Yeah Kathleen

Kathleen Hannon wins her first Elite Womens race on her new gold Hunter.

Photo from Pamela Palma

friday blog down

Cross bike fever in full effect.. Heres some shots of a few recent CX frames... Light and racy... A couple shots of some basic cruiser forks, featuring the new plate arch supercrown style... New for 2008...




BURRITO ENVY
We here at Hunter cycles don't need to drive a Hummer, We don't need to jet ski or act tougher then we are... We have the biggest burrito in town !!!! 5$ of 3lb's of tender juicy love... No joke this is the standard super burrito from a little place called Popo's... Pictured on the scale, next to my autographed OJ football, next to a sharpie ( for scale ), then fully wrapped in all its glory...The homemade tortilla is so big you could saddle a horse with it...





Santa Cruz county fair at the Watsonville speedway... Killer dwarf car action... The kid that won the 600CC was 14 years old... TO THE FUTURE

Visatacion Valley Boyz and Girlz

Wednesday evenings spent going to SF to race cycle cross across hillsides burnt by fire, littered with trash, with the dark fog rolling in...


Old style 45's spun by DJ Zo...
Cross dresser KB races for free, starting to fall out of his top...
Mary-Anne and Mr Inglis mix it up and over the high point of the course.

Ginger showing some form and style.

KB in full flight... Super Skanky
Luckily I flatted out in the first lap so I was able to take pics and enjoy the evening.

El Blogador

Bee and Mary-Anne hiking the beach during the 1st annual Steve Smith tribute ride...
29er
29er fever
And yet more 29er good stuff... Punk Ass Cams punk rock shredder, no paint just rust...
A crazy pic of some pallet junkies on our drive down from Vancouver Island.. Somewheres just south of Seattle.
" The Todd " ... Master of the corn tortilla..

what the kids are into...

I know its been a long time since we've updated our blog...I've been real busy trying to catch up with work and now CX season has started...Diligan this ones for you...

Raw CX super crown fork sent out to the heads at Monkey Wrench cycles... Lincoln Nebraska.
A nice little road frame with a cool poo brown color..
Chava's 29er farm road, river levee destroyer...
Close up of the custom FRP enhanced U-brakes....
Hand painted sign for the old mayor of Salinas, look at the size of her hands !!!
The fine artist himself.. Ilia the oddball landlord.. He can ride a wheelie on anything..
I'll save some more for later--- That didn't take too long..

Back in town---Back in Action

Hey Hey
Heres some shots and words following a few weeks on the roads and trails of the Great Divide... I want to say thanks to everybody for their best wishes, encouragements, and congratulations... I never thought I would feel a sense of accomplishment after dropping out of a race, but I do... Not sure if I'll try the race again, though the longer I've been away from it the more I think about next year... Bike racing in general is kinda like that, always more fun after the fact, you forget all the temporary pain and just remember the thrill...
I'm a little rusty with this blogger thing so all the picks are mixed up.... Also I should get back to work....


Beautiful night climbing into Slater park (Steamboat springs CO )... This was one of the best climbs I experienced... Warm breezes, herds of elk... Shortly before the climb I was down in the dumps, bonked out from the last stretch of Wyoming, ready to give up....32 ounces of pepsi later I was flying and climbing like a madman... Didn't stop until the top of the mountain where I bivied amonst the trees...

Back streets of Salida CO... One of the many places I want to go back to..

My sweet wife Mary-Anne... Sometime before I left... Without her help and love I wouldn't have done the race... She held down the fort when I was gone... I softened her up a bit before I left with a new/old Schwinn cruiser... Suprise !

Fleecer ridge downhill.... This was one of the few gnarly parts of my ride... Steeper then it looks..

Somewheres in Montana... There was a lot of this... Valley riding throught the ranches and sage... High peaks on all sides..

Cool retro snow cat... Lima Montana

More sage, more mountains, more dirt roads...

Spent some time in Pinedale WY... Interesting place...

A shot of my trusty steed with minimal gear and lots of miles... Only one flat tire... Just lubed my chain a bunch...

Ran into these guys somewhere outside of Pinedale... They were heading north on the route and had started sometime around the end of April... We exchanged photo op's and talked about the route in either direction... They had me smiling as I rode away, kept thinking " Hanz and Franz "....


A few days into the start of Montana....

More Montana, lush and thick with grizzly.... Only saw one but was scared of many more .....
O.K. for now....
Rick

Rick's Riding Strong

This just in from Patrick Myall
Hi everyone,
Just spent the afternoon riding with the man himself:
Rick Rides Great Divide Gallery

Rick's doing good, he's in 3rd place out of 23 starters, with only 10 folks still in the race. He's just taking it a day at a time, but he's pushing to finish it, just riding it at tour pace.

My friend Dave "Moe" Meyer from Gunnison and I parked at Sargents around noon and headed up Marshall Pass from the west side. We found Rick heading down about 5 miles below the top, and we accompanied him for the next 35 miles or so out towards Cochetopa Pass. Around 6:15pm, at SR 114, we had a few MGD's and sent him on his way, he hoped to make Del Norte or else camp near Cochetopa pass.

Mary Anne, Rick sent the last photo out to you. Also, you should be able to copy these pics from the Picasa site to post to the blog, feel free to link the whole gallery if you want. Let me know if you have problems getting them.

cheers,
Patrick in Crested Butte

Quitting Cap

For those who listened to the race update yesterday and heard Rick say that he was putting his quitting cap on, here's the latest word.
It's not true, he is not bailing out of the Race, at least not yet.
He was having a hard day yesterday, but I think Southern Wyoming can do that to you. The highs and lows he's experiencing in this race are pretty extreme.
He told me that after he called in he drank a couple of Pepsi's, got back on the bike, and started feeling great. The ride was awesome, the scenery was amazing, and he was just plain enjoying being out there. He slept on top of a Mountain last night, and he was in good spirits when I spoke to him on the phone from Steamboat this morning. He said that maybe he just needs to increase the caffeine intake.
He's just taking it one day at a time right now, but things seem to be looking up.
This is one hard race that requires both physical and mental toughness. You have to admire all those guys out there.

pictures from the start

Some pictures thanks to Jason and Maripaz.
The last one was stolen from adventure cycling gallery 2007

GDR Update #2

Folks have been emailing and calling to ask for more information on how Ricks doing. I guess his updates to the official GDR voice mail have been "boring" according to some people. Typical Rick, all business...
I've been talking to him on the phone and things are going well for him considering this is probably the hardest thing he has ever attempted.
He's gotten lost a bunch of times,which means he's had to do a bunch of back tracking. He lost his map on a highway somewhere, and had a stroke of luck when a mechanic at a bike shop helped him find it.
There's been rain, snow, hail, massive winds, and there's a heat wave.
He says that the hardest part is dealing with the saddle sores. He's been putting in some huge days, 2 days ago he rode 165 miles. Yesterday he sounded tired, but who wouldn't. I have a feeling that along the way there will be days that are the worst he's ever spent on a bike, along with some other days that will be some of the best. Rick is super tough, and there's no doubt that he is capable of a challenge of this magnitude.
I'll post some pictures as soon as I get some. In the meantime here's a picture of the bike he's riding.

Great Divide Race Update #1

Rick made his way to Montana, via the slow Train. There were a few bumps along the way that nearly made him miss the start, but it all came together in the end. Jason and Maripaz from De La Paz coffee happened to be in Montana at the same time and picked him up at the train station in Whitefish on thursday. They also gave him a place to sleep that night and a ride to the start in Rooseville friday morning. Thanks Jason and Maripaz.
The race started on Friday at high noon. I spoke to him Friday night, and he sounded really good. It Looks like he's in about 3rd place right now.
You can read his updates, or listen to the podcasts via the links at www.greatdividerace.com
Some bodies are already breaking down, one guy was chased by a bull Moose, another had an encounter with a Mama Grizzly and her 3 cubs.
I think I'll sleep better once Rick is out of Montana.

Great Divide Race

For those of you who don't already know, Rick is leaving in a few days for Montana to attempt the Great Divide Race.
It starts at high noon in Rooseville on June 15th. Covering 2500 miles from the Canadian border to the Mexican border along the continental divide.
All self supported!!
He's super busy right now preparing for the event, and finishing up as many frames as he possibly can before he leaves.
Here he is taking a breather in the sun in front of the shop today.

There will be updates from the race at on various websites
greatdividerace.com
greatdividerace.blogspot.com.
mtbcast.com
Wish him luck!

Shots from the hood..

Heres a 29er Swamper singlespeed frame fresh off the blocks...This bike is going to Sluggo down at the Spokesman bike shop....

A close up of some pin-stripe work from Sampson

An old cross frame I put a new curvy top tube in and had it repainted and striped...

Check out this cactus flower... Usually only blooms once a year for only a day... smellz purdy...
Back to work..