I just wanted to post a quick update RE Santa Ynez Valley Race Photos. So far I have photos posted for nearly 200 riders. That actually amounts to a lot more than 200 photos posted, considering that many riders have 2 photos posted (and some riders have even more- there are quite a few people who have 3 or more photos- some people have up to 5 pictures!) It’s been taking me some time to get them all posted and uploaded because we are including download links to FREE high resolution photos for everyone. Most of the high resolution photos can be printed out at approx 8″ x 11″! That’s a lot of data, so, even with a fast internet connection, the uploads take awhile. (I say “most” because some of the photos were taken with a film camera, and some of them were taken with an older digital camera. So you might come across some photos that print out much smaller than 8″ x 11″. But the majority of the photos are large.)

We hope you’ll spread the word to all your friends and family who were there at the Santa Ynez Valley Races so they can check out their photos too. And if you don’t see a photo of yourself at this time, please check back, because I am nowhere close to finished posting all the pictures we took. I still have a whole bunch more pictures to upload.

The vast majority of the photos I’ve posted so far are from the Downhill races. I do also have some Dual Slalom Photos posted too. I have a LOT MORE Dual Slalom photos that I haven’t had a chance to post yet, though. Looking back, we got some GREAT pictures, but I think the Dual Slalom was one of those things you just have to experience in person to truly appreciate. It was so fun and exciting to watch! I doubt that any photos could truly capture the level of excitement when watching the race live. I don’t even think video could do it justice. You really had to be there! If you weren’t, you seriously missed out. But if you weren’t there, at least you’ll be able to take a look at the pictures and get a glimpse of what you missed…

I also have a whole bunch of photos of the Cross Country Races to post too. I didn’t get as many XC photos as I did downhill and Dual Slalom. Part of that was because, on day one, the XC riders were so fast, most of them zipped by me before I even had a chance to get my lens cover off my camera. By the time I had a chance to focus, they’d all blown by me already. I was shooting with a brand new digital camera. I got it Friday morning, right before we arrived at the races…good thing the new camera is practically dummy-proof, although since the races I’ve learned some things that would have been handy to know at the time. I plan on getting out to photograph lots more mountain bike races, so hopefully the photos will get even better with time. Overall, it seems people have been pretty pleased with their photos so far, from what we’ve heard.

Thanks so much for dropping by. As always, please feel free to comment if you have suggestions or insights to share. Hope you like the pics!

Posted by: Amy S.

Edited 5/23/2008 to add: Please click the photo above to visit our page of race results and photos; or you can keep reading the blog for more in-depth commentary with lots more photos of the race.

We’ve been uploading Santa Ynez Valley race photos like crazy! Mikey Booter had a fantastic idea that I think you guys are really going to like. He coded a handy table for the race photos that includes photo thumbnails, plus everyone’s identifying info- bib #, class, sponsor, race results, etc. From the table you can access links to view all the pics of yourself or your friends/ family members who raced. We got multiple photos of some of the riders, so you will probably want to click the link for “view all” to see what’s there.

Click here to view the May 2008 Santa Ynez Valley National Race Results and Race Photos.

OK, a few quick disclaimers & informational tidbits.

1) Only a very small percentage of the photos are uploaded as of right now. It will take us a few more days to get everything online. If you don’t see your photo yet, please check back soon. And if you do see a photo, please check back in a few days anyway, because I have multiple photos of a lot of riders. Some people that have one photo available now are going to see another couple of pictures added to it in a few days.

2) Right now the table is located in a tab that is accessible from the home page. That’s a temporary location, and we will likely be moving it to a more permanent spot on the web site. When it has a permanent home, I will announce it here on the blog plus I’ll make a link to it from the site map so that you can find it.

3) If you post any of these photos on other web sites, forums, message boards, blogs, groups, etc, we’d really appreciate a link back to bikeoptions.com so that other riders will know where to get their photos. Please help spread the word! Thanks!

4) We have lots of photos from the awards ceremonies and other miscellaneous moments from last weekend which are not included in the table. We’re prioritizing getting the table finished so that everyone can access their race photos as quickly as possible. It will take us some time to get a race report written up, but it’s coming.

Thanks for checking in! We really appreciate your interest. Hope you’ll enjoy the pics!

Posted by: Amy S.

Chris Wilson, definitely one of the stars of the Santa Ynez Valley National dog & pony show downhill mountain bike race. He raced this year for his proud sponsor BikeOptions.com and took 1st place in the Downhill Expert class. Chris keeping it classy at the finish line jump. Chris contemplating the difficulties of racing with a good night sleep and low blood alcohol. Chris needed a handicap to make it fair, so he duct taped his cleat back to his shoe. Kids, please don’t try this at home. It’s true all you need to be successful racing is, chicks, booze, fire trucks, and a little style. Last year the race sponsors supplied him with some schwag. A very expensive bottle of slime, and a mug. This year he really struck it rich with a medal. Who said you can’t make a living mountain biking. BikeOptions.com doesn’t mess around with schwag, we mean business, and Chris is still celebrating his free Jersey and the adrenalin rush he got from the pat on the back we gave him! Bummer, just as he was going to start dancing and throw in a couple back flips (Belushi style) for good measure, the music stopped. Posted by -Mikey Booter-

Ry-Dog Before the Santa Ynez Valley National Mountain Bike Race:

Ry-Dog After the Santa Ynez Valley National Mountain Bike Race:

At the Awards Ceremony For the Race

In the podium shot above, you’ll notice that one of the riders does not have his arms uplifted. Let’s take a closer look at this fascinating situation.

Upon closer examination, we find that our subject is holding not one, but TWO cups of Firestone Ale. Well, that explains it. Ry-Dog, busted double-fisting on the podium in Santa Ynez Valley.

CONGRATS RYAN! We are sooooo proud of you.

Posted by: Amy S.

We just got back from the Santa Ynez Valley National Mountain bike races in Los Olivos, California. What a great trip! We had a fantastic time at the races, and we hope everyone else did too. We took over a thousand pictures at the race.

EDITED 5/22/2008 TO ADD:

Click here to see the Santa Ynez Valley National Race Photos!

If you raced but you don’t see your picture on that page, click here for more information.

We got photos of as many of the riders as we possibly could. Our crew is mostly downhill guys, so the vast majority of our photos are from the downhill races. I was trying to get out and about to get photos of the other races too, though; we took quite a few pics of the dual slalom races, and some pics of the cross country races. We have photos from some of the various awards ceremonies as well, including the XC races.

I have been working hard on getting all the photos organized and uploaded, but, as you can probably imagine, it is going to take me some time to get through organizing and uploading the 1,000+ pictures that we took.

The good news is that I shot mostly digital photos this time- just got a new digital camera that I am really stoked about. I am still getting used to the camera and there has been a bit of a learning curve. My trusty Pentax K-1000 also came along for the trip, and I shot a few rolls of film too, adding to the fun. I will be a busy girl trying to get everybody’s photos posted. Which reminds me that I never finished posting the photos that I took at the last Santa Ynez Valley race- I still have a bunch more photos of the beginner men’s class to post. If you raced Santa Ynez Valley Gravity Shootout race in the beginner men’s class last month and you haven’t seen your photos show up on the blog yet, please hang in there and don’t lose hope, because I will hopefully get around to posting the rest of the pics from that race sooner or later. And if you raced this past weekend, May 16, 17, & 18 2008, please check the bikeoptions.com blog again soon for more updates. I don’t want to make any promises about how quickly we’ll have the photos up, but I am really hoping to have some photos available for you guys starting tomorrow (May 20th.) If you check and don’t see your photo, please keep checking back.

In the meanwhile, please feel free to check out our Cycling Comparison Search Engine and let us know what you think of it. You can find the comparison search engine by either clicking that link or hitting the “home” button at the top left of your monitor. The Comparison Search Engine is a tool we’ve developed which will help you find the best pricing on whatever bicycles, bike parts or other cycling gear you might be interested in finding. How it works: you can choose which way you’d like to search by clicking one of the tabs at the top. (Keyword, Brand, or “Hot Deals”.) If you know up front what kind of gear you want to look at, search either by keyword or by brand name. If you’d just like to browse for some good deals, you can click the tab for “hot deals” instead. If you search by keyword, you can just enter any combination of keywords, like the name of a bike you want to look at, or the name of a part for your bike, etc. The comparison search engine will search many different bike stores and other sites- including Jenson USA, Price Point, , ebay and lots of others. The Comparison Search Engine will save you the hassle of checking lots of different stores to see who’s got the gear you want, and it will also show you who’s got the best price. It is completely free for you to use- no hidden costs and no strings attached. It includes mountain bikes, BMX bikes, road bikes, plus other stuff that cyclists would be interested in (everything from nutrition products to tents for camping at your next event. We camped this time around- fun times!)

At any rate we hope you’ll take a look at the Comparison Search Engine and let us know what you think. We all ride, and we’ve done our best to design the search engine with riders in mind. We’re totally open to suggestions and constructive criticism, so if there is anything we can do to improve the comparison search engine, please let us know. If you have suggestions, you can either comment on this page, or email us.

Thanks for your interest!

Posted by: Amy S.