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Life on the Road '09
Posted: Aug 28, 2009
Spreading the good word known as Transition Bike Co
"The main purpose of the trip was to visit some of our Canadian dealers in interior BC and to cover the Goat Style slopestyle event, but it turned out to be so much more than just marketing. Despite the 4+ hours of driving each day, it couldn't have been a better form of "work".
Words and many pics inside,
"The main purpose of the trip was to visit some of our Canadian dealers in interior BC and to cover the Goat Style slopestyle event, but it turned out to be so much more than just marketing. Despite the 4+ hours of driving each day, it couldn't have been a better form of "work".
Words and many pics inside,
words and photos by Brad Walton
It was early July 2009 when I set off for interior British Columbia with Sam Burkhardt to represent Transition Bike Company. Sam is Transition's International Dealer Sales Manager, and with a booming Canadian market for Transition Bikes, it was only logical to visit some of the dealers that we didn't know so well and get a feel for our brand recognition in another part of the world than we're used to. My job on these trips is to document what we're doing, who we meet, and to generate content for various media venues. Basically, Sam and I drove to a shop, bro'd down for a bit and talked about our brand, then went riding for hours on a tour led by a shop employee (usually the owner), then it was just chillin' and talking bikes afterwards, rinse and repeat for a few more days. It was far from the traditional 'sales rep' tactic, but in my opinion much more personal and enjoyable for everyone involved. On top of it all, we made some great friends!
DAY 1 - Kamloops, BC
We crossed the border early morning in a torrential rain, packed with enough biking and camping gear for a solid 10-day tour. I had just started antibiotics for a raging staph infection in my leg and was not happy about riding in the rain where it would just continue to fester. No worries though, we're heading to high desert! I left the pics out from the infection because it was really gross, trust me.
Our first shop stop was at Taboo Cycles in Kamloops, BC. Shop owner Brad Heyman has only had Taboo open a short time, but the shop is fully stocked with lots of high-end bikes and a couple mechanics to keep them rolling. To our surprise, it does rain in Kamloops, and this day was a monsoon. Brad was anxious to show us the trails anyways so we drove up to Sun Peaks for a wet riding session.
We were lucky enough to be invited to shower at Brad's house after the big mess we made of ourselves. We talked bikes with his two boys for a bit and as we were getting ready to leave, Brad's wife came in from her ladies ride. It was a most excellent start to our trip to find that the first Transition dealer we visited was bike shop driven by family biking lifestyle! It was a first for both Sam and I when Brad offered to let us sleep in the shop to avoid setting up camp in the rain. I've never appreciated cold concrete so much!
DAY 2 - Vernon, BC
Next stop was Skyride Cycle, our Transition dealer for Vernon, BC and Silverstar bike park. If you're heading to Silverstar, you can't miss the Orange truck on your way up. Skyride's owner Terrance has done a really good job with the shop in the past couple of years which is evident in this new location. Along with his dad, Mike, Terrance shows a real passion for the industry. With an assortment of pretty much anything you could need for the bike park, Skyride is ready to accommodate. Terrance and Ragan took Sam and I riding at Silverstar for the day and with a little bit of luck, the rain vanished and conditions got tacky for the most part.
DAY 3 - Kelowna, BC
Cyclepath in Kelowna is one of the physically largest shops that offers Transition Bikes in their lineup. Located on a main road in Kelowna makes Cyclepath an easy access shop on the way to the trails. A large staff of knowledgeable riders run the show, including Mike Kirk who took Sam and I riding for the day.
DAY 4 - Nelson, BC
I love Nelson. Just like my Transition Bottlerocket, if I could only have one, it would be this one. The riding scene is super tight, the landscape is rugged, and as the saying goes, "slow down, this ain't the big city". When I heard the premiere shop in town, the Sacred Ride, was going to pick up our brand, I was beyond stoked. Here is an establishment that is almost entirely built around the willingness of it's owners to contribute to the local scene. Jeff Grosch founded the shop and Mark Holt is known for founding the Nelson style of trail building and riding, with dozens of trails to his credit.
After sparking some interest with our new TR450 and Covert bikes, it was time to get the bikes dirty. We met up with our sponsored rider Mike Kinrade and hit the trails with Pat Williams of Dirt Tours and Sacred Ride's legendary big bad Leroy Brown.
If you're in Nelson looking for trail action, look no further than Kootenay Dirt Tours. Tell Pat that I recommended you check him out and who knows what he'll show you.
After a few runs we headed up for a quick lifestyle video shoot with Mike. I thought it might be entertaining for you to know a bit more about our pro rider, so here ya go:
We hung it up after a couple laps and headed to the premiere of Radical Film's new movie, Kranked Revolve. When Mike Kinrade's section popped up on the screen, everyone in the place went nuts! He's well known in Nelson not only for being a pro rider, but also for being such an all-around nice guy and committed trail builder. Revolve is definitely one of the best mountain bike movies of all time, with amazing cinematography and riding done by people you've probably heard of. Talk about saving the best for last, if you haven't seen the end clip of the four Coast riders tearing up the jump trails, you are missing out on life. There was a pretty fun party afterwards and as usual we stayed up too late.
DAY 5 - Baldface Lodge & Nelson, BC
I woke up this morning after having been hit by a train, or at least it felt like it. Dirt Tours was heading out on another dirt tour, so it took a really long time to figure out the logistics on the Baldface Lodge run. We sat around with mass confusion for quite some time until discovering that Jeff Pensiero, owner of Baldface Lodge, was heading up to check out some maintenance on the lodge and ride down the trails on his bike. Jeff turned out to be a super nice guy and a fun guy to ride with. Just another guy in the bike industry loving life! I promised some photos in exchange for giving us a lift, so we stopped quite a bit to shoot on this run down. No worries, no hurries, just a case of the blurries from the night before.
Mmm, that was nice. With plenty of daylight to spare, Kinradical opted for a nap while I organized some photo stuff. After feeling a bit revived, Mike and I were ready for his photo shoot. Tam Forde jumped in as well and we headed out to create some visual entertainment for ya. I think Mike hit the jump 10 times, after a long day on the trails - what a trooper.
DAY 6 & 7 - Creston, BC
Today began the qualifiers for Goat Style 2009. I had never been to a jump contest before so I just planned on learning as I went. When we first arrived, Sam and I saw the Transition banner and figured that's where we needed to be, so we headed over to the tent of Favorit Cycles and met with James, owner of Favorit, our dealer from Cranbrook, BC. It was great to be able to support our sponsored riders Harrison Mendel, Casey Groves, and Sam Dueck. The guys were killing it and it was a good time to watch how they did their thing. I also got to hang out with Wes who I had ridden with in Kelowna a few days prior, as well as Ben who wrenches for Taboo in Kamloops. Both of those guys were looking solid on the course as well. I took A LOT of photos at Goat Style, so if you want to see them all, check the Transition Goat Style gallery. It was amazing for me to watch this all go down and to see how far mountain biking has come. Seriously major props to all the riders at the event who were throwing down and having fun. There was fantastic positive energy in the participants and the spectators. Here are just a couple of my personal favorites from the event:
Props to our riders Harrison Mendel for 1st place in Junior Advanced and Sam Dueck for 2nd place Pro! Here's a vid of their runs at Goat Style 2009:
DAY 8 - Cranbrook, BC
Today it rained. Alot. We headed to Favorit Cycles and helped unpack the trailer and reload the bike shop after the Goat Style contest. Favorit has some rad merchandising going on and the shop has lots of character. James spends quite a bit of time building his own trails which was evident in the pile of trail tools by the front door of the shop. Since James had to work at the Goat Style event all weekend, he closed the shop and took Sam and I riding in the pouring rain. A recurring theme of our trip was that despite the conditions or what was going on in the world, the shops we visited wanted to show us their local trails, which was super cool! All of a sudden taking that perfectly dialed DH bike out into a muckfest seemed like a good idea for these guys. Hats off to you guys, we had a great time!
We wrapped up the riding after 3 laps since we were swamped from the rain. It was around noon, and we only had a 10 hour drive ahead of us to get back home. James offered a shower at his house, then Sam and I hit the road bound for home. We drove through rain most of the way home, which is always a nice feeling to be doing nothing when there's nothing to do. The drive home through lower BC is beautiful countryside through the mountains and I highly recommend it. It was a great time to reflect on our past couple days experiences. From the people we met to the epic rides we were shown, everything really came together and made us feel like the Transition brand was well-represented and well-liked by our northern neighbors. Our sponsored riders in the area really showed us their worth, and even the guys we met up with on other brands of bikes had their interest sparked by our factory rides. Overall it seemed quite worthwhile to me, so who knows, maybe we'll come check out your town in the future!
Major props to:
Taboo Cycles, Kamloops - Brad & Ben
Skyride Cycle, Vernon - Terrance, Mike, Ragan
Cyclepath, Kelowna - Mike
Sacred Ride, Nelson - Jeff, Mark, Leroy
Dirt Tours, Nelson - Pat
Goat Style, Creston - all event organizers and the city of Creston!
Favorit Cycles - James
Pinkbike.com of course, for sponsoring Goat Style
TransitionBikes.com
It was early July 2009 when I set off for interior British Columbia with Sam Burkhardt to represent Transition Bike Company. Sam is Transition's International Dealer Sales Manager, and with a booming Canadian market for Transition Bikes, it was only logical to visit some of the dealers that we didn't know so well and get a feel for our brand recognition in another part of the world than we're used to. My job on these trips is to document what we're doing, who we meet, and to generate content for various media venues. Basically, Sam and I drove to a shop, bro'd down for a bit and talked about our brand, then went riding for hours on a tour led by a shop employee (usually the owner), then it was just chillin' and talking bikes afterwards, rinse and repeat for a few more days. It was far from the traditional 'sales rep' tactic, but in my opinion much more personal and enjoyable for everyone involved. On top of it all, we made some great friends!
DAY 1 - Kamloops, BC
We crossed the border early morning in a torrential rain, packed with enough biking and camping gear for a solid 10-day tour. I had just started antibiotics for a raging staph infection in my leg and was not happy about riding in the rain where it would just continue to fester. No worries though, we're heading to high desert! I left the pics out from the infection because it was really gross, trust me.
Our first shop stop was at Taboo Cycles in Kamloops, BC. Shop owner Brad Heyman has only had Taboo open a short time, but the shop is fully stocked with lots of high-end bikes and a couple mechanics to keep them rolling. To our surprise, it does rain in Kamloops, and this day was a monsoon. Brad was anxious to show us the trails anyways so we drove up to Sun Peaks for a wet riding session.
Taboo Cycles storefront
Taboo's floor highlighting a Transition Double
bet you didn't know Samsquatch was that tall
Why do they call it Sun Peaks?
Brad & Sam about to hit the trail
Sam B giv'n'er in the rain
Taboo Cycles owner Brad Heyman
Jim joined us for the slip-sliding good time
Sam dropping in over Sun Peaks
Brad Heyman fjording the creek on a sketchy wet bridge
cleaning up after making a big mess
We were lucky enough to be invited to shower at Brad's house after the big mess we made of ourselves. We talked bikes with his two boys for a bit and as we were getting ready to leave, Brad's wife came in from her ladies ride. It was a most excellent start to our trip to find that the first Transition dealer we visited was bike shop driven by family biking lifestyle! It was a first for both Sam and I when Brad offered to let us sleep in the shop to avoid setting up camp in the rain. I've never appreciated cold concrete so much!
DAY 2 - Vernon, BC
Next stop was Skyride Cycle, our Transition dealer for Vernon, BC and Silverstar bike park. If you're heading to Silverstar, you can't miss the Orange truck on your way up. Skyride's owner Terrance has done a really good job with the shop in the past couple of years which is evident in this new location. Along with his dad, Mike, Terrance shows a real passion for the industry. With an assortment of pretty much anything you could need for the bike park, Skyride is ready to accommodate. Terrance and Ragan took Sam and I riding at Silverstar for the day and with a little bit of luck, the rain vanished and conditions got tacky for the most part.
Skyride Cycle
Skyride front counter, Bottlerocket in the front window!
On the lift with Sam, Terrance, and Ragan
Sam B heading into Downtown at Silverstar
Skyride Cycle owner Terrance with a no-hander at Silverstar
out with the low life, in with the High Life
DAY 3 - Kelowna, BC
Cyclepath in Kelowna is one of the physically largest shops that offers Transition Bikes in their lineup. Located on a main road in Kelowna makes Cyclepath an easy access shop on the way to the trails. A large staff of knowledgeable riders run the show, including Mike Kirk who took Sam and I riding for the day.
Sam talking bikes with some crew men of Cyclepath
a Double hovers over the big-name bikes at Cyclepath
Sam talks TR450 inside Cyclepath
Mike Kirk leads the charge for us in Kelowna
Sam B gets tight in the trees
Mike Kirk pinning it in Kelowna
Mike dropping in on Crawford
Sam pinned in a corner in the burn zone
Wes, Sam, and Mike ripping in Kelowna
DAY 4 - Nelson, BC
I love Nelson. Just like my Transition Bottlerocket, if I could only have one, it would be this one. The riding scene is super tight, the landscape is rugged, and as the saying goes, "slow down, this ain't the big city". When I heard the premiere shop in town, the Sacred Ride, was going to pick up our brand, I was beyond stoked. Here is an establishment that is almost entirely built around the willingness of it's owners to contribute to the local scene. Jeff Grosch founded the shop and Mark Holt is known for founding the Nelson style of trail building and riding, with dozens of trails to his credit.
The Sacred Ride, at the foot of some of the bestest biking of all time
After sparking some interest with our new TR450 and Covert bikes, it was time to get the bikes dirty. We met up with our sponsored rider Mike Kinrade and hit the trails with Pat Williams of Dirt Tours and Sacred Ride's legendary big bad Leroy Brown.
Kinradical's shuttle rig
Pat of Dirt Tours in the thick of it in Nelson
If you're in Nelson looking for trail action, look no further than Kootenay Dirt Tours. Tell Pat that I recommended you check him out and who knows what he'll show you.
Leroy Brown brapping corners high above Nelson
Mike Kinrade off the wall
After a few runs we headed up for a quick lifestyle video shoot with Mike. I thought it might be entertaining for you to know a bit more about our pro rider, so here ya go:
Kinrade builds his own stunts, look for this move in Stripped 2, 2010
We hung it up after a couple laps and headed to the premiere of Radical Film's new movie, Kranked Revolve. When Mike Kinrade's section popped up on the screen, everyone in the place went nuts! He's well known in Nelson not only for being a pro rider, but also for being such an all-around nice guy and committed trail builder. Revolve is definitely one of the best mountain bike movies of all time, with amazing cinematography and riding done by people you've probably heard of. Talk about saving the best for last, if you haven't seen the end clip of the four Coast riders tearing up the jump trails, you are missing out on life. There was a pretty fun party afterwards and as usual we stayed up too late.
DAY 5 - Baldface Lodge & Nelson, BC
I woke up this morning after having been hit by a train, or at least it felt like it. Dirt Tours was heading out on another dirt tour, so it took a really long time to figure out the logistics on the Baldface Lodge run. We sat around with mass confusion for quite some time until discovering that Jeff Pensiero, owner of Baldface Lodge, was heading up to check out some maintenance on the lodge and ride down the trails on his bike. Jeff turned out to be a super nice guy and a fun guy to ride with. Just another guy in the bike industry loving life! I promised some photos in exchange for giving us a lift, so we stopped quite a bit to shoot on this run down. No worries, no hurries, just a case of the blurries from the night before.
alpine singletrack & bikes; this is the stuff dreams are made of
Sam soaking it all in
Mike & Sam getting started on the mega descent
Jeff, the owner of Baldface Lodge and the longest descent in North America. We're heading to that lake in the background.
Mike & Sam cruising the meadows
more meadows
Mike & Sam entering the steep wooded singletrack
Kinrade shredding the steeps
Jeff showing off the backcountry on the Baldface Lodge trails
Kinrade pinning it through the woods
does this trail ever end? Kinrade rolling some steeps towards the bottom of the Baldface descent
Mmm, that was nice. With plenty of daylight to spare, Kinradical opted for a nap while I organized some photo stuff. After feeling a bit revived, Mike and I were ready for his photo shoot. Tam Forde jumped in as well and we headed out to create some visual entertainment for ya. I think Mike hit the jump 10 times, after a long day on the trails - what a trooper.
Kinrade prepping some of his freshly built trail goodness
Tam Forde filming for Stripped 2
There are several shots out there of Mike hitting this jump. I was hoping to show a bit of the gnarly landing, so it's a bit of a different perspective. Hope you like!
DAY 6 & 7 - Creston, BC
Today began the qualifiers for Goat Style 2009. I had never been to a jump contest before so I just planned on learning as I went. When we first arrived, Sam and I saw the Transition banner and figured that's where we needed to be, so we headed over to the tent of Favorit Cycles and met with James, owner of Favorit, our dealer from Cranbrook, BC. It was great to be able to support our sponsored riders Harrison Mendel, Casey Groves, and Sam Dueck. The guys were killing it and it was a good time to watch how they did their thing. I also got to hang out with Wes who I had ridden with in Kelowna a few days prior, as well as Ben who wrenches for Taboo in Kamloops. Both of those guys were looking solid on the course as well. I took A LOT of photos at Goat Style, so if you want to see them all, check the Transition Goat Style gallery. It was amazing for me to watch this all go down and to see how far mountain biking has come. Seriously major props to all the riders at the event who were throwing down and having fun. There was fantastic positive energy in the participants and the spectators. Here are just a couple of my personal favorites from the event:
Sam and James talking TR450
Casey Groves
Justin Wyper
Matt Montandon
Mitch Chubey
Casey Groves totally dumped
Ben Glassen with a sick tuck-no on the transfer
not sure who this is
Scott Allen
Geoff Gullevich in flippy-floppies
Sam Dueck
Bentonn Leong
Props to our riders Harrison Mendel for 1st place in Junior Advanced and Sam Dueck for 2nd place Pro! Here's a vid of their runs at Goat Style 2009:
DAY 8 - Cranbrook, BC
Today it rained. Alot. We headed to Favorit Cycles and helped unpack the trailer and reload the bike shop after the Goat Style contest. Favorit has some rad merchandising going on and the shop has lots of character. James spends quite a bit of time building his own trails which was evident in the pile of trail tools by the front door of the shop. Since James had to work at the Goat Style event all weekend, he closed the shop and took Sam and I riding in the pouring rain. A recurring theme of our trip was that despite the conditions or what was going on in the world, the shops we visited wanted to show us their local trails, which was super cool! All of a sudden taking that perfectly dialed DH bike out into a muckfest seemed like a good idea for these guys. Hats off to you guys, we had a great time!
Favorit Cycles storefront
James McKee, owner of Favorit Cycles, is not afraid of a little rain, or a lot of it for that matter
James and Sam shredding James's own hand built trails in the rain
We wrapped up the riding after 3 laps since we were swamped from the rain. It was around noon, and we only had a 10 hour drive ahead of us to get back home. James offered a shower at his house, then Sam and I hit the road bound for home. We drove through rain most of the way home, which is always a nice feeling to be doing nothing when there's nothing to do. The drive home through lower BC is beautiful countryside through the mountains and I highly recommend it. It was a great time to reflect on our past couple days experiences. From the people we met to the epic rides we were shown, everything really came together and made us feel like the Transition brand was well-represented and well-liked by our northern neighbors. Our sponsored riders in the area really showed us their worth, and even the guys we met up with on other brands of bikes had their interest sparked by our factory rides. Overall it seemed quite worthwhile to me, so who knows, maybe we'll come check out your town in the future!
Major props to:
Taboo Cycles, Kamloops - Brad & Ben
Skyride Cycle, Vernon - Terrance, Mike, Ragan
Cyclepath, Kelowna - Mike
Sacred Ride, Nelson - Jeff, Mark, Leroy
Dirt Tours, Nelson - Pat
Goat Style, Creston - all event organizers and the city of Creston!
Favorit Cycles - James
Pinkbike.com of course, for sponsoring Goat Style
TransitionBikes.com
31 Comments
- + 6
hmendel
(Aug 28, 2009 at 20:25)
So sick Brad! Looked like a really fun trip. It was awesome that you made it to Goat Style 
Doux, cela serait un voyage amusant, étoile en argent est sooo le beaucoup d'amusement, je n'ai jamais regardé relly le transistions mais ceci était assez doux, et je toujours ai voulu aller à peaks. de soleil.
I love all the pictures you guys got. They could all be Pods and the colours and lighting were perfect. The vid of Goat Style is awesome too. I wish I could do all the thing you guys get to do. I love your Transtion Double too. Transtion rocks!!
Awesome Brad! Had to be an amazing trip through BC! I was so stoked to see you guys at Goatsyle! Next year the whole Tranny crew better be there!!!
[Reply]
you should come support casey at center of gravity too.. tons of exposure if you set up a tent in there too..
This is a truly epic article with great photos. Living and being able to ride in BC is a dream come true for every biker... I hope that some day I will be able to rip those trials too 
There s nothing like a good road trip filled with riding. Good work on the photos, writing an video.
[Reply]
[Reply]
Awesome story and video, Mike Kinrade is still one of my favorite riders of all time, wayy back from the Drop In Season 1 days. Im sure you will win the Rampage Mike, just keep training hard.
Well-played shameless plug! 
Excellent write-up on what sounds like a very epic "business" trip. Sick photos/vids as well. Keep it rolling!!!
Excellent write-up on what sounds like a very epic "business" trip. Sick photos/vids as well. Keep it rolling!!!
had fun taking you guys up to crawford! come out again and ill show you postil next time like you wanted...or ill come for a rip there, sounds sick!
Awesome trip! The pics are really sweet.
I just got back from our trip through BC and this article reminds me so much of the great experiences. Our loop was not that long, we went from Whistler to Kelowna, SilverStar, Golden and back with a stop in Kamloops.
Now I am living in Van at the UBC for this fall. Anyone out there to show me around? Please PM.
Again, great article!
I just got back from our trip through BC and this article reminds me so much of the great experiences. Our loop was not that long, we went from Whistler to Kelowna, SilverStar, Golden and back with a stop in Kamloops.
Now I am living in Van at the UBC for this fall. Anyone out there to show me around? Please PM.
Again, great article!
PS.
My Wilson shorts look like your blue underwear, LOL!
( http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/3980831 )
Still going strong, though... ;-)
My Wilson shorts look like your blue underwear, LOL!
( http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/3980831 )
Still going strong, though... ;-)
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