2009 Mont Sainte Anne World Cup - We have arrived!

5 hours of flying, 6 hours of sleep (4 in hotel and 2 in car), 1 hour for breakfast, and another 3 hours of driving and we have finally arrived at Mont Sainte Anne Quebec for the World Cup. Sunny weather, a drying out course, and a fun filled pit area are all adding up for one sweet race day. Along with some heated riding, a couple flashy new products will be shown, and one lucky rider will walk away from Mont Sainte Anne crowned the victor.

Click here for the day 1 update...1pm on Wednesday afternoon marked our departure time. We packed up the Pinkbike racing van, ensured we had everything we needed to survive in a different province (feels like a different country), including flight tickets, and cameras, and we were off. Our flight departed Vancouver International Airport at 4:15pm, and we arrived in Montreal Quebec shortly after 12am their time. Montreal is still an active city at that time as the streets were filled with party animals, the cops were no where in site to turn down the volume, and the beers were going down smooth. But, as every party goes, it has to end, and work has to come.


I woke up to an epic skyline and view over Montreal. Across the road there was a very nice old brick structural building, to the right was the only hill in Montreal, and to the left was an industrial building with stacks, over looking the residential section of Montreal. No time to enjoy it though! We had to be at Mont Saint Anne as soon as possible.


After breakfast we started the trek over to Mont Saint Anne, a solid 3 hour drive from Montreal. We hit some rough traffic, some extended pee breaks, and some cat naps meant we were slightly delayed rolling into Mont Sainte Anne. We rolled in at 4:00pm, just in time to collect some footage and photos. So, to double team the system, I handed off the video camera to Tyler, and I went ahead to take some photos. Tyler was doing the wander, and chatting it up with important people, so the clips were shy, but we got some good ones.

Mont Sainte Anne day 1

by spoiledgoods

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Here are some good pics, showing some new kits, parts, and components.

Trent Zoobkoff was sold on Wetscreams

Kyle Marshall getting Tech with the Wizard

Drew Mitchell' new Sombrio Kit

We stopped in at the SRAM booth to see what they had hiding behind the banners. SRAM always has something exciting to look at, even if it's Dawson's dog Cha Cha. As most of you should know Shaun Palmer has been making a come back to Downhill Racing. After a couple years out of the game he has stepped back into the circle and has been pounding out good results. The best part, he's not on a factory sponsorship, so he can rock custom parts out the ying yang.





Exprezo is a bike manufacturer based out of Quebec. We were talking with the guys over there, and this stem caught my eye. This is their main CNC guy who made this custom stem up. Apparently he was in a pissed off mood at the time, so it makes sense what it says. Note: Check out the custom Carbon inset in the headtube. We will be getting more photos of these Xprezo bikes in the future.


Last but not least Yeti had their prototype, I mean PROTOTYPE, frame out. The gentleman I spoke with put an emphasis on it being a prototype as it is simply a welded up version of a CAD drawing. Yeti utilizes their rail technology with all their DH bikes, so this is no different. The idea here is to have the rail guide the wheel path, and the upper link control the shock rates. Seems like a wicked design, and a cool looking bike all together.

Full rear triangle

Day 1 at Mont Sainte Anne proved to be fairly productive. We got some good photos taken, some solid info received, and an idea of what's going to happen tomorrow, which is qualifying. It's supposed to rain, so get ready for some greasy, sketchy, riding footage from tomorrow. Until then, keep it locked on Pinkbike.com!

Check out all MSA Photos here.
www.mont-sainte-anne.com

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