All About Gravity Mountain Biking: Freeride, Downhill, Dirtjump, Urban and Trials
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.
The ‘06 comp as told by the riders. We hear from the riders themselves as to what it takes to win a comp like this one. ‘06 was big, some have said too big!!
Member's Comments