We headed to Linz Friday morning to session the jumps before the contest on Saturday. When we got there we rode until noon. It got super hot so we went to the lake across the street from the jumps and went swimming for a few hours. Its a bit different over here, half the people were cruising around naked on the beaches. After we were done swimming we went back and I made a stupid decision to ride with no pads in board shorts and no shirt. Not the best idea. Of course with no pads I had the hardest crash I’ve had in awhile. I landed low on a jump and went to my side. I didn’t think I was hurt until a few hours later when I was peeing blood. I didn’t want to hurt myself more so the next day I just chilled and took it easy until qualifying started. There were about 30 riders from all over the world competing for the king of dirt. Each rider got 4 runs for qualifying and they took the top 8 riders. I made it in the show so I was pretty pumped. In the finals I wanted to take it easy and try not to crash on my side again so I tried to stay smooth and consistent and the judges liked it. I ended up taking forth 4th. The contest was awesome after the mtb comp they had a bmx comp with lots of good bmx riders. After the finals the best trick contest went off. Tons of crazy tricks. After the comp we stayed in Linz for one more night and headed back to Niki’s house in Vienna. Were going to ride the park for most of the week. Then we will pack up and drive to Leogang for the biggest mtb dirt jump comp in the world Braun 26Trix. I’ll post some more pics after this weekend.

I decided to race the dual slalom this year at Sea Otter using my Versus Jab, which is set up for dirt jumping (Single speed and rear brake only).

I was a bit apprehensive at first considering most of the slalom bikes I have seen are larger, have a rear shock and run a derailleur.

I went with the gears I had on it (31 tooth up front, 14 in the rear) and raped my all-mountain bike for a front brake.

I definitely needed a better gear ratio because I was spun out. I was pedaling so much with no resistance that I felt I was slowing myself down!

I was stoked on how the Jab handled on the course. Having the smaller bike was so much fun…I could throw it around effortlessly!

I placed 4th…losing out of the finals round by nobbies!

I plan to change my gearing and use the Versus Jab to race dual slalom for the rest of this season.

Dirt Jumper on weekdays, DS bike on weekends!

(Note: The derailleur rule has been eliminated from the NORBA rule book (just found out). You can pretty much just slap a front brake on your dirt jumper and race Dual Slalom or Mountaincross…yay!)

Tara Johnson, our DH and DS/4X grassroots rider, describes how the Jab rides.

Teva Mountain Games. Versus rider stands on the podium in the Big-Air competition.

(Versus HQ, CA 2007-06-13)

Versus Cycles rider Andrew Taylor rode hard to win the Big-Air competition at the Teva Mountain Games held in Vail, Colorado. He beat the likes of Jamie Goldman and Kyle Ebbett to stand on the top of the podium with a run that impressed both the crowd and the judges. Andrew was riding a prototype Jab hardtail, which was first unveiled to the public at the Sea Otter Classic. Check the News Bullitin below to see pictures of the Jab. Click here to find out more about the Teva Mountain Games.