After a four years on Cove Bikes Geoff has made the move to Rocky Mountain
Bicycles. Before that Gully rode for Banshee and had a grassroots deal
with Ellsworth. I caught up with Gully on the phone and got some scoop
on the move.
You don't send out resumés when you are Gully's level so I asked him how
the ball got rolling. "I
was just talking with Wade and he said that Thomas (Vanderham) wasn't going
to be on Rocky so after three months of negotiations we got it done." The
signing was complicated by the unexpected departure of Jean Poisson who was
until recently Rocky's General Manager. "I
was dealing with Jean first and then Wade and Dre (Andreas Hestler) were
talking to the president of Procycle directly." Procycle, which
also owns iconic Canadian brand CCM, purchased Rocky Mountain
Bicycles in 1997 from company founder Grayson Bain.
Gully at Whistler
in 2006 joining the fun at our AIRprentice comp. Photo ~ Cam
McRae
Gully signed a two year
deal so we'll be seeing him riding Rocky Bikes until just before the 2010
Winter Olympics at the very least. Geoff
doesn't have bikes yet but he's itching to saddle up. "I'm going
to be running the new flatline, the Slayer SS and the flow DJ. I've
only ridden them around some stores but they feel pretty nice." These
bikes should meet Geoff's diverse needs. There is a growing list of
riders who accel at slopestyle, dirt jumping and park riding and Geoff is
solid at all three. What sets him apart is that Gully is also an accomplished
and stylish big mountain rider.
When I asked him about goals for the coming season he was quick to rattle
off a few. "Solid movie segments cause last year didn't really
work out. I
really want to work with NWD again. I was supposed to
work with Kranked but that won't happen because I switched from SRAM to Marzocchi
and Shimano. I'll also be shooting for CKD 2 and a few other projects
coming up. I'm pretty stoked to do a lot more slopestyle this year. I
was taking it easy last year because I was coming off injury so I'm focussed
on giving it all I can this year. I'll be riding both the Crankworx
events (in Whistler and Colorado - Ed) - not Adidas because it's the same
date as Crankworx Colorado - and Darren's comp (the Bearclaw Invitational
on Vancouver Island). And if I get invited to Qashqais I'll go. Going
to be a busy season. I'm probably going to Cali to just ride in the next
month and then off to Utah to shoot for a movie I can't talk about yet."
Gully at the Adidas
Slopestyle in 2006. He had a solid season at Slopestyle comps that
year but injuries slowed him down in 2007. Photo ~ Cam McRae
Rocky was one of the first companies to sponsor freeriders at all, and
they did it in style by hooking up icons Brett Tippie, Richie Schley and
of course Wade Simmons. When you add Vanderham into the equation it's
an impressive legacy. "Tippie
and Schley and Wade they're just legends. All their stuff with the
early NSX and Kranked movies really stood out and I was just blown away with
all that riding when I was a kid. I'm pretty excited. I have a lot
of work ahead of me to meet the expectations, to fill the shoes of those
guys. It's
going to be a lot of work but I'm really looking forward to it."
On top of Rocky, Gulevich has a solid list of supporters. "I'm
going to be sticking with Protec for pads, Giro for helmets and there are
a few other things I'm working on this week. The team sponsors for
Rocky Mountain are Shimano WTB, Marzocchi, Mavic Marzocchi and Powerbar."
For some final words Gully showed his class. "I'd like to thank
Cove and SRAM for the support they've given me in the past years. Without
them I couldn't have made it to where I am today."
