Video: Peak of Summer Riding with Henry Fitzgerald & Lucas Cruz

Peak \ ˈpēk \
(1): (n) a prominent mountain usually having a well-defined summit.

(2): (adj) relating to,or being a period of maximum intensity or activity.

2020 had long since careened out of control.

An entire planet locked down by a pandemic that changed everything – derailed plans, sidelined careers, separated family and friends - in hopes of minimizing the spread and saving lives.

Through it all, however, it turned out to be a breakout year for a couple of the Norco Factory Team’s freshest talents. Henry Fitzgerald and Lucas Cruz stepped up in a race calendar that squeezed a season’s worth of world class gravity racing into a few short, but intense weeks of competition.

Fitzgerald set a new course record in the Psychosis DH at the Crankworx Summer Series and Cruz took the win at the Kicking Horse Dual Slalom. The rookie pros were psyched to be racing again, but the cumulated stresses and strains of training regimens and their intensive event schedule quickly caught up with them and weighed heavy.

It was, as they say, time to get away.

The pair made their way to the mountains of Revelstoke to define their own path and look to the future over the course of a week-long journey basking in the onrush of striking backdrops, and lapping up the sights, smells and deafening silence of shredding in the backwoods.

No power meters. No course markers. No agenda.

Just two buddies rejuvenating, replenishing and ripping – pushing each other and absorbing the soul-quenching nourishment of the Columbia Mountains through every berm, turn and tributary.

Every peak summitted re-filling the cup a little further – driving them forward, searching for more. Leaving the words of coaches, team managers and national health advisors a little further behind. Re-tapping the keg, chasing trails, and returning to what brought them here in the first place.

The life of a professional athlete is one of rigour, agony, defeat and, on a really good day, ecstasy. You push through the pain because you have a plan. Everything you do is laser-focused on achieving a victory.

You train so you’re right where you need to be when you need to be there. To be at your best at just the right time.

But when there’s no start gate, no finish line, and no tape to keep between, the only peak you’re thinking about is the one that lies between you and the next descent. The only agony you feel is the unrelenting climb. The only finish line is the one your meandering mind wanders to on the climb up, cashing it all in on a screaming alpine descent, glacial soak or laughs around a warm fire.

Every day presenting a new adventure in the surrounding mountains, chasing the Next Peak and indelible memories in two young careers interrupted by a year that no one will miss.











Credits:
Cinematography: Andre Nutini, Liam Mullany
Edit/Motion Design: Zach Rampen
Photography: Bruno Long
Colourist: Sam Gilling
Sound Design: Keith White Audio
Music: 'Future Stare' - Easy Giant


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Videos Riding Videos Norco Henry Fitzgerald Lucas Cruz