Saturday, June 30, 2007

My New 'Hood

Frescos painted inside Columbus' Leveque Tower lobby















Red Stable in German Village



















A REALLY old house in German Village



















The Candy Shop, German Village




















German Village, near Schmidt's Sausage Haus




















Leveque Tower Long Shot





















Downtown's Battelle Park





















Leveque Tower, at the top



















High Street Bridge





















Friday, June 29, 2007

New Kenda 'Cross Tire Coming Soon!



KENDA TIRE'S Stefano Lumbaca has developed a new 'Cross tire for next year's product line. Coming out of the molds in Taiwan soon, the prototypes should be seen within the next three months on KENDA factory riders' bikes. The current Small Block 8 'Cross tire is the perfect choice for West Coast races, but on the "right coast" may be too semi-slick. As soon as I see the new rubber (insert jokes here), I'll send ya'll pix!

C

Big Bear XC This Weekend!



This weekend, the Backboners will be rollin' deep up to the age-old team CONDO provided by Boulder Creek Resorts. With the option of 5 bedrooms and bathrooms, a lrge kitchen and living room, the shennanigans get way outta hand very quickly. More beer has been consumed in that building since 1993 by me or someone I know than Hollywood's Viper Room by River Phoenix. That was one "Phoenix" that never rose from the ashes, eh? haha
Roger, Vanessa, James, Bob, Heidi, Darter, the Fuzz and everyone else will be in attendance. Best of luck to my favorite team, and if I hear ANY crap about ARA not drinking any beer, it will be a 'taint waxin' for the boy!

Word up..

C

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Alum Creek State Park





Today I was off of work and had a chance to FINALLY ride the only mountain bike trail(s) in a 50 mile radius of Columbus. Everyone here was telling me that the "ADVANCED" lap was super scary and people only do it on fullies. Now, you guys know me pretty well. While I do have moments of hardtail brilliance, I am the worst rider out of all of you. So...I went there today fully expecting to get airlifted out. Uhhhh....yeah. Not so much.













The trail has no real climbing (ten feet here, forty feet there), but is very tightly woven through trees like a Navajo basket. Oh yeah, the baskets have more altitude...ANYWAY...for a trail marked as "advanced," I was surprised by the ease at which my little TITUS FCR and her newly mounted R7 XC fork rolled over and through all the obstacles. There were a couple (one or two) logs that I cyclocrossed over, simply due to the lower bb shell of the XC race-designed FCR chassis. I had a KENDA Dread Tread 1.8 in the rear at about 45 psi, and a 1.9 Nevegal up front at about 30psi. That set-up worked great in the tight and often loose corners.










As I rolled and pitched between the trees, I was constantly expecting something like the sheer edges of Strawberry Peak, the rocky chutes of Upper and Lower Fall Line, or even the switchbacks of Thunder Mountain Trail. Before I knew it, I was back at the car (roughly seven miles?), and honestly a bit disappointed. The easy parts of Sycamore Canyon were more technically challenging than this "advanced" loop.












The trail craftsmanship and clean, sturdy design of the vast majority of the wooden "obstacles" was a testament to the local bike club, clearly doing more for their riders who paid $25 to belong, than a lifetime of NORBA membership and race dues have ever done (or a Forest Adventure Pass for that matter). Kudos to COMBO, the trail was expertly maintained and a pleasure to ride..despite the false claims of advancement.
That being done, and a 4 mile warm-up ride done before that, I was staring at only about eleven miles so far. I heard that the Intermediate trail was just a few miles down Africa street, so I headed off in the steamy jungle-like Ohio heat. Sweating like a preacher at a choir-boy convention, I stayed well hydrated thanks to the Hydrapak nestled on my shoulders. Finding the other trail down the road, I rolled out. Much faster than the first trail, the Intermediate was much more about flicking in and out like an anal tongue dart. Amazingly, I had a hard time determining much difference between the two trails. Despite the large wooden berm and a couple of log bridges/skinnies, it really wasn't much different.
It was fun to get out and pound around blindly on a new trail, but for a guy to come in a on a hardtail and clean the entire thing on the first pass was kinda lame.
IN IT'S DEFENSE, this ride would take on a whole new life in the rain and crap that falls from the sky here on a regular basis. The dirt is VERY sloppy and gooey when wet..kinda like my KENDA bibs after a long day of "crotch-pot cookin'." I promise you I would probably overcook a turn or two in the rain and case it thanks to a half hidden and snotty root. The MOST DANGEROUS parts where a couple of creek crossing thingys that were bridged by an ABS plastic, CORRUGATED tubing of some fashion. The ridges were about two and half inches deep, and about three inches apart..oh, and did I mention they were slicker than an alabama Snake-Oil Salesman? I highly recommend to anyone that they PULL UP and clear the front tire completely before you end up on your booty.

Any teammates that do any Strawberry Peak, San Juan, or Noble Canyon Trail rides should please send me a pic or two, just to remember what real technical riding was like. Can you say "Telonix?" I knew ya could.....

C


D-Lo on Marathon Trail, just off Sydney Peaks Trail. If she can do this, she can do Alum Creek.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Rim Nordic Pix From Last Weekend





























































































































































































































Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Taylor Heading To Northstar State DH Race.



Taylor Libolt is preparing his bike (and himself) for the upcoming Cal State DH Race at Northstar ski resort in Tahoe. That course is REALLY technical and long, and is the last "real" mountainn gravity destination left to race in CA. He will no doubt met up with fellow KENDA racer and KHS team member, James Schwanke. Best of luck to the Great White Hope, Taylor, in his quest for gold next weekend in the high peaks of the Sierra's.


Fontana DH pic found on SRC website, courtesy of Terry Martin













Another great Terry Martin shot, from Fontucky

















Taylor with his new biznatches, at Sea Otter in April.

Roger's Rim Nordic Report/ King James Prepared?


Hi Captain,
It was a great day for a mountain bike ride in the mountains and as usual the people at the rim nordic series at big bear were great hosts. They had plenty of parking, helpful employees, relaxed attitudes, a well marked course and start times that were real and on time!!! Your Backbone racers gave it all they had, they raced hard, mingled and put out the good word about all our great sponsors and their products that we appreciate!!! Look for James to send you the pixs..




Vanessa and I arrived to see Randy already setup with bike stand and road bike on trainer ready to go...that guy is a professional. They love him there at the Rim, they treat him like Norm from cheers! He walks in and they give him his gear and offer him a beer. Randy had a tough race in a stacked E.P.O. sport field, 1st lap had great start off the line but the backside descents were filled with a couple of dirt naps due to a new front tire line up. Going back to the trusty Nevegals forever per Randy!!! Second lap Randy looked great but he said the backside altitude climbs were getting the best of him, and without being able to descend like his "sure footed puma" self he finished just out of the top ten.

Backbone groupie and PMBC member Rod was on hand to help setup the Backbone camp and hand out water bottles and dish out slurs to fellow riders. Rod was going to race that day but after how many times he crashed at Castaic Lake, OSHA, Big Bear E.M.S. services and Yogi Bear revoked his race license until he takes at least 2 Velo Bella girl mtn bike clinics...

Heidi and Darter were scheduled to come out, but after late nights of drinking and fried foods (wait that was Vanessa and I) Heidi was feeling under the weather.
She opted to stay home and rest and save it up for the Cal-State Big Bear race this coming Saturday to unleash some Niner whup-ass.




Vanessa had a huge field of 3 expert girls with none in her age group!!! Can you say 1st place? Sweet!!! Vanessa was the fastest expert of the day and elected to run 3 laps with the other two pro girls that showed up while the two other expert riders went a measly 2 laps... sooo during the race Vanessa asked me "when does a xc race become classified a xterra f'n challenge" 2 hours and 53 minutes later she did her longest race yet. Randy, Roger, James and Rod all giving her mad props on her 3 long grueling laps...






And last and always the best story was James Cross. I texted James at around 6:34 am the day of his race, he texted right back!!! He's up and getting ready for his 10:08 start, so with almost 4 hrs to get there i'm thinking he's way ahead of schedule. 13 text msg's later and at 9:26am he's just pulling into the parking lot... tires blistered and brakes smoking... Rod and I went over to assist, I was nervous... I have never assembled a bike from scratch before and was sure to turn the corner and see James with a box of parts and tools scattered about??? W.T.F??? A complete bike, with the correct tires and brakes installed and no need for teardown? I slapped Rod across the face to make sure I wasn't dreaming, while Rod chased me around the parking lot with a bike pump, James went to register. Now at the starting line James and Randy had 1 minute to go. Randy at the front of the pack and James at... where the f is he ??? James rolls up to the back of the pack and off they go, James yelling to me in code that he forgot a tube :) Well he was in such a hurry in the morning it just carried on into the race... he was in third place by the first check point and was ripping the field apart, he even flirted in 1st for awhile and after a small heart attack, got dropped back to 4th and rallied in the last part of the race to get back and finish in second place !!!! Great job James!!

Very tough course, beautiful weather and good friends. I couldn't have asked for a better Sunday.

Roger

p.s. Thank you to Tome family (Pmbc club) for help and support

Titus Super-Moto

Darter's "UberMoto" in Moab, Utah.














The Titus Super Moto, the perfect all-mountain/free-ride rig.














The shock-mount area, with plenty of stiffness and precision sealed bearings.















Mud? What mud? The Super Moto can handle those sloppy Utah thunderstorms.




Massive, 6061 heat-treated aluminum tubeset delivers one of the toughest freeride front triangles ever made.

The Titus precision-machined rocker and the Fox DH5 rear shock combine to create the perfect combination of suspension components.

Beefy, box section rear end provides rock-solid stability and at the same time gives you tons of tire clearance.

Meghan Sends Love, Nevada Style!


Backbone Team-

What the fuck is up!!! I just wanted to say hello from Elko Nevada.... I hope that you are all doing well, and kicking some major ass. With a leader like Chris it is hard to go wrong (even though he has a small...well you know what). Anyway I also wanted to let people know that if you ever pass through Elko or anywhere in the area and you need anything please let me know. Some of my good friends are really into biking and what not and could show you some sweet trails.

Well be good, kick ass, and always show some titty.. :)
Your biggest fan in Nevada (the best state ever!!)
Meghan

Rim Nordic Report from The Rushman


Chris, Just a little race result from this weekend at Rim Nordic. Vanessa, King James and myself were there racing, and of course our leader Roger was doing his job of taking care of us. I can really only speak for myself and James because I didn't see Vanessa after her race, and I had to get going, but Roger said she didn't look too happy on her second lap. The course was standard Rim Nordic-hard, technical and fun. Now.... to sum up my race..... I SUCKED and got my ass handed to me finishing 17th out of 20 guys (the biggest class of the day). The sport guys are alot faster than what I'm used to so I'll just work a little harder. On the other hand, King James kicked ass placing 2nd in our class(great job James). I'm sure Roger will e-mail a official race report and pic's soon. Take it greasy, Captn. Randy

Monday, June 25, 2007

Pictures From The Past

Fontana is always great for a DH picture


















Bert racing in the old jerseys at the 2005 Mammoth National Championships.














Bri and Rhoda Roff at Cascade Falls, Utah.

















Heidi rockin' the Tahoe X-Terra race last year.














Betsy just before hitting the water in her first Triathlon.














The Fuzziest on Thunder Mountain Trail, in Red Canyon, Utah.














Taylor in 2005 on his top-ten Kamikaze run, finishing right behind Greg Herbold.













Conor winning a XC race? Didn't he race Semi-Pro DH?

















Betsy finishing a hot and grueling day at Snow Summit in 2005. We were CFR then!



















Anyone remember Jim Roff's buddy, Dominic?















Abel Vaca starting his first XC race back in 2004, as a CFR racer!