Crankworx craziness!

For those who dont know what it is, Crankworx is a huuuuuuge 9 day mountain bike festival at Whistler with every type of event from the hoppy hoppy trials riding to the craaaaaaazy big jumps and tricks of the slopestyle.

Some where in the middle is the Garbanzo Enduro Downhill race which I did. It goes right from the top of the bike park to the village - 1300ft vertical of awesome riding!

They call it "Enduro" cos a normal downhill race is 3-5 mins - this one took the best in the world just over 15 mins and the likes of me 19min 14secs which was enough to finish 19th in my category (of 40 odd riders).





Rich did a bit better with 18:56 in 16th place - and on his birthday too! (he's just a week older than me)

Happy Birthday mate



John had a mechanical so finished a way down but still managed to launch of the final drop with the best style we saw. Sweet.




The night before the race was the Slopestyle. The eyes of the world watching 23 riders perform some crazy stuff for the crowds and cameras

This is a french guy - he was pretty crazy - I think this was the best photo I got as it was hard to get close enough to the riders










This is the view from the other side...

Click the pictures to get a better view












Here's a nutter doing a 360 off the final (20ft) drop













And a tailwhip..... sick















Kyle Strait was many people's favourite. He was getting huuuge air and charging the whole course - damn fine show of riding












This is the English lad doing a tailwhip backflip

(Lance McDermot)












As you can see, there was some pretty big stuff on the course













Kyle Strait on the step up














Thomas Vandeham getting soooo whipped up with massive air













Lance













and last but by no means least, Darren Berecloth repeating his 360 off the roadgap - this is one of the most commited moves I've ever seen on TV so I was pretty happy to see it "live" - in fact he did it twice. Mann, crazy.


Unfortuanely I didnt get a photo of the crazy Spaniard who backflipped the other road gap - now that really is crazy! Me thinks I'll stick behind the camera for this kinda stuff!

Hot stuff! - Squamish and Whistler in 38+deg

The club ride on Saturday was at Squamish - it's the place with the massive cliff - half way to Whistler. It sounded like a great idea, even though it was going to be the hottest day in 50 years....


John, Michelle, Rich and I decided it was a great excuse to stay up at Whistler but in this heat we all agreed it would be unbearable to wear armour and full face helmets so we'd do the cross-country thing.

Here's Rich a bit later on....he always seemed to be in front, despite being on his 45 pound Shore all weekend - rather him than me!!

Unfortunately on the first climb we missed a turning so ended up doing the full 2.5hour granny ring climb to the top up the fire road - seriously hot

The trails are excellent though so well worth the effort (and dehydration). We had a little extra excitement on the way down - as I rolled out onto one of the fire roads, I came face to face with a bear! Fortunately(?) it was a baby bear so it
just ran up the nearest tree and sat there staring at me!

Of course the one problem with this is that where baby bear is, mummy and daddy bear are sure to be close by - and they can be very protective of baby! So we left, quickly!

Here's an odd angle of John - he's from Brighton y'know!







After the ride, we headed straight to Alice Lake for a sublime swim. OMG that was good!












After lying in the sun for a bit, we shot off up the road to Whistler to find our hotel.

We certainly lucked out there! Swimming pool, hot tubs, lovely rooms and a view of the mountains. Sweet!








Crankworx started Saturday with the Canadian National Downhill Champs so it was pretty busy at the bikepark - click on this pic and check out the drop off the top of the big screen TV - that'll be the focus of thousands of people next weekend for the crazy Slopestyle comp








After the epic Saturday ride, we took it easy on Sunday, and headed off to do Thrill me, Kill me, just up the road from the vlliage. It's a really interesting cross-country loop that goes up and down along the mountain side.

Here's Michelle getting close to the edge - checkout the drop over the side to the highway far below!

Michelle is John's other half, Canadian born and bred and a great bike handler (of course).


There were quite a few slabs to ride, here's Michelle one of the bigger ones

















John and John(again)













And......... John on another slab






After a quick stop at the river to cool off, we hit the road back to Vancouver.

Thanks to John for arranging everything and for driving!

Happy Birthday Sara!

It's my old mate Sara's birthday today.

Happy Birthday ol' girl!!

Superman seatgrab!!!

I was in the bikeshop earlier and as usual, said hi to the guys I recognised (I know the faces but can't remember their names) and as usual they all said hi back, then I realised I didnt actually "know" one of them........


was it a bird?
(asian friends please ask me and I'll explain)









......no







was it a plane?







......no



..........it was SUPERMAN!

well, Tom Welling anyway - the guy that plays Clark in the TV series Smallville. He seemed like a nice enough guy - very tall. He was in the process of 'grabbing' a new bike - not just the seat.

I guess I shouldn't really be that surprised cos Smallville is filmed here. Even the Kent's farm is here!!




nice guy as he was, I think I'd prefer to bump into......





Lois Lane aka Erica Durance

ah well, better keep my eyes peeled ;-)

The Circus is in town!

They've been here for a couple months but this is their last week so I thought I'd better go before I missed it.







they dont allow photography so on the downside, none of these photo's are mine.... but on the upside.... none of them are mine!! hahaha ;-)

Obviously I liked the juggler - crazy mann - I think they did it with mirrors - no-one can juggle like that!....can they?













Varekai is one of the touring shows of CDS - it's supposed to be a story but it's pretty vague - it goes something like: girl meets boy, lots of stuff happens requiring many people to fly through the air and dangle from bits of rope.... girl gets boy, lots more people fly through the air, the end.














It is an AMAZING show though, if you have the means, I highly recommend it

















There are cute girls....
















A bendy balancy girl














Some really cool costumes - although maybe you wouldnt walk down the street dressed like that....

















a bloke who can do amazing things with a net......!?


















And a couple of English lads (twins) that fly all over the bigtop on bits of elastic - very impressive (the women didnt seem to mind if they were flying or not)














did I mention the cute girls?











and a guy with them springy stilty things...


unfortunately I couldnt find a photo of the three little boys that have their own act. They must be all of 6 years old and amazing performers - arguably the stars of the show

There were also some clowns (though not quite your stereotypical clowns but clowns none the less) but I could find photos of them either.

So, if you have the chance, GO SEE. You will not regret it.

Whistler again? ....yawn....... oh alright then!

My third time in the Bike Park (aside from once in fully jet-lagged coma a couple years back) and I love it more and more every time.

First things first, the bear count was low today, only saw one, but I did see a couple of deer, a grouse (wrong mountain?) and some micey things!

After a quick lap, I met Rich and John from the club and ripped half a dozen runs of the mountain. We did Frieght Train in various sections and then once all the way - it's kinda like A-line but the jumps are a little more technical - I love this bit (imaginatively names "Containers") - makes you feel like a freeride god!

We also did all the trails on the top half - ...... so much fun its AWFUL! :-)

We also did some classic lower half trails..... Schleyer is deff a favourite of mine and Clown Shoes... one of the trickiest and also infamous for having the biggest drop on a Whistler trail... As NSMB.com put it: "The Clown Shoes drop is not for newbies. If you crawl off it you can probably have your rear wheel hit the ground about 10 vertical feet lower than where it started from but any speed can easily make it 15"


Here's MnM a couple years back dropping it - I'm told the landing is in bad shape now.... which makes me even more stupid for riding off the end of it!! Ah well, the moment of silence on the way down was worth it!!















After 5-6 hours riding we called it a day and headed off to Squamish for a bite to eat. The pub was a good, had its own brewery out back and not a bad view either.....



This is "The Chief", its a thousand foot high lump of rock and pretty impressive


Dr Megan joined us for a while and then we all went on our way home.........





I love Whistler :-)

What the hell is "Theatre Sports" ???

Just a quick update. On Friday night I went downtown with some friends to watch "Theatre Sports" - yeah - that's what I thought! Well it turned out to be a comedy club - silumar to the one in London but a lot smaller. It wasnt bad although I think some of the North American humour was lost on me....


Oh, and on the way in, I was walking through the crowds and I thought -

oh, there's my friend.....
.....err, what's her name?
..... wow she looks fantastic....
What IS her name?

And then it hit me - she used to come round my place once a week - inside the TV!

She did smile at me, I think she's used to being looked at ;-)



..and then we went for a cheesecake. Yes, that's right. In Vancouver there are TWO restaurants that do nothing but cheesecake. Mad eh?!!

Happy Birthday Sis!

It's my big sister Jane's birthday today. Happy Birthday Sis - I'm sorry I can't be there in person.

Here she is in action on the slopes last year

Secret trails....

Armed with some sketchy directions, Bill, Ken and I set off to find "Aftertaste", one of the not-so-secret secret trails on Seymour. A bit like "Hidden Valley" back home - a lot of people know about it and ride it but for every one of those there's a dozen that cant find it!

Well, we found it and if I was allowed to, I'd recommend it! It was pretty gnarly but with very nice rocky bits and some quality woodwork.

This is Bill on a rough steep bit that looks flat in the photo!







but the real fun was saved for the end.... obviously you cannot get any idea of this from the photos (so why am I posting them I hear you ask, well...) but its better than just trying to describe it right?

So, basic layout: 15ft near vertical rock face, 2 bike lengths and then another 15ft rockface - although not quite as vert.

I guess if you're fond of 15ft hucks you could just fly off the second but personally I'm a little more conservative!










here's Bill checking out the line...

















over you go mate! Sweet - and on a hardtail too!

Then it was my turn, I rolled in, dropped like a stone to the flat(ish) middle bit and hit the brakes - unfortunately my front wheel skidded across the dusty rock and jammed into a root, sending me straight over the bars - fortunately I managed to stop myself before going headfirst over the second drop - Phew! Everyone breathe out!

It was fun though and I'll definately clean it next time, the Aftertaste was pretty sweet.......

The Sunshine Coast

I did wonder if the John Henry bike club, Pedals and Pints, would be a poor relation to The Cove Club. Well, I couldnt have been more wrong. Not only do they ride in vast numbers (at least twice the people compared to my old club, "WASPS" back in Blighty but they also go on very cool Saturday rides from time to time. This was my first one with them and I only just find out about it the night before so I called the shop to clarify what kind of bike - "there's no shuttling" they told me so cross-country bike it is then!

The ride itself was on The Sunshine Coast - only a little further up the coast but requiring a veeeery looooooooooooong drive round Horseshoe Bay or a 30min ferry ride.

Click here for a nice view from the boat

...and the other way

We met up at the Gumboot Cafe in Roberts Creek. Like much of BC, it's a dump - just look at the boring views






I wouldnt want to live there....





...I'd never want to leave!


So, after a bit of organising, we split into 3 groups and shuttled up to the top of the trails



...yes, that's right - there WAS shuttling! Stupid people at the shop had made me bring the wrong bike! Ah well, I thought, c'est la vie. Better get on with it.

We did do a little climb (20mins) so the first downhill was "Red Barron"


It was much as the rest of the trails here, lots of trees, roots and loamy soil so not at all bad for the Hummer (that's my cross country bike in case you're not familiar with such things)


It was a beautiful forest, much like The Shore, but generally flatter and not as rocky

here's Megan on one of the wider ladder bridges





We did so many trails I can't remember them all but I know this jump was at the beginning of "Janet's Jungle".

That's Megan catching some air - no not THAT Megan, this is the other one, Doctor Megan - if you spam yourself at Whistler there's a good chance she'll be the one trying to put you back together!





All the trails here are really fun, nothing too silly in the stunt dept but still plenty to keep it interesting

Here's John - he couldn't manage the last lap as his pedal fell off!








Monica













Sven













One of my favourite trails here was "Cunning Stunts" it had loads and loads of, err, stunts and some of them were really, err, cunning!










Here's Dorothy on the rope bridge - yes - really - a rope bridge - it was very cool. Graham (the trailbuilder) also had enless skinnies, roller-coasters, teeters, steppy-bumpy-things, a swivel-teeter and my personal favourite, a reverse teeter-totter - you ride onto what looks like a huge flat timber - little do you realize that once you get your weight on it, it falls down, leaving you to ride up i, past the pivot to make it go down flat again - really odd but great fun










y'know, I really look up to the women that ride over here

here's Monica again - this time on the rope bridge









Here's Dr Megan on the DH course. This jump was pretty tricky - it was on quite a steep slope, in the middle of an S-bend, with a few feet gap from the take off to the log - oh, and a nice big tree if you didnt make the bend!
















Our intrepid leader, Ken going for the gap a bit further on

Unfortuantely, I didn't get any photos of the best trail - DNA - best for me cos it had five gap jumps all in a row. At first I was a bit nervous of doing them on my XC bike but after a couple runs I was flying across the lot. Big thanks to Derek for having a mechanical at just the right moment!



Before long, it was time to go for the 'pints' bit of the day. We headed back to Gibson for a slap up binge at Mrs Miggins pie shoppe.


Well, the Black Shark pub anyways....they had ENORMOUS burgers - all pub burgers in Canada are huge but these were ridiculous! And that was it, we caught the last ferry home and lived happily ever after.

The End.