Whatever your take on motorsports, it is pretty hard to deny these guys can ride. Even for mountain bike geeks like us this stuff is very inspiring. Talk about making it look easy! I bet everyone that rides something two-wheeled can learn from watching these guys (and even skiers and snowboarders would probably learn a thing or two from motocross riders I guess?)

Too bad I forgot my own camera - I had to loan my father-in-law’s snapshot pocket cam. It was quite difficult to capture the action as its best but I think I managed half-decently with few shots.

The Finns did well in the event but the Belgian Sven Breugelman took the victory. Antti Pyrhönen had to settle for the second place and enduro specialist Juha Salminen was fifth. Check out the results and some more info here. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. The shots are from the first start of the MX3 (500cc) class.

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Skinny guys wearing spandex and riding wrong bikes with too narrow tires on the trails?

(Source: http://cxmagazine.com/ )

Well, that’s what I also thought a few years ago.

But what’s really the point of the whole madness? (btw. check the linked thread - great info and interesting debat.)

Not that there should be a point for all things at all actually…but I still tried to list some, let’s see if anyone agree?

1. Like riding a single speed bike it is a new challenge and makes the same old trails feel new again.

2. Cyclocross bike is FAST. If you have only mountain biked you’d be suprised how fast the bike goes on smooth trails and gravel roads. You’d be also suprised to notice that you don’t need all the modern gimmicks on all the trail sections at all (this depends on the trail of course, but generally cx bike is an eye-opener for sure).

3. Cyclocross bikes make great commuters and tourers generally (well, depending on the model of course, some are designed strickly for competitions but frames like my Surly Cross Check are real all-around machines)

4. You have a pseudo road bike, just swap skinnier tires. Yes, it will never be as efficient as a real road bike but just so much more versatile.

5. You learn to ride. Cyclocross as a sport is much older than mountain biking. People have kicked some serious ass on these bikes for ages…and they didn’t whine about suspension set-ups back then (see the link here for more info: http://www.blackbirdsf.org/cx/)

(Source: http://www.blackbirdsf.org/cx/

Bonus: Try bunny hop like this if you can!

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In May I wrote a post about how short skis suck long skis truck...

For this guy the long sticks (and fully wooden skis) are still a serious business!

(Source: http://www.lightningboards.com/)

Whoa. Those skis remain the ones Marko described in his (very cool btw.) post about (ancient) skiing in Altai Mountains, Siberia. Talk about old school!

However, lightning skis are not all about those Sondre Norheim replicas (check the link for more info on that!). They have a pretty variable line of fully wooden skis with modern shapes (even very innovative ones!), made of straight grain heartwood ash. And using polycarbonate edges and DuraSurf sintered bases. If you want something totally different and unique this is a ski for you!

There is some talk about the skis in the TGR forums (go to “tech talk” and search for “lightning” or “lightning skis”). There is also someone mentioning how he immediately broke a pair. Anyway, that won’t (necessarily) mean anything general and I guess these are not ment to be for everyday, hard and aggressive skiing in the end? (that’s my guess but you won’t see lots of fully wooden skis in World Cup DH or racing in general, whether alpine or freesking, heh)

Still, that said it seems that the skis do fine in soft snow and in the feet of a skilled skier. The “Ultimate” model has a pretty nice, powder specific shape too (the video makes me drool even more the Armada JP vs. Juliens mentioned in this earlier post - the shapes have quite alot of similarity!).

Don’t you hate videos like this in August?

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Whoa, first week after the holiday at work…that is always a shock, a real shock.

We just wondered with Marko how it would be nice to take a few months off and just walk and bike in Val de Núria or any beautiful location like that - maybe just add a few blog entries once in a while but no other duties even closely reminding of work…(you can alway dream, right?)

So, I will be brief with words this time, as I’ve noticed I still got some good ones from the trip (see first part of the story here).

Animals and nature in general are cool anyway (and I need a beer right now)…

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Back in business again.

I am still in a very lazy summer mood. So let’s start with posting some pics from the summer holiday. While in Spain, Costa Brava, for two weeks with the family I didn’t manage to do much of anything actually (besides the obvious laying on the beach, eating & drinking, sleeping and taking care of the kids). I was planning to do some mountain biking though - the area has alot of trails and even a mtb center in the city of Castell d’Aro. But the excess heat stopped me doing any biking; the temparatures of well over 30+ Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) were just too much for me (Gotta respect the local roadies on their training loops with no problems at all…seems like the heat isn’t that bad if you are used to it).

Anyway, one day I went to do some hiking in the Pyrenees with a friend. We had a great day and got some ok pictures too.

This place, Val de Núria, is pretty easy to reach from Costa Brava and Barcelona area (check the previous link for some information and driving direcions). One can drive to the village of Ribes de Freser and take the Rack-Railway up to the Monastery in Val de Núria, which is the beginning point for numerous walks. Ribes de Freser even has a nice climbing/mountaineering/(randonnee) skiing shop, Ski & Mountain. The town itself was pretty cozy and the railway up to the monastery had probably the most dramatic views of the whole trip (it was actually mellower, more rolling up in the mountains). In wintertime Val de Núria also has a small scale  ski resort, which seemed not too exciting but the randonnee/ski touring possibilities around the valley should be worth checking out if the snow is good! I bet absolutely no crowds chasing the powder out there?

From the monastery in Val de Núria (in about 2000m above the sea level) we took the medium-level walking route to the top of  Puigmal (2913m according to local map) , which was pretty easy and got just enough challenge to our lazy bodies (which were just used to the heat and easy beach life). Btw. the Monastery has some interesting history / legends around it…Get yourself e.g. a  Lonely Planet Spain and read more if you’re interested.

Ok, no more words this time. Pics tell the story much better anyway…

Beautiful, isn’t it?

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Time to take some time off the internet and blogging.

While preparing for the holidays and free time, check these posts older from this summer:

Marko wrote an excellent article (with videos) about B.A.S.E jumping icon Jeb Corliss a while ago, read it HERE.

Mountain biking is clearly our number one summer activity, so we’ve made quite a lot of content relating to it lately. Some posts here I (subjectively) rank valuable/informative (especially if you have any interest on mountain biking in Finland):

Tahko MTB Event 2008 - Finland’s biggest Endurance race/event (with cool pics I got from a fellow Finnish rider, those are worth of a look at least)

Riding Pics from Heinola, Finland - well, this post is kind of unfinished and the pics are not action ones (as I was riding solo), but IMHO the images just tell quite well about the riding / nature here…

Riding my Fully Rigid Singular Swift SS - An article I wrote to Made-to-Order Bikes site…check out this cool site (and thanks again for Carl to letting us to promote our little ramblings on their site, heh. Anyway, I also hope this article will be helpful/inspirational for some other riders out there. At least for me riding a fully rigid bike was a nice and teaching experince.)

Ok, for some obligatory freeride stuff I chose THIS POST where Marko is remembering some older bike flicks, riding in the Swiss Alps and the amazing skills of Bobby Root. Pretty cool stuff for sure.

Our featuring writer from Greece, Andreas Cavalieros, posted some information and tips on mountain biking in Rhodos Island. One of our most informative and interesting articles for sure (again in my humble opinion).

If you like some more water sport oriented material, take a look of this post from Andreas too:

How about windsurfing this time?

And while on the subject of Southern Europe, Marko wrote an article about very interesting site in Spain:

El Caminito Del Ray - The King’s Pathway

That’s a nice ending to this post actually - as I’m off to Spain for some time. Let’s see if I get to ride a bit while there and also at least take a look at the mighty Pyrenees - a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time.

We’ll be back in the beginning of August. Homeboyski wishes you relaxing summer holidays!

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This post will be kind of exception for us.

Usually we like to try write something valuable, not just send pictures .

Anyway, my last mountain biking related article got this comment from Carl of Made-to-Order Bikes, Atlanta:

“Would love to have you write a guest post on our blog about this…contact me if interested!”

Pretty cool. So, we agreed with Carl that I will wrote a first ride report/review of my new fully rigid 29er set-up to their site. Keep checking their site for the real stuff about this issue. I only post a few (lower resolution) pictures here for now.

Ps. We had a blast riding the bikes today. A fully rigid bike  isn’t THAT bad, after all…

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Now this is going to be interesting.

I converted my Singular hard tail 29er to a fully rigid single speed. (See the earlier set-up here). While I was totally happy with the bike e.g. in the Tahko MTB endurance race a few weeks ago I thought it is time to test something totally new.

I practically learned to ride a mountain bike on a full suspension. I had an old rigid GT Tequesta steel frame back in the 90’s but I used the bike more as a commuter and only rode on some very easy trails occasionally. So, this is going to be a totally new experience for me. I believe that the 29″ wheels and big, meaty tires (Panaracer Rampage 2,35″) are going to help some though.

I only rode the bike to work couple of times. It felt what I imagine a huge BMX would do - pretty stoked about the feeling; sharp, fast handling, accurate, and light, so easy to loft the front on top of things. “Trialsy” riding on this set-up would be fun! Also, rolling down on some steep sections was very nice, while the geometry stays the same the whole way. (Yes, I played with some urban features and such when commuting, and felt totally like a little kid again!). Riding a single speed again was a total blast (see some more history here). I am only a bit concerned on how the set-up will work on the worst technical roots/rock gardens we have here. I will report later more as I get the first real trail miles under my belt.

I used a normal Shimano rear hub, a single speed kit and a few spacers from an old rear cog. A bit “ghetto” but works with no problem. The frame has a Phil Wood eccentric bottom bracket shell - the converting was an easy task. The gearing is the standard 32-18 (While 32-19 would maybe be even better for our trails, this coming from an experince of riding a Gary Fisher Rig for a season here in the local trails.)

Isn’t it a beauty? I totally dig the simple aesthetics of a fully rigid single speed

Ride report coming soon…

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While we are still in the summer mood here (with e.g. lots of mountain biking content) the nights are already getting longer here in the northern hemisphere…some of you might already got that first itch for the coming ski season. At least starting to train for the slopes now might probably not be a stupid idea at all?

Another sure sign of the coming autumn is the realeses of ski movie trailers from the production companies.  If you don’t have any feel for skiing at the moment, I am pretty sure you have after watching this trailer. (I thought I was totally into biking right now and  was going to write about cyclocross and cyclocross bikes but skinny tires and spandex wearing guys will wait for better time for now…)

They are not too modest at the MSP, naming the movie “CLAIM, the Greatest Ski Movie…EVER!”. Well. why shouldn’t they - big production, big budgets, the best skiers in the world. This is SKI PORN, as I already wrote last winter (about their last movie, Seven Sunny Days)

Still, what impressed me the most was the song (well, almost). I can’t believe they put THAT particular song in the trailer (Do you believe this was actually all the rage in the 80’s? In Scandinavia at least, and at least among the 12-year old school boys! Those were the days, I believe I learned my first wicked daffies and spread eagles at the pretty much same time Europe was on the top)

Ok, no more rambling, here’s the trailer, enjoy

Few observations from the trailer:

They brought back the “Saucer Boy” - great!

That floaty air at around 2.50 - pure sex. I just love stuff like that. Sure the flippy-spinny stuff is cool but nothing beats the simplicity of a big tucked up air, “sent” with some serious speed (so that you get the good trajectory, not just fall from the cliff!)

Paraglider “switch up” at around 3.47 - Holy s**t. Usually I don’t dig base/paragliding etc. stuff so much in the ski movies but that was something different & creative!

And at last but not at least…sorry, I got to do this. The real stuff, Europe performing in their home country, sometime in the mid eighties. Well, enjoy(?) also this. That guitar solo (3.34–>) is pretty damn cool, heh.

Click-if-you-dare!

(Too bad the embedding was disabled by request…but click on the link for the great clip!) 

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We just had the warmest day of the summer here in Southern Finland, temps rising to about 30 degrees of Celsius (that’s about 86 Fahrenheit for you Americans out there). Lots of people at work were leaving the office for the holidays today, and the day was pretty much spent with un-official festivities (such as drinking sparkling wine and eating strawberries at the terrace); not exactly the kind of day that leaves you missing for winter and snow!

But maybe we all should. How many times have you thought about starting summer training  right now but realised in November that you’ve totally lost your ski legs and gained a respectable beer belly during the summer months?

I wrote some time ago how I constantly look for interesting ski blogs and/or sites (to be added on our blogroll, or just to be mentioned here in the posts).  Recently I was again doing some research and stumbled upon this one: http://winterwonderings.blogspot.com/

Ok, then I browsed a bit through Ian’s texts, and bumped into a series of posts about ski fitness. This information is as basics as it gets - and that’s the greatness of it really. We here at Homeboyski like to keep things simple and stupid…meaning that we are willing to offer very basic “how-to” information for anyone interested in the sport of skiing. So, this time I feel the best way to do this is to link straight to Ian’s ski fitness posts:

1. The most important ski muscles

2. Legs

3. Core 

4. Arms

The author in trouble…having some leg muscles, especially hamstrings, would probably have helped here!

 Ian’s posts are indeed very basic stuff. But in the end getting shape for skiing isn’t that complicated. Pick up a muscle group, work it, rest a day or two, train another muscle group…repeat say three times a week. And vary your program once in awhile, like in six weeks periods. I am 100% sure if anyone starts this NOW, he/she will be more than ready to hit the slope in the early winter.  

Also, people (skiers) usually seem to be very fascinated about the nuances of ski technique. While the truth is that being in shape just helps so much too. Having finessed tehnique is always a great thing but e.g. “powering” through difficult conditions has nothing wrong with it (in  my humble opinion of course). In the end  power often equals technique and vice versa. Think any very strong skier and I wonder if you disagree with me?

I have been a mountain biking guy for years and biking is good for your general fitness for sure. I still feel that some weight/strenght training wouldn’t hurt - and I always promise to myself to start the weight training earlier than before but usually only do just a short period of gym training in the late autumn. Reading Ian’s texts hopefully motiovates me to start a bit earlier this year?

So, Enjoy the summer but don’t forget that winter is just behind the corner. Starting training now would probably be better idea than e.g. buying tons of new gear that actually won’t get you any better! (yes, I know, easier said than done…)

Sooner than you think it is (hopefully) going to look like this and up you must go…and drinking beer  and eating nachos won’t help you with any peak-topping stamina!

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