First run on A-Line, Whistler Bikepark.

All this hard drive searching for old pics and vids, made me stumble upon my massive Whistler folder. 8 gigs of footage - way more than I care to filter. But on the other hand, its a shame to let it collect dust. So I managed to at least render some of it, namely my first run on the legendary A-Line.

A-Line is ridiculously fast, has big tables all over, and the flow is just legendary, so much so that pretty much every bike park out there tries to mimic the "A-Line Feel" to some degree.

So whats in the vid?

First of, I met with freeride legend Brett Tippie. Such a cool character!
I go on and hit A-Line with Paul and Ian. Paul was a local rider, and an absolute RIPPER!

I'm sort of glad that I didn't die at 4:49, that shit was TIGHT : )

At 5:19 I hit the GLC drop, It was definitely less terrifying than I thought it would be.

Remember, this is my first run on A-Line on a rental bike I wasn't familiar with, I case some tables, I'm not that fast, and I cut a few berms here and there. Otherwise, I think I did just fine. Enjoy.

Watch in HD HERE

crappy embedded version:

Testing a bike, and an air shock

Drea has a new toy, and whats more fun than testing it out, and giving it some spins? I'm in the process of dialing in my new Cane Creek Double Barrel AIR. So we decided to join forces and have a good testing-session. The plan was to hit fast flowing lines, with the opportunity to catch some air as well. We did just that, for an entire day.

The new bike a a Specialized Enduro Carbon Expert. It has a 160mm 34' up front, and a 160mm rp23 in the back. Roval wheels and a Specialized Command post.

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Drea was on a XX1 drivetrain. About damn time SRAM gets into a single front-ring setup. He applauded the XX1 group, but he did stumble into some mechanical troubles on this day tho'.

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Drea wasn't the only one testing gear. I'm on my third week of Cane Creek Double Barrel Air testing. I have it pretty much dialed in now. Its sagged high (about 20%), I cranked up the low speed compression, and adjusted the high and low speed rebound to be relatively slow - just the right setup for my favorite trails. This setup makes the bike feel snappy, fast accelerating, and very responsive - don't expect sitting in a couch tho'.

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Drea told me that's its been a while since he last did some air time. He started out a bit stiff, but quickly grew more and more comfortable on the bike (and in the air), this was particularly evident when we revisited some of the lines we started out with.

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Making some adjustments to the rear and front suspension. Its obviously all part of the game.

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Drea giving Your Mom a go. This trail was slippery as hell, and sketchy because of it. We sessioned it a few runs and decided to continue. I did manage to shoot this pic of drea hitting a table.

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29 sec of good times on the Church Line. with sound.

WATCH IN HD HERE

embedded version:

The lost video clips of 2012

Found a few video clips on my HD from 2012 as well, that didn't see any real use. Its mostly a few whips, drops, jumps, a stepdown here and there, just random stuff. I think a few snippets of late 2011 footage sneaked into this vid as well, oh well. Hope you enjoy : )

Watch it in HD HERE.

70sec. With sound. Simple edit.

The lost pictures of 2012 Part 2/2

The lost pictures, part 2.

be sure to check out the lost pics of 2011 and 2010.

I usually refrain from using black/white pics. But it actually fits nicely here. What you see here is a very happy Janus, pushing his Devinci Wilson.
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Christian on the Bunker line. I really like the lighting in this pic, and how the trees "frame" this picture.
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A very focussed Henning, while still on his hardtail. Just entering the first drop on "Your Mom". Its cool to see him develop at an exponentially rate, when pushed.

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Hitting a stepdown, man it feels like ages since I last hit that line. Good times, good fun.
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Hitting the Church line while it still was in the middle of its design and construction phase. There is an intriguing asymmetry to this pic, that I really like.
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So that's it for 2012, hope you enjoyed. Btw, I just stumbled upon some unused video footage, that's worth posting. Stay tuned for that (I think).

The lost pictures of 2012 Part 1/2

So its that time of the year. I take a look at whats left untouched on my hard-drive. We shoot alot of pics during the year, and obviously not everything is going to be published on this blog. There are however, a little gem here and there, pics that have a quality to it, whether its a good story, some sentimental value, or it might just be a really cool pic. For whatever reason, you can enjoy them in this 2-part post.

Oh, and be sure to check out the lost pics of 2011 and 2010.

Lets start off with a shot from Braunlage Bikepark. Janus is sessioning this stepdown, it looks tiny in this pic, but don't let that fool you. Sessioning stuff in a bikepark is usually not something we normally do, but I actually recommend it (if the lines and traffic allows it). It definitely makes you faster, on the sections you session.

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This jump has an exit that's a tiny hole in between the trees and bushes. And while it was fun to hit, it no longer exist today, due to various reasons.

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A roadtrip classic. A hotel room, with its inhabitants.

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My attempt to scrub a table.

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First real dune session, last year. Dropping in.

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Stay tuned for part 2.

A bit of XC

We took a spin on this xc line, we seldom come here, but the stars and moon aligned and we actually went. We did end up sessioning a few sections, and even pulled a tiny bit of air. I miss the AM trails tho'..

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Small kicker over the edge, barely visible here.

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Henning on some quickly improvised lines.

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Eating a tiny bit of travel

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