Friday, March 13, 2009

FedEx on Overdrive

Well, the GT Dirt Coalition team has been finalized. Huge congrats to everyone. To see the whole list of racers, visit the DC blog.

I'm stoked to see that there's a good group of us from Colorado, and I hope to meet the others at some events. Come to the Firecracker 50! The Golden Bike Race Series will be there at the same time, so this could be GT Central.

And I just got an email saying that the bike, tent and welcome kit are on their way. When I think about all this stuff going out to all these riders, I am kind of blown away by the effort GT is making to bring themselves back. It's a mission I'm proud to be part of, since I spent several years racing and logging the epic miles on an old-school I-Drive Pro that I loved.


I tried to tell everyone what a great bike it was, and I was always surprised at how fickle people were. They were often down on the bikes just because GT was owned by a company they didn't like. Or maybe they "heard" that the I-Drive suspension was full of problems and you could never get parts, yada yada yada. Granted, GT definitely was underground at the time, and I was forced to buy a bike on the internet because the closest dealer was in Vail. But I never had a single problem with my bike in three years of hard riding and racing.

And now, I get to fly the GT flag again, this time on a carbon Marathon. Sweet! I gotta say, I was hard-pressed to not choose the carbon Force. Six inches of travel at 26 pounds??


Hell yeah! But I restrained myself. The suspension's so plush that even the 4" Marathon will feel great for Super D racing.

I race a mix of cross-country and Super D, and I'm really excited about the growing trend in longer, more enduro-style Super D racing that's emerging. Ashland's got a popular one, and of course there's Downieville. As for Colorado, Keystone's old Super D was like that, but since they've done away with it, I hope some other promoters get on the bandwagon. We'll see. Maybe by next year, if I can convince GT to take me on again, that Force will have a place in the garage.

3 comments:

bizalich said...

that picture looks like steamboat? am i right? am i?

Marty said...

Bzzzzzt! Sorry, it's Crested Butte. :) Thanks for playing!

bizalich said...

dang it, shoulda known!