VIDEO OF THE DAY!

So here's the hijacked Youtube posting of Henry Miles' video of me  titled "Alex McAndrew Through the fall" that Made video of the day on pinkbike!

For higher quality check out the original version on Vimeo:
Alex McAndrew Through the Fall

Making Video of the Day was something I'd always dreamed of! Thanks Henry and all my sponsors for helping me get there and make dreams reality!

A busy and photo filled fall!

This fall was a busy one! Thanks to Ryan Thibault of MTBVT and Jarad Kleinberg of Madkats productions for their great work!

Photo Credit: Ryan Thibault

Photo Credit: Brendan Carberry

Whistler, Garbanzo /Race

Photo Credit: Ryan Thibault

Hard Facts : 2012 Results

Alex McAndrew                                                               Race Schedule 2012

 Categroy: Pro

1.) May 20:           ESC/ (ProGRT)                              Mountain Creek,  NJ                            22

2.) May 27:           ESC Plattekill /(ProGRT)                 Roxbury, NY                                        24

3.) June 9-10:       MSC/ Chile Challenge/(ProGRT)    Angel Fire, NM                                      DNF

4.) Jun 30-Jul 1:    World Cup/GES                              Windham, NY                                       22

5.) July 7-8            Mountainbike Grand Prix                Highland Bike Park, Northfield, NH       18

6.) July 20-22        National Championships                  Beech Mtn, NC                                    46

7.)July 28-29        ESC                                                  Killington, VT                                         4 

8.) Aug 10-19       Crankworx   Garbanzo DH              Whistler, BC                                         58

9.) Aug 10-19       Crankworx   Air DH                          Whistler, BC                                         68

10.) Aug 10-19      Crankworx   Candian Open DH       Whistler, BC                                         50

11.) Sept. 1-2        ESC Plattekill                                   Roxbury, NY                                          4

12.) Sept 15-16     ESC Attitash                                    Attitash, NH                                           4

13.) Oct 6-7           ESC, Plattekill                                   Roxbury, NY                                          7

14.) Oct 14^th            Burke Mtn enduro                          East Burke, VT                                        7

Hangin' with Heroes!

I believe it was my 3rd day in Whistler and I was all set to head up the lift to go practice the Garbanzo track. I jumped in the singles line as it got you on the chair about 10 minutes faster. To my surprise (Which I tried to hide) I got on the lift with Kelly McGarry, Sam Pilgrim, and a photog/writer from Vitalmtb.com! For those of you that don't know Kelly McGarry and Sam Pilgrim are two of the Worlds BEST freestyle mountain bikers. This means they are the guys doing back flips and other such nonsense over 60 foot gaps!

I tried to play it cool, mind my own business and not say a word. The vital photog spoke up and said that they were filming an edit called "Randoms from the lift" and would I mind if he filmed our lift ride...when we got to the top Kelly asked if I would do a run with them down Dirt Merchant to A-Line. I had ridden this trail once.

They suggested I go out front, to which I replied that I was not very confident with big jumps just yet...so they compromised and put me between Kelly and Sam...Not much better.

We took one of the wildest; most fun runs of my life down A-line. When you follow someone with that much skill you can just copy their motions and without realizing it, you find yourself doing things you never thought you could!

Check out the video of our lift ride and run on Vital here:
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Tales-from-the-Lift-Whistler,14888/sspomer,2

They ended up "Tales from the lift” I guess.

 

Whistler Video Appearances!

My trip to Whistler was an incredible expereince. Words can barely describe the amount of fun and the memories that were created. It was also a picotal trip in that I received a large amount of much needed publicity!

Here's a list of the videos I made it into and the timestamps that I appear at!

Pink video of the day Recap on Canadian Open DH:       3:10
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/273396/

Official Crankworx Highlight reel:                                    0:29
(Got a little loose)
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/273303/

Canadian Open Webcast replay:                                     1:19:30
http://www.crankworx.com/whistler/videos.php?id=78

Air DH Webcast Replay                                                 1:26:30
http://www.crankworx.com/whistler/videos.php?id=59

Garbanzo DH Webcast Replay                                      1:37:30
http://www.crankworx.com/whistler/videos.php?id=56

Have a watch!!!

The stuff you dream about...

This has been such an incredible week and it just keeps getting better! Monday found myslef, Scott Papola, Andrew Taylor, Jack Oliver, and a Swedish frestyle rider at the Top of the World Trail. The views were breathtaking to say the least! The trail had everything from flow to fast pinner sections back to tight techy bits! So awesome. Halfway down Pappy (leading screached to a halt yelling BEAR!!! Ten feet in ront of us was a mother with a cub. So cool to see, so close!

parking lot metal working and awesome locals

Yesterday did not start off so well...there's a decent sized step up about 1:00 min into 16 min Garbanzo course, I aired it full throttle directly into a tree. I somehow managed to miss the tree myself, but the bike was not so fortunate. I spent the next 4 hrs bending and straightening drive train stuff while tourisits looked on gawking and wondering why we do this crazy sport...

But thanks to some help from the Transition guys and the boys and girls and Fanatik Bike in Whistler we got her back on the trail for an afternoon session!

While scoping the Garbanzo course we met up with a local dude named Reg. we traded on and off in the sections we all felt faster in and learned a lot from each other! such a great run despite a rough morning!

Whistler!

This place is incredible! I met up with my friend  Jack Oliver at the Vancouver airport and we both caught a shuttle up to Whistler! I'm staying in a hostel for a reasonable $30 per night. Perfect set up: Hostel/Diner/Laundrymatt! First day was incredible I took the advice of my friend Justin Frey and old whistler Native and took it reaaal easy, but had sooo much fun!

I've already seen more bears in two days than I have my whole life! Saw a mother and cub on the way up the lift yesterday!

Every run has started and ended with a high five!

hollyyyy cow!!! this roll down to huck is sooo much more scary/gnarly /awesome in person...just to look at!

Back to Angel Fire!

4th Round of the Pro GRT brought me back to Angel Fire New Mexico.  2 days before the race the changed the course back to the same course as collegiate nationals. It is a VERY different course without 10 inches of snow on it!

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The ruts are still here from Collegiate Nats last fall!

Due to a little misshap at Plattekill I bent my bars and stem. Kore Components came through and sent me a brand new, full cockpit setup tot he hotel! Thank you Wick! Much Appreciated! The Mike V and Lewis of Fox made quick work of my fork and got it back up to speed in no time.  A key point to the weekend suspension setup. The upper and lower sections of the track are so different that to setup for one means comprimising for the other. 

A little helmet cam action from the top of the course. It's all about snagging the right high-lines.

Graduation was pretty neat. The president of our University asked me to stand and announced my plans to attend the Pro GRT series to the entire audience and class. Clarkson will be sponsoring me for the rest of the 2012 season! We also filmed a short movie for their website that should air soon.

After graduation I headed home to begin racing. First stop was the Pro GRT at Mountain Creek. A few hiccups in practice but Mike V of FOX got me back on track real quick with some incredible 40 body work. Still plenty of room for improvement and I know where I can find lots of time, just a matter of execution. Qualified 25th, finished 21st on the weekend in Pro.

Photo-David Tufino

Dave Trumpore snapped a great shot during practice

Next stop was Plattekill for the 3rd Round of the Pro GRT. The course was loose and fast for the CAT 1's and Pro's. Qualified with a 2:37, a little further back than I would have liked for seeding. Set myself the goal of breaking 2:30. Practice went well and the bike handled great. I was able to cut 7 seconds off my qualifying time, and crossed the line with a 2:30 24th place.  Hank of Chuck's Bikes raced and won his first ever Downhill race with 3 gnarly Crashes! Isaac won Cat2 Juniors by a convincing 4 second lead! 3 generations of Chuck's Bikes throwing down hard!

 

My buddy Matt McGonigal came for the weekend to take part in the action. We hadn't ridden together since our trip across country and it was all fun laughs! Don't think I can keep a straight face with this kid around, ever.

At both of these races I have been racing against one of, if not the best Downhill mountain biker in the world. It is quite sureal, just two years ago I would have laughed had someone told me I'd be where I am today!

Welcome to my Blog. I will be posting photos and videos of my travels and during the 2012 Race season!

May has been a very busy month.

Photo-Zach Durocher

I graduated from Clarkson University with a Degree in Mechanical Engineering; a life long goal! 

 

Before graduating a few friends and I built a new DH trail for the team to train on at our local hill 7 Springs. Came out great, fun and challenging to ride. Zach Durocher (talented student photog' snapped) some killer photos.