Canada's Darcy Turenne is quickly pushing women's freeride mountain biking into the mainstream.

In addition to frequent appearances in cycling mags, Darcy has also been featured in Men's Journal and in an upcoming Rolling Stone issue.

A former member of the Canadian National Downhill team, when Darcy left racing for freeriding she never looked back. She currently hosts "The Ride Guide" TV show and has a university degree in environmental studies, so she can properly identify the soil and trees she sails through. --FF

Check out freeridefoundation..com for the full article.

Just Announced: The grand prize for this year's Blue Mountain VPS-Fest will be a 2008 Norco A-Line Park Edition Frameset.

This is of course, on top of the discounted lift passes, free tech support, free trials demo, the chance to ride with Jay Hoots & Dylan Korba, and so much more...

What are you waiting for? If you live east of the Rockies and you own a Norco bike, mark July 12th on your calendar!

Register Today at: VPSFEST.com

VPS-Fest is Norco's one-of-a-kind Rider Appreciation Day. It's our chance to say 'Thanks!' to our riders by providing anyone who rides a Norco bike with discounted lift-accessed riding, FREE tech support, the chance to win a few grand in prizes, and much more....

As seen in Mountain Biking Magazine...

By the time this article goes to print, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour will have shown the special edit of my segment from Kranked 6, “Trial and Error”, to over 100,000 people. In this film I share my instinctual feelings of concern when seeing or thinking about clear cutting a forest.

I often show this video at my school presentations, and while on tour up in Northern BC where forestry supports a large chunk of the population, I began feeling a little sheepish about showing it, as I certainly am no expert on the topic. In the film I reference the particular zone of forest where my trail is built, “this is one of the last remaining sections of mid elevation old growth on the BC coast, and it’s slated for clear cut.” Then one of the analogies I make in the film is that “it seems to me that clear cutting is exactly like a crash, and they’ve done it time and time again, and perhaps haven’t learned from their mistakes.” I didn’t want to insult those in BC that base their livelihood on the industry and give them a bad reputation from my generalizing statements. Perhaps they have learned, and perhaps there are some ecologically sound logging practices in effect.

For Ryan Leech's full article, go to: ryanleech.com

Jay Hoots & Dylan Korba Confirmed for Blue Mountain VPS-Fest!

Forget fancy training camps or paying big bucks to get coached off a drop. On July 12th you do that for next to nothing at Blue Mountain Resort, Ontario.

As of today, Jay Hoots and Dylan 'Cobra' Korba have confirmed that they will both be attending VPS-Fest!

In addition to making all your riding dreams come true, Dylan has agreed to demonstrate his trials skills in the village square, and Hoots will be on hand to toss out $5000 in prizes at the end of the day.

If you live east of the Rockies and you own a Norco bike, mark July 12th on your calendar!

VPSFEST.com

VPS-Fest is Norco's one-of-a-kind Rider Appreciation Day. It's our chance to say 'Thanks!' to our riders by providing anyone who rides a Norco bike with discounted lift-accessed riding, FREE tech support, the chance to win a few grand in prizes, and much more....

If you can't make it up to Mt. Hood on the 5th, then you better be sure not to miss Norco's 2nd Oregon Demo Day on the 6th on the legendary Blackrock trails.

From 10am - 6pm, join the Norco team in Falls City, Oregon and ride a selection of 2008 Norco Demo Bikes.

All riders that Demo will get a free shuttle to the top of the trails!

*FREE TECH SUPPORT FROM NORCO’S FACTORY TEAM MECHANICS
*WIN NORCO PRIZE & SWAG
*CONCESSION STAND WITH BURGERS AND HOT DOGS

Come test your skills in one of the
most progressive riding areas of the US. Norco will have bikes for all riding styles and categories on hand!

For more information go to: BRMBA.org

If you live in Oregon, write MT. HOOD & NORCO in big letters on your calendar and make plans to come out and test ride a 2008 Norco!

While everyone else is recovering from the Independence Day festivities, come be the first riders in the Pacific Northwest to ride a selection of 2008 Norco bikes.

Take the chairlift up and challenge
yourself on the downhill trails or ride the smooth single-track at Ski Bowl.

Norco will have bikes for all riding styles and categories on hand!

Check out skibowl.com for more info! See ya there!

Langley BC's Svein Tuft took a big step towards selection to the Canadian Olympic team yesterday cinching the final overall classification at the 2008 Tour de Beauce.

The Tour de Beauce is Canada's longest running and most prestigious professional cycling race and attracts a strong field of international cyclists to the tough and hilly roads of the Chaudierre Appalaches region of Quebec every June. This year's event held special significance to a small group of Canadian cyclists who were in the final running for selection to the Canadian Beijing Olympic team.

Tuft became the first Canadian winner of the Tour de Beauce since 1995. The last Canadian winner, Eric Wohlberg, is Tuft's current team mate on the BC based Symmetrics Pro Cycling Team. Wohlberg was not at this year's Tour de Beauce, however Tuft was well supported by a strong Symmetrics team. Tuft set up his victory with a vigilant ride on stage one, placing himself in a key selection of 18 riders. On the queen stage of the tour with the summit finish on Mont Megantic (the highest point in Quebec)

Tuft was expected to fold to pressure of strong climbers from France, Italy, Mexico and the United States. Instead Tuft, who focused on his climbing in training this season, surprised everyone finishing 7th on the famous mountain stage. Tuft lost only a handful of seconds to stage winner Miguel Martinez, France, and Bernardo Colex, Mexico. Tuft- a three-time Canadian time trial champion-took the overall lead in the stage 4 individual time trial, a stage he was expected to win.

Tuft's team neutralized all attacks in the final three stages, carrying their team leader to the coveted overall win. Tuft finished 11th in Sunday's final stage in scenic old Quebec city. Finishing right beside Colex, who attacked hard on the final climb up cote de la Montagne past the beautiful Chateau Frontenac.

The Canadian Cycling Association will announce the final road selections for the Beijing Olympics Thursday June 19th, 2008 at a press conference in St. Georges Quebec. Tuft's Beauce victory coupled with the four gold medals he won at the recent Pan American Cycling Championships in Montevideo Uruguay have all cycling analysts tipping Tuft as a shoe-in for one of the three spots on Canada's Olympic team. Tuft races next at the Mardis Cyclistes de Lachine Criterium in Montreal before returning to St. Georges July 4-6 for the National Championships.

For more information about Norco & the Symmetrics Team check out: symmetrics.com

hellodarcy.com Re-vamped & Re-launched

Straight from Darcy Turenne Headquarters...

Hi everyone! Welcome, once again to the re-vamped Hello Darcy site. I'd like the say making the new site was a labour of love. . .but seeing as I'm not very techno savvy, it was more just labour.

There's definitely a huge part of me that is still in shock that the site even works. Oh, and maybe I am just dreaming so please email me if it doesn't!

Say HELLO to Darcy!

Fuel is skyrocketing! Gas or Diesel, it doesn’t matter. Not too long ago people were stressing when gas hit a buck a litre. Now anything under a buck-thirty is considered a deal. I’ll bet we’ll see $1.50+ per litre before summer is out. Yikes!

It wasn’t too many years ago that we used to budget our trips here from Vancouver down to Moab using $1.19 per gallon for gas as a benchmark. Door to door it was 1970km (less than 4 tanks). We all tossed a hundy into the gas fund and away we went. Rock and roll.

However, on our recent trip down to Sea Otter we were paying well in excess of $4.40 per gallon! I spent close to $2000 getting our two rigs with trailers down and back from that event. For the first time, I had to seriously consider FUEL as a major cost of attending an event.

Note: For you good folks in the USA there is 4 litres to a US Gallon. You are still way cheaper than we are. We think we are getting a deal down your way compared to home prices!

Being in the bicycle business, I get the classic statement “man, with the price of gas these days you must be selling lots of bikes”.

Well, fact is, although our retailers are selling more bikes this time of year with spring and summer finally here, disappointingly there’s only a small percentage of consumers that are making a conscious decision to buy a bike and ride it more because of the price of gas.

So that leads me to the question, “how much is too much”?? When will we hit the tipping point when people say “I’ve had enough. . .I am GOING to ride my bike more and drive my car less”.

Sadly, I don’t think we are even close at a buck and half a litre (up to $6.00 a gallon) as we North Americans cannot give up our love affair with our vehicles. Big SUV’s, Quad cabs, pick-ups and all-wheel drive rigs. They are making lots of them still, heck, the bigger the better right? Yup, call me a hypocrite. I drive a ¾ ton diesel crew cab pick-up, but keep in mind that it’s hard to pull a 12,000 lb trailer with a Prius. To offset the necessity of our team rig, I still pedal pretty much every day and ride a moto when I can too.

Speaking of riding, a big high 5 goes out to all our Norco staff that rode their bikes in to work during last week’s Ride To Work Challenge and an even bigger shout out to the high percentage that ride in EVERY week. Rain or shine.

At our pancake breakfast held at the office in honor of the riders we had one of our bike division guys mention that he rode 40 kms each way EVERY day during that week. That’s a 400 km week on his bike – just commuting! Wow, impressive numbers Paul. Extra kudo’s sent your way.

It was as I was sitting there munching on my pancakes I got to thinking about the whole question of bikes and fuel costs.

So, how much IS too much? What do you think? When will it be too much for you?
Take the poll included in this month’s enews and give us your thoughts: Will the rising price of gas encourage you to ride a bike?

As always, happy trails. And don’t forget to grin as you hop on your bike and ride past a gas station.

Well, we’ve finally held a dirt competition in the capital city of Slovenia! The first round of the Slovenian 4X Championships were happening that weekend, so they added the Dirt Jump and Best Trick comp to increase the excitement.

The funny thing was that there was 20" and 26" together in same category so it was challenging for the judges.
Three runs, one winner. . .



Training started and I had some problems with my bike so I had to quit. Later, after I had repaired my bike I was ready to rock and roll again! Practice went well.

During the compeititon, I pulled three solid runs, and I was happy with them, then it was up to the judges had to do their job. While they were deciding the winner, we held the Best Trick Comp to fill the time. Me and my friend were so stoked about even having a competition that we said, “lets go for it!”



He was going for 360 double tailwhip (BMX), which he landed on his third try, so I had to step it up with my MTB and went for Flip-Whip (backflip tailwhip)!! I landed it for the first time in my life on the second try! I was SO stoked and everyone was so happy for me!! It’s a trick that I thought I would never be crazy enough even to try but I landed it.

After that, the judges knew who won the dirt comp...
“The first place goes to the ‘Croatian Sensation’ Mislav Mironovic!”



It was an amazing feeling to hear my name and go to podium. I will never forget that moment. I am still stoked on that flipwhip and happy for the great show we put on for the Slovenians! Check out some video from the event:


click on this text or the image to view the video

Cheers
- Mislav

Team Also Takes Toronto Win Leading up to the Triple Crown of Cycling.

This past weekend saw Symmetrics Cycling Team once again dominating the Canadian Cycling scene winning races in both Toronto and Vancouver. Friday night 8000 fans lined the streets of St. Lawrence Market Criterium in downtown Toronto. The 4 Symmetrics riders who participated dominated the race with Andrew Pinfold lapping the field and winning from Team Race Pro's Dustin McBurnie. Behind Pinfold and McBurnie Symmetrics Eric Wohlber, Zach Bell and Andrew Randell came 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

On the west coast the rest of the Symmetrics Cycling Team raced in the Westside Classic--also the BC Provincial Cycling Championships-- in Vancouver on June 1st. Once again Symmetrics dominated the race, claiming 1st through 5th with Cam Evans 1st, Svein Tuft 2nd, Christian Meier 3rd, Ryan Anderson 4th, Will Routely 5th. Both events drew large crowds who thoroughly enjoyed the downtown city circuit races.

Today eight of Symmetrics top riders are en route to Pennsylvania to race in America's Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling where they will compete with hundreds of top professional cyclists from 25 nations in 3 races from June 3rd to June 8th. The final race on June 8th is the longest running and largest Pro Cycling Race in America and attracts 350,000 live spectators to the streets of downtown Philadelphia.

On Monday June 9th the team will travels to Quebec City from Philadelphia where they will compete in the week long Tour de Beauce from June 10-15th. This is Canada's only UCI sanctioned professional stage race and attracts teams from around the world.

The next two weeks are crucial to Symmetrics riders Svein Tuft, National Champion Cam Evans and National Espoir Champion Christian Meier who are all on the short list for Olympic Selection. Their performance's at these high level International Races will influence Olympic selection decisions.

Zach Bell -- also racing with the team at these races-- has already had his Olympic Selection confirmed. Svein Tuft recently won four gold medals at the PanAm Cycling Championships in Montevideo Uruguay. He's on top of everyone's list when speculating who will be chosen for the coveted spots for the Canadian road cycling team at the Beijing Olympics.

Last year Tuft was fifth in one event at the Triple Crown and finished second at the Tour de Beauce en route to finishing the season as the top ranked professional cyclist in the Americas. The Canadian Cycling Association's High Performance Committee is scheduled to announce the Olympic road cycling team selections on June 15th - the final day of the Tour de Beauce.

Did you know that Symmetrics members are riding the Norco CRR SL to victory? Check out Norco's Symmetrics edition race bikes in CARBON and M6 ALUMINIUM.

On May 29th, Norco had the pleasure of working with the Children's Wish Foundation to make Jeff’s wish come true.

Jeff wish was to receive a brand new bike, a 2008 Norco Six 1 to be specific, and for he and his family come to out on vacation to BC and tour Norco’s Factory.

We decided that a tour also needed to include a ride! To add to the fun, Jay Hoots and Ryan Leech both immediately volunteered to act as ride-guides for Jeff (second from the left)) and his best friend Jamie (far right).

It was an honour to be able to celebrate Jeff’s 15th birthday and to help make his wish come true! We wish he and his family all the best in his fight!

If you would like to know more about the Children’s Wish Foundation, or would like to help make a child/teen’s wish come true, check out: childrenswish.ca

Norco Factory Team rider, Darcy Turenne stopped by Rip tv...

giving them the latest on her injuries, Ride Guide, contest schedule, and the female-specific bike line she's developing with Norco.

Check it out!