SPECIALIZED SIGNS CANADIAN FREERIDER

Specialized hooked up with Brett Tippie, a British Columbian freeriding legend who made a name for himself by hucking off of cliffs in his native home of Kamloops. We got a chance to ride with Brett while he was shooting a Specialized promo video in Southern California.

Brett atributes his willingness to go big and often to his upbringing:

"My dad moved to a new town every five or six years." says Tippie, "I had to make friends with the local kids, and the easiest way to do that was to get on my bike and do a scary stunt. I ended up travelling from town to town doing scary stunts--and now it has become an occupation."

Brett had not been on a bike for the entire winter season. And had never ridden his new Specialized downhill sled until the photo shoot.

"I have been hosting a Canadian television show about snowboarding and, until now, I have been riding powder this deep all winter," Brett points to his neck, "It is so great to be riding a bike again!"

Brett warmed up for the shoot by dropping off of a stone ledge that we shot for the November cover of MBA. Afterwards we perused the Santa Susana mountains for targets of opportunity, during which, I had a chance to get aquanted with the Kamloopian drop-in king. Brett is humble about his craft, which is typical of BC's freeriders. He is not fearless either. He sets up his stunts by carefully tracing the route on foot so he can visualize every action he must make during the descent before comitting to it.

"One...two.. three." Tippie over-pumps his emotions to insure that he is sharp for the three seconds that it will take to scream down a 65-degree sandstone face, then drops in. "Woah!" his toothy grin flashed across the face of his helmet, "The tranny at the botom was a bit harsh." The 200-pound, six-footer shoulders his Specialized, then nimbly scales a crack up the cliff face for another run.

Later, Tippie demonstrated his North Shore singletrack skills by threading and hopping his way through the ledges of a wind-carved cave, and a couple of runs down an unnamed downhill course. Watching Tippie leaves you with a refreshing image: an experienced bikehandler romancing his new bike on their first date. A true professional who has not traded the essence of mountain biking for a regular paycheck. Take away the cameras, the crowd and the pot of gold, and Brett Tippie would still be out in the woods somewhere hucking his bike into thin air--just for the fun of it.
RC