursday off from work to get another practice day in. We both had a fun day of it, but unfortunately Amber blew out the rear shock on her bike and it was out of action for the weekend. Sol Vista has a great range of demo/rental bikes from a bunch of manufacturers, sadly though they only had one bike in Amber's size which was a Trek Session 10. Amber never really got to like that bike as it is more a Free-Ride oriented bike that also downhill's than a pure DH bike and it rode very differently than her 2004 V-10.

Day 1 was down Cheez-It to Ashy Larry ending down the main track over the little road gap and into the moto whoop section at the bottom of the mountain. I don't think I rode my race very well at all having a lot of problems with the steep rocky section at the top of Cheez-It but I still managed 5th place which I was happy with (and somewhat surprised at). Amber crashed pretty badly in her race run going over the bars and badly bruising various parts of her body in the process. She was on a good run and still managed 3rd place for the stage.

Womens Beginner (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	4:26.49
2	Jamie Edgecomb	4:31.05
3	Amber Price	4:42.91
4	Jill Behlen	4:43.93
5	Kristin Buell	5:04.27

Mens Sport 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	4:01.48
2	Michael Monsauret	4:09.73
3	Steve King	4:11.44
4	Michael Lees	4:15.47
5	Sean Smith	4:21.46

Day 2 was Silk Johnson. The pro categories were all "required" to run chainless, however the other categories got to decide amongst themselves whether to run chainless or not. Sadly that meant that Amber's category was mostly not chainless as not of all of the girls wanted to run without a chain. The peer pressure built in the later groups and pretty soon all categories ran chainless which was an absolute blast. I was pretty happy with my run, I messed up in a few of the dusty corners in the middle section but had a pretty good run and got 3rd for the stage.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Jill Behlen	5:19.39
2	Sarah Rawley	5:24.36
3	Katy Monger	5:25.52
4	Amber Price	5:30.71
5	Kristin Buell	5:37.02

Sport Men 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	4:57.81
2	Michael Monsauret	5:07.83
3	Sean Smith	5:08.00
4	Michael Lees	5:08.22
5	Steve King	5:15.34

Stage 3 was Buck Nasty. The final stage was down a new trail section call Buck Nasty that had a pretty nasty new steep rock section that the trail builders built by dragging in rocks from nearby. The rest of the trail was not as technical and was a lot of fun to ride. Amber rode the rock garden well but was still having a hard time on the Trek. I rode poorly and opted for the ride around on the rock garden. I rode the rest well but was pretty certain I was on a terrible time so I didn't push it in for the road gap or the whoops section. I guess I was actually on a good time coming out of the final trees and had I pushed it at the end as well could have easily made the podium. As it ended I placed 6th and Amber placed 4th for the stage.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	3:34.97
2	Jamie Edgecomb	3:43.15
3	Danielle Shewmake	3:49.89
4	Amber Price	3:54.54
5	Kristin Buell	3:56.55

Sport Men 40+ (top 6)

1	Michael Monsauret	3:00.26
2	Jack Serra Jr	3:08.14
3	Michael Lees	3:15.97
4	Steve King	3:16.84
5	Mike Haley	3:23.12
6	Sean Smith	3:24.30

Another great race weekend that was also the wrap up for the season. These were our overall standings for the weekend.

Beginner Women (top 5)

1	Katy Monger	13:26.98
2	Jamie Edgecomb	14:01.95
3	Amber Price	14:08.16
4	Kristin Buell	14:37.84
5	Danielle Shewmake	14:44.15

Sport Men 40+ (top 5)

1	Jack Serra Jr	12:07.43
2	Michael Monsauret	12:17.82
3	Michael Lees	12:39.66
4	Steve King	12:43.62
5	Sean Smith	12:53.76

Amber also placed 4th place overall for the season which was great since she didn't race Angel Fire or SnoMass and did race any of the Mountain Cross.

We finished the season really motivated for next year!

August 23rd, 24th - Sol Vista

We opted to head to Sol Vista again this weekend as there was the final race of the season coming on the next weekend and riding had just been a lot of fun the previous weekend. We rode full days on both days and much good times was had!

We ended up riding quite a bit with Santiago Garcia who is a great guy to ride with. He is that perfect riding partner - funny, motivated but relaxed. We did a bunch of runs and on Sunday started to do some timed runs with Santiago. Timing your runs in practice changes the whole ride! It stays fun, but now there is an extra element in every run down. I was so impressed with the approach that I ordered a DMC moto-timer that you can leave on the bars of your bike and will use it as a matter of course now.

On Sunday afternoon a rumor starting around the mountain that for the race we would be doing Silky Johnson chainless as one of the stages. We started doing chainless runs timed to get a feel for where the tough spots for flow would be. Wow, riding down hill trails chainless is a totally new experience for me. Since I couldn't pedal I was really forced to concentrate on the flow of the trail and I was riding so much better than when I was pedalling! It opened my eyes to a big area of opportunity in my riding and I think that for every race track I need to do some chainless (no pedalling) runs very early in the practise sessions to get a feel for the flow trail.

All in all a great weekend! (no photos sadly).

August 17th Sol Vista

We had planned on riding Saturday and Sunday at Sol Vista but we had some crazy weather come through and everything was unrideable on Saturday. The mountains actually got quite a bit of snow and Sol Vista closed their trails on Saturday.

I decided before the weekend that I would demo a new Intense M6 so I was looking forward to being able to ride on Sunday.

Wow! conditions at Sol Vista for Sunday were, quite simply, perfect! the dirt was tachy and the trails amazing. There were also two new trails Tron and Ashy Larry that were new sections that you reached by going down Cheeze-It. The new trails were rated as Blue trails but both had all sorts of optional black and double black features and trying to ride them at race speeds is just crazy good fun.

It also turned out to be a very poor financial decision on my part to demo the M6 as the difference in how it rides to my current frame is similar to the difference in a $30K sports car and a $150K sports car. Both are fun and decent at what they do, but the high end version just leaves the low end version for dead in terms of fun to use and performance! Between how the M6 rode, the perfect condition of the trails and the new fun trails that were added it was one of those dream days of riding. Amber and I pretty much did non-stop runs all day with just a break for a beer and lunch. We did a few runs with a great guy by the name of Santiago who I chatted to a little at Snomass. Riding behind someone who is better than you is great fun and really helps you push yourself in skills and effort.

All in all an awesome day of riding and the race at the end of the month promises to be even more fun than what Snomass was. The trail builders at Sol Vista really have it going on up there. If you are in the area during the summer find a way to make some time to do some DH riding there.

some vast action photos

Some action shots from the recent races taken by the guys at vastaction.com


Crested Butte Wild Flower Rush - Amber


Sol Vista Sol Survivor - Amber


Sno Mass G3 - Amber

August 10th - MSC Race, Snomass G3 - Race Day

Sunday was the last race day and during the night things looked promising as the stars were out and the sky was clear.

However we woke to heavy cloud and some light rain. Amber and I both did a practice run and conditions were pretty decent with the track surface being not too wet and traction was not too bad.

For this race the organizers went back to the normal order of things and the Beginners would be first to race. Unfortunately weather was deteriorating quickly and light rain started before the first racers left.

Amber had a tough run down on the upper part of the course coming off her bike many times. In one of the crashes she broke her gear shifter and because she wasn't sure of the damage and didn't want to risk a jammed chain she opted to run the rest of the course without pedaling. She ended up very happy with her run despite the problems simply because she rode the Waterfall section cleanly and picked up good time in the bottom technical sections.

However she lost a lot of time to Kristin who had placed second behind her in the Super-D on Saturday. Amber had started the day with a 1:10 advantage over Kristin and because the overall standings were not handy it wasn't clear how the overall standings were after the final DH race for Amber's class. It turned out she did enough to hang on and she got 2nd place for the DH race and won the overall by 5 seconds. Her riding the waterfall section instead of crashing or walking it was very likely the difference that let her hang on for the win!

By the time I started my race run conditions were totally crap. It had been raining non-stop and was raining for our race. I managed to pass the two guys who started ahead of me in the upper section but once I was in the tree sections I was pretty much just tripoding my way down the course constantly keeping one foot on the ground. I walked both of the technical sections and was just happy to get to the bottom in one piece! I did enough to comfortably hold onto 3rd place for the final race and for the overall standings. The guy behind me in 4th place entering the race crashed badly in the waterfall section and broke his nose, dislocated his shoulder and tweaked his knee.

It was just an absolutely epic day of racing and was great fun. It was exciting watching the times improve despite the terrible conditions as the experts, semi-pro and finally pro racers came down.

The winner on the day was Aaron Gwinn, he was on an great run but slipped out on a slippery bridge within sight of the finishing line. He was fully off the course and had to push his bike over the finish line - and he still won by 6 seconds. It was crazy to watch! He had placed 10th earlier in the year at his first ever world cup race in similar muddy, crappy conditions so it would seem that he is going to be a guy to watch in the future!










Amber's DH#2 Podium


Sean's DH#2 Podium


Amber's overall Podium!

Snowmass G3 Overall - Beginner/Jr Women:
1. Amber Price 27:19.1
2. Kristin Buell 27:24.8
3. Brittany Engleking 34:07.7
4. Katy Monger 34:41.6
5. Lana Lawson 35:25.0


Sean's overall podium.

Snowmass G3 Overall - Sport Men 40+:
1. Michael Monsauret 20:30.6
2. Blake Nelson 23:30.6
3. Sean Smith 25:34.0
4. Scott Branney 32:54.3
5. Tom Stevens 35:03.2

August 9th - MSC Race, Snomass G3 - Race Day

Saturday we had two races, the first was the fast DH track and then in the afternoon we would do the Super-D. We woke up early and got ourselves some coffee and a good breakfast. We had found that at Sol Vista if we were ready a good hour before riding started we both did much better in our race run.

We both took a single practice run on the DH course and then relaxed before the race. Because of the moisture on the mountain the course organizers broken with tradition and sent the races down in reverse normal order. Generally pro racers start last and the beginners go first so by the time I raced (in Sport 40+) the course was in good condition and for Amber it was nearly perfect.

I was very happy with my Race run and felt like I went pretty much as fast as I could for my current skill-set and I placed 3rd and was about 7 seconds back from 2nd place. Amber was also very happy with her run and just placed 1st! She was about 2 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed girl.



We then had to switch modes and get ready for the Super-D race. We both did one practice run to try and get some details of the course in our minds. After the practice run I decided to switch of my big bike and ride it on my Mojo. The decision was a tough one as I hadn't ridden the course a single time on the Mojo but there was quite a few sections where pedalling would be key. The main tough choice was that there were also some bumpy sections that the big bike would probably be faster on and the fat tires would help in many of the corners. Also it was threatening to rain and then the big bike would probably be much more stable if it got muddy.

But I went with the Ibis and was happy that I did. I got a good start in the short run and settled into 3rd place by the time we were on the Single track I kept the other two guys in sight for about the first half of the course but was dropped once we hit the more technical sections. The Super-D course also finished in the mountain cross course and that was somewhat of a concern for both Amber and I as neither of us were comfortable with the jumps and so in practice were slowing down for them and rolling/pumping everything instead of jumping the doubles and tables.

When I got to the mountain cross section of the course I was feeling good and on the last Table I tried to jump it but fully dead-sailored the jump and nose dived into a full crash that sent me and my bike flying. I was able to get up and get going pretty quickly having only just scraped up my arms and back a little and I still held onto 3rd place for the race. I was about 20seconds back from the top two guys.

Amber got a slower start in her race and had to pass a few people as the opportunity presented itself. She ended up settling in behind another girl and they pulled away from the field. Amber was able to pass Kristin in the bottom third of the course and took 1st place for that race as well!

We were both very happy with our races and things looked good for the Sunday final race with Amber holding a comfortable lead overall in her category and I was solidly in 3rd place in mine.


Amber's Super-D Podium


Sean's Super-D Podium