HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope everyone out there in Backboneland has a great New Year's Eve, and does NOT get arrested (except Randy). Please go for a ride tomorrow for me, as I will be at work.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, BITCHES!

Hocking Hills, Ohio.


Merry Christmas everyone! You are all invited over tomorrow for Mimosa's here at the house..sorry for such short notice! haha

Happy Holidays guys..

Thanks To Humberto Castro

OK, so while to everyone else out there in bike-land this may seem less than interesting, I have to tell everyone to at least take notice of this post. I would like to take a brief few seconds to say a very personal "thank you" to
Backboner Humberto Castro. While not a 'lifer" like VB or Bert (YET!), Humberto has been absolutely on the ball since coming into my little Backbone family. If I put out an e-mail asking for anything...Humberto is the first to respond. It makes my life easier, and I want to make sure he and everyone else knows it..so thanks man, and I look forward to providing you with top-notch rider support for 2010 and beyond.

Backbone Welcomes ROYAL RACING For 2010

Jay Schippers has re-surfaced! On the D.L. since Interbike, Jay has been secretly working with the recently-purchased ROYAL brand (formerly of VSG) in Colorado! Hinting but not confirming anything at the show, then just disappearing from the planet (moved to Colorado again)..Jay is up and running the Royal product line. He sent me sneak-peaks of the new XC gloves, called the RIVET. Look for more product peeks here at the blog o' death!




I finally go a hold of the boy today, and he is all legit now to talk about the new product.


"It is pretty exciting though. I haven’t even gone public yet. I am planning on sending out press releases tomorrow. So we have some cool XC gloves that the team might want to check out. I attached photos of them. They are photos of earlier samples so these don’t have terry (snot wipers) on the thumb were the production ones will. "

Jason Schippers
Union Sport Group LLC

HOLY S**T! Vegas Bob Gets 7th!

Bob has been 'crossin it up all season, and has just finished 7th! Climbing out of a very deep hole of DFL's (Dead F*****G last), he has managed to work his ass off and finish inside the top ten at a cross race. Great job VB, and LOVE the pirate-cut team jersey sleeves! AAAARGH!

'Cross-Bob

VB is getting it on like Chaka Khan in his Cal State Cross races this season. I just saw this great pic of him "airing out" his bastardized bike over a log.

You may remember Vegas Bob in catalogs from KENDA, or even from this page in the SIGMA catalog for 2010. Wow..he REALLY IS famous, it's not a lie!

Backbone Fan Brian Gavin In Kenda Catalog!

Backbone Adventure Cycling fan Brian Gavin received a desperate phone call from me a couple of months ago. KENDA TIRE needed a model, fast. Since I am about as ugly as a bar of home made soap, I quickly phoned Mr. Gavin to see if he could help. A pilot for Victoria's Secret (seriously, he is), Brian is also an avid mountain biker who occasionally can be found laying down some base road miles as well. Brian jumped at the chance to be in an international product catalog for the company that equips TOMAC mountain bikes with their kicks..like the Small Block 8's found on the 2010 Carbide Next time you see Brain, ask him to autograph something before he gets all big headed and moves to New York to sign with Ford.


Models....geeesh.

Team Fit Guru Steve Carre Starts BikeEffect.com!

While the website isn't quite there yet, you can contact Steve through their Facebook page. Steve was a long time employee of the old classic SUPERGO store in Santa Monica, then rolled out to Cynergy Cycles when the other mail-order chain took over. Steve has been our team's bike fitter of choice for years, and now has a mobile fit business with a female counterpart! Steve is a super-bad-ass bike fitter, and a hell of a nice guy as well. Do yourself a favor and call him up at 310 962 6911 and schedule that fit NOW for winter training!

Happy Holidays From The Kleinbachs!

Val and Karl have been great team supporters (and riders) for years, and know probably every decent sushi place along the California coast. Karl has a great collection of old-school TOMAC bikes from the first-go-round with ABG, and Valerie is famous for blowing past male Expert XC racers on the descents found throughout Orange County and the Santa Monicas. They are breeding little pinners as we speak, and they already have their xs team kits on the way. They sent this card and asked to say hey! Happy Holidays guys!

New Hydrapak Front-Loader Bladders!

Hydrapak has just released these AMAZING new FRONT-LOADER hydration bladders! While they probably will work the awesome new MORRO and JOLLA 'Paks, they are much more aesthetically pleasing when mounted on the front. The ladie's version is much more popular than the men's, despite the research leading up to the release of the new product. Look for Matt and the guys at Hydrapak to have these babies ready to ship by Spring of 2010, and tell 'em you saw it first here at Backboneracing.blogspot.com!

P.O.B. In Ha-Wa-Ii!

Darter and VB in front of the Interbike booth at ODD for Amino Vital in 2008.


Amino Vital is on hand in Hawaii for a hugemongous Triathlon, and our very own P.O.Bizzle is on the scene to represent the product! Clearly working very hard in the tropical moonlight, he is sending pictures of the view from Amino Vital Remote HQ from the island. That looks like one tough assignment! Below we see a phoo of him road riding through Napa...not the auto parts store..the wine region. That also looks like a tough gig.


Here's POB calling his wife to let her know that he has made it to the top of Mt Tam (home of many native legends and myths), and has yet to be Puma bait. Jeff and I will see POB soon for the 2010 Arnold Fitness Classic!

Sweet Fontucky Vid From Andrew Cho!

Backboners Welcome RYDERS EYEWEAR!

YAAAAAY! Our sponsor family continues to expand, and this week is no exception. We have already happily taken on board KMC CHAIN, FORMULA and SPINERGY..now we all get to ROCK the RYDERS EYEWEAR! With new goggles coming for 2010 (saw them at Interbike..BITCHIN'!) for the DH guys like the Benge Boyz, Darter and Charles and all the great XC oriented stuff, we will not only BE fast, we'll LOOK fast too! OK not me, I suck..but THE REST OF YOU will be very pleased~!

Vanessa Humic On Video During Santa Ynes US Cup

2009 US Cup - Santa Ynez Valley Classic from ChannelMTB on Vimeo.

The Reason Not To Drink Wine

History For Sale

OK, so here goes...Susan DeMattei (pictured) used to race for the Ralph Lauren Polo RLX Pro Team. Prior to the days of racing on Tomac, they raced Litespeed Ti hardtails. That team was a HUGE powerhouse, with riders like JHK, Willow Koerber, Jimena Florit, etc. so it was kind of a surprise when their $ dried up in 2004 (not really, it IS domestic bike racing).


When we started the team in the middle of that same year, we had bought many of the left over TOMAC hardtails from the team captain that year, Dave Weins. We bought one of Jimena Florit's, one of Dave's, and a couple of JHK's bikes. Vegas Bob had found THIS Ti beauty from the last year they were on Litespeeds, and it was Susan's PERSONAL bike. It is now on sale so VB can buy a new road bike. He has been on his Tomac Carbide, and just isn't riding this amazing bike anymore.

Equipped with XTR everything and Spinergy wheels, it's stupid-light and wicked fast for most XC races. It's a fantastic collector bike too, and is a back-country climber's wet dream.


Warming on the trainer with teammate Vanessa Humic prior to a race in Colorado. Susan would be proud to know her bike is still out there!


VB a few years back at the NORBA in Brian Head, just after reaching the turn along the fireroad climb from Marathon Trail to Sydney Peak Trail.


If you are interested in this bike, please contact us via the team website or blog!

Vegas Bob Is Movin' On Up!

That's right! VB has been rolling up the ranks of the Cal State 'Cross series, and has moved up outta DFL to 11th! GREAT JOB VB..Wheezy would be so proud of you!

Bert's New Spy Camera

Bert's super-secret and hi-tech KOERBER-CAM has yielded some amazing photos. While perusing his closet-turned idol complex to XC racer Willow K., I stumbled upon a 600" flat screen t.v. with live footage of his dream-date. Apparently she even showers in her team clothing, which is kinda cool, and I do it myself on occasion. OK, RANDY AND I do it together...but don't tell anyone. I won't tell you about the other things I found in that closet..but rest assured he won't be running out of chamois butter or socks any time soon.
OK, the pic was actually nabbed off her facebook profile...but Bert would still TOTALLY install a camera..I'm just sayin'.

FORMULA R-1 Brakes Back In Stock.

The R1 is the premiere XC race disc brake on the market today, and the riders here at Backbone Adventure Cycling just received a call that the orders are IN! The lightest disc brake ever made for a bicycle combines its astonishingly low weight with top-level power and performance. While at Interbike this year, we had a chance to stop by and check them out. Randy was blown away by how much power those little stoppers have! The brake comes stock at 279g, but can be dropped all the way down to 263g with a little bit of tuning. The forged MC body and caliper provide increased modulation, braking power and durability. Even at this low weight, the R1 generates more than enough power for All Mountain or Enduro use. The R1 uses a patented caliper piston system that increases fluid capacity in the caliper further increasing performance under heavy use.

The Gravity Guys will likely be running THE ONE. TheONE’s patented forged caliper and large 24mm pistons generate enormous stopping force. Designed as a DH Race brake the power, weight, modulation and adjustability of TheONE have won its international acclaim by both print and online media.
For 2010 we added a new MC wich drops the weight all the way down to 308g making it the lightest DH brake on the market today -nothing else is even close.
Say hello to the 2010 The One – the lightest and most powerful DH brake ever made. Look for Formula Disc Brakes on the 'Boners bikes for 2010!

KMC CHAINS EN ROUTE!

Mr. Bentley Lee has graciously shipped the team allotment of spankin' new KMC chains out for the 2010 season! Due in any day, the XC team will be getting the hogged-out and hollow-pinned X9SL Ti (or it's silvery brother), while the DH crew will be getting the more "dirt-bag-specific" non-hollowed out X9.9. I can't wait to check them out! Randy has been running his for some time now, and even with having shanked a few shifts, the chain has still performed under load like a champ...which is good..because we have some champs on our team! THANKS KMC and Bentley or the help for the coming season, YOU GUYS ROCK!

Randy Rush Leaves Team For Winter Games

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