With Banshee finally getting some bikes that are more XC oriented in terms of the new Pyre and Viento and with another weapon in the works... which we'll let you know about as we start the development process - carbon *cough*- it was important to get someone that could really give some of these other XC guys a run for their money.
Mike Rothengatter will be our guy. He's actually a track guy ... check out some of his finishes here , but he also can be found dirt jumping on his Banshee scratch and when I was at his house which is on a hill I saw him do the longest manual all the way down the hill so the kid has got some mad mtb skillz too.
Right now he's in Palm Springs with the BC Provincial Team and sent me the pic.
He'll also be a contributor to the blog as well once the season starts so that'll be pretty cool.