Man does it feel good

It felt so good to get out and stretch the legs in a real race. I've been training pretty hard over the winter with the coaching help of Terry Ritter and Full Potential Training Services f_p_t_s@hotmail.com. Actually this is the hardest I've ever worked in the off season and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

Like others have said, the Maxxis CrossMark tires were riding are fantastic. Even in all the loose sand out on the course they still hooked up well and had excellent cornering. Another big help with the race came in the form of the Pacific Health Laboratories, Inc. products. The Accelerade kept the legs spinning during the race without giving me that thick phlegm that is so common with other sports drinks. The Endurox was nice to hit in between Elite and SS races. Really I can't say enough about how well all the sponsors products are working for us. Another fine mention is the new Rudy Project Horus lenses that we've been provided with. Very nice addition to the riding gear. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season and hoping for great things from myself and the rest of the team. That's it for now.

-Justin

Yankee Springs report

Kona Midwest Racing 2006!

Well this weekend the team hit the first race of the season here in Michigan, a mountain bike time trial at Yankee Springs Rec Area near Hastings. The trail was dry and fast with long sand pits, bigger then ever. It started to rain a bit during the expert and pro/elite race and turned colder and rainier as the day went on. Not a downpour but one of those light all day rains. Made hanging out grilling a little chilly.
Justin led the way taking 4th in the men’s pro/elite class along with a few other top 20 pro /elite finishes. We turned a lot of heads again this year as we rolled out in a group for our pre-ride and parade loop around the venue. Many people stopped by the tent to say hi and find out about Kona and our other great sponsors. And I must say once again,
“WE ALL LOVE OUR MAXXIS CROSSMARK TIRES!!!”
They roll great and hook up awesome in the corners.
Other small tidbits from the race weekend. Pete took the day off from racing. His broken color bone just healed and he has been training on the road and only on the mountain bike once in the last month. He will be back strong for the Fort Custer XC race.
Crispy and Bryan have a lot of fitness work to do but hey, we both took the winter off from training and we are downhillers anyway! J But watch out at the NORBA super D races!!!
Shirlee was her usually super happy self and couldn’t quit saying how much she liked her Kona Leroi bike
Unfortunately Amanda had a racer crash right in front of her which caused her to crash and twist her bars. She still managed to get a decent time and learned not to trust even expert racers in technical sections.
Jamie had a good top 20 finish in pro/elite even though he was fighting a cold.
Dan said he went out way to fast and that hurt him later on but watch out. Dan gets faster every day!!!
Eric had a respectable ride as he didn’t train much over the winter either, he plans on peeking later in the year. Or maybe he might be following in Bryan and Crispy’s footsteps to DH?
Jim is still across the pond in England and will be for most of the season.

Ok so I just don’t feel like writing a bunch more right now but I’m sure Crispy will post up as well. – Bryan

Team race day tents set-up.

Justin throws out sponsor swagg after getting his award!

Working by a Window

Why do I work by a Window.

Oh outside how you taunt me as I slave away
Typing and forms and thinking for some pay
Why not let me out to ride
a couple more hours and it will be good bye


Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

Race day is here for the team and I can't wait. It is going to be an awesome weekend. The team is opening the season at Yankee Springs Time Trial. Winning time is going to be about 40 minutes which is rippin for the 11 mile course. We will be out pre-riding on Saturday and doing a photo shoot. Then racing kicks off on Sunday at 10:00am. Later we are having a BBQ and plenty of replenishment beverage. Check back on Monday for the post race wrap up.

-C-

Happy Birthday to me!

I'm 39 today! One more year till the big 4-0! Those of you that know me are awarse that I don't act my age and probably never will. Also I have not decided if mountain biking is keeping me young or is going to kill me! No gifts needed, but you can send $$! :) -Bryan

JC heads to Iraq

One of our riding buddies and former team mate Jon Cross is a Marine reservist and will be assigned active duty this weekend. He will be doing some training out west then ships out to Iraq later this summer. Me, Crispy and Jon hit Yankee springs last night for a send off ride and had a great time. Food and beers after. We will be counting down the days till he gets back and we go on our return home ride and I’m sure party!!! Be safe and watch your ass JC! We will make sure and keep you updated on all the mountain biking happenings here at home. Peace! - Bryan

Pisgah Day 7

The View from the Pisgah Mountain House.

Well the sun is setting on our Pisgah 2006 trip. We head back to Michigan in the morning. Well we might do one more ride before hitting the road if we get motivated early enough. Both Crispy and I are pretty tired though. Today we rode at Alexander Mountain Bike Park north of Asheville. It was kind of lame but does have potential, especially with the Kona/IMBA freeride grant that was given to the park. Then we went to Bent Creek near Asheville. Specifically to climb to the top and ride down Greens Lick, the trail we keep hearing about how much fun it is. WOW! Think like A-Line in Whistler. Super fast, long, big jumps and big berms. Go as fast as you dare and jump as big as you dare. Big crash potential on this trail if you go to big or to fast and get out of control. We were on the cross country bikes and have limited high speed jumping skills so we rode safe and I still hag a couple close calls getting bucked out of a good riding position. The people that built this trail did a great job and it lived up to its hype. A must ride here in Pisgah!
A few more things:Just like last year our Kona frames are the best. Crispy on the Leroi and me on a King Supreme. They handle everything we throw at them! The Maxxis Crossmark tires we are using just plain ROCK! Man do they hook up. I am still amazed the beating that our Mavic Crossmax wheels can take. For a light weight XC wheel not designed for the punishment we put them through in Pisgah. They just are bombproof, plain and simple! If you have not switched to disk brakes, what are you waiting for? Hayes Baby! -Bryan

Pisgah Day 6

Well it was slowly happening last year but its Official, Crispy is the best downhiller on the team. He just nailed Satan’s Staircase today including the final drop seen in the photos. (Justin you might remember this because it is where Crispy ran you over last year) It’s on the Bennett Trail coming off of Buckwheat Knob. We climbed the big bikes up the road to Bennett Gap then pushed them up about a mile to Club gap for one of the best downhills in Pisgah! It was a blast on the big bikes. Me, I chickened out on this rock drop. I was just mentally all freaked out about it so I didn’t do the drop. I’ve waited 3 years to take a big bike down this trail and the skill to do this drop and I just wussed out. But the rest of the run was a blast and once again well worth the pain of the climb except I’m done climbing the big bike, it hurts! -Bryan

Pisgah Day 5

Yes, this is a trail, Farlow Gap Trail.

Ok, so today Crispy and I rode, sometimes slowly, the big bikes up a 5 mile forest road climb with about a 1700 foot elevation gain to the top of Farlow Gap. Good thing we had pancakes for breakfast. The downhill on this trail is so worth the pain of the road climb and the hika-a-bike sections. The photo above is part of a 150 yard long rock and boulder garden. Crispy is real small at the top of the photo. We pushed back up and rode it 3 times for photos, video and of course fun!!! This trail is not for beg's and isn't easy but a must do for a true mountain bike adventure. We are both real tired after 5 hard days in Pisgah so we are not sure what we are riding yet on Wednesday. - BryanCrispy's Awesome baked pancake!

Pisgah Day 4

Pisgah Mountain House Freeride!

Well we were all draggin' a little this morning but got started early and did a 3 hour ride in Turkey Pen. (Amanda wanted to get on the road to head home by three and it worked out just fine) I think she is the toughest girl I have ever ridden with. Like I said before she took everything we threw at her and then some. She learned how to do a wheelie drop and added some other new skills to her riding. -Bryan

I have been riding the shit out of Pisgah the last couples days XC style. So tonight, inspired by the Freeride videos we watched, I grabbed the big bike. Not being able to talk Bryan into a 2nd ride tonight I just did some freeride around the house. Found a cool little drop at the back of the house and also a little downhill trail. Anyway tomorrow we are going to hit up Farlows gap which is this nasty DH trail in Pisgah. Can't wait. Hopefully we will find some more drops for some pics. Amanda had to get back to the real world, but is taking some good memories from Pisgah with her. That women can ride! -Crispy

Pisgah Day 3

I'm still alive this morning! We thought Amanda might kill us in our sleep for taking her up and down what Crispy calls the "Nome" trail at the top of Laurel Mountain. And how much hike-a-bike there is. Actually it is now day 4 but we couldn't get a good connection last night. Actually it was a great ride! Almost 7 hours on the bike hitting some road climbs, the Laurel Mountain Trail, Pilot Rock Trail and the Pilots Cove Loop. Perfect weather with clear skies, sunny and temps in the 60's! I felt and rode much better today probably because of Crispy special giant backed pancake I ate for breakfast. We saw alot of riders on the mountain today and heard Mark Hendershot was ahead of us but never saw him, Da! Laurel Mountain is still one of my top 3 favorite rides, and I know Crispy loves it as well. Amanda is one tough rider. She took everything we threw at her. She represents the team and woman mountain bikers well!!!! Crispy is riding great and has yet to crash. Me, well my driving skills go down the tubes when I'm tired and had a couple crashes but no big injuries, just blood. Today we hit Turkey Pen -Bryan

Pisgah Day 2

Hike a bike section up Black Mountain

Well we had a nasty thunderstorm blow through NC last night but today it was only cloudy and a little rainy. We climbed up the road to Black Mountain. Rode and did hike-a-bike up Clawhamer Mountain and Black Mountain then sreamin' fast down. Finishing up with the Sycamore Cove loop on the wet, slippery roots. I'm slow on the climbs as usual but Crispy and Amanda are riding strong. Its Amandas first time riding here and seems to be lovong it. She rips the DH's as well as she climbs.

Rippin' down Black Mountain!

We're in Pisgah!!!

Bryan, Crispy and Amanda made it to Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina and rode the Daniel Ridge loop today. Fun times! Crispy rode well and Amanda rode GREAT!!! She will be tough to beat this year. Bryan bonked a little. Old, fat and slow is no way to ride through Pisgah! - Bryan

On our way to Pisgah!

Well its not the trip we wanted, we were hoping for more people to go, but Crispy and Bryan will be heading to Pisgah in about an hour. Amanada is folling us down and riding over the weekend before heading back. Eric has to also drive alone as he has to head back for a school exam. The rest of the team was in Pisgah a couple of weeks ago. This is getting expensive with so few people. But oh well we will be on top of Latel Mountain very soon!
Watch this blog for reports, photos and more!
Later. - Bryan

Donate to Make-A-Wish

Go here to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation:
http://wishmich.kintera.org/WAM/bryanmitchell
Bryan is riding in the WAM 300.
Go here for more info:
http://konamidwestracing.com/06wish.html

Come on, skip Starbucks couple times and donate!!!!!
Bryan

KMR riders Amanda and Chris help the trails

Amanda and Chris helped build some new trail and close some old trail at Maybury State Park in Northville, Michigan today. Just all part of being a mountain biker. Thanks guys!

Amanda Helps clear the entrance to a new rock garden.

Chris works on the rock garden that has a boulder drop.

Chris tries out the drop. FYI he is on his big bike but it is ridable on an XC bike as well. I rode it on my King Supreme XC bike and the landing is very smooth.

Ouch!

A skinny wall ride gone bad.

URBAN in the hood, ah well Hazel Park!

After hanging out at Continental Bike Shop, our shop sponsor, most of the day promotomg the team and showing of our Kona's Crispy and Bryan went for an Urban ride in Hazel Park. Eric rode along as well. We found some really cool stuff to ride including this fun rosh hop up/jump and a skinny that must have bee 100 yeards long and ended in a 3 1/2 foot drop. Very fun day!!!!