Norco News

DH seeding runs are now complete. The stage has been set for racing this weekend and the order that things will unfold. Starting off with the Junior Men, Nick Geddes set the bar VERY high. He came down the extremely dry, dusty course in a staggering 4:52.72 placing him in 6th place. This time would also hold up through the day as the fastest Canadian DH run for the day. Once the Junior Men finished, the Elite Women to the course on where Fionn Griffiths put down a solid run seeding her 13th for the finals. The Last Norco to come down was Dirt Norco Race Team's Ben Reid racing for Ireland. Ben had a super solid run with a time of 4:44.58. This run qualified Ben for 18th spot in the finals. With a Hurricane rolling in, the course is going to get wet. Don't be surprised to see some moving around in the standings for the weekend. Those that can deal with the wet will be bound to take advantage of the situation 4X racing is coming up and XC is just around the corner. Check back soon for updates. In the meantime, here are a few photos from today's racing. ***** UPDATE***** Fionn Griffiths has qualified 2nd for the Dual Slalom. The Finals happen tonight.

The final World Cup for 2010 took place in Windham NY and was a look into what may happen next weekend at the World Championships in Mont St. Anne QC. For the XC racing, Both Andrew Watson and Catherine Vipond were racing. Andrew Watson was having a solid race when a mechanical lead to the unfortunate script of DNF beside his name. Catherine Vipond on the other hand finished a strong 42nd for the day. Fuelled by gravity, Norco international riders Ben Reid, Bernard Kerr and Fionn Griffiths raced the DH. Ben Reid Finished 25th, Bernard 54th and for the Women Fionn came in for 10th place. The Team is on their way to Mont St Anne now for the World Champs. Check back soon for updates.

Members of the Norco Factory Team, Norco World Team and Dirt Norco Race team have all shifted east following Crankworx and are now in Windham NY. This is home to the final World Cup race of the season. Norco Factory XC riders Catherine Vipond and Andrew Watson have been ripping up the Cross Country course while Fionn Griffiths, Bernard Kerr and Ben Reid have been practicing the DH and are now through Qualification. Going into the Finals, Fionn has qualified in 10th for the women, Bernard 55th for the men and Ben is up in 34th for the men. Good luck to everyone over the next couple days of racing. For full DH qualification results check out canadiancyclist.com Photos by Jonathan Duncan

For 2011 Norco is showcasing perhaps their best line of mountain bikes yet. Not a single category has been left out of the mix with everything from 24" to 29", XC to DH, cheap to expensive, you name it - Norco has the bike for you. Not only just a bike, but killer graphics, nice color schemes, and above all else great component specs. While there might no be a Norco dealer near you just yet, keep your eyes open as I wouldn't be surprised if there will be one soon. Read more at: bikerumor.com

Alex Chisholme had only one wish regarding Whitehorse's bike park - that it had gotten here sooner. The 19-year-old entered the pro category of the Goat Style Bike Jam held in Creston, BC, in July, and said that, while he failed to reach the final round, the experience of riding alongside the pros was worth the trip. Growing up in Whitehorse, Chisholme was just one of the riders looking to reach that next level. "For me, when I was in a prime age, trying to find jumps, there wasn't that much at that time," he said. "I enjoyed the park last year, it was good, I rode these dirt jumps a lot, and it was nice to finally see a rhythm section in town, because most of the jumps that I'd ridden previously were just one-hits, and then you go back and hit one jump and come back again." Read more at: whitehorsestar.com photo by JONATHAN RUSSELL/WHITEHORSE STAR

Last weekend in sunny Bromont,Quebec the Canada Cup XC series wrapped up for 2010. To date this has been a great Season for our Factory Team riders Andrew and Catherine, both in the running for Overall series titles. Well they both ran into a little bad luck... Catherine flatted on her 2nd lap, having to run into the pits for a wheel change. She held strong fighting back some spots, but had to settle for 2nd Overall in the series....Not Bad. Andrew was having a trouble free race battling it out with fellow National Team rider Derek Zandstra and Great Brittan's Olympian Liam Killen, just before the last piece of single track he lost control and found himself hitting the deck hard. After collecting thoughts he rolled off course, not being able to finish. Good news being he had enough points to hold on and WIN the Overall.. With a 1st and 2nd in the overalls, both look forward to a World Cup in New York followed by World Championships in Mont St Anne in the coming weeks.

Ryan Leech doesn't care about the rain. When the drops start quietly splattering his set, where he's standing and chatting an hour before his show, he doesn't even look up. Still, it's a hell of a time for the sky to start pissing on Quebec City. The Canadian town has blown out every stop for its 400th anniversary celebration, and on this particular July weekend the yearlong festivities happen to merge with Velirium, a two-week-long mountain bike festival culminating in World Cup racing on nearby Mont-Sainte-Anne. Read More at: bicycling.com

Hello Everyone! I (Ben Kaufmann) Just finished up with a good 3 and a half week tour out to the central western side of Canada for some Craz-E-Crew Stunt shows. Pretty exhausting but fun with the 3 to 4 shows a day at 20-30 minutes each. All that riding and driving almost the whole 7000 km round trip from Ottawa, I feel it all has hit me harder than being jet lagged! All together the trip was amazing! We stopped in every town or city we were able so we could ride the local parks and street. The tour brought us to perform shows in Mattawa, Ontario, Longlac, Ontario, Red Deer, Alberta, Strathmoore, Alberta, and Regina, Saskatchewan. We got to ride some pretty awesome stuff along the way. We all had the pleasure to ride Millennium Skatepark in Calgary, Kenora, Ontario`s Skatepark, Winnipeg`s Fork`s Skatepark, Strathmoore`s Skatepark, Sudbury, Ontario`s Dirt Trails, Street in almost every town we were at. The team had tons of press coverage for the shows we performed and here is one of the article interviews I had with the Red Deer Advocate. albertalocalnews.com Photo by PAULA TROTTER/Red Deer Advocate

Norco Factory Team rider Sam Dueck just finished competing in the Kokanee Crankworx competition in Whistler BC. Riding on his Norco Empire SE, and pulling off a massive Super-Flip, up top and finishing with some crazy style Sam took fourth position in the final. Congratulations Sam. For more info on the results check out pinkbike.com

For the 2010 model year, Norco axed the popular Six from its lineup of mountain bikes, and that decision made perfect sense when one considered the bikes that Norco had in its catalog at the time. The Six overlapped with the 2010 Fluid LT, which was meant to be used as a rider's all-day and all-mountain ride, and with the 2010 Shore, which was intended to cover a rider's park / shuttle / freeride needs. read more at: pinkbike.com

Norco Factory Team rider Nick Geddes is two for two at the 2010 Kokanee Crankworx. Starting off Saturday, Nick took the win at the Dual Slalom and today, doubled the victory with a second in the Canadian Open Enduro. To Read more about both these events check out the Enduro and the Dual Slalom

I am now home from Colorado and stoked on the final result! after a lot of hard luck and disappointment on my qualifying runs and my first final run i finally was able to pull it off in the end and made it down to the bottom of the course that has been just killing the riders all week. I was so happy to be finished my run and be down at the bottom in once piece and i even did all the tricks i wanted to do. Read more at: norco.com/blog

Norco released their 2011 product line this month to an eager group of MTB press wonks and Norco dealers in North Vancouver, BC. It was the perfect setting for Norco to announce the integration of Advanced Ride Technology (A.R.T.) suspension design in select models for 2011. Our hotel was no more than 30 minutes away from some legendary North Shore trails, and Norco gave us the low-down as well as letting us sample the goods on their local trails. Read more at: dirtragmag.com

Check out some photos of the all new 2011 Norco Lineup on the norco blog. Who knows, one of these could be your next bike! norco.com/blog

This weekend was a fury of racing with Canada Cup XC and Nationals in DH. Check out the results! Elite XC Women - 36km (5 laps) 1. Amanda Sin (Can) 3 Rox Racing 1:55:38 2. Emily Batty (Can) Trek World Racing 1:57:44 3. Catherine Vipond (Can) Norco Factory Team 2:03:00 Elite XC Men - 43.2km (6 laps) 1. Derek Zandstra (Can) 3 Rox Racing/Scott 1:59:56 2. Andrew Watson (Can) Norco Factory Team 2:01:51 3. Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona 2:02:18 For full XC results go to pedalmag.com Junior Expert DH Men 1. Remi Gauvin (BC) PerformX/Evil 3:28.51 2. Nicholas Geddes (BC) Norco Factory Team and BC Team 3:31.83 3. Kyle Sangers (ON) J&J Cycle 3:33.33 For full DH results go to canadiancyclist.com

Justin Kerr from Team H&R Block/Norco burst his way to the front of the pack to open Bike Fest for the invited men on a short, but very difficult surprise Prologue on Thursday. Only one kilometre into the race, riders found themselves on a gentle climb up Buffalo Street. Suddenly the riders hit "Surprise Corner," a steep, sharp hairpin turn that takes them to the finish line. Read More at: norco.com/mediahits

If there is one place in the world to find the top mountain bike mechanics it is at a World Cup Race. Well, Dirt Norco Race Team mechanic Alastair Beckett was nice enough to go through rear derailleur adjustment for us at the Leogang World Cup. Watch the video at: norco.com/blog

It has been a cold and wet, West Coast Spring - absolutely perfect for mountain biking! Whistler is full-on at any time of year, but if you love Mountain biking, this spring has started out to be fantastic for exciting trail riding action! Yesterday, we climbed up Cougar Mountain to the trail head of the Flank to Alpine. We hit deep snow at the 3600 foot trail head, and so, had to descend back down the logging road - bummer! Maybe in a month if the sun shines hot again! The trails below 3500 feet have been just awesome, and as always the trail maintenance crews have been out creating some pretty cool new rides. read more at: whistlermountainbike.com

Last July, when Greg Martin rolled across the finish line to win the 2009 Singlespeed World Championships bike race in Canmore, Alberta, one thing was missing from the rig he'd pedaled for 24 hours straight: a bike chain. Martin was riding a bike equipped with a belt drive instead. As innovations in the world of cycling go, the Carbon Belt Drive system from Gates, a company in Denver, could be a game changer. The humble bike chain--greasy, gunk-prone, finicky if not lubed and maintained--has been standard equipment for decades. But belt drives, which employ a flexible loop of polyurethane embedded with carbon-fiber cords, give bikers a new option. Read More at: outside-blog.away.com

This year, the BC Ride to Conquer Cancer went from a successful event to a outstandingly successful event. 2009′s impressive total of over 6 million dollars was increased by more than 50% to nearly 10 million. What an impressive amount for a two day event. The really impressive part is that given a participation rate of about 2400, that is more than $4000 per person!!!! read more at: norco.com/blog