Kurt Sorge. TONY CZECH/TEVA PHOTO
Shoes, Rain, and Metal at Crankworx 2011
Thursday, July 21. Whistler Village. 11 AM, hungover — In a summer already plagued by damp weather and damper spirits things are not looking good for the Crankworx Red Bull Joyride qualifying runs. Ankle deep mud and hucking your meat go as well together as chugging Jack Daniels and getting up early the next day.
The TEVA tent, set up just outside the Longhorn patio, is in danger of being flooded when I arrive but the chairs are comfy, the smiles friendly, and it’s where I find Kurt Sorge, a 22-year-old Nelson, BC, rider with a penchant for huge air, big results, and 80’s heavy metal. We chat.
Mountain Life— Kurt, first of all how do you pronounce your name? Does it rhyme with “orgy.”
Kurt Sorge— No, It’s Sor-gee. The G is hard.
ML—Hard is how you like your music too right? You love 80’s metal?
Kurt—I wish I grew up in that time. My team manager was a top BMXer back then. We’ll drive through LA and he’ll tell me about seeing Motley Crue in all these small clubs.
ML— Wha’ts your go-to song when they ask what you want for your run in contests?
Kurt¬— Kickstart your Heart, Motley Crue. It’s gotta be cranked.
ML— I read on the internet your first bike was a Walmart Special and now you’re riding the Giant Faith, which you designed. That’s a nice upgrade, when did you figure out that biking was your thing?
Kurt— It was probably Grade 8. I quit soccer and basketball and just started riding every day. I had a lot of older guys to ride with and one of them was Tam Forde, a filmmaker who helped me make a video for The Ultimate Freeride Challenge, an online contest where viewers around the world vote for their favourite vid. I ended up winning.
ML— How old were you?
Kurt— It was 2004, I was in grade ten or eleven.
ML—You were born in Kamloops, kind of the birthplace of Freeride, and you grew up in Nelson, another solid biking community. What is your favourite thing about coming out here to the Coast Mountains?
Kurt— I’ve met so many good riders out here and some of my best friends. It’s great to come ride with these talented guys and have fun. It helps my riding.
Kurt Sorge. TONY CZECH/TEVA PHOTO
ML—You have been outspoken about wanting to keep the “Mountain” in Mountain Biking. Can you elaborate on that?
Kurt— I grew up watching the guys who started our sport riding on full suspension bikes and jumping off the biggest jumps and riding the steepest stuff they could find. That is what got me into biking. But over the years it seems like it’s slowly gone the way of BMX with groomed courses and bikes that are no suspension, one brake, and…it’s not really like how mountain biking is. I guess lots of people don’t have real mountains where they live but for me, I like to keep pushing towards big mountain style and away from BMX.
ML—But you’re not afraid to hit big features either, and now you’re on the TEVA team. How important is footwear when you are stomping these huge airs?
Kurt— It’s pretty huge. Two of your four contact points with the bike are your shoes. You can’t be slipping pedals when you are riding a huge line or hitting a massive drop. And it’s tough, not many people are able to make a good Mountain Biking shoe so I am stoked to be on the TEVA team. They listen to their athletes and make a good product. For next season, they’re giving me free reign to design my dream shoe.
ML—Today you’re supposed to race qualifiers and do the TEVA Best Trick Showdown, do you have a routine or anything you go through before a big race?
Kurt— Not really, I like to get there early in the morning because the wind usually picks up later in the day. Then I like to do my full run and make sure I have all my tricks in the bag. I try not to take it too seriously. A lot of the other riders are my friends so I like to just hang out and have fun. No real routine.
ML—What about when it’s pissing rain like today?
Kurt—I don’t think the qualifiers will happen today. Hopefully we can still do the Best Trick though. I think right now I am gonna go have some pizza with my buddies.
And off he goes into the downpour. Kurt Sorge, just another soft-spoken hair metal fanatic with a hankering for some pizza. Unexcited about reentering the rain, I stick around the TEVA tent and get the inside scoop on their new shoes. TEVA is well-known in the Coast Mountains for their sandals, the perfect lightweight approach footwear for rock climbing and bouldering, but this is their first foray into the bike market. The shoes are called The Links and The Pinner, and American rider Jeff Lenosky is the dude who designed them.
Jeff— The Links is the top of the line shoe, The Pinner has the same sole but a suede upper. The Links has armour coating in key areas and a lot of vents– Side vents and a plastic heel cup to protect and keep the heel in place. The biggest thing is the sole, it’s designed specifically for biking.
ML¬—How does the sole differ from a regular shoe or a skate shoe?
Jeff— We’ve proven that a waffle sole design is ideal for biking. Most skate shoes use a waffle design across the whole sole. Great for the pedal but not great for walking on dirt trails. With these shoes, I put the waffle design in the middle, where the pedal sits but we have a herring-bone rib design on the heel and toe for hiking up and down the dirt. It’s all the beef of a waffle but you won’t fall on your ass.
ML—What was the trickiest part of designing the perfect bike shoe?
Jeff— It wasn’t that hard actually. TEVA was great at listening to my input and making changes. I guess it was a challenge to make something that would perform really well and have all the tech features but still look cool when you are off the bike.
The Links shoe, designed by Jeff Lenosky
The Joyride qualifying got rescheduled for Friday. The rain eventually stopped though and the TEVA BEST TRICK SHOWDOWN went off without a hitch. Highlights are below, click here for results.
TEVA is hooking up Mountain Life publisher Jon Burak with a pair of The Links so expect a more detailed review sometime in the near future.
~Feet Banks
Here are some highlights from the Best Trick Showdown.
Pinkbike.com Teva Best Trick Showdown from Crankworx on Vimeo.
