We are proud to announce a new partnership with legendary mountain bike racer Brian Lopes.

Lopes will be riding and racing exclusively on WTB’s high-end saddles. Each of Lopes’ team-issue Ibis race bikes will be outfitted with WTB’s Silverado SLT saddles.

“I am stoked to ride WTB for a couple of reasons,” Lopes stated. “First, the Silverado is the most comfortable saddle I’ve ever used: It felt great straight away and I haven’t had a single issue. I’m also excited to work with such a great company,” he added. “The folks at WTB are not only cool guys, they’re bad-ass cyclists.”

Lopes is the most successful mountain bike racer in world. The 37-year-old American has four world championship and nine national championship titles to his name and has won 25 world cups in a range of disciplines including four-cross, dual slalom, downhill and BMX. Lopes has been inducted into both the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame as well as the BMX Hall of Fame.

And the fiercely competitive athlete still has something to prove. Lopes’ goals this upcoming season are to win more races in a wider range of disciplines. “I want to show everyone how well-rounded I am,” he stated. “I like to do it all.” In just the past three weeks—the off-season for most pros—Lopes has raced elite-level BMX and cyclocross.

Welcome to the team Lopes!

Team WTB rider Bobby McMullen was featured on the front page of the Marin Independent Journal today. Sports writer Christine Vardaros does a fantastic job documenting the daily struggles of a competitive bike racer that happens to be blind. You can read the entire story on marinij.com or click here.

The NorCal High School Mountain Bike League is screening the ground-breaking documentary The Way Bobby Sees It at select theaters this week. Go to norcalmtb.org to see the full schedule.

WTB-sponsored racer Katie Compton claimed victory at the fourth round of the Cyclocross World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium on November 29. Compton—voted by Velo News Magazine as the North American Cyclocross Woman of the Year—overcame what she called “a terrible start” to beat the current world champ in a drag race to the finish line. The win is Compton’s second world cup victory and propelled the American to seventh place in the series. Compton’s main focus this year is the Cyclocross World Championships in February, 2009. Compton took home the silver medal in the 2007 ‘Cross World Champs, this year she’s going for gold.

Compton’s saddle of choice is WTB’s Silverado.

      
All images by Mark Legg.