So unless you have been living under a rock you will have been aware that Travis Rice (of The Art of Flying Helicopters in Slow Mo fame) had put together, with Red Bull, one crazy arse snowboard comp. To build the course they had to cut down over 60 living trees, see here for a bit of discourse, anyhow this clip is the first content to drop. Oh Travis won, his homie Gigi Ruff in second and his other homie Nico Mueller in third, keeping it all in the family.

All the info is in the poster, but the Tour De Peak is next weekend. There’s a shuttle day on the Saturday if you want to get in some Super D practice… Theres info on the Makara Peak website here or on their Facebook here. You can download the scorecard and Makara Peak Rally rules as a PDF here.

Ranger Steve getting in some practise on Aratihi

Waikato rippers Lewis Jones and Ryan McCrae have teamed up to bring you this rad little clip. Since the Spoke article on Lewis Jones dropped last issue ABD picked up Lewis and this is the first we have got to see of him shredding his new ABD Derelikt, and its to AC/DC!

Early season testing started for the Santa Cruz Syndicate with mechanics, engineers and riders arriving in the town of Imperia, Italy, for three days of extensive testing aboard the latest Santa Cruz full carbon V-10’s. The bikes were decked out with the Syndicate’s newest sponsor products from Fox and Shimano. The Syndicate’s choice to join forces with Shimano and Fox proved to be a great decision as the test session was incredibly successful.

“Testing was amazing, the most productive test session I have ever been to. Besides good riding and eating killer Italian food, our Syndicate family expanded with Fox and Shimano. I feel this was a great start to the year and I’m looking forward to more positive things to come in 2012,” said Greg Minnaar.

The testing took place on the long downhill racetrack in San Romolo with shuttle assistance from Roberto Vernassa from Argentina Bike. The five-man Fox crew was ready to gather information from suspension testing using their state of the art data acquisition equipment. Spirits were high as everyone got started off on the dark chilly mornings while the mechanics built a bonfire at the bottom of the track to stave off a bit of chill. Riders were warm and tingly inside with big grins after the first run.

“We were getting everyone up to speed on the new full carbon frame, Fox suspension, and Shimano components. With the frame being much lighter than the previous version we had to dial the suspension in because of less un-sprung weight. I’ve also been riding the new XTR brakes for some time now and can’t get over how impressive they are, particularly with modulation. Feedback from all the racers was what I was expecting, a new milestone in performance,” says Rob Roskopp.

Greg Minnaar exclaims, “I was blown away on the first ride down the rugged San Romolo track. The first thought was, this is a winning combo! Fitzy and his crew worked flat out to get us up to speed. Their passion, enthusiasm and suspension knowledge is going to be very positive to the Syndicate. It’s been awhile since I was last on Shimano, 2003…and that was a good year for me. I hope this is the good luck I’ll be needing to win another World Championship.”

Santa Cruz engineer Joe Graney says, “We look forward to a close relationship with the suspension experts at Fox. They arrived in Italy with a team of engineers and technicians – blowing everyone away with how they were able to accurately translate each rider’s input into measured improvements in speed and control. Shimano continues to push the envelope with technologies like Ice Tech brake rotors and the Shadow Plus derailleur, as well as the variety of options that can be configured for different conditions fitting perfectly with Santa Cruz Bicycles’ core values of customer choice, usable performance, durability and long term support.”

Our newest addition to the Syndicate, mechanic Jason Marsh says, “I’m super happy that we are using Fox Racing Shox and Shimano for the 2012 season. The new Fox 40 forks suit the carbon V-10 frame perfectly and the RC4 rear shock really compliments the VPP suspension design. The riders were all impressed on how good the bikes felt, even after the first run. I have worked with the Saint group-set for the last three seasons and I really like how they work. Saint cranks are super strong, brakes are simple to set up and the rear derailleur and shifter are super smooth and a nice set up. Finish and attention to detail can’t be matched. The support offered by the Fox team over the last few days has been superb and their race support is second to none. 2012 will be a great season.”

Steve Peat was surprisingly pleased, “We have had three awesome days testing and training in Italy. It was great to catch up with all my crew after a few down months throughout the winter and I was happy to get out on the Santa Cruz V-10 and trash it in the test situation. Fox is a company that I have watched over the years. They obviously have great product because the fast guys are using it and winning races now and again on it. And Shimano needs no introduction. It’s a no brainer that they have great products and I am looking forward to working with them at the races! We came up with some great set ups and I am now looking forward to the season. Now it’s our turn to give it a thrash on our V-10’s, 2012 should be fun!”

“The test session was a big learning curve for me. Having ridden Boxxer’s since I was about 14, I’m very used to the look and feel of the fork so it was a huge change. I really enjoyed the process of getting my new bike set up and it was interesting getting to know the characteristics of all the new products. The suspension seems almost limitless with it its adjustability and I think our bikes have entered a whole new realm of adaptability. Despite getting my ass kicked in the final race I had a really fun and productive three days,” said Josh Bryceland.

Tradition is that on the last day of testing we always have a race to see who is quickest. Once again, for the second time in a row, Peaty took the win. But unlike the first time when Greg wore the dress to dinner, it was Josh’s turn to wear a skirt. Since there were no women’s clothes handy, Josh had to improvise and craft a fashionable number out of a pair of pants. “His outfit was complete with his ‘special’ tiger underwear, “ chimes in Roskopp.

Joe Lawwill, Shimano’s MTB marketing manager says, “Shimano is very proud and excited to be working with Santa Cruz Bicycles and the iconic Syndicate race team. We are looking forward to a successful and exciting 2012 season.”

Fox’s Mark Fitzsimmons says, “We are very excited to work with a team at this level. The professionalism of the team has shown in their years of great results and we look forward to bringing our suspension expertise to the program. We here at FOX thrive on the pure honesty racing brings to our development process and look forward to learning from Steve, Greg and Josh to continue to improve our products and aid them in their mission for podiums. Our goal is to provide our athletes with a suspension performance advantage and look forward to continuing this into the 2012 season.”

Syndicate head mechanic Dougie “Fresh” Hatfield says, “The Fox and Shimano Saint equipped bikes ran silky smooth during our test camp in San Romolo. The riders really liked the responsiveness and quality of the product. We are ready to go racing!!”

So Day 3 at the Mondraker setup camp saw actual riding on their World Cup spec’d rigs. Jono did work. According to Patrick, Brook did one run in four hours. They are there to get these bikes dialled and that kind of dedication to tweaking setup is what will hopefully see Brook on a few more podiums.

Spoke‘s longest running senior photographer Simeon Patience got a brand new ride in the mail today. Now it’s been a while since any Spoke staff have been rolling on Rocky Mountains, actually Spoke‘s last editor Eleanor still rides a beautiful steel hardtail from the late 90s. Well while everyone seems to be turfing their hardtails for fun bikes, Sim dawg has gone the other way and bought this 2012 29″ Rocky Mountain Vertex 970 RSL and he thinks he’s gonna race it. I reckon we’re going to have follow his progress. More Simeon race updates to follow…

How dope is that cardy?

So Patrick Fallon just banged through a whopper gallery from today’s session at the Marcocchi/Mondraker setup in Queenstown, looks like Spoke senior photographer Sven Martin got on the tools as well today, either that or Brook isn’t mechanically minded at all. Oh in the photos from yesterday the bike wasn’t rocking the Roco shock out the back, but a friendly courier dropped them off today, and a good part of today was dedicated to setting those bad boys up… Anyway here’s some photos of Brook chilling, Sven wrenching, Cesar looking sharp and Jono “Rainman” Church just being the man.

Sven shows Brook how to install cassette

There’s more pics in the full gallery over here

Back when I worked in a skate shop in Wellington I met Jamie and his brother Ben, who were both shredders. Turns out Jamie and I were also at design school together but those damn industrial designers had a building all to themselves so I didn’t hang with him too much. They thought they were better than the rest of us; well in Jamie’s case it turns out he was. Better at pretty much everything. He rides bikes well, skates well, windsurfs well and most of all he designs stuff well. So well that… just check out his website and you’ll see www.jamiemclellan.com

01. Collate
thisiscollate.com
Along with The Fox Is Black (already featured on a previous Inside Outside), Collate is one of my favourite design blogs. A pared back, thoughtfully edited mix of graphic, photography, architecture, product and furniture. Editor Dave Smith has an impeccable eye.

02. Jjjjound
jjjjound.com
I think this site goes forever, which is lucky because I love it. From motorbikes to gangstas to preppy Americana to bicycles to topless women. I have never managed to scroll to the end of the page, and believe me, I have tried.

03. But Does It Float
butdoesitfloat.com
Strange name, weird titles and mesmerising, beautiful art. Like Jjjjound, this one seems to go till infinity too.

04. Nizoapp
nizoapp.com
One of many beautiful sites built by Tim & Matt at Sons & Co. Just scroll down, and then scroll up, and then scroll down, and then scroll up.. don’t know what it does but I want one.

05. Vice Do’s & Don’ts
vice.com/en_au/dos-and-donts
This one’s a guilty pleasure. So many times I’ve picked up a free copy of Vice, laughed in disbelief at the Do’s and Don’ts only to come to the end feeling like I need more. That was before I found Viceland’s online archive.

I’m told the captions are all written by one guy. I hope I never meet him.

PS here’s a bike joke: http://www.vice.com/en_au/vice/dnd/42461
PPS Here”s a sweet ol’ man one: http://www.vice.com/en_au/vice/dnd/3472

So a couple of days ago we dropped a press release letting you know that MS EVil was gone and MS Mondraker had risen in its place, with Brook MacDonald staying on the team. Anyhow Mondraker designer Cesar Rojo and Marzocchi decided that Queenstown was the perfect place to get the new bikes dialled and do some testing and suspension setup. Instead of sending someone from Marzocchi in Italy or the US they decided that Wide Open’s Rainman of suspension Jono Church was the man for the job. So now he’s got three days of testing ahead of him and plenty of tweaking. Spoke contributing photographer Patrick Fallon has been on hand to capture it all and he should be bringing us a few more sneaky photos over the next couple of days. Oh and there’s a full press released below.

Okay so Jono is the Marzocchi tech but by the looks of Patrick's photos they may have roped him into a bit more than that.

...still bleeding...

...while you're at it can you adjust my lever reach...

...oh and maybe you can even put my back wheel in as well... Thanks Jono

Marzocchi is proud to announce our support of the MS Mondraker team for the 2012 season. The team’s DH athletes have been able to climb to the top of the world ranking list and are no strangers to the podiums of UCI World Cups and UCI World Championships. Team MS Mondraker will be riding our DH flagship, the 888 RC3 EVO TITANIUM and Roco RC World Cup rear suspension.

I just got this email from Brett Frew regarding the Farm Jam, which is just around the corner. If you’re down the bottom of the South Island it’s well worth checking out and there should be some pretty heavy hitters.

“The countdown is on for our biggest day of the year, Unit Farm Jam 2012, Saturday 25th Feb.  We are preparing for another huge day of sheep farming diversity, dirtjumping, 2 wheeled style, flow and big tricks.

Unit clothing has produced a 22 minute look at last year’s amazing day; it’s worth a watch to check out a bit more depth to what goes into making Farm Jam so unique. It is currently airing on Fuel TV, a cable TV channel in AUS and USA and available to view online here

There is a small write-up in The Southland Times today about the Farm Jam, check it out here“

This has been an incredible journey, and the partnership has helped our racers achieve an impressive set of goals and dreams—2 UCI World Cup Downhill overall titles, 10 UCI World Cups wins by Greg Minnaar, 3 World Cup wins and a historic World Championship title by Steve Peat, and a Junior World Championship title by Josh Bryceland. These results were made possible using SRAM, Rockshox, Truvativ and Avid products, along with the world-class technical support of the SRAM team.

Working closely with John Dawson and Jon Cancellier on prototype Black Box projects and receiving their on-site support was a pleasure, and our heartfelt thanks go out to them for their years of dedication to the Syndicate. Thank you also to Dave Zimberoff for making the partnership possible.

Steve Peat says, “Leaving SRAM is a tough one for me. I have been with RockShox for 16 years so you could say the brand is engraved in me. But like most things in life nothing lasts forever and it has been a great time over the last 16 years. I want to thank each and every person at RockShox and SRAM who have helped me achieve my goals in my career. I have made lots of friends and had some fun times. Thanks guys!”

Greg Minnaar says, “Since joining the Syndicate in 2008 your support has been incredible. Thanks to all the crew that work hard behind the scenes making sure our Black Box equipment was keeping us ahead of the rest.”

Josh Bryceland says, “I’ve ridden SRAM since I started mountain biking and I’ve come far using their products. Times change and so do sponsors, thanks for 4 years on the Syndicate without a mechanical in a race run.”

Rob Roskopp says, “Our partnership with SRAM over the years saw many milestones achieved, Steve Peat’s 2009 World Championship in Canberra, Greg Minnaar’s win at Maribor in 2010 aboard the first carbon bike to take a World Cup win, and countless podiums over the last 8 years. I would like to thank the whole crew at SRAM for the great memories and support.”

The Coppermine Epic Entries are closing very soon, in fact in ten days. Enter now and don’t miss out on what looks to be a stunning course this year. I rode it a couple of times over the Christmas break and it’s running amazing. Hell, I might even enter. Enter online here.

The Diaries Downunder boys have just dropped their second episode and this one features ex-World Cup shredder Nathan Rennie and hair farmer Kelly McGarry (who seems to be in EVERYONE’S clips at the moment) and some ginger lad called Si. We pick a perfect morning to take Kelly McGarry, Nathan Rennie and Josh Clark Heli Biking with Vertigo Heli tours, thanks to Glacier Southern Lakes Helicopters. A 45minute descent down to the Gibbston Tavern; Ex downhill racer Nathan Rennie also gives us a rundown on his new project; Lower45 Bike Camps. Thanks for watching! diariesdownunder.com for more