We’re not wasting any time. There was quite a media frenzy yesterday surrounding the announcement that Brian Lopes was riding Ibis. People couldn’t believe it and were instantly wondering what new bikes Brian and Ibis would design together. Well we worked through the night last night, armed with only Red Bull and an internet connection. We have no need for a pesky CAD program. I think you’ll like it.
Over there in the U.K, they call suspension bikes “full sussers”. This got us to thinking, why not a Mojo “full Seusser”? So we did it, the SeussMojo.

Well it’s almost old news now. I mean, we leaked the info to our distributors last night, and before we woke up this morning, Europe and Asia knew all about it.

I’m talking about our new colloaboration with Brian Lopes, four time World Champion and he currently wears the stripes in the 4X discipline.
Rather than cobble together some words and poorly describe what is happening, I thought I’d just let the pro do the talking. This is what Sal Ruibal had to say, and according to me, he’s one of the most important journalists in the world. That’s because Sal cares, Sal works at USA Today, and Sal tells the teeming masses about cycling.

Here we go

Beauty and the Beast
Sal Ruibal

Beauty (Ibis Mojo Sl, top) meets the Beast (Brian Lopes).
Brian Lopes is the best all-around bike rider in the world. He rules the 4X and dual slalom world and could probably kick buttocks on the XC circuit if he set his mind to it.
On banked and bermed tracks, there’s no one who can catch him. In a road sprint, look out Boonen and Cipollini, he’s on your wheel. He can freeride like a Canadian on fire and hop over picnic tables like like a kangaroo on caffeine.
He’s known for gnarly and well-earned bravado. He even swaggers in his sleep.
So that’s why I was set aback to hear from Mr. Lopes that he was switching from longtime bike sponsor GT to Ibis, a brand known for exquisitely crafted bicycles that are so beautiful that many are on living room walls instead of bike racks. The back-order wait is longer than getting a green card in El Paso.
But Lopes can ride whatever he wants and he wants Ibis. It is hard for me to visualize Lopes bombing down the 4X course, swapping paint with the rough trade and exposing all that wonderful, curvaceous carbon to mud and rocks.
He’ll start his Ibis era with the scrumptious MojoSL, a full-suspension carbon machine better known for sculpting lines on singletrack trails than bashing miscreants hubs-over-head in 4X. It just looks too pretty for the sport.
When the super-stiff Ibis Tranny hardtail debuts later this year, Lopes will be more in his element. Full power transfer and explosive sprinting will rule the day.
Brian Lopes will just keep on winning, but now he’ll look cool while he does it.

Holy Smokes Sal, that was some intro, thanks!

More on this in the coming days and weeks.

We’re not talking about a Range Rover, either. This Double R is much more obnoxious, and just as unreliable.

Yep, we’re back to Rock Racing again, Michael Ball’s obscene Double R Phantom, 453HP and 6700 pounds of excess.
Pictured here, another crappy iPhone photo taken in front of the beach at Santa Barbara before yesterday’s start.

Today’s a different story however. We’re in lovely Santa Clarita (where they film the excellent Weeds). The start (as well as yesterday’s finish) is in downtown Santa Clarita, a perfect introduction to greater LA; a contrived city complete with a quaint “town center”, a meandering street with shops (mostly national chains) and restaurants where a few people actually walk. But nobody walks far, the quaint village is just a couple blocks long and backed up on nearly every side by huge parking structures, and there’s a mall of course. There is something odd here though, housing density. In this little downtown area someone is actually trying to create an urban scene with townhomes, condos and actual housing density. It’s and interesting look at urban planning SoCal style. But the cars are still never very far away, and there are a lot of them. Along with 6 lane boulevards to get in and out of here. I’m glad to see effort at actual urban planning, but not planning on moving here anytime soon. Or anytime at all.
Today our Tour of California goes over the 4900 foot Millcreek summit on the Angeles Crest, the highest point ever reached on the Tour of California. A peek at the NOAA weather this morning for the point forecast shows the following.

NICE DAY FOR A BIKE RIDE!!
The prior two editions of the TOC were greeted by a total of 10 minutes of rain. None on year one, year two had a bit of a downpour on the Big Sur stage. This year we’re making up for lost time. It was mid 70’s, clear and sunny in Santa Rosa last week. This week, not so much. We’ve hit a lot of rain and wind. Today is supposed to be more of the same, if not worse. Hopefully the weather guessers will get it wrong. I mean, it’s Oscar night, let’s hope it’s not raining for the walk down the red carpet.

Since we started with bling, we’ll also end with it. Two different styles.

Graham Watson’s Bling:

And Odessa Gunn, AKA Levi’s wife, with today’s bling being her rescue dog Trooper

(more…)

WORKING A THE TOUR OF CALIFORNIA 2008

Wow, three posts in one day. That’s what happens when the Peloton is an hour or two behind schedule and there’s a coffee shop near the finish line.

Race radio just reported that Jackson Stewart dropped out after being in the lead group and is being treated for hypothermia.
But the best thing about working for the TV crew is the dry place to watch the race with 10 race views to choose.

 AS SEEN A THE TOUR OF CALIFORNIA 2008

Electric!

Really bad iPhone photos for you to check out.
Note to Shimano: don’t hate me. Someone hijacked ChuckSpew and put that up there.