Apparently, standing on the podium once per weekend isn't enough for Fionn anymore. Following her double-podium streak this season, Fionn took yet more medals home, this time with two 1st place finishes in the DH and Dual Slalom at the US Open.

DH practice on the Friday went well although conditions were extremely un- predictable. "with the track as rough and rocky as it is here at Diablo Freeride park, the conditions in practice were unforgivable, just finding yourself slightly off line in the wet rocks will more than likely end in tears or at least with a quick nature appreciation visit to a nearby tree." Fionn escaped a fairly big crash on the wet rocks without major injury, just a couple of bumps and bruises to show for her efforts.

Friday afternoon slalom qualification went as well as it could. Fionn had good runs on both courses and took the qualification win convincingly. The 2nd place Kathy Pruitt and 3rd place Joanna Petterson were both riding well. It was a milestone in events for the crew here at Diablo Mountain with their first Dual Slalom event being held here this weekend.

Saturday was literally a whole new day, with Blue skies and a constant breeze both tracks were drying up quickly. DH qualification went off without a hitch, and made for some close racing. With a time of 3.13, Kathy Pruitt nudged Fionn out at the line by 1/10th of a second for the lead and less than a second from that was the South African Joanna Petterson in 3rd.

Slalom Finals got underway fairly late in the evening, with the sun setting it was becoming more and more difficult to see but racing was tough fought to the line every time. In the semi finals Fionn met Katie Holden the 4th place qualifier and easily advanced to the finals where she met Kathy Pruitt.

Both Kathy and Fionn charged out of the gate in hopes of opening a time margin which Pruitt did taking the win in the first run. Even with Kathy's time margin it would not be enough to hold off a frustrated Griffiths in the second. The end result would turn out to be the same as qualification.

Slalom Results:
Fionn Griffiths 1st
Kathy Pruitt- 2nd
Jonanna Petterson- 3rd

Sundays Downhill event took place in front of large crowds lining the rock sections of the track and the lower portion of the mountain. With the Pro's racing for the top prize of $5000 everyone looked slightly nervous.

"I was all good at the start, got focused and went for it out the gate but in the second turn I noticed Jo walking back up the side of the track, she had left the start house only one minute before me so I thought it was kind of weird but carried on anyway. I got maybe another 45 ft before an official jumped into the track and stopped me."

After having a re -start due to an accident on course it came down to who could get their head back in the game. Joanna Petterson had a great run beating the fastest qualifying time from the previous day in 3.12, but it was not enough to hold off Fionn who followed with a time of 3.03. Fionn anxiously awaited the arrival of Kathy at the finish but it was not to be Pruitt's day as she rode in with a time of 3.06.

"The Norco was working really well for me on this rocky track today, I loved every second of it. I just had fun riding my bike and the rest came together for me."

DH Results:
Fionn Griffiths- 1st
Kathy Pruitt - 2nd
Joanna Petterson - 3rd

Next stop is Andora for round two of the World Cup tour. For more information about Fionn and the Norco World Team, check out: griffithsracing.net

Fionn Scores Two Top Spots at Maribor World Cup

Although she's only two races in, Fionn has already decided that standing on the Podium is her style. She started out with a great season opening double podium 3rd & 2nd spot at Sea Otter, and this past weekend she scored another deux with a 3rd & 4th at Maribor World Cup. Here's what she had to say...

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Arriving in Maribor nerves were flying - new pit set up, new mechanic, new bikes and a fresh start to the season. The sun was shining and the track looked amazing, so we just fed off the positive energy and gave it our all.

4X racing started with a bang. Straight out of the gate Fionn was flying. She loved the track and qualified in 2nd place just behind Anneke Beerten. Heading into racing Fionn was focused on the task at hand. She won each of her rounds, working her way into the finals alongside Anneke Beerten, Melissa Buhl and Anita Molcik. Stuck between Melissa and Anneke in the gate, Fionn got a bit of a squeeze coming into the first corner. She didn't let that get to her though and came out of the first turn in 2nd place. Fionn and Buhl battled it out until the 2nd corner where Molcik took advantage of an opening and moved herself into 2nd. From there the chase was on. Fionn blasted out of the 2nd turn trying to make up her lost speed and catch Molcik. But the gap would prove to be too much.

Results:
Anneke Beerten 1st
Anita Molcik - 2nd
Fionn Griffiths - 3rd
Melissa Buhl - 4th

Sunday. Race day. Fionn had been ripping up the DH track all week absolutely loving the speed and technicality of the course. She gave a strong qualifying run, making only a few mistakes on course and finishing in 6th. By the time racing came around Fionn was ready to give it her all. Bettering her qualifying time by over 7 seconds, Fionn finished the day with 4th place - her second top 5 finish of the weekend

Results:
Sabrina Jonnier - 1st
Rachel Atherton - 2nd
Emmeline Ragot - 3rd
Fionn Griffiths - 4th

Also a special mention goes out to our new team mechanic - Paul Miles. Maribor was Paul's first World Cup event and he did a wicked job on the bikes all weekend.

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For more information about Fionn's season go to: griffithsracing.net

As Slopestyle contests go, Crankworx 2007 won’t go down as one of the best in memory.

Marred by crashes and injuries, most riders never got their groove on the course. Many said it lacked flow and riders would traverse – often detouring for trannies and stunts – in a desperate attempt to find a line they liked. After the first round of the finals there was very little suspense – Ben Boyko made sure of that.

One of the biggest critics of the course, Boyko went out and put together a solid run anyway. It appeared his lead would be insurmountable as rider after rider fell or under-performed in round two, and indeed his victory was sealed before he arrived at the drop in for his second run. I figured Ben would just style it out and treat his descent as a victory lap but apparently that’s not his style.

Run two was just as burly and had fewer flaws in the eyes of the judges putting more distance between himself and the rest of the competitors. The crowd went ape when he again spun three off the huge final drop to end the contest and further cement his victory. Finally a Canadian had won the Crankworx Slopestyle.

In the off season Ben was kind enough to answer some of my questions about life as a pro rider. Check out what he had to say below as well as epic photos and sequences by Harookz.

Read the FULL INTERVIEW on NSMB.com

Ok, so maybe we won't have to hire Norco-sponsored bodyguards, but Mislav is definitely making his mark.

Check out his latest triumph – a four page story AND mega-pull out poster! (mega-mega!)

If you live on the Sunshine Coast you should be celebrating. Recently, our very own Jay Hoots teamed up with Sprockids to rebuild the Sprockids park outside Gibsons, BC. To make this all happen, Hoots harnessed the energy of the enthusiastic class from the Cap College Mountain Bike Operations Progam. Here's the result (straight from the man himself)...

It has been a few years now since I first helped build in the Sprockids park and I have been back every year to refurbish. I am stoked on the vision from the MBO students in the new park and I look forward to working with the Sprockids program at every opportunity.

The 2008 Sprockids Park build was awesome! It was great to be such an active part of the park refurbishment in my capacity as an instructor for Capilano College. It was also great to fire up the chainsaw and shape some sick jumps!!!



I have been involved with the yearly redevelopment of the park over the last 4 years in different roles and even though the park had fantastic riding opportunity, 2008 was the time for overhaul.


I am stoked on IMBA Mark’s vision and the efforts and creativity from the MBO students in the new park and as always I look forward to working with the Sprockids program at every opportunity.





After a really good start in the first semester of the trail building course it seems that the guys have a good grasp of basic sustainable trail building but I know everyone is just itching for advanced building techniques in semester 2 and their final project, the rebirth of the Sprockids Park.





Design submissions were presented by the students and myself who approached projects in group format. Each design was evaluated on progression, safety, creativity and of course ‘the plan’ by the lead instructor Mark Schmidt Canadian Director of IMBA Canada.







Once everything was set, the class set out to the park and in under 4 hours the entire existing Skills Park was leveled! All reusable timbers and materials were stored and all junk was piled waiting for removal.




As with most Skills Parks a limited budget was available so the class got straight to work with a local contractor setting base grades and sorting out all the major excavation needed for their projects. Each group got machine time and had to use it as effectively as possible in order for everyone to benefit.





Over the period of 5 weeks the students worked on the park with scheduled supervision from both Mark and myself. It was great to see the enthusiasm, the stress and the pride that these guys all went through… Through the build Mark and I helped with actual construction as well as advice and the new Sprockids Bike Park began taking shape...






One of the courses in the Mountain Bike Operations Course (events management) empowered and challenged the students to learn and prepare for running a volunteer day. With that course under their belts the students organized 3 full volunteer trail days, 2 serviced and maintained local trails in Roberts Creek and the third was a volunteer day held at the Sprockids Bike Park.



In true Sunshine Coast fashion over 80 people showed up for the student organized Volunteer day in the Bike Park and a ton of work got done putting all features within striking range of finished for their final evaluation scheduled 2 weeks later.




The event day ran smooth and lots of industry support stoked the locals! Naturally there was some riding, just to make sure that th bike park was on the right track.

With the blessing from Doug Detwiller and the meticulous eye of IMBA Mark everyone passed their projects and the new age Sprockids park is now ready for riding!




Year 2 of the Mountain Bike Operations Program held by Capilano College has produced a group of incredibly prepared individuals whom I would consider hiring on the spot.



The intensity of the students matched with their desire to learn and of course their passion for riding makes them extremely employable and I believe all but one person is now working in the bike industry. Bravo! Our sport takes yet another huge valuable step towards legitimization!

- Hoots!

For more info on how Hoots is transforming BC into skills park heaven check out: hoots.ca

So, spring is FINALLY getting here, at least in our area anyway. We can still find snow as soon as we head too far uphill, but at least it has been melting fast and with the weather improving, riders are dragging their bikes out and hitting the trails.

I don't know about you but I sure enjoy mountain biking. I consider myself very lucky to be located in an area where there are cool trails 2 minute from my door, and big-bad world class "shore type" trails within 10. I've been riding most of these trails now for more than 15 years. New ones sprout up here and there when some keen trail builder puts in the hundreds and hundreds of relatively thankless hours and makes this priceless contribution so that all us riders who hear about it go ride it.

But then the cycle begins... understandably the trail builder who probably just spent half his last season would rather go RIDE than shovel, but his new trail starts to get beat down with all the new traffic, and most of us just start complaining about how buff and pristine it used to be. You know -- how the first few times there wasn't any wheel sucking holes after the steep rolls, no mucky blown out sections, or washed/eroded away corners.

Spring is the worst time for that. We remember how great the trails once were while at the same time roll down trails freshly opened after a winter that may have been quite tough on them. Finding blown down or fallen trees across the trails is common this time of year. Sometimes the trail is almost hidden from washouts, broken off branches, sticks or other debris. If you are going to get a branch stuck in your derailleur or tear your hanger off, mark my words, it will probably be in this next month. Oh... so this has already happened to you once or twice eh??? Ahhhhaaaaa.

Maybe, JUST maybe this is karma telling you that you need to do your part. To give a little love back to your favorite trails.

Can I suggest (without sounding like I'm preaching here) that on your next ride, and every ride this year to take a few minutes to give back. Rather than just bombing a trail from top to bottom, swing a leg off your ride and take a minute here or there to clear that fallen branch or log, to dig a trench to help drain that low spot that is collecting water. Heck... even find some good sized stones and do a little rock work to fill in the holes on the trail that want to make your front wheel disappear.

Maybe I go a little too far, but I have been carrying a small saw (Sandvik folding saw available at Revi or Home Depot for less than $20) on my rides. With one of these, it takes just a sec to clear the branches or downfall once and for all. You would be amazed at how quickly you can go through a pretty good sized downed tree, even big ones up to 6 or 8" in diameter.

So, as you hop on your bike think about doing your part. If each one of us did even a little work to our favorite trails every ride, these trails would last and last. . . they may even begin to improve with age like a fine wine.

Better yet, get out for a local trail day. These are awesome! A great way to meet other riders and build up HUGE Karma points.


Happy trails,