Ollie Jones has become as much a Whistler Local as anyone with that accent could be (possible exception of my friend Spike Wallace!?). If you haven't seen what Ollie is capable of on a bike before, you need to look him up, but this is a example of what he can do in 7 hours in Pemberton.
Live To Ride: Ollie Jones Visual Treats on Pinkbike
Props to Nico T for the footage and editing, great vibe!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Team Geronimo at Colorado State Champs - Telluride
Brian Buell's Race report:
I packed up my bags, hitched the trailer up and got the wheels turning towards Telluride Mountain Resort for the 2012 Colorado State Championships. This small mountain town situated in the southwest corner of Colorado has played host to a World Cup and has been a mainstay on the Mountain States Cup circuit the past decade. The surrounding mountains tower above the historical mining town of Telluride, this place really is special and sometimes the views can even be distracting while trying to navigate down the course. The mountain has created a good system of trails in its developing bike park and the 2002 World Cup track still remains, but has seen quite a few facelifts throughout the years.
Two years have passed since I was last here and the track has since received some changes. The rocks in the landing of the road gap were to my delight removed and smooth rocks put in there place to provide an easy landing platform. Momentum Trail Concepts last year developed the bottom of the track with big berms, added track sections and time with steep chutes and tight turns. The weekend started out with some soaking rain that tacked up the riding surface creating hero dirt to end the day Friday. The rest of the weekend called for afternoon showers which could really shake things up if we were to race in the peanut butter.
There was once again a time trial Super D race that I chose to enter in for a bit of fun and practice towards the Big Mountain Enduro series later this year. There were a ton of dusty bermed turns and short sprints between to set the riders apart. It was a fun track to ride and I was excited to see if I could repeat my 1st place performance from last week. I had a great top section going and was riding well until I traversed across the open ski slope. I was looking ahead towards the entrance of the trees and then the off camber trail fell away beneath my wheels sending me sliding head first over the flesh searing rocks. After dusting myself off I hopped back on my bike with bars twisted 10 degrees to the left and rode hard the rest of the way to a 6th place finish only 4 seconds off the box and 10 from the win. As disappointing and painful as the race was I was stoked to see Teddy come across the line and finish 4th place overall less than a second off of 3rd.
Sunday morning rolled around and the aches from the previous evenings activities fallowed me up for my qualifying run. The rain had held off and the track was rough, fast and dry. I put together a clean qualifying run and ended up seeding in 2nd place .2 out of 1st. I knew I had to open it up throughout the turns and minimize mistakes for my final as I was tired from pedaling too hard out of every turn. Telluride local boy Jess rode very well in his first timed run since Angel Fire to seed 5th and Teddy who had been right on my tail seeded into 7th. With some good rides, we were looking at the possibility of 3 riders in the top 5, but first the Cat 1 15-18 junior riders were about to drop in. Both Roy and Tyler had crashed in their seeding runs and Roy was the first to cross the line and into the hot seat. He held the top position until Tyler crossed the line .05 ahead. Overall, Tyler would finish in 5th and Roy in 6th place. Congratulations to Roy who finished 2nd overall in the MSC Cat 1 15-18.
It was time to head back up the hill for my final run. In 2010 I had qualified 1st and was primed for a great finish and I ended up blowing my bead off the rim and awarded myself with an overnight stay in the Hospital. This thought had crossed my mind once or twice but I knew all I can do is ride and the rest will sort itself out. After congratulating the young junior rider who seeded 1st behind me, I set out of the gate far more focused and was riding exceptionally faster in the top section. I was riding loose, drifting past some of the spectators as I entered into the trees that took me down two years ago. I let out a little celebratory cheer as I smoothly rode past my old crash zone and blitzed into the rocks. I rode a slightly higher line than in practice and avoided many of the bigger rocks, but just as I thought I was in the clear, the all too familiar sound of the bead blowing off the tire rang true through the trees like a shotgun blast. At least this time I was still upright, body intact and ready to ride another day even though my day was done due to my rim losing the battle with a very sharp rock. Teddy had a safe run but left a little too much in the tank and finished 13th overall. Jess who had been gaining speed all weekend was looking for the podium but just fell short in 4th place overall, .8 off of the box.
It was another great weekend of riding and racing on some great tracks in arguably one of the most beautiful places in the country. There were some close calls and disappointment on my part with my DNF and fall in the Super D. The junior riders continued to impress and show their willingness to push themselves faster each weekend. Michael took this weekend off the rehab from a few bicycle get offs and to train for the upcoming Big Mountain Enduro Series races. Lear has been ripping it up in British Columbia, visiting Banshee headquarters and shredding hard in front of the camera. Thanks to all of our great sponsors for allowing us to perform at our highest potential and helping us reach our goals.
Ride On!
Brian
I packed up my bags, hitched the trailer up and got the wheels turning towards Telluride Mountain Resort for the 2012 Colorado State Championships. This small mountain town situated in the southwest corner of Colorado has played host to a World Cup and has been a mainstay on the Mountain States Cup circuit the past decade. The surrounding mountains tower above the historical mining town of Telluride, this place really is special and sometimes the views can even be distracting while trying to navigate down the course. The mountain has created a good system of trails in its developing bike park and the 2002 World Cup track still remains, but has seen quite a few facelifts throughout the years.
Two years have passed since I was last here and the track has since received some changes. The rocks in the landing of the road gap were to my delight removed and smooth rocks put in there place to provide an easy landing platform. Momentum Trail Concepts last year developed the bottom of the track with big berms, added track sections and time with steep chutes and tight turns. The weekend started out with some soaking rain that tacked up the riding surface creating hero dirt to end the day Friday. The rest of the weekend called for afternoon showers which could really shake things up if we were to race in the peanut butter.
There was once again a time trial Super D race that I chose to enter in for a bit of fun and practice towards the Big Mountain Enduro series later this year. There were a ton of dusty bermed turns and short sprints between to set the riders apart. It was a fun track to ride and I was excited to see if I could repeat my 1st place performance from last week. I had a great top section going and was riding well until I traversed across the open ski slope. I was looking ahead towards the entrance of the trees and then the off camber trail fell away beneath my wheels sending me sliding head first over the flesh searing rocks. After dusting myself off I hopped back on my bike with bars twisted 10 degrees to the left and rode hard the rest of the way to a 6th place finish only 4 seconds off the box and 10 from the win. As disappointing and painful as the race was I was stoked to see Teddy come across the line and finish 4th place overall less than a second off of 3rd.
Sunday morning rolled around and the aches from the previous evenings activities fallowed me up for my qualifying run. The rain had held off and the track was rough, fast and dry. I put together a clean qualifying run and ended up seeding in 2nd place .2 out of 1st. I knew I had to open it up throughout the turns and minimize mistakes for my final as I was tired from pedaling too hard out of every turn. Telluride local boy Jess rode very well in his first timed run since Angel Fire to seed 5th and Teddy who had been right on my tail seeded into 7th. With some good rides, we were looking at the possibility of 3 riders in the top 5, but first the Cat 1 15-18 junior riders were about to drop in. Both Roy and Tyler had crashed in their seeding runs and Roy was the first to cross the line and into the hot seat. He held the top position until Tyler crossed the line .05 ahead. Overall, Tyler would finish in 5th and Roy in 6th place. Congratulations to Roy who finished 2nd overall in the MSC Cat 1 15-18.
It was time to head back up the hill for my final run. In 2010 I had qualified 1st and was primed for a great finish and I ended up blowing my bead off the rim and awarded myself with an overnight stay in the Hospital. This thought had crossed my mind once or twice but I knew all I can do is ride and the rest will sort itself out. After congratulating the young junior rider who seeded 1st behind me, I set out of the gate far more focused and was riding exceptionally faster in the top section. I was riding loose, drifting past some of the spectators as I entered into the trees that took me down two years ago. I let out a little celebratory cheer as I smoothly rode past my old crash zone and blitzed into the rocks. I rode a slightly higher line than in practice and avoided many of the bigger rocks, but just as I thought I was in the clear, the all too familiar sound of the bead blowing off the tire rang true through the trees like a shotgun blast. At least this time I was still upright, body intact and ready to ride another day even though my day was done due to my rim losing the battle with a very sharp rock. Teddy had a safe run but left a little too much in the tank and finished 13th overall. Jess who had been gaining speed all weekend was looking for the podium but just fell short in 4th place overall, .8 off of the box.
It was another great weekend of riding and racing on some great tracks in arguably one of the most beautiful places in the country. There were some close calls and disappointment on my part with my DNF and fall in the Super D. The junior riders continued to impress and show their willingness to push themselves faster each weekend. Michael took this weekend off the rehab from a few bicycle get offs and to train for the upcoming Big Mountain Enduro Series races. Lear has been ripping it up in British Columbia, visiting Banshee headquarters and shredding hard in front of the camera. Thanks to all of our great sponsors for allowing us to perform at our highest potential and helping us reach our goals.
Ride On!
Brian
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Banshee Prime Geometry - for production frames
I know that there are a lot of people out there trying to work out what size prime will be best for them. However, I'm not convinced you are all refering to the refined final geometry that will be used for the production frames. So I've attached it below for you to have a look at.
**Click to make bigger and more clear
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
VitalMTB - Rune V2 Exclusive first look.
The good guys over at Vital MTB got their grubby mits on one of our Rune V2 prototypes that we have been testing all year.... check it out.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
Blogs New look
Its been due for awhile but we have the blog back in action.
Look for the latest info here first.
We should have news on 2013 stuff up shortly so keep checking in.
BTW... that's Keith riding in his home - Scotland... looks like the sun does come out now and again.
Look for the latest info here first.
We should have news on 2013 stuff up shortly so keep checking in.
BTW... that's Keith riding in his home - Scotland... looks like the sun does come out now and again.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Brian Buell's Winter Park Enduro Report
Brian's Race Report
While racing on the east coast, I was looking forward to this weekend.
Before last years event I had never participated in an Enduro style event and I
had some great success and couldn't wait to do it again. The weekend started off
with a bang on Thursday in the Air DH where I took the top spot alongside
teammate Jess who was right behind me in 2nd. I felt good as I was using this
race as a warm up for the weekend, I was worried that I would still be fatigued
from traveling and from the altitude, but I felt as fresh a daisy going into
Friday.
The first race was chainless and very downhill oriented so I was extremely
confident going into it especially since I smashed it last year. It was not
going to be a repeat as I left too much on the course riding conservatively. I
wanted to get off to a good start, but a few momentum killing mistakes and too
much brakes left me playing catchup in 19th place after stage one.
The second stage was also very downhill oriented and once I put my chain
back on I was determined to leave it all out on the track. I rode so much more
aggressive and it paid off with a great 2nd place result. This moved me up from
19th place to 7th overall after the first day of racing.
Day two would be tough as the stages were getting longer with a lot more
peddling. Stage three was an extremely fun track involving the air downhill
course that I won on earlier in the week and finished on a freeride trail
littered with jumps and drops. I once again put down a good run and was half a
second off the top spot finishing 2nd again. This moved me up into 3rd place
overall leading into stage four and the last of the mini stages.
Stage four had a good mixture of flow built into it but there wasn't
anytime to relax. If I wasn't turning, I was churning and burning. There were
two flat peddling sections including one that was named 300 yard walk, which was
a road with a slight crown to crest over before bombing back down to the finish.
This stage I gritted me teeth and put my head down for a well deserved 3rd place
on the stage. This would move me into 2nd place overall going into the fifth and
final stage.
The last stage would be a canon start, meaning that riders would start in
the order of the overall and how many seconds behind each other they are. It was
also going to be around a 25 minute race to the bottom with multiple climbs and
slower trail conditions. The morning started with a 20 minute slog up the road
from the top of the base lift, all racers had to get themselves to the top
unassisted. This proved to be a nice little warm up to get the legs going before
really putting them to the test. Going into the last stage I knew I had my work
cut out for me in order to improve or to even stay in the top ten. I had done
everything in my power to work out the fatigue 3 straight days of racing had put
on my lower limbs and was going to leave it all out on the trail. Once the gun
sounded I sprinted out of the gate with 3rd place behind me on my wheel. I rode
hard for about 5 minutes but the momentum robbing roots and spongy conditions
started to take their toll. I dropped back into 3rd place trying to pace the man
in front of me but to my despair I had already hit my threshold and needed a
recovery. Two more riders sprinted by me like I was standing still. In 5th place
I tried desperately to find my rhythm again but it was too little too late. I
had blown my legs and hit the wall and there were riders teaming up working
together to get around me. My legs felt like cinder blocks as I made my way up
the last climb in 8th which I would hold until a minute long road sprint towards
the bottom. I gave it one final go but my 34 tooth combined with my lack of
power output wasn't enough as I moved back into 10th place before the final
plunge to the finish. Unlike the previous year, the last stage was extremely XC
oriented suffer fest and did not bode well for me. I've been training and riding
3-5 minute World Cup downhills and I was not properly prepared to confidently
ride to the best of my ability flat out for 25 minutes straight after multiple
days of racing. I was still extremely pleased and proud to have put myself on
the podium multiple times, scored a top 10 overall and in podium position
amongst the whole North American Enduro contingency.
Ride On!
Brian Buell
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