The New Zealand Diaries

UK riders Ali Parkin, Joe Flanagan and Matt Ineson are living it up in New Zealand for the off-season, and are sending us frequent updates and random photos from their travels.

Ancillotti Team Line-up 2010

Rhys Willemse and George Brannigan will ride for the Italian marque Ancillotti in 2010.

Rhys

George

Rhys Willemse is a talented rider who will compete in elite World Downhill Cup and some 4X races. As junior he scored 13th overall place (first in his category) in the 2009 Maribor World Cup ,  won the 2009 junior aussie downhill championship, 2008 junior aussie 4X Championship, took 4th in 2009 junior worlds in Canberra, plus a couple of wins in 2009 NPS races (UK series). He will be based in Doganaccia Ski Resort along with his Kiwi team mate George Brannigan who will be competing for junior World Championship and World Cup series.
George started racing 3 years ago and has taken good results in his categories. He won the U19 New Zealand series in 2008, 7th at 2009 junior worlds in Canberra, and also scored a very impressive win in Bromont 2009 taking the 41st overall place in elite as major highlights for him this year. Together they will represent the Ancillotti Team in the downhill World Cup Series, some 4X World Cup stages, Italian DH series, iXS series and some other promotional events. www.ancillotti-team.blogspot.com

Transition Race Project

Distilled Digital: Long Term Review

For best viewing quality click here >>> Mongoose

Neko Mulally on Trek

The East Coast hits the big time:

Distilled Digital: Nicolai

For best viewing quality click here>>>> Nicolai

Blinky on Lapierre for 2010

Sam Blenkinsop has been picked up by French brand Lapierre for 2010. He joins Nico Vouilloz and the UK’s Sam Flockhart.

Nico

Blinky

Sam Flockhart

Foot Out Flat Out 2: Fast and Loose

Distilled’s UK faction sent us of Aaron Bartlett’s much-anticipated movie “Foot Out Flat Out 2: Fast and Loose” for review. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good MTB movie to watch, so on a snowy New York Saturday I sat down to check it out. FOFO2 is pretty much split between World Cup action and rider sections, and it was the latter that I enjoyed watching the most. If watching fast, wooded, downhill singletrack being torn apart then this movie is for you. Most of the trails are in the UK which means they are fast, loamy, and weaving through trees all the way down. The talent is also supplied entirely by the UK, with many of the riders in the Junior category, but since the best up-and-coming talent seems to be mostly from there these days anyway, it’s a safe bet that Fast and Loose could not have come up with faster, more stylish riders to film had it looked outside the UK. Stand-outs for me were 19 year-old Joe Smith of Kona and Bernard Kerr, 18. These guys ooze style and their raw speed through some impossibly tight and steep trails was a joy to watch. Other notables were the incredibly smooth Danny Hart of LaPierre and another fast youngster Harry Heath.  Add to this some trails and motocross sections to mix it up, along with short-but-sweet rider interviews a great soundtrack, and you have a thoroughly entertaining film. One critique would be the editing which at times was a little choppy and definitely without frills. The quality of the riding footage means that this is quickly forgotten, and substance trumps style every time. For lovers of technical downhill runs being destroyed by stylish young pros with the utmost finesse, make your Christmas complete and grab a copy of FOFO2.

Keep the Brooklyn Banks Open

Forwarded to us by Anson Wellington: “This is the person who needs to hear concerns about the brooklyn banks closing. If you have time and could send him an e-mail or call(if you really have time).I was told that if enough people call/email in then they will realize how important this spot is to the NYC “action sports” community. Regardless of what happens down there(and I will have updates this week) the more people that contact him the better chance we have of making sure that any work done near/at skate spots is done in a manner that keeps the community that uses the space in mind. Please pass this information on to people who you know will e-mail him as well.

Press Secretary at NYC Department of Transportation. Seth Solomonow
ssolomonow@dot.nyc.gov
212-839-4850

PS. As you can see we lost another spot this week(FDR Jersey Barrier) totally fenced off for DOT staging. With over a 1/2 a mile of spots to put this it was put right in front of the barrier?!

“Riding Addiction” by Thierry Neau

You may remember Thierry as the maker of the excellent “Wideopen” DVD a couple of years back. Here is a promo video he made for French racer Thibaut Ruffin and his team “Riding Addiction”.

www.fastlinesproductions.com