There once was a day when the Kamloops Bike Ranch was home to massive mounds of finely crafted dirt and riders galore. Over the years those mounds have dealt with the violence of the sun and much more riding than care. Early last week Taylor Hollstedt realized something was missing these days. He Figured it would be a good idea to let local rampaging redneck and jump building extraordinaire, Brad Stuart, have his way with this precious zone. He missed riding dirt jumps and having a place to gather with friends so much that he filled up a bob cat full of diesel and let Brad loose for the remainder of that week. Excitement was in the air when the word got out. Those massive mounds of dirt were quickly taking shape again. Coming back to life, taller, wider and steeper than ever.

It is getting cold in the Loops and the riding season is quickly falling behind us. Taylor Hollstedt wanted to celebrate the return of the bike park in a big way. In only a few short days he managed to bring together over 30 riders to help pack, shape and ride the new jumps. Everyone from the big dogs to the little guys and the little guys’ parents were in attendance. Weiners were eaten, bikes were jumped and smiles were passed from face to face. When the already clouded over sky turned black
the temperature dropped dramatically and everyone packed it in for the year, taking comfort with the new dirt piles. Already anxious for spring. Thanks for the “Weiner Jam,” Taylor.

A big congratulations goes out from RaceFace to Rocky Mountain Team rider Chris Sheppard. Chris recently took the elite men Canadian Cyclo-Cross (CX) title, his first national title since the Canadian junior mountain bike championships in 1991. The two-plus kilometre circuit barely gave riders a moment to rest, with multiple short steep climbs, and constant twists and turns on the flat sections. While the weather conditions were excellent, with sun for much of the day – rain earlier in the week made many of the corners slippery, and a number of riders crashed as they tried to push the pace. The Rocky Mountain CX team handles their bikes through the tough conditions with their RaceFace Next and Cadence handlebars, stems and seatposts. A big shout out to fellow Rocky Mountain team rider  Evan Guthie as well, with his 5th place finish in the CX National Under-23 race. Evan has had a tough year with injuries and its great to see him bounce back with this strong showing.

John Mac & the guys at United Cycle kindly invited us out to Edmonton for their annual Bike Expo last weekend. Tippie & I decided to kill two birds with one stone & visit some Race Face dealers whilst we were out there…


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*tap* *tap* *tap*  Is this thing on??

Hello, blog-i-verse.  This is my first transmission, and it’s great to be here.  I’m the ‘new guy’ at Race Face, and I’ve been brought on board to help with marketing and to manage our line of protection.  My official title is “Components/Protection Marketing Communications and Product Manager,” but you can call me by my self-appointed acronym: CPM-Squared.

If you look through my bio, you’ll see that I’ve been knocking around the bike industry for quite a while.  I was an original co-founder of Evil Bikes/e.thirteen components, and I’ve been racing 26″ wheels steadily for 20 years now (with the notable and embarrassing  exception of a season in the late 90′s when I ran some sweet 24×3.0′s).  Holy smokes, does that make me feel old.

“Irregardless” of my advancing age and receding hairline, I’m still as passionate about bikes and racing as I’ve ever been.  It’s great to be on board here at Race Face.  I hope to make my co-workers, the brand, and most of all, you the customers proud over the coming months and years.

See you out on the trails!

–John P.

Yours truly, absolutely destroying half the sport class and all pre-conceived notions of style in my first ever DH race, circa 1998.

So the final weekend of the Whistler Bike park has become my way of celebrating Thanksgiving. It makes sense to me to do this as I am so “thankful” for both my bikes and the bike park! the closing weekend of the 2010 season was much like the past few, wet cold and slippery! I love fall riding! This year I spent 1 of the final 3 days taking photos with CCN’s own Matt Mallory and good buddy/teammate/recent MTB hall of fame inductee Brett Tippie. We covered the mountain top to bottom and took over 500 shots! Matt has put some of these shots into a slideshow along with shots from a few other riders he worked with over the weekend. So a big thanks to Matt for doing this and to Wendy the awesome clothing designer at Raceface for keeping me dry and warm in the new Fall/Winter 2010 rain gear!


More Mountain Biking Videos

Arriving at Lorna Lake in style

Early Monday morning, as the dust was still settling from Crankworx, I found myself flying into the remote Coastal Mountains for one the most amazing bike trips of my life.

I was joining Chris Winter from Big Mountain Bike Adventures as a Tail Guide for an ultimate Bike Trip/Product Launch.   He was flying  7 media publications, 2 heads from Specialized Product & Marketing and renown photographer  Sterling Lorence deep into the South Chilcotins for one unbelievable Big Mountain experience that I was stoked and honoured to be apart of.   No one knew of a product launch so epic, and the best part was…it was all girls!!  (Well besides Chris and Sterling.)
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Crankworx is coming up here pretty quick. So gutted not to be riding but also so stoked for all my friends to come into town! It’s gonna be a rad week!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Specialized Women will be hosting two group rides. It is a great opportunity to get out there, try out some women’s specific bikes, meet some new friends and get pumped on bikes. I would like to say I will be leading you all around, that was the plan after all, but instead I will be there to help you get set up, send you on your way…and then hear about your epic adventure when all is said and done. It will be a lot of fun in a very unintimidating environment…all abilities are welcome.

If you can’t make it to the ride, come find me at Race Face and say hi….i’m hard to miss with the bright pink cast!!!

Recently snapped a couple pics of my bikes.

Banshee Legend MKII w/ Atlas FR goodies, Evolve post, and Sniper grips.



Banshee Rune w/ the super light and backcountry burly SIXC bar and crankset, Atlas AM stem, Dues post, and Sniper grips.



Both these bikes destroy their respective genres! I’ve become accustomed to referring to the Rune as my “magic bike” since it performs so well in so many situations. One day we’ll be happily accumulating long miles of backcountry exploring together while the next day we’ll throw down some downhill shuttles and stunts. Here’s a quick video from the Island Cup #1 in Cumberland where I pedaled the access road a couple times and poached the race course before shooting photos in the afternoon.

The Legend is obviously a pure downhill machine, but it still manages to feel nimble and active on the technical moves and jumps. Here’s a quick edit that Aaron LaRocque and I put together as part of a series of videos he did for Banshee bikes. You can check the rest of them here.

Of course the family album wouldn’t be complete without a couple snaps of my one-week old baby boy. Stoked on the new job title of “Dad”.

Matt from the North Shore Bike Shop in North Vancouver, BC just sent me these photos of some awesome Banshee custom builds he’s been working on. These bikes look great & best of all, they’re fully decked out in the latest Race Face components…

Jeremy's Banshee Spitfire

Banshee Scythe

Banshee Legend

Matt's Banshee Rampant

Give Matt at North Shore Bike Shop a call for your next custom build.

Most weekends James and I ride and dig alone. On the rare occasion a Taiwanese friend will show up and ride with us and then leave when the shovels come out. This weekend Clem Martin from Commencal, Mike Dutton from Spank Industries, Leo from Koxx and some other guys showed up from Taichung (where most bikes and bike parts are made) to ride with us.

James has been digging a lot and the jumps were really smooth. He added another foot and some lip to our left hand lip. I am not a fan of left hand hips but after hitting this one a couple of times I was able to get a decent table.
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