After many a plane rides, I can’t tell you just how great it was to be greeted with a tray of pear schnapps by a jolly Austrian in Wagrain. It felt almost like home away from home with my Canadian buddies Wade Simmons, Thomas Vanderham, and Richie Schley to name a few sitting next to me in the log dinner hall – but then things quickly turned Austrian.

Giant plates of meat started appearing in front of us like a scene out of a vegetarian’s sweaty 4am nightmare. Wait a second...that vegetarian is me. Although I was shock stricken and mildly repulsed, it was like a happy dream for all the carnivorous boys around me who started tearing into the meat like a present at Christmas.

But, as I have always found here in Austria, the people are very hospitable and had already arranged a meal of meatless dumplings and salad for me. They were so good that even carnivore cameraman Cory dove in.

Heaping plates of meat were definitely a regular site during our trip, as were pretty awesome trails everywhere we turned. Our first stop in Wagrain was a bike park created by ex-Whistler local Jason Roe who took his bike park building savvy and brought it to Austria. As a result, the trails we rode were very Whistler-esque and very FUN. I was particularly happy because I got to test out my new Norco Six on the little jumps, drops, and wallrides there, and it rode like a champ...and it got a new name: “Champ”.

After a great time with the Wagrain crew, I packed up Champ and we headed to a little spa town called Bad Gastein. This place was pretty breathtaking because the whole town was built on cliff banks that were cut in half by a raging river. We did a bit of xc riding in the mountains around the town where we saw something I have never seen before in real life: cows trying to make babies. I felt like I was hosting something on the Discovery Channel for a second when they were doing their thing only 10 feet away. Cory even caught it on tape. Big animals those cows are.

Anyway, after cleansing my mind in the healing waters of the spa in our hotel, we shipped off once again and were Saalbach bound. My Norco teammate Mislav (The Croatian Sensation) took an 8 hour train ride just to meet up and ride with us there! What a nice guy! We were all pretty stoked to head up the gondy to see what Saalbach had to offer beyond wicked slopestyle competitions and wild parties. I must say, it did not disappoint! We got gnarly on the pro line of their “Evil Eye” freeride trail that turned out to several kilometres of super number one good times.

The next day Mislav, Dylan, and Cory headed way way way up to the top of Hinterglemm’s big gondola to check out the views and riding, but I was stuck down below with a nasty cold that seems to want to hang out for a few days. Cold or no cold, I couldn’t refuse going to Saalbach’s indoor foam pit/dirt jump zone later in the day. Mislav got crazy in the foam with some superman backflips and Dylan quickly taco-ed his wheel into submission after a landing gone wrong...but that didn’t stop him and he kept rippin’. I was having a blast trying to blast out of the quarterpipe and getting disoriented in the foam pit. Random locals started trickling in to watch us and I think it was the most excitement they have seen for a while judging by the looks on their faces.

If the foam pit wasn’t exciting enough, getting on the train to Zurich the next day definitely made up for it. I’m still sweating from hauling our giant bags and bike boxes into our non-existent luggage compartment! Now we’re on a big train to the land of good chocolate (Switzerland). Between eating chocolate, yodelling, and riding my bike, I’ll keep you posted on our adventures...

Source: rideguide.ca

Fionn Takes Silver in Mont Ste Anne World Cup 4X

MONT STE ANNE, Quebec: Since the last World Cup things have been a bit more relaxed for Fionn and I. We took a day or two off to rest Fee’s back then found a comfy place to park the van in Morzine and Fionn hit the trails for days full of riding.

The weather was great and she was tearing up the mountain with Scarlett Hagen and Tracy Hannah. Then we turned the van around and headed back to Champery to meet up with long time friend, Niki Gudex.

When we arrived it turned out a whole crew of Canadian freeride boys were there to ride and shoot with Niki and funny enough one of those boys was Norco Factory Team rider Gareth Dyer. Since Gareth’s bike had not made the flight with him, Fee lent him her Norco 4XXXX for a couple of days and everyone hit the trails together. The trails in Champery were sweet and the sun even came out long enough for Fee to shoot with Colin Meagher.

Now that we are refreshed – Back to Racing! Monday’s arrival was met with sweltering heat and perfectly blue skies but that didn’t last long. It started to pour Tuesday night and continued straight through course walking! Riding was sweet as ever though. The DH track was fast and rough, almost the same as it was last year with a few changes in the top woods sections. Fionn was riding flat out all week. Having won her first World Cup here in Ste Anne, she is always full of positive energy riding this track. However luck wasn’t on her side for the weekend and both of her runs were littered with nagging mechanical issues.

Her qualifying run was solid and she pulled out in the 9th position. Racing just was unlucky though. She was 6th fastest at the split, but flatted right around there and spent the rest of the race fighting drifts and working her butt off pedaling the grueling bottom half of the course. Her work paid off - she sprinted her way to a 16th place finish and was able to move herself up to 8th in the overall World Cup standings.

4X qualifying was eventful. Fionn was ripping it up all the way down the course until she slipped a pedal off a jump and made us all a little nervous. It looked like it was all over for the weekend! Fionn held it together though and keeping the rubber side down she was able to get back to speed and sprint her way into 6th position. With a low qualifying place Fionn knew she would have a tough semi final heat.

Anneke Beerten, Tara Llanes, Joanna Pettersen and Fionn battling it out for the key two positions in the finals. Coming out of the 1st turn Llanes was in the lead, but an error on the triple cost her and she crashed hard coming into the 2nd corner. Fionn turned sharply to avoid Tara crashing and managed to blow up her own wheel. Yet somehow she jumped back on her bike and rode it out to the finish line along with Anneke Beerten to advance to the finals. Lucky for Fionn she was able to find a solution to her wheel problem and she was off to the finals. Jill Kintner lead the heat out of the gate but lost control in the top section and crashed. Anneke and Fionn seized the opportunity and blasted past Kintner to take a respective 1st and 2nd. Jill finished 3rd, Mio Suemasa 4th and Joanna Petterson was 5th.

fionngriffiths.com

After finishing 2nd in 2004 and 2005 Kika finally took her rightful place at the top of the podium! (as well as collecting all 10 primes). CONGRATS KIKA!!

In her own words:

The 2007 Test of Metal lived up to its name. As Keith and I left my brother's place in North Van Saturday morning the skies were overcast and the car's thermometer was reading 12 degrees. Brrr.

By 11:00 it had been raining for a couple hours. Nearly 850 riders showed up, registration having filled within 45 minutes of opening Januray 1st. People love this race! Having gotten home from Switzerland the previous monday night this was to be a training race for me. Wednesday and thursday were pretty tough workouts and friday, wasn't overly light so my legs were definitely a little fatigued, but it was the Test and it was going to be fun. Originally my aspirations were to kick as many guys' asses as I could, but with the cold rain, heavy legs and bit of breathing room I scaled down my plan a bit. I started front row (keith started somewhere around 400!) and after the national anthem was sung, got off to a good start reaching the prime on the first climb as top women and top 30 overall.

From there on out it was a solid ride with no big mishaps. I gave up more positions on the climb and big ring rip then I should have, but rode well and had fun chatting with the other riders as we descended the plunge and navigated the twisty single track in Crumpit woods.

Keith's race was more eventful. First time through the feedzone he had to stop and fix his Hayes brakes. They have this annoying tendency to loose breaking power as a bolt unwinds releasing the levers. He then went on to have a solid climb up the three sections of 9mile climb, reeling in people. By the end of the plunge he had chewed completely through his brake pads and was down to Metal. Perhaps this is the real Test of Metal. But his story doesn't end here. Going into Crumpet woods he snaps his shifter...cables having gotten so gummy in the muck. For the rest of the race...about 30 minutes of single track Keith had three options; Big and 3rd, middle and 3rd and granny and 3rd. That he finished in a time of 3:28 was super impressive.

After a long time in the shower I had finally scraped enough mud off me to be presentable for the awards. Having won all the primes that day it was a good payday. I earned enough to cover 3 months of student loan payments. Convenient as I have to give up at least 3 months of working to maintain the race schedule I do! Neal Kindree won the men’s race with a smoking 2hr 40 min (67km)

Keith and I headed back to Kamloops that night pretty depleted, but stoked on a good day of trail riding.

Source: cpendrel.blogspot.com
Photo: testofmetal.com

Norco Performance Bikes is excited to announce that recently-named Ride Guide Host, Darcy Turenne has signed on as part of the Norco Factory Team for the '07/08 season.

At only 23 years of age, Darcy is at the top of her game as a professional mountain bike rider. As a team rider for both the Norco, Oakley, and Dakine international MTB Teams, Darcy has proven that she more than just a pretty face, she also rips.

Growing up in Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island, Darcy first fell into broadcasting when the Vancouver Island division of Global Television offered her a position as host of a weekly segment called "Go Biking", after seeing her on-camera charisma while being interviewed about her role on the Canadian national downhill mountain bike team. Soon after she began guest-hosting bike and snow Ride Guide segments and then put her skills to good use by producing, writing, and hosting for the broadband television action sports station "Rip TV." Darcy is now back full circle becoming the main face of Ride Guide bike to compliment her career as a one of the most progressive female freeride mountain bikers in the industry.

Darcy first started cross country racing at 14, and later switched to downhill. Riding for several years as a Norco grassroots rider, Darcy was a two-time member of the Canadian national downhill mountain bike team and has two top ten World Championship placings under her belt. She recently stopped racing and began to dabble in the previously man's-only world of jumping and freeriding where she competes in slopestyles and throws down for cameras around the world.

When Darcy is not spending every free second she has on a sunny day riding her BMX at the skatepark, or her dirt jump bike at the local six pack, she also finds time to write and produce music. She also loves surfing but says she is horrible at it. Darcy just graduated from the University of Victoria with a degree in Geography and Enivronmental Studies. When she is not riding her bike, she takes in her fair share of powder days during the winter (by fair share, she means between 60 and 100 days).

Darcy is currently on a four week trip through Europe with stops in Austria, Switzerland and Norway. During this June trip, Ride Guide will be hitting all the major events including; the "Out of Bounds Weekend" in Leogang, Austria, and the Ekstremsport Veko Festival in Voss, Norway.

For more info about Ride Guide and Darcy, check out: rideguide.ca

asilvertouch.com Interviews Ryan Mid-Tour

Professional mountain-bike trials rider Ryan Leech has been riding and progressing the sport for over 10 years. Always surprising us with new and more technical lines in his movies, including Manifesto, Kranked 6, The Collective, and Mastering the Art of Trials (all are available in the asilvertouch movie store), he has now started a new project of his own called Trials of Life.

Trials of Life is a show that Ryan is presenting in schools and bike shops across Canada. The show of course features Ryan's trials riding talents. However, it is mixed with some stories about his own perseverance in achieving his dreams. He also promotes the sport by having the kids participate in his demonstration and motivating young kids to pursue their own dreams. Ryan will visit over 25 schools and 14 bike shops on his Trials of Life tour. His final stop will be the Norco VPS Festival at SilverStar Mountain in BC.

On a sunny Saturday in May, we had the chance to have a preview of Ryan's Trials of Life show in Gatineau. The demo was hosted by the Bicyclettes de Hull bike shop.

FULL INTERVIEW on asilvertouch.com

Grassroots Rider, Tyler Gorz Takes 3rd in Kamloops at 'Race The Ranch'. Tyler continues to be a strong up-coming rider on the BC Cup DH race circuit, and Norco is excited to be working with him. Get ready to hear his name a lot in the coming years, he's quick, motivated, and an all around great guy!

Oh my word, what an eventful weekend! Champery proved to be one of the most intimidating, steep tracks the World Cup series has seen in years. Even before practice had started riders were already commenting on the severity of trying to race this course. Technical delegates had their hands full all weekend working with organizers to increase the amount of catch netting and padding lining the track.

Practice wasn’t so good for Fee. First run saw her come off, like everyone else, a few times – one of which tweaked something in her low back. Hardly able to ride due to the pain, Fee attempted one more practice run before wisely deciding to sit out the rest of DH and 4X practice. Friday was still the same. 2 forced practice runs before Fee was laid out in the van. However, she pushed it through the pain come 4X time and after mustering only 2 practice runs, she qualified a confident 3rd position.

Saturday things were looking up for Fee. She once again sat out DH practice to ice her body in the local glacier stream. Passers by stared in awe as Fionn sat quietly numbing her legs and back. It worked a charm and Fee felt a bit of relief for the afternoon leading to the 4X.

So far the weather had been great all weekend with only the occasional shower, but the skies opened up and destroyed the 4X only moments into racing. From then on it was anyone’s game. Jill Kintner dominated her semi-final heat with Japanese rider Mio Suemasa coming in a close second thus knocking World Cup leader Anneke Beerten out of the finals. Fionn kept it upright in her semi-final heat as well and followed new comer Racheal Seydoux down the track to secure a place in the finals. Finals were a different story.

Fionn and Racheal gated Jill and charged together for the 1st corner. But Jill wasn’t going to be left behind. She rode straight into Fionn beginning what would be a long battle through the top half of the course. Jill and Fionn collided around every turn and over most drops before Jill managed to get the better of Fee and begin the chase for the lead. Jill caught Racheal on the final straight but Fionn didn’t quite make it and pulled across the line in 3rd place.

First World Cup podium of the year!

---

After a hard night’s racing, it was no wonder Fionn’s back was aching again for DH. Nothing some vitamin I couldn’t help however and Fee was off for her qualifying run.

She managed to keep it together for a run with only one big crash and came across the line in a respectable 6th place. Riders qualified all over the place with times ranging from 5:17 to 17 + minutes! Fionn was unlucky in her race run however. Coming through the split in 5th position she was on course for a 2nd podium but a big crash put her off the pace as she spent roughly 20 seconds tangled in catch netting off the track. She did her best to make time up on the rest of the track but a few slipped pedals and missed lines did all the damage needed and Fionn finished the day in 10th place.

Source: Griffiths Racing

Dylan Korba gives us the inside line on his trip to the Qashquai Urban Challenge in Madrid, Spain

Photos courtesy of: carroux.com

So here’s a precursor since I figured I better give you some warning. I am writing this after two days with maybe 5 hours of sleep total. I have to be to work in about 30 minutes. I just got back from the Teve Mountain Games in Vail and I am spitting up blood from my constant nose bleeds. I hope that painted a pretty little picture - so much to do so little time!

Alright, this is the COBRA Report EN ESPAINA!! This is not a blow-by-blow report of how each rider rode and how the event was so fun. This is a compilation of my true feelings as the Qashqai Urban Challenge in Madrid unfolded. . .

Day one was interesting. . . I spent about twenty hours in airports and on planes to finally arrive in Madrid, Spain. It was pretty exciting because when I arrived there was no one there to pick me up from the airport. My flight had been delayed, which caused my shuttle driver to get confused and leave (English/Spanish lost in translation crap).

Basically, I was scared and lost like a little puppy. I wandered the airport aimlessly for two hours thinking that I was straight up screwed. I didn’t have a phone number, I didn’t speak the language, and there were no computers around, so I kept wandering. After about 2.5 hours I actually found my shuttle dude, who had been waiting 15 mins and thought I was just arriving. . . crazy.

Off we went to the hotel. Whizzing throughout the crazy Spanish traffic with a clearly less-than-qualified driver (he was ok, but he did manage to get lost). At the hotel I built my bike and went to the course immediately. Lenosky was there and gave me the lowdown. It looked like a tight course with tons of cool stuff. We got to practice that day a bit and I spent most my time just trying to get used to the course. After a little practice we went to the hotel for a sicktor buffet dinner when I scored a free IPod, and a Dakine bag just for showing up. How cool is that?! Just getting stuff for being super rad!

Day two was the qualifier, which I was super stoked about. I was taking it easy in warm up, practicing my key tricks and trying not to wear myself out before the comp. Overall, I was feeling good, maybe a little too good. . .

It was almost time for qualifiers, and I felt my tricks were solid and that I would do well. We were allowed one more practice run, so I figured try to 360 the first drop. As I landed the bead and sidewall on my tire blew out and had a catastrophic crash!!!

This is where things started going down the “poop hole” if you know what I mean. I only had a tube - no tire and all my cash was back at the hotel. To top it off, like whipping cream on a Sunday, out of nowhere my back tire blows up while I’m walking along. I was devastated! My run was in 10 minutes, and I no longer had a bike or a replacement tire. I knew money could fix the situation. So I began to run. I ran down the streets of Spain trying to get back to the hotel which was a about a 15 minute walk.

After my sprint, I grabbed the dough and sprinted back to the event site. It was only about 40 degrees Celsius that day, so sprinting for 15 minutes before you do a qualifying run at one of the most important competitions of the season, wasn’t so good.

I got back to the site and bought a tire and tube for close to 100 bux (OUCH)!!! Between the running and the price, I felt sick to my tummy. The competition had started and my bike was not ready, so I began fixing it as fast as I could. By the time I was done, it was basically my turn to qualify, so I ran my bike to the top of the course, and tried to get ready to go.

Completely out of breath and scatterbrained, I went to the top of the start ramp ready to drop into this bad boy. I dropped in, gave it one pedal for the drop and my chain skips off. I guess in my crash my derailleur had also gotten all messed up. I missed that in my rush fix job. So chainless, scatterbrained, and physically drained I hit the first drop. Catastrophic failure was to ensue! The crash was horrendous. I went down hard and couldn’t even pedal away - everything was broken, especially my spirit.

I dragged my ass through the rest of the course and by the end I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. I was holding back the tears though . . . seriously. Instead of crying, I borrowed some tools from Boyko and proceeded to dummy-proof my drivetrain for the next day’s 2nd qualifier run.

There was dinner on site for the riders, but I felt so crushed I didn’t stick around. I went back to the hotel, showered, put my bike away, and then I just started walking. I walked around Madrid alone, with no clue where I was going, but I just kept walking and walking and walking. . .I was sad.

Eventually, after about 3 hours of walking, I saw a pizza hut!! So I went in and bought the “famila” meal (a large pizza and Pepsi) and began to gorge myself. The process of shoving crappy pizza into my mouth made me feel a lot better psychologically (comfort food) but didn’t make my tummy feel any better. After that I spent another 3 hours retracing my steps back to the hotel where I prompted fell asleep.

Day 3: It was a new day, so I started it off on fresh note. I let go of my inhibitions from the previous day, relaxed, and just waited for my qualifying run. I was the second to go because of my crap performance the day before. I shredded the course! 360ing the first drop, cab off the little drop, wall slap, rollback, and rockwalk 360. I missed my 360 tire tap on the big drainage culverts, but flipped the step-up after that and flipped the final jump.

In the end, it was not enough to qualify me but it did grab me something around 20th place and my score was reasonable, so I was quite happy. What made me more happy was when McCaul and Strait told me that I had a sick run and they thought it looked good!

After this the finals went down in a sick way. All the final riders threw down ending up with Paul Bas winning it, the Claw in second, and Darren Pokoj in third. To top it off, Paul B took the trophy girl into a nasty pond by the podium and got her all wet. So funny.

Afterwards, all the riders went out to an after party, which eneded up at a gay club (another story). . . and I met the girl of my dreams in the hotel lobby (also another story). I stayed up all night, got on the plane the next morning and drifted off to dreamland, even though it felt like the last 3 days had been a dream.

Once again, the Cobra is out and off to get my tal, no whip, no drizzle, extra extra runny Carmel Frapachino from the cute barista at my local Starbucks. Next chronicle will be on the Teva Mountain Games and Tabasco sauce. . .

NSMB.com Interviews The Croation Sensation

Every so often you meet a person that has so much charisma, talent, and enthusiasm that they etch themselves into your mind. About a year ago, Norco's Team Manager received an email from a fellow in Croatia introducing himself as "the Croatian Sensation".

He said he was sponsored by Vans and Red Bull for 'Freeride Mountain Bike' and was looking to for a bicycle sponsor. He had attached a couple of well chosen pics and some local press clippings to support his claims. The shots were cool but beyond that, even in his email, you could tell that this guy had something special.

Check out NSMB.COM for the full interview.

I was knee deep in mud at a Welsh Dragon, back in 1999 when a young GT rider stormed past me. This was the first memory I have of Fionn. Since then, I have watched her grow up, trucked around the world with her and watched her rise and stumble on the waves that is the World Cup Circuit. With a multitude of National and International titles, Fionn is one of GBs most formidable female DH riders. Let me introduce you to Miss Fionn Griffiths...

DW: We were on the way to the World Champs in Livigino 2005 when we got involved in a high-speed car chase up a mountain path. I was petrified, but you handled the situation like a pro rally driver, after diving into a drive and knocking the lights off dukes of hazard style, I remember asking you where you learned to drive?! Do you think time spent as a youth racing a car has been beneficial to your riding style today?

FG: Yes. Racing cars so young gave me a lot of special awareness and taught me about controlling speed – when to push harder and when to back off – which is basically what Downhill is all about. It really gave me a passion for going fast and pushing the limits.

Read the FULL INTERVIEW on Descent-world.co.uk...