Brook MacDonald Wins The Val d' Isere World Cup

It’s hard to find words for was has happened today. After the last race we needed to focus on the words “that’s racing” as the competition was clouded by some bad luck. But we knew that our luck will be back some when, but we didn’t expect it that quick . Brook won his first worldcup race here in Val d’ Isere/ France and Emmeline got 2nd again.

The race week started with a course walk, where no one seems to be too happy about the track. It’s a bit short and the village of Val d’ Isere is on a sea level of 1821 meters, which means almost no trees and no roots at all. After a few runs, most of the riders get used to it and the MS Mondraker Team had some good fun during the training days.

The qualification was a tough one as the weather changed a few times and quiet a lot of top 20 riders came down with flat tires such as Steve Smith or Sam Hill. Markus had solid run and ended up in 22nd place, Damien came in promising 7th place and Brook stand out with a 3rd place. Emmeline showed her strength again and finished in 2nd place just behind all-time competitor Rachel Atherton. Like in Windham everything seems to perfect for race day, but with outcome of this past worldcup race in mind we were a bit more nervous than at other races.

Brook MacDonald Wins The Val d' Isere World Cup

2012 Val d'Isere UCI World Cup

After a month-long break, the RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano resumes this weekend in the new venue of Val d'Isere, France, for the final round of the Cross-country series, and the penultimate round of the Downhill.  Fittingly, it is the site of the alpine ski run for the 1992 Winter Olympics, since this World Cup takes place on the opening weekend of competition for the London Games.

Two weeks before the Olympic cross-country, Val d'Isere will provide a final tune up for the Olympic-bound athletes.  Almost all of the Games riders have registered to compete in Val d'Isere, so this will also offer an interesting opportunity to gauge the form of the riders.  One rider who, sadly, will be missing is Maja Wloszczowska (CCC Polkwice).  The 2008 Olympic silver medalist broken her foot a week ago at a pre-Olympic training camp in Italy and will miss both this race and the Games.

The Val d'Isere course is less technical than the previous rounds in Mont Ste Anne, Canada, and Windham, New York.  Offering no major climbs, it follows a figure eight, with the first loop up the valley bottom lasting three kilometres. The second loop in 1.9 kilometres and takes the riders into the town centre over some man-made features and then up a short single track climb. It is narrow, so passing may prove tough, but it should be fast with little to separate the riders. With a lot of the course winding through the event centre and town, it should make for good spectating.

Catharine Pendrel (Luna) has already won the women's cross-country, with an insurmountable lead after back-to-back wins in the last two rounds, but look for a resumption of the ongoing battle between Pendrel and the 2011 World Cup champion Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour-Vallandry Peisey).  Others looking for podium spots will be Pendrel's team mates Georgia Gould and Katerina Nash, plus Pendrel's fellow Canadian Olympian, Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek).

On the men's side, the race for the title is still open.  Nino Schurter (Scott Swisspower), fresh off winning the Swiss national title, still leads the standings, despite not competing at the last round in Windham.  However, his lead has shrunk to a slim 12 points over Burry Stander (Specialized).  Stander's team mate, Jaroslav Kulhavy, also has a slight chance of over taking Schurter to defend his 2011 World Cup title.  Another rider to watch will be the great Julien Absalon (Orbea), the two time defending Olympic champion.  Absalon skipped the last two rounds of the World Cup to go into Olympic preparation, but won the fourth round, also on French soil, in La Bresse.

The Downhill is quite different from previous rounds.  At under two kilometres in length, it is a completely open, rocky alpine run, with no tree cover.  It will make for excellent TV coverage, and the whole course is visible from the finish.  The route follows the infamous Val D'Isere Olympic downhill ski route. It starts just 200 metres below the Super G start from the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics and passes through a very famous passage called the Ancolie, a narrow, steep gulley between towering cliffs. From there the course is wide and fast, with flat corners and few man-made features. The course enters the finish below the Olympic torch monument and hits a final large wooden drop into the finish bowl. It's going to be love or hate for the riders.

Neither the men's nor women's titles are decided, so there is still a lot on the line.  Rachel Atherton (GT Factory) moved into the lead of the women's series at Windham with her third victory of the season.  Atherton is now 30 points ahead of former leader Emmeline Ragot (MS Mondraker), who will be looking to regain the lead on home soil.  Others to watch will be Australian champion Tracey Hannah (Hutchinson United Ride) and Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Riding Addiction).

The men's title may be mathematically still open, but the 295 point lead of American Aaron Gwin (Trek World Racing) means that his competitors have virtually conceded a repeat World Cup title to Gwin.  With four wins already this season in five events, the question will be whether Gwin can match last year's five wins here.  However, Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate), the only rider to beat Gwin on the World Cup circuit in the past two years, cannot be counted out by any measure.  Gee Atherton (GT Factory) and world champion Danny Hart (Giant Factory) should also be strong podium contenders.

 

2012 Val d'Isere UCI World Cup

Nukeproof Pulse Frame Announced

After much anticipation and online speculation we’re pleased to finally release details of the Nukeproof Pulse, our next generation downhill race frame.

The evolution of our highly regarded Nukeproof Scalp, the Pulse is the product of two seasons of tweaking, tuning, testing and valuable rider input from Team CRC/Nukeproof. The outcome? A premium performance frame which combines updated geometry and enhanced design features for a hugely improved ride dynamic, ready to take on the best in the world.

The Pulse is a pure-bred race animal with superb durability and an instinct for winning firmly planted in its DNA. Built using T6 6061 aluminium with custom triple butted hydroformed tubing for a perfectly balanced strength to weight combination, the Pulse also boasts an adjustable chainstay option courtesy of our ‘Style Fit’ system. Whatever the hill throws at you, we have the weapon to match it – allowing you to alter the wheelbase by 10mm depending on the type of track you’re riding, your height or riding style (long setting = 445mm, short setting = 435mm). This bike will perform above and beyond your expectations on any terrain.

Specs:
- T6 6061 Aluminium Frame construction
- Custom Triple Butted Hydro-formed tubing
- Adjustable Chain Stay Length
- Enclosed 1-Piece linkage
- 1.5” Headtube
- 215mm-210mm travel
- 150mmX12mm rear axle
- 83mm BB Shell
- ISCG 05
- Shock Length 240X76mm
- Chain Stay – 435mm/445mm
- BB Height +17mm
- Head Angle – 63 degrees
-Weight – TBC

Nukeproof Pulse Frame Release

Former Marzocchi USA Founder To Launch VDO Suspension

DVO is short for “Developed Suspension” and represents the mindset we have to engineer, design, and deliver fully developed suspension products that are 100%.
30 Years plus industry veteran Bryson Martin owner of Bryson Martin Racing along with Tom Rogers, John Pelino, Josh Baltaxe and Bryson Martin Jr will launch DVO Developed Suspension during the Taiwan Bike Week held in Taichung Taiwan November 2012. We will have a booth at the Splendor Hotel in Taichung during Bike Week.

Bryson and his team were long time Marzocchi employees; they left in May 2012 amid struggles with Tenneco upper management and the direction of the mountain bike suspension business. Bryson Martin was the founder of Marzocchi USA and was the inspiration for the successful Bomber line as well as many other iconic models over the past 23 years.

“After losing our supplier SR Suntour and not having a back up plan, I felt that the future with Marzocchi will be extremely difficult and going my own direction with my own suspension program is the way” said Bryson Martin”.

The new DVO Suspension Team consists of Tom Rogers who is a long time industry veteran and former World Cup racer. Tom worked at Manitou for ten years during their glory days and then nearly ten years at Marzocchi focusing on damper designs. John Pelino was at Marzocchi for 16 years handling operations, after market sales and distribution support. Josh Baltaxe has a graduate degree in Engineering and is a passionate bike rider; he brings the brains and science to all our designs. Bryson Martin Jr is a pro DH racer and business student and will help in tuning, marketing and race support.
Bryson along with his USA based engineering team brings over 80 years of suspension building experiencing and will launch some very cool and innovative suspension products purely focused on the long travel market. “We started with a clean sheet of paper but didn’t look to re-invent the wheel, we addressed some critical areas of current suspension design to enhance performance while making it easier for the consumer to tune or service their own fork if desired”

“We will also launch a very informative web site helping riders better understand the dynamics of suspension in general while providing extensive information on tuning and setting up all of the DVO products”. “Providing detailed and informative information on our web site and backing up our products with excellent customer service and support is key!”

Regarding the competition, it has been a long time since a new company has entered the high-end suspension business of this magnitude, both Rock Shox and Fox the industry leaders have been doing a great job for years. “We feel that the dominance of Fox and Rock Shox has been because there hasn’t been enough good competitors to give them a run for their money and DVO Suspension will be gunning for the top”.


Former Marzocchi USA Founder To Launch VDO Suspension

2013 UCI World Cup Schedule Announced

The UCI has released the 2013 schedule. Many of the same old venues are in play. Also of note is no USA stop again this year. Someone dropped the ball but check out the venues below. The worls champs in South Africa should be interesting.

2013 UCI WC DH SCHEDULE

Justin Leov Wins At Highland

Trek World Racing's Justin Leov and Neko Mulally were in action yesterday at the 3rd round of the US Grand Prix of MTB at Highland Park, New Hampshire, on the US east coast. Neko stunned the field in Sunday morning qualifying with a run that was 5 seconds quicker than any rider, but unfortunately crashed in the finals in the first wooded section. Justin on the hand was nursing a broken finger from Windham and was a conservative 5th in qualifying but laid it down for the final run.

Fresh after his announcement that this year would be his last on the World Cup DH circuit, Justin showed why h e is still considered one of the class acts in Pro Men's DH racing. After the drama of last weekend where he was set to have a great World Cup race and then smashed his hand against a tree on his last training run, Justin wasn't sure he could race at Highland Park as the pain was still very evident. Nevertheless he buckled down and put in a solid run, one that he thought would be enough for 2nd. After the podium he got news that he wasn't expecting. Originally told by the Albany Medical Center that his fingers were free of any fractures, a late email came from the same medical center shortly after he'd won the race yesterday saying in fact they have since noticed a volar plate fracture in the finger. Justin will now be having the finger seen to on his return to New Zealand this week to ensure it's all good for the next World Cup in a few weeks.

Leov Wins The 2012 USGP Highland Race

2012 POC eastern States Cup 6 To Be Held On Windham WC Course

The POC Eastern States Cup continues to deliver the best racing in the country on the best tracks anywhere. July 14-15, two weeks after Aaron Gwin won his fourth UCI World Cup of the season on the Windham Downhill Race Track, the POC ESC will hold the sixth race of the POC ESC season on the same great course. Racers will be contesting their own battles on the “big boy’s track”. The fast racers will be able to hit all the same features as the World Cup stars did, there will be a few go-arounds offered for those not ready for the big features.

The top chute drop, the road gap and Peaty’s Plunge will all be open to ride and race. The container drop will be reconfigured to a step down but the rest of the big jumps will be open for all classes.  The Citizen’s course will also be open to have some fun chill runs on. You guys asked for this and the POC ESC delivered, now we need everyone to continue to show Windham the great support that was delivered at UCI World Cup.

Windham Mountain offers their Adventure Park for summer thrills. Race your friends down dual zip lines that are 40 ft above the ground.. New York's first Big Air Bag will keep everyone entertained while jumping down 30 feet. The Adventure Park is open Saturdays & Sundays 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. from June 23, 2012 thru October 8, 2012.

2012 POC Eastern States Cup 6

2013 Transition Covert Carbon

Transition Bikes unveils the new carbon Covert. See the bike in action as well as some of the new features and design inspiration that went into creating Transition Bikes first carbon bike.

The 2013 Carbon Covert is Transition Bike’s first carbon frame offering. The 160mm travel Covert was the perfect candidate to bring to carbon as it allowed the bike to shed weight, improve strength, add new features, and update the look at the same time.

“In my mind, this bike really represents the ultimate no holds barred quiver killer. It's really everything I would want in a single do-everything type of bike and we've tried pretty hard to ensure all the right features are there without including things that don't really matter. A big goal of ours with this project was to develop something with very unique lines that you don't often see in bicycle frame design...and we feel we've really accomplished that. This was a long development effort so we're pretty pumped to finally unveil our first carbon frame.” Says Kyle Young, Transition Bikes owner.
Transition Bikes took the essence of the previous Covert but started from the ground up to produce something all new and extremely exciting. For design inspiration they looked outside the bike world towards Italian super cars. The carbon material allowed a no compromise design approach that allowed them to achieve exactly what they envisioned; powerful lines and a unique bold look. The frame uses some exciting new materials and an evolved suspension platform for the best possible performance on the trail.

2013 Caron Transition Covert