Fairclough to ride for Honda

They signed the Cabbage Patch

PRESS RELEASE

Team G Cross Honda will once again be returning to the international mountain bike race season in 2007 with riders Greg Minnaar (RSA), Matti Lehikoinen (FIN) and new addition Brendan Fairclough (GBR). The new line up of three riders will be contesting the UCI World Cup Downhill as well as selected Maxxis Cup events, British National Point Series events, and sending selected riders to other high profile events such as Crankworx and the Lisbon Downtown.

Greg Minnaar, 25 years old from Pietermaritzburg, who has been with Team G Cross Honda since 2004, will begin his 4th season on the Honda RN01 chasing the World Title, as well as looking to take back the World Cup title he won in 2005. It's clear his main rivals in 2007 will continue to be Steve Peat (GBR) and Sam Hill (AUS), but as always his title pursuits will be supported by the best equipment sponsors on the circuit; Showa suspension, Formula brakes, Alpinestars clothing & protection, Maxxis tyres, Mavic rims and SDG I-Beam seats and posts.

Matti Lehikoinen, 22 years old from Helsinki, had a great season in 2006 winning the World Cup of Brazil, the Red Bull Empire Rider in Peru and finishing 6th overall in the World Cup. Team G Cross Honda is very happy to have retained his services for a 3rd season and look forward to helping Matti reach his goal of Top 5 overall in the World Cup, and of course, more World Cup podium results.

Brendan Fairclough, 18 years old from Hampshire, won the inaugural Junior World Cup Downhill overall in 2006, and has been impressing people since arriving on the international scene in 2005. Apart from his two World Cup podiums as a junior-aged athlete, Brendan has impressed the team with his all round approach to racing and will make a welcome addition to the team as it seeks to retain its 2006 title of Men's Downhill Team of The Year.

Martin Whiteley, Team Director. "We are very excited about the 2007 season. Firstly we have been very fortunate to be able to retain the services of both Greg and Matti who make excellent team mates and have both had great success on the Honda RN01 in recent years. We can now also announce that we have secured one of the most exciting young riders on the world scene in Brendan. He and the other two riders know each other very well and they are all good friends which is important in building team spirit as we hunt our goals for 2007. It should be a very exciting year ahead".

Matti and Brendan will make their first racing appearance for Team G Cross Honda at the Maxxis Cup in Gouveia in Portugal on March 18. Greg will start his downhill season a little later, in April, at the opening round of the British National Points Series.

Other product suppliers confirmed at the time of the release include Sapim spokes, SRAM, Truvativ, PowerBar and ODI.

Artist

"I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people." Jean-Michel Basquiat

Photographer James VanDerZee (1886-1983)

Catch 22 and a bunch of mooks!

I hope you weren’t too excited to try your hand at a UCI World Cup race based in North America. I mean I know they are the largest races and the most challenging courses but you would much rather race some smaller stuff with a field of 20 or 30 and win some grips, right? Well your wish has been granted seems as if the mooks at UCI and the mook-like race promoters here in the states have crafted such a unique situation for us Mountain Bike racers, which we all get to suffer. The new current UCI regulation states that all entrants to a World Cup race must possess 20 UCI points at time of registration, in order to race. For those of you who have already processed that last sentence, we are fucked! In the U.S. there are only a few select races to which one can gain UCI points, these are mostly Road, Cyclo-cross and Cross-Country. That’s right, no Downhill or 4X for us to qualify. So to decode: To race a World Cup you must have World Cup points, which are only given in Downhill and 4X at a World Cup event. Catch 22 to say the least.
If local promoters could get there shit together to have there races qualify for UCI points you would find a large number of people flocking across the country just to sign up and race. So to decode: They would make a lot more money giving the public what they wanted, the points.

Lost some toofers

Jeremiah Bishop (Trek-VW) made an attempt to put pressure on race leader Hector Leonardo Paez (Full Dynamix) on the second day of La Ruta de los Conquistadors, but went down hard on the final descent, ending his chances of winning the overall title. While Bishop did finish the stage in second place to Paez, he was immediately rushed to hospital with a broken nose and at least two broken teeth. Words hijacked from VeloNews, the pic I stole from Canadian Cyclist.

Papa knows best

Off the chain...

B.I.K.E The Black rebel movement has been gaining momentum in the East for some time now.

Chutes and Ladders

For us on the East Coast of the country mud is a fact of life. With all the rain and slushy snow we get, it is bound to pop up. Our solution for trail riding in these conditions is "to not ride". This has always struck me as odd, I mean they are mountain bikes capable of navigating through such mud & muck and mud is one of the natural conditions of the "mountain". I understand the concepts of erosion, the potential damage to trails, the creation of marshes and bogs that this riding may create. But bare with me for a moment…Zoom over to the Pacific Northwest, they have rain and snow, lots of it. Some would argue that they see more mud due to the increase in precipitation. They have built trails to survive the abuse of mountain bikes in these muddy conditions. Giving the riders a chance to ride more throughout the year. Enter the ladder bridge...The ladder bridge has gotten a bad wrap lately, a somewhat unjust categorization as merely a tool for "hucking" yourself into the oblivion. When one sees the ladder bridge a flood of images such as tall ladder skinnies 20 feet high, road gaps and high fives, freeride buffoons and all sorts of bicycle Tom Foolery arise. Not the case when the ladder bridge is used in such a way to transport the rider over the bogs and potential marshes. That’s just what the majority of constructed trail obstacles are used for in that area. The visual image library of the ladder bridge should then change to one of wildflowers, green thumbs and flourishing forests. This is not going to happen either. What I would love to see is a meeting of the minds, a compromise made between those "Freeride buffoons" and "XC goons". Both are excepted forms of mountain biking and deserve a place on the trail, we should be working together as opposed to clashing at the skulls. The trails can be made more sustainable FROM both parties FOR both parties. To have those said bridges where deemed necessary and have the natural terrain shine though where it can. I have ridden the trails of the Northwest and sacrificed many a weekend to pickup a shovel and rake and do my part on the trail here in the East. We can do this. All we need is a little understanding and a six pack. "Proper Ladder Bridge Technique"
Thanks to Patrick and the guys at TractionMag for putting my ideas on the big screen.

Adrian Hart
Seattle-New York

Isle of Man TT

Speed is relative. A brisk walk can feel fast to a small baby who is accustomed to crawling. As we ride our bicycles down mountains in races, spectators are in awe of the speed and agility we carry. But if you really want to grasp the sense of speed on two wheels, a motorcycle is the fastest. To watch the top tier riders of Moto GP, you can get a sense for the speed and danger of the sport. These bikes are capable of well over 200 mph. To see Valentino Rossi break his rear wheel loose in a drift when cornering at 120 mph is truly an awesome sight. These views rarely give you a TRUE sense of speed. In steps the Isle of Man TT a road race which takes its name from the small island in the Irish Sea where the race is located. The main TT race is 37.5 miles long and winds itself through the foothills via public roads, which are closed for the race. Potholes, sewer grates, manholes and curbs, all mainstays of modern road construction offer a new level of obstacles to the trained professionals. A Moto GP track is meticulously sculpted, the density and type of asphalt are taken into consideration as well as the angle of turns and the camber of the roadway. On the Isle you get what they got! The roadway is relatively smooth and straight but at speeds of 170 mph the slightest little bump and divot can mean disaster (spoken with cockney accent). At these speeds the bikes jump into the air in a few sections. The lap record was set this past year by John McGuiness setting a time of 17:29.26 for an average speed of 129.451. Like I said in the start, speed is relative. Check out this link to a highlights video of Isle of Man TT it is a little over 5 minutes but will give you a very detailed idea of the races origins and the speeds of today.

"Isle of Man TT Highlights"

Futura Bold

Well now that we are into the triple digits in posts I thought we would kick things off with artistic guru Futura. For those who are not in the know Futura has been producing mind blowing work for years he collaborates with the best in the biz. He has a keen eye for working in the somewhat mainstream such as sneakers and most famously Lance Armstrongs time trial bike for the Tour De Fart. His gallery showing has his 1998 pieces up, take a peruse and learn you something. The gallery is "BeingHunted."

Hey Myles, whats up with Mexico?

Remember Myles Rockwell that pot growing racer who just had a knack for winning, those were great times. They are still great times, just different. So here I am getting all excited to visit the Southwest when they drop this on us.
"Angelfire resort representatives have now confirmed that the scheduled World Cup triple will not take place this upcoming season. David Dekema, marketing director at Angelfire, confirmed the rumors and cited communication problems as the reason for them deciding to pull the plug."
That's right kids the New Mexico World Cup race has been cancelled. They are hopefully relocating it to the Big East. Which we would love, the idea of having the National Championships, U.S. Open and two of the eight World Cups on this section of the planet will certainly make the travel arrangements easier. But that does not make me feel any better, there is a good chance it will end up in Canada. I would still like to have it hear in the states. It's not like we have any Americans on the podium. Atleast it could be at one of our venues. What do you think Myles?

By the way this is the 100th post.

Los colores de la Canvas

(The Colors of the Canvas) We are going to mix it up with this section and add some work from a phenomenal painter named Josh Keyes. Josh graduated from Yale with his Masters of Art and is currently living in the Oakland, Cali area. Although he is originally from my old stomping grounds in Tacoma, Washington. Enjoi

Madvillain

Madvillain figure by Kid Robot & Stones Throw is coming Jan. 11th.
8.5 inches tall. Two colors. Big giant fists to knock you out with.

Drops in January to coincide with Chrome Children Pt. 2

Stay tuned for details
Stones Throw Records
Kid Robot

Atomic Explosion

My favorite store in Baltimore, Atomic Books has opened up another location. The new locale focuses on toys and collectables. Anyone who has visited Atomic Books in the past few years has noticed how cramped it was getting with all the new great things, so this annex, if you will, is a welcomed addition to Baltimore entrepreneurship. The shop is very clean and well laid out, all of the items setup in thoughtful displays giving you the chance to peruse in a casual fashion. They are stocked with lots of great stuff. There is an experimental dance studio above the store so the ceiling thumps and rattles with the feet of those convinced they are graceful. The bookshelves are filled with compilations of graffiti art and custom vinyl toy makers. Those of you in B-more who are afraid to step into the mall this time of year will find a nice surprise in Hampden’s newest shop Atomic Pop. Yes, malls are scarier then Hampden!

The unemployment line just got a little longer

The year was 1996, "Trainspotting" came out, enforcing the reasons I refrain from black tar heroin and "Chainsmoke." The latter was one of the first mountain bike videos to surface that showcased racing and its high speeds. That same year Ritchie Schley inked a deal with Rocky Mountain bicycles, eventually becoming a founding father of freeriding as well as one of the "Fro" riders alongside Wade and Tippie. His career has spanned a freeride lifetime and his contributions to the sport are enormous. This past month his relationship with Rocky came to an end. We are sure he will be picked up soon and the rumor mill is already churning out the name Rotwild out of Germany, to be his next ride. He happens to be one of only a handful of riders to be immortalized on the video screen of kids throughout the world in the aptly named, "Downhill Domination" for Playstaiton. I have had the pleasure of meeting Ritchie a few years ago and thought he showed great humility even when faced with Donald and Spanglers jokes of stature. Ritchie is a true ambassador of the sport and he is a cat that will always land on his feet.

Not quite a stocking stuffer

"A 2006 yuletide platter from the '70s Punk/'80s Pop superstar. It's a nice day for a 'White Christmas' here on this delightful collection of 17 Christmas favorites including 'Jingle Bell Rock', 'Let It Snow', 'Merry Christmas Baby', 'Oh Christmas Tree', 'Silver Bells', 'Here Comes Santa Claus' and many others. Idol does not dress up the songs to fit his over-the-top Rebel Rocker image, but instead remains true to the original, joyful nature of the season. Grab a cup of eggnog or mug of hot cocoa, relax in front of the fireplace with a loved one and let Billy Idol help usher in the holidays in style"

Grab a cup of eggnog? Are you serious?

"Hey, everyone look who just came down the chimney, its a coked up Billy Idol with his kick ass new CD!"