Here’s a sneak look at our new megafacility a block from the beach in Santa Cruz. Surf’s up dude! Click on pic for a bigger view.

Brian Lopes won the umpteenth annual Leapin’ Lizard downhill in Laguna Beach California on Saturday for the umpteenth time. He was riding a Mojo, apparently pretty fast. Brian writes about it in his blog posting here, but I’ve shamelessly stolen the entire text for you to see just below. If you do log onto his site though, you can see a couple pictures from the day (including one that I’d like to have explained).

2009 Leapin Lizard DH

The 26th Annual Leapin Lizard DH was held this weekend & the field was big. 50 racers ranging from a 9 year old to a 60+ year old giving it their all in the infamous event. As always, no shuttles are allowed, you must hike your bike up the hill for both runs that they combine to come up with the overall fastest rider.

I have been doing this event since 1994 and being in my home town makes it all the more special. Everyone is gunning for me, so in some ways there is pressure on me to do well, but in others ways it is the most laid back underground, fun event, that really isn’t a big deal. Either way, when I race, I usually try to give it my all and with a lot of young guns coming out to try and take the title from me, I really have to ride well and be on my game. Guys like Kevin Aiello, new factory DH rider on GT, JD Swanegun, and Joe Lawwill were all really fast. Then there was Leigh Donovan who came out to smoke most of the men with a 10th place finish… She’s still got it.

Both my runs were good and for the 2nd year in a row I rode the ibis mojo (5 1/2″ rear travel) to victory on both runs. El Moco tires front and rear, a new 2010 Marzocchi 55 air fork and a coil Marzocchi rear shock all worked nicely together. The course was not as nice as last year when the traction was perfect. This year it was dry and fast, making it hard to slow down for some of the corners, so braking points were key not to get in over your head.

Thanks to the RADS for a fun event and to Joe from the Bike Co. for making some sick trophy’s for the event.

Nice work Brian!

A rare Ibis demo day is happening tomorrow March 14th at Howarth Park in Santa Rosa with NorCal Bike Sport.
You can read a bit about it here but the vitals are:

• 10-12 Mojos to ride!
• Coffee-thirty to Beer-thirty (9:30 AM- 6:30 PM)
• Good weather forecast
• Howarth Park (adjacent to Annadel) in Santa Rosa. Upper Parking lot. Map Here

See you there!

On the way home from the Tour of California, I stopped by one of my favorite adult toy stores down in Orange County and got to play around with a LASER!

The place is called Ink N Burn. No it’s not a place where Tattooed Pyromaniacs hang out. It’s a design studio where you can modify just about anything you want using printers and a LASER. We used to call these silkscreen shops, but not any longer, they’re becoming science labs. You can add logos or art to just about any physical object. I didn’t have the guts to LASER etch my iPhone, but here’s a video showing a fun way to make an Ibis stencil out of a sheet of cardboard.