SRAM 2X10 Ride Camp : Race Day Video

Race day video time. We treated media to the pro race day treatment. Bikes were prepped as if we had Minnaar or Absalon in attendance.  Everyone was on trainers and drinking water and listening to ipods right before the start. No, not really. But everyone was still gunning for the win. Enjoy the video and the music. Thanks TSage. 
Keep an eye out there for initial and long term reviews of the SRAM 2X10 family.



SRAM X0 2X10 Ride Camp: Race Day Ashland Super D from Dirt Tales on Vimeo.
    
Actually, lets share two videos today. This ones been out there already for a few days now. We'll be quicker next time. The last video installment from our SRAM 2X10 ride camp is of Kirt Voreis absolutely shralping down the mountain with his new X0 goodies. Have a nice weekend. 



SRAM X0 2X10 Ride Camp: Kirt Voreis from Dirt Tales on Vimeo.

SRAM 2X10 Ride Camp : Day Two Video

As promised here's the recap of day two from our SRAM 2X10 Ride Camp in Ashland.  More shreddin' going on up in this one. Everyone's trying to get the Super D course dialed before race day while Kirt's trying to impress us with his 1080. Post ride we ended up at United Bicycle Institute for a quick bite to eat and a closer look at the components that just got us down the mountain. Stay tuned for tomorrow. Less snow. More Schnell.

SRAM X0 2X10 Ride Camp: Day 2 from Dirt Tales on Vimeo.

SRAM 2X10 Ride Camp : Day One Video

Have you ever played those word association games? You know the ones where you think of a certain something and then think of the words that encompass that certain something.  Here’s our go at that game when we think about our next few days of video we have dropping here on the Dirt Tails blogging device.

Janis Joplin, snow, X0, switchbacks, Kirt Voreis absolutely ripping down Mt. Ashland, foot-plants, Kirt Voreis doing a 1080, welcome to the X-Dome, the German word for fast, slow-mo happy faces and squirrels.

Let’s call this video embedded below here the intro to our week. It’s before we got our new 2X10 XO stuff all dirty. The following few days posts will bring the goods. Make some room.

SRAM X0 2X10 Ride Camp : Day One from Dirt Tales on Vimeo.

RockShox partners up with The Bull

 In a small village just north of Montreal, Canada we helped host a huge crowd for an action packed weekend...

RockShock and RedBull partnered up to put on the Monte Descent race in the Tremblant village. Along with this event, it happened to be a Canadian long weekend and the first round of the Canada Cup series. The sun was out all day and head lamps were out all night!

Enjoy the video! It really explains how the event works, I loved the XC/DH combo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNNRGiPe6QE

Leogang Mudfest

Sorry for the slow posting, we were busy cleaning ourselves from all the mud we took home from Leogang, Austria, we were have been the past week for round three of the DH and 4X World Cup.

This shot of Brendan Fairclough (Monster Energy-Specialized) might help you to realize how incredibly muddy it was. It basically rained for the whole time, and when it stopped raining you had to worry about the track becoming a sticky mudpit. 

 

Dirt-Norco rider Ben Reid shows how creative you had to get in line choice to avoid some of the biggest and most slippery roots!

This is just one of the many piles of tear offs that littered the track during the weekend!

The biggest downpour of the whole week must have happened during saturday's 4X finals. Despite this the RSP boys caught 3 of the 4 spots in the finals, and despite missing the win they confirmed themselves as the rockstars of 4X. Anneke Berteen, our lovely girl from the Netherlands, went instead for the full package, taking the win and the World Cup leader's jersey in the women's race. But sorry, we were too wet and cold to get a shot of her!

 

Peaty's mechanich Ricky Bobby makes sure he doesn't miss the Syndicate riders start times. By the way, Steve Peat is back on track, with a solid 6th place just three days after his 36th birthday. The legend lives on!

It doesn't get more BlackBox than this. Could it be that SRAM's BlackBox Manager Jon Cancellier is talking to Monster Energy-Specialized mechanic Jaycee Shumilak about the latest top secret tweaks on Brendan's bike? We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you. Sorry.

With his Avid BlackBox brakes, Mick Hannah is so fast he looks blurred. Kind of like Bigfoot, right Mick? (sorry, inside joke from sunday before the race)

Yes, that's ten speed on a DH bike. Yes, Greg Minnaar won the race on it. Yes, this is actually Steve Peat's bike. Do you need any further proof that 10 speed is great?

Sometimes even World Champions need a little reminder on what to do from the starting gate on: Steve Peat's stem.

Greg Minnaar's South African crew was on hand to celebrate Greg's win in the downhill, but thankfully no vuvuzelas were involved!

Ashland Welcomes SRAM to town

We figured what better place to prove how well SRAM’s new 2X10 family performed than Ashland, Oregon. The community had everything we needed from shuttle services, classrooms, a world-class network of trails and a Super D race to put riders to the test. Big thanks goes to Ashland Mountain Adventures, United Bicycle Institute, and the trail builders of Southern Oregon.

The SRAM truck crew hung the new 2X10 X0, X9, X7, and the newest Avid and RockShox offerings on the editor’s personal bikes. 

Because of the long descents and quick grueling ups, the new RockShox Reverb seat post was a huge hit.

Bill and Sue from Ashland Mountain Adventures made sure we found our way to the top of the mountain in time and ready to ride.

SO.OR represent. Most all of the guides we had showing us the goods on the mountain are the people responsible of them. Thanks everyone!!!

Tom Z throwing down on one of the many off-camber log drops you’ll find along the Jabberwocky trail.

2 miles down this trail it was springtime.    

This shot is from the same day as the above shot. 2X10 was by far the best choice on these trails. Quick and simple shifts for quick changes in terrain.

This is a post-descent, pre-lunch portrait. Lou Mazzante from Mountain Bike Magazine has a lot to smile about.  

I see 5 major food groups represented here. Maybe more.

Three very powerful and all new components from SRAM, RockShox and Avid. All together on one clean bar clamp thanks to MatchMaker X.

Everything shifted and stopped great even when the weather and the trails threw some nastiness our way. 

We had smaller revolving stations at the United Bicycle Institute. This made learning what makes up the new SRAM X0, X9, X7 groups and the RockShox and Avid newness more personal and informative.

Rebecca Rusch got 4^th place in the Pro Women’s Super D.  She joined us on every ride the whole week to make sure she got the course dialed.

Mike Levy from pinkbike.com gets big style points for his fire road handling skills.

The winner of the inaugural SRAMie Super D is Zach White from Singletrack.com. Well-done Zach. Watch out next year! You’re going to have some competition.

Euro crew's Superenduro adventure

Last weekend on the way to the Les 2 Alpes Freeraid Classic we decided to stop by in the small italian village of Cartosio, in Piemonte, to race a Superenduro event. Superenduro is a pretty popular italian racing series, and the events are actually very similar to enduro moto races or car rallies: you start from a square in town, pedal up to the start of a special stage, pin it down there, then pedal up again, and repeat as many times as required. The uphills are not timed, but you have a maximum allowed time, and if you are late for the start of your special stage you get a time penalty.

We rolled in Cartosio on saturday morning with the super bad-ass RockShox euro van, ready to pre-ride the course: what a day! The heat and pedalling required on the stages made it super hard, we were worked. In the evening we filled up on pasta, salad and local sweets in the square along with all the event organizers and fellow races, and then hit the sack early. And then it was race day!

We got our race numbers and strapped them on the bikes, and off we went! Four special stages, four transfers and a lot of fun to be had!

 Elmar went straight into racing mode and rode strong, he was in the top 10 overall for the first part of the race! Here he is pinning one of the corners on the typical terrain in Cartosio, ridges of loose white shale, pretty tricky but fun to ride: braaap! Elmar's setup was a careful balance of downhill speed and all-mountain pedalability, with Revelation, new X0 and even carbon wheels, a package which made him fast even on the more pedally stages.

Don't think it was all downhill action, in the midst of the special stages (especially the second and third one) you had some bloody hard pedaling to do, and if you wanted to be fast you had to feel your legs burning...ouch! I choose a Lyrik-Hammerschmidt bike,  it felt great when you had to give it all on the technical sections, like a mini-downhill bike!

The last special stage was the best, long, fast and so much fun to ride! And at the end...surprise! The finish was on the other side of a small river that you had to cross...Elmar chose the smart way and carried his bike for a well deserved 15th overall finish.

I wasn't that smart and tought I could ride through...yeah right. No way I could make it.

 Trying to  jump off the bike and run resulted in this, bike fully submerged and me going for a swim. But nevermind, it was a good finish after a long and hot race! During the prize giving lunch was served at the local swimming pool and we even left with a bottle of nice local wine, full service! A great weekend of racing, if you have the chance try a Superenduro or any kind of enduro racing, they are a lot of fun and a great test for your skills as a mountain biker!

Many thanks to the event ogranizers and Superenduro for the great weekend and hospitality and to La Bicicletteria-Acqui Terme for the pcitures.

RENE WILDHABER BOMBS IN PERU!

Here's a nice video from Marco Toniolo, showcasing his recent photo trip to Peru with our all-mountain and Megavalanche ripper Rene' Wildhaber. Enjoy!


Bombing through Peru from Marco Toniolo on Vimeo.

2X10 in the UK (and a bit of Anarchy...)

Ok, despite the real bad Sex Pistols quote attempt in the title we just spent three great days in the UK testing our new X0 2X10 product family with all of her majesty's finest editors. We rolled (or flew) from all over Europe to the great place which is Afan in Wales, home of one of the UK's finest trail centers, or centres, as UK spelling would call for.

We heard there had been days of glorious sunshine but as soon as we rolled in the Glyncorrwg Mountain Bike Centre car park it started to rain. Luckly our UK friends are well used to this and a few cappuccinos warmed us up for the riding.

Gary is our main man in the UK, his witty humor, relaxed attitude and ability to seamlessly make you transition from one beer to the next in an endless cycle are always very welcome additions to every event. Just never say yes if he offers you a lift in his car...

Paul from MBR makes sure the new SID 120 and X0 drivetrain roll well on Welsh rock before charging on them. 

It is not only about the riding and beer drinking, we also do a lot of VERY serious media work. Here Dirt Magazine's Steve Jones interviews our rear shock technician Torben Borowy while Elmar keeps things as serious as possible...not!

Above all, everyone had a great experience, product worked great and SRAM 2X10 is just perfect for UK trail centers. We even had some glorious sunshine on our second day, even tough that meant we got home in a nice red polka dot pattern thanks to the angry and hungry midges!

Rene Wildhaber interview.

Nice interview with Rene Wildhaber while he was rolling with us in Durango, Colorado.
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/interview-ren-wildhaber-26431

Mellow Johnny's Spring Classic

Juan Pelota Ranch- Dripping Springs Texas

We arrived early Thursday to finish setting up in order to try and beat the Texas heat and humidity, we lost.

We did find Matt Opperman (Subaru Gary Fisher team mechanic) finishing up his chores on Lances ranch.

SRAM staff were on hand to provide technical support and answer questions about our new

2X10 products...

...and to hand out Bam Bam's which are very popular with the kids.

I'm not sure beating your little brother and friends is what they were intended for but it is by far the most popular use for them.

 Willow Koerber had a great start and was the top ranked female athlete of the UCI sanctioned race.

Subaru Gary Fisher teammates Heather Irmiger and Willow Koerber lead the short opening lap.

Max Plaxton took the victory in the Mens Pro Category race on Saturday.

4 out of 5 on the podium were riding SRAM XX drivetrain.

We took down the fencing for the awards presentations which allowed a nice shady viewing area for many trying to escape the heat. I have heard varying reports from 97 to 107 degrees during Saturdays Pro races.

It was HOT!!!!

SolVista Triple DHip Trip

Tyler Morland and I went up to beautiful SolVista last weekend to provide support for the 1st Annual Triple DHip downhill stage race Powered by SRAM.  Tyler raced and ended up taking the overall win which was awesome and I helped out some of the racers with their bikes.  We also hosted the Avid Chainless Challenge which was the second stage of the event.  All the entrants recieved a new chain and the winners were stoked with new Elixer 5 and Code brakesets.  SRAM is the official drivetrain, brake, and suspension sponsor for the mountain which has some amazing terrain and also hosts the National MTB Championships in July.  You should definately head up there if you get a chance.