Notes from the Dirt Pile: Cam's Front Flip

So I got this message from Cam McCaul the other day:

Got home yesterday morning at 5am from the epic road trip.  The last leg of the trip was Teva games and it was sweet!  On the way to Vail from Jersey, we stopped in PA to ride Woodward for a little bit and work on frontflips.  We went straight from the foam pit to Teva games- a nonstop 26 hour drive- and arrived a few days early to help build the course.  I filmed a ton of stuff and I'm working on a web vid from the whole trip. 

Long story short,  I dialed in frontflips at Woodward and sent a huge one in my final run at Teva.  I ended up in second place and I was stoked.  After 3 years working on the trick, it means more to me to finally land one in contest than to win the comp.

Of course, that prompted me to go take a look at my favorite webzine, Littermag.com. Cam's ridiculously smooth and perfect front flip starts at about 2:40, so go ahead and just fast forward there if that's all you want to see.

But then Gordo the photographer put together a ridiculous photo set. What I found there was phenomenal. Using my handy-dandy screen capture tool, I snagged the one shot that inspired me more than any other:

Wow. Can you even imagine what that feeling is like? I sure can't...

How Ross Schnell Broke His Hip

It’s Thursday. I’m at my desk in Waterloo. The rain’s finally stopped, but the trails haven’t dried, so rather than bust out for a ride, John Riley and I are reviewing a presentation when the phone rings. It’s Ross Schnell,

“Uh, Browne – I have some bad news. So my hip is kind of broken.”

“Ross, what’s ‘kind of broken’?”

“Well, it’s broken.”

Ross Schnell. If you haven’t heard the name, you’ve obviously been paying more attention to World Cup races than the burgeoning category of “all mountain enduro.” Here in the United States, the most notable race is the Downieville Classic, which gave itself the prestigious title of “All Mountain World Championship,” the same year that Ross Schnell dethroned 2-time champion Mark Weir, besting the course record by a total of three minutes. That single race catapulted him out of the ranks of “fast guys” and into the league of “the next best thing.”

Since then, he’s been written about over and over again, from his local Grand Junction Sentinel to VeloNews to Bike Magazine.

So how does the next best thing go from being the subject of every major publication’s lead article to broken and battered? Simple – Metabief.

No, Metabief isn’t the next sports supplement or diet fad, it’s a French Enduro that was a key element in raising the global profile of Ross Schnell and increasing his exposure to the wide variety of racing that exists around the world. Drawing high profile participants like Nicolas Vouilloz, Rémy Absalon and Wade Simmons, the race format unlike anything that exists here in the States quite yet.

Rewarding the all-around mountain biker rather than the specialist, the race takes in the Alps along the French/Swiss border near Lucerne, Switzerland. The terrain is highly technical, and race participants are allowed no pre-riding of any of the three tracks. Racing takes place over two days, and all riders log multiple timed runs on each run. As expected, times improve as racers learn the course. As Ross said it, “the first day is just pure DH stuff, but the second day is lots of pedaling.”

And here is the key element—just like Downieville, riders have to ride the same bike on each day. The only component you can change is tires.

Here’s Ross’s account of how it all went down:

The race is really unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was insane. It was my first time doing anything like this, and the race venue was hard enough to find. I was traveling alone in a rental car, and everyone else had all this support and had been there for days ahead of time. I knew about the “no course pre-riding,” but what I didn’t realize is that guys like Nico Vouilloz would go out ahead of time and walk the tracks with a video camera. Then they’d go back and watch the video over and over and memorize everything. I’ll definitely be doing that next time.

The Remedy was definitely the best bike for the course, as everyone was running six-inch bikes, but what killed me was everyone had all this support. The top guys had tents and mechanics and food laid out, whereas all I had was myself—it was hard enough to find food, let alone wash my bike and get it prepped for the next run!

There were 10 different stages, and the first three took place on the same track. I got eighth on the first run, fourth on the second and fifth on the third, so I felt like my learning curve wasn’t too bad. It was all really technical track; lots of roots, lots of steep descents, I really picked the wrong gear because my 36t chainring had me spinning out where I could’ve been on the gas more.

photo by Sam Peridy

By the fourth run, I was feeling great. I felt like I really had it dialed. Every corner was like a thousand-watt sprint, and this run was even steeper than the last, dropping through a deep wooded forest. After the woods, it was high-speed through the meadows with falling off-camber terrain; to be quite honest it was really intimidating to hit this at maximum speed. When I got to the grass, my rear wheel hit a rut and it drifted into the wet grass. The whole bike got out from under me and when I fell, my hip just slammed into the ground. My legs were all tangled in the bike, but I got up quickly and somehow managed to place fifth, just seven seconds off stage winner Nico Vouilloz. The thing that kills me is that my run was so smooth and fast up to that point, I just know I would’ve won if I hadn’t crashed.

 

photo by Sam Peridy

After that, I knew I had bruised myself but I didn’t know to what extent. I still pinned it for round five and six, getting fifth and sixth again which put me at sixth overall.

Since Sunday was better for the fit guys like me, I knew it was the day I’d beat everyone by twenty seconds. I had seen the trail and there was a fair amout of uphill involved, but once I got out there, I knew something was seriously wrong. I didn’t even finish stage 7 because it hurt so bad.

photo by Sam Peridy

After that, I left the event and drove to Italy to meet up with the SRAM guys for their XX launch. That was some serious pain – holing my leg down just to push the clutch in. It took me about 5 days to get home, where I immediately got a CT scan where they found that yes indeed, I had broken my hip.

“Fractured off the greater trochanter of the femur,” to be exact.

So what does this mean for Ross? It means he’ll be logging miles on his road bike, trying to tolerate the pain, and trying to find a way to keep fit enough to defend his title as All-Mountain World Champion at the 2009 Downieville Classic.

Sweepstakes Winners Announced!

After waiting a long week to get in touch with the winners of the Trek/Shimano/JBL sweepstakes winners, we're still waiting to hear back from some lucky individuals. Maybe they think it's a prank, maybe they think we're telemarketers! We are marketing guys on the telephone, but really -- return the call, you won some great stuff!

Here's what we have so far:

JBL home theater system: Kelly Shelly, Bell Canyon, CA

Shimno XTR kit : Ryan Cazneaux, Mt. Shasta, Ca

Trek World Racing Jacket: Mike Allison, Salinas, CA
Trek World Racing T-shirt: Eric Warden, Flower Mound, TX
Trek World Racing T-shirt: Anna Franks, Decatur, AL
Trek World Racing T-shirt: Jason Leroux, Kensington, CT

Trek World Racing : XC in Madrid; DH in Lisbon

This weekend saw Trek World Racing competing in two top level events on the same weekend, in two different European capital cities. The full XC team of Liam Killeen (GBR), Lukas and Mathias Flueckiger (SUI) raced Round 4 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Madrid today, while yesterday the DH male riders, Justin Leov (NZL) and Andrew Neethling (RSA) raced in the Lisbon Downtown in Portugal.

Today in Madrid saw the return of Liam Killeen after a back injury kept him from racing the last two rounds of the World Cup. Treatment for the injury has been steadily addressing the issue but Liam still has some way to go. Today he conceded that he felt better than he did in South Africa, but that his overall fitness was down due to the time lost on the bike in recent weeks. Despite this, and being held up by a crash on lap 1 that lost him 30 places, Liam climbed steadily through the field to finished 19th. The result was well earned; a big step in the right direction. Liam will take the next few weeks off from racing to focus on his fitness and training at home in preparation for Rounds 5 and 6 in Canada in July.

Lukas Flueckiger had a great start and was with the lead group but bad luck on lap one with a rear puncture meant he needed to stop for a replacement wheel, returning into the race at 65th place. By lap 3 Lukas was turning in excellent lap times and pulling back 10 riders each lap; getting as high as 22nd place, with 2 laps to go, when he suffered yet another rear puncture. The Madrid course is held in a city park and it's strewn with debris ranging from bottle caps to broken glass, and Lukas can only put this result of 40th down to incredibly bad luck. There is no question he had the legs and speed today.

Mathias had a much better start today and never left the top 30. At one point with 3 laps to go, all three riders were in the 22nd to 27th range and were progressing forward. Mathias' speed was there, and despite being more of a climber than a power rider on the flats, he held his own today and was once again on the podium for being 3rd in the Under 23 category.

Liam said: "I had a really good start and was up to maybe 20th or so, but then there was a big pile up and I got stuck behind the mess and lost around 30 places. I think I was in 60th or so on lap one. After that I just focused on my rhythm and getting some passing done. I felt good today but I'm obviously still missing the level of fitness needed to mix with the top 10, so I'll be focusing on that in the coming weeks to be sure to be up there come Round 6 at Mont-Sainte-Anne."

Mathias said: "This is not the best course for me, because it's so fast. There are a couple of short steep climbs and I liked those, but I'm just happy to have stayed in the top 30 today on a track that isn't really great for me. My legs were OK, but not 100%. Overall I'm quite happy with the result today."

Lukas said: "Aagh, this is so disappointing. I put in so much work in the last two weeks for this race and then it comes down to some stupid bad luck with punctures. After the first puncture it took me about a lap to calm down and get on with racing again, because I was so angry about the puncture. But once I got in my rhythm again, I felt good and was passing quite a few guys. Then the next puncture. Crazy. I finished 8th here before and I really wanted to improve on that, so I'm feeling pretty upset about it."

Yesterday saw the 10th running of the Lisbon Downtown, and while Justin and Andrew have never cracked the top 10 at this legendary urban race, they were keen to take the Session 88's to the streets. Each rider gets 4 training runs, and everyone knows that if it rains, the race is called off. It had rained early in the morning, then again after the first training run. The sun, however, returned for most of the day and was intense, drying the slippery marble and cobble stones so the event could go ahead. In the qualifying run, Andrew qualified 9th and Justin 12th, with both riders struggling to match the speed of those guys that have raced here for years. In the final however, Justin lopped 2 seconds of his qualifying time which got him a place in the hotseat and an eventual 10th place. Andrew, suffering a head cold, pulled out a great time, taking nearly 1.5secs off his qualifier, and that also landed him in the hotseat for a good period of time. His result was good enough for 6th and gave both riders their first taste of a top 10 in Lisbon.

Andrew said: "This race is so different to what we do normally. The restricted practice and the need to get to know this course for carrying speed and braking points, means that each time you come here, you learn a little more with the total of 6 runs you get. If you've been here 8 times, you have 48 runs under your belt. I'm still learning but I'm stoked to have a 6th. I really didn't think that was possible for me here, but I'll take it!"

Justin said: "After the qualifying and looking at some of the names in front of me, and especially after my podium the week before in the World Cup, I started to think I just couldn't do this type of street racing. But I went up for the final and decided to give it everything. I hit all my lines and was pretty happy to take 2 seconds off. It's such a short course so that's a big chunk of time. This race is amazing for fans and the Eurosport TV coverage, way better than most, but I'm just not at home here compared to the trails."

The next team event is the Fort William DH World Cup on June 6 and 7, in Scotland.

 

Gallery: Trek World Racing at La Bresse World Cup

Trek World Racing maintains its status as the #1 Team in World Cup Downhill this past weekend at La Bresse, France.

Here's a few selects, but be sure check in at the Trek World Racing official website for video updates and the latest press release.

Win Sweet Stuff from Trek, JBL and Shimano!

Check this out --- Trek is launching a newsletter based on the efforts of our Trek World Racing team. Sign up for our newsletter, and you're automatically qualified to win one of many sweet prizes -- a Session 88 frameset, a JBL home theater system, a Shimano Saint kit, or a Shimano XTR kit.

How do you win?

1. SMS text "TREK" to 313131 and follow the instructions or
2. Visit the Trek booth (#605) at Sea Otter or
3. Click here and sign up for the newsletter

Official Rules for Trek’s 2009 Sea Otter Classic Giveaway

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN, NOR WILL MAKING A PURCHASE INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

HOW TO PLAY:  Sweepstakes begins on April 15, 2009 and ends on May 15, 2009. To enter, click here http://trekmountain.typepad.com/ and sign up for our Trek World Racing newsletter.  Anyone who signs up during the sweepstakes period will be automatically entered into the drawing.  You can also enter by visiting the Trek tent at the Sea Otter Classic, http://www.seaotterclassic.com/ or by mailing your entry on a postcard with your name, address and phone number to Trek’s 2009 Sea Otter Giveaway, 801 West Madison Street, Waterloo, WI 53594.

THE PRIZES:  Trek will give away the following prizes:

•    one JBL home theater system (CS6100 speaker system, AVR 254 receiver and DVD 48) (approx. retail value $2123)
•    one Shimano XTR component group (approx retail value $2569),
•    one Shimano Saint component group (approx retail value $1499),
•    one Trek Session 88 frameset (including frame and shock) (approx retail value $2529),
•    one Trek World Racing track jacket (approx retail value $65),
•    five Trek World Racing T-shirts (approx retail value $15 each).

ELIGIBILITY:  To be eligible, you must be at least 18 years old and a legal U.S. resident, or at least 19 and a legal Canadian resident (except for the province of Quebec, where it is void).  Employees of Trek, its subsidiaries, affiliates, distributors, retail dealers, advertising and promotional agencies, and any other individual or entity directly involved with this sweepstakes, including immediate family members or those living in the same household, are not eligible.  All federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations apply.  Enter as often as you like.  Any reviews containing obscene or offensive language will be disqualified.

ODDS AND NOTICE TO WINNER:  Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received.  Winners will be selected by Trek via a random drawing May 16th 2009 from all eligible entries.  Winners will be notified by email or phone by Trek within 7 days of the drawing.  If any prize is not claimed within 7 days, Trek will draw another winner. The notice will include instructions on how to claim your prize.

CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS:  All entries become the property of Trek, who reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value.  Trek reserves the right to substitute prizes of equal or greater value.  No substitution or transfer of prize is permitted, and no cash equivalent is offered, except at the sole discretion of Trek.  All federal, state, provincial, and local taxes on prizes offered, if applicable, are the sole responsibility of the winner.  Acceptance of a prize constitutes permission to the Trek, its subsidiaries and affiliates to use winners’ names and/or likenesses for advertising and publicity purposes, without further compensation, except where prohibited by law.  By entering, all entrants agree to hold harmless and indemnify Trek and its subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agents against any and all liability, damages or causes of action (however named or described), with respect to or arising out of entrant’s participation in this promotion, and/or receipt, use, or misuse of the prizes awarded herein.

SPONSOR:  Trek Bicycle Corporation, 801 West Madison Street, Waterloo, WI  53594.  By entering, you consent to Trek’s use of the information you’ve provided in accordance with Trek's Privacy Policy posted at www.trekbikes.com.

VOID IN PUERTO RICO, QUEBEC, AND WHEREVER RESTRICTED OR PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Gallery: Pietermaritzburg World Cup

Trek World Racing Opens World Cup Campaign with a swag of top 10 wins

Trek World Racing proved to be the strongest multi discipline team on the World Cup circuit today when the team's elite men raced the cross country finishing 8th, 10th and 20th, following on from the downhill results in the semi final yesterday of 1st, 6th and 10th.

Lukas Flueckiger lead the charge today spending the entire 2 hour race in the top 10, at one point as high as 6th, and eventually battling with Roel Paulissen (BEL) for 8th, a battle Lukas won. Younger brother Mathias rose steadily in the field from start position 35, to finish his 2nd best result in World Cup racing, a 10th. Liam Killeen who has recently been overcoming a severe back injury, had his first top level race in 7 months, and spent the entire time in the top 20, as high as 16th, but losing a couple of positions on the last lap to finish 20th.

The weather conditions today were brutally hot and very humid; conditions that most riders found to be very uncomfortable. All TWR riders found the super steep course very tough on their backs. A field of more than 120 took to the start and early into lap one a crash brought down a number riders. All of TWR's riders avoided the chaos and began their 7 laps of the Pietermaritzburg track, none of them leaving the top 20. Lukas was with the lead group of 6 early on but settled into his own rhythm on lap 3 and in the final 2 laps, pushed up from 10th to 8th. From lap 2, Mathias climbed from 15th to 10th and at one point was on his brother's rear wheel, but the gap between the two TWR riders widened in the final lap and a half. Liam's race was relatively uneventful except for a slow lap mid race which cost him some places, but steady lap times in the final half of the race ensured a top 20 result.

Lukas Flueckiger said: "Normally I really suffer in this kind of conditions. It was super hot today and the humidity made it hard to breathe. Today we ran the 9.9 Elite Hardails because of the climbing and tight corners, and the bike was superfast and responsive. I'm so happy to start the season with a top 10 result. Last year I started with a 38th place, so this gives me a great opportunity to build throughout the season."

Mathias Flueckiger said: "I had some luck at the start of the race because I didn't get caught up in the crash. After that I found my rhythm and started to feel quite good. The legs were good, but it was tough to breathe in this humidity. I'm really happy to be 10th, and to get 2nd in the Under 23 and stand on my first podium for my new team. I'm looking forward to racing back in Europe after a great 3 weeks in South Africa."

Liam Killeen said: "Just 4 weeks ago I wasn't able to ride off road, so I'm happy that my back is showing good recovery signs and that I'm already able to race at top 20 pace. I expect things will only get better from here for me, and I'm happy to see all of us up there today."

Trek World Racing is currently placed 3rd in the team ranking, ahead of powerhouse teams such as Orbea and Swisspower.

Yesterday saw the qualifying in the Downhill, and the first awarding of World Cup points for the season. Tracy Moseley blitzed the field bringing her new team Trek Session 88 to the line close to 9 seconds faster than any other woman, and claiming the 50 World Cup points for the win. Justin Leov finished 6th in his run, improving 3 seconds over the race final from the previous week, and only 0.35 seconds from a target top 5 position. Andrew Neethling was 4th fastest to the first split, but a couple of small errors, and misjudging his pedaling towards the bottom section of the course, cost him a precious second or two, but a solid 10th scored some important points for the season.

Trek World Racing Launches new Website

Welcome to Trek World Racing.

 

6 riders, 2 disciplines, 1 goal

CLICK HERE


Trek World Racing is proud to present to the world its new website. Based heavily on video installments by the Parkin Brothers of Orpheus Productions, the new website is a testament to the team's progressive philosophy of pushing the limits of what a race team can be.

Trek World Racing isn't a cross country team. It's not a downhill team. Instead, it's a mountain bike race team, alowing the world's best athletes to push their limits through a season of World Cup races. And with the launch of this website, you'll be able to follow all the racing and behind-the-scenes action.

Trek World Racing Team Launch

(left to right: Martin Whitely, Andrew Neethling, Tracy Moseley, Liam Killeen, Justin Leov, Lukas Flückiger, Mathias Flückiger)

The team has really outdone itself. What started off as an email exchange, a meeting well over a year ago, and lots of hard work, has finally paid off. And when I say the "team," I don't just mean the very talented Martin Whitely, or the riders, mechanics and staff -- what I mean is the great people at Trek who've worked for months to see this day come together.

Here in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, we're awaiting the start of the season's first World Cup. And in traditional South African fashion, we had a "braai" with the world's most dedicated media on Wednesday evening. We had journalists from the Netherlands, Germany, France, South Africa, US present as we unveilved the team's new hounds tooth team edition bikes and the new website behind a panel of riders whose enthusiasm is just contagious!

Everyone attending was treated to an exclusive screening of the Parkin Brothers first video installment that's available for viewing now on the team's site, followed by a Q&A session, a great full-course "braai" dinner and more varieties of South African wine than you could count.

During the presentation, every rider expressed such gratitude for what's been put in place -- from the Flückiger brothers first time on a full suspension bike to Tracy Moseley's amazement of how much a bike can improve performance. Not to mention Needles, Liam and Leov all loving being on a team with this much support.

If everyone was as impressed as I was, I'd say we knocked this one out of the park.

So in case you haven't seen the video yet: GO HERE. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Another will be coming after World Cup #1.