Recently on Cyclingnews.com

MTB News & racing round-up for November 17, 2005

Edited by Steve Medcroft

Welcome to our regular round-up of what's happening in the dirt. Feel free to send feedback, news and gossip to mtb@cyclingnews.com

MTB vacation getaway

By Steve Medcroft

Indoor North Shore

Unless you're lucky enough to live in the Southern Hemisphere, November is the time of year where your opportunities for mountain biking begin to get thin. Oh, you could hack out some cold, wet rides just to get time on the bike or you could move to Central California, but what if you live in Cleveland, Ohio? Are you screwed out of any chance to ride a mountain bike for the next four months?

Maybe not – just huck on over to 9801 Walford Avenue, pick up a season pass and you're golden until April sixth because at that address, you'll find Ray's MTB Indoor Park; a heated oasis of ramps, trials stations, trails, pump tracks, a foam pit and North Shore-style challenges tucked inside a renovated industrial warehouse.

Think of it as a velodrome for fat tyres

Ray Petro, the park's founder and namesake, says what he's tried to create is “a giant skills garden.” A skills garden made completely out of rideable wooden structures. The point of the park, says Petro, is to give winter-bound mountain bikers a place to work on balance, skill and fitness.

Although he says he drew inspiration for Ray's from indoor skate and BMX parks, Petro says the actual implementation of what had been a decade-long dream came by accident. “The space was suddenly available but it was in real bad shape,” he explained from his office at the park on Wednesday. “But I'm in construction and the stuff that needed doing didn't scare me.” So Petro took on the lease in August of 2004, bought up all the lumber he could find, and started building.

The trails wind through the trees.

Weatherproof mountains

Challenging singletrack

“We had our first version of the park built last year (open from October 2004 to April, 2005),” Petro says. “After watching how the whole place flowed, seeing what people liked, and just as importantly, what guys were getting hurt on, I made a bunch of changes for 2005 during the summer.”

It's like reverse boat-building.

The 71,000 square feet of warehouse floor space is divided into three main sections; beginner, sport and expert. The sections are linkable through a maze of marked pathways throughout the building. “There's also a foam pit for riders who want to try new tricks or jumps without paying the price of hitting the ground if they screw up,” Petro says.

The park is only open through the winter season and since the newest season has just hit, Petro says the park has been popular with all different kinds of mountain bikers. “We have guys who come in and ride for two hours straight – hook together each of the sections and ride for a workout. We have the jumpers and the trials guys too but the biggest group of guys are here to just have fun; they want to work on tricks and balance, learn how to ride skinny, they just want to be on their bikes.” Which, Petro says, is a reflection of the state of mountain biking in general. “MTB is getting further and further away from cross country. Everything is progressing more toward the having-fun, big-travel, ski-resort type of riding.”

Petro says that although he is the sole owner and has a staff of employees that run the park, he gets a lot of help from the community that uses his facility. “There is a whole slew of non-paid volunteers – from guys who help create and build features to guys who help with the website. It's really interesting that the community that uses it is supporting it the way they are. There's no way I could have opened without them.”

Fun for young and... not quite so young

The greater mountain-bike community has rallied behind the park as well. From a pro-attended Grand Opening a week ago to a $10,000 prize list Red Bull event in February, 2006 Ray's is becoming a destination for mountain bikers from around the world. “I've seen a lot more people than I thought I would,” Petro says. As for his goals for the business? “I'll be thrilled if I can get the money I spent to build it back and the place can support itself.”

Ray's MTB Indoor Park is open from October 28, 2005 to April 6, 2006. They offer one-day passes, packaged weekend visits (with hotel included) and season passes. For more information, visit www.raysmtb.com.

La Ruta de los Conquistadores wrap up

A local 12 year winning streak at La Ruta de los Conquistadores was finally snapped last weekend when Thomas Frischknecht (Swisspower) became the first foreign rider to win the three-day event. The Marathon World Champion bounced back from a disastrous second stage, when three flats on the final descent caused him to lose 15 minutes to Costa Rican Marvin Campos (IBP), and drop to second in the standings - more then seven minutes back.

The final stage, at 126 kilometres, was the longest, but also has the least climbing - 1785 metres. The riders started the day with nearly 7400 metres of climbing in their legs from the previous two stages. Frischknecht worked with Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW) and defending champion Paolo Montoya (Santa Ana) isolate Campos from his team and then ride far enough away from him to win.

Read all three days of La Ruta de los Conquistadores race reports, photographs and results here.

Rennie recovers from long-jump crash

By Steve Medcroft

Last week, outside the opal mining town of Cooper Pedy on the road to Oodnadatta, Australia, Nathan Rennie launched a Santa Cruz V-10 off a 12-meter ramp in an attempt to reach the world record bicycle long distance jump of 116 feet. He was towed to the ramp by motorcycle at 96 kilometres per hour but unfortunately crashed on landing after overshooting the ramp to 121 feet.

Rennie sustained only minor injuries in the crash and is in recovery. "I have a small separation on my left shoulder as well as a few cuts and bruises but its fine; I'm all okay," Rennie said this week.

The record was deemed unofficial by Guinness World Records because of the crash, so the question is, will he try again. "Yes, I do plan to go for the record again but not for a little while. Maybe a year or so." Instead of more jumps, Rennie says he'll spend the rest of the off-season "training for next year." But not without a few "beach and beer sessions as well."

Vaude Highland Fling wrap up

The multi-talented Peter Hatton (Clarence St Cyclery), who seems to be as comfortable on dirt as on tarmac, and Leonie Aisbett (Illawarra CC), better known as a road and track rider, took out the inaugural 102km Vaude Highland Fling in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales on Sunday.

Hatton was the first home of over 450 riders who tackled the challenging 102km course that incorporated dirt roads, plenty of singletrack, sand, dust, mud and creek crossings. Aisbett's victory is all the more remarkable because it was only her fourth time on a mountain bike, and she was wearing borrowed size 47 shoes! At the presentation, organiser Huw Kingston quipped that maybe Aisbett should spend some of her $1,000 prize money on new MTB equipment.

The 700 riders who would take part in the day's racing (including the shorter and three-person categories) were woken at dawn to sound of the bagpipes drifting across the light Highlands mist in the village of Bundanoon. This soon cleared to a warm but not too hot day. Good rains over recent months had ensured the Highlands looked their best - full creeks and lush paddocks.

Read the entire Vaude Highland Fling race report and results here.

Downhillers prepare for next Oz MTB series

World champion silver medalists Sabrina Jonnier and Sam Hill have stepped up their training a notch in preparation for Round 2 of the National Mountain Bike Series Downhill at Nannup, Western Australia, this Sunday. 20 year-old Hill, from Glen Forest in Perth, has shown 24 year-old Jonnier from Hyeres, in southern France some of the training locations in and around Perth. "We just did our first cross country ride since world's," said Hill yesterday.

Jonnier has tried to relax after a busy season where she won the prestigious World Cup series. "I have just started easy training. After January it becomes more important," explained the young Frenchwoman, who will ride mainly in America next year. "I'm running and riding cross country and am also riding a small motor bike to work on my technique," she said.

Having started in BMX, and with that discipline being in the Beijing Olympics, Jonnier could have an opportunity to represent France if she does the qualifying races. Jonnier, however, dismissed the possibility: "I like downhill too much to go back to BMX."

After just missing out on a gold medal at the world championships to fellow countrywoman Anne-Caroline Chausson, Jonnier is determined to win next year. "I had a good run of 4.37 minutes but with a few mistakes," she said, adding, "I want to win the world's." The last time Jonnier won the world championships was as a junior in 1999.

Hill has similar aspirations to Jonnier after taking a bronze medal at the world championships in 2004 and narrowly missing gold this year to Frenchman Fabien Barel. He'll face junior world champion, Amiel Cavalier from Wollongong, who has recovered from a leg injury sustained in the first round in Tasmania last month. Close competition is also expected from Canberra's Jared Rando, who had the second fastest time to Hill in round one of the national series, which Hill currently leads. Perth-based downhiller Miikael Kinnunen is also expected to make an impression on the top placings.

Downhill riders start practice sessions on Thursday afternoon, with the track open for practice until qualification runs start at 10.30am on Sunday. Final runs for the under 19's, elite men and women will start at 2.30 pm. Cross country practice begins Thursday afternoon and Friday, with racing starting at 11.30am and the elite men starting at 3.45pm.

New Arrivals – November 15, 2005

By John Stevenson & James Huang

A handful of mountain-bike products hit the tech editors desk this past week, including this rather tasty suspension rig,

The Litespeed Sewanee

Litespeed Sewanee

The Sewanee is Litespeed no-holds-barred full-suspension cross-country race bike. This all-titanium frame has just 60mm of rear wheel travel but reportedly weighs just 4.4 lbs for a medium-sized frame. A Fox RP3 rear shock (with Propedal) coupled to Litespeed's unique Constant Leverage Ratio linkage makes the most of the limited travel while keeping pedaling performance fast and zippy. Our test rig came equipped with a Shimano XTR disc kit with Dual Control levers, Mavic Crossmax Enduro UST disc wheels, and was topped off with bits from FSA and Thomson. As shipped, our complete bike (with pedals) weighs just 24.5 lb (11.5 kg)./JH

MSRP: US$2995 (frame only)
More info: www.litespeed.com

Read about all the latest New Arrivals at the tech desk here.

Previous News    Next News

(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2005)