Back to Blighty

I got a call a few weeks back from my sister: "the wedding's on November 1st - canyou make it?" so off to Blighty I went.
I rather liked the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Very swanky.

Sunshine Coast

Today was a good day - mostly.

Today I did my first ever dirt jumps :D
I was pretty excited. We were on the sublime Sunshine Coast enjoying the swoopy flowiness we love it for.

Here's me dirt jumping!







It started as a casual comment by me "it'd be nice to fit in another SSC ride before winter" and the next thing I know ten of us are on the ferry!



here's Rich styling it out












It was a great day. We did pretty much all the trails - well, the good ones!

The dirt jumps were just uphill of the "jumpy trail" that we always ride - They're only small but they are proper dirt jumps with steep trannies. I've looked at them before but today was the first time I'd ridden them. About bleedin time too!






The rest of the trails were in great condition - we even rode a new one I'd never seen before :)

We finished off the day on Mach Chicken- the downhill track that I saw my one and only podium finish on. Unfortunately on the third lap on probably the fastest bit if the track, my bike got bucked by a rock, then hit another and before I knew it I was sliding across the rocks upside down and backwards into a tree :(




After a few minutes, Tim helped me untangle myself from the bike and I limped on to the bottom.

Speaking of bottoms - mine took most of the hit and now its swollen I look like J-Lo from one side!!

It was a lucky escape and I'm grateful I wasn't badly hurt.

Seymour

I've been off the bike since the training course last weekend so if you don't include that its 8 days without riding! I desperately needed to ride and it was a sunny Saturday so game on!

Rich, Aja and I dropped into CBC around midday for some prime Seymour action

here's me on a mossy rock roll to drop "on CBC"











That tiny spec of blue is Aja on top of a big roll to drop

















Click on this one for the full greeny mossiness experience!














Quite dark in the rain forest


















Some fantastic god-rays through the forest - can't quite capture it on the cell-phone!

If you're wondering where Rich is, dont worry he's ok but he did duck out early with a mechanical issue

Roll on tomorrow and The Sunshine Coast!
My new bike is going to ROCK there- I can't wait!
Bring it on! ;-)

Squirrels and Submarines

I'd been too slow to get him on film until today but here he is - Siegfried the Squirrel - he scampers across our 3rd floor balcony a few times a day on his way to who knows where









I remain pretty impressed as he has quite the gap-jump to make it onto our balcony and then on to the next one - if indeed that is where he goes!??











While taking pictures of Siggy I noticed something odd in the water - is that a submarine?

Probably not but it made me take a second look!

Instructor Training with Endless Biking

I've wanted to get an instructor qualification for years but never got round to it. I almost took a ski instructor course last year but it clashed with some other stuff so when Danice mentioned she was thinking of taking a mtb instructor course I jumped at the chance to go along :)

Endless Biking are a North Van based company specializing in mountain bike skills training and guiding. They train instructors for all sorts of people and they are so hooked into the scene over here that you cannot fail to know about them.


The training started Friday night with a classroom session and then saturday and sunday on the bikes at a local skills park.

I have to say, the training was excellent. Both Kelli and Darren (who got married a couple months back) are phenomenal instructors and really know their stuff and how to convey it.






For Saturday night's homework we had to prepare ourselves with a lesson plan to teach four skills the following day.

Here's D demonstrating the neutral body position while enjoying Sushi!

We both did well in our sessions (particularly Danice - shes one of those good-at-everything people) and finished the course with good feedback from our peers and instructors :D

We're both really excited now about trying out our skills on some real students!

Thanks to Darren and Kelli for a great course and thanks also to our new fellow instructors - Candace, Johanna, Eddie, Mitch, Mitchell, Logon, Sean, Sutra, Dan, Chris and Duke.

Whistler closing weekend

Well, this is it. The day we all dread - closing weekend for the bike park :(

Lift lines are usually fine on closing weekend but this year it was crazy. Probably the busiest I've seen it since Crankworx but only about 20mins.

Anyway, Rich was away in Rossland so it Jon, Tim and I for the day.





Of course, its been snowing a lot since last week so this time when we got up top we found 6 to 10 inches of snow! It was fun though cos it was cold enough that the snow stayed frozen and not a hint of mud - well not up top anyway!










Further down the snow disappeared but the ground was frozen solid so it was nice an fast :)












Later on, the ground thawed and everything turned wet and mushy so we stayed in the bottom half of the park on the rocky trails away from the mud. Yet again, Patty was brilliant and took everything in her stride - from clearing Crab Apple hits and the A-line 4 pack to sticking Tim's combo techy line taking in all the gnarliest bits of the best runs. Soooo much fun :D





Its sad to see the park close so I prefer to think as the trails just being "on ice" until next summer ;-)

Whistler - winter approaching

With only two weeks left before the bike park closes for the season, we weren't going to miss an opportunity to ride there.

Rich and I headed up for the day - praying for good weather. It was raining all the way up the Sea to Sky highway but thankfully it stopped just as we pulled in :)

Of course, when it rains in the valley, it snows in the hills!




After a couple warm up runs on the lower mountain we jumped in the gondola and headed to the top

Only advanced and expert riders up here...









It was a wee bit cold at the top













and, as predicted - snow. Here's Rich at The Roundhouse with the Peak Chair in the background.










Not too much snow so not too bad on the trails. Kinda cool riding at Whistler (the land of snow) on a bike in the snow :)











They've been busy re-opening "No Joke" - one of the best trails on the mountain which was closed so they could build an under-pass under one of the Olympic ski runs (left) - this week they added some woodwork inside the tunnel to make it into a series of wall rides. It was soaking wet but still fun fun fun :)







This feature has been the subject of a lot of discussion. Its a wooden rolly thing that requires just the right speed to complete. Unfortunately a lot of people are going in with too little speed and falling back into the middle - it didn't get us though today :)









Lots of bears out today. I think they're stocking up for the winter hibernation which must be real soon. We passed right in front of one - only 7 or 8ft beside us but we were going so fast we didn't have time to stop!

This bear was just hanging out on the side of Dirt Mirchant watching the bikes ride past!

T'was a thoroughly good day though and on her first park day, Peppermint Patty was fantastic. Great on the jumpy trails, great in the singletrack. Flipping awsome.

RAD.

How things change?

When I was unpacking in the new place I came across this photo of me from around 1995. How things have changed? I was a mere slip of a lad at 25 I spent the Summer weekends racing cross country with my friends all over the UK.

The original photo was enlarged on a colour copier and then dropped off at the shop. To this day I have no idea who took it.

Where do I start? Well how about fashion: A skinsuit - toight as a tiger! A bandana? No gloves and different colour shoes. Sweet! Then there's the bike: A GT Zaskar with Rock Shox Judy's with all of 2inches of travel! Flat bars, bar ends and look at that seat height! Yes, this was definately a cross country set-up! And look at that death grip! (no fingers on the brakes). Hardcore.

Finally, let me tell you about the "event": I'd just rolled across the finish line from a 90min cross country race. I think I was 26th of 153 people so not a bad result but my attention was quickly drawn to a demo that was going on nearby. The rider doing the demos was organising a long-jump competition. Basically a plank leaning on a log and jump past the next plank to stay in the comp. This would go on until all but one was eliminated. They'd already started but I still rolled over and joined in. About 20 minutes later it was down to me and one other guy - by this time I was taking a run up from the next county and the demo guy had gotta bunch of kids to lie down after the ramp! Can you imagine that happening these days? I don't think so. Anyway, to cut to the chase I won and rolled out a hero. I don't think I actually got anything for it but so many people were watching I had bragging rights for months after!
And then this picture turned up at the bike shop. It really captures the moment - completely wrong bike set up, kids lying on the floor and the kid in the back ground with his mouth wide open. I think this may stay my favourite bike photo for the rest of my life. The fashion is funny but it so captures that day in Reading. Good times. Gooood times.

Oh, and how far did I jump? 31 feet - from a take off no more than 18inches high - crazy!