Fork Me!

Fox has posted my winning video for the "Wherever You Ride" contest! As a prize for winning, I got a fork of my choice...so I should be getting my Fox 40RC2 fork in the mail next week woo!

Check out the vid at the Fox Racing site.

p.s. dont forget to vote for the same vid in the Teva Mountain Games Filmmaker's Shootout!
VOTE HERE

Profile on Lucent

Ryan Denehy is part of the crew over at BNQT.com that are getting the ball rolling in a big way with their website for a whole grab bag of sports out there, ranging from bmx, surf, snow, skate, and mountain bikes. If you were cool like me, you would have already signed up for the website last year!

I met up with Ryan and his crew at the US Open this year and one of his boys snapped a pic of me in my gear setup for this Tools of the Trade on yours truly. Thanks for all the kind words Ryan, you def know how to make an amateur videographer feel legit!

MSA Race Report Part 2.

Speaking of crashes (from Part 1) I saw one of the gnarliest crashes on Saturday. One of the Nor Cal rider apparently got a flat tire right before the high speed step down before the S-turns under the lift. As he landed the step down his front tire ripped off and sent him over the handlebars, with this resultant carnage:

Thankfully the rider wasnt seriously hurt, some scrapes and cuts and a slight concussion.

Race day on Sunday was so insane, with Peaty edging out Sam Hill for the top spot in the qualifiers. I managed to score a sweet spot right at the finish line to see the last 6 guys come through, including Sam Hill's winning run!

Rennie


Rennie and Lehikoinen.


Men's Podium:


Fabien Barel - 5th
Matti Lehikoinen - 4th
Greg Minnaar - 3rd
Steve Peat - 2nd
Sam Hill - 1st

For the women, Sabrina Jonnier pulled the top qualifier spot and the win!
I've never seen a woman chug champagne like her, I think she ended up drinking 3 bottles!





Other random pics and after party pics!
Sam's gold e.13 chainring


What do you do during down time at the chalet if you're Sam Hill? You autograph World Champ jerseys!


Monday was Quebec's national holiday, so there was an all night party at the mountain:




And with that, my first World Cup race is in the books! I just got a call from the airport luggage people saying my bags have been dropped off at my apartment, so hopefully I should have another video update tonight!

MSA Race Report part 1.

Starting from the beginning! Todd Seplavy from IH met me at Logan on Thursday afternoon. Afer some quick lunch and a brew we boared literally the smallest plane I have ever been on! My ticket said row 9, which was the last row! Even more crazy is that when we landed, we immediately pulled a Boston-style U-Turn ON THE RUNWAY!! I guess they weren't expecting anyone else in behind us any time soon. This was my first time flying international, so the custom agents in Canadia figured they'd give me everything sans the rubber glove treatment. After 15 minutes of having all my stuff inspected (camera bag, laptop, etc) and explaining what every piece of equipment was for, we were finally off to the mountain!

We pimped a Green Yaris for the weekend:

The pits view from the e.13 tent:


It was pretty crazy how the mountains all started right from sea level. You had a crazy view of the river all along the drive, and from the top of MSA.
On the drive to the mountain:



Mount Ste Anne's course = Long, fast, long, fast, rocky, fast. Friday and Saturday it took me all of practice (9:30am to 3pm) to film and hike the course once. On Sunday I had the priveledge of hiking it twice! The top was open slopes, rocky, and damn fast. Most riders were lucky if they made it through the first two minutes without a flat! The top woods section consisted of some rocky sections, some tech berms (including one of the craziest s-turns I have ever seen!) and back out to the open slopes. The crowd favorite was definitely the downhill step-down jump into the berms, followed up by the high speed step down. Apparently, during his race run on Sunday, Sam Hill whipped the jump and tried to scare his Aussie buddies that were standing there!

Course pictures:





Greg Minaar and Andrew Neethling



Brendon Fairclough had a pretty scary crash in front of me on Friday so I had time to snap a pic of his Honda G-Cross bike while he took a breather. These puppies are CRAZY loud as you can see from my clips on Littermag.com. I guess thats what tons of money sounds like rolling down a hill.

MSA in the wraps!

I'm back in the States and recovering from 4 long days of traveling and hiking down the insane Mount Ste Anne course! Full recap report to come tomorrow so check back!

For now, check out Saturday's recap video at Littermag.com.

Friday practice video update!

Check out my video update from practice today posted on Littermag.com

Litter

Packed

All packed and headed off to Canadia! Check back all weekend for pictorial and video updates!!

Vote for Lucent!!!!!

Hey guys, my Boston 'Wherever You Ride' video has made the finals in the Teva Mountain Games film maker's shootout!! The winning video is based on online voting, so go here and select the "Wherever You Ride" video and Vote please!! It takes two seconds and you can vote as many times as you want (i think).
Please pass this on to anyone you know, the winner gets $2500!!


Thanks!!!

Artist spotlight: Wes Restless/DV

Here's the first of probably many artist spotlights I'm going to do. First up is a hip hop artist from Chicago named Wes Restless. Wes, along with his band Dynamic Vibrations are going to be contributing music for Lucent projects this year and I can't be more stoked to have some tracks that I've been digging on for a while now. Keep an ear out for their tracks on Lucent vids this summer, and check out their MySpace pages and download/buy some of their music!

Pin it to win it.

Big thanks to Mammoth Print Shop for getting my first run of buttons done faster than Sam Hill on a bicycle. I'll be handing these out at Mount Sainte Anne and to some friends so keep an eye out.

Check em out kids!

Nothing important ever belongs strictly to you.

I was sent a link the other day about an article on Jim Phillips, an artist that has designed many of the most insane skateboard graphics over the years. And I wanted to share a quote from the article that really struck me.


"Nothing important ever belongs strictly to you, it’s always shared and divided and sub-divided and its meaning gets lost in countless mall stores and Mtv shows and summer music tours. But it’s not just skateboarding—it’s the same with just about everything. No matter how personal it is, it will eventually be parceled out and imbued with a meaning you never meant for it to have. Everything truly good inevitably becomes part of a larger unconscious, and suddenly that thing (the curb you and your 12 year old friends would session for hours, your swimming hole, or maybe your first band in your pal’s garage) belongs to the world and you’re left struggling to hold on to that little spark it ignited in your chest at the very beginning. Don’t worry too much, though, because that’s just how it is. Invariably, that thing that made you you, will have made countless other people who they are as well. That’s just how it goes, so it’s best just to acknowledge it and move on and, hopefully, retain a bit of that childlike innocence and infatuation with all that the world can be and still holds in store."

Grab your glock if you see Smutok

Two posts in one day!

East Coast super star Dave Smutok is now working full time at Highland Mountain bike park in NH as one of the main trail designers. One can only imagine the crazy ish that Dave and co. will build this year!

Check out Dave's blog for some more pics of the newly finished pump track!

Hell Track

Over a year ago, a handful of alumni and current riders for the NU Cycling Team started digging in a secret location outside of Boston. The idea was a single slalom/pump track/jump/berm course that would give the local riders a quiet and 'secret' place to get some riding without worrying about it being overrun and unmaintained by a million groms. What started as a few berms in the first months last year has grown in a full blown super fast course, with multiple options and new features popping up this year due to some hard work from a handful of people.
Here are a few pics to give a sneak peak at the top half of the trail, dubbed Hell Track in memory of the best bike movie known to man. Pics courtesy of NU Cycling team rider Jesse Kuhn

Oh Canada!

So it looks like Lucent will be at the Mount Sainte Anne World Cup! I am flying out the 21st from Boston and driving back on Monday with the e.13 crew! Flight > Check. Passport > Check. *edit* I'm flying round trip now. yay.

Front Derailleurs

Big thanks to Todd at Alex at Iron Horse for helping me get an '07 Warrior 6.0. The bike rocks on the downhill sections and still powers up the climbs.

I promise you, I wont wear spandex. At least not without baggy shorts over them.

- LP

Thanks Denehy.

Well I have to redesign the Lucent Site at some point, and I like Denehy's setup on the Eastern Front site with a blog for all the news, so i'll bite on it. I hope you can forgive me Ryan!

For now check out the most recent vid of mine at Littermag.com from the 2007 US Open of Mtn Biking at the Diablo Freeride Park in NJ. At least this year I didnt hit any craters on the highway's of CT.

Other than that, just finishing up projects currently and starting a game plan for the first Lucent DVD. Hopes of it being a first of its kind in some aspects, but its too soon to give away all the details! Keep an eye out for Lucent at the Mount Snow NORBA Championships at Mt. Snow, and possibly Mount Saint Anne!




















On a personal note, I am moving into a new apartment July 1st with my amazing girlfriend. Scary? No. Exciting? DEFINITELY. What does this mean? Lucent has an 'office' so expect some pics after July 1st!

- LP