WRCDH

They named it Shuvl because it looks like a dog dropping a deuce. It’s certainly no Unno.

Yeah, the only thing missing is featuring all of the amazing vintage DH bikes (and older riders) and second-generation younger riders on 90’s and 00’s DH bikes in Japan and at Niseko; where they cherish old bikes, old cars, and other old things through the Japanese cultural principles of Mottainai and Wabi-Sabi. I remember seeing a 40-something gal shredding on a pristine 1999 Santa Cruz Super 8 with 6” Boxxer 151. And oh gosh, all of the 1998-2002 Turner Afterburners and twin-downtube DHRs in Japan. And the 1997-2002 Intense M1s. If there’s one group of people who can have fun on amazing older bikes, it’s the same group of people who love driving and maintaining 1989-2001 Skyline GT-Rs and 90s to 00s Honda Type Rs! (I’ve owned 2 GT-Rs and even the sales manager at the local Audi dealer preferred my mostly-stock but lightly-modded 1989 GT-R to a 2009 Audi S5 in virtually every way except for the backup camera; newer isn’t always necessarily better in terms of driving & riding enjoyment =). With cars, bikes, and other things, many Japanese people appreciate old things, putting them to use, making them work well, and having an absolutely great time while at it. When Niseko plans vintage downhill and dual slalom races, I’ll be there to battle with all of the Japanese vintage shredders =) BTW, here’s my highly-modded second GT-R, a 1992 with a 2001 R34 NISMO Nür-spec crate engine, Reimax Group A camshaft, 580 or 680hp depending on fuel octane, carbon fiber driveshaft and carbon/carbon differentials, and a pages-long list of mods: www.pinkbike.com/photo/26544425/ www.pinkbike.com/photo/26544424/ My vintage Intense M1 and vintage (25 years in September!) JDM Honda Type R: www.pinkbike.com/photo/25834816/

@BenPea: Yes, in fact, many French like things both hard and soft at the same time…just like Michelin tires, baguettes, crème brûlée, Emmanuel Macron, escargot, croissants, Brie, and sometimes even the music of those other helmeted beings, Daft Punk.

I miss Michelin’s “Frenglish” marketing literature of past decades…they often had peculiar word choices and French phrasing in English, and usually at least one translation error that would evoke a “Oh no, that’s not what you think that means!” Like “Endeavor to pound deep crevices with our rigid casing and soft natural rubber, trafficked from French colonial rubber plantations for your pleasure in riding extreme positions on mountain trails.”

The weird thing is, Joyride was a trail-building and event business at Whistler, headed by Paddy Kaye, that made the original 1999 “Joyride Bikercross” course and then the 2001 “Joyride Slopestyle” course. The race on it was called the Joyride Bikercross from at least 1999-2001 and possibly also 2002-2003, I believe. I raced it all 3 years from 99-01 (it was too rainy and cold in 2002 I think, and I was busy at a college summer job in 2003). The event evolved and was rebranded or launched as Crankworx in 2004 with Red Bull involvement (I seem to remember), including a Bikercross event which was no longer branded as Joyride. I think the Joyride branding switched exclusively to the Slopestyle event around 2004. I’m wondering if Paddy & crew trademarked “Joyride” in the 1997-2003 era, or if they licensed it to Red Bull, or if Red Bull possibly poached or trademarked the name. If it was trademarked by Paddy, or if it’s not trademarked, or if it’s unlicensed, use it at Whistler for the Slopestyle! =P Here is the massive 1999 Joyride Bikercross tabletop, 60 feet lip to touchdown: www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234331/ Here is the wonky 2000 tabletop that had a much shorter and steeper lip (way too short and steep, as they wanted to slow-down bike park riders, as a bike park rider had died on the huge & fast tabletop the previous year; so the 2000 jump wasn’t optimized for racing speeds). We’d bottom-out F&R suspension on it in 2000 when hitting it at 25-30mph…hence why I’m bucked a bit sideways. Lots of spectators there that year, probably 10,000+ spectators for the race, helicopter flying and filming in 16mm…it felt like proper Golden Era DH/MTB & Golden Era extreme sports, and we knew it was a special time =) www.pinkbike.com/photo/20234330/

Dude, let’s ride! Think we can get Dario in on the vintage action too? www.pinkbike.com/video/532712/

www.pinkbike.com/photo/29614931/ I was going to hunt mushrooms on my vintage 26” MTBs, but then I found dozens of Psilocybe Baeocystis mushrooms growing in my front lawn under my massive fir tree. Bizarrely, I had a recurring dream when I was 10-16 or so that magic mushrooms grew in my front yard (around the time an emergency doctor at Seattle Children’s Hospital misdiagnosed my intense visual migraine aura as an LSD trip when I was 14, after riding with Cush Core founder, Adam Krefting in high school). A few decades on, exactly that happened…quite a trip to live-out a dream like that. But yeah, I usually eat 7-8 huge Shaggy Parasols during my October to November 2-5-days-post-rain rides in the Seattle area…best flavor ever. Too bad they don’t transport well nor keep well — so I just eat my fill each ride =)

The other mariachi members were just manning the requisite Sea Otter margarita blender with its 2-horsepower 2-stroke weed eater engine and twist grip throttle. Riiiiing-Riiiing-Riiiiiiiiiiing-a-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding. Ay caramba!

Darn, I was hoping they’d go to the Port of Long Beach for a joint Specialized Gravity Racing + CBP counterfeit smuggling bust of Stumphumpers.

“Keep the rubber side down” was apparently referring to your fork seals.