NSMB.com Team
Snapshot of AIRprentice '08
Posted by Eamonn Duignan on 2008-08-09
I’m sure by now, you have read the play by play (AIRprentice Wrap), by Cam ‘The Man’ McRae, on how this years Airprentice (AP) played out, and if you haven’t, what the hell are you waiting for? So in hopes of not repeating what McRae has already spilled out, this is my contribution, if you will, on how the events of the AP weekend unfolded.
For this year's AP I was somewhat gimped, due to a few broken ribs (see Memories of a Broken Man on the team page), so I was limited in what I could do and see. With that being said, the following series of shots will tell my side of the story on how AP went down.
I love this pic... the AP’s new rides on display by the good folks at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler (check out nsmb team captain T-Bone in the background - nothing but smiles). It really doesn’t get any better then staying at the Fairmont for the weekend.
The team truck lookin' oh so fine outside of the Fairmont in Whistler.
The AP crew for '08, well most of them anyways! From left to right: Andrew Lee’s right shoulder, Justin Wyper, Cody Heinrichs, Luke Beers, Mark Matthews, Luke Fulton, Tyler Leblanc, Greg Allen, and Neil Meyer. Evan McCurrie was a little on the late side for this event, so he’s not in this shot. I think he was still in bed when I took this one! PS - For those of you who want to come out for next year's AP, you should probably show up on time... it wouldn't hurt!
Mr. AIRprentice Justin Wyper stretchin' it out off the spine.
nsmb taking over the Bone Yard for the weekend. This was a typical scene from the weekend, a few contestants sending it and working hard, and the rest... well, let’s just say they got lots of rest.
For those of you who didn’t know, team member Curtis Robinson was a male model before he got into mountain biking. This is Curtis demonstrating his best Blue Steel!
Norco team rider Dylan Korba flip’n on to the spine…so sick! On his first attempt he almost stuck a double rotation.
I know McRae used a similar shot in his AIRprentice Wrap article, but how could I not include it? Is there any wonder why or how Justin Wyper won this year's AP?
SENDING...Mark Matthews as per usual. This kid was killing it all weekend.
Jay "Dolla-Dolla Bill" Sinclair, nsmb Media Liaison doing what he does best.
Team shredder Ian Nelson shortly after he found out that I stole his lunch money.
There was no doubt that Justin could throw down on a bike, but how were his runway skills… you decide.
Suicide is a serious concern in today's crazy world. I have to say, though, Luke Fulton makes it look so good. Luke was also throwing it down on the wide all weekend.
Neil Meyer helping team riders Ian Nelson and Mitch Chubey put some life back into the somewhat beat-down Bone Yard course.
David Ferguson (seen on the right with the camera, just look for the highlights) and Geoff Livingstone (on the left with the camera), catching Neil Meyer (number 10) and Justin Wyper (number 60) shredding it through the 4X course. I have to say hitting the 4X course was a great idea, and it really did an effective job of separating the contestants.
Some may say that giving Corey Leclerc a microphone and all the beer he could drink would be a very bad idea, but we at nsmb think differently. Corey, our event MC, was without fail, as entertaining as usual!
The debonair Cam McRae grilling the final four, from right to left: Cam McRae, Justin Wyper, Mark Matthews, Tyler Leblanc, and Luke Fulton (who is hiding behind Tyler).
Our champ for 2008, Justin Wyper… congrats, son! And a big shout out to all of the contestants that came out - you guys were all awesome!
That’s it, AIRprentice in 20 or so shots! Hope you enjoyed my slightly foggy, somewhat abstract, and at times, irrelevant synopsis of the weekend.
Memoirs of a Broken Man
Posted by Eamonn Duignan on 2008-08-02
For those of you not in the know, I sustained, with little doubt, the worst crash of my mountain bike career, and that’s saying a lot. The carnage occurred at Sun Peaks Resorts (just outside of Kamloops), a few weeks back now. My spill happened on one of our annual team trips, and like things of this nature, it took place on the last run near the end of a long day. I basically miss calculated what I thought was an insignificant gap jump and I ended up flying from my bike and completed what would have been a perfect belly flop. Unfortunately for me however, there was no pool full of water to break my fall, just a flat, hard as hell, dirt landing. I rang my bell pretty good, and was out for about half a minute. To make a long story short, I ended up with a combo of broken, fractured and bruised ribs, a bruised lung, and a sub-luxed shoulder. But as they say, if you play the game...
Stretcher time…Mike Wallace loosening the straps so I can make a little adjustment! Photo: Cam ‘The Man’ McRae.
The day after. Post crash Perecet blues! Photo: Cam 'The Man' McRae.
I would like to thank all of the patrol staff at Sun Peaks for all of their help, you guys were awesome! I would also like to give a shout out to the NSMB crew, especially Cam McRae, Pete Roggeman, Jerry Willows, Mike Wallace, and Trevor Hanson for making me stay at the hospital overnight while they all partied! Thanks guys, I love you all...bastards!
Dylan and Curtis in Switzerland
Posted by Dylan Dunkerton on 2008-07-18
About 6 months ago I got a text from my friend Kyle Norbraten. It read; “Hey man, how would you like to go to Switzerland?” I had no idea what he was talking about but what mountain biker could say no to that? My response was an obvious yes. Kyle is probably the best, most considerate and rad person I have ever met. One of those guys that get you stoked to ride, not to mention his contagious laugh. Turns out he had made such a positive impression on Ben Walker (Scott Bikes) when he was there the season before that he wanted him back for the Châtel Mountain Style Comp. Ben also asked if he had any buddies that would like to attend. Kyle being the guy he is, did the first thing that came to mind; bring his 3 best friends! Curtis Robinson and Kyle Jameson and I all ended up tossing around the idea, figuring out if we could afford it and soon enough we had all of our tickets booked.
The top half of the course in all its glory.
The Châtel Mountain Style is a slopestyle comp. But wait, it's not just a bunch of groomed dirt jumps under a chairlift. None of that, this comp is Real Mountain biking. The Course is carved out of the grassy green mountainside of the Chatel Resort/bike Park in the heart of the Swiss Alps. It consists of many natural features such as rock faces, rock drops, and some not so natural features like dirt jumps and some wooden stunts. Good luck doing this comp on your 4-inch travel slope style bike with one brake. That would be a death wish. Knobby tires, powerful brakes and most importantly bike control are essential. Although tricks are a large aspect of slope style, this comp is also judged on fluidity, line choice and execution. A comp like this is really refreshing in this dirt jump era. It is completely unlike your generic slopestyle and I think that is why it appealed to all of us so much.
More of the course.
Planes, trains, automobiles, and even ferries! I started on Monday not knowing really where I was going or how to even get there. I don’t travel much; I had no airport experience whatsoever, but I was thinking to myself, “By the end of the day I am somehow supposed to be in France.” Almost 12 hours of flying later we arrived in Geneva Switzerland, hopped on a train and made our way to Châtel. To say the least the train ride was an absolute gong show. We spoke no French and had no idea what to do. We found a couple that spoke some English and they helped us out and we made it to Champery, Switzerland. Bjørn Enga picked us up and took us to our place in Châtel. By the end of it all we had been up for 31 hours.
Have you ever woken up and had no idea where you were or what’s going on? Well that’s what it felt on Wednesday morning. We all woke up bright and early thinking it was a lot later than it was, kind of unsure of how we got there and where exactly we were. Soon enough we got our bearings and from then on the day was dialed.
Taking a Ben line, passing KJ
It was time to check out the bike park. Kyle Jameson and I dropped into a trail called “Bike Patrol”. Greeeeeeeeasssssyyy is all I can say about that, after a night of rain the soil was saturated and the trail was steep, definitely a gnarly warm up lap.
Kyle Jameson Scoops out a whip. - Stubs Photo
We shredded the rest of the day with Ben walker and started to get a feel for the trails. Ben is the master, there is no other way to describe him. always stoked, always helping people out and always shredding Ben lines. I experienced the best riding of my life in Châtel. The terrain is incredibly diverse and progressive; one run you can be riding some steep shale shoots and rooty turns, the next run you're riding the buffest single track imaginable.
Ben Master Ripping the Roots.
The Contest.
The rain beat the course down. The dirt was tacky and the shale was slick. Friday was spent on the course getting our lines dialed. This was the first time I had practiced for a comp where my biggest concern was not what tricks I was going to do but how I was going to make it down the course in one piece. The top half of the course was easy, but after the nice big step up it gets steep and gnarly. The soil was packed full of shale and going down was not a good option. After a solid afternoon of practice Kyle, Kyle, Curtis and I all seemed to have everything pretty locked down.
Trying a different line in practice
Saturday, the qualifiers. There was forecast for impending doom on Sunday, torrential rain was in the forecast, which would surely make the course un-ridable. We were told at the riders meeting that we should ride our qualifying run as if it was our final run, incase Sunday was rained out. Unfortunaly the day before during practice Kyle Jameson fell on a 3 and ended up not being able to compete. After the amature category did their run, it was onto Pro. Norby was the first of us to drop in, he had been sussing something in practice, and I told him to send it if it wasn’t windy. Sure enough rite before his run the wind calmed down and he defiantly sent it. Kyle 3’d off the first drop, but he over rotated and ate some French dirt.
Kyle Norbraten Spinning a large 3, shortly before folding a wheel.
I was next to Drop in and I blew all the tricks I had planned, I just flowed the course and tried to hit some unique lines. I wasn’t pleased with my run but I felt solid and had a lot of fun. Curtis on the other hand hadn’t been feeling to good all morning. But when I was time for him to drop in he hit the switch and killed the course top to bottom. Sure enough the skys opened up on Sunday and the finals were rained out. Curtis’s qualifier run landed him in 3rd place and up on the podium with Timo and Bearclaw. He then stuffed his big cheque in his bike box and we left for our flight home. 
Curtis Robinson Indian airing the step up during his run.
Curtis and his giant cheque. mille euros!
Big thanks to Seb Gairaldi, and Chatel for putting on a amazing contest and being so welcoming.
The Results
The pro rider's ranking after qualifying:
1 – PRITZEL Timo
2 – BERRECLOTH Darren
3 – ROBINSON Curtis
4 – DUBOURGNON Antoine
5 – FERRY Pierre-Edouard
6 – PACCARD Yoann
7 – HUSZCZ Damien
8 – DOERFLING James
9 – BREITENSTEIN Pascal
10 – DUNKERTON Dylan
11 – CHAUVIN Robin
12 – ROMANIUK Steve
13 – GRANIERI Yannick
14 – BREITENSTIEN Mischa
15 – BRULEY Jérôme
16 – FOURNIER Julien.
The amateur rider's ranking after qualifying:
1 – TOMASSI Anthony:
2 – ROCCI Anthony
3 – BUSSER Linus
4 – BARREAU Pierre
5 – SOULA Jérémy
6 – FRUGERES Flavien
7 – GRACE Ben
8 - KUGENER Arnaud
9 – DEZELU Hugo
10 – ADAM Cyril
11 – MOYNAT Vincent
12 – PICHON Logan
13 – GSTALTER Ludovic
14 – BAUD Jérémy.
Scroll for more about Dylan and Curtis' Euro vacation.
If only I listened in school......
Posted by Curtis on 2008-07-10
On the plane we had our little buddy to keep us entertained.
he had to mke a few trips to the bathroom since it was over a 10 hour flight.
after 2 planes we had to figure out the train to get us from Geneva to Champery...... lets just say we made it. We definitely took up more space than we should have..
Hanging out.
July 1st, Kyle Jameson,Dylan Dunkerton and myself arrived in Champery Switzerland. After being awake for over 34 or so hours that day and after riding so many different modes of transportation we were pooped!Dakine bags are also good for power naps...
I won the bike build,ha
We then were picked up by Bjorn and Ben "master" walker and taken to Chatel France .
After very little sleep and a full day of riding and buffing on the course . On top of the world .
upper half
The ride back to town,
So these were our rom keys!! hahaha 
stop infront of our place and on our way to the internet.
these were our rooms, yes I am stretching basically from wall to wall ,sitting on 2 beds.
my room mate for the trip Sam.
Kyle Nrobraten and I way above the world.
My suvenier from the trip :)
And a huge thanks to everyone in this picture for all the help we got thoughout our trip(Ben,Wll,and Correen Walker, and Jouelle(sp) you guys are amazing.
and the Crew ! 
Look out for a full article of the trip soon.
Curtis
almost time to fly.....
Posted by Curtis on 2008-06-28
Two days to go, and we're off to Europe. Dylan, Team Kyle and myself are heading to Europe on the 30th for a big mountain freeride contest called "MountainStyle" in France.
I have never been to Europe....or really anywhere. Hahaha, so this will definitely be quite the experience for me. Going with 3 of your best friends puts the icing on the cake!
We are only going for 8 days, 3 days reserved for the contest and the rest to play and rest. Kyle Norbraten went down a week early to ride and live it up, so the 3 of us will fly out to meet up with him.
and we are also bringing another friend along....
my box 
more stories and pics of where we (and the mug) will be to come!
Curtis
