Can you say PEATY!!!
Steve Peat has done it! Finally after all these years and by 0.05 seconds over Greg Minaar and 0.69 over Mick Hannah. It came down to the wire but Steve has his World Champion stripes. The top four riders were all within 0.84 seconds of each other, it was that close.
In the Women’s Elite Finals Emmeline Ragot of France took the Stripes with Tracy Moseley in second and our own Kathy Pruitt taking third.
- Greg Norman
Today was one of the nicest days for weather that we have had. The crowds are starting to role in big. They are expecting thirty to forty thousand spectators this weekend. The XC events were in full swing today as well.
Injuries during the practices this week have plagued a few riders. Andrew Neethling broke his hand, Rennie has tore up his hand as well. Aaron Gwin took a nasty spill yesterday and is gimping around walking the course today. Looch has had a few crashes as well, he seems to be fine and was sporting Northwest Flannel during practice.
I believe that flat tires are going to be the undoing of many a rider during the Finals. I would say that every 20th rider down the hill has flattened during practice.
- Greg Norman
Greg Norman has gone assignment Luciano Worl down under to Australia. Greg has stepped up and made sure that Looch gets taken care of while making the run for Junior Worlds Gold. But, where there is work helping to put on a race, Greg will find work. Luciano Worl is representing the US for the first time at Worlds. He rides for Fluidride/Evil. The following are Greg’s Photos and Words.
Hello again, Day 3.
Well we had a beautiful day today, the weather was gorgeous.
I arrived at 6 am to the venue and was immediately put to work with the set up crew setting panels on the start finnish line for the DH/4x course. By 8 am I was back to parking duties for the Federation Teams. I am finally starting to get some smiles and laughs from most of the European team coaches and managers. People still seem to be a little stressed but it is easing a bit.
I finally got up onto the course to take a few shots. Flat tires seem to be most riders nemesis on the hill.
Plus today was the first day of 4x practice which I took video of, it was a little chaotic.
The photos are of looch, Hill, Minnaar, Peaty, Gee, Riffle and Jared Graves under the Australian flag.
- Greg
I met up with Phil Wiering in Portland, Oregon on my way down to Sea Otter. Charlie and Patrick from Team Robot joined in on the run.
Phil is an up and coming Pro Downhiller who rides for the new Team Fluidride/Evil. I wanted to ask him what kind of training he does. We talked about the benefits of being fit. But, it was his training trail that got the focus. Steep, rooty, off-camber, muddy turns. I’ll let the video tell the rest.
Note: Phil was riding a Sunday in this video. He raced a prototype at the last Fluidride Cup where he placed 7th out of 40 pros. When I shot this he was still waiting on his new Evil.
The Maxxis Cup starts this March 15th in Gouveia (Portugal).
This is one of the earliest races in the International Downhill calendar. Last year Gee Atherton started a strong run at the number one spot in the UCI rankings by winning this first race of the Maxxis Cup. The following video shows the family Athertons tearing up this fast and technical course with a crowd pleaser at the finish. Shot by the Athertons and Dan Brown and edited by Richard Cunynghame. Dan got 2nd and Rachel took the top women’s spot.
for video Continue reading ‘Maxxis Cup’
This is a great little Freecaster video that tells the Story of Richie Schley in his own voice. For video Continue reading ‘The Richie Schley Chronicles’
What were your major considerations when designing this year’s course?
Well, there are lots of things to consider when designing a course such as how technical, how big, how well do you want the lines to flow together, way too many things to think about, glad that part’s over.
Sterling and I were chatting about how the course was not only rider-friendly, but really great from a photographer’s perspective, in terms of easy access to multiple sick shots. Did this factor into your course design for this year or was it just an added benefit to a course designed for the best rider experience?
This was one of the biggest factors because I love building great looking stunts that shoot well for my personal segments, so why not build a contest that shoots well too? Continue reading ‘Claw Talks about the Bearclaw Invitational’
Jamie Goldman was stoked to offer some thoughts about this year’s comp on Vancouver Island:
What were the best things about this years’ course?
I really like how the course is all gravity fed and that there is not much braking or pedaling. The course starts out small and tech and moves gradually into the bigger faster lines. I love how it has everything.
How did you like it better — or worse — than last year’s Bearclaw Invitational course?
Last year was a similar course but it had 2 lines. I liked it equally but this year had a bit of mud. Continue reading ‘Bearclaw Invitational Winner: Jamie Goldman’
After a slow, sticky start on Friday morning, the course for the third Bearclaw Invitational became a bit more pedalable and the decision was made to bump up the event start to that evening, to beat an incoming storm that was rushing to the island about a day earlier than anyone expected. For Photos and More Story Continue reading ‘Goldman Grabs ClawWorx Comp’
Zeus Would’ve Been Proud
At this years Crankworx there was yet another new event on the mountain for folks to enjoy. It was a marriage between the huge, fast action of last years 4x, and the tight, flowy party of dual slalom. Giant Bikes stepped up to the alter and produce the two races the Giant Slalom. For Video and Story Continue reading ‘The GIANT Giant Slalom’
August 19, 2008 Published by Shovelpick.
This year the Kokanee Crankworx took notes from its Colorado counterpart and put a best trick comp into the mix of the infamous week-long mountain bike festival. And it was more than just big tricks and bikes we were treated to a handful of brave kids on their bikes throwing down some of their best tricks out of their quivers. At stake was $6,000. $3,000 for each different section of the boneyard they were riding.
Spaniard Andreu Lacondeguy and Brit Lance McDermott snapped up the top two podium places at CrankWorx Slopestyle 2008 with some of the tricks that captured wins for them in European comps.
Whister local Brandon Semenuk rounded out the podium.
Lacondeguy captured the attention of judges with a double back flip followed by a slew of other stunts on a course that virtually everyone, from riders to media pros, agreed was flowier and perfected for tricks.
Whistler arrival time: Sometime after 3 AM Saturday morning. Mental state: Delirium. Actual time that we started sleeping: Around 5 AM. Wakeup time: Probably way too early.
Since that time, I’ve:
Chatted with Doug from Corsair Bikes (and anxiously awaited the prospect of demoing their Konig).
Scored some insider information from Lance McDermott about his plans for the comp as we chatted inside the fabulous Monster industry lounge located mid-course, which will be perfect for periodic escapes from the heat.
Learned from one of the Monster guys that the actual forecast temperature is 37 Celsius (that’s about 104 Fahrenheit for you Yanks), as opposed to the 35 Celsius forecast I heard. Argh. Looks like I’ll be scoping out shade in the Monster lounge and elsewhere on the course between now and 9ish tonight.
Spoke for seconds with Cam McCaul, who seemed hell-bent on getting up the hill to initiate course domination.
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