// ARFREERIDERS.COM | HOME OF THE ARKANSAS FREERIDE SOCIETY 2010

We are glad to announce our newest feature of the Arkansas Freeride Society’s webpage. Starting in September we are going to have a monthly giveaway. A different item will be released each month. The way it will work is at the begining of the month we will put up a post and tell what the item is. All you have to do to get in the drawing is post a comment with your name and what you ride. Prizes will not be shipped. They will have to be picked up from one of the core memebers of the AFS.

We are going to start the September giveaway a little early. This months item will be a set of FUNN handlebars.

Good luck to everyone!

item pictured may not be the specific item given away.

Time to ride some street boyz. We will meet at the $hit ditch as usual around 6:00 as ususal. Lets get a big group together. Someone bring a camcorder so we can start getting clips for a street video.

Metzger over at TBC has given us another No Big Deal video. This is a video on how to do no-chanders. Pretty sweet video. We need some foampit time so we can all thrown down some no-chanders. Check out the video.

Kade has been riding with us for a little while now. He is young a full of energy. I got a message from Josh M. the other day telling me “dude i just watched the new videos on youtube of Burns, f’n sick. I had NO clue what he was talking about. So the next day when I got to work I looked for them. FINALLY!!! A new video of the AFS. I had no clue who had made it though. After talking to Greg I found out it was Kade. Now that we have someone motivated enough to do the work we need to get out and get some more footage. Not just DJ’s. Street, skatepark, DH/FR, maybe even some trials (since E2 only rides trials now). Check out the video’s.

Thanks for the hard work Kade

This is one of the best short video edits EVER. Some F’n sick tricks!!! Check it out!!!

The guys over at transitions have come out with a new video series. Looks like its gonna be pretty sweet. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

I found this on Nitro Circus’s Facebook status. It looks like on sweet ass time. The Nitro Circus guys may go bigger on bigwheels but there is a good time to be had by all here.

Well guys we have been pushing hard to get the park dialed (and by we I mean Chris, Greg and Jake- NOT me:) ).

After some careful deliberating we have come to the conclusion that with the recent park transformation, maybe it’s time we collect membership dues and charge non members $100 per day to ride our sweet ass jumps and watch our sick skills!

Memberships will run $500 for the year and proceeds go to fix Kit’s bumper and buy sticker remover for Ryans new Van and help me pay off some credit card debt for some expensive plastic:).

Jake was ripping it last night and puled a 360 tailwhip over the 1st double and then gapped over the entire box, nose manualled down the landing and pulled a 360 superman in the opposite direction on the super booter.

Chris managed to shake his demons of the double line and went balls out and nailed a front flip on the first jumps- perfect execution!

Ryan showed up and killed and de-skinned/furred a small rabid chupacabra (it’s skull is mounted on the box jump now).

Kit pulled a nice tuck no hander over Greg’s truck- not on a jump but from a bunnyhop!

Greg pulled a super sweet dumped 540 to half cab out over the table top with a cigarette in his mouth.

James made sure no one was going to be injured if another rock slide happened so he stood watch with his helmet on ready to jump in the way of any falling boulders while everyone else rode.

I worked on my tan and tried to do 100 jumping jacks- just wasn’t feeling the riding.

to join just email us at uoynosekojehtsihteveilebuoyfi@yahoo.com

Dylan has got his first sponsor! Big thanks to Paul and Greg over at Riders Ready! They have now official sponsored Dylan. He stepped up to a Diamondback Mini Viper (a 16″). He has been wanting the thing for a few months now. It took him about 5 minutes to become very comfortable on it from his 12″. After about an hour at J-ville skatepark he was feeling as comfortable on the Mini Viper as he has been on his 12″. He has gotten a whole new desire to ride. We spent about 3 hours at the skatepark and he never quit riding the whole time.

Once again THANKS PAUL AND GREG AT RIDER’S READY!!!

Our regular ride night is Wednesday. Then when the weather permits we try to ride on Saturday or Sunday. We had planned on ridding the dirtjumps Sunday but the weather is not supposed to be very good. Friday is supposed to be mostly sunny and a high of 73. So a couple of us decided to make it a Wednesday night ride again on Friday. We will head out to the dirtjumps after work. That means people will start showing up around 5:30 ish. Hope to have a big group and a sick ride.

Our buddy Mike Metzger over at Transitions Bikes is coming out with a new shoe. From the picture I have seen of it everyone will want one. Check it out yourself. I will be saving my money.

Transition Bllindside for sell by one of our buddies out in New Mexico. I realize a Blindside is a bigger bike that we have to have around here but this is one SWEET ride. Check it out and see if you like it so much you just have to have it.

For more info click here

I am not sure this is new but I am pretty sure it is. The man Danny McAskill is back at it with another amazing video. SICK backwards nose manual at about :20 into it the video.

I the words that E2 stole from Big. “Do work son!”. As everyone knows the dirt jumps have been in need of some major attention. We ALL talk about how we want to get out and ride them but no one has put forth any effort to work on them. It seems that some of the 20″ guys wanted to ride so they got out and did work. We need to follow there lead. As usual with anything we do its last minute and not many details have been set but. Sunday at the quarry. Lets get some work done.

We need to get some drainage issues fix before the spring rain hits and makes things worse. The landing off the box jump and the super booter are really beat. The area between the box and super booter is still trashed (whats new). A new line has been started and the rain set in and it hasn’t been touched since. The tabletop line is completely gone (which most of you don’t really care about but my 5 year old still cant hit doubles so I do). There is so much potential out there that we need to take advantage of.

I realize that everyone has a life besides riding and working. If you can only make it out for 2 or 3 hours that is 2 or 3 more hours than nothing. Lets get the park ready for spring and summer. The more work we get done now the less we have to do later.

Thanks for the help and pass the word along.

Maybe with some work and a lot of luck we can have a park like this one of these days.

I was on pinkbike and had a link to a video from one of the guys in New Mexico. I clicked over and this is what I found. We all love our sport but I cant think of anyone locally that is riding like this at 50 years old.

Had a pretty good year since I turned 50 last Feb. Some good trail rides as well as a few fun trips with my wife and good friends. I also decided to re-build an old jump area & in the fall I got back to working a few DJ tricks that had gotten away from me - For my 51st Birthday I compiled MY “best footage edit” from the past 12 months - Enjoy and NEVER GIVE UP RIDING- ALL!………….RS

Aight. I know the weather is not perfect for a street sesh but damn it has been WAY too long since we rode some street. So Wednesday at 6:00 at the $hyte ditch. Its on. Lets all deal with the cold weather and throw down on a good old STEET SESH!!! Hope to see everyone there.

Our buddy Lawernce from Four Corners Freeriders e-mailed me a link to a new video some of the guys have put together. May it will give some of us motivation to get some work done or some riding done or hopefully both which my lead to us putting together a new video of our own. Hopefully here is the motivation we have been needing.

We have not had anything new in a while. I was looking at Corey and Jay’s missing links and found this. It doesn’t fit with the site but there are quite a few clips with bikes so it works for me. Hope you enjoy and get a good laugh.

Jake has his new Bottle Rocket and I have the Nugget back. Plus Slaughterpen has the new flow track. That being said. Road trip. We are planning a trip to slaughterpen this sunday. As of now we only have 3 people going that I know of. If anyone else is interested let me or Jake know. Just leave a comment or text one of us. I am going to try to get with some of the other areas and see if any of them want to meet up there. For any of you who have never been to slaugherpen here are a few pics of the flow trail and the DJ park.

E2’s newest steed. Hopefully when he gets it built he will take some more pictures of it.

I was chatting with our buddy Lawrence over at Four Corners Freeride. They have a new video of a race that was at one of their ridding areas. We have also been invited to visit and do some riding. Lawrence even offered to be our “tour guide” which is cool because he knows most of the trail because he helped build most of them. It was said that we should plan for a week or two or riding. I am waiting for some pics of there new DJ’s. When I get them I will post some of them

Pajarito Punishment from R. Strang on Vimeo.

The details are not nail down quite yet. Looks like there will be a trip to NW Arkansas at the end of the year. Jason Nixon from www.sicklines.com is planing to come down and ride some with us while he is on Christmas break. As of yesturday when I talked to him he is trying to get here the 26 or 27 and stay till around new years. He is wanting to hit up Eurka, Devil’s Den and the new flow trail at Slaughterpen. I will let everyone know more as I get details.

And the ladies are waiting!!!

Who’s in for a ride?

Leave it to our boy Jason at Sicklines to keep everyone up to date on cool stuff. Along with all the sweet new product he keeps us up on he is always posting new video’s. He has one on right now that is pretty sweet. HUGE doubles and some insane tricks (especially by Mike Montomery). Check it out.

Thanks Jason for keeping us informed.

This is either the coolest engineer ever or one who overlooked a few details. You be the judge.

Our buddy Jason over at Sicklines has a video up from the yearly opening of Rays. The new Troy Lee room looks sick. Here is the video to get you even more excited Jake.

While rollin down the street on one of our normal Wednesday night street sessions we see this figure coming our way in the dark. He is not on a typical bike for this part of town. Who could it be? He pops a wheelie. Holy $hit I think that is, maybe it is, is that… Ryan? It is. So after the shock of seeing him wears off we get to talking instead of riding (whats new). Here is the story that I got. Ryan is official in his house now. He has a new frame and all the parts to build it up. He is going to try to get it built this week. So it looks like we might have another person back in the crew.

I didn’t ask details on the bike but from what I got from Ryan here is a preview of the new whip.

I was checking out our buddies over at Four Corners Freeride webpage this morning and they have made a trip to Canada recently. A thirteen day trip to many different locations. They put together a video and I thought everyone would enjoy it and maybe get some of us excited to do some more work on our own freeride trail. I will probably also make a few of want to plan a trip to Canada next year.

ACROSS B.C. from R. Strang on Vimeo.

This is not you typical Danny Mac video. It is shorter and it is for a commercial. E skyped me the link this morning and I was as usual with Danny impressed. I thought it would make for some good NEW content on the webpage. So sit back and enjoy.

Site is back up along with a BIG table top and a HUGE double. Ryan is frustrated by the whole mess. Here is the Skype convo to prove it!

[9:51:45 AM] E2 says: there are some photos of the tazer on our flickr dillhole
[9:51:51 AM] E2 says: and the arfreeriders site is back up
[9:52:18 AM] E2 says: and how are you going to quite when you haven’t even been out there working on it sukka?
[9:52:33 AM] E2 says: quit
[10:06:12 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: this is me not responding
[10:06:49 AM] E2 says: (inlove)u still love us Ryan
[10:06:55 AM] E2 says: I understand your frustration dude
[10:07:09 AM] E2 says: had it not rained Sunday it would have shaped up A LOT more
[10:07:32 AM] E2 says: i plan on getting out there again next weekend when i dont;have the kids and placing dirt on the beginner tables again
[10:07:51 AM] E2 says: and packing new dirt on the pumptrack now that the round up has had a few days to do it’s thang
[10:07:57 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: (rain)
[10:08:52 AM] E2 says: hell is anything- at least the big line is rideable…almost and it resembles a jump park agian now that the small trees have been cut down
[10:09:29 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: (u)
[10:10:24 AM] E2 says: ;(
[10:12:14 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: our park had a broken arm and you guys put a new tattoo on it
[10:12:43 AM] E2 says: no we actually ripped the broken arm off- beat the leggs off it then put a tattoo on it
[10:13:05 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: on the bloody stump
[10:13:26 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: the arm is still broken
[10:13:54 AM] E2 says: this has just been decided to be our newest post on the resurected site!
[10:14:36 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: good word! Surprising, coming from a dirt jump park killer
[10:14:48 AM] E2 says: lol
[10:15:08 AM] E2 says: That’s just how I roll baby!
[10:17:33 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: “Hello, where does it hurt?”
[10:17:53 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: “Well, my arm is really sore,” says DJ.
[10:18:19 AM] E2 says: “it hurts right here…fro smashing my face on that crappy spaced old intermediate line”
[10:18:42 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: “Hmmm…let me see now. Why don’t we rip that thing off and beat your face up with it. There that’s better!
[10:19:07 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: Here, let me shove it up your ass at a medium pace! Oh yeah! You like that?
[10:19:17 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: ”
[10:19:45 AM] E2 says: “I then flipped straight over the bars after not being able to carry enough speed through the berm into the next small double…then I got a lot of gravel ibedded in my chin cause all the dirt had washed away and no one was helping maintain the jumps”
[10:19:55 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: Poor little old DJ park. All it needed was some care and attention.
[10:20:12 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: Then it got buttfucked.
[10:20:15 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: up the butt
[10:20:25 AM] E2 says: we just took the thing to hollywood for some implants…..2 BIG new mounds out there now!
[10:21:24 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: starting to soundbetter all of a sudden
[10:21:36 AM] Ryan Andrew Johnson says: Oh wait…I forgot, I think it sucks.
[10:21:48 AM] E2 says: if I threw the word buttholein there you would be in heaven huh?
[10:22:02 AM] E2 says: LOL

Good times…E2

THE DIRT JUMPS ARE BACK!!!

We got the dirt jumps back up and going. Time to shred it boys. We will be out most of the week-end ride the newly restored dirt jumps. New lines, new dirt on the lips and landings. Lots of work put in. Let break them in the right way. How many people can we get out to ride? Here is a video to get everyone motivated.

We need help BAD! This winter wreaked havoc on our jumps. We need to totally demolish the Intermediate crappy lay out jump line and start from scratch on it. I say we make it a HUGE ass tabletop to learn tricks on- just 1 table and a good soft landing. We can revive the Big line- the City of NLR was kind enough to drop off 3 loads of dirt- which we cannot do anything with until we remove all the overgrown BS that is taking over what used to be a jump park. If we don;t do something quick- everyone is going to lose interest and the people who worked so hard planning and coordinating to make this a reality are going to be pretty unhappy. This was our opportunity to present to people in the immediate area that we could come together as a group and create a nice place to ride our Jump bikes. I vote we do what WE wanted to in the first place- and totally remove the small roller to berm line that no one ever rides anyway. Keep the beginner tables- add a HUGE table top and revive the Big line- then work on a couple drops in the Quarry itself. Let’s try to get some round up from the AFS account and tackle the task of weed removal this weekend- if possible. If not- let’s plan on 2 weeks from now.

E to the 2

Well people- it’s Wed. again- that means street session time- I’m out this week- have the kiddos- so I’ll be wrestling with them and doing the daddy thing. Next week let’s try and get a big crew riding- I’ll bring the camera and take some video- let’s venture out of downtown Little Rock and scope some new scenery and spots to ride. Kit’s in for sure- assuming he doesn’t mess his ankle up again pulling an Inverse Metricultor on the wakeboard this weekend. T-bird might show- Chris, Greg and James I’m sure are already a shoe in. Maybe Ryan can take a night off from working on the house! Let’s get it sorted out.

Well another day of wasting some time in the morning baby-sitting the shop till someone got here to watch the place. I was on our myspace page and one of our friend started chatting. I jumped over to his page and was checking it out when I found this video. It looks like a pretty fun place to ride. I thought I might motivate use to get some more of the FR trail done or maybe the DJ’s. If nothing else maybe start working on making a new AFS video (which I think E2 starting to get some video for). Hope you enjoy it and get motivate by it.

Check out there webpage.

http://www.4cfr.com/

The Trash Pit from R. Strang on Vimeo.

Our own E2 has been trying to wheelie the fountain at the Doubletree for a few weeks now. We all knew he could do it he just couldn’t trust himself. All he need was the right bike to do it on. He got a little bit of what I am calling Konig Konfidence and did it. Check out the video.

Last night was a blast- we rode for a while at the usual spots- Chris was practicing barspins, he was riding the SC Jackal, Greg pulled a nice tire grab off of a wedge wall ride (monument ride) at the Arkansas Arts Center- I finally wheelied the retaining wall around the fountain at the Double Tree Hotel on board the Corsair Konig…LOVE that bike! Hopefully in 2 more weeks when I get to ride on a Wed. again Kit’s ankle will be healed and T-bird will be ready to ride- we’ll get a bigger crew and push each other to accomplish something new. Until then- enjoy the photos from last night.

E2

Sorry man I didn’t realize you were upset over my last post….I wasn’t calling you out- just having fun bro! Get over it and get out and help with the trail so we can all ride it!

Sorry T-Biscuit…aka Flip…aka T-Bag….aka T-Bird

3 of us busted out some quality work Sunday morning- bench cut some more- finished the landing for the little roller double and positioned the step up where we think it might end up- not sure yet. Greg, Chris and E2 you guys did a great job!!!! Oh wait I’m E2…..anyway Kit and T biscuit were MIA- not sure what the excuses were this time! The city dropped off 3 loads of dirt for us, so after Kit weed wacks the over grown weeds on the DJ’s like he said he was going to do every weekend this summer, we’ll get Andy Judkins to hopefully loan us a skid steer to get the rest of the topsoil placed on the DJ’s and get them ridable again.

If you can spare time to help us please do so- remember this is all done on volunteer effort, but EVERYONE will benefit from the finished project!

Well fellas the photos in this post are a couple weeks old now, but after Eureka Spring Fat Tire Fest I’m sure everyone is super pumped to finish what we started last year! The boys from PTD put a lot of hard work into the DH run this year- entirely new except the first bermed section to the step-down. Fun-Fast-Flowy, those are all words I’d use to describe what the PTD crew made from what used to be nothing more than a lung burning Sprint from top to bottom that was mainly on fire road! We are striving to make our trail as enjoyable as what they have made. We need all the help we can get so if you went to Eureka and would love to have a similar trail here in the Central part of the State- come HELP!!!!

We built a couple new corners and a small step down and placed the old mulch jump wooden kicker at the bottom of the ravine to use as a step up…should be fun, but we are going to need to do quite a bit of bench cutting. Ignore the white spot in the background- apparently there was a ghost there helping that none of us saw:)

Woody from PTD had a bad crash at Eureka and broke 3 vertebrae in his neck, Katie from Competitive Cyclist took a good spill over the bars down the rock drop and ended up with a gnarly concussion, some other guy separated his shoulder, Ryan had a mechanical and lost a pedal mid run on his 2nd run and still had his wits about him enough to jump the finish line double with only 1 pedal……yeah 1 PEDAL. It’s no small jump either- the gap is every bit of 20ft and the take off is a good 4 1/2ft lip….freakin’ Ryan- he’s not human! Kit took 4th place in Cat2, while I won our bet by 20 seconds….:) HEHEHEHEHE although I opted to follow Ryan into the Cat2 Cash class. 7th is all I could end up with out of 16, but had the officials adopted a better system of time keeping I would’ve been more like 4th place. Dave Renko…if you’re reading this INVEST IN A TIMING SYSTEM!!!! Other than that it was a total blast.

Okay. The dirt jumps look like $hit. The warm-up loop needs some love. And the freeride trail is STILL less then half done. Now that the weather is nice and we can ride almost any day, we need to get off our a$$ and “do work” as E2 would say. I have a feeling this will not work as well as I hope but here goes.

Sunday morning. 8:00 at the freeride trail, the warm-up loop, and the dirtjump park. Lets “do work”. It all needs work so, pick what is the most important to you and get out and put some time in on it. Hopefully this means everyone that can (I realize that people do have a life besides bikes). I know there are some 20″ guys who ride the DJ’s (I am not sure if the look here) and I know there are some out-of-town guys who use the DJ’s too (not sure if the look here either). Plus there are people who are just great help who don’t ride but want to help the scene. Hopefully we can get a large crowd.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

I was watch some TV show recently and same a clip of a wakeboard event called Redbull Wakelab. I know this has nothing to do with bikes but thought it looked sweet and know there would be someone else out here that would enjoy it. So here you go. Enjoy.

Well not much to report on this week- Chris is out of town- Travis wasn’t able to ride- neither was I since it is my week the kids. I figure maybe we can just post up some random stuff. Anyone interested in helping us get more trail work done please come join us on the next organized work day.
Oh I know something to mention- me and Kit have a $100 bet going on who will beat who at Eureka (between me and Kit). It’s on!

I guess we’ll keep scrapin’ along….

By The Way- is that Broccoli on their hoodies….

E2

This picture speaks for itself….nuff said. This is Travis in full effect!

Good ride last night for everyone. More photos on Flickr page.

It’s Wednesday and that means, RIDE NITE. You know how things go with us. Right now the plans are to meet up at the $hyt Dytch after work. Somewhere around 5:30 is when people should start showing up. From there the plan is to not really have a plan. All plans are subject to change without any notice of real reason. As of right now it should be a larger group than it has been lately. Hopefully there will be some old faces (nothing to do with age) and some new faces. Hope to see everyone there.

With the dirt jumps being more like grassy gravel jumps it was a street nite. Tired of riding the same $hit we decided to hit some new stuff. It was nice to see a new street. E2 was ready to hit some ledge gaps. Started with the Comcast ledge moved to AT&T then moved to one behind the capitol. Somewhere in the ride E2 and Kit found a guardrail to fresh cut grass steep downhill to hit. There where a few skinny lines and nice downhill manuals thrown in along the way. It was a great change of pace!

Rumor has it that an old buddy of ours may be back pretty soon. I am not able to give a date or release the person’s name at this point but here is a short video of him to give you a little teaser of who we are talking about. Maybe he will see this and post a comment to verify the rumor and maybe give us a date.

With all this rain the dirt jumps are probably pretty beat. I guess this means some street sessions are in order. Here is a video that hopefully will get everyone pump to ride.

Mike Montgomery Edit - Republik Apparel from Republik MTB on Vimeo.

Set the DVR. This Saturday night at 9:00 Central time on MTV2. Red Bull Rampage. This is a great chance to get our sport out to the general public. Tell all your friends and tell them to tell everyone. Who knows maybe this will lead to Slope Style in the next X-Games.

If you are looking at this page you probably already know about the Red Bull Rampage, but if not here is a link to a preview of what you will see. This Event has come back from being discontinued 4 years ago….it’s back BIGGER and BETTER than EVER!!!

This post might not make sense to everyone- some of these are pics from lyriks quoted in rap songs- pics of elusive animals in the Arkansas woods- shows we enjoy and ……..well “other interests”

(Skrilla Fan from Killa Cam)

“Other Interests”

It’s raining and the DJ’s are wet- no one wants to work on the trail- so watch these videos.

http://ride559.com/2009/04/pablo-tafoya-talks-corsair-with-us/

So it’s been a while since we posted some new content. Since the last post, both myself and Kit have bought new hardtails….I needed one WAY more than he did- I was still rockin’ the 5+ year old clapped out STP. I was waiting on Intense to produce the Tazer HT (yeah like that’s happening) and started lusting after the Santa Cruz Jackal after we received our first one for stock here at Competitive Cyclist.com. Also since the last post- we’ve converted Greg to the Darkside- his 20″ is on eBay now and he has Kit’s old (but new at the same time) Transition Bank. Chris bought a broom for the dirt jumps and I used it yesterday to clean up the pumptrack, Jake has ridden pretty regularly at the jumps and pulled a super sick 360 on the super booter. Ryan is still knee deep in construction on his house, and T-Bird has a pretty slick STP now and also landed a backflip on a box jump a couple weeks back. Life’s good what else can you say!?! More later-

E2

So the jumps are still there- although they are still probably pretty beat down from the rain. Yesterday’s post was totally an April Fools joke.

I still need to post up more about this Konig- but in short let me just say that this thing manuals with ease, bunnyhops well, and on our last Urban ride last week that ended up being just me and Chris- the bike had me feeling GREAT!!! I honestly can’t remember the last time I had such an awesome ride- everything was working good and it felt as though the bike and I were one.
Here are couple teaser shots for now- I bought the frame from Doug….yes I like it so much that I had to buy it. I installed a new bar and it’s currently set up single speed- the bike is a blast.

More to come- I promise….I’m about to have much more free time so a complete tear down of the pivot system is in order- stay tuned.

Well boys me and Kit rolled out to the park last night to get in a few jumps before sundown and to show him the trail work we did this weekend. Apparently since we didn’t finish the “Pro Line” as expected IMBA and Ben Blitch had to come level our entire jump park. Needless to say we were f-ing PISSED!!! Sorry to everyone that helped- all of our hard work is gone and been reduced to shapeless dirt now which will soon be totally leveled. It’s about time we try and find another spot to build…..any ideas fellas? Look at the grin on Ben’s face…….WTF!

E2

So I titled this in the words of Big Black because that’s what we did today….we did work son!! I’ll let the pics speak for them selves, but just to let you know- we now have a full on 10-12ft. double on the trail, and 2 new rollers. Thanks everyone who was able to come out and help, it was much appreciated.

E2

So each year the Bike Industry showcases new products. The news usually starts trickling in after the Taipei show. I remember not long ago- maybe 3 years now, I was challenged by Ed from SRAM- not an outright “I challenge you to this or that” but rather once I told him what I was doing he said it would be impossible to put back together. Basically we (Competitive Cyclist)had a customer that was impressed with some of the anodized bits and pieces on Travis’s and my bike. He inquired if it would be possible to disassemble an X.O rear derailleur and have it anodized and put back together. I was definitely up for the challenge since I love to tinker with stuff. I forewarned the customer that I could not guarantee my work would…..well, work once I put it back together. A couple weeks after sending the parts off, they arrived back and it was go time. This was the first X.O I had torn apart and re-assembled, but not the last. After doing a few now, it’s become quite the easy task. SRAM must have taken notice of the finished project and although I received a sort of verbal slap on the wrist, Ed from SRAM actually thought it was a great idea and was impressed. He even sent our shop a few random Bar clamps and X.O thumb paddles for us to have anodized.

I remember for a while when I would call SRAM in Chicago regarding warranty or tech questions and I would mention my name and what shop I was from, the people there would be like “Oh, so you’re the guy who took apart that X.O and had it anodized huh?” “yeah we heard about you in a product meeting recently”. I would get a laugh from it to say the least. Well in 2010SRAM is going to offer their X.O in various colors to feed the hungry masses who are craving something other than silver or black bike parts. Here are a few pics of some of the stuff we worked on before this idea really ever came to light in the eyes of SRAM. Enjoy- Eric “E2″ Easterly

Customer’s first X.O in Blue

His Thumb Paddles:

Jason Nixon from Sicklines X.O rear in Burnt Orange ano courtesy of Tyler Jarosz @ Twenty6:

Custom X.O thumb paddles for Competitive Cyclist.com

And SRAM 2010 product!!

Well so Kit “I can’t leave well enough alone” Williams showed up Saturday afternoon at my house with his cranks from his Transition Double installed on his SS. This set up has been a hot topic for debate as to whether or not the SS with first gen style VPP technology would actually pedal well or not. Basically the general thought on VPP design is that it is designed to pedal well in the middle ring and the big ring as opposed to granny gear. Kit opted to tear down his Double and give this theory a test on his SS. Keep in mind that this was strictly a preliminary test and that much more real world trail riding time is needed to make an accurate judgment one way or another as to if it’s a desirable set up or not. I will say this though- So Far So Good. Around the neighborhood it pedalled much better than expected- and I climbed my yard a couple times (which has stair steps made from landscaping and plenty of roots, and it’s uphill). No noticeable pedal kickback what so ever. Like I said trail time is going to be needed, and ideally a better chainline would be had if running 135mm rear dropouts and rear wheel than his current set-up of Jason Nixon’s old 150mm dropouts off of his beautiful M6 that was seen on sicklines.com. The bike is set up with a Gussett single speed set-up and a Paul Melvin tensioner keeps the chain snug, but allows for a small amount of chain growth as the bike cycles through it’s suspension. More to come soon. For now check out the photos. Later- E2

Stay tuned- there will be more to come- perhaps video even?

We are riding a little DH this weekend at Devil’s Den. We are loading up and leaving at 6:00 (ish for Kit) on Saturday morning. Anyone up for a change of pace from the DJ scene meet us there.

Okay Kit. You are our Transition Bikes MAN. They have just released their newest bike(The Bank). Man this thing is SEXY. How long before we can expect you to be rollin on one? You have to go with the red/white.

When I got to work today and opened my pinkbike account I have a lot more comments on Dylan’s pic than normal. After looking closer I noticed that one of them had 77 comments. I thought that was too many to be a normal day then I thought “POD”. After clicking on the home page button this is the POD for today (Feb 6, 2009)

Pinkbike POD

We met at the quarry this morning for a couple hours to work on the DH/FR trail we’ve been neglecting. We bench cut about another 60ft. or so- the moisture content in the ground was just right for packing the dirt back down after plucking rocks from the trail bed. We built 2 more crib walls out of rock and now we have a nice flowy trail (well except the off camber right hand turn which will soon have a wallride). The trail rolls really nice and allows the rider to maintain much more speed than before to make it up the ladder and off the big boy side. Speaking of Big Boy- Chris obviously had on his big boy pants today and nutted up to the big drop. Congratulations Chris- and he did it on the Nugget! Just goes to show you that once you get it out of your head that bad things might happen, it’s really an easy drop and in my opinion looks way cool in photos. Watch for Chris’s review of the Nugget coming soon.

After cutting trail it was time to ride- after a couple practice drops off of the smaller side of the ladder it was go time. The Konig did me proud, sailed through the air like a champ and touched down effortlessly 8 ft below. The first drop is a little scary each time- but by the second time it was a cakewalk on this bike. Never before have I jumped on a new bike and felt like the bike was “made” for me, aside from nit-picking the parts spec, the bike is great as is. After everyone sessioned this section we packed up our tools and moved down to the DJ section. The Konig jumps well- if it were a touch lighter (wheels and fork) it would jump great. Enough writing for now- enjoy a couple pics until next time.
E2

Here are a couple of myself on the Corsair Konig

And T-bird even tried her out on the big drop.

I have to post this pic of Chris on the Nugget

Well boys and girls- we’ve finally gotten our dirty mitts on a Corsair Konig. I’ve had my eye on this particular offering from Corsair for the last couple of years. It looks interesting, but not much is available in terms of real world reviews, or action photos….you know testimonials- we hope to help Doug @ Corsair out a bit on this.

The Konig is the Slope Style offering from their line-up. Initial impressions- this bike is sweet, it’s small- has a super low stand over height and from my first neighborhood test ride last night seems to ride/ handle VERY well. When I first sat on the bike- the suspension feel was not too far off from the feel of a single pivot bike. Once pedalling the bike around and sprinting it up my very steep driveway it became apparent that this frame pedals much better than your run of the mill single pivot frame. This biks is simply solid. I glanced down at the linkages to see if there was any visible movement while hammering along- and there wasn’t any. The bike pedals well……very well. In fact- after the drive way assault I headed up the block to get a good sprint going and see how the bike manualed. Now we’ve all heard claims from people stating that thier full suspension bike pedals like a hardtail under load Not neccesarily any brand manufacturers stating this, but countless consumers)…..well I’m hear to tell you that anyone who makes that statement is full of crap- period. Every design will have an inherent amount of suspension movement- unless of course you have the shock aired up WAY beyond the point of getting any sag from the bike. So now back to my manualing experience……since all suspension bikes compress a little under pedal load- it should hold true that as you shift your weight rearward (as if you were leaning back to loft the front wheel) that the bike would compress too…right? Wrong! While that is certainly the case with most ful-sus bikes that I’ve ridden- and I’ve ridden a lot of different designs. Most will squat a bit then settle into the travel making the rider have to really position their bodyweight in a manner so as to not allow the bike to compress any further in order to maintain a manual. Well I will say that this is THE first full suspension design I’ve tried that actually felt like a hardtail when picking the front wheel up at speed and leaning back….no lie! Tomorrow will begin the official testing of this bike at the Argenta Freeride Area. I figure I’m gonna huck her off the 8 footer in the woods and see how she flies- then check the stability of the bike on our skinnies- then a DJ session is in order- this should be fun. Watch for pics and more of this review in the next couple of days.

E2 out-

Alright so it’s been quite a while since we made a new post. This should make Old Man Ryan happy:)

Today was a great day for working and riding…..well okay, it kind of sucked chocolate salty bawls because it was colder than a polar bears toenails! T-Bird was first on the scene this morning at the crack of dawn (9:45a.m.) and made quite a bit of progress cleaning up the big boy line before myself or Chris arrived. By the time I arrived Chris and T-$ had moved onto the beginner table top line and were cleaning up the rutts made by a little man and his Pit Bike (If you’re reading this and you are the guilty party STAY OFF the track). We spent some time tweaking and cleaning up the pumptrack a bit also. We ended up burying about an 8 ft.section of PVC to route some water out of Lake Argenta- it was either that or start stocking the pond with crawfish and catfish- hell, come to think of it, if we did stock it with catfish and charge people to fish there maybe we could afford to buy our own signage! John Crowe if you’re reading this we need signage BAD- people are continuing to ride in wet weather and rutt the place up and 3 wheelers have not been shy about leaving tracks out there either.

The reason I titled this post just 1 beer- well after having a horribly “off” day of riding a week ago Sunday word was that I needed to take it back to the old school and start drinking a beer before riding. You see Travis, Phil and myself used to drink a beer before riding at Fergussens skatepark (R.I.P) whether it was a B to the E (budweisers energy beer stuff) or a 22oz. something or other, we would indulge before a session and it was just enough to get you “loosened up” before hitting the jumps or hurling yourself of of god knows what. Well I took their advice- and guess what…..IT FREAKIN’ WORKED!!! Today was the first day of actually jumping the hardtail and low and behold I actually cleared the entire jump line- not once, not twice but somewhere around ten times- before having to call it quits for the day. I think Chris was a little irritated that I got up on the box and exited safely off of it before he did. Well he ended up giving the Mongoose hell and after several times of getting up the box, he finally dropped the thing and all was good after that. So this was one of the best days riding the jumps that either of us have had since completing the jump line. I think it goes without saying that T-BIrd was smooth a butter- as usual. Kit was M.I.A. and still isn’t able to jump since he has a busted up shoulder and I’m sure Ryan got quite a bit of work done on the house. This weekend is supposed to be nice, so maybe we can get out in full force and perform a bit more maintentance and get some good riding in as well.

E2

Did I mention T-Bird pulled a tuck no-hander on the Super Booter?

E2

Chris

I went out to the park today to do some riding since I had a rare day off during the week. When I pulled up I saw Mother Nature had been doing some work. Lucky for us she did not make any changes to anything that we had put work into.

We’ve talked about highly anticipated products before. Hardly anything has had us biting our collective nails as much as the Truvativ HammerSchmidt. That’s the beauty of the bike industry — once we think we’ve seen the best and brightest, and that technology has taken us to the top, along comes a new model year and a slew of hot new products. Thankfully, some schools around the country, and the world for that matter, are graduating industrious and enterprising designers and engineers. HammerSchmidt is the first of its kind to hit the beaches here in the states, one of a group of at least three separate gearbox cranksets being talked about in the industry. “No way, Schlumpf has had one for sale for some time now,” you might be yelling at us, but who the hell has ever heard of Schlumpf? None of the people we ride with, nobody we know, and who knows…any U.S. distributors? Bionicon and Nicolai have the B-Boxx in the works, but what have they got…a nice drawing, an entertaining and informative website, and a few handmade prototypes? Enter the global powerhouse of SRAM. They have displayed that sometimes it pays to have vast resources to draw from in order to develop great ideas into actual production componentry.

The Truvativ HammerSchmidt has changed the way we think about front derailleurs. We don’t need ‘em. We made up our minds about three seconds into our test ride across the shop floor.

Read the rest of our review here…

This is the worst website in the whole world!

We, the members of the AFS, have a lot to be thankful for in this time of the season. We have great friends and families, most of us ate a whole bunch of Turkey and stuffing, and we ride cool bikes. Life is good. But as we begin to ride the lines in our new dirt jump park, we are also very thankful for the serendipitous occurrence of the National Trails Symposium here in Little Rock this year. Without it, and Scott from IMBA wouldn’t have made the trip, visualized our park as part of a demonstration model for the event, and hired Ben Blitch from B4 Consulting and Construction to come and help us get it on the ground.

So to all involved…thank you very much for the assistance. The AFS promises to be a good steward to our gift.

Yo check it out. A Truvativ HammerSchmidt is in our possession. Eric and I work at Competitive Cyclist. Sometimes we get to benefit from the company’s resources and get our hands on some really sweet new toys! so to make a long story short, one of these highly sought after units is at the AFS world headquarters. We have examined it at length. A full and thorough testing will be done on it. We’ve poked it, prodded it, and completely disassembled it. We even gave it the anal probe, though results from that test were inconclusive.

Here is the HammerSchmidt bolted onto Kit’s most favorite bike in the whole world…an ‘06 turner RFX!

I gave it a sturdy test. No problem with a 36″ drop to flat, but we didn’t expect it to blow up. This thing is built to take a serious beating. We have the freeride version. Expect a full blown technical review soon…

-Ryan Wednesday’s Chief Technical Consultant

We are boys who like their toys. I’m not sure if we’ll ever grow up. To that end, we love to get our hands on new bikes and bike stuff to check out. We have an ‘09 Mongoose Nugget on the way. If you’ve visited our site before, you’ll know that we have just completed a huge three week push to get our dirt jump park onto the ground. Now that we have plenty of dirt, we need to finish it off — ride, dial, ride, tune, repeat. It looks like the forecast is callin’ for some serious fun. What would be better than riding a brand new DJ/slopestyle park? Doing it on a brand new bike is what comes to mind!

Here’s a video that Mongoose made to show the virtues of the Nugget. Hmmm, it’s pretty good. When we get the bike we’ll do an in-depth product review. Check back here or the reviews category for the down low…

-Ryan

I almost titled this one “we dig better”, but didn’t want to offend anyone;). It was going to be all in fun(Ben). Long story short we made a tremendous amount of headway Sunday after the ground dried from being saturated the last few days. The volunteers didn’t come out in full force as on the previous week, but we made due with what we had. This marked the last day of using the donated equipment and with much work still needing to be done we all pulled together and marched forward. Kit and myself visited the site Saturday after the National Trail Symposium (which was pretty cool by the way). On first glance of our park after being beaten by the rain it was a little discouraging to look at all our hard work being literally washed away. It was obvious that we were going to need to due some more figuring of the drainage issues we’d encountered. We spent the better part of the day out there- some of us (Ryan) spent ALL day out there. Ryan can freakin’ work the hell out of an excavator- Kit and I joked about how he may have been born in one! We got the final shaping done on the Expert Jump line and Kit and Mark made a picture perfect ” Super Booter” after topping all the clay with a nice layer of top soil. Chris was busy on the skid steerer making good use of the top soil from our previous jump location. I think all in all this was one of, if not our most productive day we’ve had since this project began. Thanks to all the volunteers who have shown up so far and to those who stuck it out with us yesterday in order to get as much done as we possibly could before giving Andy back his machines. Enjoy the new pics.

E2

I jetted a little early today to pick up kids and make time to write this post while everyone is still out there diggin’ and getting this Park underway. There is still plenty of work to be done and volunteers are starting to come in larger numbers now. Yesterday’s turnout saw somewhere around 25 people(maybe more?) who came out and helped shape jumps for the beginner table tops and intermediate roller tables. Whole Hog Cafe catered some truly awesome Bar-B-Que- so a BIG thanks to them for feeding all the hungry workers. After quite a bit of raking, digging, shoveling and tamping it was ride time- the beginner table line is now packed down great and rolls FAST, it ends with a slight hip landing into a left hand exit berm- and man is that berm fun! The park is starting to take shape the way Ben said it would- and over the next three days the expert and pro lines will start to develop. The park promises to cater to riding smooth so you can nail everything, it’s all tight and twisty. You can see from the photos that there is no shortage of berms- in fact it seems like after every second or third jump you are railing a berm. The box jump should be done and ridable today- it is going to make a very nice feature to separate our park from Slaughter Pen Hollow up in Bentonville. Seems like the Arkansas riders have raised the bar for what can be done park building wise. We will now have 2 venues to choose from for getting your fat tire jumping/riding fix all within about 3 hours of each other. Perhaps even hold a small series soon of Slope Style competitions. Saturday night ended with an outdoor viewing of the Latitudes movie- good stuff. I’m sure Ryan will fill you guys in on the haps from the rest of today- for now I’m out.

E2

Ben and Jen have been rockin out at the site for a couple of days now. Chris, Eric and I played in the dirt today as well. While I dug with the excavator, Eric prepped the site with a box blade and pushed away any junky leftovers from the city burn pile. Meanwhile, Chris started placing dirt for the beginner roller line, finish berm, and tabletop jumps after Ben pinned the locations on the ground. Jen dug an enormous hole in our dirt, creating a nice, loose material supply. Ben has finalized our design and now, just needs to get it painted on the ground. We’re super pumped about the next two weeks or so.

It’s been pretty dry lately, so we stirred up some dust!

Here’s the man, Ben Blitch. He digs good…

Chris placed dirt for the beginner line berm.

There will be some hucker lines on that steep stuff back there!

Ben has a website. He builds trails, pumptracks, and dirt jump areas all over the country. Check it out at http://benblitch.blogspot.com/

Don’t forget, we need as much help as we can get. The AFS welcomes anyone to come to our workparty weekend. See the work party post for info.

We want to do more of this!!!

The Arkansas Freeride Society will be having a work party weekend on November 8th & 9th from 10:00am – 4:00pm. It will be held at the construction site for the dirt jump portion of Argenta Freeride Area in Burns Park. Work will consist of final raking, shaping, and packing of dirt jumps and a pump track. We’ll also be seeding and strawing portions of the park.

The AFS will provide food and drinks for all volunteers. There will be a prize raffle for bike industry T-shirts and merchandise. On Saturday night, we’ll have a premiere showing of New World Disorder 9, the latest and greatest mountain-bike freeride film from Video Action Sports.

Volunteers will only need to bring themselves, and a good attitude. We’ll ask that everyone wear closed-toe shoes and perhaps work gloves. If volunteers would like to bring their favorite shovel, hard rake, or tamper, that would be great. Please remember to label all personal tools with names, so they are easily recognizeable.

Don’t forget to bring your bikes! We want to work hard, but we also want to play on our new dirt jumps and pumptrack!

The Argenta Freeride Area is located at the base of the Quarry in Burn’s Park. From I-40 take exit #150/Burns Park exit, go south on Championship Dr. towards the river, through the golf course to the T in the road. Turn right at the T and drive west towards the Burns Park Soccer complex. Look for signs indicating the entrance to the bottom of the Freeride/quarry area on your right.

For more information, please call Ryan Johnson at 479-366-7926 or see updated info in our forum/work days

Attention anyone who is currently, has before, or might want to ride with us in Little Rock, Arkansas at the Argenta Freeride Area. We are at a crossroads in our drive for a complete and well-rounded freeride area in Burns Park. IMBA (you should join) is sending a contractor our way to build us a dirt-jump park! He’ll be here on October 28th and work through November 14th or so. We need volunteers who can wield a shovel and/or a rake. IMBA and the City of North Little Rock are both great partners for us and we want to thank them with a generous dose of hard labor to get this thing built.

We have the design in hand, and are very fired up about how things will finally look at the park. For more information…contact

Kit Williams
kit.willi@gmail.com
501-690-7771

Ok this guy’s back from the wilderness…after a few months layoff, officially regarded as “healing” time from a suicide no-hander/pedal-face grind/ankle buster, T-Bag is back! We all know he was actually trying to pick up babes online and started training as a cage fighter. In the end, the AFS is a hard group of folks to beat. As far as social clubs go, we rock!

Anyways, T-Bag is flying in this picture, as you can see. If he was one of those dinosaur/proto-bird creatures, we’d call him Try-anus-osaurus Bird, or T-Bird for short. Just kidding, this is a money shot! I’d give him a dollar right now.

Travis snapped a couple of supermans the other day, so he’s got a few more tricks up his sleeve. For any interested ladies, Travis likes long walks on the beach, and he enjoys curling up with a good book by the fire. Don’t worry ladies, no matter what you heard, T-Bag is all man and did not actually sell his nutsack on E-Bay.

It appears that young Dylan is learning mastery of the basic wheelie. Boy am I glad to see those training wheels gone. Hopefully the old man tossed ‘em in the trash can and they’re long gone by now. It appears in this photo that he wheelies at least as good as Kit Williams.

Dylan got at least two full inches of air out of this wedge ramp at the Jacksonville, AR skatepark.

And finally, here’s Dylan’s signature move… a no foot Codtwister!

Did that hurt?

Alright guys just so we can add some new content to the site- we constructed a Mulch Jump last Sunday- it flows nicely- pops you really controlled into the air. T-Bird was pulling tuck no-handers- and attempting super mans. This jump should help everyone progress at a faster rate as far as comfort in the air goes and ability to learn tricks without much consequence for failing to land the trick. Rumor has it Chris Spann has been spotted and is also rumored to be working on flips- and flairs- can’t wait to see that happen- I might need to bring some toilet paper because if he pulls a backflip I might just crap myself. If weather permits this weekend we’ll try to get some photos of everyone- and I’m going to land a no footed can can soon- I promise.

E2

Today we met up at the AFA to ride with a few guys who have been frequenting our website: Rory- from Little Rock, FalconAR (sorry I’m bad with names man) who came all the way from Dallas- for a wedding but to also get in some local flavor of riding. And Shaun from Russellville all showed up to begin the hot a$$ day with some Dirt Jumping. Roroy broke 3 spokes in his rear wheel so I’m sure after he gets those fixed he’ll be back out to ride with us again. Falcon was pulling some pretty wicked X-ups, and Shaun was trying his hand at the jump zone also. Chris and myself kept working on no-footers, while everyone was wondering where the %@#$ Kit was:), and as always he was fashionably late- AND in true Kit fashion he proceeded to break his bike (that damn dust seal popped out of his lowers again)………later in the day he would also break his chain- oh yeah and that was on a different bike. From the sun beaten jump area we continued up the hill for some riding on the skinnies and under the tree coverage. Next stop was the recently constructed ladder drop into the ravine- everyone enjoyed that section I believe, and after clearing off the nails and randomly nailed in wooden slats which I have NO idea why the hell anyone would be up there trying to build on an already finished project we embarked on. If you are the person who was building please check with us under our “work days” thread in our Forum and we can organize some time to share with you our vision and how the features need to be constructed to ensure safety for everyone- this is NOT a renegade trail so any building which is not cleared with the AFS is definitely not cleared with the city (therefore it’s probably punishable by law) since we are the ones devoting our time and resources to get this project going we would appreciate you contacting us first if you are interested in helping with trail work or maintenance. Not following these rules could certainly ruin a good thing which we have going. Not to mention the written plan of approval we have to submit BEFORE any construction can take place period!

Five members of our AFS crew made the trip to Eureka Springs for the first DH event of the Arkansas racing season. Three of us raced, and two rode for fun. Only Eric had raced downhill before. Kit and I were newbies. Kit and I arrived in time to get plenty of practice runs in on Friday.

Too bad that I had 4 flat tires that slowed down my practice runs. To my credit, only one of them was a pinch. All the rest were punctures from the infamous Boone chert (used by natives for arrowheads, knives, etc.) Anyway, that stuff will fillet your face! It was hot as the blazes of hell on Friday, so it was a bitch to have protective gear on all day.

Kit and I eyeballed the step-down gap for a bit. I watched him hit it once. Someone later asked if Woody and Don had brought the machine up the trail to reshape the landing. The truth is, Kit raked all that gravel smooth with his back. I couldn’t muster the balls to try it. We saw some other dudes make it look easy.

We all rode the big line at the rocky ledge drop.

We sessioned both lines for a bit on Friday and Saturday afternoon. The PTD dudes did a great job crafting a smooth tranny at the bottom of the big line on the left. It actually made it easier and smoother than any of the other lines on the ledges.

Apparently the rock garden is always a crowd favorite. Just kidding…it was a tube eating piece of shit. Maybe I just can’t ride it fast without pinching 2 out of 3 times. Anyway, there was some confusion about a sneak line this year. No worries for us, but a tape change mid-race forced us all through the rock garden of death. It ate my tire, of course, on my second run. Too bad ’cause I felt faster than the early morning run to that point. So…2nd run I flatted at the shithole rock garden and Kit and Eric both took a spill somewhere on the course. Actually, I think Eric just plain fell off his bike, because he was gazing at the beautiful berm right before the finish line. It was love at first sight.

The PTD crew built a sweet finish line double jump.

People were sessioning it all weekend. We saw at least one no-hander during the race. We were stoked just to jump it. The Flat-Tire Downhill was a great race with a great course. We will be looking forward to the Devils Den race coming in September.

Here are the first AFS decals I was able to get cut. They are available in any color and any size and in any quantity. 2 and 3 color decals can be made for an additional charge. They are 100% UV and color fade resistant (can be clear coated). I also have a couple additional designs getting cut this weekend.

The prices are as follows:

Argenta Skull ($5 Large 8.5×6) ($3.50 Small pictured on helmet) - Any color

AFS Skull $3.50 (pictued size)

Lone Skull $3.00 (pictured size)

Website $1.50 (12”)

Send me an e-mail with the details of your order and I will arrange payment and delivery for you asap.
Mark Armstrong
Armstrongfinearts@yahoo.com

Alright everybody, 3 of us met up this morning to finish off the last of the building on stunt #1 (we’ll call it for now). The ladder bridge portion is now complete with 2 optional lines off of the ladder decking and one jump just to the left of the smaller drop. Hopefully in the upcoming weeks we can get out there in full force to begin breaking ground on the rest of the trail. Mark and Chris (spanish) not C2 please get some stickers designed and we’ll all chip in to get the cost covered. Thanks again to John Taylor for supplying more wood for our project- we’re out of all the 2 x 8’s now but we still have some post material so when you get a chance brother we need some more!!!! And John Crow if you read this we could certainly use some city funds for the cost of materials for upcoming segments (as everything has been done out of our pockets so far) so we can get the trail completed by the time the trail symposium rolls around in fall, this should be a real “stunner” when everyone lays their eyes on it! Enjoy- and please ride within your limits.

E2

Eh!! Im a freerider from Ontario but im moving to Arkansas in August, I would love to do anything to promote the freeride scene. I race 4x, dh and compete in slopestyle events. I will be in Arkadalphia going to school and ive already scoped the spots to start building haha, email me at dropinonanorco@hotmail.com

welcome to the dirty south homie. see you soon.

This bike just got built up and is about to be punished on the streets. Full review coming in a few weeks.

Alright everyone- first off BIG thanks to JohnTaylor for getting us some lumber this week. We broke ground this morning on the ravine section of the Argenta Freeride trail. The trail is far from being complete, but after no action had been taken for months on getting the section up and rolling, today we finally got re-motivated and began construction of the ladder section, which, when done, will have 3 separate options to choose. The first section to be completed with ladder decking was the big drop- probably 6ft to a nice transition making it more like an 8ftr or more by the time you land. The second section which should be completed next weekend will be just over handlebar height- maybe 4ft to transition. Last but not least, there will also be a descent size roller/wedge type jump, that could be ridden over by people of all skill levels but it will add a “chicken line” to anyone not quite ready for either of the drops. This is going to be AWESOME when it’s all said and done. Now without further adue, we present to you, the photos of 4 guys one ladder drop.

We also started breaking ground on getting the trail bench cut for the run-up of the jump next to the ladders. Kit came prepared for riding and broke out the Bottle Rocket for a test run on the big drop- it ended well. As always, Kit was fashionably late, so he got razed for a bit…..but he did bring donuts:). It was a good day of working- C2 and myself got there at around 8 o’clock and after being told by race officials that the XC race was going to start in about 15 minutes we got in high gear and started toting wood to the spot for construction.
We did get to see some good stuff from the XC guys- Noah and Drew( racing for Competitive Cyclist) were both racing well, and we even got to see a pretty wicked crash by Rick Sederberg (a customer of ours). I think he was so dazed that when we were asking him if he was alright(granted we were yelling from about 35 yards away through the woods)he thought that he was just hearing voices after getting his bell rung because he never answered:). As always Ryan was a building machine- that boy hammers nails straighter than a robot could- seriously. Good work today fellas and hopefully next week we can get Chris and Joel out to sweat with us and make the rest of this section of trail come together.

MIKE VALLELY - “Drive: White Hall, AR”

Pay Attention.

Short and sweet boys! Today I went out to the trail to break ground on our first ladder drop- hopefully it will be completed within a week. E2

Joel Blatnicky is a guy that I grew up riding with during the early 90’s. Joel rides 20″ flatland and street and we both have a lot of memories from back in the day. The last time we saw each other was at a paintball tournament in Chicago where he was working at Challenge Park. After a few years we got back in touch with each other and after a few months of talking Joel decided to come back to the Dirty South to ride. Asked him why he would want to leave Chicago to come here and it was basically for his friends and the scene he remembers. He just got back from New Orleans where he took third in flatland at the Voodoo Jam. Now he says he’s ready to ride some street.



We’ve been talking about his transition to mountain bikes for a bit and he’s still a little uncertain. But today I got home from work and he was doing no-footed manuals the entire length of the street… on my bike. So it looks as though when I get my new frame he might be inheriting the p-45.

1st ANNUAL AFS BIRTHDAY PARTY!

When: Who the hell knows
Where: Like we can get everyone in one place at the same time

See you there!

Last night we went out on the town. Kylie had gone to Dallas for a baby shower so it was just Dustin and me. We headed down to Brouwer’s, a Belgium Ale house where a Maredsous 10 and a rib eye kicked off the night. After that we headed over to The Dubliner. That was pretty much the beginning of the end… A long and crazy night.

We got up this morning and headed out to South Seatac. It took a bit to find the flow park but we got to ride some fun trails in the process. Once we hit the flow park it was sick. There was definitely a good scene and the riders were very courteous and friendly. The scene at the flow park was almost identical to the old push and posh trails back in the 90’s in Indiana. Everything was chill and everyone was there to enjoy themselves even if they weren’t riding. After watching for a bit I broke out my camera only to find the batteries dead, but luckily I was able to get a few shots with Dustin’s iphone.

The flow park isn’t really all that long, but the runs are cool. The outer parameters consisted of the “beginners” lines with 4ft drops, solid berms, and some decent jumps. The middle lines had the bigger jumps and one big kicker at the end. The was also some random jumps at the bottom. Basically, there wasn’t too much that wasn’t rideable. Simply put, the pictures suck compared to what the place really looks like. To sum it up: downhill, multiple lines, jumps, rollers, drops, berms, and short enough to session all day from top to bottom. The flow park really wasn’t so much of a trail system as much as it consisted of multiple lines and combinations, which in my opinion made for a better time. Kit would have absolutely loved this place. One thing cool about the jumps is that unlike steep dirt jumps, the jumps were more “flowy” allowing you to float as high as you wanted and come in to a smooth tranny only to go into a drop or berm or jump. All of the jumps were basically, logs and rocks with dirt covering them. I don’t think the park was overly planned as far as design but every part was put to good use.

After a day of riding we came back to the apartment, then headed to an awesome pizzeria. The food here is wonderful. Then we headed over to Gas Works park to check out the city and chill out. Today was the first day it didn’t rain and the weather was beautiful. Since I have been here the temp hasn’t reached 60 degrees. I could definitely live here in the summer months, not too sure about the winter. Catching a plane at 6am to head back to the dirty south. As usual the trip was over too soon but a blast. Seattle has become one of my favorite cities. Next time we are hitting Whistler. Dustin dislocated his rib last month but rode as much as he could. Sucks to go home but anyway. Thanks to Dustin and Kylie for the hospitality and the good time. I’ll be back before the end of the summer. It was good to hang out with my best friend again do some riding and just enjoy myself.

What I learned about Seattle:

• The city is very dynamic
• The people can’t drive, especially the women on the cell phones
• One minute it rains, the next its dry, one minute its cold, the next its warm
• There is a lot of cool buildings and tons of places to go, but its a lot different than other cities, big sense of community
• The pretty girls don’t come out until the weather is nice
• Someone might try to steal your teeth
• There is a lot of coffee and a lot of beer
• Everyone rides a bike
• Most of the riders are really cool nad helpful
• People really do not pay attention
• The food is good except for the Mexican
• The riding is great, but that was expected

E2, thanks again for letting me borrow the Intense. Its boxed up and ready to come home. I even left some northwest dirt on it for you.

Woke up. Went and ate some damn good food. Dustin picked up a fish eye. Checked out a skate demo at Green Lake. Came back, went riding. Left the camera. It rained. People in Seattle cannot drive. I miss the girls back home.

Woke up this morning to some more rain, temp was really nice though. We headed out for Transition around 10:30. The drive was a little over an hour and a half but being able to see some of Washington outside of Seattle was nice for a change. Washington is truly a beautiful state and the drive seemed a lot shorted than it was.

We met up with the Transition crew at a Mexican restaurant called Chihuahuas. Ok…. now I think E2 would agree with me on this. The seafood in AR isn’t anywhere near as good as the seafood in WA. But, the Mexican food in WA…. you get the point. A few people ended up with a case of “chihuahuas”. E2 would have liked it though. We hung and ate and got to know the crew. Talked to Kevin for and bit with Mike and Kyle chiming in. To give you an idea of Mike and Kyle together, its the same as Kit and E2 together. A good time.

We left the restaurant and went to Haggens or some grocery store I had never heard of, but it had a nice selection of beer. Without finding any Zima on the shelves……. Kyle grabbed the Pabst and Mike grabbed the Lemonade and it was on to Transition.

We drove up to the Transition headquarters and the music was quickly turned on, beers were passed out and Metzger took off with the tramp bike. We played around on the trampoline for a bit then went inside. We hung out with the guys for a while as the mood began to chill out and people were getting back to work. After that we shook hands and rolled out. Special thanks to those guys for having us. It was really cool to see Mike and meet the whole crew, plus see the place.

Once we got back we chilled out for a bit and watched TV. I took a quick power nap and then we got ready to go hit up the Colonnade. We rode for a while and had a blast. You would just have to ride it. A few spots were a wet and a sketchy, but there was plenty that was good to ride. We dropped in on single track and it was fun, but the ladder to the drops and then the tables…. and then the wall… It does end quick since its not a trail, but that makes it that much more fun to session. You can just keep hitting a section and then move to the next.

Tomorrow we are heading out to South Seatac. Everyone keeps asking why we aren’t going to Whistler… but I just didn’t want to spend two days of my vacation driving, plus Dustin is recovering from a dislocated rib… I know it would have been awesome, and thats why I’m coming back in a month or two. Anyone in?

Last night I was able to get some good sleep. The apartment was a bit hot so I asked if I could turn on the air only to find out that people in Seattle don’t have air conditioners. But once the screen was open on the balcony it was lights out. Woke up this morning around 9. Ate some breakfast and headed out. There was a lot of rain today and we were waiting on E2’s Intense so we went and got some coffee and then rolled out to the I-5 Colonnade.

Dustin’s Bottle Rocket

This is one sick ass bottle rocket.

I-5 Collonade

One word: DAMN. This has to be one of the sickest mountain bike parks. First off, its in the middle of the city. Second, it built under an overpass and stays dry. And last its lit up. I can’t wait to ride this place. There is a little bit of everything here. (Without getting into too much detail, check out the flickr set). I really wish that I had come when all of the new stuff was finished. There is going to be a nice set of gapped doubles and a crazy rollercoaster bridge. Like I said just check the pics. However, I dont think any of the pics are going to do justice to anything I have see so far.

Green Lake

After we left the colonnade we went over to Green Lake. The best part is that they have 7-11’s here so I was able to get my first slurpee in years. Hell yeah! Once we got to Green Lake the rain started up but we walked over to the dirt jumps anyway. This parks has some very nice dirt jumps sitting right next to an awesome skate park. Kit would throw a fit. So far everything I have seen has been built with precision. Check the pics for more.

Tacos!

Once we got back to the apartment, we picked up E2’s Intense and I started putting everything together. The more I put his bike together I kept craving tacos for some reason. So Dustin whipped up some turkey tacos and we had some Sol cerveza’s. Special thanks to E2 for loaning me this bike.

Thats it, we are about to go hit up some urban stuff so this is all I’m going to write. Check out the flickr sets for all of the pics.

Hadn’t had much sleep the whole week coming up to this trip. Scheduled to leave at 6:45am, I was exhausted the night before doing some last minute packing. At 12:15am I received a call from American Airlines that my flight had been canceled and rescheduled for 2:55. This was a blessing for the fact that I would actually get some sleep.

The flight from Little Rock to Dallas was good and I was able to catch a nap. However the flight from Dallas to Seattle was a different story. Full plane, no empty seats and I sat directy in front of the devil’s only child who continuously screamed and yelled the entire flight. Not like a baby gets upset, like an undisciplined kid who wants attention…. Then add the war between me and the guy next to me who for some reason refused to keep his elbows off of the armrest and in my side…. but anyway.

I got here, got some sleep, and now we are waiting on E2’s Intense to show up so we can go ride. Looks like a lot of rain for the weekend, but I guess thats normal here. The nice thing is that the high today is 55. A nice change from Arkansas weather.

Dustin and Kylie

When it comes to bike set up everyone has their own preference. As for me, I guess I’m a bit more particular about certain things than some. For my full suspension rig I turn to E2, Ryan and Kit for their input. These guys have the technical stuff down regarding leverage ratios, suspension set up and what works. As for my hardtail, thats a different story.

I originally had an 06 Specialized P-3. I set it up about as common as you would see one with 26” wheels. Nothing special about it until after a few rides being unseasoned I fractured my elbow doing 360s at a skatepark. After that I stuck to full sus’s. Plus me and that P-3 had bad JuJu. Then about a year ago all of us started riding more street, which for me was a blessing. I love street and actually prefer it to a lot of types of riding. But there is also a reason for that….

I started racing BMX in 6th grade and then went on to freestyling and eventually became a street rider up through college. Then as the scene here dissipated my riding slowed and I got into tournament paintball for the next 7 years. I rode a bit of XC for a while and eventually I was sucked into freeriding. Although I do enjoy XC riding, its not something I can do a lot of. Basically, I get bored. So then came the P-3 and you know the rest.

Last year E2 was generous enough to let me ride his STP for a while and I fell in love with that bike. His STP is truly a fun bike to ride. As it got closer for me to build my hardtail (ie: get the money) I strayed a bit away from the rest of the pack on what I intended to build. That being said, this is my bike and this is why it is set up the way it is.

Regardless of the fact that I am indecisive, I can hold out until I get exactly what I want. Sometimes I change bike parts like I change my clothes… Searching for that perfect set-up to fit my riding style. It took my a while to build this bike deciding on exactly what I wanted and knowing why I wanted it. Originally it was full build front and rear brakes and some other stuff….. that was then,

Frame: Identiti P-45 - 24” Specific

I ordered this frame from Chainreactioncycles.com. Identiti is a British company that makes some cool stuff and at the time this was THE frame for me. First off, chainstay length: 14.75”. This is extremely short. Why? The shorter the rear end the less weight is placed behind the center of the bike and the leverage on the axle from pulling on the handlebars is much less than a longer bike. This makes the bike very quick on spinning 180s and 360s. It also makes the bike very easy to manual. So much to the fact that everyone who rode it in the beginning flipped the bike out on a manual attempt. And I will admit that it was a bit tricky at first to ride from E2’s STP, but the STP feels a lot longer now.

Top tube length: 21.75” effective. Once again, short. I am 5′10” with a 30” inseam and for me the bike fits perfect. Yes, the cockpit is a bit smaller. Whats so good about it? Once again, this is shortening the wheel base, easier to spin. Keeping you weight over the front of the bike during barspins is a lot easier as well. Do I ever hit my toe on the tire? No and the seat is no where near touching the bars.

Headtube angle: ? This one i’m not really sure about. The bike has a “recommended” suspension between 81mm and 100mm. I run a set of Pikes at 95mm. What I can say though is that it is steep making the bike steer very quick. Anyone used to riding a more slacked headtube angle would call this bike squirrelly. However an angle like this works very well for rolling out of 180s or half cabs. Barspins seem a bit easier as well.

Now here is the two big ones. I’ll catch hell for this.

The frame runs on v-brakes only. “OMG! You can’t run discs? V-Brakes suck!” Nope. “Why would they make a frame like that?” Because the rear dropouts are set up for a 14mm axle. “WTH? What does that have to do with the brakes?” The frame was set up to run a 110mm wide 14mm axle hub. If you don’t know, this is a standard BMX hub. And as for the brake issue… Discs and pegs don’t get a long. Oh shit. There, I said the four letter word: “pegs”. Pegs are ghey.

So the rear end of this frame runs a BMX hub, 14mm dropouts, and will only accept a v-brake. Why would anyone want that? For me there are two reasons. First, pegs. Yes, I ran one on the left. Did I use it, yes. Did I like it, yes. However, I did eventually remove it and there is another reason for that aside from no one wanted to stick around at a spot I was grinding…

Rear Hub: KHE Reverse Freecoaster

If you do not know what a freecoster is then today is your lucky day. Long story short, I can roll backwards without pedaling. The hub basically has a clutch which disengages as the bike rolls back so you roll backwards as long as you want, or in my case as long as you can and you don’t have to pedal at all. What is the point of this? This opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Without getting into it, just watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuLyDJCZqi8. And yeah its a BMX rider. He is also the one responsible for the design. Another thing about this hub is that I run a 9t or 11t cog. Both are tiny and carry a low profile which allows for a smaller chainwheel.

Drivetrain: Deity Vendetta Cranks

Nothing to say here. Strong as hell. Sexy. And light as far as chromoly cranks go.

Pedals: Atomlab AirCorp

I had a pair of these years ago and loved them. They are very thin profiled and very wide. I’m flatfooted and have wide feet, plus I like a grippy pedal. Currently I have all of the pins in the pedals with 4 syncros mental razor pins on the inside of each pedal… thank god for shin pads.

Sprocket: Odyssey MDS (Million Dollar Sprocket) 25t

This thing is bulletproof. A small, lightweight sprocket with a built in bashguard.

Chain:

The front and rear chainwheels both take 1/8th “ chains. Originally it was a KHE chain. Broke it. Now its some KMC hollow bolt chain. Much lighter.

Wheels: Rhyno Lite 24s with Kenda K-rads.

Rear hub is the freecoaster, Front hub is a Marzochii 20mm for the forks. Nothing special. The Kenda K-rads are simply good cheap tires. As for the rims, the Rhyno Lites are lightweight and solid. Yes, there are stronger wheelsets. I choose these because of weight savings and the fact that I know I am hard on my rims, especially the rear and I would feel better replacing an affordable rim than if I destroyed an expensive one. Did I mention they’re light?

Forks: RS Pike 454’s

Rock Shox Pikes. I love these forks. Extremely light. 95mm-140mm of travel. Currently I run a heavier spring for a stiffer ride. I have the forks locked out on every ride, with the gate adjusted so that they stay rigid until impact. Having the front end rigid helps eliminate the front end sucking up a transition allowing you to get maximum pop. Having the gate set right allows you to land with a cushy front end, For me its a win/win situation and my wrist never hurt.

Seat: Macneil Pivitiol with post

Now here is something not many mountain bikers have seen. A pivitol seat has no guts. There is an insert on the top of the saddle where you insert an allen wrench and one bolt connects the seat to the post. The benefits: the seat and post together weigh in at 1.16lb. The seat is tough and stays put on the post. Macneil was the first company to do this and owns the patent. The cool thing about Macneil is that they are the only company making pivitol posts in a range of sizes to fit mountain bikes. Just recently Inspired Bicycles is starting to use this design for their trials bikes.

Headset: FSA Pig Unsealed

Normally I would say a headset is a headset. But in this case I will say that I run an unsealed headset for the simple fact that unsealed bearings spin faster. IE: barspins and such.

Stem: Deity 25.4

Once again strong, lightweight and sexy.

Bars: Blk Market BadaBing! 3”rise

I run a standard 25.4 bar. Until I break or really bend a set, I will continue to use that size vs an OS. For me there is personally no point. I will say that I have been picky about my bars. This is the third set on the bike, but I think I have finally found what I wanted. Originally I ran Deity bars. It wasn’t until I got to ride Kit’s 3” SIN bars that I had to have a 3” rise. Why a 3” rise? For me, a 3” rise bar is easier to control when pulling up the front end on bunnyhops and manuals. They also allow for a good height without having to stack the hell out of your stem. For an urban bike they also feel more natural in the cockpit. The second set of bars I had were AtomLab Pimp bars with a 3” rise. I really liked these bars. They feel great. The reason I swapped them for the Blk Markets was the weight. Chromoly bars are a lot heavier than aluminum and I went for the lighter of the two. As for cutting my bars I run all of my bars at 25” wide. Not too wide and not too short, but good for barspins and still having good leverage for pulling up.

Grips: ODI Longnecks with plastic bar ends

I have ran these grips almost 10 years of my time on a bike and I can’t run any other grip. They are soft and cushy and LONG. I like the length of the grips for any trick I let go of the bars on. Having that much more to grab back on to is what I like. Plus you can run your hands in or out on the bars depending on what you are about to do. As for the plastic bar ends: weight. I will explain the weight thing in a bit.

Brakes: Avid Single Digit 7 with Avid Speed Dial 7 lever.

Good brake. Works good and is lightweight. As far as the disc vs rim brake debacle: My v-brakes work just as well as any disc in the application that I am riding which is street. V-brakes also allow for much softer feathering on manuals than discs. Simplicity that works.

The Weight Issue:

I have never been a weight weenie about my bikes, until now. Now I’m not going to go buy ti bolts or anything but I am weight conscious of my hardtail. The reason is for the tricks I like to do and want to learn. Tailwhips, 360 bunnyhops, bunnyhop barspins, etc. The less you are throwing around the easier. Plus its going to be less exhausting. That reason alone has a big impact on my set up. There are some areas however that I will not sacrifice for weight, that being my pedals, cranks and stem. Any part of my bike that is directly connected to my body, ie grips and pedals I am very particular. I like a certain feel under my feet and in my hands. As for cranks, I broke a set back in the day, and I don’t want to do it again.

Whats next?

Well from where the bike started out to where it is now is pretty significant. It was a full build in the beginning and has gone through the following changes: front brake removed, handlebars swapped twice, seat and post swapped, peg removed, broken chain and some small adjustments here and there. Unfortunately, its time for the P-45s retirement. At least from me. And why? LOL The P-45 is a 6.8lb frame. The original build on the bike came in at almost 34lbs. The current build is right at 30lbs. There are only a few more changes in components that I can make that would have a significant impact on the weight… now its time for the frame to go. However, the weight is not the only issue with the frame. I really don’t like the high top tube anymore. I don’t even try no-cans on it. Not that I can do them, but I trip over the top tube doing them in a parking lot, go figure.

My next frame will be an NS Capital. This frame has very similar specs to the P-45 in terms of 24” wheel specific, 14.75” stays, 21.75” top tube, v-brake only and a 100mm x 14mm rear end. The key differences being the seat tube is less than 12” verses the 14” seat tube on the P-45 making the top tube much lower. The headset is integrated and the bottom bracket is spanish. The seat clamp is integrated into the frame also. And the weight: 5.2lbs. Very nice for a chromoly frame. Hopefully I can get the bike down to sub 29lbs. Not sure if its possible, but if 29lbs is as light as I can get it, thats still pretty damn light for the set-up. More than likely I will be replacing the stem with the new Deity Fathom stem as soon as its available. The MDS Sprocket will also be swapped for a Deity Termite 25t sprocket.

Where and why:

Now before I write this I guess I’ll put a disclaimer on the fact that this is what I think. If you disagree thats your issue. The urban (as well as dirt jumping) scene in mountain bikes is about to undergo a serious surge. In Europe there are new companies popping up focused only on the hardtail market. Companies like DMR and Atomlab have claimed their stake in the market by producing some innovative and stout products. Basically, the market is starting to boom, but more in other parts of the world than the US. Running rigid forks on a 24” bike, pegs, and even riding brakeless is not uncommon. Sound odd? Look at a BMX bike, then go watch BMX street videos on youtube. For urban mountain biking to go the direction of a BMX style is nothing short of dirt jumping on a mountain bike being a direct derivative of BMX dirt jumping. Mountain bikes didn’t start out to do what BMX bikes do. But the progression has been natural. Keep in mind I am referring more to urban riding and dirt jumping. All of the North Shore stuff is in and of its own….. even if a few barspins and tailwhips are thrown in at a slopestyle event…. hmmmmm. Regardless of how you may feel about 20” bikes, they are the predecessors of urban and dirt jump freeriding. And before you say “why don’t you just get a 20″ bike”, i’ve been there, done that, and i personally love the feel of a mountain bike… even if it is rolling on 24″ wheels with bmx components.

Here are some companies you may or may not have heard of:

Leaf Cycles
Last Bikes
NS Bikes
Duncon
DMR
Simtra
Union Street
Static Bikes
Flow Bikes
Halo
Gusset

Here are links to the parts manufactures on some of the parts mentioned:

Identiti P-45
KHE Reverse Freecoaster
Deity Vendetta Cranks
Atomlab AirCorp Pedals
Million Dollar Sprocket
Macneil Pivitol Seat and Post
Deity Stem
BlkMarket Bars
ODI Longnecks
NS Capital