After eleven days of fun and racing in Whistler B.C. at Crankworx, we set south for Washington State to race the fifth round of the Fluidride Cup series at Port Angeles. With several days to kill before practice began, we met up with Jr. Worlds Team member Luciano Worl and Connor Mishalanie to have some fun on Lake Washington. Connor was good enough to take us out on the lake with the family wakeboard boat to do some tubing and wakeboarding. When you’re racing week after week, it’s great to break up the routine with brainless fun. For us, hanging on to a tube for as long as possible before rag-dolling into choppy waters was a great day off the bike. Kieran Bennett was the only member experienced enough to hop on a wakeboard and get boosty. When all was said and done, we left the lake sore but the level of stoke was high which is a good thing to have going into a race. Big Thanks to the Mishalanie family for the good times on the water and thanks to Looch for being our host for the week.

Port Angeles is the best grassroots race in the United States, hands down. From the track to the pits and overall environment of the race, Port Angeles is a blast. While Kieran and Griz where practicing, Mike D was in the pits giving lessons on how to bleed brakes and what-not to some locals. The boys enjoyed the track and were able to get in some timed runs using a freelap system, so heading into Sunday they knew what needed to be done to post up a result.

Qualifying began early Sunday morning with Griz seeding 10^th and Kieran 13^th due to a small crash. Regardless, the boys were stoked to be racing in the dusty dry conditions for once and knew they could step things up for the final. KB was the first team member down and took the hot seat with an improved run – 8 seconds faster than his qualifier. Three riders later, Griz came down but with a slower time than his qualifier run – apparently he made like a hippie and hugged a tree to finish 14th. Kieran remained in the hot seat until the top three qualifiers crossed the line, eventually finishing 4^th. A podium finish was a breath of fresh air for KB heading into the World Championships and it was cool to see that the Intense 951 took four of the top-five spots on the podium. This concludes our Point-and-Shoot update, our next update will be back in video form as Videographer Theo Dilworth joins back with the team for the World Championships in Canberra, Australia.

Point and Shoot from Quebec to Whistler with X-Fusion

Following the Quebec World Cup rounds, we – Kieran Bennett, Mike Davis and I - hit the road to Whistler B.C. for Crankworx. Anxious to get back to the United States where all-that-is-cool exists, we dropped into Vermont and boogied south until we met up with Interstate 90. If you check closely on a map you’ll see that I-90 runs through some must visit locations. Especially with a New Zealander on board, it was our duty to educate K.B. about cool landmarks in America. And at the top of the important-places list were Mount Rushmore and Sturgis, South Dakota, where the real Team America is based and the bikers flock like the salmon of Capistrano to celebrate the two-wheels-to-freedom lifestyle. Mount Rushmore was a planned visit, but we were lucky enough to be passing through South Dakota while the Sturgis Rally was happening.

            Our Rushmore/Sturgis day would begin by waking up to the roar of Harley Davidson in a Wal Mart parking lot where we had camped in the X-Fusion Sprinter Van for a few hours. We decided to have a five-star breakfast on this monumental day, so we went to Denny’s for a Grand Slam. Just to be sure the Sturgis Rally was really happening; we ask our waitress if they were filming for Wild Hogs 2. Perplexed, she said: “I don’t know I just work here” confirming that it was the Sturgis Rally and not a Hollywood set. With bellies full of the always delicious Denny’s, we set off for Mount Rushmore.

            With the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved out of granite, Mount Rushmore is the “shrine of democracy.” Basically, Mount Rushmore takes a dump on any other attempt to make something cool with rocks. The three of us took in the site, felt the freedom and came out away as a tighter team with a more positive outlook on life itself. If you’re a fan of feeling good about life, take our suggestion and visit the Rush. From the Rush, it was time to get back to I-90 and head west to Sturgis.

            What Crankworx is to us mountain bikers, the Sturgis Rally is to real bikers – you know the pot-bellied, leather clad, wind chapped, ex-Marine with a red-leathery skinned babe on the back of his Harley type biker. It’s almost cartoon-like if you want a true description of the town of Sturgis while the Rally is in town. The streets are closed off and made into make shift biker parking lots, while beer drinkers and hell raisers lurk the vendor-cluttered side walks and fill the honky-tonks and bars to do two things: kick some ass and drink some beer. We cruised the streets on our Intense Tazers for about an hour or so before we headed back to the van, which was parked well out of the chaos. But before we left, I tried to make Mike-D’s life a bit easier by trying to hustle a free bike wash out of some local entrepreneur’s. The local ladies settled for a photo-op and we settled to clean our own bikes because today’s economy wouldn’t allow us to spend $25 bucks per bike. Better luck next time, girls.

            To see Mount Rushmore was amazing, but to see the Rush and the Sturgis Rally in the same day was nothing short of phenomenal. Maybe next year someone can host a slalom race during the Sturgis Rally for all bikers to celebrate the two-wheels-to-freedom lifestyle.