THE DIRT CORPS 2008 TEAM
THE DIRT CORPS The Dirt Corps is an organized group of riders, trail builders and mountain bike advocates based primarily in the Pacific Northwest. We started in 2005 with 5 founders, and have since grown to well over 30 active members. Some of our accomplishments include building a bike skills park for the city of Snoqualmie, holding the annual BENT event (a DH and Freeride contest with some twists), and conducting bike coaching sessions such as the Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day in conjunction with Trips For Kids. In addtion to our building and advocacy efforts we also field a sponsored DH race team that attends local and national races. This allows us to showcase our riding talent and provide feedback to our sponsors about the products they create and how to make them better. It also exposes us to a wider range of terrain and features that we can then draw from when designing and building new trails and bike park systems. Dirt is in our blood. Always faithful. Always filthy. Semper Dirticus!
C O V E R : D A N S A I M O AT S - L I N E . P H O T O B Y B R A D W A LT O N
T H E D I R T C O R P S R A C E T E A M AT T H E B E A C O N B L O W O U T
THE FOUNDER STAR The Founder Star is composed of five chevron elements. Each chevron represents one of the original founders: Dan Saimo, Matt Patterson, Tyler and Bryce Kloster and Justin Rose. The five chevrons face the center representing a unified vision and solidarity in thought. The star is a symbol of excellence, hope and strength in numbers.
Dan Saimo
Matt Patterson
Tyler and Bryce Kloster
Justin Rose
Marcy Kloster and Melissa Hathaway
S A M S A I M O W E A R S T H E F O U N D E R R A C E J E R S E Y O N T H E P O D I U M A T M T. H O O D R A C E # 5
THE CORE TEAM Top row: Matt Patterson Brian Guse Chase Schmidt Sam Saimo Marcy Kloster Tyler Kloster Bottom row: Jim McCracken Jeff Peterson Justin Rose Tristyn Duerr Graham Barry Dan Saimo Utah: Bryce Kloster Melissa Hathaway
T H E C O R E T E A M O N T H E M E E T I N G R O C K AT S T E L L A R PA R K , S N O Q U A L M I E
Riders, builders and racers - this is the heart and soul of the fully sponsored 2008 Dirt Corps Team.
2007 MILESTONES Completed Phase I of the Snoqualmie Bike Park (Phase II currently under construction). Raised over $5,000 in donations for trail and park building. Worked over 3,000 hours on developing new riding opportunites both locally and regionally. Earned 30 podium finishes (5th or better) in local and national races. Added 13 racers (9 new for 2007). Held BENT EVENT II, a local invitational race combining DH and Freeride in an innovative format. Expanded trail building efforts locally and regionally: Tokul, Galbraith, Snoqualmie, Peeler, Collonade and Port Angeles. Conducted freeride demonstrations including the Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day sponsored by REI. Acquired CNC Mill and Mig Welder for fabrication of custom designed trail building tools by Dirt Corps Industries. Redesigned web site design and upgraded server software. Increased membership to over 30 fully dedicated riders, builders and racers. Participated in several mountain bike movie productions scheduled for release in 2008.
E V E RY O N E P I T C H E S I N T O B U I L D T H E S N O Q U A L M I E B I K E PA R K
2008 GOALS Upgrade web site and begin to build online community. Provide Karakoram trail tools to the regional trail building community and continue to innovate in tool design. Build one brand new signature PNW freeride trail. Complete Phase II of Snoqualmie Bike Park. Plan, design and seek approval of local Dirt Jump Park. Dominate the local Pacific Northwest Gravity Series with our 15+ person race team and represent at state and national events. Hold the 3rd Annual BENT Event - an invitational event held locally, designed to kick off the race season. Initiate discussions with the Forest Service to adopt and maintain the Exit 38 Downhill trail system. Collaborate with Steven’s Pass ski area on design of the future planned bike park. Continue to receive support of our 2007 industry partners and identify opportunities for new sponsors. Establish non-profit organization to raise funds and create awareness needed for larger scale projects. Learn new tricks!
M AT T PAT T P U L L S O F F H I S F I R S T S U P E R M A N O N S - L I N E
RECON BUILD RIDE Discovery happens in many ways - you hear something from a fellow rider about a new area, you have the spidey tingles about a new area on the way home from work or you stumble across it out on a ride. Once you find it though, it’s on like Donkey Kong! You hit the maps, research property boundaries online, hit your pilot friends up for a fly by and eventually fire up the Unimog, gather the troops and get on the recon. Once on location, the trail often unveils itself. You anticipate fall and winter as they are the best times to build when the vegitation begins to fade and the natural lines unfurl before you. You mention the potential to your friend, he tells a few buddies and the next thing you know you have a work party in full force knocking out the next epic destination. With the proper tools and resources you move fast. Dirt and rock form booters and berms, cedar stringers and planking fall into place, stones are arranged to form solid riding surfaces, rocks and boulders are sought out for skills lines and soon you have something to write home to moms about. Along the way someone coins a name - Mugatu, Loose Pole, Staboner, Ghetto Bird, The Scorp, etc... Some are better than others but that’s not what is important - what’s important is that they are there and its game on. “Did you see Matt no-foot that gap?” “Dude! Rose just tattooed that tree!”, “Dang! T-Bomb just re-worked the boundaries on that line!” Each trail presents it’s own unique set of challenges to conquer but the more you hit it the better you get it. Before you know it you’re going higher, tweaking it harder and shaving seconds off your time.
A F R E S H LY M I N T E D D I R T C O R P S S I G N A T U R E L I N E S O M E W H E R E D E E P I N T H E P A C I F I C N O R T H W E S T
2008 RACE TEAM Dan Saimo Expert Men 40 Matt Patterson Expert Men 30 Tristyn Duerr Expert Men 30 Brian Guse Expert Men 16 Justin Rose Sport Men 30 Graham Barry Sport Men 30 Tyler Kloster Sport Men 29 Bryce Kloster Sport Men 29
Marcy Kloster Sport Women 29 Melissa Hathaway Sport Women 29 Chase Schmidt Sport Men 15 Sam Saimo Sport Men 12 Aaron Sauve Beginner Men 30 Jim McCracken Beginner Men 40 Tom Neuberger Beginner Men 30 Cheryl Frey Beginner Women 29
2 0 0 7 R A C E R E S U LT S PODIUMS
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
T O TA L
EXPERT SPORT BEGINNER
2 3 3
2 3 2
1 2
5 2 1
1 2 1
11 12 7
T O TA L
8
7
3
8
4
30
Dan Saimo Sport 40: Beacon: 2nd, Crankworx: Garbonzo: 28th, AirDH: 21st, Mt. Hood: 1st, Expert: 4th (moved up end of season). Matt Patterson Expert 30: BENT II: 2nd, Beacon: 4th, Crankworx: Air DH: 4th, Dual Slalom: 6th, Garbanzo DH: 9th, MX: 5th, Mt Hood Series: 3rd, 1st, 1st, 4th (2nd overall). Brian Guse Sport 15: Beacon: 9th, Crankworx: Air DH: 14th, Mt Hood: 11th, 1st, 1st. Chase Schmidt Sport 14: Beacon: 2nd, Crankworx: Air DH: 21st, MX: 4th, Mt. Hood: 4th, 3rd Spencer Aston Beginner 14: Mt. Hood: 5th, 1st. Sam Saimo Beginner 12: Beacon: 7th, Mt. Hood: 7th, 2nd. Graham Barry Sport 30: Mt. Hood: 4th. Cheryl Frey Beginner 20: Mt. Hood: 1st. Tyler Kloster Sport 26: Beacon: 2nd, Mt. Hood: 5th. Bryce Kloster Sport 26: Beacon: 3rd. Kelby Madrone Beginner 14: Beacon: 2nd, Mt. Hood: 1st. Aaron Sauve Sport 30: Mt. Hood: 5th. Marcy Scheelar Sport 26: Mt. Hood: 4th. Andre Ciabattari Sport 30: Beacon: 1st.
M A T T P A T T E R S O N A T T A C K S T H E S U N D E C K D R O P A T M T. H O O D
2008 FACTORY RIDE Transition Blindside, Raw Fox DHX5.0 w/ Ti spring Fox 40 RC2 Fork Sunline V-One Bar / Stem Avid Juicy 7 Brakes Danger Boy Levers
Gravity Light Crankset E.13 38T DH Chainring Sunline V-One Pedals Transition 32mm Wheels Maxxis Minion 3C Tires
Sunline V-One Saddle Truvative XR Seatpost Sram X-9 Shifters / Deraillers Sram PC 951 Cassette
C H A S E TA K E S A B R E A K F R O M R I D I N G T O S H O W O F F H I S B L I N G E D O U T B L I N D S I D E
THE SNOQUALMIE BIKE PARK The bike park process from concept to opening took a little under a year to complete. The Dirt Corps worked with the City of Snoqualmie to acquire land, plan, approve and build the park. We raised funds from the community donations and
PHASE
coordinated volunteer efforts. Phase 1 opened in the summer of 2007 with a pump track and TTF structures. Phase 2 is under construction for spring 2008 completion. A large scale jump park is being planned for an adjacent lot in late 2008.
1
FUTURE PHASE END
FUTURE PHASE
PHASE
2
END
END
COMMUNITY Version 3 of the Dirt Corps website includes a visual upgrade, added functionality and a growing user base. Here are some of the new features planned for 2008: DISCUSSION FORUMS Community forums and discussion areas will be introduced and it will integrate with email to make it easy for people to keep touch with the Dirt Corps. W E E K LY U P D A T E S Weekly content updates about trail building progress, event reports, rides, and rider blogs will keep the information flowing and enable large scale work efforts. HOW TO GUIDES Want to learn how to build your own park? Find out how we did it along with a ten step checklist to quickly get started. RIDE VIDEOS We will continue to post ride and build footage of you favorite Dirt Corps characters sending it and revealing their latest structures hidden away in the woods. TEAM CALENDAR Our race and activities schedule so you can hook up with us. B U T T H AT ’ S N O T A L L ! We’ll also have content for you to download - cool desktop images for your computer, photo galleries with all the latest action, sponsor product info, advertising for select sponsors and complete Founder and Troop bios for those of you who want to learn more about us. Log on and check us out at http://www.dirtcorps.com.
THE KARAKORAM Every epic trail starts as a natural swath of land covered with leaves, roots, rocks and duff and it's up to the trail builders to reveal it. The Dirt Corps have spent thousands of hours digging in the woods, roughing in new trail, searching for sick lines and perfecting trail building techniques. In doing so we've found that most off-the-shelf tools aren't made to withstand trail building rigors - shovels barely penetrate root-laden soil, bow rakes tangle in the thick, loamy duff layer, and lightweight McLeods ricochet off roots. There had to be a tool that could do more in less time. After much trial and error we engineered the "Weapon of Mass Construction" - the Dirt Corps Karakoram. The Karakoram, named after the mountain range home to K2, will break up soil, tear through roots and quickly move a massive amount of dirt. Ordinary tools are difficult to travel with and alternative 'lightweight' folding systems come with significant compromises. The Karakoram is a portable tool that can be packed into your backpack without hindering your riding. Imagine biking to your favorite trail in progress with the Karakoram in your pack (like an avalanche shovel), building a few berms and jumps, tamping it all down, then packing the Karakoram away to ride your creation. No need to stash your tools in the woods where they corrode or go missing. You’ve got yours in your pack and you don’t need the national “intelligence” community to go find it. The Dirt Corps are currently making the Karakoram for friends and fellow trail builders to help develop more freeride trails in the Pacific Northwest. Let us know if you need a couple and we’ll hook you up! B R O T H E R S K L O S T E R ( K 2 ) W I T H A F R E S H B AT C H O F P R O T O T Y P E S
THE DIRT CORPS SPONSORS We work with the best in the business. We recommend these companies and products in everything that we do. Our visibility within the sport creates added value for our sponsors in ways that go beyond showing up to race on the weekend. We sponsor race events, gives demos for youth groups, lead large scale bike rides, create places to ride, field a winning race team and have
a strong pressence online. We’re developing a rock solid brand that is highly visible, progressive and built to last. We have a dedicated and large following today and we’ll have a regional army before long. We look forward to new opportunites as the sport continues to grow. And we seek partners that want to go the distance. Are you ready for the ride?
“Kevin and Kyle continue to redefine the rider owned category.”
“Simply the best suspension that you can put on your bike.”
“Brad Walton is one of the coolest guys in the business.”
“I’d be out for the season if I wasn’t wearing 661 at Crankworx this year.”
“3C is a miracle technology - We’d be crazy to run anything else”
“Bomb proof components with the tastiest color combos.”
“Super functional goggles and shades that keep us stylin’ and profilin’.”
“You live in a cave if you’re not wearing 5.10 shoes by now.”
“Energy to burn that keeps the shovels digging and the cranks spinning.”
BRAD WALTON - LIVING THE DREAM
B R A D W A LT O N R A I S E S U P A N D F E N D S O F F O N T H E D I R T C O R P S S I G N AT U R E T R A I L S - L I N E
Brad Walton goes big! He hucks the largest structures built and continues to walk away unscathed. Owner and operator of Spectrum Techwear, Brad continues to innovate mountain biking apparral by designing from the gut and not taking the short cut. His experience with building and riding translates directly into his products. We look forward to working with Brad as we test his products on a daily basis and help bring the dream to reality.
R-LINE IS YOUR LINE In the fall of 2005 we set out to extend an existing trail that had built a few years earlier. The new section would provide an ideal DH training line that race team could practice on without leaving our neighborhood. Word spread quickly and soon riders from the entire Pacific Northwest had ridden the trail or heard of it. In the summer of 2007 the era came to and end as machinery moved in to clear the land for a new housing developement. Mark Brent from Bones Over Metal was able to capture the last few days of it’s glory and tell the story in his upcoming documentary of Northwest freeriding. Look for it to hit the shelves in early 2008.
S O M E U N K N O W N R I D E R S G E T T I N G T H E G O O D S I N T H E F I N A L D AY S O F R - L I N E
THE FUTURE CORPS
Sam Saimo, age 12, is leader of the Dirt Corps Gromulean Empire. When he’s not rippin’ up Dirt Merchant and roostin’ A-Line he’s in the pits bugging his favorite pros for autographs and advice on how to go faster. Step to the curb when you see the Sam Train coming because there’s nothing worse than getting passed on A-Line by a 12 year old with mad hops!
Chase Schmidt is 14 years old. His favorite run is A-Line and rides the Garbanzo top to bottom faster than many of the locals. He spends as much time working on the trails as he does riding and racing them. He has laser focus, get’s straight A’s in school and would rather search online for bike parts than talk to girls at school (we’re sure that’ll be changing soon :).
Brian Guse, age 15, drops 70 footers on his dirt bike for breakfast and boots 45 footers on his bicycle for lunch. Brian’s favorite moves are no-handers off the S-Line gap but there’s nothing he won’t hit - Red Bull Elevation at Whistler, The North Shore, Vedder and the legendary Exit 27. He’s on the gas and he’s in it to win it. Look for the DC groms going big in 2008!
DIRT CORPS CONTACTS If you want to know more about a particular aspect of the Dirt Corps please contact one of the Founder members below. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you about our vision of the future and learn more the goals and objectives of your
company or organization. As the old saying goes - “the trail doesn’t build itself”. And that goes for our sport and industry as well. We’re here to make a difference and are looking for partners that want to do the same - let’s talk!
Justin Rose Sponsorship Director and Product Testing Coordinator justin@dirtcorps.com 206 755 5203
Tyler Kloster Engineering and Manufacturing Director tyler@dirtcorps.com 206 276 6393
Matt Patterson Race Program Director and Trail Build Coordinator matt@dirtcorps.com 425 894 1377
Dan Saimo Creative Director and Senior Parkitect saimo@dirtcorps.com 425 417 2846
Recon >> Build >> Ride
Dirt Corps World Headquarters 7901 SE Stellar Way Snoqualmie, WA 98065
Telephone: 425 396 4426 Hyper Text Transfer Protocall: www.dirtcorps.com