Jack Fogel at the Aptos GoPro jam! And busted buses!

After Sea Otter we decided to head up to the Post Office jump jam and hour up the Coast from Monteray… but our bus needed some mechanical love in the tranny area so we had to rent a car for the journey.

The Bus was great, big sound system but she needed some love, some love prior to the 36 hour drive. The bus got so angry at our neglect that it decided to release our show bikes off the Shore rack and onto the highway as we drove too!  Ever see grown men cry? Drop their new custom paint job dh bikes of the back of a moving bus for full effect.

 

But we made it to the jam and Jack Fogelquist was session-ing with the worlds best for the GoPro jump jam.

Check out the footage of this place, type video is nothing new of course but lets take a look and what it is like to hit the jumps.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/GoPro-Pinkbike-Post-Office-Winners-2010.html 

Anyways this is about Jack…

 

Jack likes to simply ride his bike, no agenda just vids and bikes.

Jacks new Banshee Scythe! Check out this bike build on Pinkbike HERE!

Impressively Awesome Trick I Learnt

Eric Lawrenuk taught me this trick at Ranchstyle. Its pretty awesome that our bikes can do so many things!

Beer Bottle Trick from Casey Groves on Vimeo.

Keeping the Gold in Canada!

Hey guys!

I just got back from my trip to Ranchstyle and I didn't come back empty handed. Last year was my first time to Ranchstyle and I ended up taking first place. This year I trained hard all spring and was ready to defend my title. There was bigger range of competition this year and I like to call them my bro's. Eric Lawrenuk and Graham Agassiz made there first Ranchstyle appearance with a bang!

In practice saturday I had everything down to a patent. It was last light when I following Mike Metzger (Transition) down the course for another chill session. As we went of the 30 footer a gust of wind blew me awkward in my position as I was popping off the bike. I through the bike underneath me and said goodbye to the landing and hello flat bottom! I was NOT stoked! With bruising my heels last year during the competition I wanted to prove more this year being healthy, but now that was ruined!

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to ride in the comp the next day, my foot was all the colors of the rainbow and fairly swollen. Instead of worrying about it, I just sat back with my foot elevated on ice all night and hoped for the best.

When morning came around I was feeling great! My foot had tons of flexibility and strength, I knew I was going to be able to compete today! Showed up at the Ranch, hit the step up a few times to get loose and then I headed to slope practice and did a few runs. I felt awesome!!!

After watching the amateurs compete it was our turn. The jam format was set at an hour and a half duration. I started of mellow then when I was warmed up, I started throwing down! I practice having lots of variety with the course and by that I mean being able to trick each line with multiple variations. Best decision I had ever made as it lead me to take first place again!

Bring home the title once again this year and it feels good to defend and win!

-Casey Groves

ALAN HEPBURN aka hole digga!

Alan is a factory Straitline rider from Down uNDER AND ALSO A CAMP COACH FOR cAMP OF cHAMPIONS WHERE HE HOLES UP IN THE cANADIAN ALPINES TO AVOID HIS BLISTERING HOT WINTER. ** Anyone feal like becoming a millionaire? Invent a beeper that notifies me when the caplocks are on and you will roll in cash I promise, millions of me out there!! **

WINTER IS HERE…..!

So for all you in the northern hemisphere peeps I’m sure you are all buzzing at the blue skies and sunshine. Down here in Australia we have been getting a lot more clouds and these crazy situations where water falls from the sky. The last month has been full of digging and some riding for me and my Canadian friend Jason Headley. We decided to commit a whole lot of time to build a couple new lines at my local jumps. Despite the time and effort it was worth it and makes the spot a lot more fun to ride.
Here is an edit we just filmed of the new and improved jumps.

Sea Otter with Camp of champions was sick!

Well, we are back or I guess I – Greg- am back from California Sea Otter 2010 and my Apologies for the dead site, I fell of the grid and it felt great!
Fresh air and ocean…



So I promise many vids, pics and updates from it. I had missed two of the 4 days because something in my leg went POP then I went OWE  but managed to do a mini vid on the chain guide with Bike magazine.

Rockstar I tell ya!

Straitline's Silent Guide from Bike Magazine on Vimeo.
And our camp of Champions bus ride down was so fun, even though it took 36 hours when the norm is 19-24… not saying someone never knew where they were going or anything !! Plus the 5 hour free physical we received from Homeland Security / US border Cross guards didn’t help shave any time off. 
 
Check out Ken from Camp of Champions fast edit capturing what we saw.


Race Face invited us to their mansion –Pinkbike and RF always rent mansions to accommodate all the people and we enjoy crashing their spaghetti parties.

As polite guests we brought house warming gifts… the Mexican food store next to the hotel only had hello Kitty Piñatas and candy so we settled for that and coronas. Not going to lie, it was pretty sweet!

Gareth Dyer, head coach at Camp of Champions was in charge of the piñata ‘s safety during transport.

Well.. it was sweet until Tippie came along. Confused with the tradition of the piñata… he created a awkward moment for all.

There are more, Ill show them later on!

So I hope that tides you over, the blog had a big stall my bad!

Greg

Fogelsode #23: Some of My Sandier Days

After a few days of steady rain, most of the spots turned into swamps while the step-up got nice and soft.  The wet sand sticks together nicely, so we took advantage of it and rebuilt the trick drop.  After a solid and sandy sesh on that, we had the idea to build a lip next to it for a “trick step-down”.  Before we knew it, it was all ready to ride!  I had the urge to flip it, as one of my goals this year was to flip a step-down, so I took a few practice runs and went for it.  It felt super crazy flipping while falling, so I bailed and got a mouthful of sand.  Thankfully that was it, so I hiked back up and tried it again…and again, and again, until I finally started committing all the way.  I started landing on my wheels, but kept sliding out until the run I stuck it!  That’s definitely one of the best feelings!

We were back a few days later for another sesh.  David landed his first backflip, Kevin got used to his new bike, and Jeff worked on his barspins.  We had a fun sesh on a cool hip that someone recently built.  It’s a right hip, so it was nice to practice some tricks on, as almost every hip around here is to the left.  I’m getting pretty stoked on that place this time of year.  With all of these new lines and the ease of making more, it’s turning into a rad spot to learn and dial in pretty much whatever you want!

Enjoy!

 

-Jack

Driving a bus to Sea otter!

Super stoked to hit the road in the Horny Marmot mobile! Camp of Champions and Straitline are off to Sea Otter for some chaos in a 25 passenger bus!

It’s funny because we are all frantically trying to figure out vehicles, who can take who and how many bikes can go in what vehicle. Then it dawned on me and I asked Ken about the camp busses! We both pulled a full on retard moment forgetting about the Vans. It’s like booking a flight when you own a plane, pretty funny how dumb you get when you rush.

So Ken is driving from Whistler as we speak to get the Van insured and ready and we are off!!

 

Gareth Dyer is coming and we will pick up Eric Peterson of Faultline so that we can make a lame ass video on the trip. I think we are going to hit up the Post Office Jam right after the Otter so it should be fun!

 

Be sure to swing by booth 373 I will be there on crutches or sitting on my bike talking to people about the Chain Guide and meeting media. First time attending the show so more of a recon than anything else, being on crutches sucks too.

 

Oh she’s nice, come by Camp of Champions booth and check out this years demo rigs dressed in our gear.

Wow, this is a must read! Oh, and Elixir blades are here!

This was sent to me by Mark at BTI our friendly US distributor and I can only assume this will go viral, it is messed up and makes me want to just stay home.

It is a bit graphic so if you get disturbed by hand brakes penetrating hands do not click the link to the full story!

http://www.spokemagazine.com/2010/04/hand-brake/

So… since this is brake related, I have been waiting to announce that we have finally made our Elixir lever! They were done last fall but we were focused on the Silent guide and needed some machine time to get them ready.

 

Ta da…

We mixed it up with our traditional smooth cnc style by throwing in some 3d milling, looks sick!

April prank folks..it was a joke!

We pulled our annual April Fools Prank last week and this year it really had people going WTF?

If you missed it here it is in its’ entirety

APRIL PRANK 2010  - QUICKIE STEMS!

Google “Straitline Quickie Stem” for all the postings worldwide but Fiber glass guy saw through the prank and described what we were going for with all of our April pranks!

“ fiberglassguy27 (Apr 2, 2010 at 5:19)

Super hilarious! You guys have found the perfect way to reveal all of the know nothing,know it all,over thinkers!hahahaha Really,really funny guys!”

Psst… its a joke and the lamest invention ever- besides Segways. Actually I’d give a Segway a whirl, they just look dumb.

For the most part reading the comments was funny and everyone was stoked on the prank, some too stoked then they retracted the comments and hid in shame!

“ lock-n-load (Apr 1, 2010 at 0:14)

I'm sorry, but do we really NEED quick-release on STEMS?!?! I mean, It's a good idea, but we all know what's going to happen. You wake up one morning, not fully caffinated, and go to hitch up the bike to your car, using the quick release. Once you get to your favorite riding spot, you take the bike off, and set the stem straight again. HOWEVER you don't clamp it as tight as you should have. You blast down the rock garden, when suddenly, the stem becomes loose! You end up in a horrific crash and black out. In the hospital, you find that you have broken numerous bones, as well as your bike. You then regret the purchase of this item...
NOTICE!!!!!
If this is an april fool joke, ignore everything above...
EDIT: WWWWOOOOOWWWW! you got me! April FOOLS”

For those of you just stoked on it all be careful… our Chain guide is soon to be released.

 

Please Stoke responsibly!

Fogelsode #22: Dry Trails!

After about a week of no rain, Iggy and I drove up to a fast flowy trail filled with jumps and berms.  It felt so nice not worrying about sliding out, as there wasn’t a patch of mud in sight!  You could just go as fast as you wanted, confidently hitting each corner.  It ended up being a blast as we found a couple new lines that we’d never seen before.  That’s about it, just having fun riding trails!

Enjoy!

 

-Jack