Archive for July, 2009

We are now on our third day in the Yukon. Ryan, Josh and I have been seeing the sights of what Whitehorse has to offer. Let me reassure use, there is a lot to offer. From Fast, forrested singletrack to wide open limestone faces, the trails are spectacular, diverse and smile enducing.

Have a look at a few photos from along the way.

Hiking up Grey Mountain

Ryan riding across the Grey Mountain Ridge

Ryan made us all Breakfast Smoothies

The view from the peak of McIntire Mountain

More to come soon,

Dustan

About two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to travel to the Yukon with Ride Guide and film the local trails and Culture with Norco Factory Team rider Ryan Leech. Of course, I jumped on the opportunity and here we are, in Whitehorse.

After landing in Whitehorse, we hopped in our rental truck and headed out to Boreal, a mountain biking retreat. This will be our home for the next week but more on that in a bit… First before settling in, we were whisked off to the local sports complex where Ryan was conducting a demo. The community has really embraced cycling from the ground up and the government has jumped aboard to help out. Shortly after Ryan’s demo Kate, a local volunteer gave away 60 Pro-tech helmets to anyone who needed one. This weekend is the kickoff of the Bike Your Brains Out, helmet campaign.

After some pizza, pop and entertainment we headed back to Boreal. We are staying in Yurts! If you don’t know what a Yurt is, (I didn’t) it is a temporary structure that is round and resembles a tee-pee only way nicer. A great place to put up the feet, relax and get ready for some riding.

More soon,

Dustan

The 2010 Norco product launch took place this year in our own backyard, Vancouver BC. This stellar location boasted some of the best riding in the world but also showcased Vancouver, the 2010 Olympic City!

The Launch started off at the Sheraton Wall Center where retailers, distributors and media from around the world assembled to see the new lineup for 2010. The evening kicked off with a Ryan Leech Demo. Ryan never dissapoints and with a little bit of improv-trials he even used some of the local art in the show. That was not planned . . . .

Day two of the launch involved bike presentations and a ride on Vancouver’s North Shore. Riding some of the classic trails was a real eye opener as there are not many places around the world where the riding is this good.

The third day of the launch was busy on bikes. Starting off with an Urban ride around Downtown Vancouver lead by Ryan Leech and Dylan Korba kicked it off. The bikes on the ride ranged from hybrid commuters to fixies, electric bikes to trials bikes. There was a taste of everything along the ride. Riding through the false creek area, Ryan and Dylan were on entertainment duty while the rest of us enjoyed the scenery and experienced the Cycling lanes on the Burrard St. Bridge. Way to go Vancouver on opening this up to cyclists!.

After the Urban ride and a quick lunch we headed off to Burnaby Mountain, home of Simon Fraser University for a taste of All Mountain terrain. Burnaby is a great area to ride offering a little bit of everything. It was a beautiful day, great trails, and a BBQ waiting at the end. The perfect end to a great launch.

Check out more photos of the Launch at flickr.com

See coverage of the 2010 launch and the new bikes at:

Missing out on Cascade Cream Puff

So I have been super keen to race Cascade Cream Puff since we moved out west. It’s a 100mile mountain bike race with 18,000ft of climbing and loads of singletrack. Sounds like heaven, right? Yeah, I thought so too …

This year both Frase and I registered. Unfortunately with the demands of work I had to bail. I made the call on the way home from the 8 hour race. With work being so busy and us leaving for Worlds this coming Friday … I needed the weekend to catch up and get organized and packed for Worlds.

So today I did 3 laps at Tiger … to keep myself on my toes I did my fastest laps yet, taking 2 min out of my last best effort. Not bad! It was smokin’ hot today at around 90F with ~90% humidity. I was pretty happy to post such fast times in conditions that don’t generally agree with me. I will admit that I had my handy ice water in my jersey again it it was my saving grace!

After Tiger i spent about an hour cleaning my bike and going over it … if i need to buy new parts, I need to do it tomorrow. Thankfully Jon at SVC is all set to give my bikes the SVC ‘once over’ which will ensure they are in tip top form before I leave for Worlds.

The countdown is on and I am starting to get excited. I have a big deliverable at work this week and then we are off!!

Read Monilee’s Blog at: monilee.blogspot.com/

The 2010 Norco Product Launch has kicked off starting Monday July 13th. As all 100 or so made their way to the Sheraton Wall Center in Vancouver BC, the evening started off with some drinks and some appy’s followed by a world renowned Ryan Leech Demo.

Ryan’s demo kicked off at about 8:00pm when there was already a crowd of spectators waiting. Even though the demo was put on for the launch participants, the intrigue of the setup attracted people in the beautiful downtown core to come out and watch. Leave it to Ryan to make the best of any specific location, he somehow managed to ride on the glass coverings speckled through the courtyard.

The launch is now underway and the bike presentations are being given as we speek. Check back with the blog for updates through the next few days along with other websites such as pinkbike.com, nsmb.com, mtbr.com, mbuk.com and bikemag.com.

Ryan made some new friends too!

Check back soon for more, in the meantime view more photos at: flickr.com

Dustan