So I received a copy of Clay Porter’s new film The Tipping Point in the mail yesterday and watched it last night in 32″ of LCD beauty. And I have to say it doesn’t disappoint. It’s a doco but this time without the running commentary Clay’s used on his last couple of outings; well planned and edited interviews provide the film’s narrative. Unlike Between the Tape, The Tipping Point does require a bit of knowledge of the World Cup downhill scene; interviewees and riders aren’t consistently credited, but by watching the whole film and paying attention you’ll figure out who most people are.

The film has a clear storyline which opens with Sam Hill concerned that he has a target painted on his back, and he’s right on the mark. Minnaar, Peaty, Atherton, Leov and pretty much anyone else interviewed in the film make it clear that the sole aim for the season is to stop Hill from winning the ’08 overall. The riding footage is top notch.  Clay has effortlessly captured the speed and technicality of both the riders and the track they are riding.

Clay seems to be everywhere. The behind-the-scenes footage with the Athertons and the Yeti Team, as well as the candid interviews with the riders, really gives an insight to us mortals as to what happens on the World Cup circuit.

The individual sections as usual are amazing. Matti Lehikoinen and Aaron Gwin’s parts really shine, but Justin Leov and Sam Blenkinsop still get solid parts that show some fresh New Zealand trails and definitely get a bunch of Clay-love. As an added bonus Greg Leov AKA Gregnum/Magnum gets some solid camera time.

Gregnum PI and Clay Porter filming in Blenheim

I’ve said it a thousand times before, if you’re into racing then anything from Clay is a must-own, but more than ever I’d say that if you have any interest in mountain biking, be it XC, All Mountain or DH, then I’d highly recommend watching this film…

Pre-Order The Tipping Point here. It should be shipping early next week.

“We’re rapt to have an athlete of Nicola’s ability riding Avanti,” says Avanti’s Amanda Till. “Avanti hardtails have proven their performance in the Southern Hemisphere and we’re looking forward to her results in the Worlds in September and beyond.  She’s an on-form athlete with a whole lot more potential—a perfect match for the Avanti Competitor Team she’ll be riding.”

And like the Avanti Team Competitor she’ll be riding, Leary’s progress as an athlete has also been rapid. Only entering her first race in 2007, she has rocketed through the ranks of New Zealand mountain biking. Not only the 2009 New Zealand #2 in both XC and Marathon MTB, she is also the current NZ XTERRA off-road triathlon champion. With a diverse and busy race schedule Leary has also taken on sponsorship with DT Swiss (forks and wheels) and Kenda (tyres and tubes) to ensure a total performance package.

“We’ve combined these leading brands and technologies together to give Nicola the ideal performance package,” says DT Swiss/Kenda Spokesman Tom Sullivan. “It’s a great win-win scenario. We’re really excited to have such a dynamic rider on board.”

The future for Leary? In the short term the focus is on quality performances at the 2009 MTB World Championship (Canberra) and XTERRA World Championship (Maui) respectively. But they are just stepping stones to higher ambition. “I’m just trying to be the best athlete I can be. My big goal is the Olympics, so for now I’m chasing international experience and competition to develop to my full potential. And have a lot of fun, competing in cool races along the way.”

Avanti Bikes

Nic and Cabins Bog

That’s right, Jono finally got his stuff together and organised a winter Super D series. There are some cool tracks and twists planned for the series and we will be posting all the info you need up here on the Spoke website. For the uninitiated don’t be afraid, these aren’t hardcore downhill races, if anything Super D can best be described as Technical-XC-Downhill. So don’t be afraid about turning up on your Blur XC (just bring an allen key cos you may want to lower the seat a tiny bit) but you will have more fun on a six inch bike like a Nomad.

Sam Blenkinsop had a blistering run at Fort William, finishing third at the fourth round of the DH World Cup yesterday. Greg Minnaar took the win with Sam Hill in second. Things didn’t go too well for Justin Leov though, a bent crank in qualifying saw a 20th start position and a finish just outside of the top ten in 11th. Justin still sits in sixth overall with Sam B knocking at his heels in ninth.

Sam Blenkinsop pinning it down to the finish line!

Justin Leov held the hot seat for a while but was knocked off by ex-Yeti teammate Aaron Gwin

Featuring all eight rounds of the World Cup and the World Championships, this will be the most comprehensive summary of the DH and 4X race season in the history of the sport. Featuring official coverage with Rob Warner’s inimitable commentary, highlights, interviews, Fox Course Walks and more, the DVD will be ready in October 2009 and ONLY available on pre-order.

Stay tuned to Freecaster.tv in the coming weeks as more details about how to pre-order will be appearing shortly.

In the meantime, the action continues, with LIVE 4X racing at 20:00 CEST on Saturday June 6th, and LIVE DH from 14:00 CEST on Sunday June 7th,  direct from Scotland.

LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar
June 6-7 – United Kingdom – DHI 4X
June 20-21 – Slovenia – DHI 4X
July 25-26 – Canada – XCO DHI 4X
August 1-2 – Canada – XCO DHI 4X
September 13 – Switzerland – XCO
September 19-20 – Austria – DHI 4X

LIVE Webcast NISSAN UCI Mountain Bike World Championship
September 5-6 – Australia – XCO DHI 4X

Trek World Racing have a YouTube channel. And they update it with DH and XC content. Check it out here.

You read that right, Kelly McGarry is on the invite list for Crankworx Whistler VW Trick Showdown. It looks like last year, where he went to both Crankworx Colorado and the Highland Jam in the hopes of qualifying (which he did in Colorado). He can now chill a little knowing that he’s in, although he still needs to qualify for the Slopestyle… But he’s not really chilling, comps every other weekend, different countries every other day. Stay up to date with the McGazza’s whereabouts on his blog. The following athletes will be invited to the 2009 VW Trick Showdown:

Amir Kabbani Germany
Andreu Lacondeguy* Spain
Andrew Taylor* USA
Ben Boyko* Canada
Benny Korthaus Germany
Brandon Semenuk* Canada
Cam McCaul* USA
Cameron Zink* USA
Darren Berrecloth Canada
Graham Agassiz Canada
Greg Watts  USA
Jamie Goldman* USA
Kelly McGarry New Zealand
Lance McDermott* UK
Paul Basagoita* USA
Sam Pilgrim UK
Trond Hansen* Norway
Tyler McCaul USA
*denotes automatic invitation to Monster Energy Slopestyle

Open spots:
Crankworx Colorado 2009
Crankworx Colorado 2009
Highland Claymore Challenge 2009
26 Trix 2009
Goat Style 2009
Wildcard

The next round of the XC World Cup is on this weekend in Madrid, Spain. Tune in right here on Spoke.

Yup that’s right, legendary MTB film production company The Collective is no more. But out of the ashes rises Anthill. Anthill is made up of five key members from the award-winning film company the Collective: Darcy Wittenburg, Darren McCullough, Colin Jones, Jonathan Shramm and Sterling Lorence.

Anthill Films Announces New Movie: FOLLOW ME…

Squamish B.C., May 19th, 2009 – Deep in the coast mountains of BC, a small crew of filmmakers has spent the last eleven months huddled together, planning, scheming and brain-storming to come up with a concept for a new company and mountain bike film.  The hard work has paid off and Anthill Films is stoked to announce the release of their premier film FOLLOW ME… Scheduled to be released in Spring 2010, FOLLOW ME… will feature some of the best mountain bikers in the world, including: Sam Hill, Gee Atherton, Brandon Semenuk, Cam McCaul, Thomas Vanderham, Matt Hunter, Ben Boyko, Kurt Sorge, Steve Smith and Geoff Gulevich.
The Anthill crew is no new-comer to the world of mountain bike films.  Made up of five key members from the award-winning film company the Collective, Darcy Wittenburg, Darren McCullough, Colin Jones, Jonathan Shramm and Sterling Lorence, have been making films together for the past six years. The one new addition is Ian Dunn, who will be holding down the business side of things as Producer/Marketing Director, so the crew can focus on creating the best possible film.
“Whenever we start a new project” says Darcy, Creative Director for Anthill and Co-Founder of the Collective “we ask ourselves what we want to do next—we’re always pushing ourselves to come up with new ideas”.  When the crew learned that Jamie Houssain (Producer and Co-Founder of the Collective) would be pursuing new opportunities outside of filmmaking, the guys decided it was the right time to start something new and build upon what they had already done.
FOLLOW ME… will be a natural evolution for the Anthill crew and will give them the chance to explore new ideas and concepts that did not fit within the style of the Collective.  “Our goal is to really push ourselves as filmmakers to come up with something completely original” says Darcy.  “We want to create a film that is super upbeat and remind everyone why we all love mountain biking”.  The film’s central concept is ’no one rides alone’ – focusing on the idea that the best times we have on our bikes is when we’re riding with our friends.  FOLLOW ME… will be filmed completely in HD using the latest camera technology, including the new super high-def Red One camera.

Anthill is producing a series of webisodes that will be released over the next year to give everyone the inside line on what’s happening with the film leading up to its release next spring.

Visit anthillfilms.com to find out more.

FOLLOW ME… is presented by Shimano in association with Adidas Eyewear, Bike Parks of BC, Nike 6.0, PinkBike.com and PRO Components.

Oli Brooke-White sent me a text the other day letting me know that 2009 NZ Singlespeed Champ and all round nice guy Tim Wilding was going to be in town. We rendezvoused on Sunday morning for a quick shoot and got a few pics in the bag.

That SS tattoo

Tim was in town to pick up his freshly built Santa Cruz Carbon Blur XC, which is insanely light and built with some amazing bits, like these crazy Rotor Q chain rings (kind of like bio-pace).

Tim's deadspot elminiating Rotor Q rings

Tim Wilding on Salvation

Over the last couple of years the number of filmmakers out on the World Cup circuit has drastically increased. In the past they were all just trying to imitate Alex Rankin and Clay Porter. But in 2009 all the big teams have realised the value of quality web edits and the fact that online video content is almost as important to your World Cup team as your riders. Clay Porter got poached by the Athertons from Yeti this year and has been hard at work. He’s just dropped the first in a series of webisodes on the entire Atherton clan. It’s well worth checking out. Although you will ask yourself where are the helmets?

DAMN.