Part two of Gravity’s trip to Spain. Part one is over here.
MCMASSIVE VS ALASKA
Chris Van Dine, Eric Porter, Kelly McGarry and Harookz bounced out of Whistler immediately after Crankworx and headed north for Alaska. A state renowned for its big mountain snow lines, these three guys are looking for the MTB version of that and judging by the Gravity Twitter posts they are finding gold… and a little bit of rain. READ MORE
FRANKLY THURSDAY – BYRON SCOTT
“A two sided coin.” That’s how I would describe Byron Scott; there are two distinctly different (and sometimes polar opposite) sides to him, but what’s in the middle is gold (well, some sort of metal).
‘Heads’ is the daytime, business-hours Byron. An experienced and schooled sales and marketing guru, turned entrepreneur and business owner. In business mode, Byron can come across as serious and intelligent, often offering me nuggets of marketing or sales advice. Having left his secure, successful job, he decided to go it alone, pulling himself from the nine to five and combining all his motivation and skills to form his own venture that fits in better with the ‘Tails’ side of his persona. READ MORE
TOTALLY NOT EXCLUSIVE – 2011 XTR
It’s so totally not exclusive that it’s not even here. While the rest of the world’s MTB media were being given the release of Shimano’s new XTR (even the Aussies got to go), Spoke was left watching Battlestar Galactica re-runs. So if you have been sleeping under a rock (like us) head over to Bike Mag for their rundown on all things that begin with X.
MOTOMUCK
The folks at Sportspro sent this bike cleaner down yesterday and it couldn’t have been better timed. When I left for Europe over a month ago, my bike was covered in mud. I thought that maybe on my return one of my kids might have cleaned Dad’s bike, but that didn’t happen. So yesterday I gave the Motomuck a crack. You just spray it on (lots of it) to the dirty dry bike. Let it sit for ten minutes and then spray it off. Done. Did it work? Well the mud on my bike was really caked on, I knocked a few big chunks off with a stick before spraying the Motomuck on, but seriously I’d say 99% of the mud just fell off when I sprayed it with the hose. So damn simple. It’s New Zealand made and is currently undergoing a little bit of rebranding but you should see this stuff in bike stores soon. A two litre container will be $19.95 and a 500ml squirter bottle will be $9.95. READ MORE
LAWN DARTS AND TOE RAGS
That's Sparrow and a new Ground Effect T-shirt
Ground Effect is trying to reignite the long-dead flame of the sport of Lawn Darts (basically giant darts). The sport was banned in the US when a Lawn Dart killed a small child (it impaled her in the head). Anyway with Ground Effect’s latest TT2 tee, designed by ex-Spoke designer Emma Gee, Lawn Darts are back, although they are now on bikes and wear helmets and are in fact human Lawn Darts. In the same package that contained these tees was a revised version of the classic Toe Rag sock; I’m wearing them right now actually. They fit super snug, and feature new graphics as well as a tighter fit. Oh and how awesome is this, I can’t even tell you when they are coming out, ’cause I have no idea. Just keep your eyes on the Ground Effect website. READ MORE
C-WORX VID
Dirt TV: Crankworx Slopestyle >>
This is the best Crankworx vid I’ve seen from this year’s edition. Sure it’s a bit later than the others, but it’s all good thanks to DirtTV boys the Parkin bros. Kelly McGarry gets a couple of clips in there along with the usuals, and a couple of other ‘Monster’ reasons to push pause in just the right spot. You’ll see what I mean.
THE ATHERTON PROJECT EPISODE 8
Episode 8 kicks off with Gee heading for the British Champs up in Scotland without his injured siblings, Rach and Dan. Gee finds that he misses the inspiration and support of his brother and sister during competition but at the same time realises that to stay at the top, sometimes, he’ll have to manage on his own. Then it’s on to World Cup Round 4 in Champery, Switzerland. With brother and sister still at home, Gee takes on the highly technical and challenging course alone. After some lightning-quick qualifiers on a dusty track, some serious rain sets in and turns it all to treacle. With Gee neck and neck with Greg Minnaar in the overall placings this season, anything less than a win is a disappointment. Can he beat the mud and bring the points home?
Ten and a half’er 9r
That's your big boy right there
So Caleb was hating on 29ers, then rode one and now can’t (or won’t) shut up about how good the one he rode was. And it was the GT Sensor that made him gush. I must admit, my time on the big wheels has been limited to some of the rigid singlespeed variety, and they were fun, if not “life-changing”. READ MORE
ME (AND THE ANTI-FUN-HATERS) VS THE WORLD
Somehow I have an entry to the Single Speed World Champs in Rotorua. I’m kind of freaking out a little. You see, I’ve never ridden a singlespeed and I obviously don’t own one so I’m having to build one. That said I’m part of the unofficial Anti-Fun-Hating team (along with Jono Baddiley, Lester Perry, Ross Schnell, Laurence Mote and Tall Beast). The prerequisite for being a member of this team is that your bike has to have a minimum of four inches rear travel which in most cases is normally your everyday geared bike. Not being very mechanically minded, I searched out the easiest possible way to one-gear my Nomad and thanks to LaMote found this little gem: the YESS ETR-D. READ MORE
