Summer Adventures, New Friends and New Kits!

Not a lot of writing this Summer because of, well, a lot of riding! It's a long one so I'll get right to it!

Last update I had Sea Otter coming up and it wound up being such an amazing adventure. Monster Energy hooked it up with 4 days accommodations in Monterrey, Ca just minutes from the Laguna Seca event location. The even itself is bigger than anything I could have imagined, estimating over 65,000 people in attendance over four days. Hundreds of Industry brands were on site bringing the latest & greatest of cycling products. Racing action was on for four days in everything from Road racing, 'Cross, Downhill and XC. The Pro races were absolutely amazing to see up close. The event has become big enough to bring the best of the UCI Professionals and we were treated with top international racers like Nino Schurter in action! I was provided with a sweet S-Works Epic to use for the trip which was perfect for the race course. I spent the better part of two days with a Monster Energy film crew and MotoCross/MTB Legend Johnny O'Mara exploring the filming, exploring the race loop and learning some skills from Johnny. Having never ridden out West, the terrain was quite different and Johnny definitely provided some useful tips. When race day came I managed to suffer like a dog for the early parts as the weather took an unexpected drop in temperature. Half way through I found my legs and had a better time out of it. Ultimately I kept it upright and had a blast in the beautiful race loop. Check out some pics below from my trip.

Had an amazing trip to Sea Otter 2015! Thanks to Muscle Monster & Greg Sellers for the amazing experience!
Posted by Eclipse Racing Team on Saturday, May 2, 2015

The muddy result of Big Frog

Before the night sets on the Renegade Run

Boyco has had his own busy Summer as well. When XC season ends, he likes to take his rides the endurance and Adventure route. His search of Epic rides has taken him to the muddy mess of the Big Frog 65, a 65 mile XC race in the mountains of Tennessee, to the more spiritually pure Renegade Run, a 90 mile NIGHT ride through the Ocala National Forest back in Florida. More of a Gravel Grinder than an XC event. The Summer isn't done yet as next up he continues to the leg ripping Oraam! With over 10k feet of climbing in the mountains of North Carolina, the ride has become a yearly challenge for him. The war stories when he returns are always special so looking forward to his report.

This Summer brought some changes to the team as well. Our good friend Norris has left us for the great state of North Carolina. He'll always be a part of the team, but we'll miss him and his constant shenanigans on the bike. We continue with great support from F2 Performance Labs, ESI Grips, Cytomax, Magura, & Rudy Project., but after three great seasons with Bike Tech, we've stepped away as we've taken a bit of a change in direction with the team. We can't thank them enough for all their support along the way. Happy to report that Alex has reignited his passion for riding after a tough personal year, and we've included some new (old) friends from other teams to join us as well. While they'll fly their sponsor colors on race weekend, they're Eclipse Racing when it comes to race day fun and support.

Speaking of the team, new kits arrived just in time for our new member Victor to take it out to the famous BC Bike Race, a 7 day stage race in the wilderness of BC! He's sponsored by Mack Cycles in Miami, Florida, but you need a lot of kits for 7 days so he managed to fly Eclipse colors a few times. He rode consistent the whole event, faced a bit of a challenge with a crash mid way through, but charged back to finish 19th in class!

As the Summer ends, the focus will turn to the FSC/CC season which begins in September. We'll write up more of our new members as the season kicks off. Keep coming back for more pics and stories from the season!

Thanks for reading!