Claire's Blog: Pump-track Vid and Brendan's Crabs

Hey all! Here's a clip of me going for a cruise around the pumptrack:

My stomach hurts from laughing. My partner in crime, Katrina Strand, was just here for a few weeks to visit and between making the most amazing videos on PhotoBooth and other random tarding, ie. my impersonation of David Attenborough in the Planet Earth Series....."And another animal that depends largely on the great plains is......Wild Ass." haha. His voice is amazing! Anyways, we got a lot of riding in too.


Katrina and Claire

They took out "the wall" at the 3rd of the Winter Vomit Series as a pleasant surprise to all the racers. But, ya know, I have to admit I was a tiny bit disappointed. Because it is something I have to get stronger at, I kind of enjoy seeing how long you can go as hard as you can. Call me crazy....

But, although it was a bit shorter, it was a pretty cool track this time around with lots of corners, a rock garden and a decent amount of sprinting in it anyway. Chris (Kovarik) and I both won our races and there is now a $100 bounty on Chris to anyone that can beat him. With 2 more left in the series, will anyone be able to do it?

Brendan Fairclough and Matti Lehikoinen are also in town, and they are like peas in a pod, so we've all hung out a ton and have been having some good times. One day we all tripped out to Laguna to visit the CrankBrothers office and do some shuttle runs that end pretty much on the beach. This is where we all turned 5 years old again while exploring the tide pools and this is where Brendan "accidentally" dropped the hermit crab in a sea anemone.


Brendan showing off his crab

Katrina and I were devastated and Brendan felt pretty bad as soon as he realized what he had done but we couldn't save poor hermy. We like to believe he somehow escaped being digested alive...but Brendan, what a cutie, did feel very sorry, to the point where he mentioned it a couple times on the drive home.


Matti and Kovarik

With Katrina gone back to snowy Whistler and Brendan off doing that random street race down in Chile, our crew has gotten smaller for the moment. Out near our pumptrack there are a few jumps and things that Eric Carter built back in the day. Chris, Matti and I spent the other morning out there having a bit of fun. When I got tired of hiking the jumps, I caught some action on my little camera.


Matti


Kovarik

PS. Chris doesn't just drift his bike. We found this old photo of him in a drift comp back in Australia.

Kovarik gets sideways

Claire rides for Intense, Sram/Rockshox/Avid/Truvativ, Maxxis, Sombrio Girl, Chromag, e13, Crankbrothers, Mavic, Dakine, Smith Optics, THE helmets, Troy Lee Designs armour, Evolution Bike Shop, Dynamic Core Fitness, Whistler Bike Park..

Kovarik's CRC/Intense M6

Our pro-blogger Claire just emailed this shot of Kovarik with his new Chain Reaction/Intense M6. The team stickers are on the way...

Spec looks like:

M6 frame with Cane Creek shock
Raceface cranks
Burgtec pedals
SDG I-Beam seat and post
Shimano Shadow rear-mech
All new Dorados!

Solid Mission 9 Proto and Orange 225

Monday morning and AGAIN i'm sitting in work shattered from the weekend!

I made an express trip up to North Wales yesterday to meet Tim Morgan and test-ride the prototype '08 Solid Mission 9. We hooked up with the guys from MTB-Direct at Foel Gasnach and spent the day hammering the bike and getting some pictures.

You'll have to read issue 6 for the full report but... With a few tweaks it's looking like it could be a great bike.

As ever, there was a great turn out of riders. The tracks were riding nicely, the sun was out and the uplifts were rolling all day... Perfect!

As if one prototype bike wasn't enough... Tom Braithwaite appeared with the boys from MTBCut and a verrryy interesting looking Orange 225. Couldn't resist a bit of papping and got a few shots of it tied up in the van...

The Elbry o'clock news

Elbry blasted me over some news for you folks, check it out...

RiderRunCo will have the all new range from Vandal up in the coming month and wideopen will have the range to show in the next issue! Vandal was the first pure rider run mtb brand when it started back in 95, but the brand has been underground for the last few years with just team rider Jamie Taylor of late holding down the brand name at dirt events. Thats all changed, revamped team, clothing range and a mini site off of http://www.riderruncompany.co.uk/ in the coming months.


Check these sweet sleds out! 24 or 26" wheeled dirt rigs from samoon. This brand is blowing up on a world level and their frames are coming to the UK as of next month from http://www.riderruncompany.co.uk/ Frames come in at a great £270 and are cutting edge, more details and pics in the next issue of wideopen, to pre order contact the guys at RiderRunCo.

Martyn Ashton on Diamondback for 2008.

Great news as trials-god Marytn Ashton joins Diamonback. He'll head up Team 'Ashton Diamonback' with Sam Pilgrim, Rowan Johns and Ben Savage riding alongside. It's great to see some big-names and then also new talent from Rowan.

They'll be showing-off their skills at music festivals, on the high-street and on the Animal Bike-Tour. With 50 dates already booked you won't have much trouble catching up with them.

We're big fans of Diamondback here at Wideopen... Big company, roots UK team, quality bikes. Seems like a perfect combo and can only be good news for the UK riding scene. Stay tuned for some biiiig things from this lot!

No team web-site at the moment, but check out www.diamonback.co.uk




pic: Robin Kitchin

Rowan Johns video... Pure talent.

Something for the weekend from MTBCut

MTBcut.tv just popped up more great vids for your viewing pleasure....

They're also threatening to be literaly EVERYWHERE in 2008. World cups, Nationals, Regionals... Anything you might wanna see will be captured on video, set to a damn fine sound track and online for free.

New videos are:
Amiel Cavalier Rider Bio
Season rundown with Ben Reid
Cam McCaul Diary

www.mtbcut.tv

PumpUrbanWear.co.uk blog is ONLINE!

Our very good friends at PumpUrbanWear.co.uk just launched their all new blog.



It'll be the place to find out about the company and the team riders. With Rob Newman, Dylan Stone and Tom Gethin on-board it's bound to fire out some great pushbike content.

Pump are an independant UK clothing company that we've been working with since issue 2. They've got nice designs and a nice philosophy that's all about helping folks out wherever they can and not fucking up the planet along the way. You'll be seeing a lot more of them in the mag...

Cheers to Rick for the kind words on the blog.

Check out the blog and their line of threads here:
http://www.pumpurbanwear.co.uk/

Bionicon UK Demo Series

Fancy swinging your leg over a Bionicon?



If so there's 9 UK test days lined up between now and May.

09.03 - Forest of Dean with Zero G Cycles Tel. 0117 966 0743
16.03 - Apedale Country Park, Newcastle under Lyme with BETD/Goldtec, Tel. 01782 629 462
30.03 - Peaslake, Surrey with Moose Cycles Tel. 01633 601 040
19/20.03 - Ambleside, Cumbria with Biketreks Tel. 015394 31245
26/27.04 - Laggan Wolftrax with Basecamp Tel. 01528 544 786
10.05 - Pangbourne, Berks with Mountain High Tel. 01189 841 851
25.05 - Ynys-Hywel, Sirhowy Valley Country Park with Martyn Ashfield Cycles Tel. 01633 601 040

You'll be able to ride any of the following:

Golden Willow scandium – medium
Golden Willow – small, medium, large
Edison Ltd/Edison – small, medium, large (pictured)
Supershuttle – small, medium,
Ironwood – medium or large

For details about bookings, locations and times please contact the appropriate Bionicon dealer or check for updates on the ‘UK corner’ at www.bionicon.com

For information about Bionicon bikes please contact Bionicon UK at: roger.seal@bionicon.com

Claire Buchar: home movies and the Vom series rd2

So somehow this old VHS tape surfaces in one of the offices at the Intense factory...... It's labeled: 'Claire Buchar 2001 Video Resume'. Yup, not kidding.

So I'm wondering why all the guys are smiling at me the next time Chris and I drop by the factory to pick up some parts and Tyler, the shipping guy and riding friend, throws on this video for us. And to my dismay, there I am. On my first downhill bike ever, busting no footer bar tweaks(hahaha), suicides, wheelies and riding some pretty gnarly lines. Except it was 7 years ago and you can tell I was a little stiff in the saddle to say the least but the guys were impressed none the less.

Well I immediately turned bright red and Chris was saying, "I didn't know you could do that!", it was hilarious. Anyways, turns out, it was my part out of Pist 'n Broke Productions, Back in the Saddle and my friend Warwick Patterson sent it to the guys at Intense years ago to try to get me some kind of start in the world of mountain biking. And get this, the guy didn't even watch it until now! Jerk! Haha. And here I am, 7 years later, riding for Intense.....funny.

Anyways, so it's finally stopped raining and apparently the desert has never looked so green. We have had a rare week of extremely wet weather, leaving us with some extremely nice dirt. My favorite local trail, the Gripper, has never been grippier.

We raced in beautiful loamy conditions at the 2nd of the Fontana Winter Vomit Series this past weekend. I got my new Intense Socom 'test frame' built up the day before the event. It is from an early batch of frames that Jeff designed but while my race frame, with a slacker head angle, is getting specially painted, I am trying this one out. And I LOVE it already.

Chris, on his M6, took another win and I, on the Intense Socom, was second to the fast and furious Melissa Buhl. Only 3 more vomits to go!

Chris has been throwing down some tricks on his M6 that others may find difficult on little bikes, recently getting the cover of Revolution, an Aussie magazine, and a double page spread in the latest Decline. Not the clearest images but thought I'd throw those in for your entertainment....

Well, till next time! Claire.

Claire rides for Intense Rock Shox Sram, Truvativ, Avid, Maxxis, Chromag, e13, Fizik, Crankbrothers, Sombrio Girl, THE Helmets, Troy Lee Designs, Dakine, Evolution, Dynamic Core Fitness, Whistler Bike Park, West Coast Freeride Guides, Mavic.

BOS upgrades have landed at TFTuned

Looking to give your forks a boost?



TF Tuned just took their first shipment of BOS Engineering cartridge upgrades for RockShox Boxxer, Marzocchi 888 and Fox 40 forks.

There's loads of info on the forks and what TF can do for you here. If that aint enough, million times World Cup winner Nico V. is riding BOS for '08 which is never a bad sign!

More stuff, including a new rear shock, will follow later this year.

Alpine Bikes Winter Series News

Last weekend was supposed to be the first round of the Alpine Bikes Winter series held at Innerliethen in the Scottish Borders. Unfortunatly on Saturday morning one of the marshalls unexpectedly collapsed and passed away. SPS events have released a statement about the incident which can be found in full here;
SPS Statement
During this time I would ask you to spare a moment to think about the family and friends. I would also like to commend the way in which the sad news was haddled by all at the weekend, especially the organisers.

FTMB.net - New Look for 08

Our very good mate Jim over at FTMB.net has just given his site a facelift for '08.

There's a fresh look, new forums and a real good Victor Lucas interview to top things off.

If that aint enough, he rolled out the site last night and then missioned it over to Milton Keynes this morning for Corebike... Busy boy. Full repo to follow later this week!

Last but not least he's been jolly nice and hosted the last two issues of Wideopen for us. Meaning we can stay online free from bandwith troubles.

Hit up the site and get posting on the forums at www.ftmb.net

twoand8bmx.com - New Website

Team rider Levi Rogers in BS1

Good news - Adi at Twoand8 just launched his all new website for '08.

He's got the new site, new designs and even a new rider... Brizzle local Levi Rogers (amazing).

Cast your mind back to the turn of the century and Twoand8 were the f*ckin coolest team in the MTB game, with Nigel Page and Chico Hooke representin them on the DH and BSX scene.

These days things are solid BMX and still damn cool and still with a top crew of riders, including Wideopen 5 interview victim Colum Walshe. All a cool bunch of guys that are just out to ride kids bikes, have fun and make their scene strong.

Check out the site and support the underground... http://www.twoand8bx.com/

Adi (left) and Colum W - Photo by Kung

No DW Link Iron Horse for 2009...?

Morning morning,

The big buzz over the weekend was that Dave Weagle may be parting company from Iron Horse and that IH's license on the DW link will expire at the end of 2008.



That means an all new Iron Horse DH bike for 2009 and quite likely an all new DW link DH bike by another manufacturer....

The buzz all kicked off here on the mtbr forums. Take a look at 'DW's' post:

"there may be a Sunday, but it won't be one that I designed, and it won't be using dw-link. There will however, be at least one DW-link downhill bike on the market.. just not a Sunday".

Of course, until there's an official press release from anyone it's all forum bullshit... So stay tuned. There's a decent thread going on Descent-World here that'll likely pick up the news fast.



If you don't know what any of this is about... Dave Weagle is the fella behind the infamous 'DW Link'. Which is the suspension design used exclusively on Iron Horse, Independent Fabrication and Ibis bikes. It's massively well respected as one of the best pivot set-ups on the planet. World champ Sam Hill has been showing exactly what can be done with a DW link over the last few seasons. Check out the DW-Link site here for more.

No doubt whatever comes next will be worth waiting for... Will be interesting to see what Sam and Brendan will be riding for 2009. Stay tuned.

Elbry...he's such a Vandal!

News from Elbry at Rider Run Company:

Vandal clothing are back! New colourways, new designs and a new look team for 2008.



Vandal want to start with a core group of riders to help build a solid foundation for their future teams.



They are looking for riders intrested in a grass-roots deal on Vandal clothing who want to help support the UKs OG mtb clothing brand.

If you're intrested...contact Elbry on bsxworld@tiscali.co.uk


or blast over to Vandal's new distributor http://www.riderruncompany.co.uk/

There's also a small forum going on so get involved here

Team Giant UK on Halo for '08

Ison just announced they've got Team Giant UK rolling on Halo wheels for '08.

Apparently Team Manager Warner took a bit of a shine to Chris Smith's set and decided to hook the whole team up.

Dan Yeomans, Chris Smith, Kate Curd and of course Warner will all be rolling on the following...

Halo Freedom Disc wheels built onto Halo Spin Doctor Hubs (Chris Smith Signature White Colourway) on their 4Cross and Freeride bikes.

White Halo Freedom Disc Rims built onto Halo Dozen 150/12 rear hubs on their DH bikes.

White Halo SAS rims built onto Halo DJD SS Cassette Hubs on their Dirt Jump Bikes.

Rob will also be using Halo Excite-D XC wheels on his XC training bike.

Check out http://www.halorims.com/ for all the wheel specs etc...

Halo is distributed in the UK by http://www.ison-distribution.com/

Foot Out Flat Out Shoots 1 and 2

The first two shoots from my DVD summed up in a short podcast for you all to enjoy!
Cheers to all the boys!

MINT.

Keep checking back for more shoots with more UK pinners.

www.myspace.com/footoutflatout

Free Delivery - Exclusive Interview

The best things in life are free right?

How about a free, feature length bike film??

Justin at Lucent Productions is making exactly that. A full length bike movie featuring stacks of racing and riding from all over the USA. After spotting a few teasers on Littermag.com I got in touch with him to get the lowdown…

- Who is Justin?
I am an independent videographer located in the Boston area, heading up the 'one man show' that is Lucent Productions. I started filming mountain biking when I was racing bikes in college, and then started getting more interested over the years. Fast forward 5 years: I've invested butt loads of money in better cameras and equipment, have a few prestigious awards under my belt, and have worked with some of the top riders/companies in the industry.

- 10 words or less that describe your film:
Free film that emptied my bank account this year.

- How's the editing going?
One section is fully edited, so I guess I'd say editing is going slow but steady. I have a full time job apart from Lucent so all my editing is done in my free time after work. Needless to say, my girlfriend will be happy when it's done!

- Any sections your pretty pleased with so far?
So far my guess is that Mount Ste Anne World Cup race is going to be best event segment. I have 4 hrs of tape to condense down to a 4-5 minute segment so you can be sure that its going to be jam packed. I think Dave Smutok's rider segment will be the best visually appealing since I was able to use the camera crane for a lot of his stuff.

The full vid is due out online for FREE late Feb/Early March. We’ll be catching up with Justin again for a full interview in Issue 6 of Wideopen. In the mean-time log on to his website for loads of updates.

Cheers to Justin for taking the time out to talk to us.

http://lucentproductions.blogspot.com/

Also... Here's a couple of clips from other vids:

Asterix-Europe: New Havoc R Team Bike

Got these images of the new Asterix Europe race bike last night... No photos or detailed specs as yet but it looks like it's going to be sweet.



The Havoc R is a completely new bike, built from the ground up specifically for racing in the UK and Europe. It's got 8.5" travel, 1.5 head tube and a Maxle on the rear.

The new team line up is going to be Ben Baker (one to watch apparently...), Scott Mears, Andy Wright and Sam Flockhart. According to Chris at Asterix, their team bikes will be landing mid-Feb.



There's some more info at Dirtmag.co.uk and the new AsterixEurope.com site is going live any second now. Stay tuned for good things...

Pro blog: Claire and the Fonta Winter Vomit Series

Chris and I both took windy wins on the weekend at the 1st of the Fontana Winter Vomit Series. It barely gets that windy on the top of Whistler mountain! Which made for a bit of a gong show.

You were at the mercy of 50 mile per hour gusts through the top corners, felt like a passenger through the mid rocky sections and might as well have been pedaling backwards along the wall of death, a 30+ second sprint to the finish.

The Wall, not just a clever name. Vomit! Chris did...

But more importantly, what is with the guy on the right in the background of my photo? What was he doing out there? Is that face fur? Thats random.

Anyways, hopefully more wins to come!

Top image is of Claire and her furry friend, bottom one is of Chris pre-vomit.

Claire is a VERY talented pro DH rider from Canada. She's spending her summer in Sunny So-Cal to escape the snow and will be E-beaming us some updates when she gets the chance. Stay locked to Wideopen for more...

Her sponsors are: Intense Rock Shox Sram, Truvativ, Avid, Maxxis, Chromag, e13, Fizik, Crankbrothers, Sombrio Girl, THE Helmets, Troy Lee Designs, Dakine, Evolution, Dynamic Core Fitness, Whistler Bike Park, West Coast Freeride Guides, Mavic

All New Race Face Site Online

The chaps at Race Face HQ in Vancouver just got in touch to say that their new website is now online.

By the sounds of the press release they're pretty stoked with it ... "The new web site is a completely hand coded piece of digital artistry. The database allows for dynamic content providing a site that is very scalable (basically it’s easy to upload content and the site can easily expand to accommodate future online campaigns)."

Check it out for all the usual top quality parts, clothing and armour that Race Face are famous for.

MTBCut.TV Latest

Missing the weekend's riding already?

Looking for some media to keep you going on a rainy Monday afternoon?

MTBCut.TV just uploaded a heap of new vids to sort you out.... Including a really good twenty minute tour round the Santa Cruz HQ. Give it a look if your stuck at your desk.

Log on to check out their latest vids:

TECH: Exclusive 20 minute tour of the SantaCruz factory
FULL LENGTH MOVIE: ‘The Picture’
RIDER BIO: Dan Atherton First Movie Preview
TRAILER: Virtuous

Fort Bill Wins Event of the Year!

For the 3rd consecutive year, the international mountain bike teams, tech support and race organizers organization (IMTTO) has awarded the prestigious "IMTTO Event Of The Year" trophy to Rare Management.

In 2007 they were the organizers of the UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships in the classic venue of Fort William, Scotland. Close to 60 members voted (teams and tech support companies only), and of the 25 events voted for, it was clear that Fort William was again the obvious favorite.

Unlike other awards, this one recognizes any mountain bike event held in 2007, and is voted on by the industry main players when it comes to mountain bike racing and events. For the second year in a row, the members voted the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup as the 2nd best event (and therefore the best World Cp of 2007), very closely followed by the Houffalize World Cup. The highest ranked non-World Cup, non-World Championship event was the Roc d’Azur held in Southern France.

"The feedback we get from our members in this voting process is extremely valuable. We pass on that constructive feedback to the various organizers in order to help them further improve their already excellent events. As an organization, the role of IMTTO is to further assist the events in their growth and therefore further secure the future of mountain bike racing as a viable sport for our members. The trophy we have awarded to Rare Management symbolizes this aim." – IMTTO President, Martin Whiteley.

Results:

1. UCI Mountain Bike World Championships – Fort William, Scotland

2. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada

3. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Houffalize, Belgium

4. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Maribor, Slovenia

5. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Offenburg, Germany

6. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Vigo, Spain

7. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Schladming, Austria

8. Roc d’Azur – Frejus, France

9. Kokanee Crankworx – Whistler Mountain, Canada

10. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Champery, Switzerland

11. Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup – Saint Felicien, Canada

12. Bundesliga Cross Country National – Heubach, Germany

13. Swisspower Cup – Bern, Switzerland

14. Absa Cape Epic – South Africa

15. Lisbon Downtown – Lisbon, Portugal

16. Bundesliga Cross Country National – Munsingen, Germany

17. US Open – Diablo Park, NJ, USA

18. Bearclaw Invitational – Mountain Washington, Canada

19. Swisspower Cup – Schaan, Switzerland

20. Sea Otter Classic – Monterey, CA, USA

Descend Hamsterley - Down N Out Winter Series Rd2

Sunday 13th is Rd 2 of the excellent Hamsterley Down N' Out Winter Series and by the looks of things... It's gonna be a soggy one!

According to Chris R at NPS 4X the track starts ..."with some realy nice smooth following corners before hitting the really technical rooty section and mini rock garden just after the cabin half way down, from there its steep steep steep into the dark woods and massive drop at the bottom into the finish."

Joe Barnes took the lead in Rd 1 with a 1:40:570, followed by Phil Ashbridge then Ben Ineson. Danny Hart on the podium this time round?

Good luck to everyone riding - i'll try and get some results online asap next week. Pop down and give 'em some support if your in the area.

If anyone wants to fire us over some pics for the site and Wideopen 6 - get in touch.

For more info visit NPS4x.com

Hardtail Nation

For some its the ride, others the challenge or simply a lack of funds for a bigger bike. Whatever the reason there are many of us that ride hardtails instead of full bouncers. If you fall into this group, or even if you're just curious, you should be interested to know that there is a new site just for you.
Hardtail Nation is the new internet website and forum that is aimed at those who preffer the hardtail life. The site is still reasonably new and is growing and being updated all the time, so go check it out...
www.hardtailnation.co.uk/

New indoor skate park for Edinburgh

Here's the blurb from their website http://www.transgressionpark.co.uk/

Transgression Park is the latest initiative to come out of the EHX team. It’s an Urban FreeSport destination catering for all your urban and ‘extreme’ sporting requirements. The park will open in January 2008. Initially the park will consist of an indoor skatepark, a breakdance area, a café and a shop. However as we get going we will be introducing free running, tricking, trials, a stunt school, an airbag and anything else you tell us you want to see (within reason!).The park was designed by Scotlands pro BMX rider Dave Sowerby. Dave was also behind the design of Penicuik Skatepark. We think he’s done a pretty neat job incorporating street and ramp features for BMX, Blades and Skateboards into the 9020 sq ft floor space.

The Park is located on the top level of the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre which must make it the highest Skatepark in the UK. It also has views out across the Forth Estuary and the Royal Yacht Britannia – pretty cool!

Opening times: Monday to Sunday 10:00 – 22:00

The park is still on target to open on the 12th of Jan, but keep an eye on the website for updates. The park will also be open to those who roll on big wheels. Hardtail mountain bikes will be able to use the park, just clean your bike first please.

Hopefully I'll get down there for the opening day and get a few snaps for Issue 6!

BUSA 08 goes to Cwm Carn!

News just in.... The 2008 BUSA Student Champs is heading to Cwm Carn!

I'm maybe a little slow off the mark with this one... But just found out that the BUSA's is coming to Cwm Carn, organised by the 'Extreme Knowhow' Events team.

The BUSA's is two days of partying and mountainbike racing and is probably the best weekend on a mountainbike money can buy. There's Downhill racing on Saturday and then XC racing on Sunday, meaning there's always LOADS of people there and a massive, screaming crowd lining the tracks on both days. Best of all it's cheap as chips to enter.

Cwm Carn should be great news for a lot of people. It's easy to get to from all over the UK, the tracks stand up to pretty much all conditions, there's permanent XC and DH tracks and - of course- it's open all year round for a bit of pre-race training. If you want a bit more info you can check out the excellent http://www.cwmdown.co.uk/

If your a student and fancy racing one of the best mountainbike events going, log on to the facebook group here!

There's also the official press release here

Cwm Carn track video from the Cwmdown website:

Law of Fives Review at FTMB

Just a quick one to say that our mate James at FTMB has just popped up his Earthed 5 review... Sums the vid up pretty nicely I think.

Give it a read if your stuck for something to read on a wet Monday morning!

Click here to go to ftmb.net

Pro-blog: Claire Buchar

Hey there friends.

Unlike last off season in ridiculously hot tropical Australia, Chris Kovarik and I are spending this off season in the warm sunny desert of Southern California near the Intense factory and some cool riding areas.

Either way, sure beats trying to deal with another snowy Canadian winter.... Had enough of those in my life, I can afford to change it up a bit thanks! No, winter in Whistler is almost as much fun as the summer but I was keen to keep riding my bikes throughout the off season again and this is where we ended up this time. Definately not a white Christmas... but spending it on the beach isn't such a bad thing haha.

Anyways, we found ourselves a cool little pad, got inspired by rare rains, bought some shovels and began digging pretty much right away. It seemed like pumptracks were popping up everywhere and I wanted one! 3 weeks and a sore back later, our master piece is finished! Now we are just waiting for another good hard rain to set it all in.

We plan on making some fun lines and transfers in and around the main track and it's supposed to rain this weekend so we may be able to take advantage of it. So this is how our off season has been so far. Nothing too exciting because pretty much, if we didn't ride bikes, we would be bored out of our minds down here. Seriously, I'd slit my wrists I think.

It seems like there will be a few pro riders in the area this winter though, escaping various shitty winter weather. We've already hung out with Brendan Fairclough and he's meant to come back later in the winter. We had some fun doing timed runs with him at a track in Elsinore. And Riffle lives not too far up the coast, we will have to heckle him soon and do some riding in his neck of the woods, er.., cactus. But tomorrow we are heading to Laguna with some local friends to ride some pretty cool DH tracks that start in the mountains (well, extremely large sand dunes for me) and end up on the beach. So thats it for now really......

Happy New Year to you all.

Claire.

http://www.canadiandhgirls.com/