Archive for the ‘team’ Category

This weekend is the start of the 2010 event season for Norco at The Seattle Bike Expo. This  is an annual event hosted by the Cascade Bicycle Club in Seattle, Washington. The show should draw in excess of 200 exhibitors and thousands of consumers over the course of two days.

If you are in the Seattle area over March 13th – 14th, head on down to the Seattle Cruise Ship terminal and say hello. Norco will be there showing off 2010 bikes, giving away a Norco Hades Bike and Factory Team rider Ryan Leech will be conducting Trials Demonstrations throughout the day.

We’ll hope to see you there!

Ben Boyko may not be on a Norco anymore but there are a few things that take some time to come to light. The highly anticipated Anthill Films production Follow Me is set to be released on April 16th in Monterey California at the 20th annual Sea Otter Classic.

If you are heading down for the first big race of the season, be sure to stop at the Norco booth before heading over to the Golden State Theatre to see the World Premier of Follow Me.

In the meantime, watch the trailer and you will see just how good the movie will be.

Follow Me – the Teaser from Anthill Films on Vimeo.

Well, 2010 is now in full effect!

Winter Olympics in my Home town, no snow to speak of and a blanket of people about converging on Vancouver, Lower mainland all the way up to Whistler…

I am out!

With the amount I travel I do in so many cool places combined with how awesome my job is I figured that I could sail through life at full charge, ready to handle all the daily nuances without issue…  Apparently this is not true and I found myself pretty burned out after an incredibly successful 2009 season went down… hmm what to do??

Surf trip to Costa Rica! Yeeeha!

Almost 3 weeks of traveling around Costa checking it out, holing up in cool places surfing on sand break,  busting beach time Frisbee in hand and checking out the local medical system after my Sting Ray encounter… Wow! Sweet mother earth thru sand and surf!  Man I could feel the layers of stress peeling off, almost as fast as my sun burn, YIKES!

Sunset blessings!

Of course no trip is as fun as when you can recreationally ride mountain bike and that’s just what went down!  While in Las Vegas for the Bike Show I met young gun Philippe who ‘sent it’ lap after lap in Boulder Canyon.  It turned out ‘big P’ was from Costa Rica and when I let him know I was considering the possibility of visiting his country he offered to meet up and show his favourite trails.  Enter stress relief trip.

A 4×4 road to the middle of ‘no where’ 10,000 feet up ended up ‘somewhere’ in a town called Providencia where the village welcomed us with open arms!  Providencia embraces bouldering and Mountain bike and they have a 10km downhill trail including several other trail options, most of which are very advanced steep ass trail, GNAR!!!!  Two days of riding and I still wanted more!

Tica (local) riders Cristhian and Philippe tearing it

As luck would have it there was a bouldering competition so I got to check that out as well, man how cool… There is no major hotels or restaurants, however comfortable sleeping arrangements and GREAT food from the local bar (both breakfasts and dinners) were easily arranged.  We met Great people in Providencia and it was very accommodating to mountain bikers, they were stoked to have us ride their trails!

Grrrrr gnarly trail alert! Wish I could scream ‘WICKED’ in Spanish!

I was offered the lead instructor job position for the trail building component of the Mountain Bike Operations Course at Capilano University.  After a lot of consideration I have accepted the position and am now hitting the books trying to get my teach on so I can kick butt on information delivery for the students!

MTB ops group

April will be the advanced trail building section of the course so I will be on the Sunshine Coast working and SHREDDING all month!!!! Sweet!!!  Stoked to hit dirt with the Coastal Crew while there, the coast is just so cool..

I continue to put mileage and wear on my Prototype ‘all mountain’ bike and my Mace gear which both are equally loving it!

This Top secret ripper will twist your nipples raw!!!

New updated rear stays on the bike have got it nailed and the last round of feedback on the gear has got me stoked that Norco and Mace development departments are listening!  SIC!   I love my job!

I love my job!

Hoots

photo by Taylor Leigh

Today was a typical day in the mountain bike world on Vancouver Island, and a testament to what makes our sport so great. My friend (and amazing filmmaker) Aaron LaRoque and I decided to go shred and film at Mt.Prevost in Duncan and, like usual, we had no idea how we were going to get to the top of the mountain. Riding the road up would take us a few hours or more with the camera gear and hitching a lift with the local gun-toting rednecks was the only other feasible option we could think of to get to the top. We were ok with that, but of course, not overly thrilled.
On our way into Duncan we stopped by “Experience Cycling” to buy a tube and one of the employees heard us brainstorming about how we would get to the top of the hill. He immediately chimed in that it was his lunch break and that he’d drive us to the top. We couldn’t believe it, but of course, we didn’t refuse.
This is what I love about mountain biking. Like most sports, it’s a thread that ties strangers together but unlike some sports, riders always want to help each other out and spread the love of the sport.
As most of my friends know, one of my favourite things to do is surf, but you would never be able to go into a surf shop and have an employee volunteer to drive you to their secret spot! It just wouldn’t happen. That person would be chastised by his or her peers and probably not allowed back at the break. Ok, maybe that’s a little extreme, but I’ve heard of much worse things happening at my local break.
In mountain biking however, it seems like everybody is there to help everybody else have the best time possible. There is little territorialism, and even where there is (like at the dirt jumps), it’s minimal.
So thanks to Matt from “Experience Cycling” for being such a great example of what mountain biking is all about. Your Toyota Tacoma was much more pleasant than sitting in the back of a Bronco with a gun rack.

Darcy

This coming race season there will a Norco Team DH flying down not only the Women’s World Cup circuit but also the Mens. For 2010 Norco has partnered with Dirt Magazine to create the Dirt Norco Race Team. World Cup racers Ben Reid and Dan Stanbridge will be aboard a Norco through the full World Cup Circuit.

The two members of the 2010 Dirt Norco Race Team, Ben and Dan will travel the world following the UCI World Cup Circuit starting on May 16th in Slovenia all the way to the World Championships at Mt. St Anne in Canada.  They will also be making appearances in North America for events such as The Sea Otter Classic in Monterrey CA and Crankworx in Whistler BC.

Norco is extremely excited to have come on as a sponsor for the Dirt Norco Race Team. Over the past years Norco’s World Cup Race Program has made large strides through the sponsorship of Fionn Griffiths and the Norco World Team. The Addition of the Dirt Team is another step forward in proving the Norco Team DH on the world stage. From everyone at Norco we  wish Ben and Dan the best of luck with the coming season and will be there to help everywhere along the way.

Check out more on the team at: dirtmountainbike.com