Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

After a super epic drive home from Goat Style I arrived just in time for the Norco 2010 product launch. This year the launch was on my home turf in Vancouver BC and I was stoked because I was going to be able to show some distributers and media where I shred.

The first day was crazy, I pulled into Vancouver form Creston with absolutely no sleep and then pinned it 30 minutes to Downtown Vancouver in time to start the product launch festivities. The first night was a get together and intro to the launch; giving a heads of what it was going to be about. Somehow the dinner turned into a late night and I was home by about 2:30AM in the morning. The only trouble: I would have to be up and ready to go back downtown at 6:15. Wow So much to do and in so little time.

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

The second day of the launch kicked off in the morning with presentations, where I got to do a little presenting of my own about the bmx line. The afternoon involved a ride on the world famous North Shore. The shore ride was a blast and we rode a bunch of trails that I hadn’t shredded in a while. Starting on the classic CBC trail and then onto a few of the lower trials like Pangor. Good times were had by all. We went for a second lap but got side tracked with some photo stuff and didn’t get off mountain till late, missing some of the Norco dinner. The dinner was fabulous and I pigged out on the deserts because there were so many good ones!

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

The third and final day of the launch was really exciting because it was jam packed with riding. For our morning ride we went for an urban rip downtown where Ryan Leech and I showed off some trials skills. This ride was a blast because it brought back memories of the urban rips I used to do when I was sixteen or so. The day was heating up but there was some fun lines to be had along seashore of Vancouver. Ryan and I fell behind on several occasions while sessioning the good old spots and reminiscing about the significance they had to us.

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

That afternoon we did an all mountain ride where I go to university. The ride was on Burnaby Mountain where I get the pleasure of doing bus up, bike down laps on a regular basis after class. It gave me the chance to show off some of my regular trials. We were supposed to do one lap of the mountain but after hitting up the amazing Gear Jammer trail we had to do another and opted for a classic, Nichole’s.

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

After the ride we headed down to the Burnanby bike park for some BBQ dinner and a little more ripping. This was the time to have some fun on the dirt jumps after we got some food in our stomachs. At this point I was pretty tired but still had it in me to pull a couple 360′s and some back flips… even though there were a couple mean cases it was still really fun.

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

All in all the 2010 launch was an amazing success but it was also a moment of reflection for me and my career with Norco and being part of it proves that dreams do come true sometimes!

Check out the picture by clicking here

It all started on a Wednesday night, I was supposed to get to Creston for the Goat Style Contest. The plan was to caravan the 8 hour drive to Creston with some of the NSMB boys, but considering I was just starting to do my laundry… from my last trip 12 days ago, it was looking doubtful that the caravan was going to work out. I called them up with one load of three done and told them to go it alone which also meant I was going to have to go it alone. When I finally got my bikes and laundry organized, and after a quick stop at Tim Hortins, for some badly needed caffeine I was on the road by midnight. All said and done, one close encounter with and Elk and 6.5 hours later I arrived in the quaint town of Creston and promptly went to sleep in the parking lot nearest to the slopestyle course.

After a short 3.5 hours of contorted sleeping positions I was awakened by Mitch Cheuby telling Justin Wiper not to wake me up…. Oh well. Day one at goat style was relaxed, a few practice laps to figure out if it was a hardtail or dually course and then it was time to sort out some food and accommodation.

It was really awesome because one of my friends from university whom had taken a position with RedBull doing western events was there and we got to hang out. So we went to go find some late lunch and stumbled upon this cafe called “A Break In Time” where we were served by the most gorgeous girl in Creston … we proceeded to eat 3 square meals per day there the rest of the trip, but that is just because the food was good.

Thursday night was a bit of a kick-off party to the Goat Style and it was cool to hang out with a bunch of riders I hadn’t seen in quite some time. The crew included Dustin Greenal and Casey Groves, two of the course designers that graciously provided some insight into the build. They did most of the work in 5 days, and even though it is a small slopestyle, that was still an impressive feat considering the course was so much fun and flowed as nicely as it did.

Friday was a serious practice day and the tricks started to flow. Some riders were getting ready for Friday Night Lights and others for the contest qualifier on Saturday. I was having a lot of fun on the course because it was small enough to be technical with jumps that were big and smooth enough to trick. I was 3 dropping the medium drop, cork-flipping the big jump and overall having a great time just slaying on the course with a bunch of friends. Friday Night Lights went down in a jam format and there were some serious tricks being thrown down. Flip whips, 3 whips, front flips, decades, and double whips just to mention a few of the tricks being thrown down. Riders definitely brought their ‘A’ game as this event was at Crank Works qualifier.

The Qualifier on Saturday was good fun. Once again riders were dropping it like it was  hot. Sam Duek a relatively new face was first up in qualifiers and set the bar by dropping a contest run out of the gate, there were no freebies to the finals. I unfortunately crashed in my first run and then had to re-do my safety run which did not score me high enough to get a coveted spot in the finals. The silver lining was that by not riding I could announce… Of course I would have loved to be in the mix but announcing it is pretty fun so I announced the junior qualifiers and later that day Big Bad Brad Ewan, famed RedBull and Crank Worx announcer asked me to join him to announce finals. How cool is that!

Announcing with Brad was awesome and I definitely picked up a trick or two. A big thanks to brad and the Goat Style crew for letting me on the mic.  At the end of the day it shook down with Eric Larenuk grabbing first, 3 grand in cash and a spot in Crank Worx. This was followed by strong performances from Sam Duek and Kurt Sorge in second and third respectively. Overall Goat Style had a sick vibe and was an awesome contest that I hope to repeat next year.

Might I start by saying that this is more of a rant than a typical blog entry and that I enjoy every moment of my riding, academics, snowboarding and everything that I get to do in my life… Somehow I even enjoy the moments that piss me off.

There are those days when things just don’t go to plan; I think we’ve all had one or two. But sometimes those days can be a good catalyst to get you thinking about many potentially important things. On just such a recent day I realized that I have become increasingly concerned about a word that appears to be losing its meaning in our society, and that word is ‘DEDICATION’. Personally, when I’m in school or on my bike or wherever, I dedicate myself to whatever I am doing at that time, but when I look around it pains me to see the meaning of the word fade in our society.

It seems that the undedicated masses have the perception that dedicated people are just lucky; however, at best luck is a small factor (Dedication = Hard Work). For example when you see your favourite riders and get blown away by the tricks they can pull off, I guarantee that the rider in question has dedicated some serious time to learning those tricks. Some people are naturally talented but most of us have to practice… and practice a lot.

I think that many sports, particularly mountain biking in my case, are good because the people who participate in them tend to set ambitious goals and it takes dedication to achieve them. In many respects I feel sports enthusiasts are possibly the last of a dying breed when it comes to knowing the true meaning of the word.

Even at the university where I am a student and teaching assistant I see a huge vacuum, sucking away the last bits of dedication. Many students, some of which I consider my friends, would rather dedicate their time at school to extracurricular shenanigan’s rather than learning the material that would help them excel. Though, I suppose many of them are at school to fulfill their parent’s goals and not always their own, so it’s somewhat understandable.

Today it rained and it took 4 hours instead of 1 and several extra hundred dollars to have the windshield replaced on my truck; and in my 4 hours of downtime this is what I thought about. So whether it is working on my bike, writing up blogs or interviews when I’m not riding or busting a nut on my academics to get straight A’s at least I know that dedication still exists somewhere. It’s nice to see that many other young cyclists are also on the right track this but it is a shame to see how from my vantage point dedication may be following the dinosaurs to extinction.

-Dylan

A Mid Summer nights dream may be a Shakespeare play but in the world of Dreads it is the building of several major bike parks, killer trails, meeting new friends and riding like a fiend!  Yowza!

With Vanderhoof , Cloverdale and Waterloo projects now successful in the ground and Logan Lake park underway, I have been doing some killer riding, from wicked undulating XC to slopestyle bizzo…

My usual mainstay of TII armour has been traded for Drone knees under Mace steez and my traditional jersey seems to have made a switch for cotton T shirts, feels just like the old days, New School represent!  I am convinced that riding ghetto may be convenient but I can’t see slaying mountain without being fully suited…  Sure has been nice ripping hard on the bike and not taking big injury as of late.

The Norco Product Launch is coming shortly and new build projects from Idaho to Whitehorse are on the horizon, wicked!  I am testing a 2010 Prototype Shore and have been putting it through some serious paces while putting  sick mileage on my 4XXXX.

Scoping some sweet spots to film and looking forward to building some gnar zones in Alberta…

I am so pumped on this season, hope you have the stoke too!!! Get those gloves on and hit the dirt yo!

This past week I was really excited; the sample 2010 Norco rev bmx was coming, and I was going to get one to rip on and see how the beast handled. When I saw it, the first thought that jumped to my mind was “Damn this bike looks sick.” Now that being said we all know sweet looks are great but when you break it down it’s all about the ride; a bike can look like a pile of garbage but if it feels good that’s what really makes you want to ride it.

This year there were some minor yet noteworthy changes to the geometry. The rear stays were shortened to 13.75 inches and the top tube was lengthened 1/4 of an inch to give it a 21 inch top tube. The shorter rear stays are sick for manualing and the longer top tube with the wide bars made me feel right at home and will probably make switching between the mountain bike and the bmx a little easier.My first impressions of the bike are that it rolls fast and smooth, the front end picks up nicely and the cockpit is comfortable. One of the coolest design features of the bike is the removable brake mounts. Being that brakeless riding has become ever so popular; the removable brake mounts allow the frame to rock that clean brakeless look.

I have never ridden a bike brakeless before. I started in a trials background and because of that I am used to always having brakes that work very well. The rev comes with brakes but I figured because it can transform into a sleek brakeless frame, I would jump on the brakeless bandwagon and give it a shot.

This was definitely a shock, because, in the case of an emergency there is no brake to grab. This no-break stuff lead to me crashing pretty hard three times. For some reason I was under the impression that if I was to 3 tap something without brakes, as long as I did it faster, it would be just fine – it turns out I was wrong and went down trying to tap everything from barricades to curbs.

After crashing hard a half dozen times or so I realized that brakeless was going to require a different style of riding, one more focused on flow and adjusting my speed by pumping. Riding brakeless is going to be like learning to ride a bike again. That being said I will have to see if riding brakeless is really for me. And it may be a short period of time until I throw the brakes back on the bike. That is what is cool about the frame though, the bike can go from looking like a true brakeless to having brakes again in just a few minutes. For now though, I will work on my flow a bit by riding it brakeless and hopefully I won’t crash too much!

Till next time,

-Dylan