A short break from racing after Natio

nals led into the Kirkwood Super D and XC races in South Lake Tahoe. We are excited for Peter Lucas, a local Marin shredder to fill in for the rest of the season to make up for Max and Will’s

temporary inability to race.

First came the Super D, a time trial-best of two runs format on fast trails perfect for a Tallboy or TRc. After one run, Colby and Peter were sitting 2nd and 5th. Being quite a physical and technical race with lots of line choice going down, heading up for round two was no easy feat.

Peter and Colby switched places after the second run taking 2nd and 5th! Then it was time to rest up for another huge elevation effort the next day with some more strong locals in the XC.

Colby has been feeling good after nationals and pulled out a strong 3rd place finish! He was also super amped on racing the TRc for the Super D and Highball for the XC. Next up Downieville!

While Max opted to prepare for the upcoming

Ashland Enduro and chase KOM’s in Marin on the Nomad, Will and Colby braved the heat at the classic Skyl

ine Park XC Race. This 3 lap 21 mile race with 3600 feet of technical and steep climbing contains only the most fun dry rocky descents one can imagine. Mark Weir (Team WTB) and Glenn Fant (Bike Monkey/Norcal Bike Sport) even built special 29er full suspension lightweight but adept descending race bikes and made a $100 wager for who would beat who. Weir won. But Will finished ahead of him in 3rd, and Colby a few minutes back in 11th, both on the highly capable

Higballs with Nano 29 TCS tires.

Will knows how to flow even while spending all his time exclusively on the Nomad.

The race was stacked with the likes of Jason Moeschler and Mark Weir from Team WTB, Kevin Smallman (Incycle/Cannondale), Tony Smith (Whole Athlete) and Norcal Bike Sport/Bike Monkey Elite members Michael Zanetti and Glenn Fant. Local Dad and all around XC bike slayer Jim Hewett (Summit Bikes/Santa Cruz) took the win.

On Saturday Will and Colby headed to the Bike Monkey Marathon XC Race, SoNoMas.  One of the hardest races in Norcal, they took 4th and 13th racing for 34 miles and 7000 feet. Ouch.

Weir seemed to not like the heat, hardtail, or marathon xc, or all of the above?

Will on the other hand made the most of it!

Colby killing it also!

At the same time Max headed North with Pro Women’s winner Mary Moncorge, and Marshall Eames of Santa Cruz/Fox/WTB to race the first stop of the Oregon Enduro Series and North American Enduro Tour.

Dropping a rock on stage 1 (Funner Trail), Max took consistent runs across the weekend mid pack to finish inside the top half in a very stacked pro field of nearly 50 riders. He chose to race the light TRc to suit the race’s endless corners and healthy dose of pedaling, while still managing the occasional high speed rock drops/gardens no problem. And get rad on the jumps.

Here’s some follow cam footage from practice on stage 3, with a proper edit soon to come.

“There was so much pedaling, but not the kind you do in any XC. It’s like doing a million out of the saddle sprints. You really had to know the length of the stages and your strengths to know where to pedal and where to conserve. I killed myself halfway on the climb on stage 5 but then took forever to recover.” (The first place guy on this segment is a glitch)

It was a success and tons of fun, but a definite learning experience to improve upon.  With some more respectable finishes the Oregon Enduro Series and North American Enduro Tour Max should be able to finish well in the overalls.  We are real excited for the next

stop in Ashland, but first the Skyline XC!

This past weekend Max headed North to Oregon for a first time experience with the Ashland Spring Thaw, racing the XC on Saturday and DH on Sunday (although not many do both and there’s unfortunately no all mountain category). It was his first race back after a mid season break after a painful Sea Otter Classic XC. A big thanks to Kyle Macaroni for many TRc and Highball shuttles on Friday (and a place to crash Thursday night), and Austin Riba for a place Friday/Saturday night.

“I lined up in the front row knowing it would be crucial to stay towards the front to get into some of the faster groups pacelining up the gradual but never ending climb to long flat traverse. The pace was a little slow at first so I rode in 2nd for a bit at my own pace and continued to ride my own race as that settled me around 12th by about 1/2 way up the hour long climb. I knew gearing up to stay with Carl Decker and a few others would not be sustainable as I was already tapped out at 189 HR for 30 minutes. The race felt real long for only 1.5 hours since the singletrack descending was only the last 19 minutes, but said 19 minutes sure was rad while it lasted! The

top flat section of the course 3 other 29er’s and I pacelined averaging 25 mph, but only 1 other and I knew how to descend the ripping single track down, so we pulled away immediately. Fortunately, I was quicker on corners while he was quicker on rough sections and fireroads (partially due to bigger tires and a Kona scandium fully), so as we took turns leading I got by on the last trail, BTI, a downhill pumptrack to the finish with too many berms to count! This put

just inside the top 10 in front of some other really fast guys so I’m stoked on this result as my first race back.”

The Highball was perfect for the course, flying on the uphill and flats with it’s big wheels and low weight, and pinning the last descent with it’s playful geometry and Nano 2.1 TCS Tires absolutely hooking up AND rolling fast (Ryan Condrashoff even decided to race them on his TR to 5th place in the DH as well the next day-not something I could get away with)!

Sunday brought more shuttle-fun with the DH race. That didn’t go as well but was still tons of fun! ~4 minutes of HIGH speed single track with lots of switchbacks, 1 rock garden and a jump. Not quite gnarly enough for a DH but definitely not long enough for a Super D (the xc race went down it). This made for some close racing, the top 5 all within one second.

“My first DH race in 2 years, and first time racing the course (seemed like everyone else had done it for years). I can make a lot of excuses for why I didn’t go super fast like everyone else, but when it comes down to it I need to work on my higher speed riding and lay off the brakes. I rode smooth and pretty damn fast, but more of a 10 minute + race pace, not a 4 minute balls out one.”

“The TRc is still amazing me as it was so light, pedaled so fast, and railed corners/switchbacks no problem. It was especially fun ripping behind Nathan Riddle on some slalomy upper trails afterwards!”

Check out more photos in the Gallery.

Meanwhile back in GnarCal, Colby took a sweet top 5 with a 4th place at the Lake Sonoma Ricochet. You could see more of him riding in this video of the race, but he was too close to the front, so it’s mostly the start.

“I just wanted to test my fitness after Sea Otter and was riding relatively strong. Lake Sonoma is one of the more demanding and physical XC courses on the local scene and the Highball was descending just as good as all the fully 29ers out there. Races put on by Bike Monkey are always a rad experience”

That makes two successful races for the Highball for us this past weekend and next up is the first Oregon Enduro and first race of the North American Enduro Tour in Bend Oregon!

The X Fusion Media Camp just before Sea Otter was a great experience for us, hanging out and riding with the other athletes-from all around killers like Lopes to s

lopestyle machines like Tyler McCaul-as well as X Fusion engineers, and some major media publications. We enjoyed catered food with gluten free options all day, product presentations, chasing Lopes and Hauer down the upper campus trails, and finished with a lively after party.

Then last weekend the team tackled the Sea Otter Classic, racing the brutally hot and STACKED xc race, as well cheapest car servicing as catching up with basically everyone in the world that bikes and all of our great sponsors. While Max and Colby had good starts but proceeded to detonate in the heat, Will Curtis kept on strong and consistent the whole race, for a very respectable 5th place U23 and 41st place overall.

“Sea Otter was definitely a focus not only because it is a huge event but because of the trail of bad luck leading up to it. In the past races this season, I had problems with mechanicals and crashing, so just to have a clean race was a success. On top of that to feel strong and have a solid performance in tough conditions made it even better. I’m stoked to confirm that my fitness is coming and motivated to keep it up at the next races. Also great to see all of our sponsors and friends out there; always serves as a reminder of how lucky we are to be surrounded by such awesome and supportive people.”

Big thanks to the Hive/E*Thirteen for

helping us out so much at the race as well as to all of our other sponsors for getting us everything we need to race competitively with the best race set ups possible. Our rides are now all ready to go and updated on our site so feel free to check out what the hot new set ups are!

Next up on our calendar will be the Boggs 8 Hour XC, Rock Hopper SD and XC, and then Ashland Spring Thaw (DH and XC)!

Also feel free to check out Will representing UCSC for the collegiate mountain bike team.