DH seeding runs are now complete. The stage has been set for racing this weekend and the order that things will unfold. Starting off with the Junior Men, Nick Geddes set the bar VERY high. He came down the extremely dry, dusty course in a staggering 4:52.72 placing him in 6th place. This time would also hold up through the day as the fastest Canadian DH run for the day. Once the Junior Men finished, the Elite Women to the course on where Fionn Griffiths put down a solid run seeding her 13th for the finals. The Last Norco to come down was Dirt Norco Race Team’s Ben Reid racing for Ireland. Ben had a super solid run with a time of 4:44.58. This run qualified Ben for 18th spot in the finals.

With a Hurricane rolling in, the course is going to get wet. Don’t be surprised to see some moving around in the standings for the weekend. Those that can deal with the wet will be bound to take advantage of the situation

4X racing is coming up and XC is just around the corner. Check back soon for updates. In the meantime, here are a few photos from today’s racing.

***** UPDATE*****

Fionn Griffiths has qualified 2nd for the Dual Slalom. The Finals happen tonight.

Members of the Norco Factory Team, Norco World Team and Dirt Norco Race team have all shifted east following Crankworx and are now in Windham NY. This is home to the final World Cup race of the season. Norco Factory XC riders Catherine Vipond and Andrew Watson have been ripping up the Cross Country course while Fionn Griffiths, Bernard Kerr and Ben Reid have been practicing the DH and are now through Qualification. Going into the Finals, Fionn has qualified in 10th for the women, Bernard 55th for the men and Ben is up in 34th for the men. Good luck to everyone over the next couple days of racing.

For full DH qualification results check out canadiancyclist.com

Photos by Jonathan Duncan

We catch up with Jesse Beare in between races. He takes a run down the newly rebuilt Smithfield DH track in Cairns. This is a thank you video for the people who have helped him out.

Last weekend in sunny Bromont,Quebec the Canada Cup XC series wrapped up for 2010. To date this has been a great Season for our Factory Team riders Andrew and Catherine, both in the running for Overall series titles.

Well they both ran into a little bad luck… Catherine flatted on her 2nd lap, having to run into the pits for a wheel change. She held strong
fighting back some spots, but had to settle for 2nd Overall in the
series….Not Bad.

Andrew was having a trouble free race battling it out with fellow National Team rider Derek Zandstra and Great Brittan’s Olympian Liam Killen, just before the last piece of single track he lost control and found himself hitting the deck hard. After collecting thoughts he rolled off course, not being able to finish. Good news being he had enough points to hold on and WIN the Overall..

With a 1st and 2nd in the overalls, both look forward to a World Cup in New York followed by World Championships in Mont St Anne in the coming weeks.

Dylan likes two things, bikes and coffee. So what happens when you combine the two? Well you get a video filmed solely on an iphone that outlines the adventure. Enjoy.

The Crankworx Slopestyle event is now complete and Norco Factory Team rider Sam Dueck took home some cash with a 4th place finish. Sam lay down a huge lap first run down which held out for a final score good enough for 4th place. When all was said and done, this is how the results came through. Way to go Sam!

1: Cam Zink
2. Mike Montgomery
3. Casey Groves
4. Sam Dueck

Thursday at Crankworx up in Whistler entailed two main events. Slopestyle Qualification/Best Trick and the Pumptrack challenge. First off was Norco Factory Team Rider Sam Dueck at the Slopestyle. On Sam’s second run he pulled a massive backflip off the whale-Tale then a Superflip on the next booter. Making his way down the course, he then Tail-Whipped off the final step-down and caught a gust of wind bringing him down. Sam was okay, a little swore but pleased with the run besides the small tumble. Plus, the run was enough to bring him through to Saturday’s Semi-Final. 16 riders move on to Saturday where the field will again be reduced down to a total of 8 riders for the final. Way to go Sam!

After the slopestyle qualification, The Pumptrack Challenge kicked off. Pumptrack is a bit of a newer competition but it is a lot of fun to watch. The corners are tight, the speeds high and the energy is awesome. For the event Bernard, Fionn, Nick and Angie were all representing Norco on the course. The field of riders was about 50 deep and Norco’s top finisher was Fionn Griffiths in 4th for the women.

Today was technically day 4 of the 2010 Crankworx Mountain Bike Festival, but it was also day one for the Ryan Leech Trials Shows. With a dozen or so shows happening this week, the first two were today. With an all-new setup for the demo, check out some photos from today. If you are coming out for any of the festivals check out the show, Ryan is an acrobat on a bike. See more photos at flickr.com/norcobikes

I am now home from Colorado and stoked on the final result! after a lot of hard luck and disappointment on my qualifying runs and my first final run i finally was able to pull it off in the end and made it down to the bottom of the course that has been just killing the riders all week. I was so happy to be finished my run and be down at the bottom in once piece and i even did all the tricks i wanted to do. first was a 360 off the top drop which i was having lots of trouble with on previous runs. second was my downside tail whip on the massive hip booter after that i safely hit the wall ride and threw a bar spin on the Tressel bike park hitching post. I then peddles into the forcing wind to make it up onto the whale tail, I barely made it up and had just enough speed to 360 off the end. Casing my 360 a bit and losing a little control i was quick to get back on track and just have enough speed to t-whip the big double and lastly a perfect tail whip air on the quarter pipe to bank landing.

Photo By Ian Hylands/Pinkbike.com

Right after my run the wind was picking up even more. so windy that the judges and riders decided to have a one hour wind delay. after coming back the judges has discussed what to do for the second round of runs. I was the only one who made completed my second run and I was happy with my score. I was able to keep my second run at a score of 77 that put me in 6th place over all at the time, while everyone else was able to redo their second runs. I was happy with the decision i made at that point where riders were getting hurt on the course and the weather was picking up all I wanted was top 10 and to be safe.

I ended up getting bumped into 9th place once it was all over. I was super happy and soon after the top 10 riders went on to receive their awards.

top 10 results.
1st. Brandon semenuk
2nd. Grandeiri Yannick
3rd. Martin Soderstrom
4th. Greg Watts
5th. Grahm Agassiz
6th. Jack Fogelquist
7th. Darren Berrecloth
8th. Sam Pilgrim
9th. Sam Dueck
10th. geoff Gulevich

Photo by Ian Hylands/Pinkbike.com

On our way to the awards i ran into some more Fans that were so exited to see me and remembered me from last year. it was really cool to see how kids so young remember who you are and to be cheering for you on the sidelines.

Crankworx Colorado this year for me was very stressful. seeing fellow riders being carried away to the hospital, being force to ride in windy conditions, and the pressure of wanting to place high. In the end of it all when i look back it was a very good learning experience for me and there was a lot of cool moments during it all.

I had just received an email informing me that I have been confirmed a wild card spot into Whistler Crankworx slopetyle and best trick for 2010 for getting top 10 in Colorado.
I am so exited to have this opportunity once again this year to ride ride my bike.

See you all in whistler!

Sam Dueck.

Whistler is home to a whole lot of great things. Whether you are looking at skiing, boarding, golfing, eating, lift-access mountain biking or even cross country – Whistler is the place to be. On this note, one of the local weekly events around the city is the Thursday Night Twoonie Race. Located at various locations around Whistler, every week anywhere from 100 – 250 riders will show up ready to race. The best part – it only costs a Twoonie ($2 if you aren’t Canadian).

This past Thursday, The Norco Van was packed up with some new 2011 product and we headed out to take part. For the race, Norco set up a tent showing off some new bikes while Norco Engineer PJ, Factory Team rider Nick Geddes and myself (marketing)  put some coin down – literally, to take part in the race. With 150 participants on the start line the theme seemed to be a bike in the 100-120mm range. These were XC bikes.

With this in mind, us three were mounted upon two Ranges (160mm) and one Shinobi (120mm 29er). Compared to the competition we seemed a little over-biked; but, with the new A.R.T suspension platform and sub 30lb bikes we were up for the challenge.  Off the start line, the course took the pack 150 strong up a gravel road that never seemed to end… For this, I stepped down the Range’s Fox 36 Talus to 120mm, flicked on the pro-pedal and set off. The first kilometer or so I spent reeling in the riders ahead trying to gain some places before the top of the climb. Nick was already ahead of me on a range but at around the 2/3 mark up the hill PJ caught up and passed me with the big-wheeled Shinobi. Once we reached the top of the climb, it was time to cut across the ridge through a rolling trail before dropping down. The descent was actually one of two choices, there was an easier – longer route, or a steeper – faster route. Seeing as how I was riding a 160mm bike, when it was time to start down the fork went back to full travel, the shock was opened up and down went. The descent was steep, rocky and loose but the bike soaked it up and allowed for a few more places gained. After a time of 42 minutes I came across the line in 12th place. PJ was a couple ahead in 10th and Nick broke the top 10 in 9th place.

As everyone was rolling in, the best part of the weekly event started up. At the finish was Burritos courtesy of Dups Burritos and pints from Fanatyk Co Bike Shop. Thanks to both for putting on an awesome event!