Aaron Amazes With Mechanical at DVO Reaper Madness
With an elevation gain in the 800 ft range on a course right around three miles long, a lot can happen. Bootleg is some of the burliest terrain I've had the uh... pleasure of covering. It really is one of those places where photos are worth a thousand words. Telling the story of the finals for the Nevada State Championships is going to be difficult. Friday gusts caused havoc for riders both on and off the course. Saturday had some great racing action and Sunday finished with a battle that had Gwin amazing the crowd with a mechanical that many would figure counted him out for a podium spot, but you can never count him out. I checked in to the host hotel on Thursday around 6pm and things were starting off well, with riders literally doing wheelies to their room.
Kore North Cat 3 racer, Brody Poppin wheelies in the Host Hotel lobby. Needless to say, the fine folks at the Hover Dam Lodge are bike friendly. Brody would fillet his arm Saturday requiring 24 stitches (we have photos that are way too gnarly to publish) and then would race on Sunday anyway and finish in 2nd place in what was his 1st race ever at Bootleg.
Saturday's practice was much better than Friday's gusty conditions. Here's Gwin toward the top, with a backdrop that really shows the rugged terrain Bootleg has to offer. Gwin went on record saying he felt Bootleg was worthy of a World Cup stop!
Logan Bingelli on his practice run, showing off the bike that he and team manager, Quinton Spaulding literally spent the whole night building. If you look close you can see there is something very unique about the Enve wheels on this bike. There is a rim strip that clips on that replaces rim tape, something that I'm told they've been testing for a while now that they were finally able to reveal. The bike is essentially a painted version of the raw bike Logan has been running for a while.
MENTIONS: @YTIndustries / @calledtocreation
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Kore North Cat 3 racer, Brody Poppin wheelies in the Host Hotel lobby. Needless to say, the fine folks at the Hover Dam Lodge are bike friendly. Brody would fillet his arm Saturday requiring 24 stitches (we have photos that are way too gnarly to publish) and then would race on Sunday anyway and finish in 2nd place in what was his 1st race ever at Bootleg.
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 Plenty of number plates to be had at Package Pick Up Friday. Unfortunately, there weren't many in attendance for the Friday sessions. |
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| 5.10 had some new products on display. They have a nice collection for sure. |
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| Keep it 100%. |
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| Lance Canfield was eager to show me his new RV. The interior was spacious. Takes event attendance to another level. |
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| The custom YT Grille on their transport truck looks pretty rad. |
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| Mikey Sylvestri was on point during practice, but a crash would cause a somewhat serious injury on his race run, that would cause him to DNF. |
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| Gwin dropping on his second run of the weekend with young YT rider, Eddie Mathisson staring in amazement. |
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| Rhino showing us the line off the drop toward the top of the DH course. Braappp. |
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| Cole Picchiottino dropping in. He would have more than his fair share of flats and because of a front tire issue on his race run would finish last on the day. |
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| The backdrops were amazing on many of the DH sections. |
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| YT Teammates, at the drop in at the top of the DH course. |
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Saturday's practice was much better than Friday's gusty conditions. Here's Gwin toward the top, with a backdrop that really shows the rugged terrain Bootleg has to offer. Gwin went on record saying he felt Bootleg was worthy of a World Cup stop!
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Logan Bingelli on his practice run, showing off the bike that he and team manager, Quinton Spaulding literally spent the whole night building. If you look close you can see there is something very unique about the Enve wheels on this bike. There is a rim strip that clips on that replaces rim tape, something that I'm told they've been testing for a while now that they were finally able to reveal. The bike is essentially a painted version of the raw bike Logan has been running for a while.
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| Logan Bingelli, with his new bike in front of the new tents. They had a 50 ft pit. |
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| The Super D shuttles were packed with nearly 100 competitors ready to race Saturday morning. |
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| With the Vegas Strip in the background, the shuttle moves riders up the roughly 800 feet of elevation. |
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| Probably one of the hardest parts of the course, hiking up from the shuttle drop off point. I found myself at the back of every pack. These riders from the shuttle behind mine caught me as I hiked up to the top. |
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| CJ Selig, Trucker Co Pro rider on Poop Chute. Trucker Co would once again reward cash for the Jr. Expert Category. |
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| Harmony was pinned all weekend. She looked great in practice and showed the crowd she can still hit the gas beating Kingshill by just shy of six seconds. |
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| Some riders really enjoy showing off for the camera! |
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| The competitors from the Hand Bike competition on their rugged steeds. |
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| The hand bike category really has no regulations, with bikes ranging from E-Assist to bikes like this that had a modified Shimano Di2 XTR system. |
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| Bill Lasher took first place in the Hand Bike competition which included, downhill and super d. |
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| Bill Lasher donated his first-place winnings to Southern Nevada Mountain Bike Association's President, Erik Montville, for them to use to maintain the trail system in the area. |
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| The turnout for Saturday's competitions was a good sized group. |
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| Star-studded shuttle rides were plentiful. This one had Gwin, Cordell, and Foresta - all factory riders. |
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| The iconic art piece of Bootleg Canyon greeted me at sunrise Sunday morning for race day. |
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| Steven Walton finished on the top step in Jr. Expert with a time that would have put him in sixth place in Pro Men. |
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| Parker Robinson, taking a very different line during practice Sunday morning. It was working, he took second place in Pro Men. Parker said even with the injury to Sylvestri, and the mechanicals that plagued other pro riders, he felt he was destined for a podium finish. |
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| Aaron Gwin blew a tire right at the entrance to the final waterfall. He hucked it to flat, literally, and finished pedaling while the tire wrapped itself up. He would crash just a few yards before the finish and would still finish seven seconds faster than second place. |
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| Aaron Gwin throwing out some ODI Swag in partnership with Incycle's, Lala. |
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| Jr. Expert Podium - 1st place: Steven Walton 3:50.69, 2nd place: Damon Sedivy 4:08.22, 3rd place: Trevor Boldi 4:12.28 |
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| Open Men's Podium - 1st place: Quinton Spaulding 4:03.06, 2nd place: Lance Canfield 4:23.44, 3rd place: Jeff Frampton 4:29.04 |
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| Women's Pro Podium - 1st place: Jacqueline Harmony 4:32.80, 2nd place: Samantha Kingshill 4:38.78, 3rd place: Amanda Cordell 5:06.57 |
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| Men's Pro Podium - 1st place: Aaron Gwin 3:38.40, 2nd place: Parker Robinson 3:45.47, 3rd place: Logan Binggeli 3:46.57, 4th place: Jason Schroeder 3:47.39, 5th place: Galen Carter 3:49.3 |
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| Aaron next his 1st place bike - the YT Tues seems to be working well for him. He's two for two on it, taking the win here and in Fontana a few weeks ago. He's excited for the next race which will be the World Cup in France. |
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| And for the series overall final photo..Rhino Ryan Rodriguez hucking a hot Bender Sender. |
MENTIONS: @YTIndustries / @calledtocreation
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Heh... um... do you mean if we look closely and have x-ray vision? Or is there something on the outside we should be able to see?
www.instagram.com/p/BDBYkApxcJq/?taken-by=quintonspaulding
I've ridden Bootleg a bunch, but the course they had taped off for the race was intense. So much more than any of the pictures even show. How the pros can get through it so quickly is amazing to me, as I was like 9 minutes or more (I wasn't racing, just riding).
Lots of injuries over the weekend. Literally, there was an ambulance on standby. I heard about a broken arm, torn out shoulders, and plenty of blood.
Would have liked to have seen some POV footage from Aaron's run, though. Didn't know he blew his tire and still won. That guy continues to make the rest of us look like bitches.
Great course and super easy for both locals and International racers to get to, no shortage of hotel rooms near by, and there's a good chance of getting townhoused with Peaty and Ratboy on the strip after the race.
Though I'm no Procore cheerleader, it looks like the best thing we've got for the near future.
So, are these 'reporters' PB uses for these events simply volunteers that do it for nothing, or are they actually 'professionals' getting paid to do it?
If it's the former, I guess it's understandable why dude didn't bother to follow through on Sylvestri's injury(even though he got our attention by calling it 'somewhat serious').
If OTOH, dude is a PROFESSIONAL 'writer', WTF Pinbike?!?
YOUR YOB is to REPORT on the event WITH DETAILS. Telling us said injury was 'somewhat serious' means that you know what the injury is/was. WHY you chose NOT simply mention what it was, instead of calling it 'somewhat serious' only you know.
He's a national Pro, riding a national race, and was 'somewhat seriously' injured.
IT'S NEWS!!!!
Nice to see that the ONZA totes perform as well as his tires of the past. ????
Having been a mechanic for a rainbow jersey, I can tell you most of the time for a title race they want a new chain and new tires a couple days before, if not the night before. If brand new chains and freshly seated tires are blowing off....that's the mechanic's fault, not the rider or terrain.