A Quick Recap

No GoPro footage of race runs folks. Speed is the name of game this year.

Came into this race more fit than 2012. Gym and 20+ mile XC rides multiple times per week. I mostly train alone so I started using Strava to gauge my progress. I know, I know. It’s a tool. Piss off.

The hard work paid off. Practice was good although the trail ate many of our brethren. Namely, the road gap. Five feet bigger this year. Danny didn’t know that. Cased it. Ambulance. Cracked lid. Hospital told him he had a broken rib, concussion and an air bubble in his chest cavity. Then they CT’ed him and took it all back?Reading, PA.  :  /

Dan wasn’t the only one.

Ambo came a total of 4 times that day. One guy got a concussion, came back and raced. Crashed again on the bunker jump in his race run, knocked himself out for 5 minutes AND broke a collar bone. Head injuries are no joke, homey. If you’re down, STAY DOWN. The name of this game is Live to Ride Another Day.

In terms of our team, everyone walked away, even Dan. Some of us had great finishes.

• We recruited a new member, Monger, who took 1st place in Cat2 19-29
• Render came back from the race talking about buying a proper DH rig. DO IT Mike
• Gary had a clean run and a clean practice
• Patrick finished middle of the pack in Cat1, his first race in 3 seasons
• Justin got tossed off the bike a few times but came up with a clean race run finishing 8th
• I got hung up in a loamy berm and lost seconds. Pissed, but I live to race again

For final results in all categories, click here.

For GES pictures, click here.

Some Team Pics (and Wayne)

(Photo credits to Sonja McG Photography)

Gary Lessner

Justin Stuller

Mike Monger

Mike Monger

Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart

Justin Stuller

BIG WAYNE!

Justin Stuller

We took some time this past weekend to work the kinks our of bikes and bodies after having had the big bikes hung up for the winter. Went out on some local DH trails and played around. Here are some pics taken via GoPro of Justin and Patrick. I need a new lens cover for the GoPro. Everything in the center is blurry cause there’s a scratch dead center in the plastic housing.  : /

Patrick airing out a small gap

Patrick, small corner jump

Patrick off the 10 foot drop

Patrick, double after the drop

Justin on the double

Justin getting high off the small gap

Mountain Bike Apparel Company Joins Maxxis International & Formula North America as Sponsor of the East Coast’s 2013 Downhill Mountain Biking Race Series

Spoke Apparel, an online mountain bike apparel company, has announced its presenting sponsorship of the 2013 Gravity East Race Series as well as the company’s 2013 downhill race team. Through Spoke Apparel’s relationship with the branding firm, Vitamin, the apparel company will help promote and grow the series’ name and brand.

In an effort to parallel the sponsorship and boost Spoke Apparel’s visibility, the company has also put together a downhill race team for 2013. The team, consisting of both male and female riders, is comprised of racers in the semi-pro and sport categories. The team will help promote the brand through Spoke Apparel’s kit, which includes team jersey and matching Spoke Apparel designed SockGuy socks.

Mike Karfakis, founder of Spoke Apparel and also founder of Vitamin, is leveraging his brand management boutique’s assets and talent set to help the Gravity East Series with a wholesale redesign of the series web site. The updated web site will be social media friendly, visually stimulating and photography-centric. Videos and pictures will be aggregated in logical, user-friendly formats on dedicated pages for each race. It will be a destination that riders and racers will frequent when they are looking for results, photos, and videos of each race within the series.

As a part of the sponsorship package, both Spoke Apparel and Vitamin will receive promotion throughout the Gravity East race venues including brand visibility on the winner’s podium backdrop, race-day signage, race day number plates, and through banner advertising via the Gravity East Series web site.

“We’re ecstatic to put fourth the effort to support this series,” said Mike Karfakis. “The scene at the Gravity East races consists of everything from professional riders to recreational riders. Family and friends are everywhere and everyone is supportive of one another. The vibe is enthusiastically positive, and we’re proud to be a closer part of it all. The Gravity East Series, and those that support it and race it,  are what mountain biking is all about. We’re proud to see our company names along side established and respected  brands like Maxxis and Formula North America.”

In an earlier press release by the Gravity East Series, Maxxis and Formula were quoted as saying:

“Maxxis is once again proud to be the title partner for the 2013 Gravity East Series,” said Aaron Chamberlain, Marketing Specialist at Maxxis International, USA. “We’re excited to continue our partnership with the premier downhill race series on the East Coast.”

Christoph Vogl, General Manager of Formula North America, said, “Formula is very excited to continue our partnership with the Gravity East Series in 2013. As the returning Presenting partner for the series, we are proud to work with such a proven and longstanding series.”

About Spoke Apparel
Spoke Apparel® is a lifestyle clothing company specializing in t-shirt fashion for cycling enthusiasts. The company’s designs are focused primarily on freeride, downhill and XC mountain biking. Through creative graphic designs, Spoke Apparel’s t-shirt artwork visually depicts the essence of cycling that pedal bike enthusiasts share.

About Vitamin
Vitamin®, the “Cure for the Common Brand®,” is the mid-Atlantic’s first boutique design-web-public relations firm focused on nourishing brands through a best practices, all-in-house approach to creating cohesive identity, print, interactive and PR programs. Vitamin’s client list includes regional and national companies in diverse fields, including built industry, banking, education, healthcare, restaurant/ hospitality, non-profit and search/staffing. Vitamin is certified MBE/DBE by the Maryland Department of Transportation.

About the Gravity East Series
The Gravity East Series is the East Coast’s preeminent downhill race series. Founded in 2007, the series is in its seventh season.  Since that time, it has grown to become one of the largest and longest running gravity series on the East Coast offering riders an affordable, professionally run series with ever changing diverse competition, courses and venues. The series has served as the training ground for several amateur athletes, such as Neko Mullaly, who have moved on to have successful careers in professional mountain bike racing.

Congrats Mr. Aguado however please leave the agro antics for the jocks.

Our friend Tom put us on to this media coverage. We’re sharing it cause we want the bastard(s) responsible caught. We’ve long been aware of the trail sabotage going on at Frederick Watershed. Why it’s happening, we can only guess. Lots of trail users out there. We aren’t going to finger a particular group, but were fairly certain we know which group is responsible. Thanks to the Bicycle Escape for their willingness to advocate and speak on camera. Shouts to our friend Dan from the Eternal Roots crew.

All creeds to mtb-news.de and tractionmag.com for keeping us up to date.

Mobile phone spy shot of Marc Beaumont’s prototype GT with what looks like a revised i-Drive system. New for GT i-Drive is the rocker from the damper suspension. Appears to be an aluminum prototype. No further information available but mtb-news.de is trying to obtain further information from Atherton team manager Dan Brown.

See article in German here.

There’s a bombed-out warehouse at the bottom of some local DH trails. Getting inside is sketchy. The inside is even sketchier. Rusty nails, massive holes dropping three stories down and the infrastructure and roof collapsing all around. Really wanted to grab these shots so took the German Shepherd and found our way in. Alaz got through fine but I had to keep an eye on him close. He walked into three floor holes that could have broken a leg or worse. Caught him each time. Wasn’t easy with the bike on my back. All stairs leading up were barely stairs anymore. Made it to the roof and grabbed these shots. Some are more artful than others. All done with an iPhone and some clean up work in PS.

This tire is an idiotic concept and a massive waste of someone’s time and resources. Give up the ability to dial in tire pressure for the mundane solution of alleviating the chance of a puncture? The better you get on a bike, the less you flat. So get those skills up kids and forget about the shortcuts.

The 12 O’Clock Boys

If you’re from Baltimore, Maryland, you need no intro. For all ya’ll outta-towners, meet the 12 O’Clock Boys. And you thought you could wheelie. Silly rabbit.

Click here for the Kickstarter on the documentary from a couple years ago.

Check Out The Official Trailer Here.

Some Pics

Street artist Plastic Jesus threw up a some Lance Armstrong inspired bike art in L.A. Thanks for the inspiration Lance.

Photo creds: Steve Peat