I originally published this post back in 2009 and have recently been thinking about this trip and looking through all the old photos. I thought some of you may enjoy a little read...all these trails are covered in snow right now, but when the snow melts...I say we should head up and hit them up again, they are so much fun.
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NSMB.com and Wade Simmons are putting on a contest, all you have to do is post up your most memorable/favourite ride/adventure of 2009. So I used my company's time wisely and wrote a book on my vacation this year...thought some of you may find it interesting. Hope you enjoy.
So I have yet again been MIA for a little while while I have been healing up. While I was down and out I decided to take apart my bike and replace all the bushings and just give it some much needed love before riding the snot out of it this summer. One of the bolts in my lower pivot seized up so I took it to Lorien out at Sooke Mountain Cycle so he could work his magic...he puts it up in the stand and notices something I had missed....a bit of a crack in the BB weld of my frame...crap...another broken bike.
I am super lucky, thank god we noticed now as the warranty runs out at the end of the month...whew...glad I took it out to Lorien. I am now waiting for my replacement but have been told that they do not have any ano black in XL...shit, while I am super happy that I am getting a new frame...I really hope they do not send a team colour frame...and I would LOVE a new silver/grey ano one...hint hint.
So while I have been waiting for the warranty thing to work out I put some knobbie tires on my frankenbike and took it up to the North Saanich Freeride Park so I could get a little more comfy in the air...and to work on my fitness a bit. I am fairly well known in my riding circle for my lack of balls when it comes to air...and well...I had a ton of fun and progressed a bit, what a great park and the new pump track out back is killer, if you have not been yet, you should head up there...it's awesome..just make sure it's open first.
After today's session we headed over to Straitline...I have not been there for about a year and man are they growing...their new robot is hella impressive...as are the new all mountain pedals, can't wait to see them all finished...so sexy. While I was up there I picked up a set of SUPER sexy Lenosky pedals...gotta love the blingin 24k gold plated pins...so sexy...not a bad gift for my new frame when it comes in eh...
I was sick for a week and feeling the need to ride in a big way, not only that but I wanted to film for my next video and I already knew the trails I wanted to hit this time. Jelly Roll and Lumpy Pants are some of my favourite trails in the park, together with Who's Your Daddy and Night Shift make one of the funnest routes down in the park, maybe I will video those on another day.
It was a great day for it, it was raining but none of it was really getting through the canopy, good thing because the trails that regularly take me 10 minutes at the most on a regular day took me 2.5 hours while filming, I was not in a hurry but self filming is a lot of work and I was really enjoying it.
Anyway, enough with the words...onto the good stuff...
Hello fellow geeks, I thought I would start up the old blog again and have some fun with it, going to change things up a bit...more original video's and am going to start vlogging...yes that means you all get to look at my sexy face...I know...exciting right? So lets get this started eh.
This is my first (of many) videos and it is a self edit...was allot of fun to make and I learned a ton about how to shoot and edit it better next time. Enjoy.
Lorien down at Sooke Mountain Cycles (best shop on the island) just put together his new Banshee Legend....and I gotta say that's a SEXY bike....now he just needs to put some new forks on it...hah...if you want to know more about these bikes give him a call, I am sure he would love to chat about it. :)
While not really a fan of DJ films...I like this video, Aaron Larocque and Mark Mathews lay it down in this video to promote Banshee...the AMP looks like a KILLER bike.
I don't know if any of you follow the Banshee blog...but they just dropped some photo's of the production version of the Legend to Sicklines.com and they are SEXY...here is a sample:
Banshee bikes used to stand for big heavy huck bikes, bikes that were not terribly good looking, and that you could abuse...but you had to pay for it in a lot of extra weight, even then...well...they still broke.
The boys at Banshee have spent the last while changing all that, their new bikes are super sexy, well engineered, lighter and still able to take the abuse that a lot of riders dish out.
My personal favorites are the Rune and the new prototype DH bike the Legend. If you have been following their Blog at all you will know plenty about the Legend...if not you should head on over and check it out.
But don't get to thinking that Banshee is just all squishy bikes, its not...they have their new beautiful jump bike called the Amp, the classic FR HT the Morphine and AM/XC Scirocco and the XC racer the Viento. Not only that, but I hear rumors of a new 29er coming out from Banshee as well (maybe called the Paradox...or the Viento29)....that will be interesting to see.
Their new shocker bikes are what get me all hot and bothered though. I have a friend that just bought a Wildcard and she loves it...I gotta say that is on hella sexy bike. I know riders that own Rampant's, Scythe's and Pyre's too...all they do is rave about them, get's kinda annoying after a while...lol. I guess I will be one of those annoying ones when I buy my next bike too...I hope to be the proud new owner of a Rune...hopefully sooner rather than later, and I am stoked.
I love the thought that went into the new designs, the thinking outside of the box on the V4B pivots. The Rune, Rampant and Pyre are using what's called iglide polymer bearings, I have heard a lot of naysay for bushing systems, but it seems that Banshee got it right with this setup. If you want to know more about all the new engineering technical mumbo jumbo that I would never be able to get right...click here to check it all out...
So, lets just say that this year Banshee really turned a corner and I am seeing more and more of them out on the trails, the people running the show are awesome (I got a chance to ride with a few of them this spring), a good warranty and kickass bikes...if you are in the market for a new ride I would really look into the new Banshee Bikes, you will not be sorry.
With that I leave you with a Video of Dean riding his Rune on 7th Secret on Fromme...If you want more awesome helmet cam videos check out Deans Blog here.
