Darcy Turenne - 2010 Update

Darcy Turenne (Norco Factory Rider) is one of the hardest working professional mountain bikers around and yet she was able to take some time to talk to us at Pinkbike about her recent season, higher education, traveling, time at home and the See Jane Jump Jam.

Check out Darcy's interview and pics by reading on,


Last year at this time, you and I were prepping for a trip to Moab with Steak Sauce, Ship n' Dale and Dust Pan, that was a great season wind down trip for me.  Time sure has flown this year Darcy!  

I have ran into you a few times, Crankworx and at the 2011 Norco Launch in North Vancouver, but you are one busy rider.  Tell me a little about your 2010 season to date.
Wow, is 2010 almost over already? Crazy! This season has been nuts in many ways. I started doing my master's degree via correspondance and that coupled with the busiest bike season to date has kept me pretty occupied. This summer I went to Europe for a month to ride in the Scandanavian photo challenge with Mattias Fredriksson, film Ride Guide in Wales, and present a movie I made at an academic conference in Italy. Then I got home for a few days, did laundry, repacked, and headed to Japan to ride in the Shimano Biker's festival. Then I came home for a day, did laundry, repacked, and headed to Whistler for Crankworx where I was on Jordan Manley's team for the Saint Deep Summer photo challenge (that he won!). Then I ended off August by organizing the See Jane Jump women's mountain bike festival at Mount Washington.


It was a busy summer!

Oh, and I did a bunch of photo shoots for my sponsors Dakine, and Norco in there too. Oh, and I filmed with Aaron LaRocque...video part going to hit the interwebs soon.


You went to Japan! I want to go to Japan for a winter holiday some time, but tell us about the riding and what you and your team mates did over there?
Yes! You have to go. Japan is a crazy place and the snow is supposed to be the best in the world. Take me with you when you go ok?

I was flown there to attend the Shimano's Biker Festival with one of my main sponsors, Shimano and my teammate Ryan Leech. Everything about the festival was amazing and hilarious. We were told to bring our XC bikes and when we got there TKW from Shimano put on all new 2011 XTR. My bike weighs about 10 pounds now.

He signed me up to race the mass-start super D, DH, and 2-hour enduro...all on my XC bike. The riding was super fun and it was great to send some drops on my XC bike!

Riding in the mass start DH was something out of a Japanese game show...I've never seen so much carnage in my life! The 2-hour enduro was also insane. It was almost 40 degrees out and every lap I had to stuff my jersey with ice. I kept wondering why dudes would be sprinting past me like it was nothing, and then at the end of the race I found out it was a team relay race! Ryan and I were doing it solo. It was super fun and the fans were fanatical. I've never signed so many autographs in my life. I even signed a few babies!


Luckily for me, I got to stick around Japan for a while and see a bit of the country. I also filmed an XTR video while I was there which was an experience in itself. Picture a motocross track, monsoon rain, a RED cam, a 6-person camera crew, and me trying to jump moto-jumps on an XC bike in 6 inches of mud. Surprisingly, it turned out!

Thanks to Shimano for such a great trip!


Filming with LaRocque hey?! Can you tell us a little about this project?
It's more just a fun thing. We are buddies and when we're both in Victoria at the same time (which is pretty much never!), we film. We plan on putting out a little web short this winter. I have to admit, we aren't super productive when we work together because he's one of my favourite riding partners and we have a tendency to put the camera away early and just shred! However, he's an amazing filmmaker and we have gotten some good footage.



It blows me away when I hear riders say that they have no time to correspond with sponsors or do little tasks and then I run into riders like yourself that have it piled on so deep with school, travel and other obligations that you must forget which end it up at times! Tell us a bit about your schooling and what it is that you are taking and plans you have for it in the future.
Yeah, I've been forgetting to do a lot of those little tasks lately too...but I guess I have a few excuses!

Right now I'm halfway through a MA program and when it's all said and done I'll have a master's in "Professional Communications with an emphasis on Intercultural and International Communication." It's quite the mouthful.

So far, the program has taken me to Italy and on October 6th I go to India to do field work (read film work) for 5 weeks. In February I will start my thesis "research" in Indonesia and the end product will be a documentary film on how female action sport athletes in Indonesia use their bodies to communicate freedom, strength, liberation, and other such things. Of course, mountain biking will be a big part of the movie and the Indonesian female DH champ will be in my movie. I chose Indonesia because there is a good action sports scene there, however, female athletes are not heavily encouraged. For example, the 2009 female athlete of the year was a chess player. Enough said.

It has been a very flexible program which has been great for my busy biking schedule and they are very encouraging of me to use video for my research. To hell with 60 page papers! I'm making movies!


Wow so you are saying that in Indonesia mountain biking is taking a back seat to chess? We do have a long ways to go over there in that regard.
Yeah, unfortunately, I think the sport has some work to do. I hope to help its popularity over there...at least on the women's side of things.


Good work on the schooling that you are undergoing, it can't be easy, but you seem to love to travel and thankfully biking is taking you all over the world. When you are not traveling, where do you call home and what's it like there?
When I'm not travelling I call Victoria, Vancouver Island home. Seeing so many different parts of the world has really reinforced how great we have it on the island. I can bike, ski, and surf all in the same day (if I'm really ambitious), but I don't get much time at home to play. This year I'll only have a few months in Victoria, and it comes in week chunks.

I wouldn't trade all this travel for anything though. Going somewhere exotic with my bike is always incredible because you can access the coolest places that most travellers would never see.





Sounds like you have it pretty good over there Darcy. Traveling with your bike and living in an area that is conducive to so many recreational pursuits is a dream of many. Speaking of your bike, I see that you have a whole new Vixa under you these days. Wanna tell us about the new bike and what women specific models mean to the market place?
Why yes I would love to!

This year we shaved a bunch of weight off of the 2011 Vixa because, well, she needed to hit the gym and go on Jenny Craig. I was a little skeptical of the design at first and freaking out because I wasn't sure if it would be as "huckable" for lack of a better word, but after 30 seconds I was convinced that it was going to be amazing. The rear end is a little bit longer and a LOT stiffer, so it descends more like a DH bike, but is mega light so I can throw it around with zero effort! Pretty stoked. I learned my lesson though...trust engineers.



I think women's specific product is a huge step for women's mountain biking. Let's face it, most of us ladies like to look good. As the sport opens up to a broader audience it is inevitable that there will be demand for products that women feel are "feminine" enough to suit their style. Whether there is a technical benefit to it or not, having those products available will help bring women into the sport.

Regarding the Vixa, I can happily say there is a mechanical advantage for women who ride it. It's not just a guy's bike with a paint job. I also started riding for Dakine and their women's clothes have a lot of thought put into them. I feel 10x more comfortable riding in a women's short and jersey than an XS men's kit that fits weird. The clothes look great too...and yeah, I'm a slave to fashion sometimes.



Working with P.J. and the crew at Norco has to be good though as he seems very concerned with rider input and how you want your line up of bikes to turn out at the end of the day. I too was a little skeptical on the new design, but after riding the range and knowing its similarities to the new Vixa, I know that it's a crusher that will make a lot of women happy. Do you think that bikes like the Vixa are helping to bring more ladies into the sport or better suited to those that are already here and helping them progress?
Yeah, P.J. is awesome. He's super intense and set on refining every detail possible. I love working with him. I definitely think that bikes like the Vixa (and the Kona Minxy for that matter) are helping bring girls into the sport and helping those already involved progress. It's a win win.


You joined the Dakine clothing program this past season after being on their hydration pack and luggage program for the past few seasons. How have you added in their direction for women's clothing and where do you see the growth most needed in women's cycling fashion?
Dakine was one of my first sponsors and it is exciting to move into the clothing realm with them. I've actually been working with them and giving input on their women's designs for clothes, gloves, and packs for a few years so signing on for clothes was a natural progression. The company is SOOO forward thinking and is heavily influenced by snow and surf fashions, therefore, they are ahead of the game compared to most bike clothing companies. I come from a ski background so I really appreciate their progressive designs and appreciation for all outdoor sports. It seems like everybody who works there shreds dirt, snow, and surf. It's great. Ok, now I'm rambling. Cheers to Dakine for giving us girls clothes that are super functional and don't look like men's hockey jerseys.



Can you give us some insight into the exact types of feed back you and other women are giving to Dakine in order to produce a superior women's product?
The feedback comes from a lot of different people and it ranges from colours, to fit, to material choice. Everyone's body is different and everyone has different tastes so the designers have a lot to consider, but they somehow figure out how to make all parties involved happy. Not an easy job!


What kind of challenges do you see companies like Dakine, Norco, Kona, Loeka and others facing when trying to create items that are specific for women in our sport? I know that coming from a retail perspective it's tough to get the stores to carry items and really get behind the brands. Whistler is one of the few places that comes to mind where women really can find a good selection and be able to choose items that will better suit them. What are your thoughts?
There are definitely challenges but I think numbers are the biggest challenge. There just aren't enough girls who ride (and consequently consume) to have every shop carrying a ton of women's specific product. But it's definitely growing. Mountain biking is still a pretty new sport and I think we're doing ok!




Since there is a shortage of women in this sport, how do you propose we help this situation and get more girls into the sport? There are a lot of women specific camps and jump jams, heck you yourself organized the "See Jane Jump Jam" at Mount Washington this summer. How do these events help grow the sport?
Well, I think appealing to teenagers is a good start. Making the sport look cool is important to bring the next generation in. I mean, if snowboarding was filled with a bunch of dorks do you think it would be as popular? I'm not saying that mountain biking is full of dorks by any means, but that "core" allure is needed a bit more to draw the youngin's in.

Ironically, for older women to get involved I think mountain biking needs to be more accessible. That's not a contradiction at all huh? Ha ha. Yes, I think events like mine are very important to growing the sport. The Trek Dirt Series is a great example too. Getting out in the community and showing women that mountain biking can be a healthy recreational activity is very important.


Appearance and perception are definitely things that our sport needs to work on. The act of biking is not that hard core to begin with and you can be safe and one does not have to risk life and limb, but the perception is often that it's an extreme sport. I believe it's as "Extreme" as you wanna make it. Tell us a bit about the "See Jane Jump Jam" and what your goals for it were and what the weekend entailed?
I came up with the idea of See Jane Jump fest last summer after competing in Slope Sistair (a super fun women's slopestyle event). I wanted to make an event that catered to pro and beginner riders equally with no competitive aspect. I've noticed that competition is a sure fire way to make women not participate (as many have the fear of not being good enough), so I wanted to do the opposite and draw as many girls as possible to the sport. I put a cap of 50 on registration and it filled up within weeks. Next year I hope to be able to accommodate more people!





The festival was held up Mount Washington on Vancouver Island and it combined coaching, yoga, food, wine, and a slopestyle demo from the coaches. Mount Washinton built me a slopestyle course just for the event and we even had some of the campers riding it!



The weekend had a pretty intimate feel because Oakley paid for every participant's accommodation and we were all able to stay in the same lodge. Prizes were donated by all my personal sponsors and Norco had tech support available for all the riders. Everybody left with a smile on their face and a deeper appreciation for riding (according to the feedback emails I got), so I feel like I really did my job that weekend. Thanks to the sponsors Oakley, Norco, Shimano, Gravity, Skullcandy, Chainlink Clothing, Denman Island Chocolates, Vitamin Water, Budget Rent-A-Car, and Mount Washington Alpine Resort for their products and services. Also a huge thanks to my amazing coaches: Head coach Katrina Strand, Lorraine Blancher, Claire Buchar, Emily Johnston, Tammy Donahugh, Beth Parsons, Wendy Robinson, Kat Sweet, and Angi Weston. You guys were AMAZING and made the weekend.



www.seejanejumpfest.com




Sounds like you've had one hell of an amazing season thus far Darcy and now it's trade show season and into the great trail conditions known as fall riding. What have you got planned to cap off your season?
Yes, it's been a great ride. My fall plans include going to Interbike, then going to Switzerland for a demo ride, followed by five weeks in India to do a film project for school. Then it's November and I plan on riding as much as possible before getting ankle surgery at the end of the month. Hoping to be in top shape for next season and with the surgery I'll be on my way to being able to use my foot/ankle properly again. Can't wait! Weird to be excited about a surgery, I know, but it will be good to take some time off and recoup from this crazy year. See you in 2011.


Thanks for talking to us and keep on living the good battle out there on your bike!



Big thanks to Taylor Leigh, Margus Riga, Harookz, Dan Barham, CoC and Mathias Fredrickson for taking their time to shoot with Darcy at some point of the past season!