Moeschler and Weir between runs at The Dirty Sanchez Enduro

WTB went big last weekend (May 5 & 6) with sponsored athletes on the podiums in both Nor Cal and France! Team WTB’s Mark Weir and Jason Moeschler took first and third, respectively, at the Dirty Sanchez Enduro race, an invitation-only event that was held in an undisclosed California location.

“We’re starting to see a lot of ‘invitational’ enduros over here,” Moeschler explained. “It’s an indication that US promoters are catching on but trying to keep the events small so they can figure out the format and timing logistics.”

Jason Moeschler riding Bronson 2.3 AM TCS tires to a third place finish in the Dirty Sanchez Enduro.

Some format options he’s seen include ones the rider pedals to the top and some have shuttles; some have multiple courses or some have a couple that overlap; some  start in order and others start as soon as you get to the top of the course; some have five minute descents while others are 35 minutes long.

Mark Weir shuttles to the top of the course with invited riders and Ron Sanchez (race organizer) at the wheel.

Whatever the variation, Weir and Moeschler couldn’t be happier about the increased number of their favorite events that means less traveling and better times closer to home. Weir has been traveling to France for the past 10 years to compete in the French Enduro Series. He brought Jason in 2009 & 2010 to compete in Vars and Valloire. This is also where the Team WTB riders met up with Jerome Clementz, who was sponsored on sight! They’ve been inspired by his talent and ever since. Flashback to 2010 French Enduro Racing with Moeschler & Weir…

Ben Cruz riding "fast and loose" on prototype TCS tires in the Metabief Open Enduro..

Meanwhile one guy who can’t get enough of the French Enduro scene is Ben Cruz, who is spending the month of May couch surfing, eating cheese and racing what he is calling “the real deal.” As he should, since Clementz had a hand in organizing the new series called the Bluegrass Enduro Tour, located in a small village called Saint Marie Aux Mines. “Very French,” Cruz laughs and explains the format for the five-stage enduro race. “We took a shuttle to high points then had to pedal to the stages. Stage One started with a 20-minute shuttle that was followed by a 20-minute climb and a 10-minute downhill race—very rad!”

Next, he explained the 30-minute climb to Stage Two for the most technically demanding course he’d ever raced on with “tight switchbacks and super high speed singletrack—also rad!” Stage Three was an hour-and-a-half liaison (or untimed climb) to the start but the 15-minute downhill was worth it. “It’s so amazing they are allowed to just rip through the woods with no trails here and call it a race. In America people would be bitching and moaning about it, but here everyone loves it.”

Stages Four and Five were on the same track with a 15-minute shuttle and 30-minute ride to the start. “It was the best track of the weekend,” he said, adding that Stage Four was a timed race and Stage Five was the kicker—a post race. He clarified that a post race is after all the previous stages and uses the rider’s accumulated time as the seating position for the start. How far off your time is from the leader’s is the interval time between riders. “I was 1 minute 15 seconds off of first,” Ben explained. “He started at 12 and I started at 12:01.15 and the first one down is the winner. It’s a battle and a half.”

WTB rider Jerome Clementz on top of the podium with fellow WTB riders Florian Golay in 4th and Ben Cruz in 5th.

Stay tuned for more enduro updates as Team WTB  gets ready to take on the Oregon Enduro Series at the end of the month.

Team WTB riders giving a final pre-race inspection. Photo by Jen Burt.

It was anyone’s guess what the winning rubber would be for the 3^rd Annual Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival that included super enduro, short track, pump track and dirt jump events held in Aptos, CA last weekend.  After a week of heavy rains left the three enduro courses a rutted, muddy disaster, suddenly the playing field was leveled to a degree that in addition to solid handling skills, riders would need the right equipment to get the job done. With one of the best fields of enduro racers ever assembled in the US, the race proved to be a battle that was won or lost based on the rider’s ability to stay upright through the corners.

Ben Cruz hauling the mail towards the finish. Photo by Jen Burt.

WTB rider, Ben Cruz, was one of the few who took to the mud like a fish to water. “I love riding in the mud and when it started to dump rain a week before the race, I got excited!!” said Cruz, who knew the rain would be a huge game changer that would be reflected in the results. “Anyone can ride a trail they know fast in the dry but in the mud it’s a different story. It turns into having the ability to adapt to all conditions. The mud made it a real enduro game,” he added.

Weir starts the 12-mile climb to the top of the enduro course. Photo by Jen Burt.

Come race day, WTB riders agreed that the Moto Tubeless Compatible System (TCS) tire, in one combination or another, was the right tool for the job. The podium proved them right with Santa Cruz/WTB/Fox riders Aaron Bradford  in first place on Moto 2.3 TCS front/Bronson 2.1 TCS rear and Ryan Condrashoff in second on Moto 2.3 TCS front and Moto 2.1 TCS rear. Cannondale/WTB/Shimano/Fox riders Ben Cruz and Mark Weir came in fourth and fifth respectively, riding WTB Vigilante AM TCS prototype front/Moto 2.1 AM TCS rear.

Not far behind was Santa Cruz/WTB/ Fox rider Nathan Riddle on Moto 2.3 AM TCS front/Wolverine 2.2 TCS rear finishing in 11^th  with Cannondale/WTB/Shimano/Fox rider Jason Moeschler  in 12th on Moto 2.3 AM TCS front/ Moto 2.1 AM TCS rear, and WTB/Ibis rider Kenny Burt in 17th also on Moto 2.3 AM TCS front/Moto 2.1 AM TCS rear. The Moto proved to be the tire that helped the riders find their flow and hold onto it.

Team WTB rider Jason Moeschler explained, “The conditions were so bad that I was pretty much thinking that there was no traction to be had at all,” adding that he was surprised  to have controlled, two-wheel drifts through the corners. “Made it pretty fun,” he said.

Santa Cruz/WTB/Fox rider Aaron Bradford rode TCS Bronson tires to a second-place finish in the Short Track event. Photo by Forrest Arakawa.

High fives all around to the riders who finished the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival events with mud between their teeth and some well deserved bragging rights!

Cheers to Scott Chapin for winning the WTB All Mountain Challenge with Aaron Bradford in second and Barry Wicks (not pictured) in third. Photo by Forrest Arakawa.

Thank you to the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival staff, volunteers and supporters for a great time! Speaking of great times… check out WTB rider Jeff Herbertson winning the Dirt Jump competition…

CID – Compatible Integrated Design – Something every WTB rim, hub, or wheel has in common. What’s so great about it? It means you can wander into any bike shop and they can service your wheel with the most common spokes and nipples.

Picture this: you and your riding buddies escape the city and are road tripping somewhere awesome, say Moab, UT for instance. You’re riding and you go for the pass on your friend, who just so happened to be making a mockery of your bike earlier that day. In a matter of seconds a game changer occurs. You hit a rock, go over the bars, break a spoke and land in a cactus. Not a problem, well except for maybe the cactus and a slightly bruised ego. Even though you’re a thousand miles from home, thanks to CID, there is a 99.99% chance every bike shop in Moab has a new spoke for you. Ditch the proprietary tools and the hassle of waiting for special order parts and get on the CID program. Be back on the bike in a day with another chance to be a hero.

In 2009 WTB’s Moto tire was shelved due to production complications at the factory. Not content to let it sit there collecting dust, we set resident Mountain Bike Hall of Fame designer Mark Slate to work, re-designing the Moto to give it a fresh look and feel. Now after three years, the Moto is back and ready to ride again.

Photo: Milliman

The Moto was the first tire to win the Downieville All-Mountain race in 2005, under employee-rider Jason Moeschler. Seven years later,the Moto is still Jason’s go-to tire for almost every ride. Here he is above putting the new Moto prototypes through their paces at “The Ranch” last April, just like the good ‘ol days.

Welcome home old friend.

The new Moto is available in 26” 2.1, 26” 2.3, and 29” 1.9 at your local bike shop.

(Ok, there was a dull moment before the show opened)

Walking around NAHBS takes you into a world where dreams come true; you name it and it was there: Wooden rims, alloy rims, big wheels, little wheels, titanium frames, steel frames, carbon frames, bamboo frames, wood frames, road bikes, mountain bikes, commuter bikes, tandem bikes, belt drives, internally geared hubs, and custom paint jobs. No other show even comes close to offering this much diversity in one weekend (Thanks for the great event NAHBS). Add it to your bucket list. Check out some of WTB’s top picks.

Soulcraft bicycles won the ribbon for most WTB product featuring Stryker TCS wheels, Bronson 29” 2.2 TCS tires, a Silverado saddle, and Moto-X clamp-on grips.

A WTB employee favorite, the alcho-hauler. The frame builder, John Boisclair, from My Dutch Bike, loaded it up with two empty kegs and all the gear for the weekend then rode 80 miles from Oakland to the show in Sacramento.

So not TCS! However, there is always a special place in our hearts for wooden rims.

In case you havn’t heard the hype, check out what our friends at MTBR have to say:

CupOfJava,

“Building: these rims are probably one of the easiest to work with.”

“On a scale of 1-10 I rate the Flows a 10 and [the Frequency rims] a 10.5.”

4slomo,

“I am completely impressed by the quality of these new rims.”

“very nice design details”

loC,

“MTBR forums call them comparable to Arches but says they’re stiffer and ‘harder’ (don’t dent as easily).”

Enduro Practice = Fun - photo: Brian Raphael

Thank Goodness for Enduro Racing. NSMB.com just posted this great article featuring WTB’s very own Mark Weir and Ben Cruz. Read this excerpt from Mark and definitely check out the full article here.

Enduro is about enjoying yourself, it’s racing the best parts of trails with gas still in the tank to ride the trail at maximum speed in technical situations. Not about relying only on fitness and coasting down the hill. The perfect Enduro is one that leaves you with the feeling of power left over but the trail was so technical it made it hard to lay down that power. If you are too hard on equipment and lack finesse Enduro makes you pay. Either a weight penalty, which in turn is a time penalty. By a running a heavy set-up to make up for straight line mashing you just lost a minute on the climb. Enduro racing is calculation and knowing the way you ride and building the bike to get the most you can from your strengths. You can’t hide your weaknesses but you can disguise.

“The more time we spend on the WTB Bronsons the more we liked them; in fact if these were the only trail/all-mountain tyres in the world we wouldn’t be disappointed.”

Amen! Click on the image below to read the full Bronson tire review.

Join Mark Weir, the Nor-Cal Cycling League and the Marin Bike Coalition for the Dirt Roll III!

SIGN UP NOW to ride the Dirt Bowl III at a pace that lets you talk to the pros, and where nobody gets dropped. This annual fundraiser benefits MCBC and the NorCal High School Cycling League. This year we’ll be starting from Fair-Anselm Plaza in Fairfax, and we’ll have a post-ride BBQ in the courtyard below the MCBC office.
The base fee for the ride and lunch is just $50, all of which goes to supporting important cycling programs. Those who wish to raise additional funds to support MCBC and NorCal can do so. Those who fundraise will be entered in a drawing for super prizes, including a shock and wheel set.

Register for the Dirt Roll Here

Mountain bike racing is very popular in China, however most events are run on the road and this is not very conducive to the spirit of mountain biking. Despite this trend of running mountain bike road races, there is a definite shift towards holding real off-road mountain biking. The Nanning Sports Association together with the Local Cycling Federation are part of this new shift and were successful in putting together a high quality track that would satisfy any discerning mountain biker. The event also served to promote mountain biking as a sport to the locals and many riders from all over China participated.

The main event of the day, the Elite Category, was hotly contested by some of China’s best mountain bikers and Feng Kuanjie (TRIACE Team) emerged as the victor, with a winning margin of nearly three minutes. WTB’s Daniel Carruthers, who took part in the earlier race, despite crashing early on still posted a commendable result to finish in the top 20 from 72 riders.

2012 is looking like to be a big year for WTB in China as we seek to increase our presence at the grassroots levels in the Chinese mountain biking community. WTB will be at the forefront of the new ‘real’ mountain biking movement with longer and more challenging races on offer.

Daniel was running the Nano 29″er and a Volt saddle.