Thursday, December 29, 2011

Dan Skogland

This is a segment from something called 'You Like This' featuring Dan Skogland. It is a nicely produced edit featuring some really great riding. I have only one problem: I can't take any more low-rise bars.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Invergarry dig day recap

We had a great turn-out to our Short notice dig day. The rain didn't stop us from making some key improvements to the jump area. Thanks to all the hard working volunteers!
The soggy Crew

Fixthie

Normally I couldn't care less about fixed gear videos. This one is different:

Fixthie (that’s how it’s spelled now and you have to pronounce it with a lisp)

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Short notice dig day

Our last dig day
Got some free time and energy on Decemeber 27th?

Come out in the Rain for some maintenance to 'the woods jumps' at Invergarry Park.

All the info here

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the boys at DMR.
This made me laugh:

DMR Christmas 2011 | Father Christmas Rides - More Mountain Bike Videos

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Lee Quarry

Rowan Sorrell and crew ride at Lee Quarry. This edit showcases the variety of trails on offer at Lee Quarry, located in Bacup UK. A good example of what a bike park can look like.

More Mountain Biking Videos

Locals2

Part one of Jacob Gibbins' Locals2. A UK Mountain bike film about the off season lives of some of the UK's fastest riders. Featuring: Alex Bond, Joe Smith, Josh Bryceland , Sam Dale and Olly Wilkins

More Mountain Bike Videos

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Matt Miles

Another Silvia Films Gem. Matt Miles rips Rio and Kamloops bike ranch in this tightly edited short.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Burn

Nope, its not an add for the Clap. Its a new 4 part series about building and riding scene in Squamish. The edit starts with some Squee, I can't remember the artist or track however, but enjoy:

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Friday, December 16, 2011

Keene Pump Track

This video features a great looking pump track in New Hampshire. The unique looking wooded track was built with 110 yards of dirt, all moved by hand.

Halford's advert

Man, this commercial was annoying, right up until the end.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Monday, December 12, 2011

Harry Main

This is insane! Harry Main takes out a light with a giant Flair attempt.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Colony Farm Cruising

It's Winter, and for most folks riding is season has long passed. But if you don't mind being bundled up, there is some great cycling to be had. Colony Farm is a regional Park with a large system of paths perfect for some winter cruising.

In the Spring and Summer Colony Farm is an excellent Birder's destination. There are many Species of birds who choose to overwinter in the Marshy lowlands. More Photos after the jump.
Just off Lougheed Hwy in Coquitlam

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Brendan Fairclough

My favorite rider was dumped by Monster/Specialized recently. Well, Brendan has popped up on Scott's race team, watch the annoyingly-edited Video below:

Cyclepassion Calender

The 2012 Cyclepassion Calender is available now, or soon... check their website. All I know is: I like their promotional videos.


More Mountain Biking Videos

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Danny Hart

Danny Hart rides bikes really well. Watch the reigning World Champ mash some trails, get in some Moto practice and enjoy a spot of tea with his girl in this video for Truvativ.
More Mountain Biking Videos

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Through the Roots

Got thirty minutes to kill? Why not watch this Irish Mountain bike documentary.
For more info check out their Facebook page

More Mountain Biking Videos

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Christian Rigal/Chad Ring

It's been a while since our last bmx post. So here are Two edits with some very big, very precise moves:

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Marcus Fairbanks

Australian Downhill rider Marcus Fairbanks rips some super fun trails and a nice looking pump track in this video by Robert Sheddon

More Mountain Biking Videos

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Bristol Pump Track

If you happen to be in the UK Saturday November 19th. Drop by Bristol for the DMR Bikes Pump Track Challenge

The fun looking Pump track was built by Architrail
The edit below features a song from Rusko (Woo Boost to be specific)

Neat.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

604 Pumptrack Update

With the favorable weather this October the track had been riding really great, drainage was perfect and the traction magnificent. The only thing that wasn't quite working was the crown feature on the straight-away.

We decided it would be best to shrink the whole thing and turn it into a triple in order to increase the speed and flow of the course. Thanks to the help from Nic Rodgers from the Dunbar cycles DH race team, his dad Jon and a couple friends, We were able to get this feature 90% complete! With a bit more tuning we should have this feature dialed within the next week or two, so stay tuned!

I also learned that there will be a pump track springing up in the South Delta area in the near future. If you live in the area and you would like to help, let us know by clicking the volunteer button and we will try to get you in contact with the builders!


Saturday, November 5, 2011

Indoor 4x Racing

Indoor 4X racing is back again this year at the Abbotsford Indoor BMX track.The schedule for the 2011/12 season has been posted. The first race is Tuesday Nov. 22, but you can show up to practice Tuesday and Thursday nights after November 15. More info here

Time to learn How to Gate start from Jared Graves

Sunday, October 23, 2011

dirtwest spotlight - Norco Aurum 1



This a new series for us here at dirtwest. The dirtwest Spotlight series will be an ongoing "real-rider" product review series. For our first episode we were lucky enough to borrow a pre-production version of the brand new 2012 Norco Aurum 1.

We took this bike to a lot of lower mainland BC mountains: Burke Mountain, Burnaby Mountain, Mt. Fromme, Whistler Bike Park and Invergarry, an inner-City jump spot. Most of this video was shot(after work) in Invergarry Park(City of Surrey Bike park coming Spring/Summer 2012). Here is our take on the fantastic new Downhill rig:

Our impressions of this bike were really positive: The Aurum 1 was Light and confident bike to ride. The bike features a tapered headtube, a detail shared among many of Norco's 2012 line up. This feature provides the strongest frame possible while keeping weight to an absolute minimum.

The new A.R.T. suspension is another stand-out feature. ART is an acronym for Advanced ride technology. Basically, ART means your suspension system is tuned respective to the size frame you purchase, something uncommon in the bike industry. The Aurum's new ART suspension design handled small stutter bumps and hard square edge hits really well. The Aurum was fast and precise over rough terrain, and pedaled extremely well.

The bike accelerated rapidly and braked responsively in all conditions. I suspect this great performance is largely due to the use of ART suspension and the hydroformed aluminum frame and light weight parts our Aurum 1 came spec'd with.

We appreciated Norco's attention to detail on the bike. Cable routings were neat and tidy. The Aurum1 runs an X9 10 speed drivetrain with Syntace's X-12 axle system; used together the Aurum had incredibly crisp and precise shifting. Another nice detail were the bike's integrated fork bumpers. Overall, The Aurum is great looking bike, it is equipped with an excellent spec, and best of all the bike is extremely quiet.

Special thanks to Norco for lending us this bike for review!
For more info on the Aurum visit http://www.norco.com

Watch us take the Aurum 1 down Ninja Cougar/Fade to Black at Whistler Bike Park. Filmed on a GoPro HD Hero:
Watch the Aurum 1 GoPro footage from Ninja Cougar/Fade to Black at Whistler Bike Park:


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Toyohashi Cruisin

Toyohashi Japan has got some great looking spots to see. The bike riding there looks amazing. It seems there are more forgotten places to immerse yourself in than one would expect. This post features photos from our friend's blog.


Read more at  http://daddyinjapan.blogspot.com


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Brandon Semenuk

Brandon Semenuk rode in Utah at some point in the past. This video by Trek depicts how his time was spent. He also talks a bit about a shoulder injury. As always Brandon is super exciting to watch and uber creative whilst on bike.

Watch:

Garett Buehler

Rides some North Shore... Good Shore, not the other kind.

Garett Buehler Fall 2011 Edit on pinkbike.com

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Welcome to the Jungle

The Jungle Trails from Washington.
It is hard to imagine the amount of time and hard work that has gone into this spot. Anyone who has built trails or jumps will appreciate just how much work has gone into these trails.

Brasov Pumptrack

Today's pumptrack post comes all the way from Romania. Check out the weird plug-ins they have over there.

Watch this creative edit of an amazing looking track now:

More Mountain Biking Videos

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Steve Smith

Steve Smith rides an awesome looking trail. Clearly filmed while he was still riding for Evil

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Team Clonc

If you like hip hop and sweet tricks on cruddy bikes, This is for you:

Tottenham Track




Rowan Sorrell and his crew at Back on Track have produced an amazing looking pump trail called the Lordship Loop. The trail is surfaced with aggregates to provide a year-round riding facility. The singletrack trail features rollers, berms, roller doubles and step-up jumps and will be rideable by all abilities but with more challenging jumps for experienced riders.  Sadly, The trail is located in Tottenham, UK


Friday, September 30, 2011

Frisco Bike Park

Colorado has City built bike parks on lock-down. The second such park just opened. It features lots of jumps, trails, a pump track and is all City funded-rider built. This is the model for succesful bike parks.

Monday, September 26, 2011

dirtwest hotlaps

The dirtwest hotlaps series continues. This time around Derek follows Jordan down Whistler Bike Park. The trails featured in the video are Ninja Cougar and Fade to Black. The feature bike is the 2012 Norco Aurum 1 (watch for our bike-check soon). Special thanks to Norco for lending us the preproduction downhill bike!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

604 pump track

It has been a while since We've posted about the 604. I dropped by to take a photo of the track today. Here it is:
604 pump track 9/25/2011
The track has seen quite a change since last February
604 pump track 2/11/2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Dave Thompson

We've posted about Dave Thompson before. If you haven't seen him ride, do so now.
With so many insane clips in this edit. Dave clearly rides on another level.

Silvia Films

Mark sent this one over:

This video was made by a couple of guys called Karl and Matt. I know nothing about them, except that they make really great videos and ride super well. Check out their site here. This edit was shot in Kamloops and showcases top level riding, filming, and editing.

Watch this now:

Silvia - Karl and Matty on pinkbike.com

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NSMBA twoonie race

Andrew from NSMBA sent this one over:
"NSMBA Presents The Last Toonie Race of 2011

    The North Shore Mountain Bike Association and the North Shore Bike Shop present their fourth and final Toonie Bike Race for the 2011 series.    Cap your summer off September 17th with a fun event on Fromme.  It's going to be an 80's themed costume race with totally tubular and bodacious prizes.

Caretaker

We at dirtwest are big fans of Video Marsh. The creative Canadian video director is back again with a new music video. Their latest creation is for the experimental electronic artist: Caretaker for the track: I Feel As If I Might Be Vanishing.
Watch:

Directed by Video Marsh
Cinematography and editing by Nic Brown

From the album An empty bliss beyond this World

Alta Vista

This was beamed over by Steven. Filmed at the Alta Vista Pump Track in Whistler.
I like everything about this video, Watch:
At the Pump Track on pinkbike.com

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Danny Hart

The 2011 UCI Downhill world Championships went down this weekend in Champery Switzerland. Regular readers at Dirtwest will know we love 19 year-old Danny Hart's bucking wild riding style. This year he won the Championships by almost twelve seconds on the rain-drenched, super steep course. I must admit I am glad to see someone other than Aaron Gwin win a race. Our other favorite Downhill rider Brendan Fairclough took a handy 4th(just wait 'til his knee is fixed) Here's a pre race video from Dirt:



Watch Danny Hart's amazing run through some of the toughest conditions imaginable.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Port Kells Park

Today at Lucky Trails:
Thanks to: the City of Surrey, Special thanks to: Denis @the City. Cliff, who donated amazing dirt to the dig day. Kevin, the excellent machine operator who made the plan into a reality. We were super happy to be a part of this project.

Watch the a time-lapse of the dig day

We expect to hold a Partners in Parks/dirtwest 'buff the jumps' day at the Port Kells bike park in September. Check back for more info.

More photos after the jump>>

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

dirtwest hotlaps

Episode 2 of the dirtwest hotlaps series continues. This time around Derek takes the GoPro out to Invergarry Bike Park in Surrey BC. The lines ridden in the video are E and B. enjoy!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

BrainTrust Fund

Andrew beamed this one over:

Make a video wearing a Nutcase helmet for a chance to win $5,000. Sign up before August 26th.

Check out http://sponsormyhead.com/ for more details


Friday, August 12, 2011

Changing gears with your mind

So a team of morons decided it was a great idea to invent a bike you can change gears with your mind. A couple of questions:

1. Don't we already do that? Just faster and better using our own hands?
2. Why in the hell did anyone bother designing this piece of crap?
3. Now we can change gears with our minds, yet we still have to use derailleurs? WTF!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Mtb Strength Training

Why not learn from the guy who helped Aaron Gwin win the UCI World Cup Championship this year?

This time he talks shoulders. Listen up.

The Hidden Words

This is a brand new video by the folks at Video Marsh -Purveyors of the finest music videos money can buy. Video Marsh has appeared on this site several times before with their music videos for Canadian Artists: Caribou and Crystal Castles.
Their latest collaboration is with The Hidden Words. A new project by Alden Penner(and others) formerly of The Unicorns and the band: Clues.

Watch:

From the album Free Thyself From The Fetters Of This World
To be released Autumn 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

La Bresse

Round 6 of the UCI World Cup rolls into the town of La Bresse, France this weekend. Trek World Racing rider Aaron Gwin has already tied up the title for Champion this season. He has won 4 out of the 5 races so far this season. Will he win again in round six? We'll find out soon. Tune into Freecaster for raceday.
 Watch the Friday Chit Chat drom Dirt.

More Mountain Biking Videos

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Save Sumas

Nothing new here: An American Hedge Fund is trying to ravage the epic mountain bike destination that is Sumas Mountain. Sign this Petition to help stop rich jerks profiteering while destroying the world.
Support the FVMBA
View of Clear Cut on Sumas from Time Killer - Winter '09

The end.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Anthony Messere

Anthony Messere is awesome. He took home third place at Redbull Joyride slopestyle competition at Kokanee Crankworx Saturday night. From everyone here: Congratulations Anthony! Stellar riding!

Without a doubt; if Anthony had stayed up on his final run, he would have taken home the Gold.

Check out his amazing runs below on freecaster:
One more video of Anthony after the jump>>

Friday, July 22, 2011

Pump Track Challenge

Rules:
• Dual heat formats with single elimination ladders (seeded by morning time trials)
• Riders start going off opposite sides of center start platform
• Lefts or Rights choice of riders – if not in agreement, coin toss by the referee
• Start Procedure/ Face Off – feet on ground, hands off bars. Starter confirms riders ready to pump, bell rings & riders touch knuckles then drop onto course
• Finish – first one back to platform after one full lap (electronic eye results to call first rider back to finish platform)
REBROADCAST HERE:

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Kokanee Crankworx

Kokanee Crankworx has rolled into town for another 10 days of Mountain bike Mayhem.
The action kicked off last night with a super exciting Dual Slalom race. Mitch Ropelato beat out Mick Hannah in mens finals. Micayla Gatto placed a close second behind Jill Kintner from the USA.

The web broadcasts will keep coming until Sunday, July 24th with Canadian Open Enduro wrapping things up. Major events to watch for are: Garbanzo DH, Jeep Air DH, the Teva Best Trick Showdown, the Ultimate Pumptrack Challenge, Giant Slalom, and Red Bull Joyride.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Tynehead Perimeter Trail

The Tynehead East Perimeter Trail officially opens tomorrow check out our write up including a route map for cyclists in the City of Surrey HERE

Brandon Semenuk

Watch this for some rainy interviews with Brandon Semenuk and some of THE best bike handling I've ever seen. EVER.

604 pump track

Here is a small update on track conditions: It is running fast and smooth.

Photos:

Kai watering the track

Mark buffing a roller

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Windham World Cup

Round #5 of the UCI World Cup is this weekend. This is the second year in a row the World Cup has stopped at Windham, New York. Aaron Gwin has won three of the four races so far this season and has qualified first on the short huck-to-flat track. Today's race should be interesting, as it is one of the last opportunities for the other close contenders to bump Aaron Gwin out of the top position

DirtTV interviews the top ten qualifiers:

Finals video after the jump>>>

Friday, July 8, 2011

Monday, July 4, 2011

the woods

The step up has sure come a long way since last July. The landing got a wee bit wider and little taller yesterday. Now broadcasting in HD


Sumas Mountain

Proposed Gravel Pit on Sumas Mountain Seriously Threatens Mountain biking
266531 BC Ltd has made application to begin new gravel mining on Sumas Mountain. This gravel pit will affect access to the Sumas Mt. Regional Park as well as destroy “Time Killer” in its entirety. Access to “Devils Throat”, “World Cup” and “Noah Fear” will likely be blocked as well. Mountain biking in the Abbotsford area will suffer greatly if this application goes ahead.

>>>Follow this link to the FVMBA before JULY 9 TH

>>>Or Comment to Integrated Land Management Bureau of BC

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado is doing exactly what we want to see lower mainland Cities do for biking. Valmont is the future of community bike parks. Natural surface trails are an amenity and need to be viewed as a park facility. Most importantly: trails have a place in our park system.

Friday, July 1, 2011

SheGNARnigans

Our friends have started a new web series called: 'SheGNARnigans'. The series is produced by a tight crew of talented riders from Whistler and surrounding areas.
The SheGNARnigans series will present the mountain biking scene of the Sea to Sky Corridor. Episodes feature some of the best talent sprouting out of the local area. Enjoy!

Thursday, June 30, 2011

dirtwest hotlaps - Mount Seymour

Jordan blew the rear end off his Norco Shore at Whistler today. The video below features Jordan on a recent  Mount Seymour hotlap.

Mont Sainte Anne

The 2011 UCI world cup continues for round #4 in Mont Sainte Anne this weekend. Dirt magazine's latest world cup chit chit is online now. Get a good look at Steve Smith's gross mustache, Danny Hart talks about stuff. Kenny G recommends some books. And a small update from Sam Hill's mechanic: Jacy on Sam's injury status.
Helmet Cam after the jump>>

Rush Hour

Rush hour just doesn't look so bad on bikes.
This is what riding to work is like at 8:30 am in Utrecht, Netherlands

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Merritt

Merritt... no longer just  Mountainfest.

Its also a great place to ride. Watch these two dudes absolutely destroy this ribbon of trail:

Monday, June 27, 2011

Girls.

Who doesn't love girls? Watch this short film showing 15 different women involved in extreme sports like trials, moto, skateboarding, snowboarding, freeskiing, mountain biking and more...

2011 SORCA DH series

Friday, June 24, 2011

the woods

I threw together some POV footage Jordan and myself captured while riding the woods jumps recently. Watch:

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tynehead Perimeter Trail

Jeremy from BEST just beamed this one over:

TYNEHEAD PERIMETER TRAIL OPENING DAY
Saturday July 16th, 2011
11:00 am to 3:00 pm
the new overpass linking Tynehead to North of the Freeway.
New Surrey cycling Map
If its anything like the Central Valley Greenway, I'm going to love it... More after the jump>>

Ned's

We rode Ned's Atomic Dustbin on Mount Seymour recently. This POV edit features Jordan, following Davis down the classic North Shore trail

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Invergarry


before
after
We dropped by for an afternoon ride at Invergarry park today. The forest is greening in nicely and the jumps are riding really well. Check out some 'before and after' photos from our day in the woods:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Leogang World Cup

Round 3 of the UCI 2011 DownHill World Cup went down last weekend in Austria. This year some new names are rising to the top of the circuit. Steve Smith placed Fourth, Aaron Gwin won by Two seconds on the muddy course and carries the Leader Jersey. Here's DirtTV's edit of the finals.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Sanomagic

Mark just beamed over this article about these amazing bikes built of mahogony. The builder is a ninth generation shipwright from Japan. No word on if the builder plans to produce a Downhill bike in the future.

I know what you're thinking: Wooden bicycles that don't suck? YUP.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Chris Akrigg

Chris Akrigg is one of my favorite riders out there. It seems like he can do anything. Watch his latest edit below...

UCI World Cup

Round 2 went downlast weekend in Scotland. Round three is next week in Leogang Austria. Dirt put together a nice edit of race day. There have been lots of 'up and comers' in the top ten so far this year. Its great to see some names like Danny Hart on the box.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Texas Toast

Texas Toast Bmx jam. Worth a watch... there are Lots of gems in this video. Chase Hart had to be my favorite of the vid. Also note the trials course at the beginning.

Monday, May 30, 2011

3rd annual Darcy Cruise

The 3rd annual Darcy Lane Memorial Cruise went down last Saturday night. A huge group of the lower mainland's finest riff-raff showed up for a great evening of story telling, Kokanee swilling and Cruising around Surrey. It was amazing to see the impact one individual had on so many lives. We love you, ya Bastard!

More photos after the jump.....
Darcy's Bench in Green Timbers Urban Forest

Cruisin'

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Darcy Lane Memorial Ride

The 3rd annual Darcy Lane memorial ride happens this Saturday May 28th.
1st Darcy Lane memorial ride

Come out for a fun Kokanee-fueled cruise through Surrey, we'll take Darcy's old lap through town and stop at all his old haunts. See you there!

Meet @ 5:30pm at the Bike Zone, #102-15420 Fraser Highway, Surrey

Ride starts around 6pm

More info at Vancruisers.ca


Mike Montgomery

Banshee rider Mike Montgomery takes some new tricks to dirt. Watch him session a giant step up at Woodward west. Listen to the cows and Ogres cheering him on?

Mike Montgomery Mayhem - More Mountain Bike Videos

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Port Kells Park

We had a great turn-out at the meeting last Thursday. We met with Denis, Alana and Preeti from the City of Surrey as well as a number of youths from around the lower mainland to discuss improvements and designs for upgrades to Port Kells park.

Preeti, Alana, and Dennis from City of Surrey


Everyone was asked for their opinions on the future of Port Kells Bike park. The Vote was unanimous in favor of the dirtwest designs for a new pumptrack and 3 rows of step-up table-top jumps and a new taller start mound.

meeting in session


The City is taking our designs back to their Design team for review, and to form an action plan for the upcoming dig day and how to best spend the ~$2000 budget the City of Surrey has to spend towards upgrades to the bike park.
dirtwest designs on display
In the meantime we have contacted one of the contractors who built Willoughby bike park in Langley. He has informed us that a $2000 budget would allow him to operate a machine for two days at the park and supply dirt all within the budget available. We suggested to Denis at the meeting the idea of hiring an individual with real riding and jump building experience to maximize the work done by the machine and ensuring that it is not money wasted on an inexperienced contractor. We will forward this info to the City of Surrey.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Port Kells Park

We are meeting with the representatives from the City of Surrey tonight. We will be discussing improvements to the dirt jumps as well as the addition of a pump track at Port Kells Park in Surrey.

Here's a sneak peek of what we've prepared:

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

604 pump track

We rode the pump track yesterday. It was warm and sunny and we had a great time:

the woods

We dropped by the woods jumps yesterday after hearing they had suffered some damage. We patched up the two affected lips and all is well again.

It was cool to see two separate groups of young riders while we were there doing maintenance.

Here's Photos:
A minus after fix
More after the jump>>

Friday, May 13, 2011

Port Kells Park

At the Invergarry Open house we asked about revamping/repairing the Port Kells Dirt Jumps. We submitted a design requesting more quality dirt so we can make a new roll in, turn the jumps into step-up table tops(low maintenance and still good riding) as well as a pump track.

The City want s to consider all the opinions of local riders and is holding a meeting at the park on May 19 at 6pm. Come out and comment on Dirtwest's plans and have your input heard. If we are successful with this effort we intend to continue helping the City reform it's existing bike parks (Cloverdale) as well as create new ones. (Fleetwood, Fraser Heights, etc..)
Dirtwest's Preliminary Design (changes to come)