9-15-07 I have been working at a LBS for the last two months. bcd is in a lull right now but i will be at interbike for some inspiration. this fall i have been racing a xc series around here on my spez 29er. from stock to rock.

7-27-07 My fork, stem and dirt jump frame are up on ebay for sale.

7-20-07 off to new mexico for some dh riding. los alamos is running the lifts tomorrow. should be a fun day. i'll take somepics. here are the videos from sandia.

7-15-07 here are some clips i edited of the top woods at schladming.

7-12-07 typing this in chicago waiting for the next flight. this just reminds me how important it is to have the fewest connections possible. so far, fingers crossed, the bike is fine. i am making two special carbon cases b/f i go to slovainia in sept. all i want to do is just get back on my bike to keep testing it. i am going to albuquerque this weekend to do some trails i made 8 years ago and maybe my favorite DH run in the usa. rio emedio in sante fe. after the track being so ruff in schladming i think i am going to try 7-7 travel. i actually raised my bar 1.5 in aus, so i should still be able to keep it low. I have a lot of work to do b/f the last WC in sept. thanks for reading my travel blog and i'll keep stuff posted as news comes along. nice to meet all the fans over in europe! you guys know who you are. i heard you on my qual run down! you rule!

7-11-07 Munchen
We spent the night in Traunstein. Before turning in last night, we had dinner in a fairly swank establishment. Jake treated. Thanks, J! Up at our usual 8:00 AM for more meat and cheese for breakfast. Ugh. To our surprise, there was cereal and other choices. Alex loaded his pockets with Ritter Sport candies and other tidbits. We can milk an included frustuck like nobody's business! We took the scenic route into Munchen, and after much arguing, Alex proved correct and we were able to find a hotel near the flughof and return the rental car. We split up for sightseeing. Alex and Jake chose the incredibly boring Deutches Museum. I visited the beautiful Viktualenmarkt. We met up at 5:00 PM just in time for the famous Glockenspiel event. I am sure that it was the height of technology in it's heyday. I'm glad we saw it, but somehow I was expecting Vegas style entertainment. We saw lots of man hairdos that were a cross between a mullet and a faux hawk. Alex is getting one the moment we get home. Obviously, as fashion moves east to west, he will be ahead of the game! Dusti

OK, glad you fessed up on my natural direction ability, you would think by now after 4 years you would know my talents. Glad you got to see Viktualenmarkt dusti. you would have not like the museum, jake and i on the other hand had a great time looking at the planes and boats, the big stuff. The museum only got boring when we starting digging deeper in the back halls looking at antique plows and tractors from a small town near dusoldorf or a early calculator made by ibm in 1973. About the faux mullet D, you are wrong, i'll pass.

7-10-07 We stayed just outside Salzburg last night. This morning we drove to a "Park & Ride" at a convention center and dropped the focus on some grass parking lanes then got a bus into the city. It was pouring and looked like the day was shot, but we kept going. We went through Mirabell Gardens - still raining. Then, after Jake spent 30 minutes buying every souvenir for the people back home in this TINY but cheap little shop, it stopped raining. Of course, he and D both got new umbrellas at that same tiny shop. Just when they didn't need them any more. We visited Mozart's House and listened to a phone-like device that told about his life and work and played snippets of his work. Then, Swarovski shopping time! Next, we went up a steep - 45 degrees-- funicular (cable /rail car)up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. Great view of the city from up there! And the best weather of the day for checking it out and snapping pics. Afterwards, we made a bust trip out to see the Trick Fountains at Hellbrun Palace. It was all shut up for a banker's party. It used to be a pleasure palace. I guess, for some, it still is. After that, we headed back to the car and drove a ways towards Munchen.

7-09-07 drive to hitler's place, "the eagles nest". it has been raining all day and was socked in up there so we didn't get any cool views like the glacier, but i was cool to see none the less. you went into the arched entrance then up a tunnel to a big brass elevator into the "nest". not much up there really and it was a disappointment to us b/c there was no english translation for the movie or history posters. Then drove to just out side salzburg and got a room. it was a lot cheaper here. ate some good pork MIT spekzle and a bier. d had bier and coke, i guess they sell jack and coke in a can too? O, we also hit a flee market thing in this tiny town on the way to eagles nest. d had fun shopping for handmade stuff, we ate at this rad bier garden and had some great wurst mit kraut.

hitler's home

4wd TDI golf

7-08-07 had a crap morning of practice run. almost ate it 3x, then stopped to get a hold of myself, then slid out on a low berm into a tree with my arm, it hurts bad, but i am still racing. its dewy slick in the trees but should burn off. i thought the work they did to the track would have helped, still super deep brake bumps. other americans luke S is riding good. riffle is steady. still having fun but for me its just get down clean now. no attacking. i am staying here tonight and will watch and shoot the final, ill have some pics. HERE are some pics i posted on ridemonkey.

RACE RUN: i never really got all my lines down. the track was that hard and ruff i didn't have the energy to ride it 4x fast. i hiked some to keep trying lines. My arm was sore my race run but i put it out of my mind and was going fast 1/3 the way down, thru all the steep trees to the exit and then relaxed. then i went down and rolled under the tape. the track is so tech one laps of perfect mind thought or 4'' of missed line put you on some roots or a blown out dead end rut that takes you down. lost 10 secs. got up going and road a fine to the end and finished 159th of 208. not the top 100 like i was wanting, that was 18 secs away. 80th place the last spot to qual was 4:29, i was a 4:53. fast guys over here for sure.

7-07-07 rolling the dice today! off to practice, nice sunshine and its should dry out today. my pic links are messed up i now. formula gave me some 200mm rotors b/c with the extra 2lbs of mude on my tires!, i need them.

had a good practice. hitting lines and gainning speed. i o off 135th @ 11:42:30. 205 total riders going for top 80, its going

laterz alex

7-06-07 off to reg and walk the track. i am taking my camera for pics. partlly cloudy@10am.

tracks looked easy till i saw the new fresh cut trees. real WC stuff. steep and loam/roots. i haven't raced on this stuff since old VT tracks, but steeper like yard sale w/o the rocks and 3x as long. went OTB once, not bad. every 4th rider crashed or stopped. no spikes, everyone is on them, my 29 wheels weight a ton when muddy! wish i had spikes. but sunday its dry we hope. its cold and snowed last night way up high on the peeks.

top turns and boostes

mid track turns and trees.

super tough fresh, steep trees.

7-05-07 day 3 Had a hard time getting up but that morning. then ate a REAL continental breakfast, fast.then walked down to the rental and got a 4 door hatch focus. not what we wanted and yet again the passat TDI was gone b/c our late start back in amarillo. guess i have to drop it now. i let D drive out onto A1 toward schladming. stopped in at this lake where there was a palace on a island. it rianed half the time and d's feet were blistered and wet. back in the ford :( and down the road to schladming. rad drive on the autobahn. had the ford pinned @ 4.5k 160km. we were still getting passed. then HALT to a 2hr 2to1 lane for 200m of small construction, gheesh. we got into schladming to our cool old hotel across the street from the big church and with in sound of the finish anouncer. haven't been over there yet. Got my bike out of its box's and everything was there, poof i have a bike, manana.

7-04-07 So we finally took of from dallas 2hrs late, b/c it was rainning so hard they could not pull the plane up to the gate. 4th of july in London, great. not a USA flag in site, i guess thats my problem should have got one b/f i left. Being as we missed our first flight our all out cool window seats were different so we were stuck in the middle of our 777. there was an open seat next to me which i used thoroughly for all my junk and to lay down in. after getting off the plane in london we got in the EU passport line only to get put in the back of the line for all BUT EU. freek'in took like 2hrs to get thru, so now we missed our next flight to munich. see how it works? one cancelled flight in little only amarillo = crap down the line. We got thru no problems to get to Heathrow via bus. So we check in with british air for the trip to munich 2 hours later than our first flight. Danged if the brit chineese chic didn'thook us up to BIZ class! We strutted our was into the wide seats and masive leg space and wipped our faces with hot towels! dadburn! You know what they say about biz class, once you do it you might never go back. So props to Kate @ Brit air! back the the swank. snack came 1hr b/f we arived at munich. it was salmon, cheese, greens. white wine, bread and apple tart. flew right over normandy and then near munich the nuraburgring. landed at munich and both my bike box's came to me down the convayor, good deal. by now we are 6 hrs late and have missed the rental pickup. so we just trained near to the rental and with a little walking and a small tram ride we had a room. Next dinner, we went into a pub and d got beer and jay and i got water, sat a while them realized they didn't serve food, we drank up and went down to a bistro and had fish and steak to the tune of €80! crap we got snaked. it was good but not $110! after that we learned to order "leit su wassa" tap water. on to day 3 drive to schladming!

7-03-07

Day One - Already the adventure has begun. Jackie Smith, our travel partner Jacobs dad, was not even out of the airport parking lot when we learned that our flight to Dallas had been cancelled. We stood at the AA counter for about 30 minutes trying to get things straightened out. We had to buy tickets to Dallas on Southwest to the tune of $150 each. Then, we had to taxi from LUV to DFW. AA gave us a voucher for the taxi and for a bite to eat as well as the price of their own one-way fare from AMA to DFW. This changed every other flight in our plan, as well. Instead of flying from DFW to Frankfurt, we are going to London. In London we have to transfer from Gatwick to Heathrow via the train. Planes, trains, and automobiles! In the end this puts us into Munich about three hours later than our original itinerary. It's all working out. We should even have a couple of hours in London. That'll be fun!.

Right now, we are having Munich/supper at 4:22 PM at DFW's Reata Grill. Jacob said it was one of the best burgers he has ever had! my flat encaladas were VERY mild and would not even be mexican in my book. We headed to the gate to find out our jet was 4 gates down and was parked just shy of the ramp because it is pouring rain and lighting. No telling when we get out of here but there is no doubt about it when we get in london to get o Heathrow we will be rushed.

So, with the new itenarary i need to get 100lbs of bike boxs on the train and across london with my carry-on in tow. Luckily my carry on has a backpack built in and with a painfully $70 purchase of a roller luggage add-on at brookstone in DFW i now will be able to make the transfer in london.

here are some pics of the airport for thor. he asked!

6-30-07 MSA race report . getting ready for austria world cup. i leave tuesday. i am putting in a new main pivots bearings size and fitting a fox 40 for 29 wheels.

old new here