iXS Dirt Masters

This past weekend the first round of the German iXS downhill cup was held at Dirt Masters in Winterberg. The downhill is a part of the whole Dirt Masters festival, that contains Slopestyle, Enduro and 4X plus a big EXPO area.

The loamy dirt

Bo and I arrived late Wedensday night so we could get situated with the pits and everything before the first practise Friday afternoon. Come Friday the sun was out and the skys were blue. We walked the track and talked about a few technichal sections before we got in our riding gear and went for a few runs getting to know where the track was going. It was acually quite hard the get in some good runs since there were a lot of people on the track and the track was changing every run because of the many startes and the new sections. After the first practise session was over, the skys opened up and the rain came down hard all night resulting in a pretty wet track for the practise Saturday morning.
Saturday I decided to take use of the license training and therefore not going up for practise at 7 in the morning. So I went up late when the track was more dry but still pretty rutted and wet. Nevertheless I got some good runs in with a couple of line changes.

Bo Andersen - Race Run

When the practise was over at 13 o´clock the seeding runs started. I had a okay seeding run ending up on 45th spot, which was okay since I did not ride two of the more risky lines (but much faster) and make a few mistakes. Therefore I knew that I could do better for Sunday and get that top 25. Bo seeded 12th in Masters and still had some in the tank for the race.

Sebastian Jensen - Race Run

Then Sunday came around which started out cold and rainy eventhough the forecast said 25+ degrees.. I got 3 runs in hitting the fast lines and actually felling quite confident that I could get down the hill in a good time. Unfortuantly that rain started again for the race and made the track a big mud hole. Nevertheless we had to race the pretty rutted and wet track. The first of the race runs seemed to be at least 10-20 seconds slow which was quite a bit on the 2 minute track, so the fast times from yesterday was out the window. Bo´s race run did not go as planned, by that meaning that he had crashed a couple of times and generally having a bad run due to the poor conditions but still managed to get in the top 20. My run did not go much better than Bo´s. When I hit the first forrest section I hit my pedal on the ground and rode the entire section out on my seat. But I got going again eager the get the lost time back resulting in making mistakes and then crashing and tearing a legament in my shoulder, but I still got down the hill in 67th place.. So now I need to heal up for 2-3 weeks before I can slowly start riding my bike again.

Sam Pilgrim - The Slopestyle hero at 222Racing

Eventhough the weekend was not the best resultwise we had a great time at the festival watching the Red Bull Berg Line from the iXS telt, which was unreal and generally having a good time with the many happy people all riding their bikes or cheering others on! I can not wait to get back next year!

Results: http://www.ixsdownhillcup.com/index.php?option=com_jevents&task=icalrepeat.detail&evid=11&Itemid=529&year=2012&month=05&day=19&title=ixs-german-downhill-cup-1-winterberg&uid=d7ca848ea5f5a99289c51b0c8e335c55&catids=14&lang=de#results-final

- SJ

1st round of the Danish DH cup - Mols

So this past weekend the first round of the danish DH cup was held on Mols (the nose of Denmark). The track is very naturel, with a few man made sections. Overall the track is quite high speed and loose.

Bo Andersen - On the pedals 

Practise saturday was rainy and windy, which was not the best conditions on the very exposed track, nevertheless we had to get some runs in. I got all my lines dialed quite quick and called it a day, since my shoulder was hurting after a crash from the previous weekend in Winterberg.
Sunday started out with good weather and a lot of new faces, which is always good. After getting into the new shorts and jerseys from Sombrio we got cracking with some runs. I was feeling quite good and knew I could set a good time against the other guys. Since we are racing two runs where the two runs are combined to one time, the racing needed to be consistant but fast.

Kasper Nancke - On the pedals as well:)

My first run went pretty good with only a few mistakes - I ended up with the fastest time. For my second run I rode a bit conservative, since the second fastest rider on the first run got a DNF in his second, so I could relax a bit, since I had a good gap to second spot. Both my runs were the fastest at a 50,1 and 50,8 ending up being 4 seconds faster the second place:)
The full results can be found on http://dhmtbk.dk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12315

Sebasitan Jensen - Pinning it down the fastest section of the track

Overall it was a very fun weekend catching up with everybody again and seeing some new faces. The rest of the team did also put in some good results wtih Kasper Nancke in 3. spot and Bo Andersen i 4th.

Podium - Kasper Nancke - Sebastian Jensen - Mike Thisted Christiansen

Next weekend Bo, Christian and myself are going to Dirt Masters in Winterberg, GER to race the iXS German Downhill Cup there. I am hoping for a top 25, but we will see if my shoulder holds up:)

Photos by Stefan Hovaldt - http://shphoto.dk/



- SJ

Første afdeling af den danske dh cup på Mols.

Første afdeling af den danske dh cup på Mols.

Så blev sæsonen skudt af igen med en god start på Mols. Om lørdagen var der som altid åbent for os som vil nå at træne sporet ordentligt igennem inden det store race om søndagen. Det var en dag med dårligt vejr, meget overskyet og en masse småbyer. Ikke det bedste, men trænes skulle der. Det blev til en masse gode omgange, med en del nye linjer efterhånden som vi lærte sporet at kende i løbet af dagen og endte med at vi hver især havde fundet vores hurtigste linjer gennem banen, til søndagens race.
Søndag startede godt ud, med en masse nye ansigter indenfor sporten og der kom flere og flere til i løbet af de første træningstimer. Og allerede fra morgenstunden var der fuld knald på folk. Rigtig mange af de nye var hurtige så det var bare op på cyklen og få det hele indøvet så vi kunne kører fra dem. Seb kørte som altid usædvanlig hurtigt og der skulle hænges i for at følge med ham. Og trods ændringer på sporet i løbet af dagen lod det ham ikke stoppe og det resulterede i hans faste plads på sejrsskamlen – nr. 1.
Jeg selv løb ind i et par vanskeligheder på sporet, da teknikken lige skal finjusteres igen efter jeg har ligget skadet hen over vinteren og derfor ikke har fået kørt ret meget, men i mine race-runs glemte jeg alt det jeg ikke havde fået trænet og fik 2 stort set perfekte gennemløb, som placerede mig på en 3. plads, meget tæt forfulgt af Bo som kørte sig ind på en 4. plads, selvom han påstår at han ikke trådte i pedalerne.

Så alt i alt en meget vellykket start på sæsonen for 222cycles!

Banshee Legend MKII - 2012

 So for 2012 I got myself a new Banshee Legend MKII. This one is a bit lighter weighing in at about 17 kgs. which I am quite happy with:) 

Spec-list:
Frame: Banshee Legend MKII - w. Marzocchi Roco WC shock/350 lbs spring and Burgtec offset bushings.
Fork: Marzocchi 888 RC3 EVO V2
Headset: Acros Ai.25
Bar/Stem: ODI Flight Control bar an stem w. ODI Ruffian MX grips.
Brakes: Avid X9 - 200mm
Seat/post: SDG I-fly
Drivechain: MRP Camber/Podium 36t ring and a S4 chainguide
Gears: Sram XO
Pedals: Burgtec Penthouse
Wheels: Halo 4XR rims laced up on Acros FR.75 hubs with Halo spokes.
Tires: Maxxis High Roller II with Maxxis Welterweight tubes.

This past weekend I have been in Germany to test out the new bike and get some more speed, before the season starts this weekend :)

Stay tuned for some clips and a blog post :)

- SJ

Banshee legend 2012

Bike Check :

Spec list:

Frame:  Banshee Legend MK 2 ind black /w Bos stoy rear shock

Fork:  Bos Idelly Rare
Headset: Acros Ai 25
Bar:   Odi  Flight Control - 750mm
Stem:  ODI Flight Control Series Direct Mount Boxxer Stems - 50 mm
Grips:  ODI sdg look on i red
Seat:  Fun Race lite
Seatpost: Acros 30,9
Brake:  Avid cord R 200mm Front. 180mm Rear
Crank:  Mrp Camber
Chain Guide: Mrp G2 mini
Sprocket: Gusset 4X - 34t
Pedals:  Burgtec Penthouse Flats MK 3 
Gear: Sram x-9
Chain:  Sram
Rims:  Halo 4XR
Hubs:  Acros FR 75  /w dB kit
Tires:  Maxxis
Tubes:  Maxxis

Spring Ride

A few weekends ago I saw the oppontuity to test out my drivers license (you have to be 18 years old to drive a car i Denmark..), so I thew my Rampant into my mom´s car and drove 2 hours down to Mols, where there is a DH track and the 222 Cycles "headquater" is located :). I meet up with some from the 222cycles crew + more :) Firstly we needed to build a bit in the DH track, since the first round of the Danish DH cup is only about 4 weeks away. Frankly I did not do that much digging, since I am VERY good a saying where they should dig, haha :)

After a good session we drove to the 222 Cycles "headquater" where we picked up the new Legends + parts for them (bike check coming soon) and drove about 2 hours south down to Vejle where Bo lives. 

                                              

Nevertheless we had a good couple of hours of digging out in the sun before we headed down to Lasse´s vegatable graden where there is a sweet pumptrack and DJs. Lars got his camera out and shot a few pictures of me trying to bar drag and whip it. 

The next day a woke up the an awesome breakfast to start the day out with :) After the breakfast Bo and I started build up the new Legends with the parts we had at hand. After some bike-building we decided to try out Bo DJs in his backyard. Over the last couple of years the yard has grow a lot, resulting in being pretty big now! After a good day of riding in the nice spring weather I packed up me things and headed north to get back to school monday morning.. Nevertheless I had a good weekend with friends building and riding bikes! 

- SJ

Banshee Rampant - Bike Check

Why I ride the Rampant:

For quite some time I have been switching between the Banshee AMP and the Rampant. Both bikes have their pros and cons for the type of riding I do, which is kind of a mix between pumptrack, dirt jumping and downhill, therefore I opted for the Rampant because of the 4" of travel. Actually I spent the most of my time on the Rampant for different reasons. Firstly there isn´t a lot of downhill tracks around my house, that are fun the ride my Legend on and secondly the Rampant is so much fun to ride. I can ride the pumptrack as good as on a hardtail and rail the corners better than a hardtail. Furthermore it is really stable in the air and in general. Which is down to the suspension at the rear that makes me more comfortable, properly because of the fact that is reminds me of my Legend MKII a bit...

Setup:

I run my suspension pretty stiff both front and rear giving me the hardtail fell but allows me to push a bit more when I ride. On the rebound side I run it pretty slow, like I do on my Legend, which I just think is better:) As for tire pressure and tires it really depends on what I am riding, but I tend to run the Maxxis DTH´s with 60 psi most of the time, since is am too lazy to change them :) The bars are also pretty wide at 760mm for a DJ bike, nevertheless I like them wide and I also run the same with on my DH bike.

The build is kind of lightish I guess, since it around the 12 kg mark (26,4 lbs). It wasn´t really a goal of mine to make it as light as possible but build a bike that could take some hits. The bike isn´t too light nor too heavy giving it a nimble and responsive feel, that I am quite happy with:)

Spec list:

Frame: Banshee Rampant w. Fox RP2 - size M

Fork: Marzocchi DJ1

Headset: Chris King

Bar: Gusset Slade - 760mm

Stem: Gusset Staff - 50 mm

Grips: ODI Longneck XL

Seat: Gusset Slim Kev

Seatpost: Random..

Brake: Funn F2 - 160mm

Crank: Gusset Pigmy 853 w. steel axle

Sprocket: Gusset 4X - 25t

Pedals: Straitline

Chain: Gusset Expresso

Rims: Halo 4XR

Hubs: Halo Spindoctor/Halo DJD bushed

Tires: Maxxis DTH 2.4

Tubes: Maxxis..

You can find alot more info on Banshee site: http://www.bansheebikes.com/rampant.html

Pictures: Lars Mortensen

SJ

Odense skatehalle

Night Session

So it has been a while since I last blogged, so I thought that I would write a little bit about a session a few weeks back.

Since we are not allowed to ride 26" wheels in the skatepark on a regular bacis, Stefan Hjortkær opend it up for us, for a private session. As soon I heard that Stefan would open the skatepark, I jumped on my AMP, when I got off from work. I also called Stefan Hovaldt who is good friend and photograf to shoot some pictures.

I have been working on me 360´s lately, since I ride my AMP alot in the wintertime. So I tought that I would give it a go over the jumpbox, which worked out good. I had a few sketchy ones, but they got better as I got on with it.

One of my goals this winter it to get better at riding skateparks. In the past I have been riding alot of dirt jumps, but that is just too cold when winter comes and the snow falls. Therefore I am giving the wooden ramps a go.

The day before the session I got some new parts for my Banshee. I got a new Gusset Pigmy 853 and Gusset sprocket on it. It is my first steel crank and I am truely impressed by how stiff it is and it looks super cool in black chrome! Furthermore I got a new Halo DJD rearhub, to replace my Supradrive, which was really good, but I need a dirt jump specific hub, that could keep it in the frame were i wanted it, since it only had a 9mm axle. Therefore I got the DJD with a 10mm bolted axle :)

Overall it was a good session, which was stopped by a brused ankle from my side :)

All the photos are taken by Stefan Hovaldt and can be contacted on his webside - http://shphoto.dk/

- Sebastian Jensen, 222racing.

Danish DH cup - Finals

The last round of the Danish DH cup took place this past weekend in the north of Jutland at a place called Rold forrest. This was the second time we were going to race at that venue. The track in it self is rather basic, with a lot of man made jumps and obstacles. The hole way down the track you are scrubing jumps, pumping holes and pedaling every were you can which is sick! The weather made the race quite interesting thus it had rained all week and the to weather prognoses said it would rain sunday as well.

Saturday practice

Since I had already wrapped up the overall title at the last round I came into the race with a mindset of having fun and putting down the best runs I could do. So I cracked on with practice which went really well on the damp track. I was still running the High Roller II´s which keeps getting better and better. Even though it is almost my home track since I live about 30 minutes drive away, I do not ride there that often. So I put in some good practice runs, with my dad who was attending to his first DH race.

Second race run

After a little delay the race began in the quite sunny weather in contrast to the bad weather they had forecasted. Run no. 1 went okay, I hit all of my lines but i had a little mechanical which cost me some time. Nevertheless I came down with a 3.5 second lead. After the first run we had the obligatory one hour practice on the second track. The 2 run went good i had a solid run with minor mistakes coming down about 1 second faster that second place, which gave me the 6th win out of 6 race in the Danish DH cup this year.

6th round podium

Mathis Lystbæk - Mike Thisted - Sebastian Jensen - Rasmus Reding - Rasmus Jensen

Overall it was a good weekend with good racing and a good season ender. Personally I still have one more race, which is the final round of the German iXS cup which takes place the 24.-25. this month in Thale.

Overall Podium :)

A big thank you goes out to Stefan Hovaldt for taking all of the pictures.

- Sebastian Jensen