Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Morewood Zuliza?

What do you get when you cross a Morewood Zula with a Morewood Ndiza?  You get a Ndula...nah, a Zuliza!  Whatever you would like to call it this little bike rips.  Morewood needs a replacement for the Ndiza...will this be it?  Maybe, we can hope and pray.  Here are some photos that show the evolution of the Zuliza...enjoy!


Fabien's latest paint on the Zuliza 2.0 at Crankworx Les2Gets - Photo: Gregnanin
2010 Sea Otter Photos by Jason Nixon sicklines.com
By the time we set-up for the Windham World Cup Fabien's bike had been further improved with the addition of a Bos Deville fork.
Patrick built a linkage frame to stiffen up the rear end Zuliza 2.0
The Zuliza 2.0
2012 Sea Otter - Photo by Spomer VitalMTB
Mick's Zuliza at Sea Otter.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Hutchinson United Ride - Val D'Isère

Rough weekend for the Hutchinson United Ride in Val D'Isère for the 6th round of World Cup, Tracey crashed and she crashed hard…


Everything started well with Wednesday track walk and after Thursday practice, Guillaume, Tracey and Mick felt confident for the race on Sunday. That's on Friday that things went wrong. Tracey crashed during a practice run and broke her femur and collarbone. She's been airlifted to the hospital and get a leg surgery. She's now doing pretty good and she gets better everyday.


The race was not over! Mick had a big crash during qualify but he is a protected ride so he will race on Sunday anyway. After a huge storm it was Guillaume turn to go but the track was just to slippery, none of the 30 guys after him qualified, he crashed and made a hole in his leg.


So finally on Sunday weather was just perfect, Mick had 5 practice runs cause he didn't ride on Saturday to stay with Tracey in the hospital, and it was already time for the finals. He had an amazing run and after an exciting race he ended up at the 6th position! Pretty good considering what happened!



Now everyone is going to rest during this month off before worlds. Fabien's arm surgery went pretty well too and his ankle is almost good now. Good recovery to Tracey, she's really happy with all the support she gets, keep it coming!


Check back for more news about Tracey's recovery.

Bye!



Photos Credit : United Ride & Andres Jaramillo/flipper

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Hutchinson United Ride : Crankworx Europe VIDEO

Video time!



Hutchinson United Ride at Crankworx Europe 2012 from UNITEDRIDE on Vimeo.

Hutchinson United Ride : Crankworx and French Champs


One week! That's how long was the race. One week, 4 races and 2 podiums.

Starts with the dual climb on Tuesday. Basically you have to go up and down on the dual course, first to arrive at the bottom win. Mick was the only one from the team to race it cause he wanted to go for the overall. It has been a really hard race and after 8 up and down mick ended up with an impressive 2nd place. Good start of the week.
 

Next was the downhill race, Fabien, Tracey and Mick were racing it. It was a long and hard track, with some steep sections. After a few practice runs Fabien decided not to race it  anymore because of the pain in his arms. Mick had a lot of fun on this track, he qualified 6th and finished 6th in the end. Tracey struggled a little bit on practice day but finally came down with a great time which put her in 2nd spot on quali and race day, she has also been the only girl to jump the big road gap on her race run!


Thursday, speed and style day. Mick and Fabien were doing it. It was on the same track as the dual climb. Rules are simple, it's a dual timed run. The fastest win BUT if you  trick the jumps on the track the best trick wins 1sec time bonus. On a 25sec run, 1sec is quite a lot! So Mick, after getting the fatest time in quali got eliminated by a young dirter who sent bigger tricks than him. Pretty much the same for Fabien who had Cam Zink in his first run!


Sunday, it was finally the last race for Mick. Unfortunately when the alarm rang at 5am mick wasn't able to ride anymore and he decided to go for the safe way, not to race. He ended up 3rd overall!

Same time as the Crankworx was the French Champs in Les Gets. Fabien and Guillaume went there.
First day of practice went pretty good on a dry and really nice track. Unfortunately it rained and the track became slow and really hard to ride. In those conditions Fabien's arms weren't hurting to bad, he had a good start but crashed and broke his ankle.

Guillaume wanted the national title in Junior, owned by Loic Bruni at that moment. He had no choice but go for it, so he did and didn't go really well. He had the best spit time and crashed. He finished 4th in Junior, 1.8sec back.

Team is now resting, Hannah's family is in Tignes, Guillaume is at home, Tim is still recovering and should start physio soon. Fabien is gonna get his arms surgery and recover from his broken ankle.
Bye!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Hutchinson UnitedRide Full Photos and Story

Hi everyone!

It was a dry, dusty and super hot weekend here in Windham for the team. Everybody enjoyed the track and had fun on the big jumps. Friday was the qualification and Tracey did the third time. Mick felt good and ended up with the 13th time. Fabien was still struggling with arm pumps on this short track and made a few mistakes which cost him the top 80 by just 0.3s. Fabien is going to try to get surgery for his arms as soon as possible when he will be back in France. Our junior, Guillaume, missed the qualif by a few seconds.


Tracey and Mick were ready to rip it on Sunday on a dry and fast track like they love. The women race was very tight with the top 3 girls in the same second. Tracey did a great run and wowed us by hitting the last jump. She did the second time of the day. It was fantastic to see her back on the podium. Mick looked very good on the bike for his race run and on the bottom section we could see how fast he was. He finished with the 8th time today. It was good the see the Hannah familly represent ing the team so well this weekend. Mick now has plate number 7 at the standings and Tracey is keeping the number 4. We are looking forward for the next world cup in France but now it’s time to pack and go back on the other side of the ocean. 


We want to thank the Hutchinson guys who came this weekend to cheer for us and Lama Cycles who lent us their tents and material.


See you soon!

Hutchinson United Ride



United Ride Odyssey 2012 / MSA & Windham World Cups from UNITEDRIDE on Vimeo.