2012 Team BGB/Mountain Khakis Snowshoe GES Report

Though the Gravity East Series is based out of the Northeast states of this land of the US of A, we can count on one round coming far enough South for Team BGB-MK to show those Northeasters what the Southeasters are made of….. Snowshoe. Have I mentioned it just so happens to be our fav place to shred (OK, maybe I have, once…. or maybe twice). This weekend would be Team BGB-MK Pro Max Morgan’s return to the SE race scene after spending the summer up in the NE. It would also be a special weekend to remember for one Team BGB-MK rider!!!

As usual, you can’t use the word “Snowshoe” in a sentence without the word “rain”. Quite simply, it’s like peas and carrots, steak and potatoes, peanut butter and jelly, you just can’t have one without the other. The local forecasters were predicting a cold front moving in just about noon time on Saturday. Well, two hours earlier that predicted, that front turned the race course into streams. All of Saturday was a wash, no pun intended. Well, not entirely... .now for the special part of the weekend. You see, race day which just so happened to coincide with Team BGB-MK Lady Rider Heither Schultz’s 40th birthday. SURPRISE! And a surprise it was….. for almost seven months of shear secrecy the team worked to give Heither a surprise with an unexpected family visit, an event/racer surprise party and to top it off a special team jersey. Total success, as she didn’t expect a thing! Happy Birthday Heither!

On to Sunday…… with the showers all day previous, Sunday morning was a slip and slide fest. The grass covered slopes were virtual ice until riders were able to rut the corners working in conjunction with the sun to start to dry things out. As the hour clicked to noon, you really couldn’t ask for better race conditions.

The Men’s Pro class would be a battle between two guys that know each other all too well, Ethan Quehl of Chainsmoke/Judge Racing and Team BGB-MK’s own Max Morgan. These two guys have a connect ion of sorts, growing up an hour from one another in Northern Georgia, riding and racing together for years as Juniors, and most importantly developing a mutual respect of one another’s ability. Ethan got his chance before Max and posted a time of 4:24.47. Six more riders and it was Max’s turn. Max pinned a time just 1.85 seconds off the pace set by Ethan. This day belonged to Ethan… close close racing though, as Max posted the third fastest time of the day, behind Leland O’Connor in second, for the bronze prize (0.39 sec off the second position). GREAT RACING!

Up next….. seems we are in the mist of repeat of the month of July…..3 weeks, 3 races. Off to the final race at Beech Mountain this coming weekend (Sept 16), then back to WV for the final race of the Snowshoe Series (Sept 23). The season’s almost over…. already? Where does the time go?

Team BGB-MK Results:

Max Morgan – 3rd Pro Men
Nick Frantz – 4th Men Cat 2 30-39
Jay Guidry – 4th Men Cat 2 19-29
Heither Schultz – 3rd Women’s Cat 2/3 All Ages

Thanks to all our sponsors: Mountain Khakis, Billy Goat Bikes, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Loaded Precision
Components, Black Market Bikes, Feedback Sports, Smith Optics, Zerode Bicycles, POC Sports, Suspension Experts.

2012 US National Champs With Team BGB/Mountain Khakis

Two big races come round every year that we each wait for with anticipation, one being the UCI World Cup Roundin Windham, New York and two the US Gravity National Championships. Yes, Windham is an important race, butit’s more of a spectacle as it showcases the best in the world. The US Gravity National Championships is whereTeam BGB-Mountain Khakis, or any rider for that matte,r gets a chance to earn there stripes. It’s what we all trainfor, gives a rider the chance to advance categories, gives you bragging rights, and sometimes can even make orbreak a rider’s career.

This year is also a special one for Team BGB-Mountain Khakis as this is the last of a two year deal that BeechMountain Resort signed with USA Cycling for the event to take place in the “High Country” of the NC Mountains.Additional pressure would be on the shoulders of each of the Team BGB-MK riders to represent the SE region infront of the “home” crowd.

Anybody recall Race Day 2011…. aka the Slip and Slide Slop-Fest? Would we have the same race conditions as2011? Leading up to the four day race weekend the weather in the region had many convinced it was in the cardsyet again for 2012. As we moved into day one other than some typically mountain fog (well, we should call themclouds at that altitude), conditions were perfect for day one of practice. Cat 2 riders Jay Guidry and Nich Ifkovitswould only get one day of practice on the Amateur course before they took the stage. Pros Robert DeMao, RyanTaylor, and Max Morgan would have four days of practice before the big show on Sunday.

As the sun set Thursday evening , the precip came down quite heavy. Leading into Friday morning, race day for theAmateurs, the knobbies came off and the spikes went on. Morning fog kept that moisture mixed in with themountain dirt just in time for the first rider out of the gate. Kicking off at 0915 and cycling through each of theriders Jay Guidry managed to secure a 4th place podium position in Cat 2 19-24 and Nich Ifkovits Cat 2 15-18 a 6th.

 

Saturday morning practice before seeding started bright and early at 0800 with more of the same…. the highcountry fog kept that moisture in place for yet another day. The first practice run down the Pro Course RobertDeMao had an incident with a pulled neck/chest muscle that would lead him to call it a weekend. That wouldleave things up to Ryan Taylor and Max Morgan. In a field of 64 riders, Max qualified in impressive fashion in 20th closely followed by Ryan in 25th.

With qualifying in the bag early riders had the remainder of the day to walk thecourse to do some last minute fine tuning on their attack plan or simply call it a night for some fuel and shut-eye.The weather for Sunday surprisingly was projected to be better than the three previous days and that forecast heldup its end of the bargain. 1500 was the time for the BIG SHOW!!! The current fastest man in the world Aaron Gwinof Temecula, CA (Trek World Racing) obviously was the heavy favorite to take it all, but as in 2011 with a crashanything was possible. Of course in the end that would not stick and Mr. Gwin would end up earning the star andstripes sleeve for the 2012/2013 season. Team BGB-MK Pros Max Morgan and Ryan Taylor each had minormistakes in their runs earning them 21st and 30th position respectively. Either way with the stiff competition andfactory sponsored riders in the field, they each deserve a tip of the hat……. AWESOME run guys!

Team BGB/MK Beech Mountain Race Number 1

With the light at the end of the tunnel shining ever so brightly for the biggest race in the US, the US Gravity Nationals, Team BGB-MK returned to what we like to call our “home track” for the first DH race of the season at Beech Mountain Resort. Over a 150 riders would also make the trek from as far away at Illinois, Texas, and Florida to get some invaluable track time for that race we all see in the horizon.

Rolling into Banner Elk, NC, weather conditions for the weekend looked great with a slight chance of precip forecast for just about the time the last Pro would make his way through the course. Track conditions on a chilly Saturday morning course walk looked dry, but those of us that have been there before know better. The water hides and just seems to come out of the ground on this mountain. She didn’t disappoint with just enough to make those rock sections a bit slick and have a number of rider’s ask, “Cut mud tires or DH tires?”

All racers would maneuver the amateur course of which is extremely technical for the inexperienced and filled with tight twisty sections which kept one on their guard. The weekend started out for Team BGB-MK with lots of “stop and go” trying to find that elusive smooth line in a very rocky course. I’d bet that each of our riders took at least three minor spills (if not more) over the course of the weekend.

After a day of getting into the groove, Nich Ifkovits, our youngest rider, put in a clean run placing third overall in Juniors and 3rd in category. Nicely done young gun! For the team, the weekend would belong to team Pro Rider Ryan Taylor who put in an impressive run after a huge crash during early morning Sunday practice where he introduced himself and his bike to a tree. That meeting didn’t go very well and each left on bad terms. Shaken, but not spoiled Ryan was able to muster up enough mojo to finish on the podium taking home the bronze behind two previous National Champions, Ethan Quehl of Chainsmoke Racing (Silver) and Gerrit Beytagh (Gold). Congrats Mr. Beytagh for winning the Pro class! Finally a must mention, Jay FAST-perman (Fesperman – GROM Racing) laid down the fastest time on the mountain beating Gerrit’s time by a HUUUGGGE 0.01 sec. Running JrX, this is turning into the year of FAST-perman….. expect to hear this young man’s name quite a bit this season. Individual Team BGB-MK results are summarized below.

Pro Men:
3rd – Ryan Taylor
10th – Rob DeMao

Men Cat 1 Master 35-39:
3rd – Matt Haynes

Men Cat 2 Senior 19-24:
7th – Jay Guidry

Men Cat 2 Master 30-34:
4th – Nick Frantz

Men Cat 2 Master 35-39:
7th – Brook Buckelew

Men Cat 2 Junior 15-18:
3rd – Nich Ifkovits

Women Cat 3 Master 40-49:
DNS – Heither Schultz (Injury)

Overall USAC Official Results. Thanks to Talia Freeman, Chris Herndon, Danny Cesare, the Beech Ski Patrol, the rest of the Beech Mountain crew and all of the racers for making it such a great time. We look forward to the 2012 USAC US Gravity/DS Nationals in just four short weeks, in which all will fight to make the claim, “The Best in the US!” The countdown BEGINS!

Thanks to all our sponsors: Mountain Khakis, Billy Goat Bikes, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Loaded Precision Components, Black Market Bikes, Feedback Sports, Smith Optics, Zerode Bicycles, POC Sports, Suspension Experts.

Team BGB/MK Short Film Announced

Get your tickets early and grab your bag of popcorn, Team BGB-Mountain Khakis has joined forces with local N.C. based film makers, Dirt Passion (www.dirtpassion.com), to bring a short film featuring the team and each of its sponsors to the Summer Box Office near you. Well maybe the Box Office is a stretch, but going viral will work just fine.

Sam Anderson, Chris Annesi, and Jacob Teer (pictured below) are three very talented college students that all attend in the University of North Carolina Charlotte and whom call N.C. / Appalachian Mountains “my backyard.” Not only do they share the same passion each of us do, shreddin in the sticks, but also have made a name for themselves as film makers with the imminent release of “Finding Flow.” Finding Flow made its theatrical debut on February 26 locally at the UNCC Campus with a second local premiere to be held in Asheville, N.C. on Thursday March 29. The full 27 minute feature will be released the first week of April free online at Pinkbike. Catch a sneak peak glimpse of the full edit, the film trailer can be seen on Vimeo. We promise you will not be disappointed.

Chris Annesi, “2011 was a great year for us with filming Finding Flow, and now with that behind us we are really excited for the 2012 season. Starting out the year with the new crew (aka Dirt Passion), new projects have been in the works for a while and are something that we are extremely stoked about! We believe that with all professionalism should come fun and good times, which is something that Dirt Passion will be striving for in our edits. What better way of kicking it off with Team BGB-MK. We have been in contact with the Public Relations Director for the team, Jay Schultz, for quite some time planning this edit. Being able to work with a group whom are just as stoked to be in the mountains and around bikes as us is really all we could ask for.”

“We are so stoked to be able to work with the guys from Dirt Passion keeping it local and showing there is quality riding, not to mention talented film making, in North and South Carolina. This will be a great opportunity to get our sponsors, team, and riders some well-deserved exposure” said Jay Schultz, Marketing and Public Relations Director, Team BGB-Mountain Khakis. “They are a good group of characters that LOVE to just have a good time and most importantly, RIDE!”

Shooting of the Team BGB-MK short film will take place in April at a location that will not be named to protect to the guilty. The final 4 to 5 min edit of the Team BGB-MK edit is planned for May 2012, with the intent of making the rounds on the internet, Youtube, Vimeo, PinkBike, VitalMTB, etc. We’ll let everybody know when it’s “LIVE!”

Joining us in this MEGABLOCKBUSTER short film will be all of our 2012 sponsors: Mountain Khakis, Billy Goat Bikes, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Loaded Precision Components, Black Market Bikes, Feedback Sports, Smith Optics, Zerode Bicycles, POC Sports, Suspension Experts, Dirt Passion.