By Ryan Cleek Over the past couple of years I’ve been doing a series of features on up-and-coming riders in the sport called “Young Rippers.” The first rider I chose for that feature was JD Swanguen, back in March of 2006. I was quite familiar with JD from racing alongside him over the years at our local Southern California series, as well as on the national race circuit. After repeatedly witnessing his abilities first-hand, JD was the no-brainer choice as my first “Young Ripper”. After a remarkable 2007, including a silver medal at the junior world championships in downhill, I did a feature interview and photo shoot with JD in his hometown of San Diego, California. That interview is in our February 2008 issue, and will be hitting newsstands in a few weeks. This morning I spoke with JD, as well as Jeff Steber of Intense Cycles. We learned that JD will be joining the factory MS Intense team for 2008, alongside Matti Lehikoinen, the 2007 World Cup overall #2 rider. “I wanted to start working on getting a U.S. rider back on top in the World Cup series, like in the old days,” said Intense Cycles founder, Jeff Steber. “With Intense being a U.S.-built brand, I think JD could grow into that rider, and we are giving him the chance to focus on World Cup racing.”
