AIRprentice Slide Show Part II

After what can only be decribed as a very eventful evening at the Saloon in Silver Star, some – but not all – of the AIRprenti were up with the sun to shoot with the photographers. They were up early enough to see first light of the sun, and unfortunately for the lot of them, the last of it as well.

After what can only be described as a spectacular yet cool day on Saturday, the rains rolled in after the shoots on Sunday and washed most of the plans away.

Lifts were closed because of lightning concerns so the AIRprenti were told to hit the computers and create a blog using a few of the pictures from the weekend. This was a small test of their abilities on the intrawebz. Some of the results can be found here.

Last year Silver Star ran a loonie race on the mountain for AIRprentice candidates and the general public – on a beautiful sunny day.  This year the only racers were AIRprenti and it was cold and wet and nasty; perfect dh racing conditions!

From here we’ll let the photos tell the story.

  Comfortable dropping the reins: Kyle Hansen isn’t just a stud on the bike, on weekends he rides rodeo.  I shit you not. Kyle was a finalist in our 2007 comp and he still kills it.   Photo ~ Mason Mashon

  Russ Fountain from Nelson getting rowdy at the Oakley Vault.  Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Paul Stevens is chased down the mountain by Matt Montandon in a portion of the weekend where the riders were to pick a photographer and get the shot. Photo ~ Todd Hellinga

  Andrew Sherry (AIRprentice Winner 2009) being tailed by Justin Wyper (AirPrentice Winner 2008) off ProStar. The Team loved the new feature as much as the AIRprenti. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  You are going to have to head to Silver Star and find out for yourself where this banger was caught. A quick flash and Skye Schillhammer is found in a sea of green. Photo ~ Dave Hord.

  Nick Cima (we think) charges outa the gate for the DH. Photo ~ Mason Mashon

  Connor MacDougall lays it out over ProStar. Photo ~ Dave Hord

   Skye Shillhammer was missing part of his shirt after this shoulder buzz!  The kid’s got skills. Photo ~ Dave Hord

  Andrew Sherry, being the upstanding citizen that he is, saw that poor Matt Montandon only came equiped with a hard tail, and offered his Specialized Demo 8 so that Matt could enjoy his race run. Matt proved time and time again that he was the rightful winner of AirPrentice 2010, with his ability to ride anything – on any bike. Photo ~ Jerry Willows

  Paul Stevens steps up to the plate when his name was announced as one of the finalists. Seb Kemp is ecstatoic!

  And then there were 5… WOW wait a minute 5? Well the performance was so good that the regular 4 just wouldn’t cut it. Also there was a blank spot on the Team so it was decided that 2 riders would be crowned AIRprentice Winner for 2010. Left to right are: Kyle Hansen, Nick Cima, Paul Stevens, Ian Morrison and Matt Montandon.

  And the winner as we all now know was Matt Montandon.

  Matt saddles up on his 2009 Specialized SX with all the Team Goodies! Lucky guy! Photo ~ Jerry Willows.

  Jerry Willows took a selection of his photos and put them into a slide show.

---

Thanks!

AIRprentice is a big operation and it couldn’t happen without the help of some key people.  Trevor Hansen grabbed the reins this year and did an amazing job with all the details.  At Silver Star we got a leg up from Ian Galbraith, Cameron Sorenson and the entire trail crew and Robin Baycroft.  We were treated like kings by the folks at The Bulldog and the Saloon.  Silver Star is staffed by rock stars!  Our friends at MEC, Jesse Mac Donald , Laurie Edward and Tim McDermott were a huge help with AIRprentice tees and our team’s shirt and jerseys.

Specialized is the major sponsor of AIRprentice and there’s no way we could do it without their massive support.  Nic Sims, Brandon Sloan and Jason Chamberlain.  For the last few years Nokia has generously provided phones for each AIRprentice rider.  Dan Scott, our man at Nokia, tees that up and then comes along for the event. Thanks Dan!  We always make sure the AIRprentice bikes get a professional build – and this year Obsession: Bikes in North Van got the job done.  Thanks to James Wilson, Lou Costa and John Friedlund.

Without our team sponsors we’d only have frames and phones to present to the winners.  We are chuffed to have the support of SRAM drivetrain components, Rock Shox Suspension, Truvativ parts, Avid Brakes, Maxxis Tires, WTB Saddles, Dakine packs, gloves, shorts and soft goods, Race Face protection, Adidas Eyewear, Pedros tools and lube and DT Swiss Wheels.

---

For the first time ever AIRPrentice lives on.  We’ve chosen Matt Montandon but there’s a runoff between Ian Morrison and Paul Stevens for the second spot.  Tune in to see who’s leading.  We’ll annnounce the winner by Crankworx at the latest.  Until then talk to us here…