Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I Love My Ryders Eyewear!



I have the Ryders Cirrus. Sure, they look better than Linda Evangelista in a blue plastic pool, but the lens technology and fit are unparalleled as well. The Cirrus has features like a formable nosepiece, 100% UV protection, vented lenses...and retail for just $59.99!



Jeff "Tookie" Williams (pictured above) runs the Swerve Pro. Murdered out black, these babies helped Jeff get to the podium Sunday for a brutal XC race in 110 degree heat. The no-slip nose pads rocked it, helping Jeff to get the job done. At just $69.99 with interchangeable lenses, the Ryders Eyewear value can't be beat.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hydrapak Defined

Monday, June 28, 2010

Jay Schippers And Royal In Decline Magazine!

Jay and company were interviewed a while ago in Decline Magazine, and here's the article!




**Jay Schippers "R & D'ing" his products in Moab, Utah.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Tookie Leads, Falters, Then Gets Back To Bronze!




Jeff Williams was over last night to hang out before his XC race in the "Battle Of Turkey Run" OMBC series slugfest. Saturday, we took the Tomacs out for a spin to "loosen up the legs" at Alum Creek, and had a really fun time talking s**t and getting up to speed on everything going on. A quick thirteen miles and we were back on the road, heading home to some fresh tuna steaks (thanks Whole Foods Market!) and spinach pasta. We had to be up at 7a.m. to set up for the Tour Of Grandview, which Tookie would have to leave from to get to the race in Zanesville. Here's the thing...the day's heat index was over one hundred degrees and the damn humidity made my boxers feel like I was "crotch-pot cooking." Miserabale day, and just sitting in the booth had me take in over a gallon and a half of water without having to pee for SEVEN hours. Scary.

Jeff went out like a shot at the gun, and actually had led the race for the first six or seven miles. Then the heat began to give him the shivers. the tunnel vision came next, and before his kidneys shut down he had the sense to back off. Dropping to the back of the field, he would regain his composure (thanks Amino Vital) and pin it to the finish line for a rock solid THIRD PLACE FINISH! Great job Jeff!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Humberto Castro Gets The ROX.


My next training tool. Thank u Sigma and my team Backbone. Thanks again Sigma. And Chris.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Sigma BC 1009 Video!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chuck-T In Decline Magazine For XPEDO!


Thanks to CRAZY KEN YAMAKOSHI from XPEDO for the exposure! Yeah-BOY!

Jay and ROYAL Host "Royal Ride Day" With Peatie!

Jay at Interbike checking out the goods...


ROYAL RACING ANNOUNCES ROYAL RIDE DAY WITH STEVE PEAT AND JOSH BRYCELAND AT SOL-VISTA BIKE PARK AT GRANBY RANCH

Denver, CO- June 8, 2010 – When is the last time that you had the chance to ride with the current World Champion DH racer who also happens to hold the record for the most World Cup wins? Never? Well now is your chance. Royal Racing the manufacture of quality mountain bike apparel would like to announce Royal Ride Day on July 2nd 2010 in conjunction with Sol Vista Bike Park in Granby Colorado.

Royal Ride Day is your opportunity to come and hang out and ride downhill with the current UCI DH World Champion Steve Peat. Also in attendance showing off his style and speed will be Josh Bryceland. Josh is the 2008 UCI Jr. DH World Champ and strong contender on the World Cup circuit since his move to the Elite level. Both riders will be at the mountain riding and hanging out and available to share riding tips and secrets as well as some good stories. Or you could try your best to hang with them on the many great DH trails at Sol-Vista Bike Park.



**Jim Roff , the ROYAL van and his Tomac SNYPER at Angel Fire, NM**



This is an open invitation for riders all over the world to come and ride with two of the greatest riders in the world as well as the staff of the Royal Racing USA office. On top of being able to ride with these guys anybody that shows up in a 2010 Royal kit will get a day lift pass for $10 instead of the regular $25. Better yet, riders can buy their new kits at the Sol Vista bike shop and get a free lift pass for the day of the event.


**The ROYAL RIVET XC Glove!**




Jason Schippers President of Royal’s US office explains: “This is a really exciting and great opportunity for mountain bikers everywhere. How often do you get to participate in and hang out with the top stars in other sports like you can on this day? What better place to do this at than the Sol-Vista Bike Park which is the home of the US National Championships just a few weeks after this event. Matt Thompson and the crew at Sol-Vista Bike Park do a great job on the trails as racer’s themselves. I know it is my favorite place to ride DH.”

Thompson Sol-Vista Bike Park manager comments: “We are overjoyed to host the Royal Ride Day. To have the current World Champ riding at the Sol-Vista Bike Park is an honor. These guys are not just great athletes, they’re good people too. They’re great ambassadors for our sport.”


For more information on Sol-Vista Bike Park and accommodations please visit www.bikesolvista.com. For more information on the Royal Ride Day please email jason@royalracing.com.

###

If you would like more information on this topic please contact Jason Schippers at 720-524-7085 or email Jason at jason@royalracing.com


Jason Schippers
Union Sport Group LLC
2340 S. Kalamath St. Unit A
Denver CO 80223
Phone: 720-524-7085
Fax: 720-542-8207
skype name: jason.schippers
www.royalracing.com

Monday, June 21, 2010

VANESSA BRINGS IT HOME!


After years of hard drinking and fried chicken in a hotel room in Phoenix, Vanessa finally TOOK HOME THE GOLD for the overall in California last weekend (for the US CUP!). This has been a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobg time coming, and congrats to V!

Tookie Votes Cap'n For Mayor?

Jeff Williams sent this in today via FB...that dude gets an "A" for creativity!

"City board, event planner, spot on NBC and now I'm starting to see these signs of your five year plan to rule Ohio."

Tookie

Mark Thome Takes Silver In Cal State!


Mark Thome was up in Big Bear, California last weekend to see if he could hold onto a top 10 overall spot in the Cal State Series.
While there, he managed to place well enough to move himself into the SILVER OVERALL for the Cat3's! Great job to Mark, and thanks for all the FB updates dude!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Nerd Alert! Chris On NBC!



Thanks to Todd at Columbus FitClique and Followmekids.org for the interview!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

OBX

Who knew?


So, I'm a giant nerd. Having never vacationed in North Carolina, I had never seen the abbreviation for "Outer Banks." I have never seen the abbreviation for Tyra Banks either, and very likely would be confused over that as well.
Turns out, "OBX" is everywhere down there. Being a newbie to the whole "Right Coast" thing, I was desperately trying to understand what OBX was. Was it a retail store selling dehydrated sea creatures for children's amusement? Everywhere I saw OBX, it seemed something was for sale. Did it stand for "Outlandishly Bad Xylophones?" Not sure, but it was driving me nuts. There were a TON of cyclists (mostly either beach cruisering locals or skin-suit-dipped Tri-people) taking advantage of the flat, utterly turnless and
wide open roads of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Maybe for them, OBX meant "Out-Bound Xanthan gum?"

As you roll north along the main highway, the full-time roadies thinned out and gave way to commuting locals on hybrids, mountain bikes, and other conversions. They seemed to congregate around the area near Kill Devil Hills, where the massive edifice erected to flight looms over the dunes, shining like a new dime. The Wright Memorial is a great place to do hill repeats, although at ninety degrees, with 85% humidity, I doubt anyone would take advantage of it's "Hors Categorie" climbs.

There were also a number of bikes locked up at the dunes near Kitty Hawk. Folks descended on this strip to take hang glider lessons, and to fly kites. The sand was about as white as Ryan Seacrests' choppers, and the coastal breeze made running out of kite string a snap.
Reeling IN all that string would prove to be something a bit more daunting.The view of the sound was magnificent, and riding the dunes would have proven an easy task if one were equipped with a SHERPA (do they even make those anymore?) or SURLY PUGSLY bike.
The evenings were spent in Manteo, near the Roanoke Colony history center. The bridge over the sound would be a great ride, especially since the quiet town of Manteo was such a great respite for "Tourist Trap" weary travelers. "Ortega'z" restaurant has a sweet patio to watch the bikes whizz by, and the old-world charm if this little fishing village was a pleasant change of pace from the brightly colored banners and streamers that made me think OBX stood for "Outlandish Branding, Xenian."
**Putting the boy to work aboard the "Elizabeth II" in Roanoke.

So now that I have gone, and understand what the h**l "OBX" ACTUALLY stands for, I won't feel like such a dork as I scratch my head and glare awkwardly at those little round stickers on the backs of your cars...

"I think it says OBX, honey."

Friday, June 18, 2010

LIMITED EDITION SIGMA ROX 9.0!


New ROX 9.0 Race Edition. Extremely limited-Only 100 units will be sold in the USA . You can pre-order at www.sigmasportstore.com



James Keller
Sales Manager
Sigma USA
1067 Kingsland Drive
Batavia, IL 60510

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Chuck, Bert & Bob "Most Demanding Athletes In The World!"


We have all known it for years, but mostly because of all the phone calls to replace broken equipment at 2a.m. from these three 'fritter legged dirt bags. It seems that THREE Backboners made it onto the SIGMA 2011 catalog as being amongst "..the most demanding athletes in the world." I totally believe that, because I think that ALL the riders here at BAC are completely dedicated to beer...CRAP..I mean TRAINING AND EXCELLENCE.

**Sigma's James Keller graciously tolerating my presence at Interbike last year. He's just doing that to get to my wife, I'm convinced.:)


A very huge "THANK YOU" to James and Brian, and everyone else at SIGMA for helping out the BAC racing crew. You guys rock like Amy Winehouse on a bender....

The Thome Report; Kenda Kup!


Santa Barbara US Cup West...beautiful day, fun course, but tough day for the troops. Vegas Bob was rolling for top 5, but chain broke, got it fixed & finished...Vanessa did best with a 2nd (great job!)...Humberto was around 8th...Cheyne was hurting...9th for me (Mark Thome), looks solid for podium for me now for the series with 2 rounds left up in Big Bear. I'll send a more complete summary with some good pics of Cheyne via Chris ASAP.

**THANKS GUYS!

The Tookie Test Ride; Tomac Carbide



Ok, my best friend is in from Florida and just seen the carbide on the car. " let's gets this bitch out and see what she can do" so for the next 30 mins, Joe rode, jumped, and tried to knock the wheels off the carbide in the parking lot. He came to swift conclusion " this bitch rocks" then I had to fight him in the parking lot to get it back.
Talk later
Tookie

Sunday, June 06, 2010

ROYAL and Jim's Snyper


Jim Roff was out at Angel Fire, New Mexico with Jay Schippers over the weekend, sporting the new ROYAL van and Jim's Tomac Snyper. The new ROYAL stuff is amazing, and after we return from vacation i will be rocking new ROYAL XC GLOVES on my road bike, just to be an a-hole. Thanks for the pic Jimbo!

Saturday, June 05, 2010

DAS AUTO BIKE!


Every time someone loses in a race, we can now blame the winner for cheating with GRUBER ASSIST. What is it? It's actually a super-trick micro-motor that drops inside the seat tube, and does a very good job of dragging you up and down the roads and trails. Crazy? Maybe, but the accusations are already out there in the Euro Pelotons.
You can visit their website at www.gruberassist.com for details on the motor set up. With battery technology getting better every week, this thing may have legs...even if the riders do not. From Gruber's website, the product is explained like this..

GRUBER Assist-
a high-quality tuning product for your bicycle:

GRUBER Assist is an ultra-light drive for mountain bikes, trekking cycles and tour cycles, suitable for later installation. The skilfully conceived Gruber motor is invisibly built into the bicycle (seat tube with an inner diameter of 31.6mm required) and scores especially highly on account of its light weight (900 g).



A touch of the Turbo button on the handlebar – and the burning sensation in your thighs disappears – the healthy perspiration, however, remains. The auxiliary drive, with its 200 watt of additional power, promises a performance increase of up to 100% – for min. 45 minutes at full load. When the drive is switched off, you continue cycling as normal. GRUBER Assist guarantees pleasurable cycling without a red face!

Product attributes

• The electric motor is very light
• The propelling assistance is invisible
• Cycling becomes fitness cycling and is thereby healthier
• Thanks to its retrofit kit, it is almost irrelevant what brand of bike you have
• The pedal assistance brings speed on flat and power going uphill


Below is a video that CLAIMS to prove how Fabian Cancellara used this technology (easy to mask the noise on cobbles, right?) to win races. Video is likely put together by all who lost, but it still makes you wonder if it's being used! For anyone racing DH, especially at courses like Fontana where the final sprint is flat and LONG, this thing could easily be hidden and sound could be masked. CRAZY!

NUTS, right? Now, if I could just find my mic and check the diameter of my seat tube......:)

Friday, June 04, 2010

Timari's Pie.

**Dirty bastards. You all thought this was something else, right?



KENDA sponsored endurance XC racer Timari "Booty" Pruis likes to get her hands all into her pie. Sure, she races mountain bikes and is alarmingly good at it...but for about forty hours each week, Timo is making her pie spicy just for you. She's been dilligently snapping pix for bike sponsor Pivot Cycles lately, though...and this affecting her ability to adequately provide the pie.



Here is Timo focusing on the rock pile she's riding for a photo shoot. She is certainly NOT thinking of her pie. Then again, she's smiling...so maybe, JUST MAYBE, she does in fact have pie on her mind....


**This post was specifically engineered for Randy Rush. Thanks, and good night.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Thanks To Monica Day And NBC 4!



Here it is! It finally aired today, and LOVE IT! :) Thanks to the Peacock and Monica Day.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Ara's Tomac Type X Update



Chris!!!!

After 7 years of racing/riding on the Epic, it feels so good to be on a
brand new bike that actually works in every aspect. I'll still come in
last place in Cat 1 but a few hours closer to second to last.

The Type-X is amazing! I got the White Carbon frame with the white
fork, looks sweet but will probably get dirty quick. Never had a full
Carbon bike and what a big difference. First thing I noticed on the
first ride was the absence of chatter. At first I thought I was getting
a flat! Power transfer is incredible, one pedal stroke and its flying.
Very clean and slick look to the frame design and the graphics are not
too flashy at all - some bike companies over do it. The frame is stupid
light, I mean I'm still scared to ride it because you guys know I crash
alot.

I chose the highest components package which includes the brand new
SRAM XX build kit. Was hesitating on getting this but it is awesome.
The shifting is super crisp, the gearing is perfect on flats and climbs
- plus no extra gears to cross chain. The thumb shifters are great
because you can have all fingers on the handlebars and shift at the
same time. After the first ride the bike was making a nasty clicking
noise, so I took apart the bike and put it back to together and the
creaking stopped. It was from the cassette which is a one peice
cassette! How awesome is that. The Avid Elixir brakes are powerful and
have not had any rubbage yet (except my taint). The Fox fork, WOW,
buttery smooth! Has a remote lockout which is great on climbs and nice
dial in knob for rebound speed. Also getting used to riding a flat bar
now, probably will change over to low riser soon. Overall, the
components match the bike.

I've put on a set of Xpedo pedals from last year, carbon water bottle
cage, (Can't wait 'til I get my
hands on a Sigma Rox) , and will swap the Easton XC One wheelsets for
Spinergy Xyclone disks.

Joel Smith and the gang at Tomac have done a great job designing and
putting together a great mountain bike. It was so worth the wait all
these months, and for me personally all these years. Looking forward to
racing this rig soon.

Thanks to Joel Smith at Tomac and the rest of the sponsors,

Fuzz