Check out the TractionMag blog site it has alot more news and current issues, not to mention pics of the new Mojo Suspension Team Helmets and the 2007 Fox line up.

Click Here--"TractionMag"

The new Commencal DH bike now comes in the Baltimore inspired "Crack Rock White", lets just say this new color is smoking!

CRACK-ROCK WHITE!

Fox Racing Shox has released pictures of the 2007 line up. It looks great, increased stanchion sizes on the single crown forks, beefier braces and a smoother color scheme make these forks highly sought after. Check out what the gents at Singletrackworld.com had to say about what they saw.

"FOX 2007"

Commercial...Komanecul...Commeneakal...Commencal...Ahhh that is it. Frenchy Pierre, Max Commencal has been in the bike business for a long time. He is smart as a whip when it comes to suspension. Well if you pay attention in science class, as he did, you get to build some of the most sensible bikes in the world. As co-founder and designer of the Sunn-Chippie race bike that when piloted by Nico, Gracia and Chausson was unstoppable, he is one of the leaders in DH suspension technology, he is revered by Chris Porter of Mojo Suspension, Tim Flooks of TF Tuned and spoken highly of by fellow collaborator Olivier Bossard of BOS Suspension. With some steam in the engine they are coming to the states to peddle their "Freedom Bikes". Say what you will about the french but this Cousteau can build a bike. The Supreme DH sports only 7 inches of rear travel, adjustable head angle and a "Contact System" suspension design that is breaking new ground. Here at YousGuys we will be racing these fine steeds. Ceerise front man Clark Wright will be bringing these rigs over from Andorra, France. Based out of central California Clark will be heading Commencal US and making sure that every one pronounces it right. Fast man Cedric Gracia, as many of you know, is signed to ride for Commencal for the next two years. He will bring his presence and speed to the name as he vies for the podium spotlight. We will keep you up to date as the progress continues and post pics of the complete bikes.

"COMMENCAL BIKES"

The team is back from the first race of the season.

The 'Sea Otter Classic' marks the start of a long season of racing. With many vendors and teams showing their latest products and racers. Located at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey California, the scenery was outstanding. A far cry from the hustle and bustle of B-More. The bay area had received approximately 26 days of rain prior to our arrival creating a soggy, muddy mess. Luckily the California boys had no knowledge of this brown magma like goop, which would later be known to us from the east as 'Brown Gold'. The course descended towards the bay and winded itself through the few trees that scattered the hillside. Imported rock was used to make us feel at home in the rough stuff. One large 16-foot gap and a long straightaway was all they could offer us for obstacles. The straightaway saw speeds reach the 48 Mph mark, and a lot of pride was lost on this section. Overall riders were shooting to break the 5-minute mark for race times. As Sunday’s race day arrived so did more rain. As the course got doused we stayed dry, new sponsor Helly Hansen Mid Atlantic outfitted us with the Zone Jacket which kept us dry and comfortable although are surroundings were far from it. Pre-race run was nerve racking with so many people waiting to go down the mountain it was hard to stay warm and loose in the cold. Jen stood on the side of the course patiently, waiting to inundate us with cheers and praise. I lined up took a breath and shot out of the gate, pedal, breathe, pedal, breathe, telling myself to let the bike slide, not to fight it too much. I hear Jen yelling “pedal, pedal!” I hear Marvin yelling at me to “stay smooth!” I know all of this, I have told this to myself time and time again. In a blink of an eye I cross the finish line, I begin to think that all that matters was I finished; all I wanted to do was break the top 20.
That’s when the voice crackles over the P.A. “Patrick Stewart with YousGuys Racing and Helly Hansen Mid Atlantic has just broken through with a time of 3:51 he is our new leader!” Okay now I’m confused, I look at the timing board. That man speaks the truth I was in first place, the 40 riders before me hadn’t even gotten close. I was elated, high as a kite, floating on cloud 9, all that crap. Wait there are still 6 riders left, would they? Could they? One did, beating me by 6 seconds.
I’m still happy. Performed well, had a great time, saw some beautiful country and got to put another push pin in the map on the wall.
2nd Place, thank you Brown Gold…

Patrick

We just received some of our new Helly Hansen Gear and I must say the stuff is top notch. The new Zone Jacket is made with Helly Tech XP, which offers great breath ability but is completely waterproof. The Lifa-Versa line is the ultimate in next to skin material it features a “Hydrophilic” and “Hydrophobic” material sweat vapor and moisture is attracted to the “Hydrophilic” side as it is pulled away by the “Hydrophobic” side leaving you dryer after hours of riding. We are excited with our partnership with Helly Hansen Mid-Atlantic and hope to bring you more great products as they become available. If you have any questions or would just like to see the line check them out at:


"HELLY HANSEN MID-ATLANTIC"
"HELLY HANSEN GLOBAL"



www.hellyhansen.com

Here we go, bags are getting packed, bikes are getting boxed. Sea Otter is one of the first races marking the beginning of the race season. We are going, we are excited. Think of it, more like vacation than a race, sure we are looking forward to riding. We have been "winterized" for the past few months, we are anxious to go stretch our legs, look at the water and have fun. We will let you know if we have any.

George Atherton was featured on a British television show racing a "Clio" down the street of Lisbon. The "Clio" is a very small but peppy automoblie, Gee was on his Giant Reign. Check out the link below to see the action.
"Gee Vs. Clio"

SRAM has a new promo video on their site in the "Screening Room" section. Entitled "Bike World" it features top SRAM riders doing their thing, the beauty comes from the animation used to create the intro and sequence breaks. The work is outstanding and all done by a German design firm.
"SRAM's Bike World"

In "shocking news" Progressive Suspension has ceased manufacturing mountain bike specific suspension, stating that they are focusing efforts on the motorcycle and off-road divisions. They have been in the game for a number of years now and were at the forefront of the stable platform technology, that all the other companies have since followed. A great product with great customer service, they will be missed.

Sunday is the big Super D-Lux race, get your pimp hats ready!

Mike Hartlove...well most of you know the name. His hard work and determination to get DH bikes allowed back on the mountain at Whitetail has succeeded. He has finagled his way into having Whitetail hold the Mid Atlantic Cup. This will be a weekend of riding on June 23-25. The idea here folks, is to get as many people as possible to show up. The better the turn out the better chance we have at doing this again and with a little more frequency. So big props to Hartlove and Racers Edge for all the hard work so that we on bikes can have a little fun!

In other news...Alex Rankin, well most of you know that name. Has his own ".mac" webpage with some newly edited clips and footage from Earthed 3. There is a little news and some 20 inch clips.
You must check it out. You must.

ALEX RANKIN SITE

Whistler is going to be great this year. They have some big plans for summer. First off, no more "Extended Play" which extended the day from 5:00 to 8:00 two days a week. Seems as if they are planning on making everyday run until 8:00! They are making a trail that will connect "Roundhouse" to "Garbanzo" making it an even longer trail. There will also be an indoor park, "Airdome" will feature foam pits, resi-jumps and more street style obstacles. The "Airdome" will primarily be used for the Summer Gravity Camps but they are thinking about making it a public use facility. Check out all the details below.


Whistler Bike Site

The boys involved with the "Super D-Lux" race have just let us know that due to the inclement weather they will be postponed until next Sunday, February 26th. Stay tuned for mnore deatils as they become available.

Pimp, Pimp...Hooray!

I trust everyone has been able to check out the newly revised Troy Lee Designs site. This site gives you a little bit more liberty in perusing the wears. You can also investigate the possiblity of getting your "lid" painted by the Troy Lee staff. That is of course you have benjamins burning in a small pile in your home to keep you warm. The site though is top notch.


Troy Lee Site

The calendar section has been updated and shows all the dates to all the races we hope to attend.
We hope to see you at the races.

Diablo Freeride Park is pleased to announce the 2006 Diablo Domination Downhill Series event lineup. In its second year, the series returns with 5 event dates and nearly $30,000 in cash and prizes. Mark your calendars, the 2005 series proved to be heavily contested with huge cash and prize offerings on the line.

Diablo Domination Race #1 - May 21, 2006
Diablo Domination Race #2 - July 2, 2006
Diablo Domination Race #3 - August 27, 2006
Diablo Domination Race #4 - September 24, 2006
Diablo Domination Race #5 - October 8, 2006

For 2006, the Diablo Domination Series will continue to utilize three specific event classes:

• ‘Intro Class’ –Intended for less-experienced downhill mountain bikers that are looking to enter downhill racing in a less intimidating environment. This class is intended for first-year downhill racers only.

• ‘Amateur Class’ – For up-and-coming ‘sport’ and experienced ‘expert’ level racers looking to progress their skill and vie for huge product payouts.

• ‘Open Class’ – Intended for top-level ‘expert’ and professional racers interested in showcasing their skills and cashing-in at one of the nations highest paying series

For the second year, Diablo Freeride Park is offering Open Class competitors a cash purse that rivals any other series purse payout in the nation. Pro winners will battle for a guaranteed $500 first place payout per event with payouts continuing 5-deep. The overall series champions will be rewarded with a $1000 bonus and bragging rights for winning the most progressive downhill series in the nation.

Top amateur racers will be rewarded with top-dollar product packages and valuable series points where an overall champion will be crowned in October. Amateur series champions will also receive huge product bonuses and an automatic bump to ‘Open’ class status for the 2007 season.

Honda/Turner is no more...but Honda/Ironhorse? The combo seems as natural as peanut butter and jelly. This time around they will be joined by mohawk toting Duncan Riffle, previously of Yeti Cycles. They will present a strong force on the mountain and if Sven gets back to racing this year, that surly drunk will be blowing everyone away. Check out the full press release at Pinkbike. Where is needles?

PINKBIKE

Check out this race being put on by some mysterious jive cats. The "Super D-Lux" will be going off on February 19th email the address below in the invite to find out all the juicy details, if it is anything like the other races it will be a blast! I hope to see you there!

"Invite Front"
"Invite Back"

So here is the promised picture of Burgtecs new "Stanchion Mansion" an integrated stem and crown for Fox's 40 DH Fork. Theses guys know what hey are doing! Check out the site and see for yourself
"Stanchion Mansion"

BURGTEC

Some really exciting news has just arrived! The Collectives latest film entitled "ROAM" has just released the official teaser. Check out the link, seems as if our friends at Helly Hansen also sponsored the movie.
The movie has a scheduled release of April 2006 ROAM TEASER

Mr. Steve Peat had been spotted in a new Troy Lee Designs open face helmet. The design seems to be Mountaincross specific, no news yet on the releas of this helmet but with Peaty sporting it, you should be able to pick up for yourself pretty soon. That is, if you like that sort of thing. "PEATYS NEW LID"

Nike has been hard at work with Andrew Shandro developing a Freeride specific shoe similar to the famed "dunk," take a look. "NIKE AIR WHISTLER"

Seems as if old Jim-Bo converted from GT to Mongoose, good to see Jim is still staying strong!

Mongoose Bicycles proudly announces that Jim DeChamp has signed to the Mongoose MTB team.

The versatile 25-year-old competes in MTB-Dirt, Street, Park contests and Mountain Cross. A pro since 1999, DeChamp lives in Harwood, Maryland and is credited as the first person to land a front flip on a mountain bike.

2005 was a good year for DeChamp.

“I took first at the Ashville, North Carolina jump comp, first at the best trick comp at the London bike show and second place at Winter Splinter’s park comp,†he said.

His goals for 2006 are simple: learn more tricks and have fun. And he’s psyched to ride for Mongoose.

“I think it’s great to ride for a team with so much history. I want to become part of it,†he said.

Look for DeChamp ripping the competition on the Mongoose Thunderball, Black Diamond, and the EC-X and EC-D in 2006. He’ll be competing in various pro dirt jump, park and freeride comps like Crankworx, Rye Airfeild and Sea Otter.

George "Gee" Atherton was at a photoshoot at the mountain resort of Tignes in France when attempting one of the biggest jumps on a mountain bike. To make it a little more interesting he did it on the snow. He says it was hard to judge his speed, you decide.


Gee Atherton's snow flight
Gee's interview on the aftermath

The Collective have just wrapped up a trip to Morocco while shooting for "Roam" their latest film. Shandro, Vanderham and Hunter were able to ride areas of Morocco never touched by mountain bikes. Check out the full report over at NSMB

BadaBling!

Got an email today from "Main Man Dan Critchlow" at Burgtec, seems he and the boys have been busy with some new products. "We have been really busy these last few months designing a new stem and integrated crown for Fox 40's called the Stanchion Mansion, we will have these available in a few days. Its got 3 reach settings and takes standard size bars and oversize. We are also making some hubs as well, we have already made the shells and are just finishing the cassette bodies and axles right now." You can be sure that we will bring you the latest updates and product releases as they become available. BURGTEC

In other British manufacturing news, Chris Porter at Mojo Suspension is setting us up with his newest creation the "999r" cartridges. He has been hard at work fine tuning the final production models as just waiting to laser etch the logos on the top caps. The 999r's are upgrade cartridges for the Marzocchi's 888 fork. They shave up to a pound of weight off the fork making it one of the lightest DH forks available. You can use the cartridges in any of the 888 line, from the first fork a few years old to the newest white RC2X. Chris Porter is one of the nicest guys in the industry, extensive knowledge of suspension and DH bike technology make him stand out. MOJO SUSPENSION

Check out Mr. Peat and his new ride.

Here is a link to Dave's trip to potato land...I believe it's pronounced U-da-ho.
"Daves trip to Potatoville"

Mick Hannah, Chris Van Dine, Carlo Dieckmann, George Ryan and Wayne Goss are the newbies to join the ever growing Cannondale Factory Team. Big Van Dine makes the change over from Ventana and we on the East Coast couldn't be happier for him. George-e boy will retire the Ironhorse colors to join good friend Aaron Chase, Mick Hannah after a long stint with Haro has parted ways and been picked up by the big "C", maybe he can get a little race support now. Euro street rider Carlo is a friend of the mysterious Matthias, any friend of Matthias is a friend of ours. Mohawk sporting Wayne Goss will be representing C-Dale for the Canadian street riders after a run with Giant bikes from his Ultimate Freeride Challenge win. The team will be packed and well represented across the globe, from the street events to the race courses. If you see them on the trail, throw a stick in their spokes.

Seems as if the boys from Reading and the fellas at Racers edge have been courting eac other for some time, here is there new baby...
Racer’s Edge Inc. and Reading Racing are pleased to announce a joint venture for the 2006 race season. The collective efforts of these two east coast “powerhouse” organizations is sure to produce some of the most exciting and rewarding mountain bike racing the Nation has yet to see. The mission is to combine our efforts, in order to ensure the continued success and growth of the sport and to share that success with all of our sponsors and fellow racers.

Reading Racing will be providing massive support for the 2006 NORBA Mid-Atlantic Cup, lending 100% support to one of the most popular gravity series in the east. In conjunction, Racer’s Edge Inc. will provide sponsorship for the 2006 Duryea Downhill Race as well as the Reading Racing “factory” and “grass roots” race teams. The two organizations will combine resources in order to provide the best race experience for everyone; from Professional, to Beginner, to spectator. The goal for both organizations is to restore the glory days of racing and provide new opportunities for potential sponsors.

Tentative race dates are being scheduled and are pending release until confirmation of these venues and conflicting events are sorted out. Stay tuned to www.RacersEdgeOnline.com for more information on upcoming events. For information on the Reading Racing “factory” and “grass roots” race teams, check out www.ReadingRacing.com.


For sponsorship inquiries please contact:

Mike Hartlove – theracersedge@comcast.net

Tony Pajakinas - leapaj@earthlink.net

Brian Lopes has made the change to Marzocchi for 2006 check out the press release.

Marzocchi welcomes Brian Lopes to the team. He's current and 3 time 4x World Champion, current and 5 time 4x World cup overall champion, as well as 9x national champion. Brian is a great competitor who will bring even more excitement and momentum to the Marzocchi race program. The GT/Hyundai racer will use a Marzocchi front fork and the all new Roco rear shock at every event on his schedule. We're looking forward to a great season with Brian and the rest of the World Championship riders on the Marzocchi team.

With an all-star World Cup cast such as Gracia, Barel and now Lopes they will be as close to unbeatable at the races as possible/.

Good question, where is Dave? He should be somewhere in the vicinity of Wyoming. You see, Dave is making the move across these United States to exotic Ketchum.
For those of you not familiar with the Ketchum it is located in southeast Idaho. It is also home of Smith Eyewear and Scott Bikes USA, Dave's new employer. He will use his crayons to design some of the most cutting edge, visual stimulation ever seen by human eyes. We will keep you informed as to his projects as well as our visit this year.
Congrats Dave...