16/11/2009

Vegas Baby!!

 

A long long time ago, in a bike shop far far away, a humble mechanic decided to voice his thoughts and goings on in a blog. The blog was his way of expressing his opinion and letting people know what was going on. Week by week and months by month he bloged away. His blog was becoming some-what of a success, with at least 2 people reading it, himself and his Mum.

Over time Doug became a little slack and the blogs became more and more infrequent, until it seemed that he'd fallen off the face of the earth.

Many people, became worried. "Where is the The Doctor?" they asked. Many concerned emails were sent to his place of work and many were not sent back, mainly dues to The Doctors slackness.........................

until now..............

 

 

Yes people, that's right. I'm back....well, as back as i can get. I know it's been a while and I'm sorry, but hopefully I'll get my ass back into shape and get to the keyboard more often.

So, what's been going on in the world of GP??

Well, Summer is finally here!! Fan-bloody tastic!! You all know what Summer means?? Slurpies! Yep, the daily walk down to the local 7 Eleven is upon us. Stop on in sometime and join us for a cold one!

Summer had started a lil early for me this year, with my annual MTB trip overseas taking me this year to the desert canyons of Utah, USA. I began my trip with a week at Las Vegas, at one of the largest bike trade shows in the world. Inter Bike 2009. Over 2000 exhibitors converge on the Sands Convention Center, Las Vegas, for 5 days of bikes, beer and bling!! The first 2 days were the outdoor bike test days. During these days, bike manufacturers gather their fleet of 2010 test bikes together for 2 days of thrashing in the Nevada Desert at Bootleg Canyon.

The outdoor test was stuck in the middle of no where. No shade in sight and with 35deg weather, hydration was a must.

Steve Peat's World Cup rig, which he rode to victory in Canberra earlier this year.

Garry Fisher SuperFly 100 29r. Full carbon, with X.O. Just another 'average' bike you can test.

Belt Drive is getting big. Here is a shot of a Prototype, specially made for Mr. Trek himself. Total bike weighed under 6kgs!!

The Trek Factory Demo team were out in force. Wanna ride a Trek Madone 6 Series?? Just go grab one and have a spin!

I tested the new Trek Remedy 9.9. Full carbon, XTR/X.O. Very sweet ride indeed!

New FOX shock, specially designed for Trek. Extra chamber up top to limit the amount of suspension stiffness during travel.

After the 2 outdoor test days and some wicked cyclist tan marks developing, it was time to spend the 3 remaining indoors at the Sands Convention Center, looking at over 200,000 bike related products. Needless to say, I needed the 3 days.

Think of all that Panda food going to waste. Pfft! Pandas. What's their story anyway??

Mark Cavendish's TDF bike.

Sneak pics of a prototype Shimano Di2 electronic for MTBs.

Made from real Alligator skin. New TDF "Hard Man" saddle??

 

After getting a gut full of techno-mumbo-jumbo at Inter Bike, my good mate Gills came over and joined me for a week long trip with Sacred Rides on their mighty SlickRock Utah Desert tour. We've ridden with the guys at Sacred Rides the last few years, but this year is the first year we've ridden out of Canada.

For the next week we rode epic local trails such as Porcupine Trail, Gooseberry, Thunder Mountain and the mother of all MTBking areas, MOAB, with it's world famous Slick Rock Trail.. Epic downhills (one ride was a 6hr downhill!!), to fast flowy single track and super techy rock chutes were the order of that week!!

 

 

 

MOAB, the place to be!!

This arch is called Delicate Arch. Out local guides son flay his tiny plane though it!

Me and the Sacred Rides guide, Johanna rippin up MOAB.

Slick Rock is a 30sq/km mountain bike park and consists of over 70kms of trail. White dotted lines mark the way, but you can pretty
much ride anywhere.

Grip is amazing. Forget everything about riding loose trails, this stuff you can climb 40deg pitches out of the saddle!!!

The view from Porcupine Ridge Trail. Just wants you to sing a Bon Jovi song!!

Chris found out that Utah can bite back!

 

After my 35+deg heat weeks riding in Utah, it was time to leave my new Sacred Rides mates and head over to the UK for another 2 weeks riding. I was based out of Sheffield for the first 5 days, then we headed up to Glentress, for more riding. Sheffield trails were ok. The weather was pretty "British". 12deg, wet, rain most nights. The trail network there is pretty "British" too. Most are old Bridal Ways and ancient Roman roads. The scenery was pretty amazing. Rolling lush green hills as far as the eye can see and water flowing down knee high bogs.

Glentress trails, Scotland. This is as 'gnarly' as the trails get in Glentress. If you head up further north, Fort William is the shizzle!!

We need more of these signs!!

It was pretty interesting riding in the UK. Because it's soo wet over there, it's really interesting to see how they've built their trails to cope with the wet climate. Most trail consistency is crusted stone and hard packed dirt. Their puddle run-off systems are really good and leave the trails in excellent condition, although very damp. I'd compare them to the Comm Games trail out at Lysterfield.

On my way home I stopped off in Hong Kong. No riding planned for here, but will try to ride there next time. Looks like there could be some interesting trails there.
I wonder what service they provide in this shop??

 

When i arrived home, there was a shinny new Trek Madone 5.2 Project 1 waiting for me!! Check back later for a review and pics on it.

 

Later
Dr. Doug