Yeti Re-Signs Jared Graves as an Ambassador
Photos:Thomas Falconer
Yeti Cycles has confirmed today it has re-signed Jared Graves as an ambassador and part-time racer.
Jared raced with the Colorado brand for over a decade and now returns to them after a 5-year stint with Specialized. He is mainly coming on board as an ambassador however he still plans to race select Enduro World Series events and compete in some "unexpected races" yet to be announced. He will also help coach younger Yeti riders.
 | I still feel like I have some good racing left in me, and a little bit to prove. After a very difficult year-and-a-half personally, I’m looking forward to racing and working with Yeti again |
| We’re stoked to have Jared back in the family. In my mind, he’s one of the best bike racers of all time. His work ethic and commitment to the sport will set an example for our younger riders. We’re excited to see him riding a Yeti again. |
The news comes a week after the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) confirmed it handed down an 18 month suspension backdated to 18 September 2018 after Graves tested positive for the prohibited substances Higenamine and Oxilofrine at Orlargues in May 2018. Jared will be able to return to competition on 18 March 2020, 10 days before the first EWS race in Manizales. Graves has also had his results from 13 May 2018 onward disqualified, including his 7th place in Whistler that year. Read the full verdict here.
Press Release: Yeti Cycles
Yeti Cycles announced today they have signed legendary rider Jared Graves. Graves raced for the Yeti program for over a decade where he won a World Championship in 4X, an Enduro World Series overall title, took a World Championship bronze in DH on a trail bike, and represented Australia in the Olympics as a BMX rider.
“The Yeti crew is like family, so it feels very comfortable to be back,” said Graves. “They’re a small company, focused on product development and committed to making bikes that help racers go faster. Yeti doesn't compromise. It’s only the best and their passion for the sport is unmatched. Those are traits we share.”
Graves’ new role will be as a Yeti ambassador. His race schedule includes select Enduro World Series events and he also has plans to compete in some unexpected races yet to be announced. “I still feel like I have some good racing left in me, and a little bit to prove. After a very difficult year-and-a-half personally, I’m looking forward to racing and working with Yeti again,” Graves said. His new role will also focus on mentoring and coaching the younger Yeti riders.
“We’re stoked to have Jared back in the family,” said Chris Conroy, president of Yeti Cycles. “In my mind, he’s one of the best bike racers of all time. His work ethic and commitment to the sport will set an example for our younger riders. We’re excited to see him riding a Yeti again.”
According to Yeti’s vice president and engineer, Steve Hoogendoorn, “Jared was an integral part of developing Yeti’s early race bikes, including the 303 DH, DJ, 4X, limited edition BMX frame, SB66, and SB6. He’ll contribute immediately to our product development process and we’re happy to have him back.”
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
41775 views
41775 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
The most beautiful thing I've ever heard
How's that working for you?
Also, cancer or death won't make anyone cleaner or better.
They cheated, they should be forced to watch races from the tv for their entire life.
But sponsor don't really care about doping, both graves and rude got a fresh new contract, there is something really wrong in all this.
So good luck with that, I am sure you are a nice decent man on daily basis. Just tell when you are around when linch hangs in the air. I'll stay away from you then
However if people take certain performance enhancing substances (notably EPO, human growth hormone and similar) it can increase their risk factors for a variety of cancers including tumors.
The banned substances these guys tested positive for are not known to increase risk of tumors. So any opinions on the connectedness of the two events is based on the speculation that this positive test was just the tip of the iceberg. Hard to know, I wouldn’t put my body through that for an EWS win though.
Either way I’m sure we’d all wish Jared well with his continued recovery.
Meow!
Sounds like a lot of planets aligning to bring back the DJ.... @yeticycles . Waiting for the next press release with bated breathe...
Regarding the whole doping thing, he posted a detailed overview in a thread on PB previously, here is the copy;
Ok,I'll try and clear a few things up, NO BS, just facts, hope it can help. The supplemnet in question in this case is BPM labs "the one" which if you want to look it up. Now states Higenamine in the ingredients list, but in older versions, and in the tub in this case was listed as Nandina Domestica (fruit extract) and the oxilofrine component is still labelled as Synephrine HCL. Things get tricky when you type these ingredients into the WADA search and not a single result comes up, which tells you everything is OK. So we had to dive a bit deeper into finding out how these things got in our systems, and when we did, we found of that many ingredients have many different variations, and names, which is what has caught us out. We also found out since learning the hard way, just how prevalent these ingredients are in off the shelf pre workout drinks, which is a bit scary when you first hand find out the consequences, and how unregulated products with these ingredients are. Even a teenager could walk in to a supplement store and buy this, no questions asked. I've also since learned that 1 in 5 off the shelf pre workout drinks (in Australia at least) have something banned in them. Everything i've mentioned above had to be proven beyond doubt to the AFLD (french anti doping) theres no corruption, or loopholes, or lawyers spin put on it. Just facts and real consequences. So i'll put my hand up all day long and say im guilty of negligence. MY mindset was that I'v never sought anything performance enhancing, and Ive never had an issues with the Dozens and Dozens of in and out of competition doping tests ive had, so all will be good. I git a bit too relaxed with the whole process, I never thought there was any chance I could ever be in this situation, yet here we are. A moment of Negligence yes, premeditated cheaters, hell NO!!!! Maybe ask yourself, would you ever think you need to do extensive study and research, on every ingredient of every thing you ever put in your body? Combine that with what I said above, and hopefully you get a clearer picture of how this very unfortunate situation has come to be. Possibly the main reason i'm writing this is the amount of uneducated and downright false comments here. Some of you really should be a bit more careful with your wild assumptions and accusations. There are real people on the other side of this. Its obvious that many just want to be hateful and drag people down, and that's pretty sad. When road cycling and in Particular Lance Armstrongs name gets thrown in the ring, WOW, are you serious??? Consider the things iv'e mentioned, and maybe think again. People all seem to think theres some kind of Magic pill out there, that will take them from weekend warrior to world class level podium guy. Nobody stops to think that maybe the 25+ hours a week spent training, in the gym, on the bike, not going out with your friends, 5am starts, the constant crahses, injuries and sacrifices, has a bit more to do with it. The work that goes in is simply incomprehendable to most, and it's what makes the difference. Everyone who trains and competes at that level understands that, Which I would say is the main reason no other pros have spoken up about this. Mistakes were made, and we're both paying the biggest price for that. It's added more stress to my life, on an already extremely stressful time. So maybe take the time to consider both sides of the equation before spreading some uneducated hate, and misinformation.
How many 165mm bikes were raced in WC DH last year?
"The news comes a week after the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) confirmed it handed down an 18 month suspension backdated to 18 September 2018 after Graves tested positive for the prohibited substances Higenamine and Oxilofrine at Orlargues in May 2018."
Do Yeti think that is really a good example for younger riders?
"At the risk of this devolving into another Graves/Rude doping thread, here's a bit of info straight from the source. Easy to miss as it was given in the PB comment section rather then an official statement, but I imagine that may be forthcoming with further announcements of his plan. More here: www.pinkbike.com/u/jaredgraves
'Ok,I'll try and clear a few things up, NO BS, just facts, hope it can help. The supplemnet in question in this case is BPM labs "the one" which if you want to look it up. Now states Higenamine in the ingredients list, but in older versions, and in the tub in this case was listed as Nandina Domestica (fruit extract) and the oxilofrine component is still labelled as Synephrine HCL. Things get tricky when you type these ingredients into the WADA search and not a single result comes up, which tells you everything is OK. So we had to dive a bit deeper into finding out how these things got in our systems, and when we did, we found of that many ingredients have many different variations, and names, which is what has caught us out. We also found out since learning the hard way, just how prevalent these ingredients are in off the shelf pre workout drinks, which is a bit scary when you first hand find out the consequences, and how unregulated products with these ingredients are. Even a teenager could walk in to a supplement store and buy this, no questions asked. I've also since learned that 1 in 5 off the shelf pre workout drinks (in Australia at least) have something banned in them. Everything i've mentioned above had to be proven beyond doubt to the AFLD (french anti doping) theres no corruption, or loopholes, or lawyers spin put on it. Just facts and real consequences. So i'll put my hand up all day long and say im guilty of negligence. MY mindset was that I'v never sought anything performance enhancing, and Ive never had an issues with the Dozens and Dozens of in and out of competition doping tests ive had, so all will be good. I git a bit too relaxed with the whole process, I never thought there was any chance I could ever be in this situation, yet here we are. A moment of Negligence yes, premeditated cheaters, hell NO!!!! Maybe ask yourself, would you ever think you need to do extensive study and research, on every ingredient of every thing you ever put in your body? Combine that with what I said above, and hopefully you get a clearer picture of how this very unfortunate situation has come to be. Possibly the main reason i'm writing this is the amount of uneducated and downright false comments here. Some of you really should be a bit more careful with your wild assumptions and accusations. There are real people on the other side of this. Its obvious that many just want to be hateful and drag people down, and that's pretty sad. When road cycling and in Particular Lance Armstrongs name gets thrown in the ring, WOW, are you serious??? Consider the things iv'e mentioned, and maybe think again. People all seem to think theres some kind of Magic pill out there, that will take them from weekend warrior to world class level podium guy. Nobody stops to think that maybe the 25+ hours a week spent training, in the gym, on the bike, not going out with your friends, 5am starts, the constant crahses, injuries and sacrifices, has a bit more to do with it. The work that goes in is simply incomprehendable to most, and it's what makes the difference. Everyone who trains and competes at that level understands that, Which I would say is the main reason no other pros have spoken up about this. Mistakes were made, and we're both paying the biggest price for that. It's added more stress to my life, on an already extremely stressful time. So maybe take the time to consider both sides of the equation before spreading some uneducated hate, and misinformation."
"So i'll put my hand up all day long and say im guilty of negligence. MY mindset was that I'v never sought anything performance enhancing".
"People all seem to think theres some kind of Magic pill out there, that will take them from weekend warrior to world class level podium guy. Nobody stops to think that maybe the 25+ hours a week spent training, in the gym, on the bike, not going out with your friends, 5am starts, the constant crahses, injuries and sacrifices, has a bit more to do with it. The work that goes in is simply incomprehendable to most, and it's what makes the difference. Everyone who trains and competes at that level understands that, Which I would say is the main reason no other pros have spoken up about this."
Fixated on training and being the best and poor me, Im totally focused and you All's don't understand how hard it is.....yet despite this fixation on being the best and the numerous warnings and advice and sessions with Australian Institute Sport and range of other bodies including ASADA, UCI, cycling associations and EWS's former mantra and stated policy of ZERO tolerance for drug tests, unknown shit seeking a magic pill result was put in the athletes system by the athlete, and EWS will have him back despite being and serving a drug ban obtained while in competition.
Trust in our institutions and people we regard as leaders starts with them, not blaming lack of labelling or standards or advice or ignorance after a lifetime in high level elite completion. Do what you say you would do EWS, and accept that this is a poor look for current and new generations. Despite the personal hardship and fate probably caused by increase and unnatural mitochondrial activity caused by taking unknown magic pills over a lifetime, one player no matter how good should be bigger than the sports integrity if its to be sustainable and have credibility.
Being as came from Waki - that is quite the statement of 2020.
Bit honoured mate you turned your lazer like to my commentary.
Is your thread because everyone does and is and has tendencies, let it slide?
Is that how it is with any profession that we spend 25 or greater hours a week at?
No, you f*ck up on an important matter or question of ethics and business rules, gone - forever to have credibility in profession gone for good, livelihood gone, over.
I get the politics angle. I also get professional and legal advice provided by tax payers through organisations advising of what is a misdemeanour or sackable offence is or not.
I just don't get why when we have stated standards and operational rules, they are allowed to be broken, and somehow the victim card is played.
You are playing a certain role in society. You are a smarter sort of a heckler in the crowd shouting “cheater”, and I am an jester a*shole telling everyone to take it easy, because folks like Lance set themselves higher athletic and professional standards than vast majority of humans and I am wuite sure much higher than you and me.
So if you are looking for a fair show, you are wasting your time.
Ive read a lot of your stuff (we are bombarded everytime come to this site really) and being a jester a*hole "telling everyone to take it is easy" is not a description that comes front of mind.
Lastly mate - as for "folks like Lance set themselves higher athletic and professional standards than vast majority of humans and I am quite sure much higher than you and me".
Really? Stay off the THC mate. Some people it works for, some people should just keep that in the SWAT box.
Lance trained hard, yes, and he had crazy genetic traits that let him rise to the top through doping, but ultimately he cheated. All the guys who were doped up to their eyeballs were as bad as each other and took opportunities away from clean athletes. Helped push athletes to doping who just wanted to be competitive. I suggest reading ‘Racing through the Dark’ by Millar if you haven’t to see his viewpoint on what made him start down that slippery slope.
At the end of the day I’d love to have a sport that didn’t tolerate dopers. I thought initially that’s what EWS had set out to do. I get it’s hard to stop doping, but a zero tolerance would certainly make people think twice.
They are like: WATER? how on Earth can water hydrate anyone? And quite recently here in Pinkbike was posted a rigorous study stating that POTATOS had the same or even better level of performance than the best energy gels or bars.
If there is any umbrage or confusion, take it up with the offending parties. This in no way, shape, or form reflects my personal opinions.
He doesn't have a sketchy doctor jabbing needles in his veins, he's using the exact same shit every single gym rat is on - it's a pretty clear difference...
Except every other single gym rate is not making their name and income from being a professional, nor does every other gym rate be provided the opportunity of national selection or listening year in year out from countless governance and oversight bodies warning how important it is to take absolute care of what you are putting in body, or you alone are responsible for the consequences which can and should preclude you from competing against others whom do.
I know I ride better after my puffer.
Is it the same in mountain bike racing?
"Are you a pole vaulter?"
"No, I am German, but how did you know my name is Walter?"
I'm not saying they're innocent or guilty, I don't think the majority of us will ever really know, but it is interesting to see how they've both dealt with this whole thing.
If they truly wanted or cared what most of us think (which arguably is more important for their sponsors, apart from maybe Rhynopowder) then they would write a very detailed description of what happened and release it. Rude's quick description of a 'friends water bottle' isn't enough to show innocence, or lack of intent to cheat.
I'd like to believe these guys are top athletes, and I'm definitely inclined to believe that neither of them actively took part in doping, and that really it's just a shitty sponsor who hasn't provided appropriate product to top athletes. We just need to hear a bit more to really get a better understanding of it.
They may lose a certain sponsor as a result in the short term, but their credibility would probably increase their sponsorship appeal and income in the long term.
I thought I was just ignorant and didn't know the details.
People seem to have this idea that you can get re tested, and if it comes up clean then its all good, but this is not the case, your A and B samples are taken at the same time ( you pee into a cup, half goes in the A sample, the other half into the B) so if the A sample has something in it the B sample will also. The only reason you would get a B sample tested is if you had reason to believe that your A sample was tampered with after it was sealed up and taken to the lab.
Plus the fact that getting the B sample tested or 'contesting the result was going to cost about $4k out of our pocket. Which would only come back with the same result and therefore be a complete waste of money.
Most of the time when somebody gets the B sample tested, its to stall the entire process to come up with some bullshit to get out of the whole situation.
Not contesting the result is not a sign of guilt, it's a shitty situation where you are forced to make a decision to not waste your money, based off of how the whole process works.
On the other hand, I'm part of a generation of cyclists who heard Lance and Tyler and Floyd and all the rest say things that sounded good too. (Even better than "I didn't want to blow 4 grand defending myself against a doping allegation that would haunt my image the rest of my career, if you can imagine.) Said them fiercely and adamantly and repeatedly.
We all believed them at first. We all thought the French journalist guy was unhinged. And then slowly, painfully, we all realized we'd been suckers. Maybe you had this experience yourself even, I don't know. But, what I decided and what I think a whole generation of cyclists and cycling fans decided is "never again am I falling for that shit."
Unfair to you? Perhaps. Those guys before you got a benefit of the doubt that many of us now refuse to give Rude and you, and I could understand why that would seem unfair to you.
But dopers are poison for a sport that we care about. Dopers are career-killers for clean athletes we care about. And you, Jared Graves, an amazing athlete who seems like a fine fellow, are now and forever will be a proven doper, and that's that.
Also, judging someone on the basis of what others have done is not logical, not fair and results in you saying some really stupid stuff.
Like I said, I didn't think they would have cheated on purpose, I was just a little surprised that this sort of response wasn't released more widely seeing as they are so well known in MTB.
But I think everything that went behind it made the work of WADA near impossible. There can be no more room for reason. They may love to be considerate but the Olympics and road cycling f*cked it up for you. So with that kind of history in competitive sports and with Chris Ball clearly (and rightfully) stating that he didn't want the same doping culture in EWS, I think it is the only way to go.
I definitely consider Jared, Richie and Martin victims of the current system, created by the historic doping culture in competitive sports. It seems near impossible to avoid using it, if it is in 20% of sports supplements.
I would actually call for more responsibility for the manufacturers of sports supplements. If a supplement contains matter that noted on the (then current) WADA list, it should be clearly noted on the container. And if an athlete gets caught by WADA for something that could be directed to the use of such a (falsely unlabeled) supplement then, uhm... bad things should happen to that supplement manufacturer.
I’m super stoked for Graves and I’m sure Richie is too, fantastic news rooting for you and I’m looking forward to hearing all the stories in 2020!
Good luck
Still banned for doping: "Eighteen (1
18 September 2018 to 18 March 2020"
I zoomed in but its blurry. Could just be my phone
I so love it . And hopefully it’s a 27.5
I find it funny how different sports view these things. As an example Shane Warne seemed to get off scott free when it came to public opinion
One dude was sick and grabbed something over the counter that he wouldn't have suspected. While he still deserves the ban at least that athlete was able to give an excuse.
Jared took the shit to specifically get a performance gain.
When you get banned for doping in cycling and develop brain cancer while being an extremely healthy athlete.... well shit.... one has to draw parallels to the other person with remarkably similar health issue we all know was brought on by steroid abuse.
I've watched 45 year old men that are more jacked now than when they were Olympic athletes in their 20's use this supplement excuse while failing tests for Growth Hormone. When you look at Yoel Romero does that look like a tainted supplement? Or a doping regiment... it's an excuse by athletes who continually use a shady drug dealer than try and use that as an excuse as to why they fail tests... I can't bring myself around to believing that nonsense. You're telling me that these guys just so happen to stumble upon the supplements tainted with the "Perfect" ingredients for their sport/wants/needs? it just so happens that Yoel, at 45, stumbled upon a supplement with growth hormone in it? I got a bridge to sell ya.
Saying it was legal in 2016 means nothing, there was no drug testing. When they knew drug testing was coming Graves and his team should have quadruple checked everything he takes, they didn't, I wonder why a professional athlete would be so irresponsible when they know drug testing is coming?
OR
As an alternative they could have checked WADA's/USADA's list of approved supplement companies.
The vast majority of athletes had their shit together except Graves and Rude. This is like the post that came out shortly after "Oh I used to see dudes do all sorts of shit at the top so don't worry about Graves and Rude" while ignoring no one else is failing... If these other athletes were doing shit they stopped. Why didn't Graves?
It takes some next level mental gymnastics to say a guy who took a drug to make breathing easier at altitude wasn't cheating in 2018 because it wasn't cheating in 2016.
If Graves needed a TUE For asthma drugs he could have got one and remained below the limits set by the regulating bodies. He didn't.
and here's the part that grinds my gears the most:
Graves is taking the spot of someone who doesn't need to go to shady drug dealers(supplement companies) to race. I'd rather watch some up and comer than some old man who cheats to stay competitive. He's 37, he clearly needs these things to remain competitive or he wouldn't risk taking them and having his entire body of work questioned.
Lance Armstrong didn't fail tests.
There's no mental gymnastics required, it's the same type of shit used in asthma inhalers - pretty obvious it's not the end all reason Graves can ride a bike fast.
So Minnar, Peaty, and Sam Hill must be on drugs to be competitive right? Couldn't possibly be the 20 years of being in perfect shape and training year round.
If a supplement could bring you to the top of the WC circuit so easily as you claim, why isn't the whole field within 5 seconds of each other? It's easy to go fast right just pop down to the supermarket, grab some suppliments and you can be on a WC podium next weekend!
A supplement can't bring an avg. Joe to the top of the WC BUT a performance enhancing drug on the banned substances list can take an already amazing racer and give them that edge they need to make it that little bit extra. Why am I having to explain this? It's literally why the drugs are on the list. Literally no one ( with half a clue) thinks you can start taking drugs and win races off the couch, no one.
Drugs don't give you skills, they take the skills you already have and give you the ability to do them for longer/stronger/faster. Graves is a great cyclist it truly is a shame that instead of retiring and finding a different path in the industry he chose to cheat against people who I'm sure he considers friends.
You're right it is like asthma inhalers, something Graves couldn't seem to get from a doctor because he doesn't have asthma. Asthma TUE's in cycling are easy to get. Asthma inhalers are there to help people with a condition perform like everyone else NOT take healthy athletes and make them breath better than the avg. human... Asthma inhalers are also regulated in competition, there's standards set as to how much you can have in your system. Graves ignored all this and took drugs as a healthy individual. More importantly he had absolutely no answer for taking these drugs other than "Supplements dude" which has been the standard excuse of steroid cheats in other pro sports for the last 10 years.
Google "Custom Blend Supplements" it's literally an entire industry setup to mislabel products specifically geared towards an athletes needs.