At last - Vedder (and Bear Mt)

I've wanted to go to Mt Vedder for ages - even Ben Boyko says its his favourite place to ride but its only accessible by 4x4 and err, I dont have one - let alone two so we can retrieve the first one post-shuttle!

Thankfully I have friends. Brian O or as Jenn likes to call him Ohhhh-Brian ;-) has a 4x4 and knows the trails so it was on at last. We only did a couple laps as the crew we were expecting didnt show but excellent laps nevertheless! I figured I could trust Jenn to lead me into the jumps (of which there are a lot) so we just dropped in and ripped down the jumps - a little scary doing it blind but what funnnn!
Above is Jenn on the "Operating Table" - she cleaned it beautifully so no operating was necessary!


Jenn again - this time flying through the trees! Only took two photos cos it all happened a bit fast!

Anyway, with the lack of shuttle partners (thanks to Tyler for a ride up - cheers mate) we decided to head over to Bear Mt to check out the race course we'll be racing on in July. I was keen to get out there cos I'd heard there were some big gap jumps on Bear and as I get older I get less inclined to hurl myself across such things!




It turned out the jumps are built very well and are very "jumpable" - I was on my little bike so had a great time on the jumps although I did leave the two biggest for next time ;)

This is Brian on the top (rocky) gap - no problem








This is the longest jump on course - and up close it looks even longer! Brian made it look very easy - but then he is a bit of a star - featured in lots of magazine shoots and a few bike movies - he's an old bmx racer so jumps are his thing - and it shows!









....and here he is again demonstrating the easyness for us













Jenn on the same jump - she took off by the tree in the right foreground and is hoping to land in line with the rocks bottom left - she pretty much made it










and what's this? Who could that fella be jumping the same gap - not Jenn, not Brian. Hmmm - oh of course, its ME!

Unfortunately Brian had never used my camera before so was too far away and too early pushing the button - cameras are a PAIN! But thankyou Brian.

Well, the course was very flowy, very fast and very very fun. I'm looking foward to July now!!

Life in the Desert - Kamloops part III

After a good night's sleep under the stars and an equally good breakfast we met up with a load of friends to get some quick laps on Harper before driving home


Ryan has hair issues













Harper is a great fun mountain - plenty of stuff for all levels - there's even a piece of singletrack as featured in the movie "Roam" - it's actually pretty funny cos in the movie it looks like a far-flung remote corner of BC, miles from anywhere - in truth its on a highly used shuttle mountain/ski hill and right next to the main shuttle track - it was priddy though :)

Seann was on his bike for a change - more used to 'Barked' shooting instructions from Danielle it was good to get him in front of the camera today



Ryan's other half - Kat - was ripping pretty good all day on her beat up Nemesis












I guess skinnies not your thing eh Tim?

This one was pretty odd - the log would wobble from side to side as you rode it making it more and more difficult the further you got









ah, that's better Timmigrant












Our guide, Mike showing how its done

- oh and the dark shading is not an expensive special effect - its the broken camera :(










Mike again - truly sending it over a hip gap













Jenn and Kat were pushing each other today - got some cools pics of Jenn over this big gap - they're on the Loeka site now










The true Loeka ad with both girls wearing their kit. Kat tried to move out of my shot here but I told her to get back in position as I thought it looked cool

We did a couple laps of Harper then it was time to go..... or so we thought until Mike mentioned he was going to ride another mountain - so Jenn, Tim and I went along too! So we didnt actually leave 'Loops until about 6pm - a super days riding and a fantastic way to finish off the weekend


all that remained was to leave some beer for Scott for kindly putting us up for the weekend (and Mike for the first night - thanks mate!)

Scott wasnt home so Jenn got carried away with leaving a "note" for him.


Not a terribly successful race weekend but a great weekend nevertheless - AND it was 35deg and sunny - not quite like that in Vancouver - after driving back through 2 hours of heavy rain Vancouver was overcast and drizzly - ah its good to be home ;-)

Life in the Desert - Kamloops part II

Kamloops is pretty much desert. The ground there isn't even sand, it's silt - or moondust as the locals call it

The race was at "The Ranch" - a mini bike park on the edge of town






On race day I nabbed a prime spot for us right next to the finish line - Jenn brought the Loeka tent with her which was absolutely the best thing since sliced bread in the 35deg heat




The track was pretty fun although not really technical. The top section had a dozen grassy corners that became awash with moondust and very very tricky - slow slow in and let the brakes go - it was all about those corners

the pits from Loeka central









Food in the desert is hard to come by - Jenn and I had to fight over it after our Blue-Nana-Racing-Bread drowned in the cooler










Jenn enjoying the shade












The start was a bit exposed in the million degree heat













It was Alicia's first race and what a race! She came 3rd in Masters non-licensed

















The combination of location-location, the shade and our winning personalities meant everyone wanted to hang out with us











Jenn had a crash but was way fast so still managed 3rd - and we think the results were screwed up so really she should have had 2nd! Way to go girl!
















Todd was our shuttle buddy and ripping all weekend in the moondust - he's one of the main builders at Vedder - more of that next month










Now this was a funny shot. We were all hanging out waiting for the results and the girls were all chatting which I thought would make a good photo. I quietly whipped out the camera and ALL seven girls instantly posed for the camera - talk about sixth sense and not to mention VANE!








My team mate Brian won the over 40's - nice one BB.














and new friend Kat won the Womens - but 5 minutes later they change their minds and demoted her to 2nd. Fiona therefore was bumped to 3rd :(











And how did I do? Well, not so good. I had a fall in one of the tricky top corners and finished way down but my time wasnt too far from the winner so I was still quite pleased.

This is Alicia's trophy - a boot shaped mug. Not sure why but there you are!













After a long day in the sun we slept well again - Jenn and I slept under the stars in the back yard.

Its been a while since I slept outside but it was very refreshing. Sent myself to sleep by taking pictures of the stars!

We're planning some riding tomorrow before heading back to Van

Life in the Desert - Kamloops part I

This year I thought I'd dabble with a little racing. There are a few one-off races like Rat Race, Crankworx and the Rippers but I wanted to do proper racing so headed up to Kamloops for the first BC Cup

Its only about 4 hours away up the Coquihalla Highway which is a crazy 100km motorway built straight through the mountains - its something like 5000ft at its highest






Fortunately for me, Jenn used to live in K-town so has many friends to stay with. Her old friend Alicia came up with us in convoy and she suggested we squeeze in a quick ride of Dewdrop so off we went.

Unfortunately we didnt realize no-one actually knew where it was. After a 3 hour ride all over the top of the mountain looking for the trail we gave up and headed down - and immediately spotted the trail! Once you're on it, there are some helpful signs!








Once we did find the top we realized why we couldnt find it - we were on the wrong ridge - here's the one we rode earlier!


















The top finally in sight

















It was a good view from the top - not quite the ideal warm up for a race weekend though - 3 hours of cross country on a downhill bike. Ah well, the descent was good :)



























Ah, a good decsent indeed. Turns out we were amongst the first to ride it this year - a week before it was still covered in snow :)








a tree












..and this is where we'd been





all in all, not a great ride to prep for a race but at least we'll sleep well tonight ;-)

Secret training

In preparation for next month's Rat Race - and just because its FUN, a few of us headed over to the Sunshine Coast to get some secret training in

As you can see, it's all smiles on the SSC













a long time ago
in a galaxy far, far away.....















it did have some challenges though - the crazy snowfall over the winter meant the top of the higher trails were still knee deep - this is the 'ride' in to Red Barron



















...and the start of RB. It wasnt too bad though and after a couple mins we got onto the dirt. I think we had the first descent of RB cos there weren't any tracks in front of me! That also meant stopping every hundred yards to clear wind fall but it was still good :)
















DNA was of course sublime and the downhill course was sooo much fun - I cant wait for the race!




- Jon on DNA