166 Votes / 756,503 Views
The Hub Members Brands Video

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah7823.shtml 

e.thirteen Announces Sponsorship of Two Videos For 2008


e.thirteen is proud to announce their collaboration with two major videos for the 2008 season. e.thirteen will be sponsoring Clay Porter's follow-up to the wildly successful "Between The Tape": "F1RST", which will be released in April of 2008. We will also be supporting Don Hampton's new movie, "Latitudes", which will also be released around the same time.


"We're ecstatic to be a part of both of these movies for 2008. Both Don and Clay have made tremendous contributions to the mountain bike community through their videos, and we are excited to support them and contribute to the development of their titles," said Aaron Lutze, e.thirteen's marketing director.


Don Hampton has been working on "Latitudes", which is a follow-up to the Chain Reaction series. Hampton spent the last two years working closely with Cannondale producing The Cut DVD "Sevenvision", which is currently being featured at the Banff Film Festival.


Hampton will be bringing back the favorites from the Chain Reaction series, as well as some fresh faces, like e.thirteen rider JD Swanguen. The "stable of knuckleheads" just returned from a successful trip to Utah, where riders like JD Swanguen, Wayne Goss, Chris and Nick VanDine threw down in front of DH Productions' new HD cameras.


"e.thirteen is one of the original east coast companies that has supported DH Productions and the Chain Reaction videos from day one. I'm definitely excited to have their continued support on the production of 'Latitudes'. 'Latitudes' is going to pick up where the Chain Reaction series left off—except the production quality is much higher now that we have an HD package in full effect," said Don Hampton.


Clay Porter's "Between The Tape" follow up, "F1RST", will be a hot title for 2008. Clay said, "I was so encouraged by the response to the docu-style movie format that I've decided to embark on the untold stories of the 2007 season, in the same way. Thanks to co-sponsors like e-thirteen Components, who have joined up with me for the first time this year, I'll be able to take my filmmaking to the next level. I am currently in the UK shooting with the Atherton family and we have some amazing things planned for their section."


Clay has been spanning the globe to create content for his upcoming movie, and will be working closely with e.thirteen to release exclusive sneak peaks leading up to the release of the full-length feature. In recognition of this partnership, e.thirteen is proud to release of the first of the sneak peaks, featuring e.thirteen athletes.


e.thirteen components is a small, rider-owned and operated company that strongly supports dozens of grassroots races, series, contests and other riding events all over the world every year. Founded in 2001, e.thirteen's innovative, functional, simple and lightweight chain retention systems have made them a world leader in this category, and the choice of top pro and amateur riders and mechanics alike. They support a worldwide distribution network and take great pride in offering devoted customer service.





ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Megavalanche, Andrew Neethling Reports





The lineup at the Reunion Island Megavalanche in South Africa, December 3, 2007. That's Eric Carter in the orange.



The time had come. No turning back now. I was set for a front row start in a race format I had never entered before. There were 160 riders all starting at the same time on a 50-minute downhill.



The start was set for 9am. Call up for our grid positions was based on our heat race results at 8am. This sounds fine until you note that the drive to the top is at least 1 hour on a road with the tightest turns I had ever seen. Car sickness started to set in near the top.





Needles (#105) does mental voodoo before the start.



I lined up on my Teocali Elite next to Julien Camellini. Next to him was Nico Vouilloz and then Remy Absalon. Nico had retired by the time I got on the international circuit as a pro. After looking up to him for all those years it was a little overwhelming lining up along side him to start. I knew a good start was needed. My game plan was to go as hard as I could in the beginning and try to stay with the top boys. The start was a mix of open granite sections, short steep inclines, and some dusty single track.



The countdown began – 10 minutes to go, then five minutes, then 30 seconds, then five seconds and then we were off! The pace was frantic. Everyone was flat out with some taking sneaky lines through the bushes. WOW! These guys meant business - I had a good start and was in about fourth going into the first climb. I gave it my all, which almost backfired as my legs were not feeling great. This happens when you sprint before your body warms up.





Thumbs up to the Megavalanche! Mongoose teammate, EC, with Neethling.



This race felt like a Downhill, MTX, XC, and Motocross race all rolled into one.



There were a couple placement changes near the front because of some interesting line choices and crashes. I managed to make a pass and go into the long, dusty single track in third. What a surprise! I could not believe it but by this time my legs were full of lactic acid. I settled into a pace and pushed myself when I could.



Reny Wildhaber caught me on one of the concrete road sections which was a mix between flat and inclines. He was very strong, but I tucked in behind him, and he pulled me along. This helped so much as it gave me some time to rest. I joked with him afterwards and said he saved my life on that road!



I made sure to stay with Reny, as I knew if I could go into the last long flat rocky section in fourth that I could maintain the position. I was really hurting. Damn this race is long physically, but before you know it, you are at the finish. Up front, Nico had caught Remy Absalon, the early leader. They battled it out but the 10 time World DH Champion came out on top. Nico has been quoted as saying this is the hardest race he has ever done physically. I would agree. And I must say I was happy with how my bike handled the various terrains of the course. It had a great mix of technical down hills and fast-pasted pedaling.



Top 5 were as follows: (Note that the top 3 are all past winners of this event)



1st Nico Vouilloz

2nd Remy Absalon

3rd Reny Wildhaber

4th Andrew Neethling

5th Franck Parolin



All in all this race was a great experience. This race has been going on since 1995 as far as I know. The people I met and places I saw were amazing. Not often can riders of all riding abilities get together and take part in the same race. We all get to share war stories after the race. The Island was beautiful, the people friendly, and the snorkeling amazing!



– Andrew Neethling