For the first time in history mountain bike racing is going to happen indoors! If your planning on attending the Interbike trade show in Vegas make sure to stop by the South Point Casino at 7pm on Wed Sept 24th. For any additional information on this race contact Don Jackson, at either: www.arenamtn-x.com or www.southridgeusa.com. See you all out there and wish me luck!!

Cheers,

-James

Just incase you didn’t know…. Traveling to the airport at 4am in a raging downpour with your cardboard bike box in the back of a pickup truck, isn’t a good idea. But the good news is when you get there it looks like you covered your bike in wet toilet paper!! To fix this problem you need: 1- 12″x12″x12″ cardboard box and $15 worth of packing tape from your closest fed-ex kinko’s store. Begin by placing the new cardboard box, ( that you’ve already cut up) over all the holes in the box that your bike is falling out of. Then procede by covering the ENTIRE box in the packing tape that you spent enough money on to eat for the next week or two…depending on how you “roll”… Then you have to find something in common with one of the fedex employees so they begin to like you alot, because there is no way in hell they would ship this otherwise! After that catch your flight home and wait a week. Then this appears… oh and not to mention you get bitched out by the delivery guy because it is, and i quote…”the stupidest shit I have ever seen…”

Cheers,

-James

Anyways to start this whole trip to national champs off… On my way to LAX I almost died in a flash flood! Thats no joke! About 2 feet of muddy water came pouring off a hillside and across the road right in front of me!! It happen too close for me to stop so when I went through it I almost got swept off the road. I never thought the drive from Mammoth to Socal could ever be exciting…Guess I was wrong!! I got a somewhat decent pic of the destruction in another place. This one was obviously taken long after the water was gone though. So now im in Mt. Snow Vermont for national championships after a 22 hr travel day and will get some pics uploaded asap. The slalom course here is decent at best, but somehow it’s still fun! Don’t ask me how but it is.

Cheers,

-James

Here are a few of my favorite pics that photographer Jeremiah Dylan Dean has taken of me throughout the 2008 season. Hope you enjoy! And don’t forget to visit www.dylan-dean.com!!

Heres a couple pictures of Mikey Haderer having some fun with a lift tower pad, a shot of the view from the Downhill finish, and one of the yet-to-be-ridden-in slalom track. This years slalom course was built by Landon Taylor…. and as usual its one of the best on the circuit. Anyways I hope this keeps all of you entertained untill there is some racing that goes on here, (since it is only wednesday!). Check back soon!!

Cheers,
-James

Thats right the bike park at Mammoth is opening this coming saturday, June 21st. Unfortunately the gondola wont be running for about 2-3 more weeks, but everything from main lodge down will be open. The trails that will be open are: UPTOWN, DOWNTOWN, PAPER ROUTE, JUNIPER, LAKES TRAIL, LOWER BULLET, LOWER FOLLOW ME, SHOTGUN, BIG RING, and TIMBER RIDGE. Also everything that branches off paper route will be accessible. In other news for Mammoth, it is now officially a Kona bike park. And the Mammoth Motocross is now going on from June 19-29th. Hope to see you all out there on the trails this weekend!!

Cheers
-James

Just to let you know this is what it does in NM… The Mtn-X course is super fun with huge jumps, but unfortunately its the kind of course that requires decent weather, so instead of riding im in the hotel lobby with Kieran Bennett writing this. Oh well, maybe tomorrow there will be practice. One can only hope!!

Cheers-
James

Unfortunately I crashed in qualifying at the Los Olivios, Firestone Walker national. In BOTH runs!!! Does that even happen? seriously answer that question, cause I might have set some kind of record here… but the course was super fun. The start was awesome, actually down a steep hill, hit a nice step down, then into some berms that were near perfection! After that a quad of rollers and into a weird flat left turn to the finish. The only problem besides my crashes was that it was 190 degrees all weekend!! It was definately a good slalom course though and im looking forward to heading out to santa barbara again for it next year.

Cheers-
James

photo courtesy: stickman

Hey all you fans of swag!!! save yourself the hastle and just buy it from these guys….

And here are the reasons why:
1) its cheaper
2) they are cooler
3) ill give you their info
4) and you should definately value my opinion if you take the time to type my rediculously hard to pronounce last name to visit this site.

www.ridesfo.com
sales@ridesfo.com
1.510.734.0042

so there it is… now blow some serious $$$$$$$ at these guys store. oh and RIDE-SFO also puts on the CHDH downhill race so visit there website for more info on that. did i mention they offer prize money?? who does that anymore??

Ahhhhh the man, the myth, the legend. Mr. “let the ballers ball and the players play” COLLIN MYERS!! I know this shout out is kinda lame, especially for him!! But without Collin, I would be without a good portion of what I have today. He’s always been one to stand behind me no matter what and bring a good laugh for me trackside!! Thanks Collin!! Your support is much appreciated!
I even attached a pic of us freezing our balls off at sea otter together!!