"You wanna ride the gondola? Faith or Glory?"

Day one.

3 runs of Keystone following some awesome riders and Adam Craig, the US Short Track National champ. Adam rips so hard downhill its wild, he is the Giant racer with a big volume Fox Shock, and a single chainring racing World Cups remember? Hmmm. Top guy, soooo fast. I can't wait to see him at the Worlds in Canberra shred the berm track to bits.

The new 2010 Faith I rode today is unreal, it's so light and stiff and a brilliant handling bike for this place where the terrain is so steep, rough and littered with wall rides, long step-ups and doubles. Love it.

We also had a peek at the new Reign X, Trance X Advanced (oh yes it's back!!), the new Glory and Anthem X Advanced..

Where do i begin? Giant have gone so hard in dropping the weight out of the frames, they have succeeded in making some of the lightest, stiffest and most active suspension bikes we will see next season. Good form.

Tomorrow i ride the Trance X SL0 (11.1kg, Fox TALAS, SRAM XX, 5" carbon trail bike) to some serious altitude, even Adam Craig got a headache from this climb we will do. Oh crap.

And then after the XC doom climb ride, the 2010 Glory. The bike that Jared Rando has been prototyping. How do you lose 1500g from the frame? A 17.19 kg bike out of the box!

Vholdr footage is on the way.

Sunday, the day before and after Sunday. In Denver Colorado.

What day is it?

No, it's not Sunday but it feels like it as did yesterday. Denver is great. A beautiful city with a very laid back pace that i have quickly grown fond of. It's summer break, but it still seems as though its a holiday for the whole city! The people of Denver are just walking around slowly, with or without a purpose.

I've spent a couple days wandering, walking and riding around. Then somehow falling into epic nights out with locals who dig Australian's and just want to help you experience and have a good time. I met a rad guy at a bar named Tyrone (awesome!) he introduced me to everyone who walked through the door, and within no time I knew everyone. I witnessed a wild Poetry Slam, horrible live hip hop, a huge outdoor cool jazz festival, a bartender that never charges (?), a great live band called Velivert, and an open mic night which saw me up on stage red faced.

I love hostels, I've stayed in some unreal ones, and some foul ones. This big but very empty 100 bunk hostel is a memorable one. Checking in, the crazy looking girl at the desk piped up straight away "My girlfriend is in rehab, my boyfriend is a truck driver, i never get to see them. My life is a mess. You smoke? Its an open relation ship you see.." Yikes!

I've arrived at the Giant camp now, which is amazing. I thought Thredbo is big! Driving out of Denver we climbed and climbed for 2 hours into the mountains, and now I'm in my 'condo' with a TV bigger than the bath tub, but similar size to the open fire place. Whew.

Tonight will be a quite one i hope, then tomorrow we see the new long travel bikes, the all new return of the Giant Faith? WOOHOO! I love this stuff.

Bud light, mate?

Yo,

I'm in Denver. It's rad. Actually it's very peculiar, with people and places that resemble nothing I have ever seen before. I'm dropping by Denver on route to Keystone, Colorado for the Giant 2010 media camp to check out the new loot. It's a big year for captain G, from what I have heard and what I'm not supposed to know, there is plenty to get pumped on.

So, this is my first entry to the AMB Blog, sitting in a hostel with creaky floor boards, and a leaking roof. The Denver Broncos (I think) won a Baseball game (I think) so the town was a bit mental! It's a warm and very welcome 30 degrees.

I'm off to Keystone in a couple days, then after the Giant camp Damian Breach will come down from the Bromont World Cup to join me on a sweet road trip to ride trails between Denver to Moab. Quite a dream actually I must admit, yes, very stoked to be here.

World Champs Programme

After a few late nights the 2009 Canberra World Championships Programme is done! Phew. This 64 page program has all the info you could ever need about the World Champs, including full event details, rider profiles, maps, interviews and a lot more. The World Champs Programme will be included with the next issue of AMB, or you can purchase one at the World Champs event itself. Check it out!

Oh, and word just in; the next issue of AMB is something pretty special, a two for one deal! Yep, that's right, not only do you get the World Champs Programme, but a bonus issue of AMB too. Doesn't get much better, 'ey?

It'll be on news stands August 19. GRAB IT.

Are we converted?

The next AMB shootout is all done and dusted; six 29er hardtails, ranging from $2300 up to $3999, were ridden in some pretty miserable conditions to find out which of them had what it takes. There were some real standouts, but you'll have to wait until next issue to find out of course.

Long time readers will know that this is the first 29er shootout we've ever had in the magazine, in fact AMB has been a touch slow coming to the 29er party in many regards. Why? Well, we weren't quite sure what we thought about this whole big wheeled program...but now we know, and on the whole we're pretty convinced that 29er wheels (especially for hardtails) make sense. We'll be delving into a deeper discussion in the mag, highlighting how these bikes shone, how they sucked, and just who should be riding a 29er.

There's no place like home

Travelling is a blast. Experiencing new places and cultures and the feeling of being on the go. But it is so good to be back. Ahead of us here at AMB we've got a busy month (nothing's changed there), as we compile the official programme for the 2009 World Champs in Canberra as well as put together a regular issue. So while home may well be the office for the next month, it is still nice to be here.

Next week we'll be heading to the tasty trails of Glenrock, Newcastle to test out a fleet of 29ers. We'll also put half a dozen of the best XC wheelsets to the test in a group shootout, and of course I will be putting together the tale from my epic Euro adventure. And I'm looking forward to getting out on my local trails again too! Shred a few corners, have a few crashes.