News: Thomas Vanderham Update

Photo: Sterling Lorence

I hope everyone is having a great winter and is ready for a new bike season. Coming off one the most important seasons of my career, I am more excited than ever about 2008. My goal last year was simply to bring some attention back to the “Big Mountain” side of freeriding. I spent the majority of last summer working closely with The Collective crew on a segment for their new film SEASONS coming out in the spring of 2008. Watch for some of the photos to start showing up in your magazines soon!

2008 has also brought about a lot of changes for me, I have recently had a lot of questions about my situation with long time sponsor Rocky Mountain and I want to say we will no longer be working together. I enjoyed my time with the company very much and would like to thank Rocky for their support and growing with me as a rider to this point. Over the last seven years I worked hard to represent the company positively and remained committed to the brand until the last day of my contract. Working in product development, design, and marketing has given me valuable experience and insight into the mountain bike industry. I had many great experiences with long time teammates Wade Simmons and Richie Schley, as well as everyone within the company who I worked with.

That said I am only looking towards the future. My focus will remain on filming strong movie segments, and collaborating on photo projects with the industries top photographers. I will still compete in select slopestyles but I can’t wait until there’s a big mountain event back in the mix. The rest of my summer will be spent riding at a variety of bike events across the globe including coaching at the Summer Gravity Camps in Whistler, BC.

Over the last few months I have been working on putting together my own program and I am happy to announce the companies I will be working with for the next couple years, Marzocchi Suspension, Fox Clothing, Shimano, Oakley, WTB, FUNN, Dakine, Troy Lee Designs, EThirteen, Acros, and Maxxis.

At this time I am not announcing a new bike sponsor. I'll be back with an update as soon as possible.

-Thomas Vanderham

Photo: Sterling Lorence/The Collective