Legend MkII info sheet

Legend

The 17th Asian Mountainbike Championships, 2011, in Suzhou

Team Fakawi Banshee rider Adam putting the Legend mkII through its paces at the 2011 (UCI) Asian Continental MTB (DH) Championships at Suzhou, China.

Race results: CyclingNews.com

Freakin Bike Checks!

Check out my new bikes for the season!

Banshee Rampant!

 

Banshee Legend!

Lorien from Sooke Mountain Cycle hits the trails

Lorien Arnold from Sooke Mountain Cycle putting his Legend through its paces at Broom Hill on Vancouver Island, BC.

#2 Round of the Danish DH cup

#2 Round of the Danish DH cup

Sebastian Jensen prejumping the last drop.

The second round of the Danish DH cup was held at a new venue in Randers this past weekend. The forecast for the weekend said rain, rain and rain and so it was. The track was not that difficult, there was a couple of turn and a bunch of jumps and drops. Nevertheless it was a bunch of fun to ride. Compared to other danish courses it was good since they only had a couple of months to build it. Props to the builders!

Kasper Nancke pinning it.

Saturday practice:

Both Kasper and myself were on new bikes. Kaspers last parts arrived before the race so he could build up his new Last Herb DH. My old bike was stolen, a couple of days before the race. So Bo and I build up my new bike friday night just in the for the race. I would like to give at big shout out to the people who made it happen!

Practice went well and we got our bikes dialed in for the race on Sunday. We were trying out some funky lines in practice and having a lost of fun. Both Bo and I opted for the Maxxis EXO´s again for a fast and lighter rolling bike.

Bo trying out a offcamber line in practice.

Sunday practice and racing:

Sunday started out fairly chilled with a couple of runs to dial in some lines and get a feeling of the bike.

Bo was up first to race since he hadn´t ridden the first DH cup. Bo´s first run went well until he crashed in the middle section. He picked it up again and ended up posting a 50,7. For his second run Bo wanted to get down without crashing and came in 6 seconds faster, which he was fairly happy with.

Next up was Kasper. He was feeling comfortable on his new Last. Kasper posted a 44,550 for his first run and went into the hot seat. Second run was good but .5 of a second slower but was good enough for a 2nd place and his first podium of the year.

Since I won the first round I was seeded first and therefore the last to pin it down the hill. My first run went good with no real mistakes and I came down in 42.13 which I was happy with. My last run was almost the exact the same only .35 slower which gave me the two fastest times of the day over 5 seconds faster than 2nd place. 1. and 2. for 222Racing was pretty good and were looking forward to doing the same at the next round.

Kasper Nancke - Sebastian Jensen - Mike Thisted - Mathias Lystbæk - Mikkel Groth

Thanks to Simon Nejst and Lars Mortensen for the pictures.

- Sebastian Jensen, 222Racing

Dirtmasters Festival / iXS GDC #1 - Winterberg

The Dirtmasters Festival in Winterberg is often referred to as the European version of the legendary Crankworx-Festival. And despite the fact that Winterberg is much smaller than good old Whistler, the comparison is fairly accurate actually. The Dirtmasters Festival consists of several competitions, ranging from speed-disciplines such as Fourcross and Downhill to style-oriented disciplines like the Slopestyle event. And just like in Whistler, tons of companies show up to show their latest and greatest products, tons of people show up to watch the bike action and get drunk, tons of riders show up to compete against each other... the list goes on and on!


Welcome to Winterberg!

My brother Joz and I arrived in Winterberg on Wednesday in order to set up our tent and get a few runs in on the Downhill track before the masses would arrive. Our plan was to compete in the first round of the iXS German Downhill cup, which was actually completely sold out within a few hours. In addition to that, we were obviously looking forward to watching all the other competitions, hang out with our friends, walk across the exhibition area and enjoy the weekend.

On Thursday, the iXS Rookie Downhill Cup took place on one of the well-known tracks in Winterberg. Although called Rookie Cup, the level of riding was far from "Rookie" and a lot of the spectators were blown away by the level of riding. In addition to watching the race, we also managed to walk the track for the upcoming downhill race which looked like a ton of fun, despite being fairly short.


The atmosphere was great as usual.

The track started with a good-sized jump followed by a fairly flat, pedalling-section before entering the woods. All the wooded sections were really fast and constantly changed due to a constant stream of riders on track. The entire course was flowing very well. It certainly wasn't the most difficult or longest track ever but this actually meant that racing on the track would be quite challenging. One mistake and your race run was pretty much over since times were extremely close.

Practice on the track was a ton of fun. Waiting in line to get back up the mountain... well, not as much fun as riding. But this is what happens when more than 500 people decide to practice and race on a course that is just a little over 1.5km in length. Except for waiting in line, the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday were great and both Joz and I felt really comfortable on track.


Having fun on the track! / credit: www.traildiaries.de

On his last run before qualifyers, Joz somehow managed to snap the damper unit of his fork in half. Luckily the guys at Sram fixed his fork for free but he had to ride his qualifying run on a borrowed fork that he'd never ridden before, so he had to ride very conservatively. Despite that, he managed to qualify in 24th position with a 2:06. My qualifier went well and I didn't make any major mistakes but for some reason my time wasn't very good. I qualified in 75th position out of around 150 people with a 2:15. I was fairly happy with my position but at the same time, I knew that I was a bit off my own pace so I was looking to improve my time come race day.

On Saturday night, we watched the SKS Slopestyle where some of the best riders in the world threw down some amazing tricks, including double backflips, triple tailwhips, 360 double whips and so on. Personally slopestyle or dirt jumping isn't exactly my cup of tea but I was absolutely blown away by the level of riding. Thousands of spectators were standing along the course and made for a great atmosphere. In the end, Martin Soderstrom took the win in a convincing manner.


The slopestyle was amazing to watch!

Come Sunday, I was well-prepared to give it all that I could in my race run. I felt great right before the start but for some reason messed up one of the first corners, almost sliding out. Apart from that, everything was going very well and I was riding notably quicker than in the qualifiers. With the finish line almost in sight, my bike slid out underneath me and before I knew what was happening, I hit the ground. I managed to get back on my bike but once again my race run was pretty much over. I crossed the finish line with a 2:19 way back in 96th place. Without crashing, I most likely would have gotten a Top 50 result out of 150 riders so I wasn't too devastated.



Joz rode very well in his finals run but made a few little mistakes that cost him some valuable time, especially on a track this short. He wasn't too happy with his race run but finished with a 2:05 which was good enough for 23rd position. He was less than 1.5 seconds off a top 10 finish which once again proves how close and competetive the racing was.

After our race runs, we headed up the mountain again to watch the pros take on the course. Unfortunately the race was delayed for close to an hour due to a fellow racer crashing extremely hard in the fastest and rockiest section of the course. Get well soon! In the end, German downhill legend Marcus Klausmann took the win ahead of Andi Sieber and US ripper Logan Binggeli.


Joz on his way to 23rd place out of 150 riders / credit: www.traildiaries.de

Looking back at it now, the weekend really couldn't have gone any better. The racing was a lot of fun as was watching all the other events, the atmosphere was great with thousands of spectators, a lot of friends showed up to support us and while not exactly as well-known as Crankworx, the Dirtmasters Festival once again proved that it's most definitely worth visiting.

Cheers from Germany,
-Moritz Zimmermann

Canada Cup - Mont Tremblant

Last week I got back from the first Canada Cup race at Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. It was my first time racing outside of BC and my first time being on a plane, so it was quite an exciting trip.


I arrived in Montreal on Wednesday and went directly to the mountain where I was staying with the Cycling BC downhill team in one of the two condos they had.

Thursday the team went for a track walk to check out the course. It was quite a change from riding on the Sunshine Coast, there were a lot of rocks, fast rock faces and huge boulder rock gardens.


The first day of practice was Friday. It took a few runs of the course to get the feel of it and than it was super fun from then on.

On Saturday I slipped off the back of my bike and stretched/smashed my foot on some rocks. It was my first run of the day which really sucked, so I had to sit the rest of the day out with my foot up and iced.

The 2011 Cycling BC downhill team.

I was able to ride on Sunday, with a little bit of pain. I got in four rides in before my race run, which is more than I usually do, but with missing Saturdays practice I was scrambling to get my lines and get up to speed.


I ended up taking a bit of a crash in my race run. I went over the bars and got a little tangled up and out of the tape in one of the rock gardens. Besides my crash I had a pretty good run. I ended up 7th in junior, which wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was okay considering my circumstances.


I have a few more weeks left of school and then I have a BC Cup and then I'm headed back to Quebec for Canada Cup #2 at Bromont.

Thanks to Dave Hord for the photos.

Thanks

Forrest

forrestriesco.blogspot.com

Banshee Factory Team rip up Austria

Adam and Matej were in Leogand for round 3 of the World Cup DH, and Adam decided it would be rude to go there without riding one of his favourite DH courses, the infamous Schladming, with his mate Scott Mears. Then Matej shows us the way down Leogang on first practice day.

Hold on tight...

Banshee does Austria ( Schladming/Leogang ) from Jacob Gibbins on Vimeo.

Matej and Adam rip up Fort William

Both Matej Charvat and Adam Brayton were at Fort William for round 2 of the world cup last weekend. Here is a video of them training down the course on the first practice day...



More Mountain Biking Videos

The weekend didn't go too well for the guys unfortunately. Matej was putting together a great qualifying run (6th at first split and 24th at second), but then crashed towards the end, and catapulted his bike off the course and into a stream... it took him about 1 minute to reach it and get back on course, and as a result he did not qualify. He was gutted as his pace showed that he had real potential to break into the top 20. Adam told me that although he was feeling good in practice, the nerves got to him when it came to the big event, and he had a messy run with too many silly mistakes, because he was tense and trying too hard, he ended up in 48th, so still got some points and with his first world cup of the season under his belt, he can now start to relax and get his flow on.

Both guys have their eyes now firmly set on Leogang where I'm confident that they will show everyone what they can really do.

Sicklines interview about the Legend MkII

Jason from Sicklines interviewed me about the Legend and its development last summer in Whistler whilst he was there testing the bike. He just posted it up as the 2011 season is kicking off!

Check out the article and video here...

iXS European Downhill Cup #2 - Todtnau

For the first time since 2005, Germany's most prestigious and, as many claim, best downhill track (finally!) Todtnau returned to the international racing scene by hosting the second round of the European Downhill Cup. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this race. The only races I've been to in the past were some smaller, local races and the iXS Dirtmasters race in Winterberg as well as the Wheels of Speed-Race in Willingen which arguably are two very unique races. And even though I've been to Todtnau several times in the past months - it's got to be my favourite DH track on this side of the Atlantic Ocean -, I was quite nervous on our way down to Todtnau.


Welcome to Todtnau!


My brother Joz and I loaded up the car and took off early Wednesday morning to get a few more practice runs in before the racers from all over the world arrived. The track was in prime condition and was extremely fun to ride as usual. The course starts with a smallish drop leading into a rather technical corner before you hit the first high speed section which is littered with some good-sized jumps and road gaps. This section is followed by the first pedalling bit and a very rooty section. Then you're off into a very high speed, rough section with some berms and jumps before entering a very long and flowy section through the woods which is quite technical in some places and extremely fun to ride. Usually the track ends here but the race organizers decided to add a grassy, off camber-section after leaving the woods, which lead right into a brutal, slightly uphill pedal-fest before crossing the finish line. In total, the track is close to 3km long and very difficult to ride. On the one hand it's very fast and rough in most places but there also are some very exhausting pedalling bits. Therefore one could easily mess up his race run by pedalling too hard and then not being able to control the bike through the technical bits and vice-versa.

Practice on Friday went surprisingly well and trouble-free. The pace was great and we managed to hit some lines that we hadn't even seen before. You could definitely tell that everyone was taking it quite easy since nobody wanted to be too exhausted for their race run come Sunday. After practice was done, we hiked up again to watch the Pros practice on course and we were definitely blown away by some of the riding... definitely very inspirational. We also met Banshee World Cup rider Matej Charvat and talked to him for a while. He was looking great on track and proved to be very nice and easy to get along with off the track.


Prepping the Legends...


Come Saturday, we got up early to get our two mandatory practice runs in. Again, everything was going very well. Our Legends felt right at home in the rough stuff and both Joz and I were really comfortable with the track. We decided to take a closer look at two or three sections to discuss our line choices for our upcoming seeding run but apart from that, everything was quite dialled. After a healthy lunch, we went back up again to do our seeding run. I had a minor little crash in the very first turn which cost me a bit of time and I also decided to walk the uphill bit so I was pleasently surprised to find out that I qualified in 23rd position despite saving a lot of energy. Joz rode very well and qualified in 14th place out of around 65 riders, so both of us were very pleaed with how our seeding runs went.

For some reason though, Sunday simply was one of these days were nothing quite works the way you want it to work. I felt horrible during the morning practice, riding all over the place and not hitting any of my lines. In addition to that, I flatted my rear tire once again and managed to bang up my rear wheel pretty badly so I decided to call it a day and rest until my finals run. Joz was once again feeling great on track and riding very fast yet controlled at the same time, so he was quite confident for his finals run.



Possibly the best berm in the world? / credit: www.traildiaries.de


When I was standing on the start line, I felt surprisingly calm and relaxed, unlike during the morning practice session. Right when I left the start hut, everything was going very well and I was hitting all the lines that I was planning on hitting while riding notably faster than during my qualifier. I also managed to hit some lines that I hadn't attempted before so everything was going great until I went down in what was propably the easiest turn on the entire track. My front tire must have washed out underneath me or something like that - I didn't even have time to react so I went down into the ground with my head first. My visor was broken so I couldn't see anything for the first few seconds and I had to run up the hill to grab my bike. Luckily my helmet and neck brace absorbed most of the impact. I was lucky that I was able to get back on my bike again but obviously I knew that my race run was pretty much over. In the end I was quite surprised to find out that my finals time was just half a second off my qualifier despite the big crash and consequently keeping it rather mellow down the rest of the track, finishing in 31th position. Joz managed to hold it together during his race run and not make any major mistakes. He knocked a couple seconds off his qualifier and finished in 18th place with a 4:38 which he was very happy with.

After our race runs, we loaded up the car and watched the Pros tackle the last bit of the course. Track favourite and local hero Marcus Klausmann, who qualified 6 seconds ahead of everyone and looked visibly faster than the rest of the field managed to rip his rear derailleur off his bike so the race was over for him. In the end, Brook Macdonald took the victory a few seconds ahead of Nick Beer and Joshua Button.



Joz on his way to a great Top-20-finish / credit: www.traildiaries.de


Looking back at the race now a few days later, I'm still pretty bummed about the way my race run went but that's racing I guess. If anything, crashing in my race run should be a motivation to be a bit more focused during my race run in Winterberg next week. All in all, I'm quite happy with how the weekend went though. The riding was great, the course and the entire event was awesome and we got to spend a lot of time with a bunch of friends riding and racing our bikes. I guess you couldn't ask for anything more, right?

We should have a bunch of pictures posted up on www.zimbros.de very soon. In the meantime, our good friends Peter and Rizzo took a bunch of awesome pictures of the race and uploaded them onto www.traildiaries.de, so take a few minutes and check them out.

Cheers from Germany,
-Moritz Zimmermann

Rolling down a hill

Fakawi Banshee team rider, Adam on his Legend MK II testing out his DIY POV helmetcam in Cilegon, Bandung DH track.

Winterberg!

I often wonder what it would be like living in Vancouver or somewhere in the Alps. Well, to be a bit more precise, I often wonder how rad it would be living in one of those areas when it comes to riding proper downhill trails. But the thing is that I'm stuck in the middle of Germany and there aren't any big mountains anywhere around here. It's not all that bad though. As a matter of fact, there are some very nice trails around here so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Winterberg is a remote little town in the middle of Germany, surrounded by nothing but even smaller towns and some mountains (or should I say hills?). There isn't much elevation at all, especially when compared to places such as Whistler or Porte du Soleil, yet Winterberg is very well-known for its rad bike park.



First and foremost, Winterberg features what has to be the biggest and best slopestyle course of Europe, but as a matter of fact, there also are some very neat and fun downhill tracks. In all fairness, they aren't exactly what you would call really steep or extremely technical and it takes you less than two minutes to get from top to bottom - but riding those trails is a ton of fun. And this is what counts, right?



Last weekend, my brother Joz and I travelled to Winterberg to check out the new Downhill tracks. The trail crew has been quite busy during the past few months with building some new trails. The new trails are great actually. One of the new trails - which will also be the race course for the upcoming iXS German DH Cup - is very fast with some technical bits and several big jumps. In addition to that, there's another new trail, simply called the "single trail". This trail is as natural as it can get, with lots of off camber-sections, some tight switchbacks and some very steep bits every now and then.





To cut a long story short, Winterberg proves that you actually don't need that much elevation in order to build trails that are extremely fun to ride. Of course I'd prefer to have some epic, 30-minute-descents instead but for now, I'm really glad that places such as Winterberg offer some of the best riding around.

Check out www.zimbros.de for a couple more pictures!

Cheers from Germany,
-Moritz Zimmermann

Danish DH

This past weekend the first race of the season was held in Rold forest which was the first of 6 rounds. The track is pretty basic with some jumps and berms mixed up with the super loose ground after a few weeks of sunny weather. 222Racing (Bo Andersen and Sebastian Jensen) and 222Freeride (Kasper Nancke and Bjarke Pedersen) meet up saturday for practise.

Bjarke Pedersen sending it into a berm.

Saturday practise was good and we all got the dry course dialled in. I was trying out a pair of Maxxis Minion EXO´s since the course isn´t that rough so I would save a bit of weight and time in the end hopefully. Everybody was having fun and catching up after the winter break. Since we do no have any seeding in the Danish DH cup, practise on saturday is always chilled.

Bo Andersen on the logride.

On race day the track was rolling fast and was getting quite loose after the practise on saturday. So we got our bikes and geared up and headed up for one hour of practise before the first runs started. We all got a few runs in which we felt good about and was fairly confident on the course.

Sebastian Jensen in practise.

First up was Kasper who rode a decent run with a few mistakes and ended up in 19th spot with a 1.05,94. Next up was Bjarke on his Scythe who posted a 1.00,01, which he was happy with. Bjarke got a 4th which is quite solid. Last up was myself. My run went well I hit all my lines and I pedaled hard on the flat course. I posted a 56,93 which was the fastest time of the day and therefore good enough for 1st, winning with .4 of a second.

Bjarke Pedersen - Danny Sørensen - Sebastian Jensen - Henrik Martinsen - Mike Thisted

All in all it was a good weekend with happy people and a good vibe. The Banshee Legends and the Scythe was running good all weekend teamed up with the Marzocchi 888´s and the Roco shocks. We also got the chance to flash our new Sombrio kits and the new TLD lids and gloves. also a huge thanks to our other sponsors: Banshee Bikes - Halo wheels - Maxxis Tires - Marzocchi.com - Acros and SRAM!!

All of the pictures are taken by Andreas Gudum.

Next weekend 222Racing is going to Winterberg and Willingen in Germany so stay tuned!

- Sebastian Jensen, 222Racing

IXS European Cup - Monte Tamaro

European IXS series kicked off the season in Switzerland – Monte Tamaro. It seems to be the most prestigious European race serie. 300 racers from 16 countries were the indicator of that.

First race of the season is always different feeling. No-one knows how the others are going to ride after the winter break.

The track was really difficult, long and challenging what was enhanced by rain on the begining of the weekend. It was my first real wet riding this year, but I felt amazing on Friday. I made some more practice on Saturday before quali and I also felt that I’m fast. I simply did a whole run and finished 3rd (1st Nick Beer, 2nd Marcus Pekoll) in qualification what really motivated me for Sunday.

Sunday, the race day was full of sun. The track began to dry a bit, but some slippery rocks came out. I was really confident and I knew that I can do some good result. I rode well with some small mistakes almost the first half of the track, but than a fatal mistake happened. I slipped a bit from my line and hit the rock by my front wheel what catapulted me over the bars. I hit another rock with my head and knee and the race was over for me.

Resuls:
1st Markus Pekoll
2nd Joshua Button
3rd Lorenzo Suding
4th Marcel Beer
5th Brook McDonald
Matej Charvat – DNF

It was a shame as I felt that I can do it, but this is not the end..



I've already been to doctor and my knee seems to be just badly bumped. A week of having a rest should make it.

Race the Ranch

BC Cup #1: Race the Ranch, Kamloops BC- April 23/24 2011-

Hello MTB friends… my name is Trevor Burke and I am riding for Banshee/Trident Racing in 2011. I’d like to share a few words about the race this past weekend, BC Cup #1: Race the Ranch in Kamloops BC. Right off the bat here I’d like to mention that as I am writing this I am drinking Sangria out of my Pro Mens 1st place trophy which is a boot shaped mug just like out of the movie Beerfest... Well done to who ever thought of this for a trophy! Awesome! I also received a spanking fresh “Race the Ranch” belt buckle... STOKED!!!

At the end of summer 2010 I received an email from Zac at Trident Sports (Banshee Distribution North America) asking if I wanted to ride a Banshee Legend MkII with Dorado`s for next season. I had ridden our friend Seb Vickers’ Legend/Dorado setup in whistler over the summer and it felt amazing… so I jumped at the opportunity putting a "for sale" sign on my v10 the next day!

Trev in the Steep bit up above the road gap

After living in Whistler for 18 consecutive months and 2 months into my 2nd ski season, I was over shredding pow and needed to feel 2 wheels ripping up dirt underneath me, so I moved to North Vancouver to crash on a buddies’ floor for 4 months to save some coin and begin training for Summer and the racing season ahead…. in that 4 months I managed to do only 20 days of gym work and only a handful of mountain bike rides (on Zac’s bikes!), not quite the intensive training I was hoping on, but it was something. Lots of cheap beer and playstation got in the way I’ll admit…

Trevva prancing like a reindeer

I got a lift to Kamloops with my buddy, Bart Brown (Masters PINNER!) in style! We drove up in his new Ford F350 van which can take 15 passengers and it was holding just 3 of us, so plenty of room to stretch out, also with his pimped out custom built trailer towed behind, with beds, music system and heating! Definitely the best way to go to a race! We arrived in Kamloops on Friday afternoon and went for a track walk. I had raced the track last year and knew it was pedally… this year the course had a few extra jumps and seemed like there wasn’t any more than 15 meters of track with out a jump or corner. Whilst walking the track I walked past one of the fastest guys in BC, Dean Tennant scoping lines, I knew there was going to be some tough competition for the season opener. My travel mates and I settled into a few cold ones and went to bed ready to hit the track the next day.

Junior X Member Kip Shortreed- Rumblin'

Saturday morning I was eager to get up to the top and go for my first downhill run since November. Mr. Zac Smith arrived at the race site right on time with his Legend which I would be borrowing for this race, as a couple parts for our new bikes hadn’t arrived yet…We set up our pit, I put my Alpinestars gear on, grabbed my Smith Goggles in a flash, swapped Zac’s brakes to the correct side ( front brake RIGHT mate!!! )and got a lift up to the start. First run down the course/ first downhill in 6 months/first ride on the Legend went better than expected as I hit all the big gaps on the course although there were a few corners I still had to figure out. By 2nd run I had all my lines sorted and the rest of Saturday I punched out runs all day not because I needed to practice the lines but because I was having so much fun riding the bike. I have ridden Boxxers for 6 years now and 1 day on the Dorado impressed the hell out of me, they feel so supple at high speeds through rough rock sections keeping my bars straight, instead of twitching off every other rock like other forks often seem to. I think more people need to just get on one of these forks and ride a bit… you’ll see what I mean. They aren’t just faster, they make a bike feel bloody special and I love it. After all these years of rebuilding the brand, the new folks behind Manitou really have something special going on . I’m hooked on the TPC+ damping for sure and they just look so cool! Radical.

Trev nearing the bottom of the course...

After a super fun day of riding bikes, it was time to watch the dual slalom so I headed up the course to watch the carnage with my box of cheese-its and a few viewing beers. Our teammate Dennis had a big crash in practice putting a nice little Easter egg on the side of his head just in time for Easter, but unfortunately putting him out of the competition. Dalen (Trident’s Bike Division Sales Manager) also competed in the Slalom and it looked to be a good time. Dinner and drinks and off to bed after that.

Dalen "The Momentum" Stanley rocking Slalom on his Amp

Dalen and Steve Boucher put in some solid runs in Masters, Steve taking 3^rd on his Black/Green Legend looking like a million bucks. Dalen’s girlfriend Cheryl was looking good as well on her spanking fresh BLUE Legend running against the other Masters Women, team co-manager/photographer/mechanic/suspensiontech/pitboss/fleetmaster Zac Smith snapped a snazzy pic of her looking solid just after the hip jump! Good work Cheryl, having fun out on the bike in STYLE.

Cheryl Moore on the move

Kip Shortreed- About to take a dirt nap!

Race time came around for myself and the rest of the Elite field, I sat in the trailer and listened to some fast tunes on my Ipod and drank a herbal energy drink supplied to me by Bart, I filled up a water bottle and jumped into the back of Tyler Gorz’s truck to grab a lift to the start gate feeling a little nervous.While waiting for the Pro Women to finish I did few laps around the bmx track on the Legend to get my legs moving. As our class began to race I looked around at my opponents who are ALL very fast guys from BC, Tyler Gorz is always a threat, Dean Tennant, Ryan Vanderham, Tyler Allison, Jeff Bryson, Dan Skogland and Andrew Mitchell (3 time national champ!) to name a few. Quite a stacked field. Teammate JS Therrien won this race last year on the Banshee Legend so of course I knew he would do well here, if not repeat another victory… this track is practically his after all! Nobody looked faster in practice than JS. I was nervous seeing all of this intimidating talent around me but it calmed my nerves to just think of doing well regardless of results against all of these great riders.

JS Looking very fast!
My run started off not quite the best only by fault of my own- I was having too much fun riding my bike in practice and I did not practice what gear to start the race in… I started in a harder gear than I should have, but as soon as I railed that first corner of the track I forgot all about it and had the time of my life pinning my way down the whole track. The top half of my run was very clean and I just felt happy riding my bike at speed so quickly because this bike and suspension setup is so sensitive and stable. Half way down the track after a blind hip jump over a rock garden, a fast straight goes into a very fast loose left hand corner- all weekend I had been cautious around this corner as most people were taking an inside foot off the pedal just in case... during my race run I hit the hip over the rocks and nailed this corner with perfect confidence in my bike setup. I just didn’t even think of putting a foot down because this bike with this setup just DEMANDS SPEED and helps you through everything as if automatic. I just can’t describe it any other way and I’ll say it again: The Legend MkII with Dorado Pro/Ti Sprung Revox Pro is like freaking auto-traction. What a bike.

A well earned brew- Cheers!
As predicted my wheels stuck to the ground and I cranked out of the corner into the most pedally section of the track popping and pumping all the jumps, this is the moment of the race I knew I was on a hot run, Zac’s Legend pedalled amazingly well through the next long flat section of track and pumping through the small jumps like I was on a pump track on a hardtail or something. Coming into the final drop section of the track I took my line which no other rider was taking allowing me to get a couple of extra cranks in before the final straight. I hit the final jump keeping it nice and low then cranked hard across the finish, I took over the hot seat from the awesome Ryan Vanderham by a mere 0.02 of a second, with approximately 12 of BC`s best racers still to come I was very nervous sitting in the hot seat. I have never won a Pro class race ever before, sitting and watching rider after rider come very close to my time was possibly the most nerve racking experience of my life, Brett Tippie helped calm those nerves with his awesome humour. Four years on 3 different V10’s seemed to do nothing for me personally, while a day and a half on a borrowed Legend that had seen over a year of battle-action came up trumps. What can I say our man Zac knows how to tune a bike. He was in the pits all weekend cleaning and repairing seemingly everyone in attendances’ gear. He even rode this bike in-between race day practice and start time on Rio trail and had the bike not only re-set for me personally but fully rebuilt, cleaned and tuned, what a champ. Despite being so nervous at the starting gate I won the race against so many talented athletes in the most stacked field I have seen with a time of 1.53.11, the fastest time of the day, borrowed bike and all... ON ANSWER FLAT PEDALS MATE!!!! I am really happy the race turned out so well for our Team. JS had a minor bobble in the top end of the track but recovered with apparently blistering lower-track speed for a decent time of 1.56.26 in 9^th place. Two Elite racers on the team running the track that day, and two top ten finishes. I am really excited to run the new bike this season and represent all of the top-end brands we have kitting us out. We have a lot of great people pitching in to help us out including Banshee Bikes of course, Manitou Suspension, Hayes/SunRingle/Answer Products (ProTaper handlebars can’t be beat!), Gamut Chainguides, WTB Saddles (Thanks for the fresh Silverado’s boys), Alpinestars extra fine Pyjama’s and Armour Systems, and Smith Optics keeping our vision crystal clear and our riders looking fresh.
Trevor gets his first Elite win aboard the Legend MkII!!

See you all out on the trails, in the Whistler Bike Park and of course at all the BC Cup races! Come one come all, we’re going to have a classy good time.

Cheers,

Trevor Burke

Team Banshee/Trident Racing

Matej took 1st place this weekend

Hey guys.
Second round of Moravskoslovensky DH Cup was held again in slovakian Kalnica, but this time on a different track. This one is a bit longer with more jumps. Thanks to the super dry weather before and during the weekend the track was super fast and dusty. Actually, it made the times much closer.
I was simply having fun and enjoying the weather and training. I had to stay a bit back because I had a bad wrist sprain last week. It didn’t pain too much what I was really happy for.



The times were really close on Sunday, but I managed to win both – semi and finals.
It was really good training for some bigger races as it is always good to ride with timing and some racing attitude.



You can also watch a GoPro footage from my training run:

Matej Charvat - Kalnica (SP) from CharvatBros.com on Vimeo.

GoPro Headcam - Moravskoslovensky DH cup #2 - Kalnica (SP)

Brayton in BDS video

Adam was racing his Legend MkII at Moelfre the other weekend against some of the worlds top racers for the British Downhill Series.
Not Adams ideal kind of track (he prefers steep, nasty and wet) but he got him self solidly in the top 10.

1. Gee Atherton 2:23.154
2. Steve Peat 2:23.664
3. Brendan Fairclough 2:25.692
4. Matti Lehikoinen 2:26.006
5. Joe Smith 2:26.431
6. Marc Beaumont 2:27.053
7. Josh Bryceland 2:27.768
8. Adam Brayton 2:28.161
9. Dan Atherton 2:28.343
9. Ben Cathro 2:28.343
10. Jack Reading 2:28.741


More Mountain Biking Videos

Joe Bowman sent me over a link to a video showing Adam shredding the track, which was filmed for Adam's clothing sponsor... O'Neal

Good to be back on the big bike!

I'd been tipped off by a mate about a local riding spot before winter kicked in, and went up there (without my bike) in a storm in the middle of winter to scope the runs, and clear some fallen trees and repack some berms etc. I feel it is very important to maintain the trails you ride.

The area had a single DH track that was built by a local about 8 years ago I believe, and has been added to tastefully, without going over the top or causing any aggravation to local dog walkers or hikers. So now there are a handful of fun runs to ride.

Last weekend I managed to get out on my Legend MkII for the first time since last summer (due to snow, traveling and working long hours). I met up with my mate Alan in a small car park at the bottom before starting the steep push up. The plan for the day was just to have some fun riding new trails, while trying out a custom tune on the new Elka Stage 5 sample I just mounted on my Legend (wow, what a shock!), and get used to being back on the big bike. I also brought along my GoPro and got some footage before my battery died (must remember to charge it beforehand next time!).

Keith on his Legend

I really enjoyed being back riding the DH rig on steep terrain (not that it looks steep on camera mind you! haha), and met some really cool guys on the trails who I hope to ride with again when I get back home again in another month or so. It is really nice to have a spot like this within a 15 min drive from my flat, and I will not take that fact for granted. I'm looking forward to many more days of riding and maintaining these trails with new friends.

Keith

Swiss Legend

Sit back, relax, and watch this great vid from Switzerland.

Ep1 Mael Thomo - More Mountain Bike Videos

Trail: Chaumont (Bikeattitude) Magmabike.com by obsolète