Chris Akrigg THE MAURICE.0 from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Kranked ReJeKt - Episode 7 from KRANKED/ReJeK+ on Vimeo.

One gear No idea from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

Kyle Karpuska took the Win in the Pro Dual Slalom race. Willem Cooper qualified right behind Kyle, but was pumped out in the first round.

Pro:
Chris Higgerson, 1st. Bigg Higg is on first! Way to take the win Higg!

Cat 1 30-39
Neil Snyder, 1st. Neil is an animal… that is all I can say about that BAMF.

Donnie Roberts, 2nd. Donnie keeps landing 2nd place. I know he is getting hungry for the top spot. I know he will get it soon. (Just pedal more you old man!)

Willem Cooper, 6th. Willem did not have the fastest run. Words from Neil are “ You need the eye of a tiger”. Willem plans on keeping that in mind for the next race.

Cat 1 1-18
Hunter Budd, 3rd. Hunter crashed three times and still got a stellar result!

Cat 3 (Woman’s)
Becky Bagley, 4th. Becky was not happy with her run, but learned from her mistakes. 

Highland Mountain Bike Park has set the bar for race events on the East Coast.  Stop number five on the Gravity East series was one of the best tracks to date and really showed how hard the HMBP crew had been working.  The Dual Slalom had many riders saying this was the best track they had ridden.  The amount of time and effort that went into this killer DS track was unmistakable.  Check out the video.

 The DH track was a combination of tight turns, a lot of braking bumps and plenty of pedaling.  Bigger more powerful riders really shined on the course as the track went from steep to flat and it was all about carrying speed.  Many members of the team pounded their way into top fives and had finishes that turned heads.

 Fastest time on course-

2:40

 Fastest Pro-

Ben Moody

 Fastest CAT1-

Neil Snyder

 Tire of Choice for track-

Low Pressure Maxxis Minion

 Celebrity sightings-

Shaums March

Kyle Ebbet

Ben Moody (Local Celebrity)

 PRO MEN-

 2nd Chris Higgerson

Big Higg may be the most consistent rider on the East Coast.  He proves this week in and week out with his naughty skills and results.

 5th Luke Snyder

Luke was aiming for gold his first run but, on the last corner the SRAM banner in the middle of the course had other plans.  On a rerun, a shot Luke tapped a top 5.

 13th Willem Cooper

Willem had a sick run going but the SRAM banner set up the booby trap, bringing Willem to a grinding holt.  Willem didn’t want to try his luck with a re-run and took a 13th.

 
CAT 1-

 30-39

 1st Neil Snyder

This BAMF killed it with skills and monster truck power.  He had the fastest CAT 1 time two GE races in a row.  Not bad for an OLD man construction worker!

 6th Donnie Roberts

The DS track really drained Donnie the night before and he put down a solid 6th in what may end up being the toughest class in the series.

 0-18

 4th Jake Baxter

He still managed to pull together a fast run and threw down a 3:10.

 6th Hunter Budd

Hunter was trashed from DS and took an easy run down the course netting him a 6th.

 CAT 2

 0-18

7th Greg Zlotnick

This was one of Greg’s strongest results for the season.  Keep on pace and a win is on the way.

 19-29

 8th Dustin Foundry

Dustin couldn’t resist keeping his kit clean and decided to get out the face shovel and eat some dirt.  He still pulled it together and threw down a 3:20.

Womens-
CAT 2-
1st Becky Bagley

This is two in a row for Becky.  Way to kill it!!

Thanks sponsors!

Team Voncooper
Mongoose
Mt. Snow VT
Five Ten
e13 components
Smith Optics
Maxxis Tires
Ernie's Cycle Shop
Squirt Chain Lube
Nema
Division26

Mongoose Tribe member Shawn Metcalf plays in the mud at 7Springs.

7Springs went pretty good. Since the course was not so rough I decided to race the Nugget on the Downhill race. I honestly was up in the air on which one I wanted to race, but thought "what the heck, what's the worst that can happen". And, besides, it was getting a lot of attention. It was a little rough through the rock garden, but overall it was a super fun and fast bike to ride there. I ended up in 6th place.

Snowshoe was a WHOLE different animal. It was sooooo muddy there. Even though I prefer riding when it is dry, I had an absolute blast! I had a small crash in my race run, which led to a small drive train issue, but quickly recovered. I ended up 3rd. So, pretty good finish, as always, I need to improve.

My next race is at Snowshoe July 25-26. Looking forward to it.

Top 10:
1. Kurtis Sorge 152,50
2.Darren Berrecloth 150
3.Fabien Pédemanaud 141,75
4.Aari Barret 132,50
5.Steve Romaniuk 131,25
6.Garett Buehler 130
6. Julien Fournier 130*Prix spécial du jury
8. James Doerfling 128,25
8. Graham Agassiz 128,25
10. Thomas Genon 126,50

Mongoose Bikes, Schaefer Tracks and the City of Stoughton,WI have teamed up to build an all inclusive bike park to serve the greater Madsion, WI area. Located on the south side of Stoughton in an area called the Mel Bakke Bike Park the facility has been 3 years in the making. Originally the City had allocated the land for bikes because BMX riders were riding the local skateboard park.

The first portion of construction began in 2007 and involved pouring a concrete slab and building a series of wood ramps. Adjacent to the ramps sat roughly 2 acres of open dirt area which was never developed until recently when Mongoose and Schaefer Tracks teamed up to aid the City in the building of proper dirt jumps, a pump track and a skills park using 400+ cubic yards of dirt.

The bike park is not fully completed, but well underway and should be done this summer. The design is meant to have something for BMX and MTB at all skill levels making it a true bike park and not just a BMX park.

The City of Stoughton has run out of funding for the bike park and all the work provided by Mongoose Bikes and Schaefer Tracks was pro-bono with the aid of local volunteers. Much more is needed to make the bike park the best it can be as well as maintain it into the future.

Anyone interested in making a contribution of money or materials should contact Brian Baldis at baldis44@yahoo.com. More work dates will be arranged in the near future to complete the pump track and skills area. Signs will posted on the park gate with work dates and times as well as on the bike park portion of the City of Stoughton web page.

Directions from Madison: Take 51 south off the Beltline to Stoughton. Turn right on Page st. Go a couple blocks and look for a park on the right after a 4 way stop.

This past weekend Team Voncooper was at Mt. Snow, Vermont, for the second race of their series. It has been raining on the East Coast for almost three weeks now, non-stop. As you can guess, the track was a total mess. Lots of mud; it made for a good time to ride, but not really that fun to race.  All day Saturday I was feeling great on the bike until my last practice run. I slipped out at the bottom of Roxys Rocks. I fell with my arm sticking straight out and more or less punched a rock. This caused my shoulder to come out of the socket. I put my shoulder back in and finished the run. I had a lot of adrenalin so I didn’t really feel the pain. Kyle helped me put my shoulder back in place and the team headed up to race Super D. Super D was really fun!  Kyle Karpuska got 3rd in the Cat 1/ Pro Class.  Halfway through my run I started to feel my shoulder, and I backed off. I ended up 8th.

Sunday the rain came back to play. It had rained all night. The track was a total mess with puddles at the top that were a foot deep. I opted out and did not race. Instead I just filmed all day. Chris Higgerson had a great run and pulled together 2nd in the Pro class! Over all the weekend was really fun and Team Voncooper is looking forward to this weekend at Windham for the 4th stop of the GES.

Cat 1 19-29:
Kyle Karpuska 5th

Cat 1 30+
Donnie Roberts 2nd

Cat 2 19-29
Krishna Gandhi 2nd

Cat 3
Becky Bagley 1st

Thanks you sponsors!

Team Voncooper
Mongoose
Mt. Snow VT
Five Ten
e13 components
Smith Optics
Maxxis Tires
Ernie's Cycle Shop
Squirt Chain Lube
Nema
Division26

This Friday I held a premiere of the latest mountain bike film "Barred for Life". The showing was downtown Kelowna - my hometown. Over 300 people showed up to take in the festivities and enjoy the world class movie. The local bike shops also contributed by bringing in bike displays and apparel. Mongoose had front row with my own Boot'R and Nugget bikes sitting at the main entrance. This movie had people saying it was the best release since the "Collective" almost five years ago. Several times I had heard people say the comment "Bike Porn". This must be new lingo. Fellow Mongoose Pinn'R Garett Buehler made the drive down as well as other pro athletes Mike Kinrade and James Dorfling. The movie had the crowd yelling and air horns firing! After the showing the real party began as I celebrated the completion of my section and receiving
opening intro and segment to the movie on board my Mongoose Boot'R. Make sure you get your hands on a copy of "Barred for Life"! You will not be disappointed! This shots backstage explain the aftermath!

Steve Romaniuk

Barred For Life Teaser from Bjorn Aunet on Vimeo.

The last round of the National downhill series was held at Glenorchy in Tasmania. It is hard to believe that the final round was already here.

Couldn't wait to get to Tassie as I received my new Mongoose Boot'r bike only a week before Tassie and as I was in Perth hanging out with Sam and Brendan when it came in, Tassie would be the first time that I would ride it, I could not wait it looked so sweet.

We flew in on Wednesday night and then went straight to the track on Thursday so we could walk the track and also do a couple of push up runs, we only did one and a half as the push up was pretty hard and it took over an hour to do it.

Practice was going great until I tried to stay low over the step up at the end of the track and got a little bit too low and went over the bars, managed to wind myself and as you probably know that is not the best feeling when you cannot breath.  I also landed straight on my head and hurt my neck so I decided to call it a day and go home to recover. I had an ice bath to try to reduce the swelling it worked great and when I woke up on Saturday morning I was only a little bit stiff in the neck.

Sunday race day, practice went well and I was finally time to race, just tried to keep it together on my race run especially up the top section because I knew if I fell off I would possibly miss out on taking out the series. I rode fast but conservative, it was great to see Josh and other mates up the track cheering me on, it definitely makes you try hard.  I came across the line in a 3.16 and I was pretty happy with that, my time would of see me win the under 19s and end up 7th in Elite men I would of
loved to have another run without the pressure of trying to take out the series.

THANKS TO MONGOOSE, SRAM, ADIDAS EYEWEAR, CRANKBROTHERS,FOX,LOTEK SHOES,
MAXXIS AND MY ADELAIDE SPONSORS, TRAK CYCLES AND RESULTS ELECTRICAL.

Cheers TB

The final round of the Aussie nationals was held across Bass Strait in the little town of Glenorchy, Tasmania.  This club has previously held two national rounds in 05 and 06 but not long after the club went broke and they crossed the venue off the list.  Luckily the club is back on its feet and we are back racing at arguably the best venue in AUS.
 
I planned to race 4X as well as DH in this event because both the tracks are so sick.   Flying out with two bikes early Thursday morning was presumed to be a disaster. I was expecting to get hit up over $300 becasue of their new oversize rule. But luckily I booked these flights before the new rule came in, so John from behind the counter hooked me up with a race deal and sent me on my way with 59kg of checked in luggage at no cost. Yeow already $300 up on this trip.
 
So we bombed in Thursday midday to Tasmania. We picked up our Nissan Navara hire car, just out of sight from the hire company and the Navara was ripping compressionies on every down change. You gotta love downhillers haha.   We got to our hotel, dumped off our stuff and cruised out to the venue.   The place is amazing exactly like I remembered, Rad 4X track in the middle, DH coming down the side with 6 big moto jumps to the finish and the whole place littered with sick Dirt Jumps.  We walked the track and sorted out some lines. A fair bit of stuff to look at and I couldn't wait to get into it.
 
After building our bikes and getting them race prep'd we decided to go and find some tucker. It was pretty late and the only place we could find was this rough as chicken shop on the corner called "Legs and Breast". They were closing up shop but with a call like "I wouldn't mind a bita legs and breast myself" to the overweight manager, she couldn't turn us away.
 
Friday morning, we got to the track nice and early. I had a play around on the 4X track all morning which was so fun. It’s got a few big jumps in it where you can earn some style points.
 
Downhill shuttles got started and it was time. I punched out 4 or 5 runs with teammate Troy Brosnon and we both started getting the hang of things. I found this pretty gnar gap line in between this rock drop and a tree. It was really tight and I decided to save myself and hit it on Saturday when I’m a bit more warmed up.
 
A pretty tame night mounting Kerbs in the Navara and we were off to bed.
 
Practice started at 8am for group A on Saturday. We were out there early, got ready and started punching out runs. My first run I did a bit of a warm up. Second run I stopped and checked out this line. The main drop line was good but you had to scrub off lots of speed so you didn't land in the turn. Only a bar width from the side of the rock drop was a tree. I had a go at gapping in between the tree and slightly over the corner of the rock. First attempt I clipped my pedal on the rock and just rubbed my shoulder on the tree. Somehow I held on but I still came out with really good exit speed through the left hander. I kept doing it as the day went on and had it pretty dialled by the end of practice. The track was starting to get really dusty and blown out. It was so sick. After practice we had about a 3 hour wait until 4X started. I did a few laps of the course and then had a little nap.
 
4X started. My first heat I had Luke Madill (BMX Olympian) who will be repping the GT International team at the World Cups this season. My good mate Cody Eichorn who is a demon 4X rider and some other pinned BMX rider. Out of the gate they all hosed me and cut inside. I slowed up, let them tangle, pedalled flat out around the first berm and cased the S**T out of the first double. The crowd loved it. I followed the skecthy BMXer down but couldn't pass him. Cody took 1ST and Madill in 2ND
 
I forgot to bring my 4X race tyres down so I was running my rear training tyre which is a bald Maxxis Larson. Its so sick for drifting. Anyway second heat, I got a great gate. Went into the first turn in 2nd place, rear tyre steps out massively and I pulled a full 180 without crashing and somehow dodging the other riders. So another 4th.
 
Third heat, managed to pull it together and rode a solid lap. I chased my mate Cody down but was unable to get him. So 2nd in that one.
I didn't have enough points to make it to Semi's so I was done for the evening, I still had loads of fun though.
Congrats to Luke Madill who went on to take the win and also the overall and my mate Cody for pulling off 5th and placing 3rd in the overall.
 
Race day it was, I was feeling flogged from such a big day on Saturday but still ready to get loose.
We got out there just in time to do a practice run with teammate Broso. We were both riding really good and had such a fun run. I did another practice run, had a rest, and it was time for Qualies.
 
Due to some UCI rule, although I was still leading the points series, I was given #2 becasue Amiel had more UCI points than me.
For qualies I had a really good run. Stayed smooth, saved my energy, and threw down some sideflights for the crowd on the finish jumps. I qualified 2nd with a time of 3:15. Amiel Cavalier quali'd 3rd with a 3:16 and Ben Cory smashed his run and smoked us all with a 3:09.99. Amiel and I had a laugh about how hard its going to be to pull out 6 seconds, especially with the track conditions by finals.
 
All other categories began coming down. I walked up the track to watch my Mongoose teammate Troy smoke the U17's Div. He hit the bottom off camber root section off TAP!! It was so quick. And so was his time, he destroyed his competitors by 7 seconds with a time of 3:16.65. Good on ya Champ. Troy also took out the National overall series for U17's. yeow
 
My turn. I went up to the top, and got warmed up.
I was feeling a little nervous but not as bad as I thought I would be. There are about 5 people that could take the series at this point.
Beep, Beep, beep. Out of the gate. Got a nice smooth first section, stayed relaxed. The course was destroyed. I hit a tun and blew out the rut causing me to go low, I managed to hold my speed though. I came into the rock gap line really nervous but I hit it the best I had yet. After that I relaxed a bit more becasue the hard part was over. Started getting really loose for the bottom fast off camber sections. The crowd was insane so I opened up the throttle.
Sprinted over the last big jumps, I brake checked before the step down, still managed to overjump it but I just made it up the follwoing step up. Big pedal across the line with a time of 3:11.45 and knocked Amiel out of the hotseat. The last rider left was Ben Cory, He was so quick on the last jumps and powerhoused it over the finish to take the number 1 with a time of 3:11.03. Good work Benny. 

I was super stoked to get 2nd in the race, but then I realised what I had done. I had beaten Amiel which means I kept the number 1 plate and took home the Aussie National overall series. yeoww! I was so pumped.
I had to hang around the finish to knock off some interviews with everyone. A few kids came up and got my autograph and let me know how I've inspired them, I got such a good feeling from those groms.
 
So a podium for 2nd in the race and then another one for the Overall. Team Mongoose taking out the Under 17's and Eilte overall series on the 2009 Mongoose Boot'R. The bike works a treat.
 
It was a great season and I couldn't have done it without all the guys and girls from Mongoose bikes, SRAM/Rockshox, the pit crew was aweome thanks for helping me all season, everyone at Dee Why bike hub for helping me out with my bikes at home, Maxxis tyres, Adidas eyewear, Lotek shoes, Crankbrothers pedals, RB consulting group and of course my parents.
 
So off to Oceanias in two weeks and sometime after that I may be overseas for the UCI World Cups.
 
See you there
Josh Button
 
 

Read about how the Mongoose Australia Racers fared at nationals.

National Round 1 - Adelaide 01-02 November 2008

Round 1 Australian National Series, Eagle Park Adelaide

Eagle Park National Round 1 Adelaide

...Chris Akrigg for Brakeless Part 2!! (Insert polite applause here.) The video blew up when it was posted on www.Pinkbike.com, and the people have spoken. Be prepared to be amazed at Pinkbike's latest Video of the Day. (Oooooo...aaaaaahhhh...)  Check out his website www.chrisakrigg.com for photos, videos, and blogs.

Mongoose Announces 2009 Team Roster

Bethel, Conn. – October 24, 2008– Mongoose today announced the new 2009 Mongoose mountain bike team.  Eric Carter will continue to fly on the ‘Goose and DH phenom Mick Hannah returns to mountain bike racing as part of the Mongoose team.  Mongoose will continue to support the freeride scene with talented riders such as Steve Romaniuk, Andrew Cho and Garett Buehler.

Mountain biking legend, Eric Carter, continues to fly the ‘Goose flag.  Eric, dubbed as “EC” at Mongoose, has certainly had his fair share of titles and wins throughout his years riding for Mongoose.  EC’s focus these days will be to support the sport and the Mongoose brand through his involvement with developing trails, supporting events (like the 12 miles of Ashland) and helping to run Mongoose demos and rides at shops around the country.

Mick Hannah’s return to mountain biking is exciting for the entire mountain bike community and Mongoose is proud to be a part of his comeback. After tearing up the 2007 World Cup scene, Mick’s absence in 2008 left everyone wondering what his future would be.  Mick will be back in 2009 to show off his superb racing skills on the new 2009 Mongoose platform and will attend all of the World Cup races, Crankworx, US Open and some other select races in between. 

“I’m really excited to start racing again in 2009.  I enjoyed my year off but couldn’t stay away from racing.  I did a race a few weeks ago and was very encouraged by the way I was riding. I've got my focus back.  I’m really happy to be involved with Mongoose,” said Hannah.   “I turned down a few offers so I could partner with a company that has one of the most professional teams on the circuit and a great product development staff to work with.  I feel confident that this season will be one of my best.”

“I’ve admired Mick’s skills at absolutely pinning it and his professional approach to the sport. Prior to Mick’s signing the two of us discussed our individual approaches to bike development and testing and I quickly realized how much of an asset he can be to our product development process,” said Darren Salsbury, Director of Mongoose Product Development.  “It’s not often you can combine athletic prowess with the ability to deliver technically relevant feedback on designs.  I’m confident Mongoose bikes are going to continue to progress and refine with Mick’s input.”

Mongoose continues to support the freeride category by resigning Steve Romaniuk and bringing aboard fresh talent such as Garett Buehler and Andrew Cho.  All three of the riders will be riding the ‘Goose’s stable of bikes such as the Nugget, Boot’r and Pinn’r and will be hitting up select freeride events and video shoots all year. 

Check out all of the latest updates at www.mongoose.com.

Mongoose is part of the Cannondale Sports Group Division of Dorel Industries (TSX: DII.B, DII.A).

Dorel Industries Inc. (TSX: DII.B, DII.A) is a world class juvenile products and bicycle company.  Established in 1962, Dorel creates style and excitement in equal measure to safety, quality and value. The Company’s lifestyle leadership position is pronounced in both its Juvenile and Bicycle categories with an array of trend-setting products.  Dorel’s powerfully branded products include Safety 1st, Quinny, Cosco, Maxi-Cosi and Bébé Confort in Juvenile, as well as Cannondale, Schwinn, GT, Mongoose and SUGOI in Recreational/Leisure.  Dorel’s Home Furnishings segment markets a wide assortment of furniture products, both domestically produced and imported.   Dorel is a $2 billion company with 4600 employees, facilities in seventeen countries, and sales worldwide. 
###

Wondering how FreeDrive works?  Check out this video explaining how FreeDrive is more efficient than most suspension designs out there.

The Urban Assault downhill race that took place this past weekend is
very different to many other races I do. It takes place in Cape Town
city bowl. It has some of the best surrounding scenery a DH race could
ever ask for. It has a view of Table Mountain and surrounding beaches
and the City centre.

It is a combination of fast fire road at the top linking into some
single track off camber turns. After this it links into the surrounding
BO KAAP neighborhood of Cape Town. There is a serious amount of
pedalling with race times of about the 3 min mark. You have to navigate
down tricky flights of stairs, parked cars and a couple jumps before a
sprint to the line. The format is combined of 2 runs and you ride with a
partner. I rode with my brother and practice was fun with him. He
unfortunately crashed and this left me to ride solo most of the course.
My brother did manage to win the red bull speed trap.

I managed to take the win with a combined time of 5min 57 sec for my 2
runs.
It was great to race at home and be part of this awesome event which
raises funds for the BO Kaap area here at home.

1st: Andrew Neethling
2nd: Louis Breslar Knipe
3rd: Johan Potgieter.

Interbike 2008-sicklines.com

Interbike 2008 - MTBR

Interbike 2008-  Cycling News Photos

It's never all work and no play with Mongoose.  Check out the video of Mongoose MTB Team Mechanic John "Sniper" Canepa and rider Andrew Cho bungee jumping while at Crankworx in Whistler.

Read about Mongoose Australia's Troy Brosnan and his one-day trifecta

Hello everyone,

The past two weeks have been crazy. I was at Whiteface and it was a good time. The track was the longest one of the year. It was a 5K down hill track. The fastest time was 7:24.47. Most tracks we race on are around three or four minutes long. I did not have a clean run and ended up 19th.

This weekend was the second race at Attitash and we all had a great time. I want to thank the Baxter family for letting me stay with them!  We had a good turn out for Team Voncooper.  We had 7 of the 11 riders there.  Team Voncooper has a new member and the first girl on the team... Rebbecca Bagley!

 Willem Cooper

Here are the results and the videos:

Whiteface:
Willem 19th Pro

Attitash:
Phil           5th Jr X
Sean         6th Jr X
Jake         7th Jr x
Willem      9th Pro
Rebbecca 1st Beginner
James      6th Sport
Donnie      #1 fan!

Check out the Videos!

Whiteface:

Attitash:

The last UCI World Class event held in Australia was a huge 13 years ago in Cairns.
Finally the capital of Australia, Canberra is home for Round 6 of the 2008 UCI World Cups. Mt Stromlo is the Hill used and not much of a hill at that. The 2 minute 40 track doesn't quite contain any of the technical obstacles seen in the European or the Canadian tracks. Mt Stromlo contains pedalling more than anything else. Although the track is great fun and I usually tend to go good there.

Mongoose/GT International Team manager Steve Spencer gave me the heads up that he, Mark (mechanic) and Andrew Neethling (Mongoose factory rider) were arriving in Sydney one week prior to the event. So I decided to drive down to Sydney, stay at my Dads house, and give the boys a nice tour of Sydney and the Northern beaches. Unfortunately I came down with the Flu only a day before I left for Sydney. This scared me because I had to get rid of the Cold before the race.
I still decided to come down to Sydney early but there was no way I could show the Mongoose guys around. Instead, my old man(Skipper Ricardo) came through with the goods and was able to take them out on his boat, show them the harbour, crack a few beers and throw in a few fishing lines.
Skipper Ricardo the wild man almost got the boat ploughed over by a ferry, then on the way back to shore nearly flipped the boat amongst the huge swells almost throwing Needles overboard. But eventually they made it back on land, safe.
The Mongoose Team then left for Canberra while I stayed at home trying to flick this Flu.

A few days later I was slowly getting better and made my way to Canberra.
Thursday we had practice but I was still felling quite shit. I ended up only doing one run and was buggered. I could only ride for a couple of seconds before I was out of breath. The flu was killing me.
Friday Practice I was feeling a bit better and punched out heaps more runs. Although I was feeling rundown, I was riding pretty sick and having heaps of fun. Pitting with the Mongoose/GT team was great, I was lucky enough to have a heap kids coming up for my autograph which was so sick. It really boosted my confidence.

The sun stayed out for Saturday practice and I was feeling better again, still not 100% but much better. I checked out a few lines and watched some other riders to see what they are doing. The flat pedalling section at the end was so long and it was going to be super hard for everyone. I have been doing sprint training so hopefully it will benefit me at the end of my run.

Another good night sleep and Sunday was here... and so was the rain!
I was feeling pretty good, I did two practice runs in the morning, the track was so muddy and some bits were getting really slippery. I was still riding fast and looking forward to see what I could do.
Because everyone qualified at this race I decided to sort of save a bit of legs for my race.
My qualifying run ended up being pretty average anyway. I made a few mistakes and didn't hold good speed through some slow, muddy sections, then on the last flat pedal my gears were skipping all over the place. I ended up qualifying in 47th with a time of 3:06. Fairly off the back but I new I could bring something out for finals.
While waiting for finals the rain continued to fall. I've never seen rain in Canberra before, but everyone knows World Cups bring rain.

I got back on the bus for finals and had a bit of time at the top, it was absolutely freezing. I had a pedal around to try and keep warm. I got in the gate and the rain had finally stopped.
On my big power pedal out of the gate, my chain gave way and snapped sending me onto the bars. I rolled down the big start ramp, regained position, yelled a few swear words, and continued on my run.
I was trying to pump everything I could. The crowd was going absolutely nuts it was so sick. Some sections were so slow without pedalling, but Luckily I could still hit all the main jumps.
I got to the bottom flat section and came to a dead stop. I dropped one leg and started to scooter it. After many complete stops I finally got to the last jump which I couldn't jump. I got off and tried to run. I slipped over on the top of the rise, got back up and scootered down to the finish line. I came across with a 3:34. I was pretty pissed off but it actually was so much fun with the crowd screaming.

Later that night my family, the Mongoose/GT team and the Sram guys got together at a restaurant in Canberra called Wasabi, which is TepanYaki a place where the chefs cook right in front of you and throw food expecting you to catch it.
Bryn had his brand new OGIO shirt on which he tried to protect from food roost by wearing a bib, turns out the egg thrown missed his bib, cracked on his shoulder and wrapped around onto his back haha, it was hilarious. My dad (Skipper Ricardo) tried to catch a bowl of rice from a distance of about 9 metres, the bowl of rice exploded on his shoulder covering his whole body and majority of the floor haha. It was so much fun, an awesome meal with a great bunch of people.

So this is the end of my World Cup season this year as I can't afford to get back over to Austria for the final round.
A huge thanks to the Mongoose/GT International team Steve, John, Sarah, Mark, Monk, Bryn and Andrew for all their help this season. I couldn't have done it without them, and I'm looking forward to seeing them next year.

Also a huge thanks to my sponsors MONGOOSE bikes, SRAM/Rockshox, Maxxis, Lotek, Crankbrothers, Adidas, Fox, Dee Why Bike Hub and Lovelife-Photography for always being there.

A few weeks training and we are into the Aussie Nationals series, yewww.
See you all soon. Cheers
Josh Button

Check out how the Tribe's Team Von Cooper fared at its latest outing

Last weekend was another Sobe Series race at Mt Snow, Downhill and Dual Slalom. With all the rain they received the prior week, the Dual Slalom course was in sad shape so they decided to cancel DS, which didn’t make people very happy. I was pretty bummed myself, but what can you do?

The Downhill course was almost the same course that Mt Snow tried to run last race, which was canceled due to lightning. On Saturday, the course was very wet; especially right in front of the water bars. The top part of the course was wide open and fast and then you hit a water bar, and then another. The water bars were the trickiest part of the course; especially at the speeds we were hitting them. “Flying” into one of those water bars, you hit a 30 foot section of soft, muddy dirt which slowed you down so much that it tended to buck you and the bike, leaving you nose heavy. Most of the course after that was a flat maintenance road with a little 50ft sections of tight trees, that brought you back out into the open for a bit and then most of the rest of the course was in the woods. With the exception of a open section with a killer water bar which was probably the hardest part of the course sadly.  A short piece of dark woods preceded “Sally Ally” as the riders called it, the “Yard sale”, then the rock garden and a “washout section”. That was probably best part of the course comprising of a rut berm, multiple lines followed by a “miniature” rock garden. The end of the course was essentially a flat, “pedal your ass off” straight.  A few mud pits and a minor water bar were the only things that separated you and the finish.

Sunday, I was feeling really good, as I did on Saturday. The course had dried out a bit. I had one little crash in practice, but that was it. Going into my race run I knew that I couldn’t take it easy on the long maintenance road, and that was the most important part of the course even though it was dull and boring. The rider in front of me had just left the start, and it was my turn to prepare. Surprisingly I had no butterflies or sudden urges to adjust my goggles or scratch my eyes. I started out going faster than I ever had in practice. I nailed the first few water bars, but one of them sent me a little weird. That’s where I probably gave the photographer, who was at the side of the course, a heart attack for coming so close. I went over the “skinny” nearly coming off the bike. I took the off-camber turn a little slow but that set me up with lots of speed on the maintenance road. At that point, it felt like I had been pedaling forever, and the road still wasn’t ending! I went through the skinny/short woods section, getting to the end of that section without my handlebars hitting any trees. It felt like a really good run up to that point and then, a split second later, my pedal clipped a tree and threw me sideways. I lost all momentum and had to run to get back up to speed. I did the rest of the course fine, though I went through Sally Ally a little slower than I would have liked. When I got to the finish I was in first. I was eventually knocked back to second place by two seconds, about the time I lost by clipping the tree.

Overall it was a fun weekend, had the chance to ride with some people I hadn’t seen in a while. Next weekend is the first weekend I have free in over two months! But that doesn’t mean I’m not riding. Next race is the Jeep King of the Mountain at Diablo, I’m very excited about this race.

The Crankworx Festival is in the history books and WOW! what an event.  Great weather, great crowds and amazing mountain to ride all day.

Whistler Crankworx decided to put on a Giant Slalom which was a longer slalom than normal which has riders riding head to head down a amazingly groomed slalom track. Qualifying didn't go to well with a big mistake in my second run putting me in 11th spot. I knew I would have my work cut out in the finals. I advanced to the round of 16 but met up against a very strong Bmxer/4x rider Joost Wichman.. It was close in the first heat but I ran out of legs in the 2nd run, thus getting knocked out. I was a bummed but knew I had one more event that would suit me a little bit better… the Canadian Open of Downhill.

The track started at mid station and finished in the main village. The track was fresh using some old section from last year’s course. It was brutal and very rough and the times were around the 3min 30 sec mark. I had minimal practice as competing in all the events here makes it a very busy week. I set off for my race run, it took me a while to get going and get into my race run. I felt I made some mistakes but kept pushing. I arrived at the finish in 2nd spot.. 0.4 from taking the hot seat from Nico Vink. Sam Hill came down with a great run and took the win. I held onto 5th Spot behind Sam, Gee Atherton, Chris Kovarik and Nico Vink.
It was a great way to end the amazing week.

I will be sure to be back next year.

Andrew Neethling

Team Mongoose

The Mongoose MTB Team is proudly sponsored by: Kenda, SRAM, Fly Racing, OGIO, SDG, Funn, Champion Systems, Sun

We sent our 2009 Boot'r up to Chiliwack, BC so the guys at Pinkbike.com could beat the shocks out of it.  Check out what they had to say here http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Mongoose-Bootr-review-2009.html, and watch them get their ride on in the videos below.

Hey everyone,

The weekend was great! Red Bull did an amazing job of organizing the event and finding the venues! First day was at a movie set in North Vancouver with an old Chicago setting and the course started with a 20ft tall roll in that you dropped about 7-8 feet off of to a roll in followed by a 4 pack. The street portion of the event was directly after the last landing, shooting you into a wall ride, then back up a different roll in followed by a series of step up to step downs.

Unfortunately, I got a concussion on the first day ejecting out of a flip, which left me seeing doubles for 5 minutes..definitely a scary experience and the plug was pulled for me there. Garett Buehler was also on hand and threw down some impressive runs and showed his versatility between dirt and big mountain style of riding!

In all, I had a great time, now I'm back to coaching the Summer Gravity Camps!

Here's what Garett had to say:

I'll get right to it. Day one went alright. I completly messed up my first run but lucky picked up my act in my second 2. I finished 5th over all in the first day which suprised me due to the fact it was a dirt jump contest and I'm really not a dirt jumper.

Day 2 I went in pretty stoked but also pretty tired. There was a huge sender at the finish line that most ppl where afraid to hit, some did'nt even hit it. I teed it up first and got the session going. My runs on the timed section where pretty good but I was still getting used to the new bike (the Nugget). On my first run a did a no foot can of the 15 foot down 25 foot out step down. 

I felt good to have a solid run in the bag but I new it was not enough to win it. On inpacked on that air I got a flat tire so a had to fix it quickly and run to the top. When I got up there it was my turn to go and I had no chance to catch my breath before the 1 minute sprint down the corse. I still road fine and got to the big step down and felt good to try and spine a 360 off. I was the only one to attepmt this trick but unforutnaly I did'nt pull it off. I took a hard fall and shanked the ackle pretty good but nohting super seriuose. The bike has some issues after that but nothing I don't think I will be able to fix. Luckly this happend on my last run other wize I don't think I would have finished. I'm still not sure how i placed but I'm thinking i finished 7th.

Check out the video from the Mongoose Tribefest at the East Coast Nationals in wonderful Windham New York!

Cycling legends Melissa Bush (KHS) and 38 year-old Eric Carter (Mongoose) won national championship titles at Mount Snow. Both looked very impressive in their outings. Geritt Beytagh and Kathy Pruitt (Jamis) took the silver medals.

The course at Mount Snow was quite challenging for the riders. The first turn had developed some deep ruts and had only one narrow line. It was the scene of many crashes this weekend. The tight rollers were spaced such that most racers had to ride them all. In very few cases riders were seen trying to jump multiple bumps as it clearly was not the fastest way down the course.

Carter commented after the race that he was feeling tired during the event and took every chance to sit down between runs. The weather was warm and humid which seemed to affect many of the riders during the night of racing.

EC was up in Whistler with Mongoose product manager Darren Salsbury to beat on the 2009 bikes.  Check out the video by Mongoose's own Freerider Andrew Cho.

The Mongoose Tribe was in Mt. Snow, VT for some Downhill and Dual Slalom action.  Check out the video.  Their next stop is the Diablo FreeRide Park in Vernon, NJ.  The 'goose is loose!

Many riders took a week off after the Fort William WC, but I decided to join a couple of the top riders at the Wheels of Speed World Downhill Challenge in Germany. The event is an invite event with the organizers really looking after the riders. The World Cup track of 2005 and 2006 is used for this event. It is quite a different course being only 2 minutes and being made up of man-made DH sized jumps, fast rock gardens, and fun turns.

Practice was really fun, and it was nice break from the World Cup circuit. All the riders got together for some intense indoor go karts as well!

The weather was playing games with us all week--rainy one minute and sunshine the very next. Seeding runs were on Saturday afternoon. I pushed hard in the quali run and made a mess of one or 2 jumps. It just felt loose but everyone remarked how much more speed they seemed to carry. I managed to qualify in 2nd behind Gee Atherton.

I was quite excited for the final and wanted to tidy up my run from quali. I put together a good run, but might have just tried to be a bit smoother and lost concentration and ran little wide in a slow grass turn. It was really fun and I ended in 3rd place, roughly 1 sec from 1st spot. Gee took the win with Filip Polc in 2nd. The event ran so smoothly and offered great prize money. 

It was a fun race and am eager to get to the Worlds in Val di Sole,  Italy which takes place this coming week and weekend.

Check back for more updates.

Thanks for the support,

Andrew Neethling

(Photos courtesy of www.bike-festival.de)

Check out Mongoose UK rider Chris Akrigg's latest podcast from Sea Otter.  (Get it?  Sea Otter...Sea Podder...Pretty funny, eh?  We think so.)  Anyway, he was having some technical difficulties getting it up--the podcast that is--but better late than never, right?  There's a lot more where this came from, though.  Be sure to check out his website www.chrisakrigg.com for an exclusive director's cut with 10 more minutes of Chris doing his thing.  Read his blog to see what he's been up to lately, and be sure to subscribe to his podcasts on iTunes.   DO IT! 


   

(Photos courtesy of www.chrisakrigg.com)

Hey guys,

The Teva Mtn Games was a really cool place to ride.  The organizers did a great job setting up the event.  Slopestyle was going great until right before my qualifying run.  I had a great day of training on Friday and then 15 minutes before qualifying started I 360'd the first jump, but landed a bit too flat and taco'd my rear wheel.

I managed to borrow a rear wheel and get my bike rolling, but unfortunately, it wasn't a bolt on axle, so the quick release just slipped and rubbed on the frame when I started to pedal.  So with that in mind I tried to ride it carefully.  I landed the first 360 and then my wheel was all out of alignment for the rest of my run.  I still managed to throw a flip at the end, but unfortunately the rubbing wheel scrubbed a bit too much speed and I cased the jump a bit.

Anyhow, I’m borrowing a wheel from my good friend Mitch Chubey for now. I'm on my way home from Vail, CO.  Last night we stopped in Moab, Utah to ride the slick rocks!  We had a lot of fun.

Here's a quick edit from Moab.

Talk to you guys soon!

Andrew

(Photos and video courtesy of Andrew Cho)

I felt great coming into Fort William and practice went well.  It was just plain crazy arriving to Fort William and have a bone dry track.  The weather was pretty good all week and the track was rougher than ever.  Amazingly the sun was out on race day.

I had a smooth quali but did not pedal too hard near the bottom, and aired out the big hip coming into the finish area.  I was feeling how difficult a full run would be.  I was happy to be just outside the top 20 for quali after the run I put together.  I felt I had quite a bit more in me for the final.

I grabbed some lunch and rested up for the final.  I put together what I thought was a good top section and pedaled harder out of the turns.  Once I had made it through the technical woods in the middle I knew all I had to do was pedal as hard as I could.  I crossed the line very out of breath, but somehow went 1 sec slower ending in a time of 5min01sec.  I was absolutely puzzled and could not believe it.  I am known for chilled quali runs and then making up time in the final.  There were a couple timing issues and I feel at this level this should not be the case.

I was asked by MTBCut.tv to do some commentating for the top 10, so I quickly jumped at the chance.  It was fun helping out and I quite enjoyed it.  It was great to watch Greg Minnaar grab the win in front of a huge crowd.

Next I travel to Willingen, Germany for the “Wheels of Speed” festival race.

Thanks for the support,

Andrew Neethling

Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by:
SRAM, Kenda, Champion Systems, Sun/Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and ethirteen

Hey Everybody,

I'm back in the Bay area for a little while after a few weeks of racing. The last 3 weeks of riding were probably the toughest I have ever gone through. I went to my first World Cup in Europe.  Maribor, Slovenia was an amazing track--one of the fastest wide open courses I have ever been on. I was getting over a wrist injury that I got dirt jumping the day after the Sea Otter Classic. With how fast and rough the course was it was a challenge all week to hold on.  I had a few bobbles in my qualifier and went into panic mode. With over 300 riders you had to be flawless to qualify. I never got it fully together in my Q run and ended up being out a little bit. It was cool to have so many American riders at this race, but out of the 15 or so only 5 qualified. I got to check out Austria Monday after the race and it was awesome. I had to be a bit of a tourist since it was my first trip to Europe.

I got back to California and headed straight to Santa Barbara for the second national of the year. The slalom course was fast, short and really fun to ride. The downhill course lacked elevation, technicality and length. I actually got my best National finish in Slalom of my career. I qualified 7th and ended up in 6th place. It was the first time I raced my new Mongoose hardtail, the 2009 Khyber Elite. I felt very confident on it all weekend.

DH did not go as well. I qualified mid pack just having a mellow cruiser run down the course. But right when I finished my run and got back to the pits I realized I did not feel good at all. I had some bad waffles or something at breakfast and spent the next hour or so on my knees heaving every ounce of food and liquid out the same way it came in. I was miserable and was just happy to make it down the hill in the final. I was mid pack, but spent the rest of the day balled up in a chair trying to keep down anything I could.

The next day we went down to Ventura and hung out with Griz from Decline. We played some wiffle ball on the beach and went by our clothing sponsors shop, Nema.  It was a relaxing day and I was finally starting to feel better from the day before. That night we headed out to Angel Fire, New Mexico for the 3rd National/MSC.

We had heard rumors of lots of snow still and AF, but when we got there we realized it was not bad at all. Few patches, but none on the actual course. It was rad to be back on a rough American track after the first 2 nationals being pretty tame. I had some good practice runs the first day, but then it had to snow on us for about 30 mins. I went back up for another practice run after the snow and ended up blowing up in a rock section due to the slick conditions. Luckily Matt Johnston (KHS rider) was there to drag me off the track because I was not able to get up on my feet for 5-10 mins. The bummer was it was on my wrist that was finally healing up as well as my right shoulder and elbow.  I was not able to practice the next day, but I did not miss much because it was blizzard conditions all day with tons of snow coming down. Our 4X Qualifying was postponed until the next day.

Qualifying went alright for me. I was 14th out of the 32 that qualified. We raced the next day and I went up against the man who won it all in the first round. Rich Houseman got the gate, and as I was tucking inside of him in the first corners I lost traction on a loose patch and slammed. Me hitting the ground seemed to be a theme for me this weekend. I was not too stoked on it.

By the last day at AF I felt as if i was just a passenger on my bike held together with braces and medical tape. I ended up mid pack in the DH. 29th out of 60 or so, but was not feeling strong at all. I am glad to be home and get to rest for a few weeks before Deer Valley Utah. During these 3 weeks me and my teammate Ryan Condroshoff are going to be doing quite a bit of suspension testing. I am very excited to go to Downieville. We will be doing testing on our trail bikes and I'll be riding my Khyber. This bike is pretty much made for places like Downieville so it should be a rad couple of days. After that we head to Northstar at Tahoe to do some DH testing. It will be good to get some of my settings a bit more dialed in before Deer Valley.

Thanks everybody for the continued support.  I’ll keep you guys posted on how the Nor Cal super ride trip goes these next few weeks.

-John

(Photos courtesy of Dylan Dean Photography www.dylan-dean.com)

The Mongoose team flew into Barcelona, Spain after racing the US Open in New Jersey. We packed all the things into the van and got on with the 3 hour drive to Andorra which is a small country between Spain and France.  The drive reminded us all of Utah with red rocky formations all around.
 
The scenery was breathtaking as we entered Andorra.  From what we heard Andorra has a population of +- 70,000 people and home to Commencal Bicycles, with Cedric Gracia having moved here 6 yrs ago. The road into Andorra is surrounded by huge snow tipped mountains.
 
Walking inspection of the track was on Wednesday and the riders had mixed feelings on the course. Some first impressions were that it was a bit easy and short. I think most riders were quite wrong as after 3 days of practice and heavy rains in the evenings, the track got really rough and tricky. There was not much room for error at all on this +- 2min 40 sec track.
 
John Canepa (Team Mongoose mechanic) was working as hard as ever and always with a smile on his face even though I seemed to bring back the bike dirtier each practice run.  I was trying a couple different things on the bike throughout practice and we had to be quite wise with our tire choice has the conditions were changing all the time. I felt this track suited some of my riding style and was very keen to get down with a good qualifying run. I started well at the top but made a crucial mistake in the middle and lost time.  I was angry with that and ended up missing another line near the bottom. I qualified in 17th position.  I knew I could knock some time off in the final so headed for some lunch.
 
Canepa and I headed up for the final quite early so I could get a good warm up. The skies were turning quite dark and I was a bit worried the rain was coming.  A couple drops came down but the rain stayed away.  I had a great top half in the final, taking it a little cautiously in the spot where I made my mistake in quali but let it go after that.  My top split time was in the top 10 but after almost going down onto a fast road coming out of the woods and a little mistake near the finish I crossed the line in 4 secs quicker than quali in a time of 2min44.00 seconds.  It was a tough course for any rider to get a near perfect run but I was still a little bit disappointed to have not finished the bottom bit better. I finished 15th in the final and managed to hang on to 10th overall in the World Cup DH standings.

The race was won by Gee Atherton making it a 3 out of 3 for the Atherton Family. Dan won the 4x with Rachel winning the woman’s DH.
 
Next the Mongoose Team stays in Andorra to take advantage of the great bike park and scenery before heading to Fort William, Scotland for round 3 of the WC Series which takes place this coming weekend
 
Andrew Neethling

The 2008 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season is upon us again. For those on the outside looking in they may think that the life of a Pro-Mountain biker is glamorous with its globe-trotting travel to some of the most beautiful locations in the world that most only get to see in books or on television. When in reality the life of a Pro-Mountain biker is filled with variables that are beyond their control making their lives on the road chaotic at times. Being a professional athlete you have to maintain a positive state of mind to keep mentally prepared to perform at your best and it can very difficult keeping your cool when you have to deal with lost luggage or bikes, getting lost driving in a foreign country, language barriers, drastic change in culture and foods, jet lag, inclement weather and many more issues.

Mongoose’s World Cup downhill ace Andrew Neethling is as well seasoned traveler and at 23 years of age he has already settled in on the World Cup scene and handles all of the mishaps and pressures with the ease of a veteran. His laid-back approach is deceiving when it comes to his racing. That is when the happy-go-lucky Needles puts on the game face and charges every course with the aggression of a LA rush-hour road-rager. But the determined South African is also known for his flowing style and skilled prowess and the combination of the two very different traits balance out Andrew to be a downhill dominator.

The start of the 2008 World Cup fired up on one the most historic courses in downhill racing history, on Pahorje Mountain in Maribor, Slovenia. The famous course is known for its combination of high speed sections and technical roots and rock sections. The layout is a test for all of the World Cup competitors and favors no one style. Needles spent the days prior to the finals breaking down the course both mentally and physically with lap after lap of practice. But all work and no play can build up stress so Andrew and his crew of mates looked for some casual diversions from hitting the sketchy alpine sled track to taking in the European premier of Clay Porter’s newest film “F1RST” which features the story line of the 2007 UCI World Cup tour. Andrew also had the honor of being featured in the film.

Andrew went back to the task at hand to putting in a solid run and start climbing the ever competitive ladder in the UCI World Cup downhills. The field of nearly 300riders made not only for a challenging effort in qualifying for the final but also a long day. Results of the semi final not only determine who the top 80 finalists will be but also give a preview of who the front runners will be and with the top twenty riders all being within just a few seconds of each other it meant the finals would be battle. Andrew put in a great effort putting down a time that had him in 18^th which is with some pretty elite company.

The perfect weather, friendly locals and festival-like surroundings make for a great atmosphere for the finals. Andrew and his trusty mechanic John Canepa packed up and headed for the top of the mountain to take on the worlds best racers. From the start Needles put on a hard charge and at the split had a 1.5 second advantage. The race was being filmed for television and there were cameras positioned at all of the strategic points down the course and fed in to the large video screen at the bottom of the course so all could watch the action Needles gave them as he sped down the course. At one point Andrew got arm fatigue so bad he lost grip of his handlebars but quickly regained control which gave the crowd some excitement. At the exit of the trees Needles launched out with his trademark style blazing to the finish and as he crossed the line the timer showed that the new leader was Andrew! All of Andrew’s mates erupted with hoots and hollers for the smiling South African. Andrew took his place in the Nissan Hot-Seat and watched on as the rest of the field took turns at trying to knock Needles off of his champion’s chair. After several riders last years 2^nd place finisher Gee Atherton finally snuck past Andrew’s time. Andrew then took his spot amongst the gallery to watch as the rest of the top qualifiers made their final run. A few others were able to log some great times and in the end Andrew secured his best World Cup finish in the last two seasons with an incredible 10^th!   

Andrew’s team was excited for his great finish and shared in his glory. Next up Needles will be flying the Mongoose colors at the Lisbon Downtown race in Portugal on May 17^th then he will be hopping over to the states for the US Open in Mountain Creek New Jersey on May 22^nd.

Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by: SRAM, Kenda, Champion System, Sun Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and e.thirteen.

(Photos courtesty of Colin Meagher of www.inmotionphoto.com)

The past weekend I ventured out to Colorado to see what all the hype was about with the Mountain States Cup Series.  This stop was held in Nathrop, Colorado on Keith Darner’s ranch.  The ranch doesn’t have the proper area for DH, so the gravity portion was only Mountain Cross and Dual Slalom.

When I arrived I felt like I was on a camping trip with a few hundred of my best friends.  Everyone was super nice and excited about the weekend’s events.  The sign up process was the best I’ve experienced.  We told them our name, and everything was in the computer.  They had to be tapped into the USA Cycling computers I guess because all the sign up papers printed out, I signed my name, and was on the bike in no time.

Friday it was cold and windy, and we were lucky to avoid the weather.  A couple hours north it was snowing, and we just missed it.  The courses are short and technical on the ranch, but tons of fun to ride.  The Pro Mountain Cross course had a decision maker at the bottom that was super even.  Most of the practice was spent trying to figure out which line was fastest.  I have to say these guys have it dialed.  They run Pro and Amateur practice at the same time.  Darner’s ranch has two separate courses, and the Mountain States Cup guys have 2 gates, so they put ‘em back to back and ran gate practice at the same time with one starter plugged into both gates.

Saturday I got up early and headed out to the ranch.  Our practice wasn’t until 11am, so I got to hang out a bit and watch some Am racing.  These guys have some great races, and smiles were all around.  It was great to see all the classes having fun with the Mountain Cross format.

With the conclusion of the Am racing we got straight to practice and qualifying.  I had a decent run in my qualifier, but was only good enough for 3rd.  With the course’s short first straight I had my work cut out for me to try to stand on the top of the podium.  My early rounds went well as I was getting decent starts and was really getting my lines dialed.

When finals rolled around I found myself with 3rd gate pick.  Number 1 and 2 qualifiers Petr Hanak and Ross Milan had advanced as well.  These 2 guys were riding great!  Petr’s gates were unreal and looked like a top BMX pro with his sling shot snap.  These two guys, along with Rich Houseman, were going to make a great group in the final.

Petr got his signature gate and was out front.  I got a bit of a gate on Ross, but not enough to move over and had to slot into 3rd in the first turn.  Ross was taking all kinds of crazy lines trying to get by Petr, and I had my hands full keeping Rich behind me.  Coming into the decision maker, I chose the opposite line of Ross and thought I had made the pass, but Ross got a good drive in the last turn and edged me out.  Chalk up a 3rd for the Mountain Cross.

At the end of the Mountain Cross everyone went back to the top for some Dual Slalom practice.  This course is tight and technical as well and had everyone from Beginners to Pros working to get the lines dialed.

Sunday the day started at 8am for Dual Slalom.  There were so many riders that it literally took all day to get a run.  We got our practice and qualifying in at around 9:45am and once again I ended up in 3rd.  I had a great run, but just didn’t have the power that Petr was showing or the flow of Rich Houseman.

After all of the Amateurs finished up racing at about 2pm, we finally got to get on the bikes and get to racing.  I had some really good runs my first two rounds and was starting to find my rhythm.  I ended up against local ripper Jon Watt.  First round was perfect—smooth strart, great turns, and strong finish.  It gave me a 0.56 second advantage going into the 2nd run…then the wheels fell off the wagon.

Jon ripped the start and got a small lead.  I sprinted hard and put two good turns together to pull even and felt like I had him covered.  Coming out of turn 3 there are some really steep speed jumps and my short legs were struggling a bit.  As I started to soak ‘em up, I could see all 6’3” of Jon speed rolling the jumps and he instantly put a half second on me.  I knew I was in trouble.

I had two turns left to make up time.  I put a good turn together and closed the gap, but didn’t get the final flat turn perfect and lost lots of speed.  At the line, Jon had me by 0.6 seconds--just enough to put me out for the day.  I was a bit disappointed, but a bit relieved to watch him take out some other top riders over the same jumps on his way to a 3rd place finish. 

In the end, the big story was new American prospect Aaron Gwin.  He smoked us all with a spectacular double jump no other rider was doing to take the win.  Rich Houseman was 2nd, and Jon Watt rounded out the podium in 3rd.

I had a blast at this event.  These guys in Colorado have a great series with a real fun vibe.  The announcers kept things fun with lots of jokes and funny comments, and even the promoters were very approachable and nice when talking to them or asking questions.  I can’t wait for the next event in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Andrew Neethling got some nice coverage from the good people at www.littermag.com. 

Click here to see photos of Round 1 of the South African National Series and here for the new 2009 Mongoose Prototype DH bike check. 

(Photo courtesy of www.littermag.com and Sven Martin at www.dirtagency.com)

Mongoose rider Andrew Cho got some great footage from this year's Sea Otter Classic.  Take a look!

Andrew Cho and Norco rider Dylan Korba road trippin' it from up Nort' der.

 Kickin' back at Sea Otter 2008 with the Mongoose crew--EC, Andrew Neethling, John Hauer, Andrew Cho, Chris Akrigg, and team mechanic John Canepa.

(Photo courtesy of Andrew Cho.)

Check out Andrew Cho and Andrew Neethling giving their bikes a once-over for www.pinkbike.com.

Andrew Cho

Andrew Neethling


(Photo courtesy of Andrew Cho.)

Chris Akrigg is an aggressive and unique world class mountain, trials, and street rider, budding podcaster and photographer, and all around good guy.  Mongoose.com caught up with the Mongoose UK rider this week to talk about his Sea Otter debut, his 2nd place finish in Dual Stunt, his first trip to Denny’s, and his upcoming projects on his spankin’ new website www.chrisakrigg.com.

Click on the photo for more pictures of Chris riding and hanging with the Mongoose crew, and scroll ALL the way to the bottom for a video of the Dual Stunt Finals.  

Mongoose.com:  This was your first trip to Sea Otter.  What were your impressions?

Chris Akrigg:  I thought it was a really good event.  I mean, I hadn’t actually done any research into the event, so when I got there, it was completely…I couldn’t believe.  It was actually much bigger than what I first thought.  I was quite impressed when I got there.  It was a pretty amazing location.  Yeah, I liked it.  There were so many events going on at the same time and it seemed to be like all levels of riding there.  It was not just like an all pro race.  It was from all categories and all abilities.  It seemed to be quite a full spectrum of people there.

M:  But you didn’t know you were coming to Sea Otter until a couple weeks before the event.  How did that work?

C:  Yeah, it was sort of on and off for a while, and yeah, it was probably less than 2 weeks when I finally got my tickets.  So that’s always good to be going on a last minute trip.  That was cool.  I would’ve like to have been out a little longer.  That’s the only real negative thing that came out of it.  I flew in, only stayed for less than a week, and I didn’t really get a chance to look around and to hang out in a more casual…well, it was a pretty casual event, but more of like chilling out with riders.  You know, just go ride around and find stuff to ride around on, and not just be in that little compound.  But you know, the event was great.  That was really cool but I just wish I could’ve stayed out a little longer and see a little bit more of the area.

M:  Yeah, you were stuck with us.

C:  Yeah, I would’ve liked more girls and a bit more partying really.  (Laughing)
 
M:  Sorry.  So you did Dual Stunt which was a new competition this year and got 2nd!  Congratulations!  What were your likes and dislikes of the event?  What would you like to see changed for next year?

C:  I think I liked the format and how it works.  How you’ve got the qualifying run and all that stuff.  I liked the format of it all and everything.  But it wasn’t really technical enough for me to sort of like really get my teeth into it and show my abilities in that sort of way really.  And I think if it would’ve been a bit more technical, I would’ve done a lot better.  But it wasn’t technical enough to slow some of the other riders down.  And you know, they were pretty much storming it, so it was like a pretty level playing field from that respect.  I think if it was a bit more technical and a bit more foreign you know maybe with some bigger obstacles in the way you know I think I would’ve stood more of a chance of winning to be honest.  I would’ve won.  There, I said it.  (Laughing)

M:  What did you say before?  ‘The only winner is the sport.’

C:  (Laughing)  That’s it!  The only winner’s the sport.  I’m just doing it for the kiddies, for the fans.  It wasn’t myself I let down, it was the fans.  Ha, ha, ha…

M:  You didn’t even use your bike for the event, right?  You just had a bike built?

C:  I brought over a fully rigid trials bike.  It’s like my standard bike that I normally ride.  So yeah, that’s that bike I took over, but then upon arrival I got a look at the course and had a quick ride on it on my bike and it was just too rough.  I just knew I was not going to be able to compete really on that bike.  So John (Canepa, Mongoose Team Mechanic) built a new bike up from the bits that were knocking around the truck.  John put one together on Friday night, and I rode it for about half an hour on Saturday.  I never ride hardtail bikes…never.  So there you go.  It’s not something that really bothers me much.  I mean, it’s not good riding a bike that you’re not familiar with, but then again, it’s not really played in my mind much.  You know, some people just don’t like it, but you’ve just got to get used to it, haven’t you? 

M:  Yeah, what else can you do?

C:  Nothing.  Not compete?  (Smiling)

M:  Yeah, I guess.  Were you able to test out any of the new Mongoose bikes?  What were your impressions?

C:  Right, I had a chance to ride both the Nugget and the Pinn’r.  The Pinn’r I rode for two days for downhill practice but unfortunately didn't get the chance to race it due to the schedule.  The bike was mint.  I got on with it straight away.  I like the feeling when you jump onto a new bike, and it feels good.  It’s like getting a shirt or a pair of shoes, and they fit real well.  That’s what the Pinn’r felt like.  I didn't get a chance to give the Nugget much of a ride, but as little as I did it also felt superb.  Really felt real fast and purposeful like I'd really want to take that bike out and get hardcore.  Oh and I rode that bike that John built up--not sure of the name though.  I rode that bike that was built up for me on Friday night, then I raced it Saturday and Sunday due to my bad preparation for the event, and came in second on a new bike that I wasn't use to.  Go me!

M:  What did you think of the Mongoose crew and the riders?  Had you met any of them before?

C:  I had met (Andrew) Neethling before.  Did a photo shoot with him.  Spent about a week with him in Sweden I think it was.  I knew I’d get on well with him since I’d talked to him before.  Andrew Cho I’d never met. 

M:  But you know him very well now since you roomed together, right?

C:  Andrew’s cool through the day, but at night he’s the devil.  And I’ve told that to him to his face.  He snores.  And I was thinking maybe I could sleep in the bathroom like closed the door and put blankets over me to keep it down a bit.  It was that bad.  Like everything was rattling along.  Our TV nearly rattled off the shelf, and the windows were like moving.  I might be exaggerating a little bit, but at the time it was pretty bad. 

M:  Well that’s nice.

C:  So anyhow, yeah…I had briefly met Eric Carter before.  I don’t really know that much about him apart from he’s a total legend.  I have quite a lot of respect for him.  He seems very cool.  I didn’t get that much time to speak to him.  You know obviously he was busy with his own things and meetings.  It was the first major event, so everyone was there.  So I think, you know, obviously everyone was doing their own little business.  But yeah, the whole Mongoose crew was cool.  Yeah, I had a good weekend.  I enjoyed it all.

M:  What did you think of the food?  Anything stand out?

C:  That Denny’s place was absolutely horrendous.** 

M:  You went to Denny’s?!  Why?

C:  I went to Denny’s, and it was probably one of the worst…I don’t know.  I’d never been there before, and it was probably one of the worst eating experiences I’ve ever had.  I’ll never go back there again because it’s ridiculous.  I can’t believe I had it.

M:  Were you drunk?  That’s usually where people go after they’ve been drinking A LOT.

C:  Well, see…I didn’t have the inside track, did I?

M:  So now we know what you didn’t like, but let’s talk about what you did like.  What the highlight of the weekend for you?

C:  Ummm…I don’t know.  I think one of the highlights was starting with a proper downhill with all the top downhill boys.  That’s not something I get to normally do, so that was quite a bit of fun.  It was pretty much the top 10 in the world there.  It was quite interesting to be there.

M:  What’s next for you? 

C:  What’s next for me?  Obviously I’ve been working and doing my video podcasts.  Things I’m doing this year is working on my videos and getting them to a pretty good standard.  Competition-wise, I don’t really know what I’m going to be doing this year.  Yeah, it’s pretty low key.  I’ll probably do a couple of downhill races and stuff like that, and if I find any events that I’d like to do, I’ll do.  During the year I keep quite busy because you know everything else that I do with the videos and stuff, it actually takes up quite a bit of my time.  And doing stuff for magazines and all that stuff, I think that’s just the way it’s going.  I think people see the websites and podcasts and videos.  That gives you as much if not more publicity than actually going to the races.                       

Mongoose.com would like to thank Chris again for taking the time to chat with us.  Be sure to check out Chris’ new site www.chrisakrigg.com.  He’s constantly updating it with new blogs, photos, videos, and podcasts. 

(**Note: The opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the interviewee, and not those of Mongoose.com.  Denny’s is a fine family dining establishment.) 

(Photos courtesy of Steve Spencer, Ryan Cate, Andrew Cho, and Jenny Crowley)

Check out this video of the entire Dual Stunt Finals.

The editors at Outside Magazine have named the 2008 Canaan Elite a “Killer Value” in their annual Gear Guide. Noting that “after each ride, we had to check the price tag – could a bike this good cost this little”, the editors recognized how well-spec’d the bike is saying that “they even threw in a complete Shimano XT group, a workhorse collection usually reserved for bikes twice the price. Pick up a copy and see for yourself, or click over to here to read the entire review.

Hey Everyone…  It was great to see everybody at Sea Otter and get back on the bike against the best international talent. This was my first international race of the year, and it was sweet to be on my new rides in front of my home crowd.

We headed out to Monterey on Wednesday to set up our team pits.  I was with my two other teammates Ryan Condrashoff and Brad Benedict.  We also had our new mechanic Mike Davis along with us.  This is the first full time mechanic I have ever had, and I can already feel how big of a difference it will make for the 2008 season.

We only got to ride for a little bit Thursday and Friday. Both days we had morning practice.  Luckily we went out to the DH track at 6:30 am on Friday and had a jump and photo session with Forrest Arakawa.  Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Jaime Goldman, Ryan Condrashoff, Brad Benedict, Joe Lawill, and myself all sessioned until the 8:30 practice started.

Saturday we finally got to racing good old AMERICAN SLALOM!  There were about 75 people in Pro Mens slalom trying to make the show.  Only 32 qualify.  I had two pretty average qualifying runs and was not very stoked.  I was glad to make the show though, because many super talented guys struggled to do so.  I qualified 27th and had to race the 6 seed Nathan Rennie.  I got a little over excited and my runs were not clean enough to give Rennie much competition.  After all was said and done I ended up 28th and the 14th best American.

Sunday Sunday Sunday !  Time to race DH!  Mike D the mechanic shuttled us for our last few practice runs before the 1 run final.  No qualifier here, just show up or blow up format.  I was having tons of fun riding the course and getting my huck on with all the jumps they had built.  I rode my Khyber 6 inch travel bike for the DH.  Seemed like some others were having trouble deciding between the slalom or DH bike, so it was cool to have the perfect in between bike from Mongoose with the Khyber.  

I had a pretty clean run down the short course.  I ended up running a 2:19.00--about 5 seconds off the podium putting me in 32nd out of the 98 riders that crossed the finish.  I was the 12th best American and pretty happy on improving my previous year’s ranking.

I had a lot of fun at Sea Otter and was glad to see everybody.  Special thanks to Sarah, Steve, and John from Mongoose; Toby and Kendal from THE/ITS; Clayton from Sun Ringle/Hayes; and Juan and Mateo from Gamut USA.  Also thanks to Mike D the mechanic.  You all helped me a bunch this last weekend and it is very appreciated.

Thanks to all my sponsors as well—Mongoose, X-Fusion, THE, Intense Tire Systems, Sun Ringle, Hayes Brakes, Nema International, Gamut USA, Easton, Dean Optics, Crankbrothers, SVCC

(Photo courtesy of Transcend Magazine.)

Check out this photo of Eric Carter, doing his part, selling raffle tickets on the Sea Otter dual slalom course to raise funds for the Tara Llanes Foundation.  Tara suffered a horrific crash during last year's Jeep King of the Mountain finale, and she needs our support on her road to recovery.

For more information on Tara or to donate go to http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com/

(Thanks to Jerrott King for the great photo.)

The Sea Otter Classic held in Monterey, California is in the books. This world famous cycling festival is the start to most of the racers international season. New bikes, new kits and seeing everyone again makes this event exciting.

The Dual Slalom is a highlight of the Sea Otter. I had an average qualifier and was in 19th spot. They take the top 32 to the final. I started finding my groove going through the rounds. I eventually would meet up against Greg Minnaar in the semis.  It was tight with Greg just edging me out.  I went on to win the consolation round and finished up with 3rd place--my best Sea Otter finish.

The Downhill here is a mix of jumps, berms and even a small uphill.  It is fun to practice but not a World Cup DH course by any means.  This course requires a lot of pedaling and holding speed in the right places.  Legs were little sore from the previous day’s slalom, but put together a good run and ended in 9th place only 0.8 secs from the podium.  I have struggled to even break the top 20 here, so am very happy with a solid start to the new season.

Thanks for the support,
Andrew Neethling

What would you do if you were hanging out in the mountains of Southern California for 2 days by yourself?  If you were Eric Carter, you'd build a DH trail.  Check out the sights (and sounds) on littermag.com.

Decline gave some nice attention to the Mongoose Nugget protoype in it's upcoming May issue.  Read on...

Decline May 2008--Goose Nugget Slopestyle Prototype Bike 

With increasing demands in the freeride market, more specifically for an all-purpose, slopestyle and play bike, the word of a production slopestyle bike has been the talk of the office at Mongoose headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.  The introduction of the EC-X in 2006 spurred the idea for the new Mongoose Nugget model.  You might remember the EC-X as the bike that led Eric Carter to numerous mountaincross podium finishes.  Andrew Cho has been working directly with Mongoose Product Developer, Darren Salsbury, on the new bike.  While the current EC-X provides a nimble, weight-conscious ride for gated racing, they felt that 2.8 inches of rear travel wasn’t quite enough for a slopestyle course. 

Andrew Cho said, “In a phone conversation with Darren, he had asked me to list some characteristics that would make this the “perfect bike” and with no hesitation, I gave him my wish list.  To my surprise, Darren had already included many of the features that I had wished for, inferring from the R&D data gathered from the past few years.  By the end of the brainstorming session we were in complete agreement and the Nugget was officially born.”  Andrew Neethling, Eric Carter, and Steve Romaniuk were also included in the feedback process.

Looking to morph the qualities found in the EC-X and the 165mm travel Khyber Super, Mongoose will be working on the Nugget this season.  The current Nugget prototype provides 3.9 inches of travel rear travel, using Mongoose’s FreeDrive Technology.  Here are some quick numbers on Cho’s size small prototype:

Weight: 7.8 lbs with a Fox Float RP23 rear shock
Chainstay:  17.25in
Seat Tube:  16.5in
Top Tube:  21.25in

The Nugget will be a 2009 model, so you’ll see the Mongoose riders on them all season to finalize the design.

For more info, visit mongoose.com

The 2008 MTN/MAZDA South African Downhill Championships were held in Pietermaritzburg over the weekend.  The event was held on a long and challenging track, and I was excited and looking forward to defending my 2007 title.

It was good to see Greg Minnaar back after recovering from a shoulder injury and this added even more class to an already quality field. Greg would be racing in his home town of Pietermaritzburg, which is a candidate city for a 2009 World Cup Event.

The format was best of 2 runs for the Overall Title. Heavy rain made for interesting practice the day before, but the sun was out on race day and the track was drying very quickly.

Greg posted a speedy first run of 4min 38 sec, and I was bit further back in 2nd opting to take my first run easy and go for it in the 2nd run with a drying track.

I had a good top section which was the technical part which then led into a steep rock section named Doctor EVIL.  This was followed by some fast stuff and then the pedaling which led into a spectacular flat out section of jumps to the finish for all the spectators to see. I gave it a huge go on the pedaling and posted a 4min 41secs for my second run.  It was not enough and Greg posted a 4min 38 sec again.

Jonty Neethling also went way quicker in his second run and rounded out the international quality field for 3rd position.  Here are the top 5 finishers.

2008 Mazda MTN South African Downhill Mountain Bike Championships
Cascades, Pietermaritzburg
Leading Overall Results:

1 Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) 04min38.09sec
2 Andrew Neethling (Mongoose) 04:41.03
3 Jonty Neethling (Morewood Fox Oakley) 04:51.51
4 Johann Potgieter (Cannondale) 04:55.83
5 Wesley Augustyn (Mongoose) 05:00.65

Thanks for all the support,

Andrew Neethling

(Photos courtesy of Mark Squire.)

Mongoose Bicycles is pleased to announce a grant to the Capitol Off-Road Partners (“CORP”), enabling the Madison, WI-area organization to purchase key trail-building tools.    These tools will be extensively used and include hoes, McLeods, Pulaskis, shovels, brush cutters, digging bars and a Knaack jobsite storage chest.

“Long known as a ‘dirt brand’, it’s only natural for Mongoose to partner with CORP,” said Mongoose Director of Product Development Darren Salsbury.  “Not only has the group acted in the best interests of Madison-area mountain bikers by working with local government bodies to open up new trails and expand existing networks, they’ve also brought us events such as the 12 Hours of Blue Mound.  Best of all, myself and other employees here frequent CORP-developed Quarry Ridge Park in Fitchburg, WI during lunch hours.  It makes for a great mid-day getaway out on the dirt.”  

"Without the support and generosity of Mongoose, the trail building efforts and success of the Capital Off-Road Pathfinders would not be possible” adds Scott Baryenbruch, CORP Trail Manager.   “These tools will allow us to add four to six miles of trails at Cam-Rock County Park, begin an expansion project at Blue Mounds State Park and further develop the freeride section of Quarry Ridge Park.”

As an “Above And Beyond Corporate Sponsor” of IMBA, the International Mountain Bicycling Association, Mongoose worked with IMBA to bring the trail care crew to the Madison area later this summer.   Mongoose employees will assist CORP during a weekday trail event at Quarry Ridge.

Read all about Steve "Romo" Romaniuk in his interview with www.pinkbike.com.  He talks about climbing to the top in the mountain bike world and his race to the bottom. 

Check out what Andrew Neethling has to say about the 2009 Mongoose DH prototype he's been riding in this www.littermag.com feature.  You get to see and HEAR all about it with the audio feature.  Pretty cool!

I just returned from the 2008 SRAM Team Mechanic Seminar.  This is the second year I have attended these classes, and I am excited to be one of 6 team mechanics in the country who was able to take part in this great seminar.  This year's 3-day seminar focused primarily on suspension components.  We received in-depth instruction on how to completely disassemble and reassemble forks and rear shocks.  The actual engineers who designed each product were on hand to explain the theory and design behind each product. It is a valuable advantage to have learned these skills, as I will now be able to help my riders more directly and efficiently.  There are times when SRAM techs are not available to help us quickly, and now we are qualified to do work that was previously only allowed to be done by them.

The first day was spent learning about the various forks we use; second day focused on Monarch air shocks; and the third day covered the new Vivid rear coil shock used on our downhill bikes. SRAM has been out of the rear coil shock market for a while now, and the Vivid shock is big news the mountain bike world. They provided us with specialty tools and instruction manuals to properly complete the work.

In addition to our time working on product, we also viewed the test labs and machine shop.  Their testing equipment is top notch, and it's interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes before final production.  They have a talented group of people who work hard to constantly improve product.  One of the biggest advantages is that all of the team mechanics who were in attendance have a great relationship with each other, which allows us to collaborate together when at the races to understand SRAM product to the fullest potential.  There will be times when SRAM is not at certain races, and if any one of us needs help with anything, we can lean on each other for assistance.

As always, John Dawson put together a great seminar and took great care of us. I learned many valuable skills and greatly increased my overall knowledge of suspension. I am looking forward to the 2008 race season, and can't wait to get started!!

--John Canepa--Mongoose Team Mechanic

The introduction of the EC-X in 2006 spurred the idea for the new Mongoose Nugget model. The EC-X was the bike that led Eric Carter to numerous UCI podium finishes. With increasing demands in the freeride market, more specifically for an all purpose, slopestyle and play bike, the word of a production slopestyle bike was the talk of the office at Mongoose HQ in Madison, Wisconsin.

While the current EC-X provided a nimble, weight conscious ride, I had been thinking that 2.8” of rear-wheel travel was just shy of being enough for the demanding terrain of today’s slopestyle courses. Having ridden the Khyber Super and the EC-X all season, I knew that Darren Salsbury (Mongoose’s Director of Product Development) had the geometry and the weight down pat and that it was just a matter of morphing the two bikes together to create a successful slopestyle bike. In a phone conversation with Darren he had asked me to list some characteristics that would make this the “perfect bike” and with no hesitation, I gave him my wish list. To my surprise Darren had already included many of the features that I had wished for, inferring from the R&D data gathered from the past few years. By the end of the brainstorming session we were in complete agreement and the Nugget was officially born.

Also included in the feedback process was Andrew Neethling, EC and Steve Romaniuk. We all managed to deck out the Nugget like an Audi with new features like heated leather interior…haha - not really but the Nugget is ISCG compatible, MAXLE (135mm), and has a completely redesigned, solid drop out and a newly designed shock mount.

The concept behind the Nugget was to combine the longer travel and strength of the AM/FR bike - take the Khyber and morph it with the nimble geometry and precision handling of the EC-X. The Nugget provides a supple 3.9” of travel rear travel via Fox Racing Shox RP23. Obviously, no Mongoose full-suspension bike would be complete without the use of the FreeDrive Technology and with no exception the Nugget will have you effortlessly pedaling in front of all your friends (with no pedal bob and brake jack!). Couple this impressive suspension design with ProPedal and with a flip of the lever and you have a bike that nearly eliminates pedal bob and not only that a nimble bike with a bottomless feel. You should expect to see the Nugget at a Mongoose dealer near you later this year ready to go for the 09 season!

Nugget Facts (size small):
The Nugget weighs in at 7.8lbs with a rear shock (FOX RP23).
Chain stay length: 17.25”
Seat tube length: 16.5”
Top tube length: 21.25”

I’d just like to thank Sarah & Darren @ Mongoose, Mark & Mike @ Fox Racing Shox, Chad @ Race Face, Clayton & Len @ Sun Ringlé for making this possible!

- Andrew Cho

Check out Mongoose Rider Chris Akrigg’s Podcast. Click on over to in order to subscribe to Mongoose UK rider Chris Akrigg’s Podcast:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=272531127 

(Note:  The new podcast wont show here for a few days... but if you subscribe it will download - as it is up)

Hey everybody,

Professional riders are helping build a place fit for experts - and the casual cyclist.

Imagine Tony Hawk designing a local skateboard park, or Shaun White building a terrain park at Bogus Basin. It might seem far-fetched, but the equivalent happened in Eagle earlier this week.

Eric Carter, winner of 27 national championships in different biking competitions and a world championship in mountain cross, was behind the controls of a bulldozer and building a mountain-cross course as part of the Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park at the Eagle-Ada Sports Complex.

Randy Spangler, a free-rider sponsored by Santa Cruz bicycles and featured in the "Kranked" series of extreme mountain-biking DVDs, was roughing out a pump track and jump lines nearby.

Both work with Judd de Vall, another professional rider and trail designer who has developed trails and tracks around the world.

"We went out and found the best talent we could and brought them here," said Dave Beck of Boise, president of Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

While mountain cross, pump track and jump lines aren't exactly household words in the Treasure Valley, they may be soon.

Riders will get to experience them first-hand in the spring when the courses are completed.

Until then, a quick explanation is in order. Despite their X-Games origins, these various courses don't require body armor or special bikes for each one.

They're all designed to be ridden on a standard BMX or mountain bike, and you don't have to be a world-class rider to enjoy them.

"We're trying to make them safe, fun and challenging all at the same time," Spangler said.

The mountain-cross course (also known as four cross) is designed for a competition where four riders race downhill on a trail the width of a narrow road with a series of jumps, banked corners and sprint sections.

But jumps are designed so you have the option of rolling over them or flying off of them, which makes them friendly for riders of all skill levels.

Carter said he designed the course with "world-class flow" that emulated the courses ridden at international competitions, but with more user-friendly jumps.

Even if you never plan to race, the public course looks like it is going to be a blast to ride. You take a short ride up an access road and drop in as it serpentines down the hill.

Since it is a one-way, downhill course, you can ride it as fast as your nerves and skill can handle, and if you encounter a slower rider, there's plenty of room to pass.

"Good riders can have fun on this, and parents who have never ridden one can ride it and get the same feel," Carter said.

Jump lines are similar but much narrower and designed for a single rider at a time. There are three jump lines, one each for beginner, intermediate and expert riders.

But even expert jumps are table tops instead of gap jumps, which means there's a level plateau between ramps so if you don't clear the space between ramps, you won't crash into the backside of the opposite ramp.

If you lose your nerve before the ramp, you simply ride across the top of the jump and down the opposite ramp.

The pump track is a short course with a series of rises and drops that are designed so you can ride the whole course without pedaling.

The objective is to provide a full-body workout and learn bike-handling skills that you can use for technical riding where pedaling is not an option.

"It's a really good workout without turning the pedals," Spangler said. "And it's a lot of fun to ride, too."

The cycling park also includes a 5-mile, single-track trail similar to a Ridge-to-Rivers trail, so riders can get cruise it then come back and ride the different courses at the park.

Carter said he's built numerous courses, but they're usually at ski resorts or race venues rather than in the suburbs.

"This is going to be a focal point for all the kids in the neighborhood, and that's super exciting," he said. "I wish this was in my hometown."

The park is a joint effort between Ada County, the city of Eagle and the Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

The park will eventually included an oval velodrome, a biking skills course, and other features.

The goal is to have a world-class facility that will provide recreation for the average cyclist and a venue for competitive cyclists.

Carter said he came from a working-class family in California and was able to use his bike riding skills and determination to travel the world and compete in cycling events.

He hopes that his work in Eagle will provide a similar opportunity for someone else.

"If I can help one kid realize his dreams by doing something like this, then this will be a success to me," Carter said.

Idaho Statesman , 1-26-08

January 26th and 27th marked the 2nd round of the Shimano Winter Series in Fontana, CA, and with all the crazy weather in Southern California it looked to be a war of attrition more then a bike race.

Saturday the sun was shining, making for a great day for mountain cross, and the pro class was full of action.  In the first semi final Eric Carter took the hole shot with Mongoose supported rider John Hauer in 2nd.  E.C. was actually falling over in turn one as John was coming on his inside.  Both riders made contact, but John’s momentum actually stood E.C. up and kept him from going down.  Both riders advanced to the finals.  In the 2nd semi Logan Binggelli was leading when Ryan Condrashoff and Rich Houseman made contact in turn 3, and both riders went down hard.  Ryan was able to remount and take the final spot to advance.

In the final E.C. pulled the hole shot from lane four and never looked back.  Binggeli was 2nd with John Hauer rounding out the podium in 3rd.

Saturday night a big storm ripped through So Cal and everyone thought the worst, but Sunday morning the sun was out and the conditions were never better for Fontana.  E.C. had a smooth run on his ECD and felt like he could have a winning time, but like the first round of the winter series Chris Kovarik was riding awesome and took top honors.  Mongoose team rider John Hauer had his best Downhill result with a 7th place.  This coupled with two podiums from Mongoose Tribe riders Dan McCormack and Steve Zvorsky made for a great Mongoose weekend.

For more race info check out www.southridgeusa.com.

(Photo courtesy of Dylan-Dean.com)

Hey Everybody,

Got back last night from the world famous Fontucky.  The conditions were amazing due to showers all week leading into the race as well as showers the night before the DH event on Sunday.  We spent all day Friday riding in Ventura, CA with Griz from Decline magazine working on an article for a timing system.  We held a bootleg race that will be covered in Decline and ended up riding the trail ‘til there was no more light left in the day.  Griz did a great job at building a short, fun, and technical trail to race on.

Saturday was a long, but productive day.  We got to Fontana early so we could get some DH runs in before the 4X started.  Conditions were great, so it was hard to cut DH practice short to move on to 4X.  In my second practice run I snapped a chain out of the 3rd corner and knocked the crap out of myself.  I was all scraped up and not feeling too loose anymore.  I grabbed a new chain and got back out on the track.  I ended up riding really well even after the tough practice spill.  I made it through a few motos and made the final.  The final consisted of Eric Carter, Logan Binggelli, me, and Ryan Condrashoff.  We finished in that order. I was stoked to get my first podium on my new Mongoose hardtail.  We had our podium and then hurried off to get some more DH runs in before it got dark.

Sunday we showed up to find we had a moat of water around our pits.  Luckily our pit area stayed dry.  I did only a couple practice runs to keep my legs fresh then we headed up for the final. I had an amazing top section then carried too much speed into some lower corners and slammed some rebar poles and came to a quick stop.  I got it together and sprinted the next minute or so of the course and still ended up with a good time.  I came in 6th place out of 25-30 pro men riders.  It’s a bummer to have a big mistake in your run but it’s good to know that I am up to speed and feeling really good on my new Mongoose bikes.  I rode the 6 inch Mongoose Khyber for DH at Fontana as well as at the decline race day.

More report can be found at Pinnedmtb.com

Results:
4X—3rd Place
DH—6th Place

Thanks to everybody for the continued support—Mongoose, X-Fusion, THE, Intense Tires, Sun-Ringle, Easton, Nema International, Gamut USA, and Crankbrothers.

Later,

John Hauer

(Photos courtesy of Joe Lawwill and Dylan Dean)

It was another great summer’s day in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch for the 1st round of the new and improved South African National Series.  This is the first time South Africa has run Nationals in the summer, and there were a lot of nay-sayers and doubters that said it wouldn't be worth the complete change in schedule, but record entries in XC and DH and a giant crowd on both days proved the doubters wrong.

In the Downhill on Sunday, reigning South African Elite Men’s Champion Andrew Neethling (Mongoose) claimed the victory with two fast, consistent runs.  His first run was a snappy 03min 11.61sec, and he managed to shave that down to 03min11.22 with his second run--more than 10 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Greg Saharin (03:22.36).  Neethling’s archrival, Johann Potgieter, was unable to improve on his first run of 3:23.42, but it was rapid enough to ensure he rounded out Elite Men’s podium positions.

Sub-veteran Gary Barnard showed up his younger rivals somewhat with the second fastest time of the day with a 3:21.77, which he clocked on his second descent.  Reigning US Downhill champion Cole Bangert added some international spice to the event and ended with a solid 5th place in the Elite Men’s category.

Andrew had this to say, “I am very happy with the result today. The course was great.  It had a good flow and was very technical and physical.  I came out today to have fun and succeeded in doing that.”

There is a short break before the 2nd SA National which is being held from 9-10 Feb in Gauteng, RSA

Check www.littermag.com for full SA National #1 Feature.

Photo courtesy of Gary Perkins.

I have to admit the idea of going to ride my mountain bike in Cleveland in January didn’t sound very fun, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Ray’s MTB Park is amazing!  You really have to visit to appreciate all the work that has been invested. 

The thought behind the park is perfect.  There are lines for all skill levels as well as disciplines.  From the time you walk in, you feel at ease.  You’ll most likely be greeted by Ray himself as he is always on hand.  To quote Ray, “It’s like having a house party everyday.”  And that’s how it feels! The lounge areas are set up so you can hang out and watch the riders.  They both have fireplaces!  I had tons of fun on all the obstacles and lines, but my favorites would have to be the expert rhythms and the pump track.

I had a blast and can’t wait to go back. Thanks to Ray and his crew for a great time on my bike!

EC

For the Martin Luther King holiday weekend the Mongoose crew and the legendary Eric Carter set up camp at Ray’s MTB Park (www.raysmtb.com) for demos of the 2008 range of mountain bike and BMX product, to allow the public to meet Eric Carter, ride with him, and to test out a prototype of the new 2009 Nugget dual suspension bike.

Riders were having a blast hanging out with Eric Carter for the weekend.  EC’s laid back style makes him really approachable and easy to talk to, and his genuine love of riding bikes comes through all the time. It was funny to watch the look on people’s faces when he ripped through a section at speeds that don’t seem possible.

Ray’s is in its 4th year and the number of riders is increasing at exponential levels.  On any given weekend hundreds of riders ranging from BMX, cross country, downhill/mountain cross, and even motorcycle riders show up to hit the trails.  Abilities range from kids with training wheels to World Champ EC and everywhere in between. There’s something for everyone. Sunday nights are now BMX nights with product giveaways, and a super fun atmosphere that you wouldn’t expect at a “mountain bike” park…we think Ray just needs to call it a bike park.

Check out the picture of park manager Bobby’s miniature husky Digger—the park’s unofficial mascot--who matches the finish on the Nugget perfectly.  We think Digger approved of the new Nugget as well.  For more information hit up www.raysmtb.com or better yet, take a pilgrimage to Cleveland.  We hear it rocks.

If you don't believe us, check out this footage from the demo weekend courtesty of Willem Cooper.

In cooperation with CPSC, Mongoose issues a voluntary recall on the Mongoose Alleycat Coupler , model #12-PF250. 


Click here: RECALL_PRESS_RELEASE.pdf



Acrobat Reader is required to view all documents. Get it here

Click on the link to check out Andrew Neethling's 2008 Mongoose ECX that he uses for mountaincross and dirt jumping.

Click Here

The time had come. No turning back now. I was set for a front row start in a race format I had never entered before. There were 160 riders all starting at the same time on a 50-minute downhill.

The start was set for 9am. Call up for our grid positions was based on our heat race results at 8am. This sounds fine until you note that the drive to the top is at least 1 hour on a road with the tightest turns I had ever seen. Car sickness started to set in near the top.

I lined up on my Teocali Elite next to Julien Camellini.  Next to him was Nico Vouilloz, and then Remy Absalon. Nico had retired by the time I got on the international circuit as a pro. After looking up to him for all those years it was a little overwhelming lining up along side him to start. I knew a good start was needed. My game plan was to go as hard as I could in the beginning and try to stay with the top boys. The start was a mix of open granite sections, short steep inclines, and some dusty single track.

The countdown began--10 minutes to go, then 5 minutes, then 30 seconds, then 5 seconds, and then we were off! The pace was frantic. Everyone was flat out with some taking sneaky lines through the bushes. WOW! These guys meant businessI had a good start and was in about 4th going into the first climb. I gave it my all, which almost backfired, as my legs were not feeling great. This happens when you sprint before your body warms up.

This race felt like a Downhill, 4X, XC, and Motocross race all rolled into one.

There were a couple placement changes near the front because of some interesting line choices and crashes. I managed to make a pass and go into the long, dusty single track in 3rd. What a surprise! I could not believe it, but by this time my legs were full of lactic acid. I settled into a pace and pushed myself when I could.

Reny Wildhaber caught me on one of the concrete road sections which was a mix between flat and inclines. He was very strong, but I tucked in behind him, and he pulled me along. This helped so much as it gave me some time to rest. I joked with him afterwards and said he saved my life on that road!!

I made sure to stay with Reny, as I knew if I could go into the last long flat rocky section in 4th that I could maintain the position. I was really hurting. Damn this race is long physically, but before you know it, you are at the finish. Up front, Nico had caught Remy Absalon, the early leader. They battled it out, but the 10 time World DH Champion came out on top. Nico has been quoted as saying this is the hardest race he has ever done physically. I would agree.  And I must say I was happy with how my bike handled the varioius terrains of the course.  It had a great mix of technical downhills and fast-pasted pedaling. 

Top 5 were as follows: ( Note that the top 3 are all past winners of this event)

1st Nico Vouilloz
2nd Remy Absalon
3rd Reny Wildhaber
4th Andrew Neethling
5th Franck Parolin

All in all this race was a great experience. This race has been going on since 1995 as far as I know. The people I met and places I saw were amazing. Not often can riders of all riding abilities get together and take part in the same race. We all get to share war stories after the race. The Island was beautiful, the people friendly, and the snorkeling amazing! Check back for more pictures.

Andrew Neethling

Reunion Island was host to the 3rd and final round of the 2007 MegAvalanche Series. Located 500 miles east of Madagascar, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the French-administrated Reunion Island is a true island paradise. Home to an active volcano, miles of warm, welcoming beaches, and lots of mountains and forests in between, the opportunities to have fun are endless. A vibrant culture, cuisine, and ethnic mix make for an incredible experience for even the most seasoned of travelers.

Team Mongoose was fortunate enough to visit the island to take part in the event. With Eric Carter leading the way, Andrew Neethling, and I (mechanic John Canepa) were along for the adventure. This is the second Meg race Eric has attended, with the previous held at Alpe d’Huez, France in July ‘07. Labeled as an endurance-downhill event, these races generally lasts 50min to 1 hour and descend an average of 6000 ft! A mix of downhill with a fair bit of climbing involved, only the fittest will survive in these grueling, mass-start races.

Day One: Monday, Nov. 26--After 22 hours of flying time, EC and I finally landed in Reunion. We were greeted by many familiar, fellow racers, and a comfortable feeling was already established. Neethling joined the party later that night, after flying in from South Africa. With great accommodations for the week, the 3 of us were off to a great start.

Day Two: Tuesday, Nov. 27--We woke up to sunshine, with palm and mango trees at our doorstep. We quickly put our bikes together, and rode into town for breakfast and to have a look around. Although the course wouldn’t be marked until the next day, EC and Neethling were anxious to ride the course. We did our best to find the route to the top based on our available directions, but after several unsuccessful attempts, it started to get late, and the guys didn’t want to risk getting lost in un-marked terrain. We decided to purchase some snorkels and hit the beach. With endless miles of beautiful reefs, we had prime locations anywhere we looked. After an amazing snorkeling session, we headed back to our accomodations for a great, ethnic dinner hosted by the owners of our flat. With a combination of great homemade food and rum, it made for a truly memorable experience.

Day Three: Wednesday, Nov. 28--Neethling and I woke up to EC cooking one of his signature egg scrambles. After filling up on a great breakfast, the mission began to tune the bikes and get ready for some riding. We met up with many other riders, and followed the a shuttle-truck up the mountain. Tight-n-twisty roads would have been an understatement for the drive up! We saw a variety of interesting landscapes. With EC and Andrew aboard their Mongoose Teocalis, they were excited to get a dose of what Reunion had to offer. The guys finished the ride extremely fatigued and were surprised with how rough the terrain was. We talked about the course, bike setup, supension, ect. We headed back to the flat and grabbed our snorkels to fit in a quick session just before sunset, and we finished off the night with some pizza, and talked about the race with some French riders. 

Day Four: Thursday, Nov. 29--Official practice started. After breakfast, we loaded up the bikes and drove to the top so the boys could get some more riding time in. They rode together, picking out lines and discussing strategy for the race. I met them at the finish, and we headed back into town for some lunch and then refreshed with time at the beach. We hit the town later that night and ate dinner at Coco Beach, a cool restaurant located right on the sand, just steps from the water.

Day Five: Friday, Nov. 30--We slept in a bit, since the guys planned on doing only one practice run before the qualifiers the following day. I got the bikes tuned, and I shuttled them to the top. They had a good run, and felt good about the following day.

Day Six: Saturday, Dec. 1--Qualification day. On the Saturday, before the main event, there was a qualifier race that was shorter in length, and it determined what row the riders would start. EC woke up not feeling well, experiencing stomach pains and dizziness, and spent the morning in bed. He mustered up enough strength to get to the race. After another long, tight-n-twisty drive up the mountain, we finally made it to the top. EC was in the first heat, got a great start, and went into the race 2nd place behind 10-time World Champion downhill racer Nicolas Vouilloz. EC finished up with a 6th place position, good enough for a second row lineup the next day. Neethling was in the second heat, and also got a great start, locking in 5th position early on, and finished up in a strong 3rd place, which gave him a front row lineup position the following day.

Day Seven: Sunday, Dec. 2--Race Day. We woke early, ate a quick breakfast, and drove to the top. Weather was nice throughout the week, and it was no different today. The guys got ready and inspected the beginning of the course for line choice and possible changes from the day before. Both Neethling and EC were off to a great start, and I filmed what I could until they were out of view. I hurried my way down the mountain in our trusty rental car, and met up with them at the finish line. Neethling finished with an impressive 4th place, beating several competitors who are specialists in this type of endurance racing. His finishing time was 51min, 33 sec., 2:40 behind race winner Nicolas Vouilloz, who finished with a time of 48:53.

EC was sitting in the top 20 for most of the race, but towards the bottom part of the course, in the roughest, rockiest section, he experienced the unfortunate--a front flat tire. He fixed it as quickly as possible, but during that time, many other racers passed by, slowly picking off positions. With the field of racers being so tight, more than 40 riders passed EC in that time. He finished up the race in 74th place with a time of 1.07:43. A flat tire or mechanical problem can really hurt in these races, and even upon recovery, it is difficult to pass so many riders on such a tight singletrack.

After the race, we packed up the bikes, and headed straight to the beach for some food and fun in the sun. We met up with some other friends there and experienced some awesome deep-water snorkeling. Apparently, there were shark sightings earlier that day, but we didn’t find that out until after being in the water! The night finished up with a team dinner held at the host hotel. Many of the racers gathered for some food, drinks, and music from a few local bands.

Day Eight: Monday, Dec. 3--We woke early, packed up the bikes, and got ready to take a drive to do some sightseeing and snorkeling. Reunion has great beaches all over, and one of the most impressive coastlines we’ve seen. We found a natural swimming hole nestled right in the corner of a tropical cove, took a quick swim, and got some pics before heading back to our flat. EC and I said our goodbyes to Neethling, and we headed to the airport to for the 23-hour flight home.

Our trip to Reunion Island will not be forgotten anytime soon. An incredible trip indeed, as we learned many new things and saw sights unseen to any of us before. We had an awesome time in every aspect. The race was more difficult and physically demanding than any of us thought and proved that Mega Avalanche races are a true example of grueling endurance downhill racing. With a tropical island race location not normally on our schedule, we made sure to take advantage of true island living at its best.

Click on the image for more photos to see what we mean.

We had qualfying heats today for seeding at tommorrow's main event. There were four heats of 60 guys in each. Even though EC sat out much of practice due to some sort of stomach bug, he had a flyer of a start. He came out of the first turn in 2nd behind 10-time World Champ Nico Vouliloz. These heats were about 18 minutes of gruelling terrain, and EC finished 6th in his heat. He was hoping to maintain a top 5 postion which gives you a front row start for Sundays main event, but said his body was not feeling great after being in bed the day before.

My start was not as great as EC with me coming out of turn one in about 6th. I focused hard on staying with the top boys. The pace was fast and I was hurting. I manged to pick off some riders and was in 3rd before we entered a technical rocky section. The rider in front of me went down, and I had to stop as not to go down as well. This let Julien Camellini pass. I got going again and hung onto 3rd. This gives me a front row start with another 19 riders. Not to mention the rest of the 150 plus riders... wish us luck!

Andrew Neethling

**Check back for more from Andrew on the MegAvalanche race in Reunion Island.

Read Andrew Neethling's reaction to seeing his first MegAvalanche course.

MegAvalanche--wow what truth. EVERYTHING is Mega.

I flew in a little later than John Canepa (our mechanic) and EC. I was picked up at the airport by the pair and off we went to our hotel. Reunion Island is really amazing. It has a true tropical feel and way of life. We were really excited to get on our bikes and see the course. LONG is a Mega-understatement. The course starts with some fast open volcanic slabs near the top. After that is some really fun stuff in the tress. The middle is spent navigating through HUGE sugar cane fields. We end with some really rocky and rough switch backs. I tried to picture a 50 minute winning-time course but nothing could have prepared me for this. The course is really dusty, so it will be very interesting when we race. Following is near to impossible. On Saturday we will take part in qualifying heats on the lower section of the course. This will decide our starting positions for Sunday's main event. I am a little nervous as this is my first time at one of these events. It is like a whole other world has been discovered for myself.

Check back for a full race re-cap next week.

Ray's MTB Park in Cleveland, OH is the world's only indoor mountain bike park.  Thanks to a recent expansion, it now has over 90,000 square feet of ramps, turns, tracks, and trails to challenge both the beginner and hardcore rider.  Mongoose is proud to be a sponsor of such an innovative and interactive facility.  Check out the Mongoose areas of the new edition, and for more information go to www.raysmtb.com. 

Eric Carter designed and built the last course in Beaver Creek, Colorado for the Jeep King of the Mountain Series.  Eric will be on CBS Sports on October 21 from 1:30pm – 3pm EST.  He will take the CBS cameras on a tour of the course and will commentate on the race as well.

Check out Mongoose rider Andrew Cho on the 2008 Mongoose Khyber Super. 

Check out the bike:  http://www.mongoose.com/mtn/ProductDetails.html?id=2636&enc=mtn|6

My first (and last) 100-mile race – the Levis/Trow 100

I’ve only been gone a month or so, and already the weather in Wisconsin has changed. Is it global warming? Was it always this hot and humid in Wisconsin? Why do all my memories of riding at Levis/Trow include crisp, cool days with the crunch of leaves on the trail? (Oh, that’s right, I usually only ride at Levis in the Fall).

And maybe volunteering to help set up the course the day before the race wasn’t a good idea. No, that’s always a good idea. But maybe sitting out in the sun all day without enough water wasn’t a good idea. Or maybe the two beers I had before bed (or three, it certainly wasn’t four was it?). Or maybe…

Race day dawns, and my first thought is an old saying that originated I don’t know where: "Red sky at night sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." I say it several times to Dave. It’s fun, it rhymes. I’m easily entertained at 5:30am. It’s a beautiful red sky, and I wonder how accurate that saying is. Five minutes later I find out. I didn’t need a warmup anyway. Now it’s 8am, and I’m standing in the pouring rain when the shotgun goes off. Running sucks. That’s why god gave us the bicycle. But soon I’m on the bike and off the back; at least I’m riding. I work my way up and into the singletrack first, but then my rain- and fog- covered glasses cause a slight orientationtal emergency, and I’m off the first bridge and letting the orientationally advantaged ride on past me. Luckily, those same orientationally advantaged riders aren’t as adept at steep, sandy switchbacks as they are at bridges, and I’m soon at the front again and riding by myself.

I’d like to say the race was over at this point. My plan was to ride a tiger-fast first lap and then just cruise for 75 miles and enjoy a walk away victory. That didn’t happen.

I manage the fastest first lap, but I’m only 3 minutes ahead. A dropped water bottle, some cramps, and really bad thoughts on my second lap mean that I’m in the pit with second place after 50 miles. Rain, more depressing thoughts, more cramps, and the combined effect of wet shorts and hot weather (and the consequent increasing lack of skin on important parts of my body) mean that I’m in the pit with second place after 75 miles too. So much for enjoying the last victory lap.

If you’re only 5 seconds ahead after 75 miles, and feel like that 5-dollar bill that you forgot in your pocket (and which has now been through 5 wash cycles), what’s the best thing to do? Of course, you ride as fast as you can for the first 5 miles of your last lap. That works out. I can’t see him any more, and there don’t appear to be any real ill effects of that effort. Except that I’m now sitting on the side of the trail trying to massage one of 7 different cramping muscles. Oh and now I’m crying for no apparent reason. I think my lower earlobe is cramping. I’m having deep philosophical discussions with my 18-month old son (who is still back in Idaho). And eventually my brain is dead. But there’s a benefit to a clinically dead brain—I don’t really notice that I want the rest of my body to die too. Well that’s not entirely true. My brain still functions enough to tell me that I’d feel pretty stupid to fly from Idaho to Wisconsin for a stupid mountain bike race, and then quit with 2 miles to go.

2 miles to go. I can’t ride up anything larger that my first girlfriend’s… (wait, did I just say that?). I walk, coast down the hills, can’t push hard enough to clip into my pedals, fall off the bike and walk some more.

And then after 9 hours and 48 minutes I’m done. I win. I beat all but one of the 100-mile teams (and they only passed me while I was sitting on the ground with 2 miles to go). And my glorious reward is that now I’m stuck on my back in an ant pile while every muscle in my body (including one under my chin) cramp at the same time. It takes over 24 hours before I want a beer (it’s been 24 years since I’ve gone 24 hours without a beer).

I’m never doing that again.

But certainly there are good things about the race? Yes. The engine was overmatched, underprepared, and woefully inadequate. But my new Mongoose Canaan performed wonderfully. It rolled the fastest lap of all the 100 milers, but still let me survive through the fastest last lap of all the solo riders. It was both fast and predictable. During the full 100 miles, I never crashed, blew a turn that I couldn’t fix, or (perhaps most important) felt like my back as going to fall apart (a common occurrence under much more pedestrian circumstances—like taking out the trash).

So buy the bike, love the bike. Just don’t do one of those stupid 100-mile races (and don’t get me started on the 24-hour thing). Well, maybe just avoid the beer the night before….

My perception of what a fun MTB event should be has been permanently changed.....I have just returned home from France after attending the MegaAvalanche in Alpe d’ Huez.  I hit this race up with a crew from Mongoose to help debut the new Khyber 6.5" travel frame and to get used to all-mountain race formats of HUGE proportions.

For those who have ridden this event you understand, for those who haven't it is a must do.  Mass start downhill, week long gravity fest and riding with people from 19 other countries.  With no set practice schedule, multiple high Alpine valleys linked by Gondola's and 2 separate race courses to race on during the weekend makes it no wonder that the 1500 field limit fills up every year.  Most come for the full week of a gravity induced getaway.

The qualifier course is raced Saturday featuring 4700 feet of descending and the fastest times are in the 30 minute range, then it's time to get your mind around Sunday.  The MegaAvalanche course features 8500 ft of decent over a 18 mile course!  It takes the fastest guys 50 minutes and starts on a 3 mile long glacier.  Have I mentioned that all of this is in a mass start format where you will start with 250 riders for the qualifier and up to 400 if you make it into the MegaAvalanche? Note if you miss your qualifying time (like our team mechanic and product manager did) or just want to have fun you still race the course but on your own time after the main event.

I had an awesome time and have now put this on the top of my list as events that I need to do each year.

Look for my complete story in a forthcoming issue of Decline Magazine.

Mongoose's MTB frontman Eric Carter took part in stop #1 of the JEEP® KING OF THE MOUNTAIN series over the weekend. The race series is an invitation only event where only the top athletes are invited so to have EC on the list for last couple of years is a major honor.

EC battled it out on the steep course that dropped off the Canyons Resort ski hill into the village center below making for great spectating.

EC ended up going head-to-head against Cody Warren and won the hard fought battle for the 3rd place spot on the podium. The finish keeps EC in a great points position for the series and his consistency will make hin a factor come finals time in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships

August 4 Race Results – Race I at The Canyons in Park City, Utah

Men’s Standings
1. Michal Prokop – Czech Republic
2. Jared Graves – Australia
3. Eric Carter – Temecula, Calif.
4. Cody Warren – Alpine, Calif.
5. Rich Houseman – Temecula, Calif.
6. Brian Lopes – Laguna Beach, Calif.
7. Wade Bootes – Australia
8. Chris Van Dine – Park City, Utah

The Mongoose MTB Squad is proudly sponsord by: SRAM, Kenda, Funn, OGIO, e-thirteen, SUN-Ringle, SDG, FLY Racing and Pearl Izumi.

Team Mongoose superstar Eric Carter participated in the MegAvalanche mass-start DH race in Alpe d'Huez, France on July 28th. Calling it "a must-attend event" and "the most fun DH race I've ever done", EC was content with his 51st place finish in his first attempt at the event.

Getting taken out by other riders three times on the steep glacier alone, EC raced his all-new Mongoose Khyber, descending approx 8500' over a 20-mile course from the peak of Alpe d'Huez to the finish in picturesque Allemont.

EC's already getting ready for next year, thinking about what he needs to be ready with both fitness and equipment to reach his goal of a top ten finish.

Day one and two of the 2007 Kokanee Crankworx Festival kicked off with the Volkswagen Biker X and Garbonzo Downhill. Mongoose’s Andrew Neethling jumped in to the action on the rain soaked courses. Andrew would turn in some great performances getting him on the podium both days.

Needles cranked and whipped his 2008 ECX to a 3rd place in the super challenging Biker X. He had 2nd place secured until an unfortunate pedal slip before the finish line dropped him back a spot.

The second day was the Garbonzo Downhill. The famed course is the longest competitive DH course in the world with top times in the 15 minute range. The race was a test for all racers fitness and skills. Andrew pointed his 2008 ECD DH machine straight down and held on for a memorable ride that landed him in 3rd place against the top downhill specialists in the world.

For the next two days Needles will rest up for another great event, the Jim Beam Air Downhill on the word renown ‘A – Line” course.

Check back for more updates later and a comprehensive wrap-up report after Crankworx winds down.

Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by:
SRAM, Kenda tires, Pearl Izumi, Sun/Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and ethirteen

Deer Valley: It has always been a great event to attend. Good courses, good weather and an all-round good atmosphere.

After qualifying 7th in the Slalom, I made it through to the round of 8 where I was up against my team mate and Legend Eric Carter. I knew EC was on great form, and it would take some flawless riding to advance. The first heat was tight, and I think I gave EC a bit of a surprise. He had an amazing start in the 2nd heat, and all I could do was play catch up. I made up some ground on him near the end, but EC was just on top of his game and advanced. I ended 6th for the day.

Downhill: I was here to make up for past years in the DH. I have had some really bad luck in the past years and wanted to change this. In '05 I qualified 1st but suffered a mechanical problem in my race run. In '06 I qualified 2nd and managed to crash within sight of the finish on a run which was on pace.

This year's course was fast and rough but also included some tight wooded sections. I qualified 4th with a safe run. I was confident that I could knock some good time off for the final. I had an attacking run with one major mistake and lost big momentum in another spot. I was aiming high but was just over 1 sec from the win and had to settle for 3rd. Maybe next year...

I travel to Mount Sainte Anne for the 3rd round of the World Cup series which takes place this weekend. Maybe it will not rain halfway through the final?

Eric Carter and Andrew Neethling paired up to do some damage at the 5th stop in NORBA series in Deer Valley, Utah. EC has been busy staying stateside racing and promoting his grassroots "Tribe" program while Needles has been hitting up the World Cups and other international events.

EC decided to change gears, literally, and jump into the Super D along with racing in his forte', Dual Slalom. Eric was excited for the Super D course and it showed with an impressive 4th place.

In the Dual Slalom, EC would have his work cut out for him with a stacked international field of competitors. With the short course a minor mistake could be huge but EC would hold up to a 3rd place rounding out a great weekend in unseasonably hot Wasatch Mountains.

The South African Champ Needles came to Deer Valley with one thing on his mind... win! Racing in the Dual Slalom was just a tune up for the DH ace and locked down a 6th.

The Downhill had a good mix of tech; terrain, and speed and Andrew dialed it in during qualifying knowing what he had to do. Part way down the run he overcooked a turn unclipped and went slightly off course. He recovered and got back on the throttle and finished within a second off the leader with a 3rd place finish. Pretty good for taking a detour.

Next on the schedule for the Goose guys, EC will be doing an adventure ride for an upcoming magazine article and Needles will be heading north to Quebec for the Mont St Anne World Cup. The Goose is loose so keep watching for the guys blasting down the hills on one of the EC model frames.

Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by: SRAM, Kenda tires, Pearl Izumi, Sun/Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and ethirteen

Mongoose DH pilot Andrew Neethling just finished up at the Wheels of Speed event in Willingen, Germany and made his way to the 2nd round of the UCI World Cup Series in Champery, Switzerland. The two things that stood out were the crazy steep course and inclement weather.

The course was one of the steepest that the riders had seen and also had a fair bit of technical twists to it. Many riders were frustrated after the first few practice runs. Needles was heard saying, "I did not feel like a pro downhiller out there." It was challenging, but after a few practice runs the riders began to settle in.

Andrew decided to take it easy in his qualifying run as a crash would cost a rider valuable time. Needles cruised to a 19th in qualifying and was confident to improve for the final. Many of the top riders had a crash or two in qualifying resulting in some not making into the final.

Deja vu, like with first WC in Spain, the heavens opened up just before the Top 30 qualifiers had their final run as heavy rain and hail slickened up the course making it nearly impassible.

Andrew was having a solid run until about 3/4 of the way down a greasy turn he went down. As he tried to get going he slipped and fell again taking on the next section upside down sliding along with his bike. As Andrew had put it, "It felt like a nightmare, and I just wanted it to end." The nightmare would continue as he crashed two more times. He even had spectators trying to help him get his bike out of fences. Needles picked himself up and finished out the crazy course, and as he crossed the line he flashed his trademark smile through his mud covered face kind of putting it all into perspective.

The lucky riders to get dry runs ended on or near the podium, with the exception of Sam Hill, who put an amazing run together in the wet and finished 3rd. Andrew is now off to Deer Valley for a NORBA event with his teammate Eric Carter so be on the lookout for them there.

Mongoose is proudly sponsored by: SRAM, Kenda, SDG, Funn, ethirteen, OGIO, SUN and Panasonic.

Just rolled into Champery, Switzerland for the second round of the World Cup circuit.

I attended the Wheels of Speed Downhill event in Willengen, Germany this past weekend. It was an invite event. The Top 16 UCI riders were invited. What a great event! The organizers really looked after us. There was a huge prize purse of 30,000 euros.

They used the World Cup track we raced on last year. It has tons of man-made jumps and rock gardens. It is a short but super fun track. The times were so darn close. I had a decent qualifying run with two mistakes, but it was good enough for the final. I smoothed out my mistakes and let it rip for the final. I ended fifth, a mere 0.9 seconds from 1st place. I was happy to be so close though, and I made some dough for the effort.

Results below:

1. Filip Polc 1:58.01 (SVK)
2. Greg Minnaar 1:58.03 (RSA)
3. Steve Peat 1:58.45 (GBR)
4. Sam Blenkinsop 1:58.74 (NZL)
5. Andrew Neethling 1:58.91 (RSA)
6. Bryn Atkinson 1:58.92 (AUS)
7. Jared Graves 1:59.23 (AUS)
8. Marc Beaumont 1:59.38 (GBR)
9. Sam Hill 2:00.34 (AUS)
10. Nico Vink 2:01.16 (BEL)

I am currently travelling and racing with Ivonne Kraft a top International MTB rider lying 17th in the World in XC racing. I met her at the Cape Epic and she kindly offered for me to join her in her training and racing adventures across Europe.

My first race was in Solingen, Germany a short course race in which we completed six laps of 4.2kms. The course, although not very technical, was quite challenging due to muddy rainy conditions, something I am quickly getting used to over here! Ivonne fortunately loaned me some descent mud tires and helped me in the preceding days with my technical skills. This saved me from lying in a heap at the bottom of a particularly muddy downhill! It was a fun race and helped me to loosen up my tired traveling legs. I was very happy to finish third and also won some decent prize money. This was very welcome as staying in small villages I had not been able to draw any money or use my credit card!

Results, Elite ladies:

1. Ivonne Kraft (La Carrera BTS Travel) 1:32:14

2. Sandra Gockert (Stevens Racing) 1:35:15

3. Yolande Speedy (IMC/Mongoose)1:37:02

After the race we traveled home (a small German village called Hausheim where Ivonne lives with her friend Walter) to prepare for our trip to Scotland to race the pre-World champs in Fort William. We met up with Ivonne?s friend and pro MTB racer Michael Weiss on the Tuesday, packed our bikes and headed off to the airport.

Scotland is a beautiful country with endless green hills, mountains, lochs and historical buildings.

We spent an amazing week there; sight-seeing, training and practicing the XC course in Fort William

The 7.4km course is fairly technical with slalom like downhills, 270m of steep climbing and a few rocky drops. It starts with a long climb that is broken up a little and then it?s mainly downhill till a long drag and short steep climb to the finish. It poured with rain the day before (the most rain Scotland has seen in a long time!) so the course although well prepared for rain was quite slippery in places.

I raced against 14 other ladies mainly British riders and a few top International riders. We had a very late race start at 2pm. I felt like sleeping not racing so it was hard to get in the right frame of mind!

The start wasn?t too fast and I kept with two of the top ladies until about halfway up the first climb they then created a gap on me which they increased on the downhill. There was another lady chasing me but I managed to pull away from her before the end of the first lap keeping my fifth position until I passed Teresa Hurikova (Junior World Champ in 2003) who flatted on the third lap and finished the race in fourth about 10 mins behind the winner, Ivonne which I was very happy with.

Results, Elite ladies:

1. Ivonne Kraft (La Carrera BTS Travel) 1:46:02

2. Amy Hunt (Trek VW) 1:49:23

3. Fiona McDermid (Token Products) 1:53:37

4. Yolande Speedy (IMC/Mongoose) 1:55:19

I am now back in Germany for the World cup in Offenburg this weekend. The course is awesome, very technical with short to medium steep climbs and very steep drops some of them very rooty so I hope it doesn?t rain! I?ll let you know how it goes.

Life on the road, and the air, is tough but at the same time can be fun and adventurous. Mongoose?s pro downhiller Andrew Neethling is a true adventurer hitting interesting locations around the world. Just coming off the World Cup in Spain and wild downtown race in Lisbon, Portugal he found his way to one of the most exotic locations on the circuit?.New Jersey. All kidding aside, New Jersey has become quite the mountain bike hot-bed. With its hilly landscape and thick vegetation it offers ideal mountain biking terrain.

Andrew, the recent ?Decline Magazine? cover boy, came to New Jersey with his traveling companion GT?s Bryn Atkinson to take part in the 2007 Toyota US Open. They arrived a few days early to hit up the world famous riding compound of Lars Tribus. Lars? place has been featured in several magazines and websites and is a big boys playground for MTB?s, motorcross and Rhyno?s (a hopped up off-road golf cart). They made the most of the play time and while scoping out part of the mini moto track Bryn eyed up a 50? triple jump that until that point has only been jump by a 150cc motorcycle. Bryn and Andrew, being the adventure seekers they are, decided that they thought the jump was possible on their DH bikes. After a few approach tests both Andrew and Bryn aired out the massive jump. They were psyched at their achievement. Well, the next day Andrew decided he was going to hit it again but with famous MTB videographer Don Hampton there to capture the feat on film. Andrew charged it but tried to get one more pedal in just before the jump and it threw him into a huge dead-sailor endo into landing. The wreck would have hospitalized a lesser man but Andrew was able to walk away but very slowly. I am sure clips of it will be up on the internet soon so keep an eye out for the flying South African.

The guys made their way up to Diablo Mountain Bike Park in Mountain Creek, New Jersey to prepare for the US Open downhill race scheduled for the weekend. Andrew was still pretty sore from his wreck but still suited up to get some practice on the recently revised Diablo downhill course. The course wound its way down over 1,000 vertical feet of rocks, trees, switchbacks and fast fire roads. Andrew knocked out some fast practice runs and was ready to lock down a fast qualifying run but with hundreds of competitors all vying for a spot for the final 60 riders, it was going to be tough to just make the cut. Andrew had a great qualifying run going until spill took him down falling on his already injured ribs. Like a true competitor, Andrew jumped back up and finished out his run. Even with his wreck Andrew managed to put down a 3:11.52 which was 26 seconds off of the fastest time, not bad for lying on the ground for a while and the time was still good enough to qualify 50th.

Sunday morning brought gray cloudy skies and everyone started to dread what the effects would be of rain on a powder dry and rocky course. The sun popped out and a great day of racing had begun. With the reverse start order from qualifying Andrew would run 10th for the final. Until Andrew?s run the best time was a 2:59 and ?Needles? crushed it with a 2:48.96! That is over ten seconds off the fastest time to that point. Andrew slapped on his Mongoose hat and Oakley glasses as he settled into the Diablo Hot Seat reserved for the fastest rider until the end of the day. Andrew got to relax in the seat for quite a while as no one could seem to get close to his time. Andrew?s didn?t get very lonely during his lengthy stay in the chair as he made quick company with the Diablo trophy girls. Andrew?s time would hold strong until former World Cup great Jurgen Beneke put down an incredible run thus knocking Andrew out of the Hot Seat. Andrew watched as the rest of the field made the runs to see where he would end up. After all the runs were made Andrew would earn a 6th place. Not bad for a guy who was walking around like he needed a walker. The finish was good enough to get Needles up on the podium with his mate Bryn Atkinson who won the whole enchilada.

The US Open crew went all out for the pros providing carved wood skull head trophies and paying down to 10th place so Andrew still got to take home a wallet full of cash. The podium celebration was one for the books as well as the race. Thank you Shawn Orrechio, Doug Smith and the rest of the Diablo crew for putting on one of the best events of the season. Everything was great; the hospitality, the atmosphere, the venue and the people so look for Mongoose to be back next year.

It was great to meet the proud Mongoose supporters that were at the ?Open and hope see you again at upcoming events. Next on the schedule is the World Cup in Champery, Switzerland.

Mongoose Bicycles is proud to be sponsored by:

SRAM, Kenda tires, Pearl Izumi, Sun Ringle, Fly Racing, SDG, Ogio, Funn and e.thirteen

I took part in the Lisbon Downtown race in Portugal. It is a street DH race down the streets of Lisbon. It is a wild event. We rode down narrow alley ways with washing drying over our head and bombed down slippery marble stairs and carved turns on cobblestone roads. There were awesome crowds and LIVE TV coverage.

It is an invite only event and the riders are truly treated well. You only have four practice runs before you qualify and race. Experience is a must. It is an advantage to have raced the event in prior years.

They take the top 20 riders plus five wild cards to the final.

Steve Peat who is five-time in a row champion took the title again.

I just made it into the final. My runs were very cautious. I learned a ton in the final and even took four seconds off my time but was only enough for 18th spot. I will for sure be back now that I sort of know how to ride the streets of Lisbon.

Here is a link to my race run that was on TV.

http://www.jillkintner.com/movies/mtb/neethling_lisbon.mov


Off to the Us Open this weekend.

Andrew Neethling

Thanks to all of my sponsors: Mongoose, Kenda Tires, SRAM, SDG, Sun Ringle, FLY Racing, e.thirteen, FUNN, Pearl Izumi and Ogio.

I just got through beating the Canaan for 12 hours of Lodi farm in Fredericksburg, VA. It was a good start for me on the endurance circuit as I finished up in 4th place so a stop on the podium in the solo mens division. The Canaan rode great and I am stoked to be on it especially for these long races.

Race Report:
12 hours of Lodi Farm
Levi Olsen
May 7, 2007

Saturday started as any other Saturday this week wake up grab the roommates go to Bob?s Diner for some breakfast. However this Saturday had a twist to it. Shortly after breakfast I head to the grocery to grab some food and head out to Fredericksburg, VA. After a little over 5 hours I arrive at Lodi Farm for my first ever 12 hour race solo. It was to be an experience as on top of riding for 12 hour which I had never done this race started at midnight.

As I pulled into the parking lot it was drizzling down rain so I decided to bag the pre-ride in favor of staying warm and making sure all of the details for my pit were set. I ended up crawling into the bed of my truck and reading for a bit instead of wandering about. I cruised around the parking areas at one point and started questioning my decision to come into this race with no support crew.

Eleven-fifteen rolls around and it is time to get my game face on and chamois up for the race. At the riders meeting they inform us that there will be no Le Mans style start for this years event instead we take a parade lap through a short section of trail behind the race promoter he peels off and it is standard hole shot for the woods. This was a new experience for me as I had never done this in the dark before. This little fact came to light very rapidly as I dumped it one of the first off chamber turns in the course and almost got run over. I got myself up and chased to get back to the lead group so that I could have somewhat smooth sailing in the opening laps by not having to deal with slower riders and passing in the woods. The course was fast but very slick in the beginning with tons of slick roots and some what sketchy downhill?s. This gamble paid off and I got to ride with pretty much on my own for the first several laps.

After lap two I decided to go on the side of caution and swap my light before the battery dies on me. I roll through my third lap and on my fourth the new light battery dies about half way through the lap. So there I am struggling on a dying light and having to slow down excessively and just trying to grab onto random folks wheels that were passing me up in my struggle. One fine rider took a little bit of pity on me and gave me his camping head lamp he had in his pocket. So I got through my fourth lap losing large chunks of time.

Lap five was serene where I saw no one for the entire lap. There is something about riding through the night in complete silence that is just pure bliss. I love the fact that it is nothing but you the bike and a small beam of light. This was also the time when the trail started to dry out and get a bit faster and the roots were not getting as slick. The clouds had burned off and the night was amazing in the open field sections of the trail.

Lap six came along and not a moment too soon as the sun was coming up over the trees and I could start to wind it up and let the Canaan rip a little more. When the dark melted away into an amazing morning the trail was a completely new ride. The laps were starting to reel off and I finally went over to the timing table while shoving some gummy bears in my mouth to find out I was sitting in fourth place. From here on I was checking the time every lap to see where I was at with nine laps in the bag I was only eight minutes down on third and decided it was time to open the throttle a bit and see if I couldn?t reel in the guy in third. After lap ten I found I had maybe opened up a little much. My last two laps were finished in complete pain and agony as I blew completely apart. I was still concerned that I might lose a place if I stopped though so I kept pushing.

In the end I finished 12 laps in just over 12 hour?s for fourth place. It is odd to think that racing solo I could have placed on the podium in the Duo category. As soon as I crossed the line I headed up to the Henry's, Spot Brand, Twin 6 compound and crashed in a chair. Big thanks to Tom and that whole crew for getting me back up and running after being completely destroyed from 12 hours of racing. I have to say that for my first 12 hour race I was impressed with the way it was run and had a blast racing down in the south. Until next time I am off to grab a bit of recovery and get ready for next weekend and the opening of the Mid-Atlantic Super Series (MASS).

This past weekend was a great one for the Mongoose Team. Both Andrew Neethling and Eric Carter were out representing Mongoose.

Eric Carter qualified first in the Men's Pro XC race but slipped a notch in the Finals and gave up the 1st place to GT rider, Bryn Atkinson.

Both Andrew and EC raced the DH on Sunday. Andrew grabbed the 4th spot and EC grabbed 6th.

Congrats guys on a Great Weekend!

Mongoose is proud to be sponsored by: Kenda Tires, SDG, SRAM, Sun Ringle, e.thirteen components, Ogio, Pearl Izumi and FUNN.

The first US Norba National that included down hill took place this past weekend in Fontana, CA.

I managed to grab a podium in the DH. After qualifying in third I was confident that a clean run could land me on the podium. I kept it clean and ended up in fourth place in the final.

I am currently in Vigo, Spain for the first round of the UCI World Cup series!

Thanks for the support
Andrew Neethling
www.mongoose.com

The Mongoose Team is proudly sponsored by: Kenda Tires, SRAM, SDG, Sun Ringle, Ogio, FLY, Pearl Izumi, FUNN and e.thirteen.

Bicycling Magazine has given the Mongoose Otero Super the coveted 2007 Editor's Choice Award for the Best Mountain Bike $1000 Or Less.

Here's what they had to say:

"One tester exulted that 'a few years ago, you had to drop $1500-plus for a bike with hydraulic brakes, quality suspension and adjustable travel, but the Otero gives you all of that for a mere $750'. And while the other two bikes featured here are nicely equipped, it's save to say 'bikes at this price don't get any better than the 'Goose.' The Otero's Suntour fork and air-sprung shock 'far outshined the competition,' and it had the best brakes. We also noted that 'it's a stout climber and steers well.'"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, please contact:
Sarah Ostermeier: Sports Marketing Manager
608.268.8935 or sostermeier@pacific-cycle.com
http://www.pacific-cycle.com


Mongoose Signs Freerider Romaniuk to 2007 Team

April, 30 2007 ? Madison, Wis. ? Mongoose proudly announces the addition of freerider Steve Romaniuk to the 2007 team roster. Steve has been a prominent figure on the western Canadian freeride scene and heavily exposed through media such as ?Dropin? (seasons two, three and four), the film ?ROAM? and his own internet TV program ?STUND.?

?I?m very excited to be on Mongoose this year,? Romaniuk said at this year?s Sea Otter ?What really surprised me while I was coming on board is that the Mongoose R&D team is basically one product manager, one graphic artist and one engineer - and they all ride. It is a very similar vibe to a small rider-owned company. Everyone at Mongoose has been awesome with welcoming me on board.?

Darren Salsbury, Director of Product Development for Mongoose, had the following to say about Steve Romaniuk: ?I?m really excited to be working with Steve. He is somebody who has been riding big bikes for the last seven years. Romaniuk embodies the big mountain riding movement of his British Colombia home turf that is the heart and soul of freeride. I think some of the most memorable photos and video scenes are a result of Romaniuk?s talent to throw down. He will definitely get Mongoose noticed in the freeride world.?

?The added bonus for the Mongoose R&D team is that Steve is also savvy at giving feedback to product managers and engineers alike,? continued Salsbury. ?We have been working on some new frames and his ability to put into words what he wants out of a frame detail is fantastic?not every rider can do that. We have been pretty focused on many aspects of suspension designs over the last few years with our FreeDrive? suspension system. We know that Steve is going to be a key element in helping refine our freeride designs to work better, be more durable and stay in front of what riders in this segment want out of their bikes.?

Steve?s plans for this year include attending the Qashqai Finals in Europe, Crankworx (Whistler and Winter Park) and the Adidas Slopestyle event in Austria. Confirmed film projects are Kranked 7, CKD2 and Elemental 2. His latest coverage is on http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Steve-Romaniuk-Mongoose-Bicycles-2007.html.

Mongoose has been setting trends and popularizing cycling and action sports for more than 30 years, and continues to grow and prosper with more than 40 models of BMX, trail, freestyle, jumping and mountain bikes. Check Mongoose.com for the latest information on Mongoose athletes, products and news.

In 2000, Pacific Cycle Inc., the leading supplier of quality bicycles in North America and a division of Dorel Industries Inc., purchased Mongoose Bicycles. The company designs, markets and imports a full range of bicycles and recreation products under the brand names of Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, Powerlite, Pacific, InSTEP, Pacific Outdoors, Roadmaster, Schwinn Motorsports, PlaySafe and Dyno. Pacific Cycle is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin with offices in Olney, Illinois and Lake Forest, California. The company has distribution centers in Olney, Illinois, and Vacaville, California.

Dorel Industries (TSX: DII.B, DII.A) is a global consumer products company engaged in the designing, manufacturing and marketing of a diverse portfolio of powerful consumer brands, sold through its Juvenile, Home Furnishings, and Recreational/Leisure segments. Headquartered in Montreal and with significant operations in the United States and Europe, Dorel employs approximately 4,700 people in 15 countries. Annual sales are US$1.8 billion and are made in over 60 countries worldwide.


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The Sea Otter Classic is one of, if not the largest cycling events in the world. Along with its reputation as one of thee cycling events of the season it also has the reputation for the ?R? word... rain! This year was graced with more sunshine than usual but with one good drenching of rain on Saturday. But like with all traditions, it would not be the Sea Otter Classic without the rain. Mongoose?s man behind the wrench, John ?Sniper? Canepa brought in the factory trailer loaded with Eric ?EC? Carter?s and Andrew ?Needles? Neethling?s racing machines. Both E.C. and Andrew have been putting a lot of riding and training during the off season and were ready to see what the rest of the competition had for them on the Dual Slalom and Downhill courses. With a teasing of good weather from Mother Nature on Thursday and Friday she decided to give the Laguna Seca Raceway a good soaking on Saturday just in time for the Pro Dual Slalom qualifying. The rain delayed the racing until later in the day allowing for only a one run chance to get into the field of 32 final riders. The course started out a little sloppy but with the rain staying away the course started to firm up and gain speed each run. Andrew qualified near the top of the group while E.C. had to recover from a bobble at the top of the course but made of ground in true E.C. fashion to get into the seeding. In E.C.?s first run down the hill he was looking to take an easy win but had a problem with his rear wheel abruptly putting an end to his run giving him a 1.5 second disadvantage. When he switched courses he charged it as hard was he could but could not build enough of the margin to gain an advantage thus putting an end to his day. Andrew on the other hand seemed to be building momentum and won a few of his runs decisively. Andrew kept in contention until the round of 8 when he was knocked out by a narrow margin. The Pro Downhill was set for Sunday and with the sun out baking in the moisture from the previous days drenching it made for one of the best Sea Otter DH conditions ever. With a world class field barreling down a fast course it meant that if you wanted to be on podium you had to have a perfect run. E.C. and Andrew railed the course in what appeared to be competitive times but with such narrow margins in time between the top 20 riders it left E.C. and Andrew out of contention for a podium spot. It was a tough weekend for E.C. and Andrew but left determined knowing what they had to do for the upcoming World Cup events, so look out for the flying ?Goose?s!

Check it out:

My first race was of course The 24 hours in the old Pueblo were we finished 3rd in the four man open out of 105 teams!

Next up was a trip to Georgia to The Snake Creek Gap time trial and ended up 3rd as well. It's a 34 mile race with 7000 feet of climbing super tough but a great race put on buy SORBA. Two weeks ago I went down to Kentucky for there season opener, a two day event. I ended up 1st in the XC, 2nd in the TT and 3rd in the ST! What a weekend that was.

This past weekend I went to Tennessee for the Chicksaw Trace Classic. SERC #2. AMBC race and pulled off a respectable 3rd place in the company of some really tough competition. My result at this race has already qualified me for the national championships in Vermont at Mt. Snow!

I just have to tell you guy's this Mongoose is hands down the best XC bike I have ridden to date and I am looking forward to the rest of a great season on my Canaan Team.

Thanks for putting together such a great bike.

The Ray's/Endura/Mongoose Team is supported by Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park (www.raysmtb.com), Endura apparel (www.endurasport.com) and Mongoose.

The South African Downhill Champs for 2007 were held at Worlds View, Pietermaritzburg on 11th March.

A short and steep course awaited a field of SA's best which included the likes of Sven Martin, Gary Barnard, Andrew and Jonty Neethling and of course reigning SA Champ Johann Potgieter.

The weather was great on race day. The track was a good mix of rocks, jumps, steep and wooded sections. It was a pretty short track so a flawless run would be needed to take the title.

I won the overall national title back in 2002, but have not been able to compete since then due to overseas commitments so I was proud to be able to compete in the 2007 race. I had good first run and pushed it quite hard on the pedaling at the top and the technical stuff. I managed a 2min 8sec run and was 4secs ahead of 2nd. I was confident is this gap for the overall, as the race was decided on the best of 2 runs. I pushed hard on the second run, until I slid out near the finish resulting in a slower second run.

Overall results are as follows:

Elite Men
1 ANDREW NEETHLING 02.08.59
2 JOHANN POTGIETER 02.12.58
3 JONTY NEETHLING 02.14.12
4 GARY BARNARD 02.17.28
5 ANDREW GUESS 02.19.02

Thanks for all of the support and I look forward to seeing everyone at the races this season.

Cheers,
Andrew

I would like to give you guys a brief report of my trip to SRAM in Colorado Springs two weeks ago. I attended some technical seminars also known as STU (SRAM Technical University). SRAM offers these classes to bike shop employees who primarily deal with SRAM products where mechanics learn techniques from the actual engineers who design the product. I'd like to say that I lucked out and participated in what I like to call Super STU. It was a more personalized, thorough seminar with more individual attention given. There were five Pro Race Mechanics including myself.

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and was picked up at the airport by John Dawson and Jeremiah Boobar of SRAM and then treated to a great lunch in downtown Colorado Springs. We then went to the SRAM facility where I received the full tour, met the whole staff and saw some amazing development taking place. I saw all sorts of interesting machines that are used to develop and test the products. I also took a sneak peek in the prototype room and saw some cool stuff that is going on but shhhh, that's top secret information. Needless to say it was a very impressive display of staff and machinery.

Thursday was our first day of classes which started out with some bagels and unlimited coffee from SRAM's awesome automatic coffee/espresso machine. We got started after three mechanics from Trek/Gary Fisher arrived from Boulder. The classes were instructed by John Dawson and Pat Wokurka. We focused on suspension the whole day which started with full disassembly and rebuild of SID, Reba, and Boxxer forks which is an extremely valuable skill to learn. I am now fully certified to rebuild any Rock Shox fork and SRAM will provide me with all tools and hardware to complete the job. Team Mongoose will have the smoothest forks on the circuit and in a timely manner!! We also took a peek at the new rear air shock, Monarch.

Friday was dedicated to learning about brakes and drive train where we were able to fully disassemble brake levers and calipers and fully rebuild them. We had machined cut-out versions of lever/calipers which allowed us to see the internals and how they work. We learned some great techniques to properly bleed the entire brake system which was very helpful. We also rebuilt shifters and rear derailleurs. We finally ended the day discussing protocol. Each one of us was able to ask questions and discuss concerns. John and Pat were very helpful and supportive of each one of us. We spent the evening with drinks and appetizers and a great dinner downtown. SRAM definitely took good care of us.

All in all I had a great time, learned a ton of great information and strengthened my list of skills as a mechanic. I am extremely glad I took the time to attend the seminar and would recommend it to anyone interested. Thanks to SRAM for the hospitality and to Pacific Cycle for getting me there!

--John Canepa, Mongoose Mechanic

I took part in the First round of the 2007 South African National DH series. It was held in Port Elizabeth, about 750km from Cape Town up the east Coast.

Unfortunately the course was not the greatest. They did what they could with the terrain. It was fairly flat with a lot of pedaling. It had a couple technical rock sections to break up the pedaling. There was some wind on race day which made it a tough race. I managed to put together a really good first run and was 1st by 6 secs over 2nd spot. No one went quicker on the 2nd run due to the wind.

Results
1st Andrew Neethling
2nd Wesley Augstyn
3rd Johan Potgieter (Reigning 2006 SA DH champ)
4th Jonty Neethling
5th Sven Martin

Imagine Tony Hawk designing a local skateboard park, or Shaun White building a terrain park at Bogus Basin. It might seem far-fetched, but the equivalent happened in Eagle earlier this week.

Eric Carter, winner of 27 national championships in different biking competitions and a world championship in mountain cross, was behind the controls of a bulldozer and building a mountain-cross course as part of the Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park at the Eagle-Ada Sports Complex.

Randy Spangler, a free-rider sponsored by Santa Cruz bicycles and featured in the "Kranked" series of extreme mountain-biking DVDs, was roughing out a pump track and jump lines nearby.

Both work with Judd de Vall, another professional rider and trail designer who has developed trails and tracks around the world.

"We went out and found the best talent we could and brought them here," said Dave Beck of Boise, president of Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

While mountain cross, pump track and jump lines aren't exactly household words in the Treasure Valley, they may be soon.

Riders will get to experience them first-hand in the spring when the courses are completed.

Until then, a quick explanation is in order. Despite their X-Games origins, these various courses don't require body armor or special bikes for each one.

They're all designed to be ridden on a standard BMX or mountain bike, and you don't have to be a world-class rider to enjoy them.

"We're trying to make them safe, fun and challenging all at the same time," Spangler said.

The mountain-cross course (also known as four cross) is designed for a competition where four riders race downhill on a trail the width of a narrow road with a series of jumps, banked corners and sprint sections.

But jumps are designed so you have the option of rolling over them or flying off of them, which makes them friendly for riders of all skill levels.

Carter said he designed the course with "world-class flow" that emulated the courses ridden at international competitions, but with more user-friendly jumps.

Even if you never plan to race, the public course looks like it is going to be a blast to ride. You take a short ride up an access road and drop in as it serpentines down the hill.

Since it is a one-way, downhill course, you can ride it as fast as your nerves and skill can handle, and if you encounter a slower rider, there's plenty of room to pass.

"Good riders can have fun on this, and parents who have never ridden one can ride it and get the same feel," Carter said.

Jump lines are similar but much narrower and designed for a single rider at a time. There are three jump lines, one each for beginner, intermediate and expert riders.

But even expert jumps are table tops instead of gap jumps, which means there's a level plateau between ramps so if you don't clear the space between ramps, you won't crash into the backside of the opposite ramp.

If you lose your nerve before the ramp, you simply ride across the top of the jump and down the opposite ramp.

The pump track is a short course with a series of rises and drops that are designed so you can ride the whole course without pedaling.

The objective is to provide a full-body workout and learn bike-handling skills that you can use for technical riding where pedaling is not an option.

"It's a really good workout without turning the pedals," Spangler said. "And it's a lot of fun to ride, too."

The cycling park also includes a 5-mile, single-track trail similar to a Ridge-to-Rivers trail, so riders can get cruise it then come back and ride the different courses at the park.

Carter said he's built numerous courses, but they're usually at ski resorts or race venues rather than in the suburbs.

"This is going to be a focal point for all the kids in the neighborhood, and that's super exciting," he said. "I wish this was in my hometown."

The park is a joint effort between Ada County, the city of Eagle and the Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

The park will eventually included an oval velodrome, a biking skills course, and other features.

The goal is to have a world-class facility that will provide recreation for the average cyclist and a venue for competitive cyclists.

Carter said he came from a working-class family in California and was able to use his bike riding skills and determination to travel the world and compete in cycling events.

He hopes that his work in Eagle will provide a similar opportunity for someone else.

"If I can help one kid realize his dreams by doing something like this, then this will be a success to me," Carter said.

Imagine Tony Hawk designing a local skateboard park, or Shaun White building a terrain park at Bogus Basin. It might seem far-fetched, but the equivalent happened in Eagle earlier this week.

Eric Carter, winner of 27 national championships in different biking competitions and a world championship in mountain cross, was behind the controls of a bulldozer and building a mountain-cross course as part of the Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park at the Eagle-Ada Sports Complex.

Randy Spangler, a free-rider sponsored by Santa Cruz bicycles and featured in the "Kranked" series of extreme mountain-biking DVDs, was roughing out a pump track and jump lines nearby.

Both work with Judd de Vall, another professional rider and trail designer who has developed trails and tracks around the world.

"We went out and found the best talent we could and brought them here," said Dave Beck of Boise, president of Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

While mountain cross, pump track and jump lines aren't exactly household words in the Treasure Valley, they may be soon.

Riders will get to experience them first-hand in the spring when the courses are completed.

Until then, a quick explanation is in order. Despite their X-Games origins, these various courses don't require body armor or special bikes for each one.

They're all designed to be ridden on a standard BMX or mountain bike, and you don't have to be a world-class rider to enjoy them.

"We're trying to make them safe, fun and challenging all at the same time," Spangler said.

The mountain-cross course (also known as four cross) is designed for a competition where four riders race downhill on a trail the width of a narrow road with a series of jumps, banked corners and sprint sections.

But jumps are designed so you have the option of rolling over them or flying off of them, which makes them friendly for riders of all skill levels.

Carter said he designed the course with "world-class flow" that emulated the courses ridden at international competitions, but with more user-friendly jumps.

Even if you never plan to race, the public course looks like it is going to be a blast to ride. You take a short ride up an access road and drop in as it serpentines down the hill.

Since it is a one-way, downhill course, you can ride it as fast as your nerves and skill can handle, and if you encounter a slower rider, there's plenty of room to pass.

"Good riders can have fun on this, and parents who have never ridden one can ride it and get the same feel," Carter said.

Jump lines are similar but much narrower and designed for a single rider at a time. There are three jump lines, one each for beginner, intermediate and expert riders.

But even expert jumps are table tops instead of gap jumps, which means there's a level plateau between ramps so if you don't clear the space between ramps, you won't crash into the backside of the opposite ramp.

If you lose your nerve before the ramp, you simply ride across the top of the jump and down the opposite ramp.

The pump track is a short course with a series of rises and drops that are designed so you can ride the whole course without pedaling.

The objective is to provide a full-body workout and learn bike-handling skills that you can use for technical riding where pedaling is not an option.

"It's a really good workout without turning the pedals," Spangler said. "And it's a lot of fun to ride, too."

The cycling park also includes a 5-mile, single-track trail similar to a Ridge-to-Rivers trail, so riders can get cruise it then come back and ride the different courses at the park.

Carter said he's built numerous courses, but they're usually at ski resorts or race venues rather than in the suburbs.

"This is going to be a focal point for all the kids in the neighborhood, and that's super exciting," he said. "I wish this was in my hometown."

The park is a joint effort between Ada County, the city of Eagle and the Idaho Velodrome and Cycle Park Association.

The park will eventually included an oval velodrome, a biking skills course, and other features.

The goal is to have a world-class facility that will provide recreation for the average cyclist and a venue for competitive cyclists.

Carter said he came from a working-class family in California and was able to use his bike riding skills and determination to travel the world and compete in cycling events.

He hopes that his work in Eagle will provide a similar opportunity for someone else.

"If I can help one kid realize his dreams by doing something like this, then this will be a success to me," Carter said.

Idaho Statesman , 1-26-08

After ten seasons (this time around) with the Mongoose BMX Race Team, Eric ?Big Daddy? Rupe has left the team and headed for GT. Rupe began his relationship with Mongoose back in November of 1981. During the 1982 season, he was teammates with such legendary Mongoose riders as Bobby Woods, Kevin Jackson, Jeff Kosmala, Kenny Knachman, Roland Veight and Tinker Juarez. At the end of the 1982 season, he left the team for one year to pursue his pro BMX career goal. He returned in January of 1984 after reaching one of those goals by earning his first Elite Men?s title in the NBL. He stayed with the team for eight years earning six more National Pro titles and two World Championship titles. He returned to the team in 1997 and was there for another 10 years up until this past December. In that time, he earned another 13 National and World Championship titles for the Mongoose name. When asked how he felt about leaving Team Mongoose, Rupe said, ?I feel a bit of a loss, but I know things always work out for the best. Way back in 1978, the first time I saw the Mongoose BMX Race Team uniforms and the way they ran their program, I knew I wanted to be a part of that team. When I was first asked to join Mongoose back in 1981, it was one of the proudest days in BMX career. I?m really gonna miss being a representative for one of THE finest names in BMX.?

The names Eric Rupe and Mongoose have gone hand in hand for years. He?s helped make the Mongoose name what it is today. Thanks for the memories Eric, as Mongoose is gonna miss you too.



The Mongoose Team is proud to be sponsored by:
Kenda, Sun Rims, Fly Racing, OGIO, X Balm, SDG, SRAM, Easton and Pearl Izumi.

January 27/28 Fontana California was once again the site of a great weekend for Mongoose and it?s grass roots Mongoose/Tribe program.

The second of the 6 race Fontana winter series was this past weekend and with a entry list of close to 600 riders it was once again great weekend of racing , the weather was perfect with blue skies and mild temps in the mid 60?s.

The Factory Mongoose team had a great showing with 2 podium finishes. The weekends action started off with the heated action of Mountain Cross. With top pro Rich Houseman sitting out due to a shoulder injury after an early morning DH crash, the top spot would be a head-to-head battle between Dale Holmes, a multi time National and World BMX champion turned MTB?er for this year, and Mongoose?s own multi time National and World BMX and MTB champion "E.C.". The two didn?t disappoint, after advancing through the qualification brackets the two would meet In the finals, E.C. would receive the inside lane choice which would play a crucial role in the outcome. Both riders tried to anticipate the start and lunged a bit early but recovered and drag raced to the first turn, Dale would hold a slight advantage into the first turn but lane choice played a crucial role and E.C. was able to slip past on the inside. Dale followed looking for his spot to pounce. In turn 3 Dale would strike?E.C. slipped up and was unable to get back to his pedals quickly and Dale pulled up beside going into the final turn. E.C. once again had the inside and was able to hold Dale off despite a flat tire going down the last straight! Eric had this to say after the race ?It?s always a good time to race out here and with the addition of Mountain Cross and top riders like Dale and Rich coming out, it?s great practice for the upcoming season and tons of fun. We always know we are going to have heated battles just like today?.

Mongoose Tribe rider ?Hollywood? Mike Miranda was also successful in his first race back from a big crash at Camp Woodward a while back resulting in 7 broken ribs, ?Hollywood? was able to put his vast experience of years of BMX racing to good use and come out on top of the Expert class. Mike?s victory and Mongoose/Tribe SBF member Mark Bruno?s 3rd place finish in the expert class rounded out a strong showing for Mongoose on the day. It was a great start to Mike?s winter series campaign and a great victory for the Mongoose/Tribe. Mike had this to say after his victory ?wheez, cough, cough, wheez?it feels great to be back in the saddle and on the podium, I?m looking forward to doing in the DH too, GO TRIBE! ?

Sunday is always DH day at Fontana and with a rough course lined out, riders and equipment would be challenged. E.C. chose to use his Mongoose Black Diamond for the weekends gravity event as a change of pace from his ECD DH bike. After the tuning from team mechanic Jon?Sniper?Canepa to take the traditional Black Diamond set up from all mountain bike to DH race bike, the bike performed flawlessly. Eric had a great run with no mistakes and was able to take the 2nd spot on the podium for the day. The Mongoose/Tribe was once again able to get on the podium as well as young ripper Zack?Dog Town? Olsen threw down an awesome run and was able to come out with a solid 3rd place in the 19-26 expert class.

You can view all of the results as well as the remainder of the winter series schedule that the Factory Mongoose and Mongoose/Tribe teams will be at here: www.southridgeusa.com

The Mongoose Team is proud to be sponsored by:
Kenda, Sun Rims, Fly Racing, OGIO, X Balm, SDG, SRAM, Easton and Pearl Izumi.<

Team Mongoose got off to a great start this past weekend at the series opener of the 2007 Southridge Winter Series held in Fontana, CA on January 13-14.

Despite the low temperatures and high winds on Saturday, there was an impressive turnout of 500 racers and lots of spectators. The series consists of XC, 4X, and DH formats. XC and 4X take place on Saturday and DH on Sunday.

The 4X race, which is a new format this year for Southridge, provided plenty of action for the racers and spectators alike. Team Mongoose's Eric Carter kicked off the New Year in good fashion and finished with an exciting win in the pro class. He had a solid, fast, and strategic run all the way through. From the start, he was in third position, and made a race-winning pass in the second turn, edging out fellow competitors Rich Houseman and Dale Holmes.

Sunday, warmer temperatures and low winds provided a great day for some downhill racing action. With 345+ gravity racers in attendance, there were plenty of racers ready to battle. The races started with the pro class, and Eric Carter who won the 4X the previous day, finished a strong third place in the downhill.

There were plenty of Mongoose Tribe members also in attendance, racing, and flying the Mongoose colors. The Mongoose Tribe is a grassroots amateur team program developed by Eric Carter and Mongoose.

Each Mongoose Tribe member is exclusively on Mongoose branded products, There were also plenty of non Tribe members on Mongoose EC-X's and EC-D's as well, and this coupled with the Mongoose Tribe trailer and display, created a very strong presence for the Mongoose Brand.

Mongoose team mechanic, John Canepa, was on hand to support Eric, Mongoose Tribe, and anyone else on Pacific branded equipment. Eric Carter also announced his schedule of race clinics that will be held at the races during the mornings. These clinics will give people of all ages and skill levels a chance to learn valuable advice and demonstration of riding skills from Eric Carter himself. Who else better to learn from than the 2004 World Champion and '05-'06 National Champion!!

The Southridge Winter Series consists of 6 events. Future dates are as follows: Jan. 27-28, Feb. 10-11, Feb. 24-25, Mar. 10-11, and Mar. 24-25.