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The Fabel Blog

Welcome to the Fabel blog. Our team and riders regularly post many of their adventures and talents throughout the season.

Leana Gerrard takes on the south of France

February 8th, 2009

Leana Gerrard

The northwest is one of my favorite places on the planet. Lush forests,
great laid back people, lakes, cities, oceans and mountains all intertwined
and of course the hero dirt for riding. Not included in my list however, are
the four months of the year when grey mist fills the air, darkness lingers
for over three quarters of the day and the motivation to go ride my bike in
the snow and mud is enough to keep me safely indoors.

That being said, when the opportunity arose to pack my bags and go some
place warm for the season I chose the winter escape of the Europeans- Nice,
France. The best I can defer of this place is that it is a mix of Florida
and California with a huge amount of old people but a climate and terrain
like California.

When I first arrived I was greeted by sunshine and it didn’t take me long to
put my bike together and ride up and down the Mediterranean coast in a shirt
and shorts. Since I’ve been here however, I have encountered a few problems:
one being I have no idea where the good riding spots are and another being
that once I find them I don’t have a car so it is difficult to get to. Oh,
and the fact that I don’t speak French- at all. But I’m slowly figuring it
out and even the days when I am just riding the roads around my town I am
still stoked on the awesome mid-winter weather.

When thinking about coming here I had a difficult time deciding which bike
to bring. My downhill bike, the Cannondale Judge, would be fun, but I wasn’t
sure how often I could make it to the mountains. My Cannondale Rush would be
a great bike for riding cross country trails and cruising the roads on the
coast, but then if I wanted to do something a bit more extreme like jumping
I would be struggling. My choice then went to my favorite bike, the
Cannondale Rize. With only a few adjustments I could make it a good bike for
riding downhill trails, or I could use it for cross country or take it to
the local BMX track for some sprints. In my world it is the perfect bike for
doing just about anything on.

Since I’ve been here I’ve made it to some radical riding spots. I’ve gone
downhilling in the mountains behind Monaco on lose rocks and shale. I’ve
done a few cross country rides up in the alps. Once on a nice trail around a
big lake and another in the snow (which of course was due to the fact that I
couldn’t read the guide book in French clearly stating not to ride it in the
winter). I’ve also found some sweet downhill trails near Cannes that include
a gnarly straight up climb but fun, flowy trails down making the climb well
worth it. The local BMX track is also pretty cool, allowing mountain bikes
on it as well as free gate practice.

Aside from riding I’ve also had some flying lessons in Cannes. My friend is
a pilot here at a flying school so he’s been nice enough to take me out a
few times. It’s funny though, almost the entire time I’m in the air I’m
looking down for trails to ride.

I’m scheduled to be here for another few months and then I’ll head back to
the states in time for the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California.
Hopefully by that time the weather in the Northwest will be a little better
and perhaps I’ll know a bit more French.

Leana Gerrard

YRB Ad

November 20th, 2008

Did anyone get a chance to see this month’s issue of YRB? Well if you did
you might have noticed the new Fabel add. It’s the first of two add we are
running this year in YRB and the first major add we have run.

 

 

Fun in the sun

April 2nd, 2008

The snow just keeps coming!!! Here are a few photos from the other day. It had snowed all week and then we had a nice blue bird day!!!! The drive up was classic, there was a dusting of snow in the foothills the whole way and the morning light was as juicy as it gets.

Jay was getting crazy dropping the power line tower. Just strapping in up there took a lot of balls let alone the big drop.

Here’s a rare one of me on the other side of the lens

Cheers

Pitt

Congratulations to Fabel Team Rider Leana Gerrard

March 17th, 2008

Congratulations to Fabel team rider Leana Gerrard who took 2nd at the Stevens Pass Mountain Bike Downhill Race on March 16th.

Mountain Bike snow race

A wild week

March 8th, 2008

It was a crazy week, at least weather wise it was. We had a solid foot of fresh new pow on Tuesday, the clouds cleared off by Thursday and we had some rare blue sky. I took advantage of the blue sky and shot in the park with Jared Betty, Jay Neal and Scoot Tribbel. The Park at Stevens has some huge kickers right now and they were throwing down. The snow was insane on Tuesday but it did get tracked out pretty fast. Here are some shots form this week.

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Home from AK

March 1st, 2008

I just got back home from a long three weeks in AK.I was colder then I have ever been in my entire life! 20 below and the wind was gusting around 90-mph, no joke - it was crazy. Good thing I had a few trusty Fabel beanies with me or I think I would have froze my ears off .For those of you who don’t know me I am Fabel’s Photographer. I love to shoot and that is what I went to school for but it is a hard life being a snowboard photojournalist, not too much $$$$ if you know what I mean.Most summers I head to AK for the fishing season and try to make enough cash for the winter. This year was not the best year and I also ran off to Australia for 3 months. So my cash ran out fast this winter. It happens. The worse part is, I had to leave in the middle of one of the best winters I can remember to make some much needed cash. I returned from my cold windy voyage to find out that I didn’t miss much, maybe 2 good days. (THANK GOD) And to my delight the new Fabel website is pretty much done!!!I will be updating the blog as often as I can the rest of this winter, so come back and check it out to see what we have been getting ourselves into.

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Pitt

Getting Exposure

January 24th, 2008

So Snowboard Magazine online has a nice writeup about your favorite hat company.

Take a minute to check their site out!

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Welcome everyone!

January 19th, 2008

Welcome to our new Web site.
We’re glad you’re taking the time to check out our new site. Please browse around, check out our products and of course where you can find us.
We’re busy shredding on the mountains and making new hats for you to enjoy.

Later!

– Fabel