Couple of pics from Avoriaz

The promoter from the Avoriaz Roof n' Slopestyle sent me a couple of pics from practice to share with ya'll.

Lisa's Race report

Getting down the hill fast... fastest is the name of her game.
Top spot podium shot # 2, nice work Lisa!!!
Lisa on here way to her 2nd State title under the lights at Sol Vista. All photos by Eddie Clark and Long Nguyen

Sol Survivor, in Sol Vista, CO was one of the best events I've ever attended. Let me list the reasons (race promoters take note)...

1. The courses were built by racers for racers. This means the downhill had huge jumps, fast corners, awesome rock gardens, and serious flow. No uphill shenanigans. The dual slalom was relentless. If you weren't riding with the next corner in mind, you were probably stacking it into a berm.

2. Dual Slalom was under the lights!!!!!

3. There were fun random events like pump-track world championships and a mustache cup, free Dales Pale Ale and a rockin' band.

4. The pits actually had a good vibe. No tumble weeds blowing through this venue.

5. No one wanted to leave the award ceremony - whowhat!!! Even with a race the next day, people stayed out and partied; it was awesome.

On top of such a good venue, I was super stoked with my race runs. In dual slalom, I stacked it pretty hard in my first run against Christen Boyer as she took the max differential. This just meant there was no holding back in the second run. I new she was riding well so to beat the max diff meant pedal to the metal — that's when the racing got good. I met Rachel Bauer in the finals. She's been stepping it up all season and I new she was hungry for a win. Plus she qualified faster than me. The course was lined with spectators, the lights illuminated this amazing long track, and the gates dropped. I didn't see her after that. Oh it feels so good to cross that finish line first... twice;-)

Dowhill was amazing. I absolutely love to jump my DH rig and this was the course for me. There were two step downs one was 30 feet the other was 40 and there was a sweet 15 foot double into the most delicious berm you could ever sink your tires into. By race time a huge storm was rolling in, there was crazy lightening on the horizon and the skys were about to open up. Somehow the pro women were blessed with the quiet before the storm. The air had that uncanny still feel and it was charged with energy. Jackie Harmony had qualified less then 2 seconds behind me and I new she was going to push it for all she had (actually, we both promised each other we would). I also new the course was getting extremely beat up and everyone was complaining about blowing up in the corners. This was going to be one of those races of riding a fine line between smooth and daringly fast. Game on...

I was the last pro women in the start gate. I looked out over the brewing horizon and I told myself to just relax and stay lose. I didn't want to go as fast as possible; I just wanted to go as smooth as possible. It worked. I hit all my lines and sailed over the jumps. It was such a good day. As I crossed the finished lined I heard Mike McCormack announce that it would be my second State Championship for the weekend. Thank God:)

Shredding Canadian style

Carson Bell from Alberta has been ripping up the North and here's a couple of cool shots for you to enjoy.

Carter 

Contraband spy shots

Here's the first photos of our new prototype Contraband 24" specific frame that will be released soon.

Underboss stems finally back in stock!

It's taken forever, the wait is over & I apologize for those of you who have waited patiently for the Underboss stems to come back into the building but they're here and look great!!!

Here are the color options available but the polished are still being finished.

Stayed tuned for more 09 product releases to come.

Carter

Fully

Harrokz just e mailed me a couple of photos from the day after the Claymore Challenge when I got my Transition Double together for a few runs before the rain set in again... I'm loving this bike.

Carter

Waste not want not....

Is this really important enough to be printed on every receipt??? Didn't I just read it on the screen???
Why???
This is ridiculous...

I know this doesn't have anything to do with bikes, berms or booze but... I have a gripe. Everybody agrees our planet is in some form of crisis, Whether it's the fuel shortage, over population, pollution, starvation or saving the whales, we're having issues. This is a minor complaint too but an easy one to fix that could actually make an enormous difference one printer at a time.

Yeah, I said printer... so, here it is.

I do part of my business thru this amazing thing called the internet, it can take you anywhere you can ever dream up, tell you how fat Britney's ass is getting and even teach use foreign languages in only 30 min a day. But why can't I print out a receipt from RayRal ( the names were changed to protect the innocent and me from being sued.) on a single piece of paper. I'm guessing about 90% of the receipts or confirmations I print out come as 2 pages and the 2nd page is 99% frivolous bullshit. Come on P... oops... RayPal, Rexpedia, Riceline... get on the program... one page receipts... save the world one printer at a time or at least a lot of paper.

I have in fact called RayRal and spoke to someone who actually listened to my rant about the fact the only piece of information on that 2nd 1/4 filled piece of dead tree is my customers phone number... I might need that, so it gets printed and stapled together.

Solution... pay one of your IT guys to fix the 2 page crap and save a staple!!! and Give Blood...

Now that was a waste of time.

Carter

Claymore Challenge

One more of Cam showing the way to win...
Justin Wyper stepping down or stepping it up???
Most of the pro finalists
Clint McMahon came so close to pulling this and finished 5th overall... not to mention the mullet.
Cam in the middle of a big 3 in his winning run
These guys came to party....
Andrew Taylor throws down a Superflip on FreeBird
AC hipflips into 3rd
Dave's weapon of choice
Mark Hayes and the event namesake and trophy... the Claymore sword
1/4 pipe options
The Wall and Shred Shed in the back ground
Overview from the Lodge... like I said... options
The Highland SS from the hip landing above turn 2

Hoo F'n Ray!!!... 2008 has finally brought some events to the States on par with Canada and Europe! First there was the Wham Bam... more a glorified jump contest than a slopestyle... then the Teva Mountain Games... a fun low impact event but not quite a true slopestyle but getting better every year... then Crank Worx Colorado, a one line event and definitely a mountain bike course... now this... The Claymore Challenge held this weekend at Highland Mountain Bike Park in New Hampshire.

The Highland's crew lead by owner Mark Hayes and designer/rider Dave Smutok, built a sick slopestyle course with numerous choices of how to get down the hill both big and small. Dave built a course that traversed Highland mountain starting with 3 lips (options 1-3) stepping down of varing heights and lengths with most pros choosing the middle line setting them up for bermzilla #1 and into big 90 hip to the right with 2 (options 4-5) different lips side by side. After blasting the hip, a 25’ tall landing carried you into berm 2 which brought the rider to a dirt jump where again the rider could choose from either a 10’ or 16’ gap (options 6-7) where upon landing we had yet more options… an 8’ quarter you could choose (options 8-9) to air as a 1/4 or boost out of the top left corner into a fast downhill left hand 90 berm. If you aired the 1/4 you then hit an S turn that takes you to a beautiful 8’ dirt spine which again led to more options, if you hit the 1/4 hip into the berm you could hit the biggest jump on the course a 25footer with a Quick 8’ lip.

This brings the option count to 11 and that doesn’t include the fact you could use the spine to transfer to the dirt jump landing or attempt to blast away into a hip landing on the far left. All of these options deliver you to the wall. A huge wall with mutiple… you guessed it…Options. I’m not even going to bother naming those but our tally is easily 17 at this point.

Now the final 2 obstacles are literally loaded with choices. Aaron Chase designed the “Shred Shed”… to be basically a building with a pitched roof 30’ wide and 50’ long completely surrounded by lips and landings for a full 360 degrees… which brings us to the “Freebird”… a giant dirt… uh… bird that again acts as lip or landing from almost anywhere you can imagine!!! The last day I was there the water dried up and the dirt was fast and tacky.

This course was full of imagination and fun to ride… had it not been for the week of torrential rain days before the contest the potential for the best event ever was clearly a possibility. Dave and his crew worked long and hard repairing the rain damage and taming the 6” thick layer of “buffalo skin” that threatened to slow us to a craw in some places.

The finals were insane as tricks went down off of everything... Clint McMahon surprised everyone when he dropped in with a huge bag of tricks including hipflips in both directions and flipping the start drop & tailwhips... he came close to a flipwhip but never quite got it under him. Phil rode well with a big 3 transfer from the the spine to a landing of the big jump as well as big airs on the 1/4 and 3'ing the FreeBird. Aaron rode into 3rd with a beautiful hip flip, a 3 transfer on the spine earning a dagger for his efforts. AT took home the 2nd place sword with Superflips, a huge tailwhip on FreeBird and extended Indian airs on the first hip. C-Mac was unstoppable as he flipped into the course every run... dumped 270 on the hip, Superflip the 1st dub, downside whip the 1/4 step-down. His ridiculous 3 on FreeBird sealed the deal and got his dowsed in champagne, thrown in a lake/pond thing and shot in the head with fireworks... Nice job Cam!!! 

Adam rode well in qualifying but crashes in both final runs kept him off the podium this weekend but he did stomp a 650 on the hip as well as a perfect 270 whip directly after hitting his head... the 270 made him so dizzy he had to end his run early. 

I’m sure this event is going to be a huge invitation only event soon but at least the course is open to the public and fun as hell!!! Mark, Dave and the rest of the Highland Mountain crew pulled an amazing event… can’t wait to come back next year or in Oct. for their jump jam.

Results:

1. Cameron McCaul
2. Andrew Taylor
3. Aaron Chase
4. Phil Sunbaum
5. Clinton McMahon
6. Tyler McCaul
7. Jamie Goldman
8. Justin Wyper
9. Adam Hauck
10. George Ryan
11. Dane Berke

Post Office Photo Jam this weekend...

Up and coming photog Jason Peters is sending a message to all... read on and ride on.

I am calling out to everyone who rips post office to a photo shoot Sunday July 27th.
That's right, this is all about the up and coming riders, come hang out with your friends and fellow riders all while getting some sick pictures and footage! This shoot is open to everyone, photographers, filmers, riders and there is no charge for anyone. But I would like to know how many people are coming down. So if you plan on riding with us let me know! Also if you have any questions feel free to contact me!


Who: You the rider's and us the photographer's
What: Post Office Photo shoot
When: Sunday July 27th at 2PM until sunset
Where: Post Office Dirt Jumps in Aptos, CA

Familia...

Here's a few more rides sent in recently by Black Market family members far and wide.