Photo Epic: 2014 Bearclaw Invitational
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 Mt. Washington is located on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia Canada. It's a great place to visit if you are looking for a true BC experience. Forests, bears and some nasty freeride zones are the bread and butter of locals. |
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| First rays of sunshine on the misty playground of Darren Berrecloth. |
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| Double exposures help boys to do the shovel work quicker. |
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| Despite the fact that The Claw is an avid builder, everyone want to have the track dialed. It's a great way to warm up and learn the course so you don't need to ask those guys for help twice. |
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| The "Battle Royale" starts now. Big boys are up and ready for the podium. |
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| "Poker face" is a typical sign of an urge to show something special and not land on your head. Brandon knows it best. |
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| Yannick stays calm and focused as he will claim the 3rd spot overall. |
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| Brett Rheeder starts his domination on the track with a polite flip off the boner log. |
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| Brandon with his signature spin. The world will never be the same after he pulled it in "Rad Company" and at Crankworx like it was nothing. |
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| The claw with some nice style on his first run. |
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| Flip whips by Yannick always looks easy. |
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| One of the highlights of the whole Invitational was Lemoine's ninja drop! How sick is this thing? |
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| Justin is a trail wizard. Not only because of his digging skills but mostly due to his talent for adding style to everything. One of the best moto whips in the game. |
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| Downside whips looks like regular ones under the feet of Brandon Semenuk. |
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| Reynolds was looking good and seems to be back in form. |
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| Yannick was throwing a very exciting frontflip on the step up. |
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| 540 spin off the quarter was a nice ender for Nicholi's run. |
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| Dropping in. Nicholi may be the next "big thing" in the slopestyle game as he pulls everything with an ease. |
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| I met Josh the first time in Bavaria in 2009 at a big BMX contest. He had one of the best super whips ever.. and still does... |
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| Whip off the boner by Messere. |
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| Paul may be not the typical FMB contender but he knows how to turn heads at him. Suicide no hander off the boner log like in the good old days. |
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| Paul Genovese with a tailwhip on the hip. |
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| Double whip on this hip gave Anthony trouble as he cased it. Still, look at the height of this one! |
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| Thomas Genon with a whip on the mid-course hip during his run. |
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| Signature move from Mr. Zejda. Textbook superman tailwhip straight from the Czech Republic. |
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| "Szaman" enjoys his whip through the mid section. |
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| And a stylish flip over the Red Bull drop. |
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| 360 double bar up the step up - step down? Yeah, it must be Brandon! |
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| Tomas is in good form, as usual. Lovely indian air from him. |
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| Unfortunately the level of tricks pushed out the Belgian rider, we're sure he will pull out all the stops at District Ride. |
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| Young Canadian spinning off the last obstacle. |
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| Szymon Godziek clicking a 270 table on the hip. Placing in the top 10 is starting to become a habit for the young Polish star. |
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| Crashes are a big part of the freeriders life, but not giving up should be the most important. Send some healing vibes to the Claw, Reboul, and Wyper as they smacked hard on the final day. |
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| Yannick did a super solid run, didn't miss any of the obstacles, and clicked some bangers like this whip off the boner. |
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| Great to see Jamie Goldman showing some steez to the younger generation. Handplants will never go out of style. |
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| The "Lemonade" is on fire lately and kills it in every comp he attends. With an attitude like his, he can surely ride with the world's best. |
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| One of only seven riders to qualify from the amateur heats, and make it into the finals. Connor Macfarlane is a ripper from New Zealand. It's always good to see new faces. |
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| Quick truckdriver from Paul Genovese's solid run. |
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| 540 spin or a downside whip? Rogatkin and Lemoine having fun together. |
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| Sam Reynolds missed his luck a bit on Vancouver Island but still managed to get the crowd hyped. |
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| Sam flipping off the step down. |
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| No foot can cans from the boner logs look easy again thanks to Mr. Wyper. |
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| The Claw keeping it classy. |
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| Typical 360 x-up off the drop from the Czech Republic's own Tomas Zejda |
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| Anthony was clean and steezy on this small but technical course but he lost 3rd spot by the smallest of margins. |
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| Another BMX rider who likes to spin the plus sized wheels! Josh Hult tailwhipping for the 10th spot overall. |
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| Yannick Granieri was on fire, the Frenchman will be competitive at district ride. |
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| Every time we see Brandon's face before his run it looks like he is installing a trick list into his mind. |
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| 360 downside whip from the latest Crankworx winner. |
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| Will a double whip on the hip be enough to take gold? |
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| He may appear shy, but he knows how to make a whole forest scream his name. |
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| There are no "easy jumps" if you consider yourself as a pro. Brett's know how to be the unique one and stomps a massive backflip from a tiny bridge. |
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| Backflip barspin from a drop like this? Yep, Brett has his superpowers activated. Another trick that only he and Semenuk pulled during the competition. |
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| Semenuk and his cork 720 on the last jump. |
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| Rheeder's corked 720's are in class of their own. |
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| The crowd enjoying the Semenuk/Rheeder battle. |
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| Nothing feels as good as high fives after the winning run. |
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| Looks like Brett's girlfriend is not the only one who wants to hug him after the mind blowing show he put on for us. |
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| The trio that loves to push the limits, meets again at the three steps of glory. Congratulations to all of the riders who competed and gave their best! |
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| All smiles from the two most cheerful guys at the contest. See you at the next stop of the FMB World Tour. |
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Member since Jan 28, 2010
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(I admit, it must be because i can't spin or flip...)
...my opinion.
In terms of pushing the level of riding in general You are right of course.