Mike's 2010 Bike Ride Log Blog

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country

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Author	Message

barnz0rz

Posted: Jun 17, 2010 at 19:16	Quote
How that Marin? I've been pretty curious about their bikes....

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 17, 2010 at 19:54	Quote
I'm liking it so far, although a few of the stock bits hold it back a bit. The rear end sure is nice, eats up a lot of nasty for having 150 mm of travel. I wish the bars were wider and it really deserves a burlier front tire as well. It's mega stiff out back to.

barnz0rz

Posted: Jun 17, 2010 at 21:45	Quote
Yeah, the stock builds could use some upgrades, but that could be said about a number of companies. I've heard good things about the frames though.

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 18, 2010 at 15:21	Quote
87th ride Whistler bike park Fast and dry trails. Knocked off some hot laps with Jordan and Tristan today in the park, as well as shot some photos. I was on the big Lapierre today which was nice in the park, although the bike feels quite short to me. Played about on Ninja Couger and some coasters on Crank It Up - FUN!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 18, 2010 at 20:17

Quote

88th ride

Whistler Bike park.
Dry and fast trails

In the park again for some photo op's, good times were had! Sessioned some fun sections with Tristan, he was on the big Demo and I was on the Lapierre again, but this time with the Diverse Dueler rear shock. I was impressed for sure, super active and a good match for the CR1 fork. We played bit on Angry Pirate but I wasn't feeling it so we moved on to Crab Apple turns and Ho Chi Min for some better times.

I would have been happy to spend the next week redoing this one corner on Crab Apple Turns. It was a flat left into a wide flat right, sooo much fun! I really struggle with berms for some reason, but love getting loose on the flat shit. We got some killer pics on this section, including a rad one of Jordan boosting the rock turn/hip.

A good day in the park!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 25, 2010 at 11:07

Quote

89th ride

Whistler, Big Timber
Dry

Our last day in Whistler saw us do a nice little XC loop guided by Tristan. Big Timber is a neat loop that is right in Creek Side so it's easy to do. All of the climbing is done on a paved road, but I was stoked because it was all up and then all down... good news since I was on the 2011 Rocky Slayer that didn't have a dropping post on it!

It was a fun trail, although I wish it was longer! Had some awesome corners as well. The loop finished up at a pub in Creek Side which was rather nice.

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 25, 2010 at 11:14

Quote

90th ride

Vedder Mtn. Two Cents and the usual!
Warm and muggy, bit of rain late in the ride. Trails were epic, super hero dirt everywhere!

Out for a quick spin up Vedder before getting on the plane for the Lapierre launch in France. I was on the Marin Attack Trail 6.9 today which is a bit portly, but super solid feeling. Met up with Ben as he was driving down from Two Cents and he insisted I share a few beers with him even though I still had a bit to go on the climb... I obliged, obviously.

Pretty good run back down the mountain. The conditions were truly epic and I felt like I couldn't make a mistake if I tried, although that could have been the beer. The Marin is a big solid bike, super stuff back end. I was wishing for a slightly wider bar and the bike really deserves some bigger meat up front as it's a go-bike for sure.

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 25, 2010 at 11:22

Quote

91st ride

Chatel, France.
Ski resort. Warm with a mix of wet and dry trails

First day riding in Chatel at the Lapierre launch was a good time. I was on the new '11 DH bike that you may have read about on the front page. I didn't really know where to go or what trails to ride, but I was lucky to hook up with Boris and his friend from a German MTB magazine for a mini tour.

Boris had a massive sickening crash while I was right behind him, one of the worst I've seen in person. We were on a fast bermy trail that had some flow if you went quick, Boris was leading as we came out of a berm and straight into a big rock filled ditch! The sight line out of the berm is a bit blind and it really looked like the trail went straight, but going straight puts you into the big ditch. Add to that the the berm is fast enough that you can get a good bounce out of it and you're in trouble. He tried to get the front up, but ended up face planting the rocks on the other side in his beanie helmet. A few scrapes and bruises, but he was mostly ok. While on the lift up later in the day I watched 2 riders nearly do the same thing, lucky they were going a bit slower otherwise it would have been bad!

Besides Boris' big off, it was a good day riding lifts. The bike feels damn quick and some of the terrain in Chatel is a good test for it. Good times!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 25, 2010 at 11:24	Quote
92nd ride Chatel, France Dry trails My second and last day in France at the Lapierre bike launch. I was on the new DH bike again which sure was nice!

crazygeorge

Posted: Jun 27, 2010 at 3:55	Quote
Damn. Looks like someone is having a nice time!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 29, 2010 at 15:51

Quote

93rd ride

Vedder Mtn. Two Cents into the usual.
Wet. Really damn wet.

So it was nice in the morning and not bad in the afternoon, but by the time I rebuilt my bike and got stoked to ride it had been pouring for a few hours. No problem I though, its been dry for the days prior so it shouldn't be that bad. I was honestly expecting some of the trails to be damp, but not really all that wet. Shit was I wrong!

I was climbing into the fog shortly after leaving the parking lot. It made for some neat photos as the sun was trying to come through for a bit. I way have been wet, but it was warm and muggy which was ok with me. The climb up was hard, as always lately! The rain and warmer weather makes for some insane colors up there as well!

The run back down was all about damage control. There was 1 foot of standing water in spots where I've only ever seen small puddles! One in particular is usually just a bit muddy, but the water was over my axles! If I had known it was going to be that bad I most likely would not have come out, but since I was there I had fun sliding around like a tool and making a fool of myself. I didn't have my trusty Kenda KOT on the back of my bike and there was a massive difference... as in I wasn't really in control from when I started down to when I got back to the fun. FUN! I did put it back on when I got home though because I'm a sissy.

Completely soaked to the bone by the time I was done, I could not have been wetter if I had jumped into the lake. I love riding on days like this!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jun 29, 2010 at 15:58

Quote

94th ride

Vedder Mtn.

Monglyod into Ditch Chicken ect...
Still very wet, but no like yesterdays gong show

Out with Cori on Vedder yesterday. We ended up hitting up the new Berms on Mongloyd which are mega fun. Much drier today and there was pretty decent traction all around, plus it didn't hurt that I had the KOT back on - what a difference! Cori ate shit three times: first time was a proper foot up 180 on a wet corner, then he flipped over a log and hit the ground quite hard, and then he finished it off by riding like a blind asshat on Femur and trying to run out of crash...

Cori on the Luge

by mikelevy

Views: 237 Faves: 0 Comments: 0

Fun ride though!

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jul 1, 2010 at 14:56

Quote

95th ride

Vedder Mtn.
Still a bit mucky, but fun trails!

I was feeling quite off today for some reason! Didn't feel that great climbing up (I haven't had a solid shit in 4 days - could have something to do with it!) and had no confidence coming down either. Ended up have a massive crash on one of the fastest parts of the mountain due to not paying attention to where the hell I was on the trail. Just a simple lowside crash, but was going too fast to be hitting the ground like that. Ouch! I had let Cori head off in front of me and as he went I told him I needed to leave space so "I didn't follow his stupid lines". Karma...

Oh well, I lived to fight another day.

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jul 1, 2010 at 14:57

Quote

96th ride

Vedder Mtn. Two Cents and the usual.
Mostly dry trails, some standing water on Two Cents.

Today I was able to ride my home trails on SRAM employee/athlete Tyler Morland's Evil Revolt. This is was my first time on a Revolt and it just so happen that this particular one had some fancy SRAM, Avid, and Truvativ bits on it... who would've thought?
The fork is a 2011 Boxxer World Cup, as is the Vivid Air out back. It also had the BlackBox GXP cranks on it which I presume are the same or similar to the upcoming Truvativ Descendent cranks that you'll be able to buy soon. The brakes said BlackBox on them as well, but other than that they visually look the same as the Elixir/XO brakes.

Tyler Morland's personal Evil Revolt

Up front was a '11 Boxxer World Cup to go with this Vivid Air

I showed up a bit early to do a quick Femur lap as to get to know the bike before trying to keep up with Cori. I was obviously pretty hesitant at first, but quickly felt comfortable on the bright bike. I made a few small adjustments to the levers for rear and position before our run and was ready to roll. We just pushed up to Two Cents for one quick run down as thats all time would allow, but it was one of the better runs I've had recently.

[PI=

size=l align=c][/PI]

This bike is a rocketship! Lets not kid ourselves, any of the new DH race bikes will not hold most of us back, but I was impressed with how quickly I felt comfortable on the big bike, especially considering his choice of Minions front and rear didn't agree with me. The bike felt incredibly planted and solid. I'd go so far as to say that I had more trust in the Revolt after one run than any of the DH bikes I've been on in the last while. Stable and super predictable are good words to use, a bike that most anyone could ride and get on with. I looks a bit meaty with it's big tubes, but the bike felt quite playful as well. Visually it looks like it could be a plow bike, and I'm sure you could plow away on the Revolt, but it was far from it. The pedaling was incredibly good as well, it accelerates like a F1 car when compared to most other big bikes that would be more like under powered dump trucks. So yeah.... I guess I liked it.

Here is a shitty on-board vid I did of the ride. I really need to tilt the camera up more!

Evil Revolt - First run

by mikelevy

Views: 729 Faves: 7 Comments: 2

mikelevy

Mod

Posted: Jul 4, 2010 at 13:32

Quote

97th ride

Vedder Mtn. Two Cents ect...
Mostly dry, a bit of standing water on Two Cents

Vedder Blog video

by mikelevy

Views: 342 Faves: 0 Comments: 2

Another great ride on the Revolt. This bike is really doing it's best to convince me to own another DH bike, something I haven't done for years now. Today we rode Two Cents and then came down into Delemmia, not a trail that we take very often anymore, but I wanted to see how the bike would fare on a trail that requires more pedaling.

I used the chesty mount again for the Go-Pro, but still didn't angle it up enough so I won't bore you with another lame on-board video that only shows the bike's toptube. We stopped to session a fun jump about half way down the trail, nothing big, but the lip is so nice and mellow - very confidence inspiring. When it was first built it had a nice tranny, but over time the dirt eroded away and up until it got some TLC last season you used to land on some nasty roots and rough bits that was AWESOME! It's starting to get a bit rough again and it's so much fun to come in too fast and plow through the nasty!

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