Long Overdue Update

After a lengthy hiatus, and just like the warm weather I have returned. Have been spending the majority of my time (when it has not been raining that is) on two wheels, or working on them. I have my new GoPro camera and have a semi-decent editing setup on Ubuntu.


And a slighter older video:



I've also picked up a Honda XR400R with plans to ride in Colorado for a couple of weeks this summer. I've already pulled the head and done several other maintenance related items. I'll try to get a video of it up soon.

2010 Sub-9 SuperD MTB Race

First post in a while. Have been keeping busy with many things, the most recent of which was the removal of my wisdom teeth.

Last weekend was one of my first "real" mountain bike races. This was the first annual Sub-9 SuperD located at Brown County State Park. A great 5.5 mile downhill (mainly) race. I ended up finishing in under 30 minutes (27:45) which was my goal. All in all it was a great event (a little disorganized earlier in the morning) but everyone was super-friendly and made the event a blast. It was well worth the drive and I will certainly be doing this again next year!

They did have an on-site photographer and I ended up grabbing a few photos:







Here's a Video from the event that gives you a good idea of what it looks like from the bike:

Brown County Super-D Race from Nicholas Martin on Vimeo.

Five Day Florida Foray

Decided to take one last vacation for the year and retreated to what we thought would be warmer weather.Well, Florida apparently experienced a cold spell for the duration of our trip. Even though it was a tad chilly, we still made the best of it and had a blast.

After an exhausting 13 hour trip through the night down after a full days of work:




The first order of business was catching an hour or so of sleep, and then jump in some boats on Juniper Springs.












We got to see the mandatory gator:




And of course all the life that has already hidden itself back home:








After that we decided to go jump out of an airplane at 13,500 feet:






After that it was onto Santos Trailhead for some two wheeled fun:


















They had a really nice free-ride park. After riding 15 miles, apparently I am no expert rider as I went down a couple of times.


This is actually the shot taken a split-second before the crash. Still sore and rashed up a bit a week later.


It was a blast, but very exhausting and I'm glad to be back sleeping in my own bed.

Fall.... and falling.

The weather has been very nice as of late, and I decided to make the most of it before winter sets in. A few friends have bought some hardtail mountain bikes and have been on the trails. I've also invested in a little more gear (gloves, bike rack for the Jeep, etc.) to make things a little easier. So far we've had some rough crashes, but no broken bones (I think...).

Here's a little ramp over a ditch that is quite a bit of fun.




Not much action here, but its one of the only non-blurry photos I have. My camera does not agree with the high speeds and low light conditions in the forest.


I shot this one from the hip, but here's a buddy getting ready to go down hard.


A fun little teeter-totter:


Cool composition:

Monster Mash!

Another great Halloween under the belt! I figured I would throw some photos up of the costumes.

Draggin' on the Dragon

Well, I finally got around to ordering some of the pictures from the Dragon. Here are a few highlights

The both of us:


And these are from Tuesday when I could get out and carve up the turns when traffic was light in the morning:




And here's the final one (I love the yellow line on the road in this one):

Dragon Slaying...

Just returned from my first real vacation in about 2 years, and I'm exhausted. However I'm spending my time posting this rather than sleeping. I'll just start off with the most appropriate photos, the start of the trip. Here's the Jeep with everything loaded. Yes, the trailer did not help with gas mileage on the 1200 mile trip.


Of course no trip is complete without some sort of equipment failure. Here's me attempting to diagnose why the running lights were not working on the trailer. After about 90 minutes of this we decided to just leave and take our chances. At least we had turn signals and brake lights.


Here is the main reason for the trip to this location, the roads. There is nothing like this in Indiana. It seems like everywhere in this area has nonstop curves.








And you always have to be safe on these roads!


Cause you never know what kinda crazy people are behind the wheel...


Here's the folder with a little doodle for the Itenerary and reservation details.


And we did manage to sneak in some photos before riding off to motorcycle Mecca.


Look closer!


When your bike is one year younger than you are, sometimes it needs some good ol' TLC. I did manage to get quite a few comments on the old Hawk, you really don't see to many around.


And of course someone's always out to ruin the fun. (Actually the officer was very courteous and was just trying to make the place a bit safer. I've read there have been 4 deaths on the Dragon so far this year...)


As always there had to be some fun when we were not on the road...




I wonder who's winning at Indian Poker?


Apparently Tennessee is into team spirit!


We also managed to make it out to the Appalachian Trail and hike around 5-6 miles.




And view some of the life out there you don't get to see in our part of the States.




And of course some of the nice scenery.




We also went rafting on both the Ocoee and Nantahala Rivers, however due to the 'damp' conditions the cameras were left in the car. So I needed to pony up the cash to the riverside photographers to get a hold of these, although I think they were worth it:




I should also have some photos of me on the Dragon from the roadside pros. It might be a few days however, I have a lot to clean up tomorrow!