Whistler MTB holiday provider Ticket2RideBC has announced its 2007 XC race team. The four-man squad is supported by online store www.descent-gear.com along with Giant, Maxxis, Hayes and Sun-Ringlé. The riders will be contesting a range of national, regional and internation races in Expert and Sport categories, including the UK NPS, Scottish and Southern XC series, UCI Marathon series, Gorricks, Soggy Bottoms and a bunch of enduro-type stuff.

The riders are Andy Penn (22, Sport) racing in the Gorrick and Southern XC series, BUSA Championships and enduros; Phil Coad (28, Expert) in NPS, Trek Marathon and enduros; Christian Townend (25, first year Expert) in NPS and Scottish XC Series and Oli Holmes (21, first year Expert) doing NPS, BUSA and UCI Marathon races.

Ticket2RideBC boss Scott Lanzi explained, "We've seen a huge growth in the number of XC riders coming through our doors over the last couple of years. Although Whistler and the rest of BC has some of the best XC riding on the planet, popular perceptions are still that of full face helmet wearing lunatics. After listening to some of our XC guests last season (and watching them ride) we asked them whether they fancied riding for us whilst spreading the Whistler riding gospel amongst the UK XC race fraternity and the 2007 T2R XC team was born!"

Andy and Oli have been guests of T2R in the past, and the whole team will be out in Whistler for early-season training in May. So if you want to know about Whistler's XC scene in general or T2R's offerings in particular, these are the guys to ask. Probably best to pick a time when they're not actually racing, of course. Find out more at www.ticket2ridebc.com