Video: Thomas Vanderham Hits Wild Lines on BC Flow Trails in 'Blasting Blues'

Mar 5, 2021
by OneUp Components  

Words: OneUp


Espresso and John Deere are two of North Vancouver's most popular trails. But these blue flow lines are far from its gnarliest. So it was surprising when North Shore local and freeride legend Thomas Vanderham said they were two of his favourites. Surprising until you see Thomas' lines and realize that, while he's on the same trail, his riding is on another planet.


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Video and Photos by Peter Wojnar


bigquotesEspresso and John Deer are two of my favourite North Shore trails. I love these two because they can be enjoyed by such a wide spectrum of mountain bikers. Young or old, beginner or expert, trails like this should allow you to have fun and challenge yourself as much as you want.Thomas Vanderham


WORK LESS RIDE MORE


Author Info:
OneUpComponents avatar

Member since Nov 25, 2013
59 articles

56 Comments
  • 56 0
 Might be one of my all time favorite edits right there. I LOVE this new silent hub trend, the sound of tires on dirt is way better than noisy hubs. First saw it with Mark Matthews and now I'm sold on silent hubs for my next bike!
  • 4 0
 Love this one as well. Could watch him for hours. So good !
Do we know what hubs he's using ?
The stock C90 comes with DT350. If you grease them well, they are nearly silent. But that wears off during the season and when it gets warmer.
  • 4 0
 @2pi: Rocky has his bike check on their 'stories' page. Looks like he is on the new XTR hubs.
  • 2 0
 @poolboy1-0: yeah if I remember correctly he managed to grab a set of the silent xtr hubs before they got axed. Maybe he's hanging on to them?
  • 5 0
 @poolboy1-0: Yeah, I see it now, thanks. Either it's like @Artikay13 says or we're auditioning Scylence rev. 0.2 Smile
I was always wondering if the cone bearings could withstand freeriding (maybe if you ride as smooth as Vanderham does).
In the end I went with DT240 and added a good amount of DT pink "toothpaste" like grease Smile
Here is my nearly silent Slayer:
fstatic1.mtb-news.de/v3/25/2545/2545313-sy1ozfeukz9l-46_final-original.jpg
  • 2 0
 I am totally convinced: loving the sound of silence and tires to the ground on my Slayer; running the Shimano XT 8120 rear wheel!
  • 2 0
 I concur, I like to keep the silent in "silent sport". Currently running Onyx hubs with STFUB chain management. Trail ninja, especially for hikers.
  • 1 0
 @Artikay13: That makes sense. I sure hope those go into production some day, they looked like a pretty sweet concept.
  • 1 0
 @poolboy1-0: I just built up an SLX and that sure is silent. Didn't think they were but that hub 100% was. I'm on DT now which are great and reasonably quiet but I think for the first time in my life on a hard hitting bike my next hub is gonna be a Shimano.
  • 31 0
 I've always enjoyed how the expert/pro riders see all these lines that mortals don't. Manualling down the rock ROLL on Expresso is crazy!!! And a few of those jumps to the berms on the side of the trail makes more sense at pro speeds than landing flat, well past the human landing.
  • 22 0
 Such a smooth rider. Love watching Vanderham.
  • 10 0
 I think a lot of people will have enjoyed the lack of skids as much as I enjoyed my poached egg and avocado toast this morning.
  • 2 0
 Yes! No skids, no slow mo!
  • 6 0
 And no wagon wheels.. hmm
  • 7 0
 A lot of mtb bros hate flow trails, but I don't get why. Yes, gnarl has its charm, but heck, how can you not love ripping through the woods on a trail like that?? It's the equivalent of a blue bird pow day.
  • 7 0
 Serious question: Is the sound put in afterwards in these edits? Because I am 100% sure I could ride like these guys if my bike would sound like this on the trails...
  • 13 0
 I asked a similar question on another edit from this filmer and he responded with this very helpful answer, maybe I can save him the time here;
----
"Raw" videos come in many flavours.

On one end of the spectrum, there's the Vital Raw race videos. Literally straight out of the camera, exactly how it was shot, in the order it was shot, with video, colour, and sound exactly as recorded by the camera. This is what most people probably imagined the first time they heard of the concept.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have videos where "Raw" means there's no music, and they feature extensive sound design, usually rooted in recorded audio, to enhance the listening experience in some way. This might mean adding bass effects, whooshes, additional recorded sounds from different clips or sections of track, etc. Google "The Foley Artist," it's a beautiful short on Vimeo that explains the job of a foley artist in film in a really funny way—in short, a foley artist records sounds for cinema that go with the visuals, but are not recorded at the same time (or at all the same way.)

Redbull Raw 100 and Sound of Speed edits usually feature some amount of foley work to "enhance" the sound of the video. In some cases, this is completely necessary, like replacing audio on a drone clip so you don't hear motors buzzing. It's also increasingly necessary the more slow-mo and speed ramping there is in a video. But it isn't always all "recorded audio," and you often hear lots of whooshes (like on takeoffs of jumps) and bass-heavy booms and rumbles (like on landings of jumps, etc.) It's not worse, it's supposed to make it sound more like it feels—but not exactly how it sounds.

This video features only recorded audio, that was recorded at the same time as video, from the perspective of the camera, with no additional sound effects in place. In my opinion, it gives the best and most accurate feeling of speed, because it sounds exactly like the real thing, if you were standing on the side of the track, right where the camera is positioned. But it's not a raw video in the VitalRaw sense, because I've colour graded the video and the clips aren't straight out of camera in that sense.

Hope that answers that."
  • 11 1
 @ProudMTBdad1974: thanks for copying that over! That’s still completely accurate for this video.
  • 3 0
 @ProudMTBdad1974:

Awesome, thanks!!! Now I can fully enjoy my bad riding on my rattling bike :o
  • 7 0
 I think his wheels were off the ground more than they were on it.
  • 6 0
 I love edits like this, no music, no hub, just tires/dirt being shredded.
  • 6 0
 Smooth as butter as usual Mr.Vanderham!
  • 5 0
 Vanderham just rips with no effort at all. If I buy some Oneup bars could I ride that well?
  • 3 0
 No. Your will need the bar, stem, tool and post. Only then you become one with Vanderslam. Go spend them monies.
  • 2 0
 @PocoBoho: But Poco I aint got no monies
  • 4 0
 Smooth as always! My favourite rider for sure. Makes hard trails look easy. More of this, please!
  • 4 0
 That wasn't Vanderham riding, word on the street he uses some stunt rider named Simmons.
  • 3 0
 Nice. Awesome to see a clip of someone riding like they weren't being filmed.
  • 4 0
 First rock roll to flat lol, bike killer. Sick edit
  • 4 0
 dang. OK i wish i looked like this good when i rode those trails
  • 3 1
 So sick...side question, is it possible to run the EDC tool in your stem and run a K-edge Garmin mount?
  • 3 0
 It depends on the model of your Garmin. Fire us an email with the specifics and we can give you a definitive answer: info@oneupcomponents.com Thanks!
  • 4 0
 Legend
  • 3 0
 didn't this edit come out a month or two ago??
  • 3 0
 Well I'll never ride my local again.
  • 3 0
 Sniper smooth, always love Vanderham footage.
  • 3 0
 Your favourite bikers favourite biker.
  • 3 0
 Great vid, ASMR for mtbers...
  • 3 0
 Great job @PeterWojnar! Loved it.
  • 1 0
 It always cracks me up to see how serious and focused this pokerface is while riding. I guess he's just a very serious rider.
  • 3 0
 As smooth as it gets.
  • 2 0
 riding chilled af with such a precision..!
  • 3 0
 That was damn good
  • 2 0
 I will always stop whatever it is I am doing to watch a Vanderham video.
  • 3 2
 Would love a bike that quiet, just impossible.
  • 1 0
 Half as many cuts and it'd be perfect.
  • 2 0
 smooth as always!
  • 2 0
 Thomas is the smoothest
  • 1 0
 We're fast, we're fast, faster than you !
  • 1 0
 Watching Thomas ride should be prescribed to humans with anxiety issues
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