Once upon a time, while desperately looking for lodging during a rainstorm in Kyoto, JAPAN — (true story), the front desk attendant of a ryokan lodge told my friend and me that the price for one night’s lodging was upwards of $150. Far more than we could afford, we attempted to negotiate with her. She looked at us, and said in perfect English: “You pay for quality.”
Such a mantra often echoes in the ears of San Franciscans, as we “pay for quality” at restaurants, department stores, and bike shops. Whether we are mountain bikers, commuters, or roadies, there’s always another way for someone in the SF to take our hard-earned, trust-funded, made-on-the-stock market, or willed-to-us-by-crazy-departed-uncle, CASH… Details
Lance Armstrong can’t remember the last time he raced 65 miles by himself.
“I don’t know, maybe when I was a young, young kid,†he said. “You would never do that on the Tour, so none of the Tours I won.
“Quite literally in those Tours, excluding time trials, I probably rode alone for 20 miles. … It’s been a long time since I was time trialing for that long.â€
So strong was Armstrong on Saturday that he left the rest of the field in the mud just 35 miles into the lung-searing Leadville 100 mountain bike race, winning the nation’s highest-altitude endurance test in record time.
Despite racing through freezing rain at the start, which made it difficult to shift gears on the foreboding descents on a flat back tire for the final 10 miles, Armstrong shaved nearly 17 minutes off the record, winning in 6 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds…Â Details
Video Mt. Bike – Skullcandy MTN Riders @ Colorado Crankworxs Winterpark – SkullcandyTV headed out to Colorado Crankworxs to meet up with MTN team riders Mike Montgomery, Andrew Taylor, Paul Basagoitia, and Eric Porter as they threw down on the Slopestyle course. This was a weekend to be remembered as Brandon Semenuk walked away with 1st and in great standing for the Kokanee Crankworxs contest in BC. Be sure to tune back in as we head up to B.C. to cover the biggest MTN contest of the year!
Aaron Gwin (Moronga Valley, Calif./Yeti) and Darian Harvey (Durango, Colo./Cannondale) won the men’s and women’s Downhill contests at the third stop on USA Cycling’s Pro Gravity Tour, Blast the Mass. The pair ran away with the wins on the challenging course in Snowmass, Colo. Another Yeti rider, Jared Graves (AUS) took the men’s 4X title while Rachel Bauer (Aspen, Colo./Banshee-Poison) topped the small women’s pro 4X field. For complete results from Blast the Mass, click here.
With three of five Pro GRT events complete, Kain Leonard (Gunnison, Colo./Crested Butte Mountain Sports) and Darian Harvey (Durango, Colo./Cannondale) lead the first-ever Pro GRT. The latest version of the USA Cycling Pro Gravity Tour standings is as follows:
Men’s Standings
1. Kain Leonard (Gunnison, Colo./Crested Butte Mountain Sports) 100
2. Chris Heath (Durango, Colo./Manitou-Hayes) 99
3. Chris Boice (Albuquerque, N.M./Yeti) 90
3. Aaron Gwinn (Morongo Valley, Calif./Yeti) 90
5. Curtis Keene (Freemont, Calif.) 75