High Post Shredding With Jason Blodgett
Over the summer Jason spent some time ripping the Knoxville area trails. We caught some of the action, his story, and an up close of the bike. Check it out.
THE STORY My name is Jason Blodgett, I am 24 years old and I was born and raised in northern Ohio. My childhood hero growing up was Travis Pastrana, I wanted to be like Travis, I wanted to ride dirt bikes, I wanted to push boundaries, I wanted to build ramps in the middle of our country road. My mom had other ideas… She told me a bicycle was the closest I was going to get to being like the 199. Reluctantly, I grabbed the bars and quickly started racing BMX at the age of five and I fell in love with catching air, building ramps, and being free.
Fast-forward almost two decades, I’ve gotten to race my bike all over the world and see places very few people from northern Ohio have ever seen. I’ve continued to try and push the boundaries on bikes… no, not like Red Bull Rampage or Joyride, but what is possible on an XC bike.
That’s what this project was about, having fun and proving that 100mm travel XC bikes without fancy seat posts are still very capable and much better than the “DH” bikes from the time when I was born. No matter what bike that you have at the moment it should be about having fun. To me, having fun is pushing boundaries- whether that’s seeing how fast you can go uphill, or downhill, or how far can you ride in a summer, or how lost can you get on your local roads. Whatever that may be, just get out and push boundaries.
Details matter, this race machine has a top shelf build that makes world cup bikes look behind.
Because everytime I have equated myself to enjoying mountain biking for a similar reason to the following quote I have been equated to having a roadie complex
"seeing how fast you can go uphill, or downhill, or how far can you ride in a summer, or how lost can you get on your local roads. Whatever that may be, just get out and push boundaries."
Thus.. you sound like an ebiker to me...
This guy can probably do the tricks the right way on a bike that's actually suited to the task...yet instead they publish this?
www.trailforks.com/trails/anal-intruder
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www.instagram.com/p/BmoYVQyh15S/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
@philshizle makes a valid point.
Hmmm...
I'm in the PNW, so roots, rocks, etc. are easily at hand in addition to the baby's-butt-smooth dirt. @pinkbikeaudience If I make a video, could I pretty please get on the homepage? Maybe face off against this? Would anyone find this entertaining? no one take this the wrong way ... honest question...absolutely nothing personal, just looking at this objectively...
His bike: My bike:
Trek Top Fuel RSL. 2011 Marin Alpine Trail
Components:
World cup level... CL find level
RS SID RS Dart III
XX1 Alivio/Deore
Level Ultimate. Hayes mech. disks
Full squish Hardtail
OCLV Carbon Aluminum (not exactly light at that)
Kenda Honey Badger. Continental Race King
Etc. Etc. Etc.
XL 29er XXL 29er
Only similarities: No dropper and 100mm fork.
Guys got skills. Am I hating? No. And please don't think that I'm whining. I don't care if I don't get on the homepage or whatever... just merely agreeing with @philshizle that perhaps a more demanding trail would've been more impressive.
Claiming that droppers should never have more travel than your suspension is just weird and wrong för most.
Cool video though!
I would be the last one to say he needs an adjustable seatpost, but if he doesn't like to keep an allen key handy but still would like to raise his saddle from time to time he may like to invest in a quick release type seatpost clamp. The top tube is nice and low. Unfortunately the silly frame design has a very tall seattube with a kink, so it is limited how much he can lower the seat. But it would still help.
Other than the rather upright cornering and rollers, his riding on these groomed trails looks nice and smooth. But he didn't quite get his intended point across. "A 100mm travel XC bike without a fancy dropper post" Sorry this is a top level full suspension XC bike. It should be up to what we see Schurter do at the WC races, so that includes jumps and whips. A dropper post is relatively cheap compared to what this bike has cost. But no need to spend that if you aren't racing and don't mind spending a few seconds lowering that saddle when it is time to hit the fun sections.
I live in an area with tons of trails and no elevation so we deal with what we've got by having a huge XC scene. Lately though with modern trail building techniques we've got a new trail with lots of flow jumps rock rolls and skinnies.
I ride with guys on big squish bikes(120-150mm), and clear everything they do while going a ton faster on all of the climbs with my XC Hardtail. I honestly don't see the advantage of the big bikes until the terrain gets super chunky and steep. However, for modern smoothed out machine cut flow an XC hardtail is likely faster, especially if the trial ever turns upward.
Really?
#downcountrythatshit
Soooo... you're riding XC top shelf bike but you're constantly last behind everyone riding XC ever bike?
Also, what's up with baggy clothes on XC race bike? You go for fast low bike with low rolling resistance tires and aero position and then dress up in a parachute that negates the advantages of XC bike.
if the point was to show that you can shred on an xc bike, Nino has already proved that plenty.