November 16, 2004 – Rocky Mountain Bicycles has inked a new contract with Freeride star Thomas Vanderham. Vanderham,20, has ridden for Rocky Mountain Bicycles for the last 4 years . At 16 he had some of his first video segments in the Kranked Series, and Ride to the Hills Freeride Movies.

After an initial association with Rocky as a development rider, Thomas also had some promising Downhill racing results that saw him represent Canada as a junior downhiller at the World Championships in 2002. Thomas joined legends Wade Simmons, and Richie Schley as a professional member of the Rocky Mountain FroRiders in November 2002. Thomas at that time was only 18 years old and was strongly mentored by some of the best professionals in the business including his Rocky Mountain team mates. With skills that grew – both in riding ability and his rapport with sponsors and public – he stepped up his game becoming a significant contributor to the program very quickly.

When it comes to technological development of bikes, he has a keen attention to detail and technical expertise that has made him a significant contributor to the Rocky Mountain Freeride platforms. Particularly on the development of the Rocky Mountain RMX.

“Thomas’ commitment to working on bike development is of paramount importance to us at Rocky Mountain,” expressed General Manager Jean Poisson. “We are lucky to have such a valuable resource in a rider and very happy he is staying.”

Vanderham recently put on a spectacular show at the Red Bull Rampage on October 31st placing fourth and leaving no doubt he is one of the best Freeriders in the World. “The Kid” has never been out of the top 10 in a Freeride Mountain Bike competition. He added a second Place at the Slopestyle in Monster Park last August. Thomas has been a featured rider in some of the hottest bike movies such as New World Disorder and The Collective. In addition to his talent on the bike, he also has lots of other interests amongst which he lists Hockey, Soccer, Basketball, and Skiing.

“Rocky Mountain has a long history in freeriding – being the originators of the freeride team concept – they have always pushed the sport. The company showed a commitment to me at a young age, and the same commitment is there today,” said Vanderham. “In the future I look forward to continuing our influence on mountain biking. I am very excited to stay on a Rocky.”

Vanderham along with Richie Schley and Wade Simmons look forward to 2005 with an expanded Freeride program including development riders in Dirt Jump and Downhill , Alex Prochazka, 13, of Whistler and Ryan Vanderham, 14, of North Vancouver.