O'Skool MTB Photos

Hello all,

On one of my last visits back home to LaVerne and Dwayne's house, my mother gave me an old photo album I did not know she created. I've included a few small examples of the old days when we use to race back in the 80's and 90's... some were before suspension. Note all the neon and bright colors we all used which apparently is back in style... not sure I would call it style but maybe popular is a better word. Check out the foam helmets w/ lycra tops, AXO boots, Oakley Pilot sunglasses, mullets and pink trucker hats... We were cool back then, but I would say more like hilarious now looking back.

Cheers,
Ivan

Ivan "posing" after the Kamikaze DH 1989

Ivan talking to Bernard at Big Bear Lake XC race.

Ivan and Chad in Mammoth 1989. Check out the Campy bottle on the Ritchey... nice AXO DH boots.

 Are you kidding me? Check out Jimmy and Joel... so eighties man.

1990 Kamikaze DH in Mammoth rock'n the Klein... nice DH padded kickers.

 Ivan, Randy and Randy's buddy.

 Jimmy and Ivan at Mammoth... nice huge foam/lycra helmet.

 Fox bones knitted gloves and baby blue/white JT jersey... ready for the DH run. 1991

 1995 Ridgecrest Desert Classic XC race... nice poka dots and purple jerseies.

 Mike, Jenise, Ivan and LaVerne (shadow) in 1995 after the Desert Classic race.

 Race ready Homie Fred bringing it home in 1995 Desert Classic sporting the Marzocchi kit.

 

Typical weekend at Diez Lake in Lone Pine, CA... 1988.

Decline / Road Magazine Magic Mountain Party

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Hello all,

     Well it's been a while since the last post so figured we better start documenting again.

     Last Saturday the day before Mothers Day, we were invited to the Decline / Road Magazine's Magic Mountain party for industry folks. Luckily for us we are only 20 minutes from Magic Mountain so it was easy to make the event. Matt VanEnkevort (FSA USA director) and his wife Lisa were in attendance as well so we teamed up w/ the big boss for the days activities. Jenise had to do some school work in the lab for a Sysco certification on her new job so she did not meet us until 4pm that evening.

     First coaster while Ike and I waited to meet up w/ Matt and Lisa was the Terminator coaster which you had to be 48" to ride... Ike is +1/16" over so he was able ride it. By the way this coaster is labeled as "extreme" which is the highest category. To say the least... it was insane by my standards so by a 6 year old it must have been nuts. Ike's comments at the end, "THAT WAS AWESOME." I think were in trouble since he apparently is already an adrenaline junky.

     After hooking up w/ Matt and Lisa and doing the Terminator ride for the second time... Lisa needed something less crazy so we strolled down the hill to the Log Jammer ride to cool down and collect our nerves before Ike picked some other crazy ride. Believe it or not, we almost rolled the log over when we all leaned over to the right at the same time after the first big splash. By the end, we COMPLETELY soaked from head to toe... maybe crazy dry rides are better.

     We then went directly over to Goliath which has one of the longest and fastest first drops in the world. Yes we were right back in the "Extreme Category" again w/ this ride. Your heart literally felt like it stoped on this ride... simply most insane ride ever. Ike of course loved this one as well. However, later on when it was time to take Jenise he thought it best to not put Mom through such a wild ride; technically not doing it again himself. We then went to lunch and found a nice family of wolves which took Ike in, however when I went to get him back in our pack, the mother got a little angery.

Matt and Lisa look on at the attack w/ concern. Well maybe Lisa, Matt looks a little amused being from Alaska he would call it only a minor flesh wound.

     Next we took a break and left the park to pick up Jenise and go back to our house and relax before the evening party back at the park. Upon our return, we were escorted by staff to Sky Tower 1 which is the giant red tower w/ the flag on top sitting at the highest point in the park. This was the highlight of the day since this is off limits to the public and is a museum of the parks history. The view was incredible being able to see the park and surounding valley as far as the eye could see.... amazing sight to say the least. It was one of a life time since again, they do not let the public up there.

     After meeting everyone on top of the tower and smoozed w/ the mayor of Santa Clarita and mucky mucks in the bike industry, we proceeded to have dinner at the Dragon Cafe... of course there were two huge cakes to make sure your belly was full before hitting the rides again.

     During the dinner Jenise and Ike took off early while the rest of us talked a little bike business and they rode Superman. Jenise came back w/ cake revenge and was done for the night. The lines were getting a little better now that it was evening so we decided to check out Revolution. Super cool since there were no lines at all so we rode it three times in a row w/ out waiting. Ike and Lisa both agreed it was super fun doing the loop-de-loop and Lisa appreciated the "moderate coaster."

     Here is the parting shot of all of us on our way out of the park.

     So that concluded the super fun Decline / Road Magazines Magic Mountain day. Thank you Dave and Christine House and H3 Publications staff for the good times.

     As you can see, Ike is just about done as he can't even stand any longer and sat down at the valet's desk while we waited for our car.

Alloy Metal Casting #2 (Lost Foam)

Last night we readied our trusty home made blast furnace, filled the propane tank, busted out the leather protection gear and prepared to melt alloy for the second, yet long awaited time.

(Foam Carvings)

Over the weekend, started preparation to do our second ever alloy metal casting. We started carving a piece to cast which of course was a turtle (NOTE: Ike's favorite animal). The alloy sculpture starts out as a block of styrofoam or wax which is carved into your desired piece to cast (affectionately named: "Turty" which is Ike's name for baby turtle). Before packing the foam piece in a mixture of lightly dampened sand and clay, we glued on additional pieces of foam called the "sprue", gates and vents for proper flow of the metal. Sprue is where the liquid alloy is poured and vents is where the alloy will travel through to properly fill the entire void left from the burned foam. Proper gating and vents will eliminate air pockets left by under cuts to ensure metal flows to all parts of the void.


(Ike preparing the green sand)

(Ivan and neighbor Peter)

(Melting found alloy)

(Most dangerous part is removing and pouring the alloy from crucible)

(Don't trip!... 1220º liquid alloy)

(Pouring into the sprue)

(10 minutes later, we dump the flask and remove the sculpture to be trimmed & polished)

(One turtle sculpture in the rough)

"The turtle emerges from it's extrusive basalt & pumice earthen home of finely crystalline, glassy igneous rock resulting from centuries of volatiles activity"... or simply we dumped the hot ass clump of metal and sand into bucket.

(Final turtle, lightly brushed w/ wire wheel)

(Boy and his turtle)

In the end, you can see it was a successful casting. We will continue to learn better ways of casting and refining the technique as we experiment on sculpting, gating, sand / clay / water mixtures; venting; pouring; packing sand; polishing; etc...

Check in for more castings and family events coming soon!

Von Kruiser's Devil Bike Lives!

The Devil Bike from hell is finally finished and reaping havoc on the bike paths. It crushes any slower-type beginner or bellied road biker in tights in the Santa Clarita Valley. However, they do get the standard "bring, bring" of the bell when passing.

Just to update everyone, this is the Felt V12 Cruiser which was my down fall three years ago when I broke five ribs and my left knee. Apparently Off-Road Beach Cruising it is very dangerous... especially when you make it down the steepest shoot on the trail w/ drops at full speed into a brick wall on the opposite side of the street. It seems to be most beneficial to have proper braking especially on the front since slowing down and stopping is a requirement to stay safe and have a good time. Here is the original blog link to the crash: http://mediocremountainbiker.blogspot.com/2009/01/ivans-crash.html.

The original coaster brake was replaced by welding on disc brake mounts and custom wheelset. Original steel parts were replaced w/ highend components like FSA AB Alloy 2pc crankset w/ modified external english BB adaptor from the original OPC BB, machined stem, alloy micro-adj post, sealed BMX pedals, FSA MX headset, XTR brake levers, leather Torelli seat bag and DB freeride seat QR.

It's a sick ride and rolls real fast for sure as long as you can stay on top of the 44T/18T gearing. Here are a few pictures. Look for future blogs on the second off-road ride on the same trail which took me out three years ago. Should be a little safer this time... I hope.