End of Season Update

My focus this year was on the Oregon XC series. I did a few early season road races to test my form. Fortunately I had a good base and was usually able to keep pace with the state’s elite masters group.

Unfortunately, my form did not progress for the bulk of the XC season. I could not manage to step up to the top 5 to top 10 finishes I hoped for. Life happened to me in the late spring. While, I met family and work commitments, my training became less focused. However, I finished all XC events I entered, (usually in the middle of the field) and managed 7th in the overall State Championship Series. This was a rather lack-luster outcome and less than I hoped for.

I didn’t race at all from July through August, but instead focused my weekend riding on solo MTB rides of 4-6 hours with lots of climbing and technical trails. This prepared me well for my last-ditch effort to make the podium at the “Fat 55″ in Oakridge OR in September. With a field of approximately 60 athletes and no “pro” riders toeing the line- I was pleasantly surprised to find myself with the front group after the first 30 minutes of climbing.

Inspired by my turn of fortune– I probably rode too hard over the first 30 miles as I rode steadily in the top 5 overall. Over the next 27 miles I focused on holding my position but lost a couple of places having to stop and fix a slow leak in my front tire. I endeavered on and managed to hold onto 2nd place in my age group and 9th overall. This netted me my first cash prize since I was 16 years old. Then, as junior rider in 1986, I won $10 for 3rd place in Bend’s “Lava Lands Stage Race.” 25 years later, my inflation-adjusted beavy was a generous $95 in cash (+ cool swag and grog). This was nearly enough to cover my expenses for the day.

All in all, 2010 was a good year, both on and off the bike. A few months disappointment made the end all the sweeter.

Thanks to EvanPlews.com and Kenda USA for continued support. I’m looking forward to yet another year of battles on the bike.

Mark Rasmussen

This story actually starts over a year ago when I ran into Darren our Felt rep at Santiam Bicycle. He told me about a program they were doing to get some VIPs out on a new full suspension XC race bike. Of course, I have been a bike tech geek for ages, so I was all over this one!

After a few phone calls and some conversations at Interbike, a new Felt FRD 100 showed up just in time for me to race the Pisgah Stage race. While I was in total trial and error test mode, and I didn’t even have the proper shock for the bike, it was almost true love at first ride.

The FRD had a long top tube, steep head tube angle and was as torsionally rigid like a hard tail. This provided razor-sharp handling and gobbled up the North Carolina knarl like a rabid animal. Minus an unlucky flat tire, it would have carried me onto an unlikely podium finish despite weather conditions that didn’t favor me at all!

The key to success? Felt’s proprietary Equilink suspension design. Designed to eliminate pedal induced suspension movement, the little linkage behind the seattube does much more. It accomplishes this by pushing/pulling the wheel towards the sag point of the shock. Take the shock off the the suspension finds the proper postion whether one lifts or pushes on the saddle.

While it may be a subtle effect, it does its job remarkably and once I obtained the properly valved Monarch shock, I never needed to close the low-speed compression “gate” to eliminate movement from pedaling. Even better, the suspension stays low and level on steep downhills and under heavy, even panick, braking!

This is the most incredible attribute of the design and allows the rider to weight the middle of the bike without fore and aft movement due to unnecessary suspension activity. Less movement equals better balance, equals more convidence and more speed!

Early this season, I rode the now dialed FRD to victories at the El Paso Puzzler and 12 Hours of Santos proving its excellence on two vastly different courses. It continues to be my weapon of choice for nearly all my singletrack shreading “training rides” to this day!

Fast foward to Interbike Outdoor Demo 2010 and my first opportunity to ride the fruit of the FRD 100 labor–the Edict. Felt went directly after the only chink in the FRD’s armour…extra girth. While Felt could have trimmed and skimped to make the test mule lighter, they instead took the learning to heart and did a total redesign.

Well total except for the ride qualities that made it so successful! The Edict has the same awesome race geometry, similar shock placement, no pivot at the rear axle, but otherwise is completely different. The entire frame is carbon composite and the promising Equilink is now… GONE!

I was willing to try the cool-aid, but dubious about that the flavor would be the same. Turns out the Felt’s engineering crew delivered the unique Equilink ride with a little structural trick the makes the rear triangle accomplish the same objective.

By using the composite rear end as a spring, and manipulating the rocker linkage geometry, Felt made the rear suspension home in on the sag point just like the FRD successfully did. Mission accomplished with over two pounds of carbon induced weight savings!

I took the Edict out for an exceptionally long test ride and a few not-so-hot laps with fellow elite rider Robert Marion–his comment, “You look right at home on that thing!” Which isn’t far from the truth after months on the FRD 100.

The new Edict does everything a great race bike should: absorbs bumps a rider can’t, induces traction and confidence, doesn’t sap precious energy, and most of all make it’s rider FASTER!

Felt’s project of making a great XC race bike was years in the making starting with the Virtue then the FRD and now the final Edict. Deliberation seems well worth it as they may have now the best suspension bike available!

Change was in the making when I checked the weather a week ago and saw nothing but sun/80F everyday this week. Could it really be? After enduring some of the most hideous conditions last year a the Pisgah MTB Stage Race I could definitely live with this nuance! Despite draggin’ my tail cross-country after winning the Capitol Forest 50, I made it to the beautiful town of Brevard, North Carolina before two in the wee hours Monday. My O’Dell home-away-from-home host family even left the light on for me!

After sleeping in as long as possible, I rousted my still comatose countenance to Poppies for a luncheon with the local highschool mountain bike club. We ate some great food and told the younguns about the “life” of a professional racer. I tried my best to keep my cynicism to a dull roar which is especially difficult on minimal rest. After lunch, we visited a local charter school for more banter about bike racing. I was scheduled to address how to “balance” being a “professional” athlete with home and work life, which I found amusing since I may be the worst balancing act or the best depending on who you talk to! When we arrived and discovered that most of the kids were probably more intested in balancing on their bikes (little gals and guys), my audience let me off the hook. Colby Pearce and Sue Haywood did a great opening act, so I don’t think any of the children even noticed my senseless contribution!

Stage one was all new with a climb out of Dupont Forest to the top of some ritzy new development with incredible views of the southeast. Apparently business is kind of slow or a bit too ritzy since I counted about one house! More shocking was when one of the owners slipped me a business card urging me to relocate to “a great place for a pro athlete”–evidently he missed the memo on balance… but I digress. Still sleep deprived, I managed to more or less keep the pointy end in sight and only finished a couple minutes off the pace.

Stage two was the same as last year with a bunch of climbing up Clawhammer then my (not-so)favorite: Squirrel Gap. I only stacked it about four times on this trail last year and that was mostly going uphill! So I took it easy on the opening climb (quite possibly a first), and tried my best to keep composure on the squirrel hole. It was going well and I was just over halfway through the gauntlet when disaster struck in a big way–my cleat broke off. BROKE off. As in both 5mm bolts sheared off and my cleat flew into the bushes never to be seen again. I imagine some big, fat, white squirrel has it mounted abouve his miniture squirrel fireplance as a future post nut dinner talking point. I looked for the cleat for awhile, then determined that it was probably best to look for a way out. After some discussion with a course martial on the best way to return to Brevard, I continued on the course and after only one wrong turn made to Turkey Pen. For those interested, Turkey Pen is a few miles out of town on the way to Asheville! I even made it back to the start finish after the leaders so it still seemed like a long enough day.

After begging and borrowing a new cleat, I started stage three despite being an official DNF. This was a little blessing in disguise since the Lemans start from day one was usurped by a Somersaulting Lemans start. I took a picture of this foolishness and got on my bike pedaling slowly through the first stream crossing without even gettin wet and on up to Farlow Gap. This is the trail we missed last year, so I was pretty excited to get a crack at it’s legendary knarl. I went well and rode basically all the non-trials sections and felt pretty awesome about that. Apparently a little too awesome since I decided in about one millesecond to ride what could have been my total undoing! Think relatively smooth trail to blind switchback right, falling away in excess of 50%, punctuated but log cross ties (steps?!) a foot high, running out into a small rock garden. I did well to clean the upper half but clipped my bar on a post (begs to question why that was there!) to the left and yard-saled into the rocks. I did my best Fred Flinstone running impression with my hands, but still managed to nick my face on the ground busting my glasses and nose. After a careful inventory of all body parts, I was amazed to only find a few small flesh wounds on my lower extremities. After freeing myself from my bike, which was doing an Andre the Giant impression on top of me, I set about stopping the blood flowing from my beek and straightening nearly every component now crooked on my steed. I got it all going again and finished the stage with no further mishap. More about this:

Stage four was a bit more benign (if you can ever call Pisgah that), but still included serious bush-whacking, and some sort of bite or sting from a highly toxic creature on my ankle. Blessed with a kankle to complement my other battle scars, I even managed another upill endo to a stuck two-foot landing on Squirrel gap going the other way. My bike ghosted down into a ravine, but still managed to escape with no mortal wounds. Wow, this Scott Spark 10 took a serious thrashing this week! Climbing up Black Mountain was also pretty ridiculous as was the unheralded descent on Buckwheat. All together it was hard and rough but that is just about all the Pisgah has on its menu!

Stage five was insanity on bikes last year with rain turning to snow, multipie river crossings and come technicalities both up and down that would have been relentless without the near freezing conditions. As much as I looked forward to a pleasant, sunny ride on these trails, it was still a little bit frightening. We started out down the highway to Turkey Pen and I even tamed Colby’s breakaway to get a nice photo of the front-end just for old time sake. Then I portraited a super-sized white squirrel and rode with Sue up towards the top of Pilot Rock. With my Breck conditioning, I was able to scamper up the hike-a-bike near the top and try my best not to stack up the downhill. It is an awesome descent, but I was tired and a little hurt so simply riding all of it with a couple dabs was a minor victories of sorts. Unfortunately the spectators didn’t move the log at the bottom of the big rock fall so I had to dismount there to save some my Rotor Q-Rings. By the end I was considerably flogged despite riding 120 heartrate for three and a half days. Here is more about the whole gig:

After all that the Pisgah could bring, I even found motivation to ride with the kids at the post race shindig and then managed to lose by a fraction of a second to Robert Marion in my first ever pie-eating contest. I may have come out on top, but Robert was able to store a lot more pie in his beard for later snacking!

Earlier this year my phone started ringing at the top of a climb on a rainy “spring” ride. Against all odds I dug out it out and answered. Turns out it was Roger Michel from 4th Dimension Racing calling to pick my brain about a new 50/100 mile endurance race he was planning in Capitol Forest near Olympia, Washington. We had a nice conversation and I told him if he built it, I would come.

Planning progressed and all indications were that the race was on and reaching Roger’s attendence goals. Then several weeks ago, I came to the realization that the Capitol Forest Race fell a week after Park City Point 2 Point and just three days before the Pisgah Stage Race. Ouch! At that point I opted out of the 100 miler, but confirmed with Roger I would be there despite leaving early the NEXT morning for North Carolina.

My teammate Marcus and I saddled up the evanplews.com/KENDA race mobile bright and early and made the two and a half hour trip north. It had been raining that earlier in the week and was sort of foggy, a little atypical for September when we reached the race site just in time to pick up our packets and get changed. I think I made it to the LeMans start about one minute early which is much better than 8 minutes late like last week!

I was able to run uphill faster than most and got out front early. The course was immediately rad as we rolled up a serpentine singletrack climb punctuated by short twisty descents. It wasn’t long before I determined that my Rotor stem wasn’t tight. I surrendered the lead while I stopped to fix the loose bar clamp. Luckily, it wasn’t long before I rejoined the leader and soon found the tempo to set out on my own.

Words can’t really describe the next 20 or so miles but basically it was all beautiful Northwest singletrack. Some was in the deepest woods where even at 10am it seemed like we needed lights. The air was damp and the trails moist making some areas a little soft and slick, but most of the course was simply pristine. Small bridges and armored sections punctuated the track and once we even had to dismount to cross a little waterfall. I was alone with the woods enjoying a steller time on the bike!

My Felt Nine Carbon and Kenda Small Block 8 tires dissected the course like there were rails invisibly implanted in the forest. Despite the big wheels, I was able to rise out of the saddle for the steeper climbs never needing to shift away from my large chainring. It was as fast and perfect as trail can be! After about 30 miles, we hopped on a gravel road and gently climbed for eight miles before hitting the last section of singletrack down the Green Line. The sun was poking out and this mostly downhill singletrack session lasted nearly fifteen miles and included a short switchback climb that tested ones endurance late in the race.

Once past this final hurdle we soared down the seemingly endless twists and turns through woods and clearcut areas returning directly back to the start area at Mima Falls Campground. The fun factor for this last section of trail was paramount undoubtably contributed to many post-race perma smiles! After the finish, we chowed down a great meal of burgers, soups, and various snacks while the racers raved about the course which I would rank right at the top of my list of all-time totally fun rides! It was a stretch to make it this year, but I will definitely mark my calendar better for the next time around.

After XC Nationals, I made a trip to Sun Valley to visit my pals at Scott USA. Our objective was to snap some photos and get some ride time on their new 29″ bike the Scale 949. While the bike will ultimately be called Scale 29 Scott’s marketing gurus aptly re-named both bikes after their MAXIMUM frame weight (in grams) for the new product roll-out!

I have a history with the Scale model group, first racing on them in 2006. Later, I upgraded to the HMX fiber version of the Scale 10 in 2008. While I won and made podium in numerous events riding the old Scale, it wasn’t without some minor complaints. The ride was super-light, comfortable and fast, but the geometry was always a little compromised.

Scott addressed this and even added some new improvments to these latest incarnations. First the bikes used to be “between” 80mm and 100mm suspension optimized. With an 80mm fork the top tube and BB height were the correct dimensions, but the head and seat tube angles were too steep. Put on a 100mm fork and the cockpit became to cramped and the bike felt too tall.

For 2011, Scott lengthened the top tube and optimized the BB height for 100mm of front suspension making both bikes handle correctly. While there are minor differences in angles and chainstay specs to accomodate the different wheel sizes, the bikes handle quite similarly.

Both Scales now have integrated post brake mounts on the chainstay and CR1 inspired SDS seatstays. SDS is a system of engineered compliance which is said to offer about 5mm of vertical flex in the rear triangle for improved comfort and traction. Tapered headtubes adorn both frames as part of the upgrade to IMP manufacturing handed down from the Addict and Spark. They also have integrated press-fit BB cups although the 949 gets the BB92 standard while the 899 has adopted the BB30 design. Last but not least, the 899 has an all new integrated carbon seatpost clamp to shave even more weight.

I put in a few hours on the beautiful Sun Valley trails with the 949 before racing the Galena Grinder Marathon just up the road. This is an old-school cours with miles if rough steepness both up and down. While I wasn’t on my best day at the race, and I didn’t have the bike totally dialed, second place was on the table until I missed a turn! The bike was awesome and between the big 29″ wheels and SDS it is the smoothest riding hardtail I’ve ever been on. The geometry is also the best combo of any 29″ bike I’ve ridden to date and the IMP front triangle, tapered headtube and integrated BB made it ridiculously reponsive while on the gas!

A couple weeks later, I got my first chance to race the 899 at the Park City Point 2 Point 78 mile enduro. Disaster struck again when I was locked out of my room and missed the start, but the 899 put in an amazing performance none the less. The handling was totally dialed in comparison to the old Scales and the bike rode like it was on rails through the seemingly endless miles of singletrack.

I passed over 300 riders on my way to 7th place and don’t remember passing very many other 26″ hardtails. Probably for good reason since the P2P was one of the most punishing races I have done. Long, high, and rough. However, the 899 chewed up the relentless climbs and smoothed out the rocky, chattering descents. The integrated seatpost clamp never slipped and the bike was quiet and stealthy with its nude black carbon finish and 18lb weight.

After all these serious miles on Scott’s new hardtail offerings, I am convinced more than ever of two things: the hardtail is NOT dead and neigther are 26″ wheels! While both courses really demanded suspension, both of these bikes are capable of keeping close on the descents and blowing the squishers away on the climbs. The 29″ Scale is better at smoothing out the rough stuff while the 26″ Scale excels on tight twisties and punchy accelerations!

The best part is that Scott has created two distinctly different bikes the work so well that neither is a regrettable choice!