Photos by: Monique Spaulding

Report by: Quinton Spaulding

Fontana, California is a “Hotbed” for racing, and not only were we back there to dual it out in the hills of Southridge, but NASCAR was there as well to contest the Auto Club 500.

H3 Publication’s Road and Decline Magazine had their “Open House” February 20th for all members of the Biking Industry.  Our very own Wayne D Gray (KHS-Vice President) was in attendance  cooking up his freshly caught 200lbs TUNA and serving it up with his own special sauce. Wen Hsieh (KHS-President) who was also in attendance, assisted Wayne D with the FIRE! I heard that the fish was unbelievably good, and the sauce… well the sauce was a secret!

I  wish I could have been there snacking on that Ocean Fresh Tuna, but we had work to do in Fontana… maybe next time!

As always, SHIMANO was out there offering “FREE Tech Support” to all those who needed it  (believe me they were busy). I also had a chance to meet Peter O’Brien (seen in this photo). He is the gentleman in charge at AMINO VITAL and one of our new sponsors for 2009.

Cross Country at Fontana is always so consistent. These guys are so “die hard”, they are there at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning ready to race the most disciplined event in Mountain Biking.

This track was a little longer than usual and somewhat more tiring. Being as it may, you will always find more than one KHS rider in the crowds giving it his or her best!

A deserted feeding station, but only when the XC is done.

The Shimano Kids Race is a FREE event. It has become a huge hit with the little ones and parents alike… they are even starting to form their own teams!

Would you get a TATTOO from this Shop??

Last minute preparations before Sundays DH final!

Fontana is looking very green after all the recent rainfall.

Logan Binggeli on his way down the top half of the track.

Photo courtesy of: www.socaltrailriders.org

Binggeli swore “no-more 7th place” at the last race, and he held true to his words, taking a place on the podium for KHS.

PRO MEN DH RESULTS

“KHS B-Team” rider Chuck Valenzuela on the podium.

“KHS B-Team” rider Jim De Haven on the podium.

Johnny Dow on track!

I wanted to mention that Johnny Dow, (KHS inside salesman) took his first win at Fontana last Sunday in the DH and made us all proud. Johnny has challenged all the office staff at KHS to come out and see the action.

A “SPECIAL THANKS” to all our 2009 sponsors!

The KHS Team will be in Fontana, CA  March 7th and 8th for the 5th round of the SHIMANO Winter Series. We will continue to use this series as a boost in our training and readiness for the upcoming National to be held there later in the month of March.

Please stay tuned for more updates and photos as they become available.

All the best!

Q.

Photos by: Monique & Brittany Spaulding

Report by: Quinton Spaulding

The “infamous” Bootleg Canyon is very well known for bike testing, training camps, magazine photo-shoots and it is best known for the tens of thousands of people that assemble there every year to attend “Interbike” (which is the largest bicycle trade show in North America as well as one of the most important events on the global cycling business calendar).  USA Cycling has finally added it to their National Gravity Calender in the form of the “4th Annual MOB IN MOJAVE”, and I am pleased to say it was a huge success!

Our Teams Factory Bikes are almost complete!! We still have a couple of the World Champs 4X bikes to get done and then we will be set for the 2009 season!

Binggeli and myself crammed in some mid-week road training in Vegas in our continued preparation for the MOB IN MOJAVE.

We hammered out a short road loop before getting back to building our DH rigs.

Packing up the trailer is always a case of crossing off a checklist of items and if we are not prepared correctly, EVERYBODY looks at the guy that packed the trailer … guess who that would be?

Heading  to Bootleg Canyon early Thursday morning to ensure a good pit spot (as always), as well as plenty of practice runs.

The weather was great all morning, but got really cold and windy  as the day progressed.

We got ourselves comfortably situated then it was straight back to dialing in the bikes.  It is still amazing to me even after building them year-in-and-year-out, just how much time it can take to completely build a factory race bike…it is still a very complex task.

Bootleg Canyon has a huge gravel pit in very close proximity to the Mountain Bike Park. As you can see, I rolled this tractor tire up this enormous pile of clean dirt to these kids like a bowling ball( the working out is paying off).

However, once it reached the top, they were somewhat confused about what to do with it!

Saturday’s schedule brought out the Dual Slalom and Super D events. Logan Binggeli (seen in this photo) put in a very good first National effort and finished 4th overall in the Pro Slalom. This is the first Slalom event to be held at Bootleg Canyon in years, and the track raced extremely well.

“KHS B-Team” rider and Super D ANIMAL, Scott Johnson took the win in the Super D. Not only did he win his class, he also ran the fastest overall time in this event held on Saturday, which was Huge for KHS.

Johnson then went on to take top honors in the Cat 1 Dual Slalom too – Well Done Scott!

“KHS B-Team” rider Justin Aliperti on the podium.

Practice was CRAZY Saturday, these lines and shuttle trucks were packed to capacity throughout the entire weekend. This I believe can be attributed to the success of the Mountain Bike Park.

Sunday mornings lines were even longer, everybody wanted to get in just a little more practice before it was time to put down the final run.

Even though the shuttles were always full, they were efficient and very rider friendly.

All three levels of parking were crammed full with racers, enthusiasts and spectators alike.

Here is someone getting a huge thrill on one of the 6 new “Zip Lines” that were constructed last summer at Bootleg Canyon. They have grown in popularity over the last few months and are starting to see many tourists signing up for their local “Zip Line” tours!

Logan Binggeli attack position…

Photo and words courtesy of: www.littermag.com

Bootleg Canyons trails are very exposed, technical and fast. They leave very little room for error, and to be able to perform well  under race pressure can prove to be somewhat unnerving. Binggeli getting some DH practice Saturday afternoon.

Binggeli during his Final run on Sunday morning. He posted an extremely fast time, only just short of a podium spot, but consistent and without injury. Binggeli finished 7th,  (7th has been his spot over the last few races).  Binggeli say’s “not next time, next time I have to do better than 7th!”

Quinton Spaulding, local freight train pinner. He could probably get a better time at Bootleg than most people with his eyes closed.

Photo and words courtesy of: www.littermag.com

I felt really good in all my practice runs, and in a field of 60 Pro Men I knew it would take a flawless run to be on the podium.

During my race run I had one small bobble, and that was the difference that kept me out of the top ten, I came as close as ever though, with an 11th place finish, and was pleased with my performance and really happy to beat some very well known names in the World of Downhill Mountain Biking.

Photo courtesy of: www. channelmtb.com

Latest addition to the KHS Factory squad and “Utah Native” Nash Ulmer put in a great effort. This is Ulmer’s rookie season as a Pro, and he acquired a hard earned 14th place finish Sunday. Ulmer also participated in the Super D Saturday, and captured a 4th place podium finish! I look forward to some top results from Ulmer.

PRO SUPER-D TOP 10 RESULTS

The First Aid was always on hand to take care of any unfortunate injuries, Thanks for “Looking Out” for us guys!

Injuries are however part of our sport, and part of all extreme sports. As athletes of Extreme Sports we really do know what we are getting into but always hope we will never be seriously hurt. This Ambulance was there to transport Mountain Bike Action Editor, Ryan Cleek to the Hospital. He suffered a broken Humerus (upper arm) at the finish line Sunday morning, but only after he had crossed the finish and won his race!

To show us all what a “Real Man” he is, he came back for his podium and first place medal, (putting his surgery on the “back burner”)… mountain bikers are a breed of their own!

KHS Bicycles gave away a DH200 in the event raffle, and these kids were just itching to take it home!!

The after race celebrations were a lot of fun, very festive, and full of KHS jerseys. Every Mountain Bike Park across the land has their own bicycle brand that is pretty prominent, and we have worked hard to make KHS that brand at Bootleg Canyon.

Pro DH Podium – Left to Right

Kevin Aiello (5th), Gee Atherton (2nd), Dan Atherton (1st), David KlassenVonOorschot (3rd) and Espen Johnsen (4th)

PRO DH TOP 50 RESULTS

“KHS B-Team” rider Scott Johnson almost took the “hat-trick” (winning all three events) on the day, taking second in the Downhill.

“KHS B-Team” rider Oakley Erickson on the Junior X Podium!

“KHS B-Team” rider Francine Johnson on the ladies podium a winner!!

Great Live music to finish out the evening, and a colorful display of lights to go along with it…Good Times!

As always, there comes a time to “shut it down” pack it up, re-group and get ready for the next race. It is a long season and we strive to stay healthy and focused on the bigger picture, making sure we are in at the end when it matters the most. This event was very successful for KHS as a team, and a sponsor. We were all over the podium throughout the entire event schedule, and it was great!!

A “Very Big Thanks” to all our 2009 sponsors!

The KHS Team will be in Fontana, CA  Feb 21st and 22nd for round # 4 of the SHIMANO Winter Series.  So drop in and and say hi, maybe stop by and take a look at  the “Factory Race Bikes” we would like to meet you!

Please stay tuned for more updates and photos as they become available.

All the best!

Q.

Photos by: Monique & Brittany Spaulding

Report by: Quinton Spaulding

Fishing at the “Fontana Village Lake” is prohibited without an official ODI permit, and believe me there were many ponds and lakes in Fontana this past weekend.

SHIMANO offers FREE technical support at the Winter Series events, however, all bikes need to be somewhat clean to be worked on ... NO MUD!

There was not a dry spot in the pit area the whole weekend. The entire Fontana “Race Village” was saturated from continuous rains that did not let up until we left on Sunday evening.

It is that time of year again where we get to build all the new rigs, make sure all our parts are to spec, basically build machines that we can attack the mountains on with confidence. This is one of the KHS Factory Team DH200′s for 2009.

The KHS Lucky 7 race bikes received a lot of compliments this past weekend...

… and the KHS DH200′s did not fair too badly either!

We are some of the “lucky few” Factory MANITOU riders that will be using the best there is to offer in race tuned suspension. A Huge Thanks to Nick Pye (suspension engineer) of Manitou racing suspension, who has been on hand at all three Fontana races to make sure our suspension is always a 100%,… and believe me it could not be better!

Melissa Buhl stands proudly with her 2009 Factory DH ride. This bike will be traveling the world this summer.

The KHS Lucky 7 is our weapon of choice at Fontana, it kills the wall with it’s extraordinary pedaling performance, and eats the bumps with the 180mm MANITOU DORADO DH forks!

The YETI RPM crew came down to Fontana for round # 3 on their way to Bootleg Canyon for the first “Gravity National” of the season next weekend Feb 14th and 15th.

Hey… Is that Kevin I-YELLOW??

“B Team” Rider Jim De Haven takes pride in cleaning his equipment and keeping it running perfectly – but “Good God Man”… who is going to clean up the mess when he is done?

Bob Burns, and Dale Rowley (seen in this photo) from Division 26, handed out FREE Hot Chocolate to everybody all weekend long to keep their spirits up, and give a little back to all those who come out no matter what the conditions!

Sunday morning was a cold wet shuttle up  through the neighborhoods of Fontana, CA. It was race time, and there was NOTHING we could do to change the hand we had been dealt!

Conditions at the start gate on race day reminded me of being somewhere in Scotland, perhaps Ireland or even Whales… but not Fontucky!

Buhl had a very good race run, taking the win in the ladies Pro DH. Buhl is getting ready for the “Downill Urbano” in Brazil later this month and feels confident that her training regimen is exactly where it needs to be at this time.

Logan Binggeli put in another solid performance, he finished in 7th for the 3rd consecutive race at Fontana. Being consistent is what gets the points required to compete for the overall title at the end of the series.

I had a disappointing run, not getting it done on Sunday in the final. I came to a dead stop mid track, and just had nothing left to offer along “the wall”. I have to stay focused and keep training… it will pay off, it has to!

Pro Men DH Results

Even in the pouring rain people attended the awards ceremony.

Melissa Buhl on the podium for KHS!

Pro Women DH top 3

Moe Ramirez (from “mtnbikeriders website”) grabbed one of our Lucky 7 “demo bikes” this past weekend for some test runs and an overall bike review (which will be posted soon). He will be racing it at the next Winter Series race in Fontana.

www.mtnbikeriders.com

A “Big Thanks” to all our 2009 sponsors!

The KHS Team will be at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, NV Feb 14th and 15th for the first “Gravity National” of 2009 “MOB IN MOJAVE”.  KHS Bicycles is a sponsor of this event… as well as many others. This is a bigger rougher course, and suites our teams riding and setup… we expect to do well!

Please stay tuned for more updates and photos as they become available.

All the best!

Q.