Yesterday we raced at the second World Cup XC race, in Offenburg, Germany. It’s been a while since I’ve been at a European World Cup – I almost forgot how crazy that scene is! Euro fans mob World Cup events the same way Americans do football or basketball games. There were town bikes with fenders, lights and racks piled up all through the woods near and around the course – normal German citizens transporting themselves to the race, just to watch. It is an awesome scene, and awesome to be part of the workings of it all.

The tech pit during the Elite Men's race

The course was full of crazy, steep, rooty drops, there were over 200 riders in the men’s pro field, and bikes were breaking right and left. Both Burry Stander and Todd Wells had flat tires, in Todd’s case dashing his top-ten ride to DNF status. I checked out Todd’s one-off carbon 29er wheels after the flat, and I found a sharp edge on the bead seat (yep, Todd, don’t forget who told you that). With two flats in three races on his new bike, I think Todd should use some more reliable, albeit slightly heavier, wheels. Christoph Sauser, reigning World Champion, crashed hard and snapped off both brake levers/broke a frame (depending on what source you believe). But my riders – Tad, Ethan, and Rob’s – bikes were dialed and they rode smooth, finishing strong on the day. Offenburg was Rob’s first-ever World Cup, and he moved up from his last-place call-up (224th) to a respectable 175th place finish. Not bad for the first time. Sam Schultz had an awesome ride, getting passed by Adam Craig on the last lap to finish 16th, second American to finish. Looking forward to seeing the rest of this year for that guy. He’s going so fast right now…

Sram’s new XX gruppo was on a few bikes at Offenburg, with logos taped out but unmistakable all the same. 9-speed, 10-speed, whatever. It’s all just bike parts, right? The one thing that is truly different so far is the hydraulic fork lockout. Yes, VeloNews reported the new lockout as cable-actuted, but VeloNews was wrong – you heard it here first! I’ll try and take some pictures in Houffalize next week.

Other than World Cup racing, I’ve been into Autobahn driving (95mph feels about right), exploring, and eating delicious fresh pastries from the bakery down the street. Hopefully I can ride enough to offset those pastries… I’ll leave you with a picture from one of my exploratory rides. -Joey

My trusty Redline single-speed, on some random German trail.

Joey Ernst is USA Cycling’s U23 National MTB Team mechanic. He’s been working on the international mountain bike circuit since 2006, has worked with America’s top riders at World Championships, and is a founding team member of AlisonDunlapCoaching.com.

Redwoods near Morgan Hill

I spent last weekend in Monterey, California, at the 20th annual Sea Otter Classic. Extremely busy supporting my riders – Tad, Ethan, and Rob – I didn’t get many pictures. But here are a couple:

Sam Schultz, racing the short track

Colorado Springs' own Russell Finsterwald, racing the JuniorX short track

I have no pictures from the XC race, as I was in the second tech zone, 3 miles from the venue, to which I had to ride a borrowed bike with a backpack full of waterbottles, tools, spare parts, and wheels strapped to the outside. Shedding as much weight as possible, I chucked the camera out of the pack. Nothing like a 30mph descent down a dirt road, on an ill-fitting borrowed bike, with a 35-pound pack on your back, to get the blood pumping…

In the men’s XC race, reigning World Champion Christoph Sauser took a flier off the front, unable to be stopped for the win. My former rider and roommate Sam Schultz, currently on the Gary Fisher team, was riding strong in second for quite a while, but was team-tactic-ed by the Sho-Air mafia near the line to end up with 5th. Durango hometown guy Todd Wells was doing extremely well in the XC, fresh off his victory in Saturday’s short track, but flatted, had trouble changing it, and ended up losing his top-five finish to that mechanical.

Other than a freak crank failure on Rob’s bike (it loosened three times during the race, although it had been tight, and was tightened each time in the tech pit), none of my riders had any mechanicals.

I didn’t really see much women’s racing, except to see the freakish power of Emily Batty proven in the short track – coming from behind and bridging a gap to Catherine Pendrel in the last half-lap, taking the win where no one thought it possible. Way to go! That’s it for the Sea Otter. -Joey

Joey Ernst is USA Cycling’s U23 National MTB Team mechanic. He’s been working on the international mountain bike circuit since 2006, has worked with America’s top riders at World Championships, and is a founding team member of AlisonDunlapCoaching.com.