November 14/99 5:11 am - Canadians in Japan, Crusty Film Review

Posted by Editor on 11/14/99
 

Walters wins in Japan
(courtesy Marc Morrison)

We have received word that Mark Walters has won the men's race and Sandy Espeseth finished second in the women's event at the Tour of Okinawa, Japan. Dominique Perras and Charles Dionne were also at the event. No other details at this point.


Crusty 2000 Video Party
by Mike Badyk, Tech Editor, Canadian Cyclist

All we can say is that this was one heck of a party, perhaps the highlight of the year as far as fun and laid back is concerned. Yes, there was a video to premier, but this was only one small part of the evening at The Opera House on Queen St. East. The old building was packed to capacity with close to 900 mountain bikers, BMX'ers, snowboarders, motocrossers and skateboarders. The MTB community was well represented by Seamus McGrath in his best home boy look, National downhill great Eric Cseff, and Ontario Cup Champ Ondrej Neumann just to name a few. Lots and lots of people from Toronto area stores too, thanks to event organizer and Fox rep Dean Lasci. "We are extremely pleased with this evening. We sold more tickets than last year so we are at the legal capacity of the Opera House. We are going to have to look for a larger venue for next year, possibly even Massey Hall", said Lasci. There are a lot of parallels that could be drawn with the extremely successful Warren Miller Ski Films, but this is a very different audience, although the Crusty loyalty is similar.

The evening started with two young thrash metal bands, Blank Stare (good singer, musicians could be better) and Sector 7 (good musicians, obnoxious lead singer) to get the crowd cranked up. Beer flowed freely and a good sized mosh pit formed front and centre at the stage. As Sector 7 left the stage, a substantial amount of serious swag was given away. Highlights were the punker with the sizeable Mohawk hair-do who stripped naked and did a back flip to win a custom skateboard, as well as the attractive young lady who flashed the crowd to win Fox clothing. Tossing skateboards into the crowd was probably, in retrospect, a questionable move, but it was in keeping with the theme of the evening.

As the last of swag was given away, a roar went up as the projection screen dropped from the ceiling and the video came to life. In a word, incredible. The moto-cross stunts in this film are unbelievable. There was probably more footage of people flying through the air than there was of them on the ground. Some awesome footage of splatters too. Although primarily a dirt motorcycle film, there are a few good segments of BMX and MTB. One highlight was a stunt where the mountain biker was towed behind a motorcycle to get up to speed, launched off a ramp and then landed on the flat roof of a nearby house. You've got to see it to believe it. Personal favourite was a great bit of film of Motocrossers in Australia. Amazing riders and some super filming.

You missed the party, but you don't have to miss the video. It will be available before Christmas and could make the ideal stocking stuffer for the dirt enthusiast. Well worth a viewing on a cold winter night to get you stoked for next summer. Congratulations to the organizers of this awesome event. We'll make sure that we're there next year too.