•          Having worked as a professional bike mechanic for the past ten years, I am able to explaining the technical details of a component and offer product feedback based on personal, all-out efforts on difficult courses. People trust me because they know my work and because they have seen me and others win races because of it.

•          I am an enthusiastic ambassador for cycling. I lead shop rides, introducing new riders to the sport and assist with skills clinics during bike festivals. I participate in trail building and maintenance, through IMBA, NEMBA and local park agencies. I also regularly contribute to cycling bulletin boards offering advice and writing reviews of products I have used. 

2007 Highlights:

·        Made an appearance in issue #65 of Dirt Magazine.

·        Made multiple appearances in Strictly DH Magazine.

·        Ranked 5^th nationwide in the pro class as of September 24^th.  

·        Ranked 1^st in the NY State Championship Series at Plattekill as of August 24^th.

·        Ranked 1^st in the East Coast Gravity Series as of August 31^st.

·        Placed 11^th at the US Open.

·        Due to injuries I have been forced to end my season prematurely. This, however, gives me a unique opportunity to start training for the 2008 season earlier then predicted.

2007 Results:

            Date                     Venue                             Placing           Class

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May 6^th                        Duryea DH                                           2^nd                    Pro

May 13^th                      Plattekill DH #1                                    1^st                    Pro

May 20^th                      Diablo DH #1                                       4^th                    Pro

May 27^th                      US Open at Diablo                               11^th                  Pro

June 3^rd                        Plattekill DH #2                                    2^nd                    Pro

June 16^th                      Mid-Atlantic Capital Cup #1                 1^st                    Pro

June 17^th                      Mid-Atlantic Capital Cup #2                 1^st                    Pro

July 15^th                       Plattekill DH #3                                    4^th                    Pro

August 12^th                   Highland DH #2                                   3^rd                    Pro

2006 Highlights:

·        Out of 17 starts I had 15 podiums and 8 victories.

·        Placed 18^th in the Pro class at the US Open.

·        Placed 1^st in the Pro class at the Whiteface 5K DH race.

·        Placed 3^rd in the Pro class for the Snowshoe series.

·        Placed 1^st in the Pro class for the Diablo DH series.

2008 Goals:

·        Make more friends.

·        Compete in more slalom events.

·        Represent my country in the UCI World Championships.

I am thrilled to start my second season as a professional DH racer. Any support that you are willing to extend is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and I hope to receive and e-mail from you soon.

 

Sincerely,

 James Ford

It has been an amazing season. I have traveled to parts of the country that I have never been to, raced on courses that challenged me like none other and had the time of my life every weekend. I love riding my bike.

The season is quickly coming to an end and I am looking forward to it. I can now relax and ride my bike to simply enjoy being on my bike. I don’t have to worry about going fast. I don’t have to worry about doing well in a race. I don’t have to worry about hurting myself. I can simply relax and ride my bike.

I was fortunate enough to have a race season that went fairly cleanly, very few injuries (I dislocated my right shoulder twice, which I am going to strengthen this winter) and only a handful of less then optimal races. I would like to thank all the companies that helped me out tremendously this year: SINISTER BIKES, Troy Lee Designs, Magura, Maxxis, TekBolt, ODI, and U.M.A.C.

I am going to be starting my training for the 2007 season in the next three weeks or so and I am looking forward to it. One of my teammates is a professional trainer and he is going to get my butt into shape for next season. I have also been sprucing up my local DH trails. All five trails are in great shape and are ready to rock for the off-season antics that I have planned. In the next week I am going to be putting in 2 more trails and maybe in the next month or so I hope to put in another 3 or 4 on top of that. It is going to be a great place to hone in my skills and I look forward to becoming as fit as I was back in my XC racing days.

Thanks again for all that support me and if there is anything I can do to help let me know.

Live free, Ride hard, Die happy.

May 6-7 – Plattekill DH #1
May 20-21 – Mountain Creek #1
May 26-28 – US Open at Mountain Creek, NJ.
June 3-4 – Plattekill DH #2
June 10-11 – NORBA at Sugar Mountain, NC.
June 17-18 – NORBA at Mount Snow, VT.
June 24-25 – Snow Shoe #1
July 1-2 – Mountain Creek #2
July 15-16 – Plattekill #3
July 20-23 – NORBA at Mammoth, CA.
August 26-27 – Mountain Creek #3
September 9-10 – Plattekill DH #5
September 23-24 – Mountain Creek #4
October 7-8 – Mountain Creek #5
October 14-15 – Plattekill DH #6
November 4-5 – Plattekill DH #7


I will have my new race bike, a Sinister R9, built up within the next couple weeks. I am currently building many DH runs at the local Jeep trails near school, so I have many different style DH runs to practice and tune the bike on. I can`t wait till the season arrives!!

My other sponsors for this year include: Sinister Bikes, UMAC and Maxxis.