On Saturday, August 18, 2007 join the Norco team at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl and be the first consumers in the world o ride a selection of 2008 Norco Bikes.

Choose to take the chair up and challenge yourself on the downhill trials or ride the smooth single-track. Norco will have bikes for all riding styles and categories on hand!

Also there will be free tech support and flat repairs from Norco factory team mechanics.

All current Norco bike owners will receive free trail permits.

Win Norco prizes and and swag

There will also be a Beer garden.

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This past weekend in Port Coquitlam, BC, Norco came out to support a group of volunteers build a bike skills park designed by Jay Hoots. The rain was on and off all day, but everyone had a grin on their face in anticipation to ride the park. People of all ages came out to support Port Coquitlam’s first Bike Skills Park, which is located in the 3400 – 3500 block on Shaughnessy st, near Lincon. Norco staff and riders were there all day providing drinks, snack, and draw prizes for voulenteers.

For more information contact: Glen Mitzel, Area Recreation Manager (PoCo), 604.927.7979

The Jeep® 'King of the Mountain' Series today announced that British mountain bike racer Fionn Griffiths has been added to the 12-person roster for the 2007 Mountain Biking World Professional Championships.

A member of the British Cycling Team for six years and five-time British National Champion, Griffiths is a hometown favorite of the United Kingdom, where she won her first national championship on a mountain bike built by her father. Since that first victory, Griffiths has piled on an additional four national championships, a NORBA Series championship, and an astounding 19 World Cup podium finishes – three of which were for gold.

Griffiths is entering the 2007 racing season after a grueling off-season training regimen with her new trainer, making her one of the most promising and equally dangerous racers to hit the dirt this year.

The Jeep King of the Mountain Series features 16 of the world’s top riders competing head-to-head to capture the coveted title of World Professional Champion. In addition, the athletes will be battling for a share of the richest cash payout in the sport, topping $100,000, and the keys to a new 2008 Jeep Liberty.

Source: jeepsports.com

This week, our enthusiastic website designers have brought us, yet another update with the addition of another podcasts. Don’t forget to check back regularly for new videos, wallpapers, team updates, photos, and much more. Go check out the newest podcast here!

Our time in Switzerland could best be described as BIG. The mountains were big. Really big. The food was big and made with big love. Our van was big and full to the brim with luggage. When the weather came, it came in a big way. And if big was a way to describe awesome, than our trip was huge.

After a few weeks of fromage, fromage, and more fromage mixed in with a lot of chocolate it makes me wonder how the Swiss aren’t all huge! I suppose the fact that scaling huge mountains is a daily activity for them probably explains it.

We first started out in Zurich and explored the city à vélo. Dylan took enjoyment out of scaring the locals by riding his bike along the handrail of a pedestrian bridge that spanned the river that divided town. Personally, I was pretty stoked by the make-your-own muesli press we had at our hotel breakfast. Very Swiss.

After Zurich we headed to the gorgeous Lake Geneva district and stayed in the mighty luxurious town of Montreux. This place was like the Rodeo Drive of Switzerland and you could tell this is where those guys with anonymous Swiss bank accounts hang out. Turns out Freddy Mercury was pretty fond of the place as well because he and the rest of Queen set up a recording studio there and in memoriam the town put up a huge Freddy Mercury statue next to the lake. Needless to say, we went and hung out with him for a while!

The relaxation of Montreux was short lived as we quickly headed up to the giant mountains nearby. Our first stop was Leysin which provided quite a shock to our suspension systems. After a beautiful lunch in their revolving restaurant that looks over Lake Geneva and the Alps we plunged into some of the steepest, rockiest switchbacks I’ve ever seen or ridden. It was intense but super fun…especially when we made it to the bottom without too many bruises!

The next day we got to go to another beautiful village in the heart of the mountains called Chateau D’Oex. It’s always so cool to see huge houses and whole villages in places that most people wouldn’t even consider habitable. Chateau D’Oex was one of those and actually held the World Championships way back in 96 on a course that would be considered gnarly today even with 10” DH bikes. After ripping their beautiful trails and having several up close and personal encounters with the local cattle, we packed up and prepared to go deeper into the mountains.

Mr.Tom Tom the navigator GPS led us up and up and up to our next destination in Champery. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t too stoked on shining that high in the mountains and we were greeted by rain. It was okay though because we hit up the local thermal baths and chowed down on a huge lunch courtesy of our Portes du Soleil hospitality queen, Nathalie. It was so nice to relax in Champery I almost wanted it to rain some more!

The next day we woke up very confused to the sound of both intense thunderclaps and a lawnmower. Guess people mow the lawn in torrential downpours here because the thunderclaps let loose but instead of going to the spa, we headed up the tram into a wall of rain and clouds with our local guide LoLo. LoLo ripped and brought us to one of the most fun trails we had ridden the entire trip despite the rain. All I had heard before riding Champery was that “girls really seem to struggle here,” so needless to say it was a relief when the trails turned out to be awesome!

We rode a bit more Champery then headed over the French boarder to the Chatel bike park with local trail building guru Ben Walker, his wife Corriene, and LoLo to be greeted with sunshine, fast groomed trails, and to both Dylan and my great pleasure, a quarterpipe! There were even trails there called “North Shore” and it was funny to see trails named after somewhere where I have lived.

After an authentically authentic French dinner, we capped our Swiss trip off with one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Really. I’ve done a lot of cool things, and this is near the top. There is a zip line in Chatel that is 240m high, over 1km long and sends you flying on a cable in lawn dart position at over 100km an hour. After some coercing from Cory, we hit it up and flew across the Swiss Alps. Can’t say it wasn’t scary but damn it was fun!

Now we’re in Norway, surrounded by really fun blonde people and great riding. Should be fun. We’ll keep you posted.

Source: rideguide.ca

By now you know the story - the S-Team dominated the Road Nationals, with the highlight being Cam Evans scoring a brilliant win in the Elite Men's race, just ahead of S-Team rider Andrew Randell, with Svein Tuft just missing the podium in fourth. The squad raced perfectly - putting 4 out of seven riders in the final move, and with the remaining riders in the pack ready to pounce on anything that went ahead.

The race took place in epic conditions. The road was described as a river, and the heat, coupled with the wet, made for one of the toughest races in recent years. At the end of the week, the team could be happy with some pretty impressive results: Marni Hambleton took second in the women's race; Svein Tuft took second in the ITT, followed by Zach Bell in third; Christian Meier just missed the U23 ITT but redeemed with a beautiful win in the next day's U23 TT; Zach Bell just missed defending in the Crit with a silver.

Source: symmetricscycling.com

nsmb.com was on scene a few weeks ago at our first Norco Customer Appreciation Day of the season. Here's what they had to say...

Canada Day weekend was busy at Silver Star Mountain Resort when the Norco crew descended upon the mountain to bring us this years first VPS Fest; Norco’s customer appreciation day.

This particular long weekend often brings snow and cold to the high mountains in BC, and judging by the 15cm of now that arrived at Silver Star five days prior, this was a distinct possibility. As the rain poured in Vernon all day Friday, Norco riders and VPS Fest organizers had their eye on the mountain forecast and their fingers crossed. I ran to the window on Saturday morning to see nothing but blue sky and my next stop was the computer to check Silver Star's summit web cam to see if the same could be said for the top of the mountain. To my delight, there was no snow and the sun was gleaming off the top of the chair. I knew this day was going to be epic.

By 8:45, over an hour before the lifts open, people were already at the hill in anticipation of a big day; some had even braved the weather the night before and camped out in the parking lot. \

Making my way into the village, there was no doubt that Norco was in the house. Ryan Leech had his demo set up front and centre, the Norco trailer was set up with techs already working on the pile of new demo bikes preparing them for a hard day on the hill. The registration table was just getting set up when I arrived and people were already milling about waiting to sign up. What do you need to be part of the festivities? A Norco bike - that’s it.

Registering entitled Norco bike owners to a free day on the hill, free bike demos, free mechanical tech support (which included everything from a minor tune up to changing and bleeding hydraulic lines), a free Axiom compact multi-tool, and of course, Norco stickers.

One of the great things about VPS Fest is that it's open to anyone with a Norco; people young or old, bikes new or ancient, big or small, fully suspended or fully rigid, Norco was happy to extent to you everything that VPS Fest had to offer. That's what VPS Fest is all about.

MORE. . .

This weekend: Saturday, July 21st & Sunday, July 22nd

This Saturday Norco will be on site in Port Coquitlam supporting the Jay Hoots and his volunteer team of park builders. Come out and show your support by lending a hand!!

Norco's staff and riders will be on site proving, drinks, snacks, and lots of great draw prizes for the volunteers.

- Time: 9AM onwards

- Location: 3400-3500 block Shaughnessy st (west side), Port Coquitlam, BC

- Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult

Bring a flat shovel, work gloves, lunch and drinks


For more information contact: Glen Mitzel, Area Recreation Manager (PoCo), 604.927.7979

Ever wondered what winning a Gold medal feels like? Kika blogs about her experiences at the Pan Am Games. . .

One of the frustrations of the games for an athlete used to being very independent and determining their own travel plans and schedules is the enforced structure of a Games. Rio being the 3rd most violent city in the world was pretty protective of the athletes. This meant I couldn’t bike anywhere by myself and our only riding options were the race course and a 3km loop of an F1 race track.

This meant taking the bus to my event as the guys raced much later and none of the staff had bikes to go with me. So at 6:40 am, me and my 5 staff team headed to the mtb venue. Our mechanic Peter was awesome and had my bike dialed for the race. We were also assigned a therapist to be on site with us as well as our coaches and soigneur to handle the two feed/tech zones and representation.

The race loop was super fun. The ground was a mud/sand combo which was horribly sticky when wet, but hard and fast in the dry. After a fast start loop we headed immediately into the woods and up a steep climb made technical by a slick rock and several roots. The course wound its way up and down a forested hill several times offering many sharp corners and roots. We had one sustained climb of 2+minutes and a large section of over 1km of flat ground which lead back to the start finish. The course was approximately 6km and the women were given 5 laps + 2start loops.

Warming up was a bit of a challenge as I was warned to avoid all favellas (poor looking housing) as they may be inhabited by gang members. The only road available was really busy with traffic and pedestrians. On top of this I had a film crew trying to follow me and get some footage.

When the Horn blasted the start of our race we all took off. Mary moved to the front and I dropped back to 5th not being able to clip into my pedal and wanting it for the upcoming jump. The paced seemed slow so when the course opened I jumped to the front to lead the 2nd loop. Before we hit the woods however Mary overtook me and entered the single track first. She slipped on the slick rock and we all hoped off our bikes to run the first climb. After that it was me following Mary trying to see where I could gain an advantage. She seemed to be struggling on both the technical climbs and the descents so I focused on riding cleanly. On the flat stretch she was able to open some time on me, but I knew I could make it up in the woods if I kept focused. Sooner than expected on the first descent I came a round a corner to see that Mary had laid her bike down. She was up in front of me, but now I was determined to get by. The next opportunity I went to make my pass. As I did I got a stick caught in my front wheel. An annoyingly slow pass, but I got by and stepped on the gas going into a series of little climbs. I looked back on the longest climb and I had dropped Mary. Excellent! It was back into a good series of technical climbing and descending before heading back out onto the flats. Mary would claw in a couple seconds on the flats and I would put time into her in the woods…. excepting 3rd lap where I made a bunch of mistakes.

Things were going well for me. I knew I could win this race, but was glad it was actually happening. Last lap and I was given a report that Mary had burped her tire and had to pit for a quick fill up. I had over a minute at this point, but when you’re going for gold you’ll take all the breathing room you can get! I rode into the finish zipping up my jersey and thanking the flat surface so I could raise my hands and look like a pro without falling on my face!

My team was there to meet me at the finish with the most amount of media I’ve ever been exposed too. There were photographers, film crews, reporters with recorders and memo pads, you name it. I was told at this time that not only was I Canada’s first medal, but the first medal of the Pan AM Games. How cool is that!

When Mary (USA) and Laura Morfin (Mexico) crossed the line we were escorted towards the podium (with our doping control chaperones in tow). After the podium, flowers, medals, many, many photographs and interviews we were then escorted to a press conference where the three of us and some translators did a tri-lingual press conference. After this we were finally able to go pee…in front of our doping control chaperones. Although I had had little to drink after the race I was still too dilute from race hydrating and was told I would have to go again, but that I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything until that time. Luckily they relented on the no food, but held tight to the no beverages. Yes I did get a wicked dehydration headache and felt sick to my stomach from the heat all through the night. Finally I was released and got to go watch some of the men’s race. Unfortunately Ricky was already out with a slit sidewall and Matt was working his way up after a flat tire.

Interviews by phone and in person continued the rest of the day and up till 10pm. The head of the COC even let me borrow his cell to call home. Wow way to feel like a superstar. The reality of the day sunk in more and more. It wasn’t just another race.
We got back to the village around 4:30 and starved and sun burnt headed to the food hall. Each evening medal winners are called together to be recognized for their achievements. That night I stood with two other Canadians. Each had won a bronze, one in open swimming and the other in Taekwondo.

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nsmb.com still loves the Team DH

It's a good time to be in the market for a new ride. The selection has never been greater, with bikes out there that cater to almost every riding style and any size of pocket book. All of the new bikes we've been looking at in magazines all winter are popping up on trails and in lift lines all over the place. One of those new scoots is the 2007 Norco Team DH.

I was pretty pumped when I was asked to test this new machine. For those of you that are frequent flyers on nsmb.com, you'll probably recognize the combination of Corey Anderson and a Team DH. I've been fortunate enough to follow this specific model since its inception in 2001, when I bought my first downhill bike. That bike has been passed down, but she is still in service and going strong.

A lot has changed over the years, and having spent a considerable amount of time on this model, it's possible to see how the big picture has evolved. Certain features have come and gone, things you felt didn't belong got removed, and things you wished the bike had appeared. Someone at Norco has obviously been listening to the reviews, as well as rider and racer feedback.

Read the FULL REVIEW . . .

This past weekend Norco Factory Team rider, Catharine Pendrel won Canada's first gold medal of the 15th Pan American Games, in the women's XC mountain biking event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!

Catharine came out strong on her Norco EXC 1.0 and took the win at 1:46:06, over a minute faster tha 2nd place finisher, Mary McConneloug, who clocked in at 1:47:44.

"We consider it an honour to support an athlete like Catharine," commented Peter Stace-Smith, Norco's PR Marketing Manager, "She is a incredible ambassador for Canada, for mountain biking, and for Norco!"

Ryan is filming with Alex from Alias Lab for his new video, "Crux".
Go check it out here!

This week, our enthusiastic website designers have brought us, yet another update with the addition of a new video. Don’t forget to check back regularly for new videos, podcasts, team updates, photos, and much more... Go check out the newest video here!

This week, our enthusiastic website designers have brought us, yet another update with the addition of a new video. Don’t forget to check back regularly for new videos, podcasts, team updates, photos, and much more... Go check out the newest video here!

This week, our enthusiastic website designers have brought us, yet another update with the addition of another podcasts. Don’t forget to check back regularly for new videos, wallpapers, team updates, photos, and much more. Go check out the newest podcast here!

This past Saturday at Silver Star, the resort recorded their BIGGEST DAY EVER with over 530 riders showing up to play and ride for Norco’s first VPS-Fest of the season (Sunday, they posted a huge turn out as well with over 450 riders).

After months of planning and a few weeks of excitement, the big day had arrived, the first VPS-Fest of the year. VPS-Fest is Norco's one-of-a-kind Rider Appreciation Day. In 2003 we created our first ever VPS-Fest to give back to the riding community and a great excuse to get Norco riders together for a great time. Since our first event, VPS-Fest has grown and expanded into a much anticipated event on many Norco riders' calendars. This event gives us the opportunity to say, 'Thanks!' to our riders by providing FREE lift-accessed riding, FREE tech support by World Cup mechanics, FREE flat and wheel repair, the chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes and much more.

Norco's 1st VPS-Fest of the season took place at Silver Star Resort, just outside Vernon, BC. Silver Star has been running their chairlift for mountain biking since 1991, holding world class events since their World Cup DH/XC in 1994 and have been blazing a trail in the mountain bike industry ever since.

We left the Norco office Friday morning loaded with demo bikes, food, and 20 excited Norco employees.

About 6 hours later, we pulled into Silver Star where the Silver Star kitchen crew had burgers and brew ready for us. After a great dinner, introductions, and the traditional ‘unveiling of the staff shirts’, we stepped outside to unbelievable, torrential rain (not promising, despite the weather office’s promise that this weekend was supposed to be nice). A few of us made a mad dash up the hill on out bikes to the condos, while the rest piled into the trucks, regardless we all got soaked but it was definitely our fastest un-load on record.

Six am rolled around pretty quickly, and thankfully, we opened our windows to the promise of sunshine and blue sky. We had everything ready to roll in preparation for an event-filled day by 9am, although by 8:30, people were already arriving, excited to ride for free.

Julia, our ride in style winner showed up, super excited. She told us she hadn’t originally planed to pre-register, but she decided to at the last minute, and was happy she did! She received $1000 in head-to-toe Mace Gear, a Team DH for the day, and some instruction time with our own, Jay Hoots!

Besides the riding, there were lots of other activities going on during the day. We had a fleet of demo bikes to try out, ranging in sizes and types. There were even a few 2008 bikes like the Atomik available for test. At 11:00 and 3:00 you could meet up with, Jay Hoots and Ryan Leech, who were leading rides at the top of the mountain.

As well, all day we had flat changing competitions. (Just for giving it a try the contestants received a free tube and tire levers!) At one point, there was some stiff competition between the Norco tech staff, who all wanted to test out their wrenching-prowess. Even the Silver Star shop staff, came out to challenge our boys, but the fastest recorded time went to James with 58seconds! At the end of the day we had the top (non-staff) competitors duke it out head-to-head to take home a couple Axiom pumps.

After some “Nar” (as Hoots likes to call it) riding, riders would wheel into the village for some free bike maintenance from the Norco tech support crew. Our wrenches worked hard all day but received a well deserved break from the Red Bull Mobile Energy Team!

At 1:00 and 5:00, Ryan Leech performed for a big crowd of amazed fans. He started off his demo by side hopping almost 40 inches (that’s over 3 feet!). Some mentionable moves: stalling his front tire on a small raised platform, hopping on his front tire, and riding a pole as skinny as his tire. He sure is good at what he does.

At the end of the day, as riders finished up their last run, there was only one thing to do, give away a lot of stuff, as in $5000 worth of stuff! There were a ton of great prizes up for grabs, from t-shirts, hoodies and socks, to pedals, tools, and helmets. To make it all fair, we put all the registered names into a hat and selected at random our lucky winners.

Jay Hoots and Ryan Leech drew names, and occasionally mixed things up by awarding prizes to the loudest ‘screamer’, craziest facial hair, and worst injury. In the end there were only three prizes to go: an Alex Supra D/DT Swiss wheelset, a Marzocchi DJ1, and a 2007 A-Line Park Edition frameset with a Marzocchi Roco shock.

The big winner of the day was Ethan, who took home the frameset, but Jay wouldn’t let him go without a fight!

The next day a very happy Norco crew finally got our chance to ride the mountain, and it was just as amazing as everyone claimed. The trials were buff and tacky, and the jumps were big and sweet.

After seeing some familiar faces, making some new friends, and taking in some wicked riding, it was finally time to head home. We hope to see you all at Mt. Washington in September – so mark your calendars! And sign up for VPS Fest, and Ride in Style!

- Mark Bakker – (norco staff)

CONGRATS to Jamie Roy from Dorchester, ON!!!

Jamie will be taking home over $1000 in Mace gear, get some one-on-one training with our team riders, and cruise all day long on a 2007 Team DH! I'm pretty sure he's going to be the happiest rider on the mountain on Saturday.

Even though we have a chosen a winner for this weekend’s VPS-Fest, it’s still not too late come and ride fo at Blue Mountain, or to pre-register for our Mount Washington event on Sept 14th! Just by pre-registering for any of our VPS-Fest events you immediatly qualifty for the 'Ride In Style' contest.

For more info on VPS-Fest, or to pre-register for any of the three ’07 VPS-Fest events and be automatically entered to win the Norco ‘Ride In Style’ contest, go to: VPSFEST.COM