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1) OK, So we know your name, tell us a little about Tara Llanes, and what makes her tick? Hmm....well that's kind of a big question. In short I guess I love to ride and race my bike and sometimes I still can't believe that I do it for a living. I feel fortunate not so much lucky because I know I've worked really hard at what I do to make myself better everyday. I've have met so many wonderful people all over the world throughout my career and will have these friends for life. I guess what makes me tick is my competitive side. I am always striving to be better. Not just a better racer/rider, but a better person and believe it or not this "job" has taught me so much more than anything I could have ever learned in a text book. Not to say school is bad, but this is just what worked for me.
Riding for and being part of the Giant family has been a great experience. I've been with the team now for 4 years and I feel like I have 7 brothers now if you count mechanics. I mean if you think about it we are with each other for about 6 months out of the year riding together, traveling together, joking and laughing with each other, and getting mad at each other for stealing each others food. I feel like I found a family with Giant. And not just with the team, but the people at Giant. I know all of them and love going to the office. 3)Before your time at Yeti, you were on Specialized with Shaun Palmer, that must have made for an interesting time? Interesting is a understatement!! When I first found out I was going to be teammates with him I was scared out of my
head. I think I had just turned 20 or 21 and was still fairly young and really shy. It's funny now that I look back b/c quite a few people took my
shyness for being cocky when in all reality I was anything but. I just sort of kept to myself. Then when I heard Kirt Vories was going to be on the
team as well I didn't know what to do. I was the only US female on the team and the only other females were Elsbeth Vink from the Netherlands
and Marga Fullana from Spain so it's not like I conversed much with the other women. I hung out mostly with the boys and in the end we all got
along great. I really ended up hitting if off with Kirt and we trained a fair bit together when he lived in Santa Barbara. That team was really by far
one of the best teams I had been on. Between the talent field that we had and the budget back in those days I honestly felt like a rockstar. I just tried to take everything in every single day and not take anything for granted. 4) ) You were on the YetiPearl Izumi team with Nathan Rennie, Paul Rowney, any funny stories or fond memories you can share with us? I'm surprised you didn't ask that about Palmer!! :) Yeah, I'd say there are a few. One that sticks out in my head was when we had some race I think it was in Wisconsin. Some random place where we had had a race before. Anyway, on Sunday after the race everybody went out and both Rowney and I had told Rennie that he had to at least be back at the house by like 7am that next morning because we had to catch a flight to another race and we couldn't be late. Well 7:30am and then 7:45 rolls around and he's not there so we left. I couldn't believe we did, but we left him there. Somehow, someway he found his way to the next race and I was laughing my ass off. Oh and I almost forgot this one. Rennie, Scott Sharples, and I were driving from one World Cup to another in Vars, France. It was a couple days drive and on the way we stopped at a rest stop for obvious reason. When we got out Rennie saw this guy trying to sell a video camera. Mind you I had literally just bought a Sony video camera just before that trip and new how much they cost. Well, this guy was trying to sell it to Rennie for like $500 bucks. Both Sharples and I TOLD Rennie.."DON'T DO IT!" I told him, "if it's too good to be true then it usually is!" So I come out of the bathroom and this guy is handing Rennie a sort of leather zip up bag and Rennie is handing him $500 bucks. Both Sharples and I are shaking our heads as we get in the car. As soon as the guy took Rennie's money this car pulls up really fast and the guy gets in it. Immediately I was like, "Rennie..open the damn bag!" So he's trying to open it, but the stupid bag is glued shut!! So Sharples turns on the car and we start chasing these guys on the motorway for like 5 miles or so hauling ASS. Rennie finally gets the bag open and it's a freakin' box of salt!! He just sat there dumbfounded and couldn't believe it. In the end it was funny, but he lost $500!! Silly, silly boy. I took a picture of it, but can't find it or I'd send it to you. So yeah some funny times. Too many to mention.
Umm...well here are a few. 2006 US National Downhill Champion, 2-Time US National Four-Cross Champion (2000&2004), 2003 Sea Otter Omnium Winner (all three events combined), X-Games Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medallist, and Numerous top 3 Podium finishes at both World cup and Norba events. 6) So, where's your favorite 3 places to ride or race? Tough question. I did this sweet XC ride this year at Worlds in New Zealand with a bunch of the Giant Australia people and it was beautiful. Anywhere in Durango, Colorado, and either this super sweet trail I found with my teammate Carl Decker in Livigno, Italy or a fun DH I rode in Les Gets, France. Too many to list. 7) Your favorite bike to ride is a..........? Right now it's a tough call between my new Giant for Women Trance with sweet Fox Talas forks and all the new Shimano XTR goodies or my Giant Reign. 8) What interests you outside of the Mountain bike world? Reading, playing basketball, and traveling. 9) Which cyclist (in MTBing)do you admire the most? Hmm...Thomas Frishkenect has always been such a cool down to earth guy and he still pins it. Also, Sue Haywood. She had to deal with alot of crap when the whole Olympic thing went down last year and she handled it like a champ. 10) Any sponsors or people your obliged to plug? Yes, thanks for asking. Giant and Giant for Women, Shimano, Easton, Michelin, Fox Racing Shox, Troy Lee Designs, WTB, www.pushyourlimits.com, BIKESKILLS, and Spike. I'll try to send you piccies later today. I'm running late and need to head out on a ride with my teammate Jared Rando. Cheers!! Tara (PICS TAKEN FROM www.tarallanesracing.com) THIS ARTICLE WAS RATED -- Funny - 10 people Did not like - 3 people OK - 3 people
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What Mountain Bike and www.bikeradar.com contributor Marcus Farley talks to Yeti president and GM Chris Conroy about all things Yeti. 1) What gets you up in the morning? A really strong cup of coffee and the promise of a good ride later in the day. 2) Do you ride to work, if so, what's your bike of choice? I live about 25 miles from the factory, so I only occasionally ride into work. The ride in is easy – 2500 ft descent, but the climb home is a grind. I have a couple of custom bikes for commuting – my Road Project and a ti cross bike – both Yetis of course. 3) What's your personal bike of choice? Tough call. One of the great things about working at Yeti is that I get to ride them all. I probably spend most of my time on the 575, but I have been riding more gravity lately so I have been riding the 303 whenever I can. 4) So, you bought Yeti, was it a dream come true and was it worth it? This is my dream job. When we decided to buy the company, it was a big gamble. Steve and I literally put everything we had on the line to buy the company. We knew we had a great brand, we had great people, and a crazy desire to make it work. When your house is riding on it, you find a way...It was definitely worth it. 5) What's your favourite place to ride? I have been fortunate to ride all over the world and whenever I am riding it seems to be my favorite place. As a Colorado boy, I am partial to our home turf – we have fantastic riding here. That said, I have to give a strong nod to Moab, Sun Valley, Idaho (some of the best singletrack in the world), the French Alps and, of course, Coed Y Brenin. 6) What bike are you most proud of developing? We have developed a lot of bikes that I am proud of but I think the 303 is the most innovative and forward thinking. Steve Hoogendoorn was the brain child behind that project and he worked very closely with our team riders to create an amazing bike. 7) What's more important, podiums or feedback from people who buy your bikes? They are equally important because they both keep us honest. Our racers (and product development guys) have high expectations and if we don't meet them, we don't get on the podium. Our customers have equally high expectations and we really like getting their perspectives on how our bikes are performing. 8) Zero loss suspension, what's it all about? That's a big question and probably could be an article in itself. In the simplest terms, Zero-Loss is about going faster and looking at product design with a completely open mind. For the detailed explanation, check out our website. 9) Hardtail or full suspension? I choose my bike based on the terrain. In Colorado, that usually means full-suspension. 10) Everyone seems to be going carbon, what are your thoughts on this development for mountain bikes? Carbon can be a very desirable material for building mountain bikes, but it isn't the best material for all applications. We try to use carbon (and any other material or technology) where it's most appropriate and steer clear where it doesn't. 11) Where do you see MTB going? Lighter full-suspension, particularly in the longer travel categories. We are already seeing a lot more integration of suspension, frame, and other components. I think that will increase in the future as companies try to push technology to the next level. I see our sport growing in non-traditional ways. We are seeing huge growth in junior participation in gravity events. They are entering our sport through gravity, rather than cross-country. I think kids will eventually be all-mountain riders, but their perspective on the sport will be from a gravity perspective and that could change the psyche of mountain biking a bit. 12) You have a close working and development relationship with Fox, how did this come about and what have you learnt from each other? The relationship started on the race circuit. We share the same passion for racing and both feel strongly about using our team as an integral part of our product development efforts. Over the years we have learned a lot from each other. All of our bikes have shocks that are custom tuned for our suspension and when we come up with new suspension designs/theories, we get Fox involved early so we can make sure the suspension design and suspension work together, not as an afterthought. 13) Any new bikes for 2008? We have a bunch of new bikes for 2008. Stay tuned... (check out the 08 page) 14) The 2007-2008 season - what are you hoping to achieve as a team? I would like to see Jared Graves win the World Championships in 4x and have Justin Leov place consistently in the top 15 in World Cup DH. On the domestic front, I would like our racers to dominate the NMBS and Mountain States Cup series. 15) The Yeti tribe? what's it all about? The Tribe is a bunch of Yeti freaks who are crazy about our brand and crazy about our bikes. They come from all over the world and share the same philosophies as we do. Each year we have a Tribe Gathering in the states to celebrate our loyal fans. The weekends revolve around epic riding, great food, and plenty of beer. We cap the event at 150 people each year, but it could easily be double that number. We also have a Tribe meet in the UK, which is organized by Andrew (yetifan.com) and our UK distributor, Evolution Imports. We always try to get one or two of the Colorado Yeti boys out to the UK event. 16) Who's inspired you the most? I have had the good fortune of working for/with some of the brightest people in the business. They all inspired me in different ways over the years. I can't name a single person who has inspired me the most, but I am inspired most by what I get to do each day – make great bikes and ride. It doesn't get any better than that... 17) What's the first MTB you ever owned? Specialized Stumpjumper (1987 or 1988, I can't remember). I cut down the bars to a ridiculous 19" and the tires were 1.5". Things have changed a bit since then. 18) You can invite 3 people to dinner, who do you invite and why? The Three Stooges. Who wouldn't want to hang with the Stooges?
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