Burnaby Track Shots

These were shot during Fanatik Team rider Stewart Bowmer’s victory.  With speeds up to 42 mph, these guys definitely don’t want to crash!

Fanatik Scores Win in 50+ Age, 70K Event

Story by Glenn Powell

The Veolia Desert Challenge, held Saturday, December 5^th, was Israel’s largest bike race to date with some 1,500 competitors.   The start of this two-person team mountain bike event is located near the Dead Sea resort town of En Bokek.  Race options included 25K, 50K and 70K courses in the Mt.Sodom desert region, with mixed, open and age-graded team categories.   My brother Rod and I arrived at En Bokek on Thursday to pre-ride the course, soak up some sun, float in the 30% saline Dead Sea and enjoy the 75+ degree temps.

Since the Dead Sea starting point is the lowest place on the planet, it seemed reasonable that a little climbing might be in order.   The 35K lap pre-ride began with a wide open dirt road and then transition to winding single track climbing up a canyon along Mt. Sodom (a mountain of salt).  At the high point, the canyon lead to an open high-plain area, then descended to the southern-most low point where the course turns north and climbs back up the eastern side of the valley back on top of the plain.  One climb was a long granny-gear butt-kicker that I barely made it up on the pre-ride. (Race day everyone walked up.)  The descent back toward the start/finish had some very fast and fun single-track down through a narrow canyon.  All in all the course appeared very fast and not technical, well suited for our 29-er hard tails.   We rode half a lap on Friday to get better dialed in on the canyon descent, picked up our race numbers and electronic timing chips, floated like a cork in the Dead Sea for a while and then called it a day.

On race day we rode the two miles from our accommodations to the start area, laid out water and bars for the second lap and then did a few intervals to get revved up for what I expected to be a mad dash down the road to the single track section. At 7:30 am our 70K field of 200-250 competitors launched.   Beforehand the race organizers gave instructions to “go neutral until the single track”.  I bet you can guess how that went…  Not!    We were able to get lined up early behind the first 50 or so riders and hit the single track flying in about that same position.  There was little opportunity to pass until hitting the open plain area.  There we were with a chase group of about 20 containing two guys with the Trek sponsored club (largest in Israel).   One of the two, a guy named “Rommi”, I learned was the top 40+ rider in the Country.  Even though we were in the 50+ category, I marked him as one to watch.   My brother (a road rider) was a little nervous about the high speed crowded descent so I told him we should hang off the back until the bottom.  That was a bad idea.  We lost contact with the Rommi duo and had to work like crazy to catch them on the climb.   At the top of “the butt-kicker” they were just up ahead of us, but my brother had knocked his pump off getting on his bike at the top.  By the time we fetched it back and got rolling, we were gassed and Rommi & the boys were gone.

After a quick stop at the start/finish for water bottles and food, brother Rod set a blistering pace from the beginning of the 2^nd lap all the way back up to the plain. Past the descent, at the turn-around climb we started passing lots of the 50K stragglers.  This wasn’t any real trouble on the climbs but on the fast descent leading up to the finish Rod had to take the lead again because I didn’t know how to say “on your right!” or “on your left!” in Hebrew. In spite of the traffic jams, we caught and passed another 4-5 of the 70K teams on the second lap.    When the dust settled, we ended up 16^th overall, 5^th in the 40 + and first amongst the 50+ grandpa/geezers.  (Rommi and his partner placed 2^nd in the 40+.)

The race as a whole was very well organized, with a party Friday night that spotlighted some Jewish guy that sang lots of Neil Young songs in English.  The after race event was held at one of the resorts.   It looked kind of like the finish of STP (except with a beach).   Bike industry vendors from Israel had booths set up all around.   Prior to the race we happen to meet and become friends with the race organizers, Boaz, Warren, Adam and Nimrod (He preferred “Nimmy”).  They we’re all great guys and very helpful/kind to “the Americans”.

I was looking over the posted results at the “after race event” and realized that the only names of the 1,500 entrants that weren’t written in Hebrew were “Rod Powell” and “Glenn Powell”.  I suggested to Boaz that next year maybe they should  have a three-person team option that could be made up of Jew, Arab and Westerner!

Thanks again to Dave, Casey and Phil for helping me scrounge together Rod’s Fanatik kit apparel.

GP

Ps:  Rod lives in Haifa with his wife Margi.   He is studying Hebrew there as part of a post-graduate degree in theology.   He also works with a group that reaches out to Russian speaking heroin addicts in Tel Aviv.  In addition to the Dead Sea Race, my two week stay in Israel included bike rides in the Mt. Karmel and Galilee areas, some time in the old city ofJerusalem, visits to the heroin addict quarter of Tel Aviv and their recovery center in Haifa.

Intense 951 Build – Going All Out!

This is quite possibly one of the finest custom bikes we have built.  Parts include a Point One Racing Limited Edition direct mount stem, Dura Ace cassette, Cane Creek Double Barrel rear shock, Boxxer World Cup fork, Chris King hubs and BB, Twenty6 Rallye Ti pedals, and a Thomson Masterpeice seatpost.  It’s even got a carbon post clamp with a titanium bolt!  Nearly every other bolt is ano-gold titanium as well.The bike weighs in at a respectable 36.8 lbs.  Still to come: custom ano-gold Obtanium titanium spring…

Looking to build your dream bike?  Check out our Custom Bike Builder page for details on how to get started.

Intense 951

XO gold derailleur, KMX X9 SL Gold chain, Dura Ace Cassette

Gold XO derailleur

Twenty6 Rallye Ti Urban Camo Pedals

Chris King bottom bracket

Shimano Saint brakes, ano gold ti brake caliper bolts, ano gold ti rotor bolts

Point One Racing stem, Ano Gold Ti Bolts, Sunline V1 bars

Ano gold titanium boxxer crown bolts

Point One Racing stem, Ano Gold Ti Bolts

SRAM XO Gold Shifter

Cane Creek Double Barrel, Ti Spring

Titanium Thomson bolts

Thomson Masterpeice Post, Carbon post clamp w/Ti bolt

SDG Ti Fly Seat

Intense 951

Intense 951 Frames

Intense 951 frames are here, and they are flyin’ out the door quicker than we can keep them in stock!  So far we have gotten at least one of every color, except for white.  I took the opportunity to snap some shots of each color!

Check out our website for current stock!

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

Intense 951

2009 Evil Revolt

We are pretty darn lucky to work in the bike biz.  We get to drool over all kinds of new technology, and be some of the first to get our hands on it.  Fresh in are the new ’09 Evil Revolt frames.   We decided to go all out and build up a race-ready revolt for the floor.  As it sits, it weighs in at 37.6 pounds!

Fanatik Trail – Another Success!

Thanks to Matt D from WHIMPS for the following post…

The day started with coffee, donuts (provided by Fanatik), and good times in the upper Padden lot gearing up and getting ready to leave for a day on the trails.  I counted 35 people in the parking lot milling around before catching a ride up to get started. We gathered everyone together and were all dispersed and working hard by 10:45.  I walked from the bottom of the work zone to the top around 11:30 and there were 42 people working – this doesn’t include the number of other people who stopped by to help out for an hour or so.  I would say that we had around 50 people total help out in some capacity – WOW!  Definitely our biggest turnout this year!  Fanatik personally had a number of people come and help out, not to mention providing lunch, Red Bull, and other bevies.  We were able to get the lower scorp reroute buffed and 90% done – it just needs some tweaking to make the berms and step-up hit right.  Also, we got 90% of the upper luge section down to mineral dirt, shaped, bermed, a nice jump built, and a natural spring diverted (thanks to a couple of civil engineers).  The day finished with 6 or 7 people hittin’ the new upper luge section over and over, good times for sure.  A special thanks to the following people:

Fanatik Bike:  with their 2 sponsored trail days this season, it brought in well over 80 volunteers for our local trails and about 300 plus hours of labor – not to mention the owners Mark and Kathy were diggin’ hard along with a number of their employees and friends – not to mention all the food and beverages!

Volunteers: We have gotten so much done this year because of the huge turnouts!

Greg:  The guy on Galbraith lane who has built that incredible compound.  He arranged access to the coveted gate that rarely gets used – this made it much easier and enabled a bunch of cars up that wouldn’t have made the death climb.

Tim and Louise:  The owners of Una and the horses that let us use their gate to make access easier.

Trillium and Jon Syre – Without them we may not be able to build trails there.

If you see any of these people, give a big thanks!

Vance Creek Road Race in Elma

Phil, Brian Ecker, Stewart and I started the 1/2 race with about 45 riders including Morgan Schmitt (Bissell Pro Cycling), who just won the criterium at the Sea Otter Classic and then finished 3rd behind winner Levi Leipheimer in the road race the next day. Also present was under 23 national cyclocross champion Nicholas Weighall.

Despite the 93 mile length the race was aggressive from the start as riders vied for the early break. Stewart hopped across to the first serious move of four riders halfway through the first 13 mile lap and stayed away for almost a whole lap. A counter attack of two riders formed shortly after Stewart’s group was reeled in, and as the pace slowed after a series of surges, Phil blew by the field on the right side and soon bridged up to the two leaders, bringing up another rider stuck in no man’s land along the way.

For company, Phil had Jamie Stangeland and Patrick Stanko. Patrick was 3rd in the TT at the Cherry Blossom Classic. Jamie was 2nd in the Volunteer Park criterium two weeks ago behind breakaway partner Adrian Hegyvary, who, on Saturday, finished 3rd in the Athens Twilight Criterium ahead of a field of pros. Six degrees of separation, or a sign of what’s to come if you judge a man by the company he keeps?

Clichés aside, the lead grew to two minutes over the next couple laps. After a viciously fast lap with constant attacking by Morgan Schmitt and Herriott Sports, the gap was down to 1:40, and it was obvious that the break was going to stay away if the chase could bring back no more than 20 seconds a lap, with laps running out.

Brian and I took turns covering counter moves, with Stewart retiring to the feed zone. In the end, Phil succumbed to his breakaway companions for 3rd place, Brian rolled off the front with a lap to go with a group of the strongest chasers for 10th place, and I was 2nd in the sprint out of the stragglers’ group, for 13th place.

SST Trail Day

The SST trail day was a success!  We had around 30-40 people show up to help buff out SST.  Thanks to all for your help!  We hope to have all the help again on our next trail day.  We will be working on Luge on April 25th.  More details on that soon!

Burnaby Track Racing

Note: Story written by Stewart, posted by Fanatik.

I headed up to the great white north for some serious track racing at the Burnaby Velodrome. This velodrome is an indoor wood track that is 200 meters long with 45 degree banks.  A minimum speed of 20 MPH is required to execute the turn without slipping down. Track bikes have a fixed gear and no brakes.

The Bares Bones race was a three-day omnium race.  Riders could sign up to do the sprints as well. A group of us headed up Friday late afternoon, Joe Jamison, Chris Kliem, Kristen Stouder (Spectator) and Ryan Rickerts, bringing up his wife, daughter and mother.

The Friday night races included Chariot sprints. These sprints are three laps at Mach 1. Go hard and fast and try to be in the top two to go on to the next round. Three laps takes about 45 seconds, so it’s literally 50 KMH the whole time spinning around 130 RPM. Joe Jamison and I made it to the 2nd round. The final round it was up to me. My anaerobic threshold is high and long, so I attacked early and made sure I had enough to win. With all the racing it makes no sense to win by 10 feet, so the trick is to conserve enough for the next race and just have enough  gap to win.

The night included many types of races; points, scratch, elimination, the list goes on. Everyone did well in their categories. Check out www.burnabyvelodrome.ca/

Now it’s time for recovery. I need to plug one product here that helps tremendously…okay, two products. Right after the races I take a shower at the velodrome and put on Hybros cooling oil and then SKIN compression tights. Both products are amazing. Saturday morning my legs weren’t tight or sore. Yes, I could tell I raced the day before, but they were nice and relaxed. I highly recommend getting them, especially when we travel 2-3 hours to a race.

Saturday Joe, Chris, Tim Hubner and I drove back up for a full day of racing, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Many races throughout the day with sprints for those that chose to do them. This time they had the flying 200. I had three laps total.  I was timed the final 200 meters at 12.90 seconds. That placed me 4th in the flying 200 and it also qualified me to do the match sprints. The match sprints are all about tactics, spin, and power. I nearly missed 1st and 2nd place by half and inch, ending the match sprints with a third place finish. Nineteen-year-old Monique Sullivan won the match sprints!  She is a Canadian National Champion in the track sprints and just got back from the Worlds Track Championships in Manchester. Amazing. I really wanted to sprint against her and got my chance on Sunday. Monique and I both made it to the Kirein final, one of the hardest races.  There is a motor pace bike that everyone gets follows in this race. The pace bike takes five laps, increasing in speed each lap.  It pulls off for the final three laps, and everyone cranks hard for the win. Position is crucial. In the final Monique was right behind the pace bike and I was trying to get 2nd or 3rd wheel, but no one would let me in. I knew I had to jump early with three laps to go. I jumped and she responded to my attack. Just Monique and I for the last two laps. Every time I got close she just increased her cadence, OUT OF THE SADDLE! Crazy, she could spin at 150 RPM out of the saddle.

Everyone did well throughout weekend.  Joe finishing 1st in the C2′s, Chris I believe 5th in the C1′s. I finished 2nd in the B sprints, yes, behind Monique. Ryan did tons of work to keep Chris in his races.

All of the riders there were very talented. Many of the long timers giving us pointers, advice, etc. After races, the winners would give us pointers and everyone was willing to help us out.  All around a great weekend. $50 Canadian for 2 1/2 days of intense racing, not bad eh?

My goals were met:

1. No broken bones

2. Have fun

Everything after that is bonus!

-Stewart

P.S.  Check out www.shuksanvelo.com for more information on the team.

P.P.S  View the full results here.

La Ruta Day 4 we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

we were warned that Day 4 was not just a ride to the beach just because it has only 6000 feet of elevation gain.  there were about 7 working railroad bridges to be crossed.  that seemed sketchy but there was a lot of work to do before than, so we tried to postpone that fear.

the day started with a climb back up thru the coffee plantation. it recalled more hooting going down, but was able to get me and the bike to the top.  have you seen the guys pushing their big rigs to the towers on Galbraith?  that was me for good chunks of the climbs today even while the rider with a prosthetic leg climbed past me.

on the first descent, I was thinking of how great it was I had had no mechanicals, not even a flat.  than my bike started making a knasty knack knacking on the rough downhill.  I stopped to see what was falling apart but could not ID it.  on the next paved flat section my rear derailleur was wonky.  the cable housing had exploded.  I still had about 110km left for the day and was hoping to shift a few times in the process.

was able to patch it together with duct tape and zip ties and nursed it along by only shifting the front for the rest of the day.  my legs felt great all day.  Daryl Smith, you are the man.  the training worked perfectly. much thanks!

Mark caught me by after the zip tie action and we rode together for the rest of the day.  we had developed a paceline of about 12 by the bridge section.  this race was a great experience to work so hard with other riders.  there is a strong bond felt.  OK, back to the bridge, it was a sketch as previously imagined.  a slip or step on a loose tie could be serious.

we had to ride several miles of railroad tracks that were largely filled in with fist size rocks.  the sections with exposed ties were tough on body and bike.

finally, with about 10 miles we could see the surf and road along a parallel road, getting tired, but hung in there to a sweet finish.

the water was the best ever and the wave washed a lot of the pain away.  my family is exhausted from trooping along with me but they did great and were are looking foward to a few days of rest on the coast.

one crank at a time,

Brett