Aaron Gwin
The Gwinning continues.
This isn't the first time Aaron Gwin has made it into the 'Good Month' section this year, and if his winning streak continues at World Champs, it won't be the last. The American racer started off the month with an incredible win at World Cup round 6 in Windham, somehow figuring out how to get down the sub-three minute course 3.5 seconds faster than second-place finisher Greg Minnaar.
A few weeks later, when race day arrived at Val di Sole Gwin just needed to place in the top 30 to cement his spot as the World Cup overall champion. He could have eased up and ridden a little more conservatively to ensure that he took the title, but he elected to let it all hang out and go for the win, a tactic that garnered him yet a victory on the steep and wild course.
Missy Giove
The Missle returns.
Fans of Missy Giove were able to witness to the DH legend in all her foul-mouthed, unfiltered glory after she showed up at the Windham World Cup to (in her own words), “put on a show, to pin it, and to have a f*cking good time.” That's exactly what she did, and even a crash during qualifying wasn't enough to keep her from the finals, where she finished in 16th place. Her wild and at times reckless riding style was still there, although years of barely touching a bike had her well off the pace of the top women. All the same, it was a treat to see that Missy's punk rock, no f*cks given attitude hasn't diminished, and hopefully we'll see a few more appearances from her on the circuit next season. Just imagine what an uncensored course preview with Missy at the helm would look like.... One can only hope.
Futuristic New Products
The robots are coming.
Eurobike is the biggest cycling trade show of the year, offering up a glimpse of the next wave of new bikes and products that are coming down the line. Highlights this year included
Magura's electronic dropper post, SRAM's wireless electronic road bike drivetrain, and new carbon rides from the likes of Yeti, Evil, Knolly, and Intense, among others The biggest takeaway from the show was that it's a great time to be a mountain biker, no matter your income bracket. Technology has trickled down far enough that 1x drivetrains have become more affordable, dropper posts are now standard issue on most trail and all-mountain bikes, and even entry level bikes are equipped with disc brakes and suspension that actually works.
Brandon Semenuk
Slopestyle's grandmaster wins again.
August started with the release of
Revel In the Chaos, a film that demonstrated the depth of Brandon Semenuk's skills in a 15-minute exhibition of mountain bike wizardry. When Crankworx Whistler came around, the pressure was on – Brett Rheeder had already won at both Crankworx Rotorua and Crankworx Les Deux Alps, and Semenuk needed to lay down a solid hand if he was going to garner another hometown victory. That's exactly what he did, in a flawless run that was capped off by a corked-720 off the final drop. That run earned him his fourth Crankworx Whistler slopestyle win, and further cemented his place in the history books as one of the most talented mountain bikers on the planet.
Justin Leov
EWS Series leader on the injured list.
Justin Leov saw his chances of taking home the Enduro World Series overall title dashed by a slick wood bridge on the first stage of racing in Whistler. A hard crash and the resulting dislocated shoulder ended his day and season – surgery and the 3-6 months of recovery time will unfortunately eliminate any chance of a comeback before the series concludes. Up until his crash Leov had been having a stellar year, starting off with a fourth place finish in Rotorua, followed by a second place finish in Ireland and a win in Scotland. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery and a quick return to form for the Trek World Racing athlete.
Racing Deaths
Ride in peace.
August began on a somber note with the death of Will Olson at EWS 4 in Crested Butte, Colorado, after he succumbed to injuries suffered from a crash during the race. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the sad news – two weeks later 55-year-old Scott Ellis passed away due to an apparent heart attack partway through the Leadville 100, also in Colorado. The deaths highlight what we all know, but don't like to think about – mountain biking is inherently dangerous, and life is absurdly short. There aren't any words powerful enough to truly ease the pain that the passing of a loved one brings, especially when it happens unexpectedly, but our thoughts are with the families and friends affected by these and any other tragic accidents.
Egos
Sternberg and Barelli show that it's not about the bike.
So, you thought you were hot stuff after finally mustering up the courage to ride Whistler's infamous Crabapple Hits aboard that cushy DH rig? Think again. Lars Sternberg served up a Transition Klunker-sized serving of humble pie at this year's Whip-Off Worlds, clearing the massive jumps aboard a rigid singlespeed, effectively eliminating any possible bike-related excuses for not giving them a try. All other excuses are still valid, though, since there's no denying that the jumps are seriously large, with serious consequences for coming up short.
Giant's Yoann Barelli took things even further, riding Dirt Merchant and A-Line aboard a cyclocross bike, drop bars and all. I doubt we're going to see a sudden influx of rigid bikes in the lift line, but it does show that a big 'ol DH bike isn't necessary to have good time in the bike park, at least on the smoother jump trails. Tackling a rocky, technical DH trail, something like Goat's Gully, on a cross bike or a klunker seems like a recipe for disaster, but who knows - there's probably someone out there nutty enough to try it.
I don't see hikers roosting every corner, making machine built trails, wooden features all over the place or dragging the rear wheel in the steep. We're going to have to reconcile who we think we are with what we do if we want to be credible with our trail advocacy agenda.
first video
My local trails have been closed since early July for fire danger (something that's never happened before), leaving only forest service land further away. Then, that forest service land caught on fire.
Looks like we're finally getting a bit of rain, but August was rough.
Regular fire intervals maintain a lower presence of fuels, causing fires that do occur to be smaller and less destructive, while still helping to keep the stand balanced. Unfortunately, we have messed with the cycle pretty badly, so we are, for the most part, going to be getting large fires for the foreseeable future. Of course, this damn drought doesn't help.
The only reason we keep doing this is because people flip their shit when a fire burns their $3,000,000 vacation home down just because they built it in the middle of a forest. . .so it's either better Planning Regulations or keep paying for fire fighters to stop the inevitable. . .and we hate regulations!
Maybe not "ever", but since humans were able research and record this area(Oregon Territories). And there are still a lot of areas that we have not been able to study the soil of.
It's awesome that Transition makes the Klunker, but they should make it easier to add proper brakes, or at least pack their coaster with high-temp grease.
Merriman here so I'm not confident in my understanding of irony.
"Oh but my enduro AM rig would be totally fine for Lourdes", jog on pet