SEATTLE, WA
Having been on the road since April, and away from home since feb, there is nothing quite like a return to the famililar. Seattle has it all; mountains, lakes, trees, dark brown dirt, friends, family, good coffee, and all my other favorite places. Back to normal life for 3 weeks:)
Racer X probably has the best updates for motocross. Todesco took a 450 outdoor victory which hasn't been done since he was on the little bike ages ago. Alessi raced and then crashed on his knee cap which he broke 2 weeks ago:( Reed- OTB, Hahn first podium. How stoked are MX fans?? Racerxonline.com
A fresh new THE helmet to match the sprinter:) Thanks to Red Bull for allowing me some creativity, Sauce Design Firm, Chris at Air Trix for always doing an awesome job on the paint!! , and Pete D. and Toby at THE for being patient.
These gourmet crispbreads are possibly best thing to come out of Germany, besides Volkswagens, and SRAM:). Anyway..Delicious and nutritious.www.dr-karg.de
Not fun to have to report, but yesterday during a rainy practice Bryn slipped on a root and crashed, potentially rupturing the LCL ligament in his left knee. We made the decision that it would be best to sit out todays race, as a precaution, until everything gets checked out and a knee brace fitted. Plan as of now is to come back strong for the remaining races and finish the season with conviction. We know a little something about ruptured ligaments in this camp, he should be fine, little adversity goes a long way.
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
Action packed sunday today. The monsoon yesterday shut down the chairlift for downhill qualifying, so they combined Practice, qualifying, and the final race into today 
.....
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
The 4x in Maribor is one of the best tracks on tour. It is not easy and has a lot of difficult turns, a few passing spots, and some fun jumps. The rain flooded the track for race day, but I think in the end made for a really exciting, unpredictable event....
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
Well it's for sure raining, and looking treacherous out there. Seems to be some mini rivers flowing down the 4x track, and they are chucking gravel into the grassy bits at the finish, so you can imagine the DH is going to be interesting with 225 men trying to qualify. This particular DH track in the mud would have some people kinda nervous, gotta be cautious to make the top 80, yet fast enough not to get beat out by the other 145 men who will not make the cut.
4x finals tonight, stay tuned....
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA
We are past the mid point in the world cup, #5 of 8. Slovenia is a pretty cool stop, sounds like it would be the most foreign place we could possibly go, but it's fairly similar landscape to Austria or anywhere else in Europe. Buildings, language, and other cultural things seem pretty unique though, but the tracks are good....
FUSCHL, AUSTRIA
Red Bull territory. Where energy is flowing:)
WINTERBERG, GER
After Willingen, we loaded up the motor home and cruised down the road to a bike park in Winterberg. The Olympic Bobsled and Skeleton athletes told me about this place ages ago cause it is one of the few places with a bobsled run, but there is also a pretty big mountain bike park here. Couple weeks ago they held some kind of DH and 4x race.
Anyway, it was pouring down rain the whole time we were riding, but we were entertained for a couple hours. The 4x track was fast and long, pretty bmx-y, little more technical would be good, but still kinda fun. The whole park is man made, they have to build all the trails out of crushed gravel for the weather, and a million tabletops to make it safe. It was fun, but but hard to ride without timers or racing, got a little bored 
. Think I need a short travel riding buddy, or a dh bike. THe place was dialed for bike wash, lift access, etc. Thoroughly enjoyed spraying bryn with a pressure washer to clean off:) garbage bag full of muddy wet clothes, yum. Half a day is perfect. outski.
Yeah Lakers!
WILLINGEN, GER
Yesterday in quali Gee Atherton set the fastest time, followed by Mic Hannah, then I think Neethling. Track looks pretty even, straight forward, man made, not that technical just jumpy, windy, and fast.
For finals today the conditions were almost perfect; sun out, dry conditions, not too much wind, lots of fans....
Just thought I would throw this out there. I use Mtbr.com quite a bit to find trails and places to ride, but there is also a lot of info about what types of bikes to use or buy, product reviews, photos, etc. Of course I think you should just do yourself a favor and buy Intense bikes, duh:)- Mtbr It is a useful tool for mountain bikers everywhere:) check it out.
WILLINGEN, GERMANY
The boys were out there practicing today. Every person who came down the hill commented on the wind blowing them sideways over the jumps. At least it didn't rain too much and was a pretty nice day, for Germany:).
You can now follow Bryn and I both on Twitter:). Internet is really hard to get in Europe, so Twitter is the fastest source of up to date info and nonsense, via text message. twitter.com
WILLINGEN, GERMANY
Just arrived at an old World Cup venue in Willingen for a One off event called Wheels Of Speed. It is a men's DH race only for big cash, so Bryn's ready to redeem himself. The mountain is barely a hill, but it has some decent stuff on it. Some people hate this course:) others don't mind sprinting and hucking. Bryn said a storm came through and wiped out all the trees, so the track is probably pretty saturated from the heavy rain. There is a Bike festival at the same time, maybe a mini 4x. I will investigate.
FT.WILLIAM, SCOTLAND
Grand Conclusion. Dh today was not quite the storybook ending all the Brits were hoping for, a Frenchie- Sabrina 
and a South African- Minnaar 
took the victories. Crowd was backing Peaty and Gee, but it just wasn't their day.
Bryn had some bad luck in his race run. After a really quick top section, he overcooked one of the berms and launched off the track out into the grass field. Learning lessons the hard way, but still on pace. Not hurt, avoided all the sheep.
More news and photos check out:
www.dirtmag.co.uk
FT.WILLIAM, SCOTLAND
Another awesome day for Bryn and I. While I went on to take a victory last night and gain the lead of the series, bryn qualified 7th in the Downhill.
The crowd in Scotland has and will continue to be the biggest and best crowd on tour, hands down. They love their mountain bikers!! Downhill finals today!! About to go for a hike....
For vid and pics check out www.dirtmag.co.uk
FT.WILLIAM, SCOTLAND
Qualifying was yesterday. Bit wetter conditions which made it a grippier, but then not- as the sandy turns got turned up and loose, as well as some wet rocks. Not bad except for the fog in the goggles. I always expect wind cold and rain, that way I am not disappointed- makes things more exciting. Midge patterns are unpredictable though, one got in my eye, ear, they are a pain in the ass and sneaky.
I am gonna call it like the Lakers, qualifying was like game 1 of the playoffs, forget about it cause there is another game to to win the series:) Kobe had a great performance, but he has to back it up, just like me.:) I won by 1.70 seconds.
Joost won the men's quali, followed by Roger Internet who was like the last rider to go off after a bunch of rain.Then Jared Graves 3rd.
Dan Atherton is racing, and riding pretty well considering he broke his scapula a few weeks ago in Andorra. His dad was running up and down the hill, pushing his bike. Starts would not be fun for him, but Im sure he has endured worse.
FT.WILLIAM, SCOTLAND
Not much to report, just practice so far. Think yesterday might have been the first time I have ridden this course when it was dry. It was pretty loose but extra fun. The new section they put into the 4x is ok, I'm having a really good time riding my bike at the moment, and am happy to be in Scotland.
DH guys are practicing now. there have been off and on sprinkles, Haven't heard much about the new wooded section, or how much faster their course is from all the grooming, so we will see. Midges 
are everywhere, hungry and biting like the savage beasts that they are...
FT.WILLIAM, SCOTLAND
I think it's fair to say when the sun is out in Scotland it is one of the most beautiful places in the World. We rented another motor home for the week, and ventured to a rad town nearby called 'Killin' 
. Also saw a guy with the word "Beaver" tattooed on his arm, umm, what the hell?. We laughed like 8 year old's on that one. Oregon State University Alumni 
? doubt it :)
Anywhoo.. Ol Ft.Bill is ready for bike riding. They made a change to the 4x taking out the only good passing section, lame. It's still there, so maybe not. No XC bandits this weekend either, we rode their course and man is it sweet. Didn't see the DH. Hopefully we get a few more sunny days...
HEADSETS
If you haven't seen the Cane Creek lineup, I suggest you check them out. Bryn and I run the XXc II or XXc Flush II in all of our bikes.