The news is just in from the last national round of the italian series in Abetone: Nathan won the race, with Lorenzo second, Mike fifth and Adam sixth, while Elisa got her 3rd win in a row, wrapping up the female title. Such brillant results, paired with Nathan’s 2nd place and Elisa’s win in Ravascletto two weeks ago, should (we still have to hear the official world for the points count) also give us the victory in the italian team’s challenge! Pretty amazing news, more later!

Posted: September 7th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Quick update here, but a lot going on. Last weekend (august 24th) we were in Ravascletto, Italy, for the 4th round of the Italian National Series. Elisa won and made her lead of the women’s ranking even stronger, while Nathan got 2nd with a big, big crash behind Sam Zbinden. Mike got 6th and all this result put our team on the top of the italian national team ranking.

In the meantime Floriane flew out to the land of kangaroos and upside down seasons, Australia that is, for the Canberra World Cup. She’s staying with our good friend Begsy,  who hooked her up with some sweet riding for the days before the race: she texted me she was doing runs with Peaty and Minnaar! After a big 17 hours sleep she went to Mt. Stromlo to check out the course and she’s killing it in practice, even tough today she told me she had a fairly big crash. Her helmet is KO, her lip is a bit smashed but she’s a tough little girl but she’s OK! More news from the race sunday!

Posted: August 29th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Posted: August 19th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Summer is in full bloom, and after our big overseas trip it was time for some well deserved rest - wait, the boys (and girl) still wanted to race and they did so last weekend at the IXS European Cup in Chatel, France, where Floriane Pugin stormed the women’s field by 7 seconds, Nathan Rankin got 2nd, Mike Skinner 9th and Lorenzo Suding 12th, all of this while Adam Brayton was getting loose in Pila for the camera of Rob Rebholz from MBUK.

Anyways, we are having a really cool event in Pila, our location sponsor, on august 15th, 16th ad 17th. Our riders will be on hand to teach you their secrets during some tutoring sessions, which will also be followed by a photographer ready to capture the action and your improvements after their suggestions. Two clinics daily, 10:30 and 15:30, either on the Pila World Cup Track or on the number 4 freeride track, depending on your level. Of course the big boys from Iron Horse Italia will be on hand to let you demo their range of bikes, from the DW Link models to the awesome CPS single pivot steeds.

See you in Pila then!

Posted: August 11th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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…or so it seemed for us today: Floriane was back on the podium with a great 5th place and Elisa got a well deserved place in the finals finishing 13th. Mixed days for the boys with Nathan, Adam, Lorenzo and Mike all qualifying for the final, but with all of them but Adam crashing. Adam rode well to a 37th place finish, Nathan went down hard and was only 68th, with Lorenzo 58th and Mike towards the end of the final ranking. Tougher life for Luca, who crashed twice in his semifinal run, crossing the finish line half covered in mud, Edo and Geoff, who didn’t grab a spot in the final. It’s still raining in Bromont as this marks the end of our “canadian campaign”. A couple more days of relaxation, shopping and packing bikes and then we’ll be heading back home for a well deserved rest, some (hopefully) healthy food and new adventures. Here’s a cool shot of Elisa during training on friday:

Posted: August 2nd, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Howdy from Bromont. Here we are under pretty extreme conditions, that include heavy rains, thunders, busy night in local stripclubs and so on. This is basically what we have been seeing from our pit all day yesterday (pic by our very creative mechanic Tizz)

Apart from practice, which went pretty well, the whole day has been spent trying to figure out ways to escape the rain, since most of us don’t have our usual tents and setups. We were lucky to get hooked up with a sweet 4 tent pit by local honcho JP Da Silva and his team, but it was still pretty hard to manage the whole team under the tent. Dirt Magazine’s stuff photographer Victor Lucas caught me with Ali (Ben Reid’s mechanic) in deep conversation about this issue:

Here’s a little video from those hard working guys at Dirt TV about yesterday’s practice, featuring a long session from our own Mike Skinner towards the end: http://tv.mpora.com/watch/X3geKK2Iy 

Of course now the weather is getting worst, it looks like it’s going to rain in a bit, and I’m off to shoot photos on track! More later!

Posted: August 1st, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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He’s back, and he’s defenitely hungry: Nathan Rankin comes back to World Cup racing after a long stop due to an injury with a wonderful 18th place in the downhill finals at Mont Saint Anne. 53rd spot and a massive whip over the final jump for Adam Brayton, while Lorenzo Suding and Mike Skinner both had mechanical problems in their final run. Too bad also for Floriane Pugin, out with a flat after qualifying 5th. The team is now in Bromont, a classic World Cup venue which is back in the calendar this year, we just settled in our houses and will tell you more as we see the track.

Posted: July 29th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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I am sure you must have heard the reports flying around  about MSA being a muddy mess. It is, indeed. Today I was on course all day to shoot pictures and it poured a couple of times, making it even muddier, even tough now the sun is a out the track WILL NOT DRY. Tyre choice is critical, full spikes are good in the boggy bits but bad on the rocks and roots, regular tyres can lead to big crashes in the deep mud, all our riders are rocking different combinations of Kenda Telonix and Excavators which seem to be working really weel, I reckon the Telonix, which look a lot like cut down spikes, are going to be good tomorrow if the course stays this way.

Here’s a shot of Lorenzo on the rock drop:

And he’s still pretty clean…

It’s all for today, 4X practice got cancelled for the second day in a row, the track is in pretty bad shape and there were a few nasty crashes. Last news as it sounds is that training, qualifying and racing are all going to be held tomorrow, providing we don’t get more rain. But the main focus of tomorrow is of course the downhill, with semi finals starting at 11!

Posted: July 25th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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A flash…or a little bit more. 24 hours of travelling, to be fair. But we are here, and it’s all pretty cool.

It started very early in the morning in Pila, off to the airport, faced by a monster queue. We were the last to check in, and there was almost no space left on the plane. Lorenzo and Tiziano were without boarding passes until the last minute, for one moment it looked like they were getting bumped up to first class but…no! Cattle class seats for both. This is a shot of us in the queue, 13 people and 10 monster bike boxes!

Canada, or at least the stretch of such country from Montreal to Mont Saint Anne, must be the flattest place in the world, crossed by the straightest highway on the planet. 4 hours of driving after a transatlantic flight and 2 hours of sleep=not good. Here we are with our fleet of rental vehicles at one of the many “Can we stop for a drink please?” (copyright Adam Brayton 2008) stops.

Anyways we finally made it to Mont Saint Anne, which in my opinion is one of the best venues ever for a World Cup. We were a bit jetlagged so we were up early and decided to treat ourselves to a hearthy canadian breakfast in a little café…very nice…and very healthy!

Today the guys & gals had the first day of practice but at the moment I am just going to leave you with pictures of vans, check in queues and eggs with toast…more about the riding tomorrow.

Posted: July 25th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Male and female italian national champion, under 23, junior and master 1 categories national champions and best overall team: this is the full list of titles won by team Playbiker – Iron Horse and Iron Horse Italia riders last weekend in Pila. A really special weekend, made even more special by the fact that the Nationa Championships this year were held in the team’s sponsor and host location.
For the national champion title the battle was all between our Lorenzo Suding and Iron Horse rider Alan Beggin: in the qualyfing run Lorenzo lead over Alan, whilst putting on a great show for the spectators and the other riders with his crazy lines and powerful riding style. It was really great to see these two riders, both friends and training mates, alone in front of the starting gate before the finals, as the two last riders on the hill. Two different styles, two different stories, but both full of talent and both deserving to win. At the end the clock prized Alan’s experience and willpower, with his 8th overall national champion title, with a special dedication to his dad Giovanni, who recently passed away. Lorenzo was second, happy for his friend’s win and also first in the prestigious under 23 class, earning his first green, white and red jersey.
In the female field second national champion jersey and a big margin for Elisa Canepa, who has shown great confidence in herself and her bike, and also proved able to whitstand the pressure of being the favorite for the win. She actually enjoyed the course a lot!
Team Playbiker – Iron Horse rider Edoardo Franco, who race for U.C. Vallé d’Aoste in Italy, won the junior national champion title with a fantastic race, despite a wrist injury from last week’s European Champs in Caspoggio.
In the super tough Master 1 category Paolo Alleva kept the jersey on his back from last year with a great duel with his all time rivals, whilst keeping everyone on their toes with a crazy entry into one of the last corners.
Luca Bertocchi gets a 4th place in the Under 23 class and a 7th overall, his growth is steady and he’s just one step away from the podium.
In Pila’s fantastic weekend there was also a chance for the team’s foreign riders to shine in a speciale class dedicated to non italian racers: Nathan Rankin, Adam Brayton and Mike Skinner filled the podium, in such order.
To top off this great series of results team Playbiker – Iron Horse was awarded with the prize for the “Trofeo Jean Martinet” as the best overall team in the event, a great recognition for the whole team and staff.
On the other side of the Alps our Floriane Pugin got 2nd in the the french national champs, while Geoff Ulmer was unlucky at the US Nationals and got stopped by a mechanical problem.

Just a day to rest and the team was on the road again, with Canada as the destination, for the two classic World Cup venues of Mont Saint Anne and Bromont.

Posted: July 25th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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