Going to Africa

     Today is my last day in Spain for this trip. Tomorrow I head to Cape Town, South Africa for our team media camp. I'll spend two weeks in Cape Town before going off to Pietermaritzburg for the opening round of the world cup. During my time at camp I will be getting photos, videos, testing equipment and hanging out with the team. I'm hoping to get a nice shot for my postcard this year, maybe a whip if I can manage it haha. I'm told it's very hot in South Africa right now, which to me is much better that cold. The past week has been great in Granada. I have been out on the bike every day in the sunshine. Yesterday I had to pick up the 23 Degrees van from getting serviced at VW and drive it back through town. That thing is so long, definitely the biggest sprinter they make. Not ideal for european driving, but my skills with the manual are getting pretty good. I am really going to miss the iberian ham custom to Andalucia. I have been eating nearly a kilo per day! I've had some great times here, but i'm glad to have this month in Spain done with. Now onto some fun times in Africa with my team and my first world cup of the year.

NM

Race day at vigo

       Today's result was not what I was hoping for, however I was happy with the weekend as a whole. The track here in Vigo was running good early in the weekend. They made a lot of changes because the old track was getting pretty tired. I was feeling comfortable straight away, but I knew it would be a different story once the rain came in as forecasted. Half way through saturday's training it started to rain. I was hoping for good weather sunday, but I did a few laps in the rain anyway to get a feel for it. This morning we had early training and the organizers forgot that today spain puts the clocks forward an hour, so It was dark when we got to the track and they had to push everything back. It rained over night and off and on all morning, so it was still really muddy out there. I had a few crashes this morning, but I found my limit by race time. When I went up for my semi final, they were calling the riders in spanish and I had no idea what they were saying. The guy called me up as the start beeps were going and pointed down the track signaling for me to go, so I threw on my goggles and went. Not an ideal start. I had a smoother run than I expected and ended up second in the semi. I was really feeling good for the final. The track was running faster and I knew I was on pace to put down a good run. I had a nice warm up with sand man at the top this time. I left the start house and had a full on crash about 10 sec into the race. I was pretty bummed, but glad to be uninjured. I got up and carried on down the track as quickly as I could, but after a crash like that in the race run, you just can get into it. Brendan Fairclough took the win, always glad to see him do well. Although on paper my weekend doesn't look great, I got what I came here for. I learned a lot and was riding at the pace I want to be. I got a muddy race in and am familiar with that routine again. Good to get all the bugs worked out here and ramp up to the important races. In four weeks time I will be racing the world cup in South Africa, and I am feeling really confident in my ability to reach my goals.

Results 
1. Brendan Fairclough GBR 2.46.670
2. Bernat Guardia ESP 2.47.242
3. Robin Wallner SWE 2.47.677
4. Antonio Ferrererio ESP 2.48.671
5. Thibaut Ruffin FRA 2.49.022
25. Neko Mulally USA 2.57.458


NM

Vigo

      I have spent the past few days in Vigo, Spain killing time between races. It wasn't really killing time though, cause I enjoyed it so much.  My week here has been amazing. Sunny beaches and warm weather made for a perfect rest week. I went swimming in the sea every afternoon and it was so much fun! I would use my swim goggles to swim with schools of fish or explore under water. I managed to get a bit of a tan too! Im racing this weekend in the Vigo Bike Contest. It's a good track and there will be some fast guys here, so I'm looking forward to it. There was a lot of rain today, so that should make things interesting for the race. Hoping for good weather and another solid result for the weekend.

-NM

First race in the books

      Today I raced the Maxxis Cup in Gouveia, Portugal and I'm very pleased with how everything went for my first race of 2011. The weather has been beautiful all weekend, sunshine and warm temps made everything more enjoyable. The event was different than most, with two days of training, then two final runs on sunday. The track was very technical with lots of gaps and big hucks in sketchy places. Most of it was high speed as well. While it was good to be on a rough track again, it made for a dangerous run if you pushed hard. This morning in training I had all of my lines dialed and was feeling really solid on the track. On my last run of practice, I hit a gap I had done the run before that was pretty risky and had a major crash.  I blew up my rear wheel on impact and had a massive over the bars. It was the kind that before you know it, there's dirt in your mouth and your laying on the ground. To my surprise I was completely alright. A bit shaken up, but uninjured. Worst part was that I destroyed my awesome fresh new helmet. Parkins got it all on film which is one positive from suffering a crash like that. I managed to get myslef to the bottom of the track and had to get ready right away for my first final run. While I was warming up at the top, a lot was going through my mind. I was told by the team not to risk it and leave the race healthy, but It's hard to get in the start gate and not want to win. I put all that to the side and put down a stock run, which put me 2nd behind Danny Hart. I was happy with second given the circumstances and to be 2nd to danny wasn't bad either. Everyone had another shot to best there times in the second final and I really wanted to hold my position. For my second final I did a better warm up and focused a bit more on my run, but I still kept things under control so I'd stay healthy. I managed to take a few seconds of my first run and hold on for 2nd on the day. I was 1st junior and 2nd elite. I was stoked with how the day finished and happy with where I am after the first race. The prize money wasn't bad either, 530 euros for three minutes work haha. Tomorrow we go to Vigo, Spain and hang out for the week until the race next weekend. Im looking forward to some more nice weather and some beach time. Big thanks to Sander for all the work he did on the bike and at the top of the hill today. Can't wait for another one next weekend!

Results:
1. Danny Hart GBR 2:47.901
2. Neko Mulally USA 2:51.635
3. Robin Wallner SWE 2:53.247
4. Emanuel Pombo POR 2:53.335
5. Antonio Ferreiro ESP 2:54.802

NM

Gouveia

      Today I had an awesome time riding the race track here in Gouveia, Portugal. The weather over here has been the best its been so far this year, and that made for a really fun day. Riding bikes in the sunshine is the best. The track here seems pretty short, and has a few weird sections, but for the most part is a good race track. There are a ton of flat landings and massive g outs which make it pretty rough. It's good to be back on a rough track again after riding smoother stuff so far this year. It's a really relaxed atmosphere here which makes everything fun. It's awesome to finally be at the first race and I can't wait to get out there and hear the start beeps.

-NM

Headed to Portugal

      Today marks my last day in Granada for a few weeks. Although its been great, I can't wait to get over to Portugal and do my first race of the year. I will also be racing in Spain the following weekend. This past week has been a lot of fun with loads of downhill riding and visiting with friends. it was awesome to see my friend Dennis from Sweden over the weekend and have someone to ride with. He is down on the coast now doing some training of his own for the next few weeks. 23 also invited a young spanish kid over for the past two days to hang out and get a chance to ride with me. Although there was a heavy language barrier, we did some quality riding and I think he learned a lot from being around me. It's cool to help out other people when you can. It's been a squeeze to get all the new equipment before I take off tomorrow. This week I had packages from Vans, Kabuto, Leatt and Crank Brothers all turning up for the first race. I am really excited for these first two races, but I know that the important one is still over a month away, so I'm just looking at it as a chance to get on the bike and ease into the season. After today, I have a rest week which has been a long time coming as well, so I will cut back on the work and get ready for a few more hard efforts before I taper for the World Cup. Now that Trek have released the 2011 bikes and gear, I am allowed to post photos of myself riding in the new kit. Check out some of our new stuff below...

Official 2011 Trek World Racing press release:
http://dirt.mpora.com/news/2011-trek-world-racing-team.html

Neko Mulally photos by the Parkins:
http://profiles.google.com/116227238648436503928/photos/5584762909687559265

NM

Downhill runs on a saturday afternoon

       Today, to my surprise my friend Dennis from sweden turned up here in Granada to ride. Good thing for me, I was getting pretty bored here with Juzzo gone. I had planned to get some bike time in this this afternoon and just smash out as many downhill runs as I could. Dennis and his buddy Felix drove down from Sweden to escape the cold weather and were stoked to get out on the Downhill bikes. For them it was the first time this year. The track here on the La Zubia hill was in good shape. The dirt here is usually so dry and sandy that the rain this past week gave the soil lots of grip. I have been spending more time on the XC bike lately, so today was my first day on the track as well. I managed to punch out about eight runs. With Sander man driving the sprinter, we were able to just keep moving pretty quickly. I was running the new Vans sticky rubber shoes and they gripped so well I couldn't even tell I was on flats. Awesome riding shoes. Just got word on my new helmet from Kabuto as well. They have recently been developing the new ixa bicycle specific full face helmet, which Greg ran at Monte Sainte Anne last year, and they've got the new ones shipped out to us now. Turns out that to get them to Greg and I in time for the first few races, they had to hand make the shells for the two of us. That makes those two helmets pretty expensive haha. I worked with Scott Hart on the art and design for my helmet and from what I've seen so far it looks amazing. Looking forward to more bike time and a fun day tomorrow followed by a couple more days here next week before I head over to Gouvea, Portugal for my First race of the season. With how good the riding is here this time of year, I really don't want to leave.

Check out my new helmet here:

http://profiles.google.com/116227238648436503928/photos/5582538611014124145

NM

Lost in the forest

        The past few days I have been living at 23's place in Granada, just training and hanging out. He lives right by a huge national forest with ton of great XC trails. All week I have been incorporating big rides into my training and have found a ton of cool loops. There isn't really many trees here, so the best way to find new trails is to just get to the top of a peak and try to spot a trail you haven't ridden yet. Earlier in the week I found two great loops that were new to me and a lot of fun, but I wanted to find some trails with more singletrack and technical sections. I spotted a cool trail pretty low in one of the valleys that I wanted to check out today. I figured out how to get down there and after a long decent, I found it. Trouble was, there was a river running through the valley from the snow melt which I had to cross about five times. This meant each time taking off my shoes and socks and walking through the freezing water. That got old quick. With all the stopping, I wasn't getting very far and I was a long way from home. The further I went, the more it seemed like this really wasn't a trail, at least not at this time of year. I'm sure during summer It would be great, not having any water to go through, but now even what was there was washed away from the spring thaw. Eventually I got to  a point that I couldn't go any further, and I was running out of daylight. If I went back the way I came, through the water and up around the mountain to get home, I would probably still be out there now, cause most of the way in was descending. I decided to try and climb out of the valley hoping to find another trail I knew higher up somewhere, and by climb I mean actually climb up the hillside carrying the bike on my back. Good thing the Top Fuel is so light haha. I was starting to worry because the sun had gone behind the mountain and It was only a matter of time until it was dark. I got up to a high point and was able to spot an old building and luckily it had an access road leading away from it. I got to it just as it got dark and started to push up. Eventually it crossed a trail I knew and I was able to find my way home, a few hours later than planned. Before I left I told Sander and Martin that I was going on an adventure, so they were a little worried when I was out so long after dark. It was indeed an adventure, and would I do it again? Hell yes! There are so many more trails up there I want to explore, now I know not to go down on that one again but I'm sure there are some good ones waiting to be found. Earlier in the week I would go out with Justin which was great, It's so much more fun with two people. We had a good few days training together but he had to go back to New Zealand yesterday. Looks like I'm going to be getting lost on my own for a while haha. Forecast is for bad weather over the weekend, but I'm from Pennsylvania so that wont slow me down. Looking forward to getting on the downhill bike this weekend and some more big rides to come.

NM

Last day in Malaga

Today was our last day riding and testing together as a team here in Malaga. It was so cool that we had the chance to get together before the season got going. I learned a lot of valuable information and have got all the bugs worked out here, months before the races. The main focus here was suspension, which is a essential part of downhill racing. Justin and Christian at Fox Racing Shox had a ton of options for us to test. We ran through tons of settings on the fork and shock, and tried everything with different scenarios in mind. With all the help from Fox, I was able to find the setting that worked best for me, and the bike feels amazing. Whatever's inside that fork, it freekin works! It is such a good feeling to have all the equipment set up and tuned at this point. It was also really cool to have the sponsors here to hang with us. Peter from Shimano was here the past two days and he had a ton of new stuff to show us. He had a really cool presentation for us last night with lots of information about the Saint group set we're running. There were a bunch of guys here from Trek as well, all great friends of mine, who are really fun to hang out with. The past two days have been pretty wet actually. The thunderstorms at night were unbelievable. I've never heard thunder so loud! Yesterday's test was pushed to the afternoon due to rain, so my teammates Justin, Aaron and I smashed out some weights at a gym near by. Crazy place, reminded me of something out of one of the Rocky movies. Today I did a ton of riding on a new track we found. It had way more corners and gave us a bit more variety to test on. We did more work on the shock and found a really good setting on there to finish out the week where as previously we spent more time on the fork. It was great to get that shock dialed. I pushed up a few times for the Parkins as well, should have some great shots for an video edit we're doing that will be out later this week. Big thanks to Trek, Fox and everyone who made this camp happen. These are the things you need to do to win races, and it's awesome when the sponsors realize that and make it happen. At this level, It's not just the rider, we need to strive for every advantage we can get equally out of our equipment as our body. Im stoked at where we are as a team this early on. Tonight I'm headed back to Granada for a party at 23's place. Gonna be going hard these next few weeks, then headed over to Portugal to do a race and have some fun. Looking forward to it…

We were told not to post any photos until they were officially released, but a few got out anyway. Check out the new kit and bikes here: 

http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/2011-Trek-World-Racing-Kits-and-Bikes,255

NM

Testing all week

    This week has been awesome so far. The team and I have been testing our 2011 equipment in the beautiful weather here on the Mediterranean coast. The main focus here has been on suspension, and let me tell you, we've got it pretty freekin dialed! Justin and Christoph from fox brought a bunch of cool ideas for us to run down the hill and they've been working very hard to make sure we are on the best set ups possible. Big thanks to them. This location has some really fun tracks as well. We found one that had a lot of the qualities we you would look for in a test track. It really made for a good world cup track simulation, which is exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately Jusso had a pretty bad crash yesterday and had to sit out for most of the testing. He just had a dumb crash on a feature we didn't look at, first run down one of the tracks. Bummer for him, he's pretty soar. I've been having a great time doing laps on the test track with Aaron and Tracy. Its great to be back riding with my teammates again and awesome chasing Gwin down the hill. I did a bit of filming and photos with the Parkins too for some new projects I am working on. We hit a bmx in town and tried to get some shots of me whipping out the downhill bike which is not my best attribute haha. It was a good time though and I think we got some cool shots. Getting outside for training is such a treat too, coming from cold snowy Pennsylvania. So motivating to get on the bike with weather like this. A few more days here than back up to Granada. What an awesome time!

Here I am in southern Spain

It's my second day now in southern Spain and I am freekin loving it! Travel went as smooth as possible, which was great. I was a bit worried about Spanish customs because I had 2 huge boxes of equipment from the U.S. The man stopped me at customs and asked if I had anything to claim and I said "no, it's all my personal clothing and equipment" and he said "ok, go!" I was stoked cause that could have been very difficult. I got into Granada sunday night and was very excited to go to sleep! Yesterday I woke up and got in a ride before we left for camp. Trails there were mint. I had to drive the new team van down to the coast from Granada for our team camp, and the van is manuel which I am not familiar with using. Sander and I went for a drive before the trip and he taught me how to drive it. It was a bit of a rough start, but I picked it up quick. I made the 2 hour drive no problem. I followed Martin in his new Audi the whole way. I stopped at traffic lights, went through roundabouts and made it through the tight european streets. I was so proud of myself haha it's the simple things in life I guess. The sunset from my hotel room was amazing! I am staying right on the Mediterranean, and I could see Morocco from my balcony. Such an awesome view! I couldn't believe Africa was so close. Today I got up and had a massive breakfast. Could have been the best euro breakfast ever! I just checked out the new bikes getting built up, they look incredible! Maybe a few pics to come if they let me. Justin and Christoph from Fox just got in, and we're off for a ride now. This trip couldn't have started off better, I cant wait to see all my teammates this afternoon.

NM