2008 Sea Otter Classic - Festival of Cycling

Report by : Quinton Spaulding 

Photos by: Gavin & Quinton Spaulding

The Sea Otter Classic event is exactly that, it is classic! If you’re a Cycling Enthusiast or a Pro Racer and you’ve never attended it and seen it in person then you are simply missing out on something quite spectacular.

The Sea Otter Classic really needs no introduction. This is where everybody in the cycling industry goes to see what’s new…show off there new gear, bikes, sponsors, rigs, fitness and everything it takes to be noticed at an event of this magnitude! Of course the “KHS Army” means business wherever we go, whether we are at a local race or a World Cup! We love to race our bikes at a very high level, and put on a good show for anyone who would like to watch us do so.

Here are a few of our “Factory Race Rigs”, we had a weapon for every occasion at this years Sea Otter Classic. It is important to have as many options as you possibly can when competing in Downhill, Dual Slalom or Mountain Cross. The more options you have in your arsenal the more obstacles or adverse elements you can overcome in your preparation before it is time for your race run or run’s. Continue reading 2008 Sea Otter Classic - Festival of Cycling…

The KHS Army: Full Force in Fontana

Report by: Quinton Spaulding
Photos by: Monique Spaulding

It’s always exciting to get to the first National Race of the year. Everybody has been training, testing equipment, getting their heads in the game - just all round zooming in…keeping their eye on the prize and hoping to do well at the first BIG race of the year.

Setting up is always fun at the Nationals!

We arrived in Fontana, California Wednesday evening to some beautiful weather. Immediately we got to see familiar faces, faces that we see year in, and year out, people that become your family away from home.

Team Big Bear Race Promoter Tom Spiegel Checks in with his MOMMY!

Southridge Park was bursting at the seams this past weekend!

I was told the numbers were up 35% from previous years and that this was the busiest Fontana National to date. This is inspiring news for Team Big Bear , Southridge USA and for the mountain biking community all round. We all love what we do, and go to the races because we want to be there, and to have the stats looking bright for the future is AWESOME! This goes to show that we do matter at ground zero! Melissa Buhl took the 1st place qualifying spot in the Women’s 4X Friday evening, and ran a time that none of the other girls could really compete against. Despite the fact that Buhl was racing seasoned World Cup 4X pro’s, she went on to win without anyone coming close at all, on what was an exciting Fontana 4X course…well done Buhler!

Logan Binggeli qualified in 9th place amongst an extremely competitive Men’s 4X field. Some of the best in the world had showed up to do business. Binggeli went on to earn a very respectable 7th place overall, and remember this kid is just getting started. Continue reading The KHS Army: Full Force in Fontana…

KHS Racer ‘Lico’ Ramirez Wins La Ruta

‘Lico’ Ramirez (BCR-Pizza Hut-Powerade-KHS) proved that his win yesterday in stage one of La Ruta was no fluke after powering away from the remnants of an elite group to take his second win and cement his hold on the yellow leader’s jersey. His team-mate Juan Alberto Solis took second place on the stage, 4′17 sec. down, while Paolo Montoya (Macosta Lee Cougan) dropped Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain-Haywood) in the final few hundred metres for third, at 4′43 sec. Montoya continues to hold onto second place, but is now a distant 12′08 sec. behind Ramirez, who is well on track to becoming the first ever four-time winner of La Ruta. Thomas Dietsch (Gewiss-Bianchi) finished sixth on the stage and held onto third overall, but is 27 minutes in arrears.

Click here to read cyclingnews.com story

Chris Foster Wins Nautica Malibu Sprint Triathlon

Race Report by Chris Foster / Photos by Karli

At the last minute, about five days ago, I decided to race the Nautica Malibu Sprint Triathlon. While this is not a race I would normally do, as it has no points or prize money, I signed up because I knew there would be a decent pro field coming out. Aside from some local pros,the biggest names were Fabio Carvalho, Jose Azevedo (both from Brazil), and another Australian pro by the name of Chris McCormack. McCormack is the only triathlete to win both World Championships and be #1 on the World Cup rankings in the ITU. McCormack has numerous wins at Escape From Alcatraz, Wildflower, Chicago Tri, LA Triathlon, Ironman Australia, and the list goes on. He is on of the heavy favorites to win next month’s Ironman Worlds.

So I signed up for this race, knowing that it would be a rare chance to race one of the greats–especially at a shorter distance.

At the gun, roughly 100 people in the Pro/Elite wave ran into the chilly 59 degree water and out to the first buoy. I knew I had to get out fast because it was such a short race, so I pinned myself to McCormack’s feet and hung on for dear life. As we rounded the last buoy, I felt good enough to try to break from the pack (something I have never, EVER done) and put a little time on a few guys. Coming in through the surf, I looked around and didn’t see many people except that I was running out ahead of McCormack. I got to the sand and he slowly passed me, but I quickly realized that if I wanted the official credit of beating him out of the water, I would have to sprint ahead to the timing mat–which I did!

Out onto the bike, I had lost a little time in transition, but was feeling surprisingly good in fourth place behind McCormack, Carvalho, and another pro, Caue Suplicy. I had changed the setup on my KHS Flite Team with Cole Shuriken Carbon Lite T85s and it was really working for me. At the halfway I had gained all the time I had lost and was feeling incredibly strong riding near the group of three at the front. With about five miles to go, I made a big move on McCormack and Carvalho to keep the pace honest and test them a little. They responded fairly quickly, but it definitely made things a little tougher. As we came into the transition, I saw that the media and spectators were there in full force with cameras and flashes going off everywhere. It was pretty crazy. Continue reading Chris Foster Wins Nautica Malibu Sprint Triathlon…

Cytomax/KHS Team captures 1st & 2nd at Rim Nordic XC

From the CrossCountry Cytomax/KHS Co-Factory, Chris Jenkins reports a "1-2-punch" win at Rim Nordic XC (a local race) August:

… We are in a bit of a lull with the racing season so not much to report. Sean Donovan and I did however give one of our local races (Rim Nordic XC) the one two punch this last weekend with a First and Second place. Sean took off on the start and made a pretty good lead on the first lap. I was also feeling good even with a full week of training under my belt and pulled to within 25 seconds at one point. I must have put the fear in my teammates legs because when he started seeing me closing in he put the hammer down on the final descent and won by exactly one minute. It was no problem though because it was however a Cyto/KHS rider in the lead.

I have a few pictures from earlier in the season (Fontana National and Ellings Park Cal State race) of Sean and I. Notice the dirt on Sean. He took a really hard digger injuring his left hand in the process. He was almost totally healed but is still running both shifters on one side so to keep the stress off his thumb.

Chuck Jenkins
Cytomax/KHS Racing

Sean Donovan (left) and Chris Jenkins (right) of Cytomax/KHS Team

2007 National Series Finals - Snowmass, CO

Aspen, Colorado, a place for the rich and famous at the best of times. Twenty million dollar homes carved into the mountain side on the same slopes that a group of rowdy adrenaline seeking junkies blaze down for the fastest times, cleanest runs but more importantly the gravity titles this race determines. Yes it’s true, lunch in the Village can cost you an arm and a leg, and getting a pro teams laundry done might warrant an equity line of credit, but all said and done, we are so spoiled as racers to be dueling it out at a venue like this!

Racing at Snowmass got off to a great start with the 4X qualifying Friday evening. Dale, Melissa and Caroline all took the top qualifying spots in the men’s and women’s Pro 4X (below is a shot of KHS racer Dale Holmes "getting it done" in the finals after taking the number one qualifying spot amongst the best Pro Men 4X racers in the world). Dale looked superb throughout the evening placing 1st in every heat up until the final. He really came into his own at Snowmass, displaying to everybody around him that he was definitely the guy to beat. Dale raced extremely well in the final and placed 2nd overall, a fantastic result considering 3 out of the 4 racers in the final heat all hailed from the Factory Yeti Team. Yeti’s Jared Graves took the win after a great gate start, and Dale did his best to chase him down but could not get by him… what a great race!

Dale pulling ahead - by Quinton Spaulding

Melissa Buhl was on top form as usual… riding like a women possessed! She went on to take the top qualifying spot for KHS in the Women’s Pro 4X. She continued that form all the way to the final heat Saturday evening, going on to win by beating her KHS team mate and Australian 4X National Champion Caroline Buchanan, who qualified 2nd for KHS. This had the entire event talking about Team KHS and solidified our image as "The KHS Army". This win also secured the championship for Melissa and crowned her 4X National Series Champion.

Melissa on course - by Chuck Valenzuela

Everything came to a head on Sunday… it was time for some high speed "moto" style Downhill. This course was fast and choppy with some of the most high speed sections we have seen all season. To win this one was going to take some fearless braking.

Melissa Buhl did not disappoint, after taking another 1st qualifying spot early Sunday morning. She came down to the finish line during the final, powering through a rough finish line straight away to take top honors. Luna’s Marla Strebb placed a close second but it was to be Melissa’s day… and season. She closed everybody out and took the National Series DH Title with this win. Talk about taking care of business!

Women’s 4X Podium - by Chuck Valenzuela

Snowmass treated KHS and its "army" very well. We came home with two Major Championship Titles, three individual gravity event wins and a total of eight podiums!!! I stand back now and realize that all our hard work has paid off, the training, injuries, hardship’s, excitement and the desire to win are all pieces to this great puzzle that make a successful race season.

Men’s 4X Podium - by Chuck Valenzuela

We all race because we love to, but without the help from our sponsors, the racing scene would be completely different. KHS would like to extend a VERY BIG thanks to all of our esteemed co sponsors for helping us make this dream season a reality.

We still have some racing to take care of in 2007, Melissa Buhl and Dale Holmes will both be attending the Jeep King of the Mountain series this coming weekend in Colorado and we wish them the best of luck. The KHS Factory Team will be in Keystone Colorado for the 2007 Keystone Climax - MSC series finals September 1-3.

Very best regards,
Q

Kyle Bennett 2007 UCI BMX World Champion

Free Agent Bikes Kyle Bennett on the top step of the 2007 UCI/NBL World Championship podium. Kyle earned his THIRD World Championship jersey, joining Gary Ellis as the only 2 racers with 3 World Championships. Khalen Young (AUS) and Randy Stumpfhauser (USA) places 2nd and 3rd.

Kyle will be representing the USA and Free Agent at the 2008 Olympics in Bejing. Continue reading Kyle Bennett 2007 UCI BMX World Champion…

2007 US National Championships – Mount Snow, Vermont

Vermont is absolutely beautiful! It is so green and has such a great variety of foliage… it is "picture perfect"! This is where the US National Championships were held this year and our team was so happy to be there. This event drew a good amount of participants and it also gave the East Coast racers a chance to attend the Nationals in their neck of the woods, as this event is normally held somewhere on the West Coast.

Photo: Gavin Spaulding

Upon arrival at Mount Snow on Wednesday, it was the usual story… already raining and with continued rainfall, it was going to make for a tough weekend on what is a very high speed scary Downhill course.

Practice was treacherous throughout the week but as the weekend came to a close, the sun was out in full force and the course did dry up enough to set us up for a fantastic race day. Our team did more laundry this week than we have ever done at all the other events throughout the season combined, and with a jersey as bright as ours it was quite a task keeping them clean.

Dual Slalom qualifying went down on Friday evening, and Melissa Buhl came out firing on all cylinders. Melissa managed to take the number one qualifying spot which would put her in a position to ease her way into the finals. The finals were held under the lights Saturday night on a course which afforded us some really exciting racing. Melissa kept focused through-out the evening and went on to meet Kathy Pruitt in the final, where winning became a reality with her final run on the blue course, snapping Kathy out of the gate and never looking back… taking the win for KHS!

Top 5 Pro Wome’s Dual Slalom Results

Continue reading 2007 US National Championships – Mount Snow, Vermont…