Southridge Winter Series III

This past weekend was the third race of the Southridge Winter Series, and the second race that Felt attended. We showed up in force with five Felt employees racing over the weekend, as well as the SDG/Felt Factory Team racing too.

Eddie manning the Felt Tent

Felt Engineers Nick Ducharme and Anton Petrov were the highlights of the weekend, with Nick winning the Expert 27-34 age group, and Anton winning the Expert 19-26 group. Sadly, Nick missed his XC podium ceremony because he was too busy racing Super D. But, he made up for it by finishing third in that race - not bad for a day’s work! Nick and Anton’s fellow SDG/Felt Factory teammate Eric Christensen also did well, finishing second in the Expert 27-34 age group, right behind Nick.

Nick at the start

Nick racing XC on the Edict

Anton post-race

Felt Purchasing whiz Scott Lampe had his Fontana debut, and finished a respectable third place in Sport 19-26. Scott had to battle with a mechanical, but managed to pedal his way back to the podium.

Scott on his way to a podium finish

Felt's newest employees, Nathan Wright and Eddie McDonald, took on Fontana’s gravity racing, with Nathan racing the Downhill Sunday and Eddie racing the four cross Saturday afternoon. Nathan had an alright run, and finished a respectable eighth place in expert, but was less than a second off the podium! Eddie had issue in his four cross race, popping out of his pedal and falling behind quickly. Thus is four cross racing though; one mistake and you’re off the back!

Overall, the weekend was good! Our booth was a success, and many people read our Twitter and Facebook posts and were rewarded with free shirts! The tent was a very welcome source of shade for all the Felt employees and racers, and we look forward to expanding at the next race! Hope to see you all then!

CA State XC Championship

Below is a race report from Nich Ducharme of Mafia Racing covering his race and the race of Anton Petrov. The report is from the CA State XC Championship Cat 1 25-29. Nick and Anton are both engineers here at Felt Bicycles. We apologize for the tardiness of this race report, but the engineers have been pretty busy getting stuff together for the 2012 line and attending Interbike.

After racing all season, I was kinda looking forward to the last big race of the year - the California State Championships at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA. I had raced there once already this year and at the time was battling a cold, so I had struggled in my first attempt. I was also racing on my FRD-100 at the time, as the Edict was not ready for the public eye. So now, with the season winding down and legs feeling tired, I wanted revenge on the course that had beaten me earlier this year. However, my expectations were not very high going into the race.

Anton and I met up at the race, got a warm up in, and discussed the course, as we had done at the pair of Rim Nordic races we had contested in the past month. Anton was a new addition to the Felt engineering family. He had only started maybe 6 or so weeks prior to the race. After a short pre-ride session we both started complaining about the heat. Our race time was set for a little before 2 in the afternoon, which meant it was going to be the hottest part of the day. Race time temps were in the mid-high 90’s and tree cover is barely existent on the Bonelli course. Not fun at all.

Team Big Bear, the race coordinators, had changed the course, slightly, from my last visit to Bonelli. This time all racers would use the World Cup style course used only by the Pro athletes in the earlier season race. The Cat 1 racers would do 5 laps of the 4 mile course. The short race meant higher effort (more acute suffering) for shorter time. At least the race times would be fairly short, so we’d be spending less time in the heat.

I was racing on my Edict this time, as I had been since just after the Sea Otter Classic in April, and believe me it’s a fast bike! I had also just built one up for Anton, so it would be the first time he’d raced one and about the 3rd time he’d ridden that bike at all. In our previous 2 races, I had been able to edge him out thanks to the Edict’s light weight and amazingly confident handling on the more technical Rim Nordic courses. This time, with the playing field evened out equipment-wise, things would be different.

After a tough battle against the short, but very punchy and very fast course I figured I had probably finished somewhere just off the podium and I’d be able to get outta there before the traffic got too crazy. As it turns out, the hard work Anton and I had put in during the first lap had caused a lot of the other racers to crack and we either caught a lot of guys who went out harder than we had or we were able to hold any chasers. We had finished first and second, Anton edging me this time by just about 2 minutes when it was all said and done.

I must say that the result was bittersweet. I had finished much better than I expected to, but then I was only one spot off the top step and owning State Champion status. On top of that, there was a little bit of pride for me, in seeing such an improvement in Anton’s speed and time, just by getting him onto one of the new Edicts. I knew I was on a fast bike (no FAST pun intended) but I had no idea what kind of advantage the bike was offering me until the Edict’s (and Anton’s) wrath was dished out on me.

It was a very tough, but very exciting, race to say the least. I was very happy with the results for the new bike. You can’t get a much better finish than having the only 2 Edicts on course get first and second! Congrats to the CA State, Cat 1, 25-29 Champion, Anton Petrov, And the Felt Edict!!

Interbike 2010

Our lips still chapped from the desert, our voices hoarse from interviews and networking, the Felt crew has finally returned from Interbike in Las Vegas. First, we would like to thank all of you that made it to our outdoor booth. Both days, we had a frenzy of activity ranging from team directors to dealers to media correspondents to enthusiasts. This was our most successful Interbike today and it would not have been possible without all of you who attended. Interbike is a culmination of work that began over a year ago, and it was our pleasure to see all of you enjoying the fruits of our labor.

The thermometers nearly touched triple digits both days, and there were extremely strong winds, but that didn’t stop hundreds of riders from trying out our new 2011 line up. Our demo bikes were checked out continually from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and were met with very positive responses. Particularly popular were the new F2 and Edict which rarely had more than one or two bikes waiting to be tested at any time (the rest were being ridden). We had several riders report back that the "feel" of the F2 was something unparalleled in the industry, with one long time steel rider saying that it was the first carbon frame he is going to buy. The Edict's brand new FAST suspension and light weight was a hit with the fat tire guys and was just recently ridden to victory in the California State XC Championships (more on that in a later entry).

Our showroom area was also quite busy, with puddles of drool collecting around the new DA and Fixie Series. Somehow, we were still able to conduct interviews with several media outlets regarding the 2011 lineup, so keep an eye out on Twitter for links to videos and stories. Additionally, we hope to post some higher res pictures up from our booth soon.

Post outdoor, the crew headed down the road to the Vegas strip for indoor. We were able to get a lot done with vendors and already got the gears moving for the 2012 lineup - trust me, it is already shaping up to be impressive. Additionally, one of Felt's engineers rode a courageous race at CrossVegas, getting pulled with just 2 laps to go in a world class field. Keep in mind, this was after working 9 hours a day on his feet in the desert for the previous two days.

All in all, we had a lot of great exposure to dealers and consumers. Despite the amount of effort exerted during the week, all of us really had a blast interacting with you at the show. I guess we will see you again next year in Anaheim!

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