Archive for August, 2007

2008 Ghost ERT9000, can you say O-M-G?

by Tanja on August 31, 2007 in News, recent with No comments

I know.. I’m officially sponsored by Rocky Mountain, but when good stuff drops by… I can hardly help myself. Plus I have a certain weekspot for Ghost. They design their bikes in-house, spec ‘em like you’d dream of and sell ‘em for prices you won’t believe it. And I can hear you think… yes… they make an awesome ride too.

Ghost ERT 9000

Only regret is the seattube. It may have ring-setup that’s a bit small and I’d use clipless pedals or at least sexier pedals then these… but yeah…o dear lord! With a claimed weight of 15,3 kg, I can understand why they ship ‘em with Nobby Nic’s ;-)

» Check the specs of the ERT9000 and other bikes

Groningen 4X race: summerrace

by Tanja on August 26, 2007 in Events, recent with 2 Comments

I just got home from a long day of Groningen. It’s about 340 km in total for me, but apparently, dozens of riders took the trouble of heading out there. They came from as far as Germany. 9 am I parked the car, got my numberplate and did a few runs on my old Slayer. It’s the demo bike I borrowed earlier this year, when I was waiting for the Switch.

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Groningen 4X track

by Tanja on August 20, 2007 in Personal, recent with No comments

Yesterday we visited the 4x track in Groningen, for some reason I haven’t been there before and I wanted to see the track before next weeks race. It’s a nice track, starts with a small table and a tiny triple, then some nice stepdowns-to-berm where you pick up good speed. Then a peddly bit and a tight turn, two huge tables that I’m not sure what to do with and a really cool hipjump. I’m hoping to ride with a borrowed Slayer, as the Switch is a bit heavy for this kinda thing.

Weird thing was, after a week of bmx, riding a freeride-fully almosts feels like riding on a defective bike. It took a few runs before I had the feeling back and a had a few very nice runs. They’re building a Slopestyle track. It’s a down-slope with (a few) choises of lines and I’m not sure if I’m going to ride that race. I’d rather focus on having a goof 4x run and having fun.

Stephen Murray Jersey auction (wear your fav’s jersey)

by Tanja on August 16, 2007 in News, Personal, recent with No comments

On Peaty’s site I just read a blog post about a mate of his that crashed and got injured badly. He and Nigel Page collected signed jersey’s from the MTB pro’s and they are auctioning them at Fort Bill to help Stephan pay for the monstrous medical bills.

This is your change to do good and get something cool for it in return too! So get your bids into Nige ASAP ………. nigel @ nigelpage.com

» All pictures can be found here in this Flickr set.

I’m too stoked not to write about this

by Tanja on August 13, 2007 in Personal, recent with No comments

Tonight I had my first bmx training. I bought a cruiser a while ago and now summer-recess is over, it’s time to jump into it. In Apeldoorn there’s a really nice track and I asked if I could join in on the training to see if I’d like it. The first group are the little kids, as young a 5-6 years! And I joined the older group. Among a lot of other very talented riders, two recent worldchamps and little old me! At times I was hanging on by a thread, but the second half of the workout the bike started to make -more- sence to me and the track too. That’s when more fun kicked in, even then I was crunching like a maniac to keep up (or try to), but I liked it lots. The trainer gave a lot of excellent pointers. On how to start, how to place the cranks, your feet, your hand and upper body and how to crank once the gates down. I learned so much and I’m eager to learn so much more. This is cool!

New Formula One and Mega Brakes (2008)

by Tanja on August 9, 2007 in News, recent with No comments

BikeRadar just posted the scoop on new Formula brakes, One and Mega brakes for freeride- and downhill-bikes.

Bikeradar.com

Formula say the One and Mega brakes deliver about 20% more stopping power but in the same clean and refined manner of the Oros. With weight closely matching the Oro’s it’s clear that the new brakes will also find a place on everyday trail bikes as well as more specialist freeride and downhill rigs.

Formula One

Formula the One lever (2008) It may look like a pimped up Oro but there’s a whole lot more to the new One. The master cylinder’s reservoir that also serves as an expansion bladder is still housed in the lever body to keep it protected but the similarity ends there. The most notable difference is the addition of a gold CNC machined lever reach dial. This does away with fiddly Allen key adjustment and makes on the move tweaks far easier, especially if you’re wearing thick gloves.
The lever clamp is offset to help improve mounting options and Formula has ditched the two part banjo attachment going into the master cylinder in favour of a simpler inline hose.
Built to take the knocks of freeriding and downhill the One’s lever features a machined sheer off point. This is designed to save the master cylinder body from damage in the event of a crash. The lever also runs on an oversized pivot for improved stiffness and strength.

Formula Mega

The Mega carries same strength characteristics of the One but with fewer “fancy” parts. This means less machining with the reach dial replaced by an Allen key screw and there’s a two part calliper assembly instead of the single block of the One.

Having quoted the best parts of the post here, I’ll leave you with the one (pardon the pun) photo. For the rest of the post and more photo’s, you really should check out Bikeradar yourself. www.formula-brake.it hasn’t posted anything yet, 2008 products will be updates soon.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers King of the Hill, Dutch Slopestyle competition!

by Tanja on August 8, 2007 in Events, recent with No comments

Translated from a press release on the forum of Dirty Pages:

Stichting Bikepark Groningen presents for the first time a multi extreme mountainbike event: the Fujitsu Siemens Computers King of the Hill. Sunday august 26th SGB is the scene of the finale Dutch Fourcross Series-race, but also the Dutch National Champions 4x (Elite, women and juniors) and the King of Slopestyle competition. All in one day!

- Dutch Fourcross National Championship
- Dutch Fourcross Series Final
- King of Slopestyle

I’m not sure how this Slopestyle comp will work. They’re calling it MTB Slopestyle and plan to building a slopestyle course with drops and big jumps. They are promising a lot! Fujitsu Siemens Computers King of Slopestyle riders will be judged on height (to me this is a weird and unusual criteria), style, difficulty and flow. Most points will be awarded with the honorary titel of King of Slopestyle the First!

Sunday 26th, don’t forget!

More info: www.bikeparkgroningen.nl or www.fujitsu-siemens.nl.

Megavalanche… pour moi au ci

by Tanja on August 2, 2007 in Personal, recent with 2 Comments

Here it is, the elaborate and final report of a week in Alpe d’Huez to ride the Megavalanche. I promise I won’t mention the Mega (unless with good reason) again for at least 6 months.

This years Mega: Pour moi au ci, the terror, the stuff that broke, the helicopter ride, the pizza’s and much more.

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This guy rocked!

by Tanja on August 1, 2007 in Events, recent with 2 Comments

Moooooooo Megavalanche Moo!
We’ve seen this guy ride all weekend, and here’s his clip from the start of the Megavalanche. Look at him go… awesome!!! He finished 65th!!! And at the end of the clip he thanks everyone encouraging “La Varche”, you’re welcome mate, was awesome to see you ride!