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Welcome to Uncle Jimmi's website!This site was created for and dedicated to all my friends family and sponsors and fans.
Special thanks to Mike at
Ray’s trip Jan.18-19-20 2008
I had all my gear and bikes loaded in the van the night before leaving for Ray’s MTB Park.
After making breakfast and calling my buddy Matt (Crobar) to let him know that I would be by to pick him up soon, I did the last minute check, then hoped in the van only to find out that it wouldn’t start. The battery is fine and the motor turns over but won’t fire up.
I had to move all my gear into the Isuzu Rodeo that we are lucky to have as an extra vehicle.
I had to ditch the spare tire to put the bike racks on and loaded the bikes as Crobar called to see what was going on.
Ray’s is a 4-½ hour drive from my house in Coleman MI and the Rodeo has wide tires with very little tread left. We, or at least I, prayed that the roads would be clear and the weather would be good, and it was.
As Matt and I walked in the door to Ray’s Ray himself and Darren (one of the Mongoose guys) recognized me and gave us a warm welcome to the coolest MTB Park in the world. Shortly after unloading all of our stuff, Ray took the Mongoose staff out for dinner leaving behind a tent full of demo bikes and a bunch of curious people who wanted to if the bikes were ready to ride.
I took it upon myself to open up a box of brochures and let everyone sit on the bike and look them over wile doing my best to answer any questions they had. Meanwhile Crobar had taken my Mongoose Ritual for a ride. He would ride by the Mongoose tent with a big smile and just kept saying “awesome dude” Before long Ray and the Mongoose crew were back, so I hoped on the Black Diamond Triple and rode around with Crobar for a wile.
This was the first opportunity I had to see what the Freedrive suspension was all about. The first thing I do with a full suspension bike to see if I like it or not is test for pedal jack. I pedaled hard through the rock garden wile staying on the seat, and then again standing up. I pay close attention to how smooth the rotation of the cranks are while the suspension is moving.
The Freedrive system works. I couldn’t feel any of the moving suspension in the pedals.
I also rode into the rock garden at high speed and applied the rear brake to see if I could notice any change in how plush the suspension is during braking. (brake jack) The bike passed with
flying colures. It has a natural fit and balance. It turns quick but feels very stable, and it has great pedaling efficiency for a bike with 7 ½ inches of travel.
1-12-08We stayed at the Holiday Inn that offers big discounts for Ray’s customers and is only minutes from the park. After sleeping in till 10AM and having a big breakfast we headed back to Ray’s. Most of the Mongoose demo bikes were out on test rides. I hung around the tent for a wile bringing in, and sending out the demo bikes. It was super cool to see everyone enjoying themselves and the bikes. I heard many people say that they had rented the Mongoose Ritual and liked them more than their own bikes or the other rentals.
Eric Carter, one of the most accomplished MTB’rs in the world was there. He was easy to talk to and fun to hang with. I followed him over to the pump-track and was in awe at how fast he was and at how many consecutive laps he could do, and he was just getting warmed up.
Tim ? another Mongoose rider was there showing off his Team Canaan XC bike, the same bike he used to win the Ice Man comp. in Michigan 2007 The Canaan Team is very light and also has the Freedrive suspension.
Willem Cooper, a videographer who owns Voncooper Productions and his friend Donny were out and about filming all the fun. Willem also owns and rides an ECD downhill bike. Willem was quick to post a short video on You-tube and managed to capture the two times that I wiped out. You can check out the video on the Mongoose site. (here)
Wow what a week two!
Its only the second week of the year and things are happening quicker than I can type!
I’m proud to be riding for Mongoose on the Black Diamond Triple and the Ritual Dirt HI
The bikes are awesome and you will soon be seeing all new pictures of them in my photo gallery. I will be at Ray’s MTB Park for the Mongoose Demo Weekend to cap off week three on January 18, 19, and 20. I will be riding with Eric Carter and other Mongoose team riders all weekend. Have a look at the 2008 line-up at www.Mongoose.com
Don’t forget I’m giving away a Bern helmet to one of my You-tube subscribers that leave a comment on my video “Living The Dream” 1-6-08 Best week of the year!
Talk about setting the bar. The first week of the year has already been packed full of fun and exciting news. On January 1 I went on a 15 mile group ride and ended up getting my picture in the local newspaper. It was 30 and snowing pretty good when about 60 of us left the farmers market in Midland, but there is no better way to spend the first day of the year than on a bike.
Later that day my friend asked me if I wanted to try out his snow scooters, and of course I said, lets go. We went to a hill with old school scooters that had ski’s and or a snowboard bolted to the bottom and it was big time fun. I got a great workout walking back up the hill and the only thing that hurt was my cheeks from laughing and smiling so much.
On Friday January 4 I found out for sure, that I have been accepted as a factory team rider for a new sponsor. They are sending me two new bikes, and will also be helping me with travel expenses so I can go to more events, new places, meet new people, and continue living the dream. I will be announcing my new sponsor and showing off my two new bikes in just a few days. 12-14-07 WOW, I can't believe I let more than a year go by without an update here. I've had so much to talk about too. It's been just over a year since moving to Michigan, and I could have written a book by now of all the stuff that has been going on. I got a job at Bicycle HQ selling Trek, Gary Fisher, GT, and Schwinn. I have been riding or building trails in my back woods when I'm not at the HQ. 2007 is almost over and it was an incredible year and 2008 is shaping up to be even better with some new sponsors and a new commitment to blog and vlog about all the fun and excitement that is my every day life.
8-09-06 Media surprise!
Ya never know where Uncle Jimmi is going to show up next. One of my costumers saw me in this magazine. The picture is from a show I did with the Teem Terror mini MX Show. It was a huge Harley Davidson party and thousands of custom bikes and party loving people were there.
1st blog entry 8-08-06
Another dirt jump competition win! Saturday August 5th 2006 was the Freeride Challenge& Dirt jump contest at Santos in Ocala Florida. Plenty of people showed up to compete and even more showed up to watch. Santos state park has the most intense mountain bike trails, freeride hucks, and dirt jumps in the state of Florida. I was the only competitor riding a hard tail and a 3-inch travel fork in the freeride comp and the 20-foot drop looked like the lander was a little flat so I took a pass on that one. I did do the 15-foot drop and landed at the 20-foot mark, but they don’t score the same for that. Then we gathered at the dirt jumps and the spectators were lined up from top to bottom. I flowed my first run and did a slow motion back-flip on the last jump. My second run was lame because my timing was off, however I did clear all the jumps in the line. On my third run I flipped the third jump and did a big no footer on the last jump to take the win. Second place went to a young man they call Bedtime Ben and he’s getting good so fast that I have probably beaten him for the last time. I was just happy to be out riding, so you can imagine how pumped I was to have meet a super cool dude (Bill Miller) local to Ocala. In fact he is one of the original trail cutters that got Santos started in the first place. It turns out that we know a bunch of the same people throughout the entire state. Then I survived the big drops and jumps and was crowned dirt jump king of the day. Then I saw my friend bust his first back flip ever. Another one of my friends thought he lost his backpack with 1500 dollars worth of camera equipment, but I told him it would get returned and it did. Then I got some unexpected company for the four-hour ride home. (Thanks Bobby) Nothing went as planed and everything went perfect. What a great weekend!
Thanks for checking in and please be sure you check back soon. |
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