REPUBLIK

T-Sage put together a great cut of Hauck for Black Market. Check it out:

Black Market Inc- Adam Hauck from Taylor Sage on Vimeo.

Just got a call from Mike. He had a good time in Germany, but he didn’t get the results he was looking for at the Dirt Sessions qualifying round. I’m not sure why, but he was only able to pre-run the coarse 4 times? With that said, the first run he threw a Bar Hop / Three Whip / and double whip. But that wasn’t enough to make the finals so now he’s off to compete in the Vienna Air King. The good news is instead of competing in the T-Mobile finals he’s going down to shoot with the New World Disorder crew in Spain.

Decorated big mountain skier and BASE jumper Shane McConkey was killed earlier today in a ski-BASE accident in the Italian Dolomites.

A member of the Red Bull Air Force and pioneer of the ski-BASE-ing phenomenon, McConkey experienced problems in the air after launching off a cliff with the expectation of deploying his parachute canopy and then gliding down to the ground—as he had done successfully some 700-plus times before.

“He did a double backflip off the jump and he has these releasable bindings so they come off in the air and then he flies off in his wing suit,” filmmaker Scott Gaffney, a longtime close friend of McConkey’s, told ESPN Action Sports in an interview this afternoon via phone.

“But one ski did not come off. And when that happens the drag on the skis causes you to flip over, so the skis go over your head. So he was struggling with the one ski. Then he also got into a bad spin. So he may have never even pulled his pilot chute. And that’s coming from JT Holmes, who Shane was with in Italy and who reviewed the footage of the accident. So the combination of the ski, the spin and the pilot chute, apparently. Because you can’t throw the pilot chute like that; if you throw it while you’re upside down and it wraps around the ski, you’re done.”

McConkey was filming with Matchstick Productions and Red Bull at the time, according to Gaffney, who said McConkey apparently died on impact with snow on the ground below the cliff. Gaffney was not clear about the size of the cliff. “But it had to be a sizable cliff, at least 400 feet, for him to be planning on flying his wing suit away from it,” Gaffney said.

McConkey, 39, of Olympic Valley, Calif., is survived by his wife, Sherry, and their 3½-year-old daughter, Ayla.

  

Graeme Murray/Red Bull Photofiles

This afternoon Gaffney was at home in Squaw Valley, Calif., with his brother, Robb, also a close friend of McConkey’s, reeling from the news. “With what Shane does,” said Scott, “it’s a call you always picture getting at some point, but you realistically don’t ever expect it to happen.”

Added Robb Gaffney, “Shane’s been a part of our lives for quite a while now. I’m just sitting at Scott’s house processing the whole thing. The texts and calls are coming in, and you can really even feel it in the air in Squaw right now. I’m thinking about Sherry and his little girl. But in this area people have always loved Shane, so Sherry and Ayla, they’re going to have an immense amount of support around them. That’s one thing for sure; that’s Shane’s legacy.”

Just got an email from Mike. Before he heads to the Vienna Air King Event, he’s stopping in Germany to qualify for the T Mobile Dirt Sessions comp that’s taking place on April 19th in Duisburg. Here’s an email from Mike:

“I made it to germany for the first T-mobile event. My first event is tomorrow and if I place in the top 4 I receive a qualifying spot for the Play grounds event in the next couple of weeks. Ill keep you posted and Ill shoot you some photos after the event.”

Here’s more on the event:

T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds 2009 ready to rumble +++ Dirt Session brings the world’s best BMXers and mountain bikers to Duisburg +++ US punk rockers NOFX live +++ Qualifying via T-Mobile Local Support Dirt Challenge +++ Pre-sales start tomorrow!  No time for hibernation! After an extremely successful event year in 2008 with a total of 15.000 spectators and two sold-out locations, T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds brings on three fantastic events in 2009. The first one will be the Dirt Session, April 19th, at the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord. The world class starting field in BMX Dirt Jump and Mountain Bike Slopestyle is about to get compiled. Three BMX stars have confirmed already: Rob Darden (USA/Street winner Street Session 2008), Diogo Canina (BRA/2nd place X Games 2008) and Markus Hampl, German Dirt Jump champ 2008! The first two confirmed mountain bike riders are Paul Bassagoita (USA/winner Dirt Session 2008), Lance McDermott (UK/2nd place Dirt Session 2008) and Marius Hoppensack, Germany’s best street rider and Duisburg local. Music-wise, the headliner has already been nailed down: NOFX, the punkrockers from the US! Additional to the invited top riders, talented rookies can qualify for the Dirt Session via the T-Mobile Local.

Here’s some info on the event if you’re not familiar with it:

Vienna Air King - 2009 edition bigger than ever

Vienna, March 24th, 2009 – The fourth anniversary of the Vienna Air King on April 4th and 5th welcomes 50 riders from 15 countries. Athletes from Canada, USA, Russia, Australia, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic will launch the mountain bike dirt jump contest season right in front of the Viennese city hall.

Not only well known riders like the former Vienna Air King winners Darren Pokoj (2006, Australia), Benny Korthaus (2007, Germany), Sam Pilgrim (2008, UK) and freeride all stars like Darren Berrecloth (Canada) or Paul Basagoitia (USA) will hit Vienna on the first weekend in April. Also a whole bunch of promising young talents like Mike Montgomery from the U.S. or Pavel Aloykhin from Russia will be among the top riders:

Darren Pokoj (AUS)
Matthias Gattringer (AUT)
Philipp Fruehwirt (AUT)
Darren Berrecloth (CAN)
Mischa Breitenstein (SUI)
Yannick Granieri (FRA)
Amir Kabbani (GER)
Benny Korthaus (GER)
Bartek Obukowicz (POL)
Pavel Aloykhin (RUS)
Linus Sjöholm (SWE)
Martin Söderström (SWE)
Lance McDerrmott (GBR)
Mike Smith (GBR)
Sam Pilgrim (GBR)
Mike Montgomery (USA)
Paul Basagoitia (USA)

The head of course construction, Andi Brewi, who also built last years’ dirt lines, modified the course concept for 2009: “The starting tower is a bit lower, but features two different sized jump ramps on the edge to take a nice and smooth step down. Due to the step down, you will be fast enough for the first double: a racer jump with dirt launch and landing. The following two big doubles with wooden take offs have a small roller in between, so the riders will be able to push and gain speed again, in case they might have overshot the jump before. Brand new for 2009 is also a quarterpipe-bank combo, at the very end of the track, which gives all riders the chance to proof their park skills. In my mind, the course will perfectly showcase the latest tricks after a long winter break with hardly any contests at all.”

The riders will definitely go for it – in total there will be 7.500 Euros of prize money, as well as three Panasonic digital cameras for the Top 3 and an extra HD camcorder for the winner. In general it will pay out to show some really stunning tricks: directly after two hours of qualification runs on Saturday afternoon, the Panasonic-Best-Trick-competition promises an inferno of trick combination. The winner of the best trick session can look forward to 500 Euros cash and a Panasonic camera. The Saturday will be topped off by the official Vienna Air king riders party at the WUK club (Währingerstr. 59, 1090 Vienna). The cycle maniacs “Plexus Solaire” (Paris/Vienna) are playing Indie-Chanson-Powerpop live on stage and afterwards DJ Jamika’s set (FM4/Vienna) will make you move. But the TOP12 riders from the qualification shouldn’t party too hard, because the Vienna Air King finals are scheduled for Sunday 2:30 pm.
The Vienna Air king is the perfect kick-off for the bike season 2009. On April 4th and 5th, the Argus Bike Festival will attract ten thousands of visitors to enjoy the bike exhibition and a great variety during the two days program.

I’ve had a chance to get to know the guys from PINKBIKE.COM over the past couple years. They’re good guys for sure. Jordan, sent me over a few pics of his new Tonic Fab build. Check it out on our Bike Check Page.

Stay tuned to PINKBIKE.COM for a complete review.
To see more on Tonic Fab click here.

Nick Braun, Seth Gehman, Dave Seeley and Ryler Sturm are a close-knit group of builders and riders that saw a need and opportunity to build a freeride trail system in a location that was primarily known for it’s epic XC trails. With the support of the local trail organization, (COTA) they’re transforming the riding scene in Bend, Oregon. I’m going to steal Seth’s quote at the bottom of the article because it needs to be repeated, “Support your local trail advocacy group, attend meetings, and make your voice heard.” Here’s their story:

Central Oregon has long been known for its buttery smooth epic XC trails; well the times are a changing. It wasn’t long ago that myself and a few friends sat on the side of a butte in Central Oregon, building illegal pirate trails, wondering if we would ever be able to build legitimate freeride trails, and receive respect from our cycling peers. There has been a shift in leadership, eyes have been opened, and new blood has stepped up to the plate!
About 2 years ago, while investigating a new trail project here in Central Oregon, Nick Braun ran into two other local trail building volunteers, Seth Gehman and Dave Seeley.

Within their first few months of building and riding together, the trio realized how much they had in common, and made a decision to be more proactive in the mountain bike community. They saw that there was a need for more progressive freeride trails in the area, and that no one was stepping up to the plate to do anything about it. Many riders in the area had lots to say about what needed to be built and what sucked; but no one was being proactive in getting the approval to build legitimate freeride features.

Central Oregon has a few sweet DJ spots, but no trails with sweet TTF’s(technical trail features); so the trio got to work on building their reputation as hard working, dedicated trail builders with the local bike advocacy group, Central Oregon Trail Alliance(www.cotamtb.com). During their first year of being proactive, they had helped Sam Pinner to finish up the Lair Jump Park:

Adding a new member to their building crew, Ryler Sturm(www.cofreeriders.com). The close knit biking community quickly realized how dedicated these guys were to building and progressing the types of trails in Central Oregon. Shortly there after, COTA board members came to the group with the most mind shattering news! “We’ve got a spot for you guys to build some legitimate freeride trail and features”. The only catch was we had to follow some Forest Service guidelines. In five months, we had flagged and roughed in a mile of trail and built over 200 feet of elevated wooden features:

Winter, and snow kicked us out late in December, so we moved to the lower elevation of Phil’s Trailhead, to start building a bunch of log rides that a wind storm had left us on New Years Day. We built a zone of log rides right along the road to the trail head in hopes that this would introduce this type of riding to those who haven’t experienced it before, hoping that when they see new TTF’s on the trail, they won’t be freaked out:

We have not yet received any negative feedback from the locals, and the community is still egging us on to keep building more. So kiddies, instead of sitting around complaining about what we don’t have to ride, or that what we have sucks, you should get out and be more PROACTIVE! Support your local trail advocacy group, attend meetings, and make your voice heard. Those who show up, are often listened to. Talk is cheap, but hard work is priceless.

Check it out we just launched a new Bike Check Page

I knew as soon as I posted it they would change something. Date for the Banks has been changed.

Via Nick at THRASHBIKE.COM.
I apologize on this one, but we are bumping the “Street Coast Jam” to the Weekend of the 13th and 14th of June. It came to my attention, that alot of people here in the states that wanted to ride the comp have college graduations and things to attend that weekend. This is the reason I announced the the comp early so we could work out any kinks. Im sorry if this messed any plans already made, but this works out better in the long run. I will have another flyer in a couple weeks with the Break down of the contest.

Via Nick at THRASHBIKE.COM
The Thrash Bike Street Coast Jam is BACK! A little early this year, but mark your calenders and mark sure you there on May 30th and 31st.
I will post another flyer in a couple weeks with all the complete details, but make sure you keep that weekend open.

Here is footage from last years jam. Adam Hauck has some banger clips.

nyc trashbike coast jam from Vincent Allard on Vimeo.