Joey Schusler Racing

Check out the latest Yeti Podcast from Yeticycles.com Sweet coverage of National Champs. Congrats again to Aaron!
USA National Championships 2009
Yeti Cycles Podcast from the 2009 USA National Championships in Sol Vista, Colorado, USA.

I decided to go to the Monte Satine Anne and Bromont World Cups after National Championships. I can’t race because of a UCI rule. I have to have the needed 20 UCI points as of July 6th and July 11th for the races. I didn’t have the points then. I earned 50 points last weekend though. There is a small chance I will be able to ride the World Cup in Bromont. It was still worth it to come to the races here with the team though. Sam, Jared, and Aaron have so much to offer. Just watching how they prepare for a World Cup and do there training is awesome. I have been able to learn a lot and hopefully this will set me in the right direction to become a full time World Cup pro. There is awesome riding here aside from the race track and I have been testing out a new Yeti prototype (review/comments to come). It has been a lot of fun! I’m about to go watch Dh practice and test out the new bike more. Here are some photos from the trip so far…

Stopped some where along the rushed 30 hour drive

Quebec City from a distance

There is sick XC trails here. I’m making the best of my time here. These berms are on the World Cup XC course. Rad!

The view from the top of the lift. It was nice weather yesterday but I think its going to be very rainy today and tomorrow for the race.

The start gate

National Champs couldn’t have gone much better. I got 5th out of 125 in the Pro Mens Downhill. Its my first season in pro and I can only hope to make a step forward this big every season. I’m just going to sum the weekend up with a bunch of pictures… Here ya go…

Yeti has the sickest pit set up. Hands down…

Qualified 4th Finished 5th

Our lockers in the team trailer. It was awesome to get to hang out around the World Cup racers this weekend. Grubby, Blinky, and Gwinny are rad.

Fox Racing Shox got me dialed this weekend. Complete rebuild for the fork and a fresh RC4 shock on the rear. This stuff is working so awesome! Couldn’t be happier!

Walking the course with Scott. This jump was a 50ft MINIMUM! So intense!

Not only was I stoked to place 5th, I was also really excited about my teammate Aaron Gwin winning and becoming National Champion!

New Yeti Proto-type

The first of the 3 big jumps and the smallest of the 3 as well. Not small by any means however!

Race run.

Photo from Littermag.com. Race run.

2009 USA National Championships Pro Mens DH Podium

Today is the last day here before practice. I’ve been here with the Yeti team since yesterday just getting our pit set up as well as dialing in bikes and getting as prepared as possible for the event. Other teams and people started rolling in mid day today. The first practice on the track is tomorrow at 11AM. I have only had a look at the jumps on the dh track, they look really good. Update to follow after practice tomorrow.

New Smith Optics lens’ rule!

Our pit set up from a distance.

National Champs!

The Contenders – USA Mountain Bike National Championships

Here is a cool feature from Littermag.com to get you acquainted with the players of the 2009 USA Mountain Bike National Championships this coming weekend in Sol Vista, Colorado. As far I know I will be the youngest pro competing this year.

This is my section in the article

Just saw these. They are not bike related but I figure its cool to watch anyone who is at the top level of their sport.

Ken Block

James Stewart

National Champs are coming up. Its especially exciting because for the first time in my racing career they are in Colorado. This will also be my first National Championships as a Pro. I raced Juniors in Mammoth, California in 2005 and in Mt. Snow, Vermont in 2007 and 2008. It is going to be really cool to race in front of the home crowd for such a big race! Check out this gnarly video of the jumps on the dh track! looks good to me!
National Champs DH track video

Also for more check out these sites…
Sol Vista Nationals .com
Litter Mag .com
Bike Sol Vista .com

Gonna be a good one! Hope to see everyone out there!

Saturday was the 4th of July. We had a full day riding trying to max out our Whistler experience! After we went to the lake to enjoy some late afternoon rays and some swimming. We met Jess Vogt there and grilled up some brats! It was a good time for sure. Later we showed Canada the true meaning of freedom with some fireworks!

Sunday was our last day of riding in Whistler so we did our best to make the most of it.  We had a sick day of riding and were able to lap a ton of runs and explore even more terrain. Finally today I was able to really start the knowing  the trails well! I really hope to be able to come back and ride here in the fall for some more riding.  This place really can help to take your riding to a new level I think.  Good bye Whistler!

Monday morning came around and we had a very very messy condo to clean up before we left.  It took a few hours and then we were back on the road.  Mason and his brother Spencer brought along their kayaks for some wave surfing on Vancouver Island. We took the ferry over from the mainland. It was so awesome the drive the school bus on to a boat! It was about a 45 minute ride and super cool.  We got there and drove for a few hours. The wave they were surfing in their kayaks is called the Skookumchuck wave. It is a tidal wave caused by tide water flowing over rocks. We got there just in time and the wave was around 5 ft tall! The lacy brothers are frikkn crazy! We watched them surf  the wave for a few hours and then drove back into the states and found a camping spot. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were two non-stop driving days. We drove through the night non-stop and it was brutal! I got pretty sick of every one else on the trip, especially with only a few hours of sleep and no real proper meals.  Now Im back at home in Boulder, Colorado. Now I’m just resting and preparing for USA National Championships in Sol Vista, about a week and a half from now! Should be sick!

Freight Train at Whistler. Perhaps the most fun jump/berm trail ever!

The Vancouver Island ferry.

I like the pacific north west

Overlooking the bay where the Skookumchuck wave resides

Mason in action surfing the Skookumchuck

All Mason has been talking about for the last month is the Skook. Aparently its like Whistler but for Kayakers. Epic!

A starfish attached itself to Spencers Kayak

Camilo and Spencer observing the starfish. He went along for a surf as well…

END BUS TRIP

After the Mt. Hood race we packed up monday morning and started the drive to Whistler. The bus was such a pain to pack and unpack that we decided not to stop and ride on the way up to Whistler. We had a long day of driving with a lot of random stops. We were all super worried about crossing the border. I have heard of so many people having such a hard time getting across the border with large vehicles full of bikes. I guess we got really lucky because we had no problems at all. We showed them our passports and were across the border in 10 minutes, no problems. We rolled up to the ski area at around 10PM and found a lot to park in. In the morning we woke up early to a very bright sun.

Tuesday was our first day of riding. We started early and rode all day, lapping run after run after run. It was awesome. Just getting to explore a new mountain was awesome and the terrain here is so good. I really felt like I was riding well and improving.

Wednesday we woke up and all felt really blown out and tired. We decided to take the day off and hang out at the lake. We were at the lake for the majority of the day and most of us got pretty sunburned. I heard today that there is a lake that has a cliff jump so we might need to go and find that later! It was Canada day today, the Canadian independence day, so it was really funny to see all the patriotic Canadians walking around every where. We also were getting sick of camping so we found a really cheap condo. We found a 5 bed condo near the lift for $70 a person for the entire 6 nights. For sure a good deal and so nice to have a kitchen, shower, and a bed.

Thursday was another big day of riding. We rode all day pretty much nonstop and found a lot of new terrain. Curtis Keene and Amado showed us around a bit and we found all the sick local stuff. At the end of the day we decided to go ride an epic trail called Ride no Slide. You take the first lift up, then the second lift up, and then hike for another 30 minutes on top of that. The trail was sick because it was not as well traveled as the main mountain trails. It was hidden so the trail was still in prime condition with lots of dirt and loam still on it. It also had a crazy amount of roots on it. Its going to be hard to sleep at night now knowing that that trail exists. It was perhaps one of the top 3 most amazing trails I have ever ridden. There was a group of 20 of us that made the hike up there and did the ride. Finally after 45 minutes of gnarly descending we all made it to the bottom in one piece. We got a quick bite to eat the then went back to the condo to relax in the hot tub and go to sleep.

Friday we woke up super sore from the epic hike-a-bike adventure from thursday. We decided to hang out at the pool for a while, cook a huge lunch and just have an afternoon riding day. I think Saturday we will have another big day of riding for sure.

Hanging out at lost lake on Canada day

Such a sick day at the lake

Camilo up on the mountain (that little black dot in the background is a bear) 

Loading up the lift

Our parking lot set up before we got the cheap condo to stay at