The New Adventures of Martn aka Skip

Downhillers in the Mist

2011-04-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally did what I wanted to do for years - ride downhill back to the Sunshine Coast Ferry! Despite being 2 or 3 hours from sunset it was very dark up in the clouds but it all added to the sense of adventure! Hopefully, here's the interactive map from my iphone app:

Downhillers in the Mist (SSC)

Find the best hikes in California and beyond

BikeFest '09

2009-05-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Squampton photo-fest

2009-05-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

I've been itching to get up and ride Squamish since my coaching session with Shaums last year so it was with great pleasure that Euan, Jon and I went over the long weekend :)

I saw this gap with Shaums last year but we didnt have time to do it and its been nagging me ever since - totally easy but makes a cool photo. I think it has a Dukes of Hazard kinda "the bridge is out" quality ;)

This was supposed to be the money shot - wiggly trail, beautiful forest and Jon and I pinning it. Unfortunately the light was flat and despite timing it for the golden light at the end of the day it just turned out overcast. I still like it though :)

Cheers Euan

Rat Race pics

2009-05-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Just found these pictures of moi on Pinkbike:

"I was trying to capture the speed"

Ah, that's better- in focus

Oh and I guess this was his mate standing next to the last photographer!

And here's one of my fastest friend, Danice landing the 'chalet jump' at the World Cup in France.

"she really is the real deal" : James Wilson earlier today

The Rat Race

2009-05-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen I made the podium! :D
2nd place in the "30's" was an awesome result - I asked permission from Cycling BC to race 30's this season as I think I'm fast enough - I should really be in the "40's" with my 40th birthday this year

I was pretty happy to have beaten all the 40's too- it would have been embarrassing to make a big fuss to stay in the younger (faster) category only to have been beaten by the 40's!!

"Battlestar Galactic" loaded and ready to go (you can't see the bikes inside or the rack on the back)

Yay!!!! (1st place (Eric) is on the previous page of the print out)

The Pro Men - the winner was 17 seconds faster than this old man. Tim (2nd) lent me tyres and gave me some great coaching so thanks Timmeh.

Eric had to catch the Ferry so just Clark and I on the podium

Loads of my friends made the podiums including Dr Mega (Meghan) who moved up to the (serious) licensed category this season and smoked the opposition to win :)

Our shuttle drive Rich, pretending he doesn't have a broken arm and recently dislocated shoulder - Tim's bike.

Thanks for the all the driving Rich. Awesome.

Hopefully I'll find some photos of me to put up soon.

Our thoughts go out today to Danice's bike which got mangled by the Canadian Ripper at this weekend's world cup. Fingers crossed to get everything up and running for Andorra and healing vibes to Danice who is pretty sore from the experience. Awesome ride to 11th in quali's though :D

More Cypress

2009-04-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get the hang of the new bike now. It was about 7 months since I last rode a big bike so it's taken me a while to get the hang of it again but I'm starting to get faster on it now :)

Here she is in her natural element

Jon, Euan and I spent a little quality time on Cypress again the other day. Euan brought his camera so we did a few little photo sessions (on my Session haha)

Here's Euan on Sex-Girl (its the name of the trail - one of the best trails on Cypress)

Jon on the rocks

Euan on the same move

Jon dropping a sniper downhill drop that comes at the end of along slippery rock - pretty scary to ride into as it feels like any minute the speed will get away from you, you'll miss the corner and fly off the rock into the rocks!! Nice one Jon

(Euan's pictures here on)

This is another view of the same move - although it doesnt look it, from me (background) to Jon is steep and slippery

This roll is a lot steeper than it looks - I almost couldnt work out where this was - until I thought back to where we'd stopped. a shame the photo flattens it. I was considering jumping it but the speed I'd land with frightens me! As ever with The Shore, it's not the move itself that's the problem, it's the run in and/or run out!

Riding by Jon.

Me on the big rock roll - again the photo flatterns it. It's pretty big and pretty steep but I have to say pretty fun (as long as you make the corner) ;)

Me on another techy drop - this is an optional line but I always go this way cos the rocks are off camber the other way and they freak me out!

How about in black and white?

Another angle of the same thing - I like this one - nice shooting Euan!

So another great day on Cyp - particularly as the conditions are so good right now (below the snow line that is) For now though, I'm concentrating on the fast trails to try and get my groove on before the racing starts.

My sweet new ride :D

2009-04-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

She's here. Session88DH by Trek
If you have the means.....

my babies

and nestled in the quiver back home

:D

Sunshine Coast 2009 visit #1

2009-04-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since we've been to The Sunshine Coast. Obviously snow has been the main problem - as with most places round these parts but reports said it was good to go so off we went to the ferry (not so) bright and early Easter Saturday

The snow stopped us driving right to the top but only by a couple hundred metres - the trail itself was mint :)

Here's me enjoying the legendary SSC flow

....and then we took a connector trail to the DH track. There was a ton of deadfall which I insisted we clear.

Fortunately Guy had a pocket chainsaw with him which made quick work of the trees we couldnt drag out of the way

We had a great day (of course) but the cherry on the cake was possibly my favourite trail anywhere - Gnome. No stunts, no technical bits and no tight corners - just flat out fast trails weaving gently through the trees with enless opportunities to take to the air. Gnome is the perfect metaphor for The Sunshine Coast, If you have the means, I highly recommend it ;)

Me seconds away from dropping into Gnome :D
The Rat Race is here in a few short weeks so we'll be back for some race training and then of course the for race itself. I managed 3rd last year so hoping to do well again this year. I can't wait. A shame D won't be there though :( she'll be in Andorra (of all places) racing the 2nd round of the World Cup - lucky (although luck has nothing to do with it!) girl :)

mmmmm Cypress

2009-04-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

After being on-ice all winter the snow is finally melting and the lower trails are now back in action. Cypress is perfect right now - dry enough to ride without ripping it to pieces, but moist enough to give some grip (Cypress gets pretty sketchy in the summer when its dry and dusty)

Here's the picture-of-the-day by Euan of moi on an old trail we've just discovered

....and another angle. This log was covered in slime so there were only a couple of takers!

Penny Deck's an extremely good technical rider and so very at home on steep, technical Cypress

Jonny

This drop is way sketchy - a loooong slippery approach down the steep muddy rock across some roots then drop down onto a very small landing - kinda fun ;)

In between runs we saw this bride and groom having their pictures taken on the mountain
(they're the tiny spec on the left!)

mean while, back in the woods, here's Dave rolling into what is actually a scary feature. It rolls over steeper and steeper then into a sketchy(notice a pattern here?) run out - although it looks like nothing in this photo lol

a better angle - you cant really stand on it beyond where Jon's standing and certainly not where Penny is riding!

Mrs Deck again

One of my favourite bits here - a whole mess of roots with a log right where Euan is in this photo. There's two choices here: 1: manhandle your bike over the log and down (riders) right or 2: jump the log, go straight across the roots and down riders left

Euan and Euan taking the right line

Penny and Penny again - like I said, extremely good technical rider

and here we see me on a very un-Cypress like trail with a series of smooth jumps and drops
(picture by Euan)

And again from the side

....we did multiple laps - here's Jon and I back at the big rock roll "you go first" "no you" "no you"

(3 more of Euan's photos)

Jon went first ;)

...and then me :)

Another great day on Cypress. Thanks to Euan for taking some awesome photos.

First Race of the Season - Port Angeles, Washington USA

2009-04-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

After yet another satisfying day on Cypress a couple of my friends mentioned a race going on at Port Angeles, West of Seattle in the good old US of A. After a favourable weather forecast a few days later I signed up and booked a hotel - we were goin' racin'!!!!

It may be fairly close but it takes a while (and a ferry - but THAT is another story ;)) to get there. It was pretty late by the time we pulled in so D was already well into sleep mode!

After a hearty breakfast we joined the other 408 riders on the hill.

Yes, 410 racers this weekend - a very good thing the FluidRide crew are well organised! After some issues with the payment terms (no credit cards or "foriegn" money) and an decent line up for the shuttle we climbed into the back of one of the box trucks for the journey up. Apparently the lights in the back of the trucks don't work when it's running which meant for a very weird sensory deprevation experience every lap! It was DARK in those trucks!

The track was really fun. Suuuuuper fast at the top but with loads of swoopy bits and a couple of kicker style jumps then down into some wooded sections with lots of tight singletrack. With a sizeable jump or two and the odd technical bit the track had a bit of everything :)

My new bike hadn't turned up yet so I was racing my trusty Norco Six - despite getting a bit bumpy in places it didn't seem to slow me down too much ;)

Practice day was sooo much fun but quite long due to the line up between runs - no real fault of the organisers, it was just a victim of it's own success!

I guess we were one of the last to leave - notice the dual track beside the car

Spinning before bedtime

.....pretty cute eh? Session 88 DH ;)

Pre-race atmosphere up top

Tim Coleman.ca keeping it low- so fast I couldnt get him in focus!

D on her way to qualifying 3rd in Pro Women

Miranda "she's so fast right now"Miller qualified 1st with a blistering run - and followed it up with first in the finals. A great start to the season for the nice girl from Squamish

After a wee mix up with the start time Danice had to sprint to make the start but, ever cool under pressure, she pinned her race run to knock a chunk off her quali time to secure 3rd place.

The all "Canadian" Women's Pro Podium - Danice, Katie and Miranda. Well done ladies :)

The actual podium

Ken was one of the many Canadians who did well - Ken won Senior Men - nice job mate.

My race day was a mixed bag. I had the best run of the weekend in practice but got a little over excited in my race run and crashed. Oops. I'd guess it cost me 8-10 seconds and I still pulled in 15th of 30 odd old guys (and naturally I lied about my age and raced in 30-39 where I should really be in 40-49!!!) So all in all, I was happy :)

And so it was all over and it's only just begun!!
All that remained was the drive home - a great opportunity to analyze and discuss the race.
I sooooo can't wait for my new bike to turn up :)

The drive home was conveniently broken up by a stroll on the beach :)

"you're a mermaid"

D taking pictures of the moon

I'll be back ;)

Click here to watch Harold's great video of the race with an emphasis on Canadian riders

Pa's inTown

2009-02-23T00:08:00.000-08:00

Dad and (stepmum) Janet finally came over in February to visit. Both avid skiers, they combined the visit with a week in Whistler.

Here they are during the obligatory trip up Grouse Mountain

....and at Deep Cove. It was a beautiful day....but it was still February and so not so warm!

I went to Capilano Suspension Bridge with Jane and Mark and concluded that although it was cool, it wasn't worth the $25 to get in. "People" say it's better to go to Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge which is Free! So we did. It was cool! I'm still not too thrilled to walk across these things but at least this one was small enough to have a hand on each cable!

They we in Vancouver for a few days so had a good poke around downtown but Dad also wanted to do a bit of history type stuff. Now BC has clearly been here for millions of years but it's only been inhabited by us Europeans for 150 years or so and therefore doesn't have too much in the way of historical monuments.

Which brings us to Fort Langley. The first trading post in BC and the birthplace of BC

They have an original building (sorry - didnt get a photo) and a load of replica buildings. It was pretty interesting stuff, particularly as most of the imported materials/tools etc were all from England.

All too soon the days past and it was time to head up the road to Whistler.

Obligatory stop at Shannon Falls, Squamish

Family Photo (dont get inmany of those these days!)

As she was available and hadnt been toWhistler in eons, I invited my BFF Kiyoka to join us. She took lots of photos.

a nursing stump- Janet things these are creepy

I found out one night over dinner that it was Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day!! I did my best to persuade Milestones to make me one but they wouldn't :(

Fortunately, there was a crepery just down the street.

Dad and Janet faded quickly so it just left Kiyoka and I to keep up tradition.

mmmm pancakes......

Token shot of me

After skiing, the tired aching muscles really benefit from a dipin the hot tub. At our hotel (Kiyoka and I DIDNT stay at the Fairmont Chataeux with Dad and Janet) the hot tub had an outdoor plunge pool.

It was a little odd walking through four inches of snow in bare feet - not to mention it snowing on us! Here's the proof as Kiyoka takes the plunge!

Dinner at Caramba :) mmmmmm Caramba!

I bet Kiyoka a desert that they didnt have Apple Pie. I lost. One time I'm very happy to loose! Good pie too :)

mmmmmm....apple pie

The visit went very quickly but it was great to spend so much time with Dad and Janet. I miss themand I do hope they come back!

Viva Las Vegas - Coach Coaching

2009-02-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

You'll recall I'm now a qualified Mountain Bike Instructor :D
A wee while back, Mad March Racing asked me if I'd like to do some coaching for them this summer. MMR are the premier coaches so I was well chuffed and of course said yes.
Shaums (March) held a mini camp for the coaches in Vegas at the end of Jan so I packed up my sun lotion and headed off to the desert!

Welcome to America!

Vancouver was still pretty snowed in so it wasn't too hard to head south

The main point of the weekend was to ensure all the coaches were teaching the same stuff and up to Shaums' high standards so we spent most of our time in the "classroom"

This (left) is our classroom :D

chairs nabbed from the hotel and we're good to go!

Shaums teaching us to jump :)

....and drop

but obviously we couldn't spend all day in Boulder Canyon without going for a ride there

:)

it actually got quite dark on the way home but we still managed to find a concrete flood channel to ride out all the way downhill back to the hotel - complete with sections under the roads only an inch higher than our handlebars!

After two days in the desert it was time to hit the strip and see what Vegas has to offer

Two of the first people we met were newly weds - naturally we shoved the groom aside to have our picture taken with his lovely bride :)

The strip is an odd place. One minute you have your photo taken with a bride, the next there's a volcanic eruption across the street!

so we headed inside to the safety of the modestly appointed shopping mall....

...it was a sophisticated night ;)

my hotel. Quiet little place.

Vegas is something else. Miniature plastic skyscrapers at New York New York complete with a roller coaster

Genuine plastic

and my favourite thing in Vegas. The cop cars with bike racks on!!! (for bike patrol officers in case you're wondering)

Yes, they have it all here. A fraction of the size and made of plastic. After a day on the strip I was ready to leave. Give me the real mountains of BC any day.

and the real rivers and lakes - no indoor gondola rides in BC and that's a good thing

Pirate show - literally beside the street was kinda cool

....but the girl pirates were much better ;)

Viva Las Vegas. I did take in a Cirque show while I was in town and that was very good but aside from that I'm quite happy for was happens in Vegas to stay in Vegas thank you very much!!

Thanks to Shaums for an excellent weekend of great coaching, great people and great fun :D

Ski Jumping

2009-01-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

There's some kind of event happening in these parts next year so they've been busy bees building lots of wonderfully expensive new facilities for it. The new ski jumping thingy at Callaghan just south of Whistler is one such facility. There was a world cup event there in January so I wandered up there with a couple friends to watch the lemmings flinging themselves off.

There were many, many fine people prepared to stand in the sub-zero temperatures for this. I found strategically standing in the sun was the way to go. Next time I'll also take a phone book to stand on - brrrrr cold feet!

The hill - it was pretty impressive how far these nutters jump - from just out of site over the brow right down almost to flat - it looks way cooler in the flesh

This video (click on it to play it) shows what you don't see on TV - the sheer sizeand distance they hurl themselves. As Yoda would say: "hmmm. Impressed, I was. Hmm"

As I said, many many fine people. Many many fine outfits

"I'll see your massive truck and see you a set of tracks!!" Serious off road.

Saaff o' the border

2009-01-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

There's this place not far from here where all the people are fat and carry guns. It's called America.

In our dirt desperation (an overwhelming desire to ride a bike on mother earth and not ice and snow) we took the drastic step of leaving the country. Actually it wasn't that bad. There were normal people, dogs and even children - and some weren't carrying firearms at all! There wasn't a single one of our group shot so maybe, just maybe the cliche isn't quite all true.....

Ice Ice baby

Miwllions of trails....

Apparent Americans think this is art - I'm not convinced

Galbraith is a forest on a hill about half an hour south of the border. I'd never been there before but Jon gave me the low down: "you leave the car park, ride uphill for six hours only to arrive back at the car park!" This didn't really put the place on my list of places to go but desperate times call for desperate measures and I found myself in late January in the line up to leave dear sweet Canada for the day.

As it turned out, it was pretty sweet. Excellent singletrack and some of it decidedly downhill. ....and we didn't escape completely from the snow either - up top there was a fair bit to play in but it didn't really detract from the enjoyment of mother earth :)

T'was a good day, few hours tearing up the dirt was brilliant after so long flailling around in the snow

The technical bit

I'll be back :)

Local skiing - Cypress

2009-01-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

So guy called me up and suggested heading up to the local hills for some snow action. I hadn't been locally for ages - not since last season when Jon persuaded me to get a pass for Seymour (something I still haven't forgiven him for) in fact I haven't been to Cypress since they've expanded it for the Olympics so I was keen to try it out

They installed a new high speed lift on the main hill and moved the old lift to some new steeper runs on the newly opened section of the mountain

The new runs were great - steep and deep and virtually no-one there

Unfortunately the old (moved) lift wasn't so great. After waiting for it to re-start for half an hour we (along with a hundred other people) gave up and hiked out

It was a 15 minute steep hike but gave us some exercise.

After the hike it didnt take too long to tire ourselves out so it was off home for a nice nap :)

The trails are good at Cyp so go, you'll have fun

:)

Whistler Peak to Peak

2009-01-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

No this isn't a picture of Whistler, it's the view out our front window! As I mentioned in the last post, it's been snowing more here than in Whis so here's the proof.

Meanwhile, a couple days later it's blue skies in Whistler - that's what it's like when it doesn't snow

This is the new Peak 2 Peak gondola. It holds a few world records longest distance between towers at 1.88 miles being the most obvious

There's 29 cabins, two of which have glass floors.
This was all of our first time on the P2P so it was jolly exciting :)

The view of Fitzsimmons Creek

and again

loooooong way across there. I don't think I could jump it ;)

When they opened it, a couple nutters jumped off it - I really don't get it: 50 million dollars and they only go half way across!!!

Snowshoeing

2009-01-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

Forgive me for I haven't blogged :(

It's been months since I've blogged but it's been weighing on my mind so here I am at last... blogging.

Many moons (well perhaps 2 or 3 .....or maybe 4 moons) ago, Michele and I decided to get out and enjoy the snow.

The problem being we have way too much snow locally but bugger all at Whistler. Hence no biking, no skiing and well, no nothing really - or so you might think unless you own Snow Shoes.

Slightly bizarre to the uninitiated they're actually quite fun when you get the hang of it. Walk up and through crazy deep snowand then slide down on your bum!

Please - no autographs ;-)

2009-01-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

I recently felt the desire to expose a larger audience to my writing talent so I wrote an article for one of the foremost bike websites: pinkbike.com Check it out HERE

Snow, snow and more flippin blinkin snow!

2008-12-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

A few posts in one today. The snow.

It started a couple weeks before Christmas with a light dusting at sea level but as you can see here, even at the foot of the bike trails there was a fair bit of snow

and by the time we got to the top of the lower trails (half way up) there was about a foot.
It was fun slipping and sliding our way down but not really proper riding although we did ride a new loamy trail which was pretty clear so certainly the highlight of the ride. There was even a step-down jump thing which I jumped - part of my gap training!!

It was a fun ride but mainly for novelty value
Unfortunately this was to be our last trail ride for some time :(

Shortly after that ride the temperature dropped enough for snow at sea level and boy has it snowed!

This is the center of downtown

lunch at Granville Island with Kiyo became an adventure in snow driving - so many people dont have snow tires but still think they can drive in the snow. It's scary.

Granville Island

On Christmas Eve I went for a walk in the snow. I intended to buy some beer and drop it off at the bike shop but ended up wandering for hours. The snow was crazy - 12 to 18 inches.

This is the street outside our place

The marina just down the road - even the salt water was frozen! Click the picture for a better view

In case you're wondering, the blobs are snowflakes caught in the flash

The Esplanade

Lonsdale main drag

Outside our place again
Even now there are still loads of cars that are completely buried!

The fountain at the quay

So with all this snow it seemed appropriate to get out and enjoy it. Unfortunately even though people are skiing in Stanley Park downtown there is still not enough snow to make Whistler much fun. Ergo Michele decided we should go snowshoeing! Obviously before hitting the mountain it's important to fuel up with a good breakfast. Michele's favourite patisserie is not to far away so we met there for breakfast

Rich and Michele waiting patiently for croissants

I have to say, they do good stuff here - I didnt try the chocolatey stuff but it looked very good - oh but I did try a freshly baked thing- not sure what you call it but put it in your mouth and it just melts on your tounge mmmmmmmmmm :)

And so to the snowshoeing

All the local mountains have snowshoe trails and rent snowshoes so its very easy to to do. We went to Cypress and hiked up to the peak - about 2 1/4 hour round trip

As usual with snow sports, I was a little unsteady on my feet!

....but I led for most of the way

a great view of the city from here

and here we are topping out. A bit of an anti-climax but a good view

you even look down on the ski area - this is where the Olympic snowboarding and freestyle skiing is going to be in 2010

Michele making an angel

The view

a HUGE raven checking out the view

You should click this one - as usual its 3 pictures glued together but I managed to get a bird taking off on the right. Perfect timing :)

Snowshoeing was fun. So silly on the way down but I couldnt help thinking it might have been even more fun to bring my snowboard up with me!

Sunshine Coast - yet again again

2008-12-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be downhill training at Squampton but a last minute call from the Dunbar crew sewed the seed of a late return to the sunshine coast. Unfortunately none of us have very much will power to refuse a trip to the Sunshine Coast so before we knew what was going on we were on the ferry

We kept to our plan of DH training but relaxed it a little to enjoy the flowing jumpiness that is the SSC

Here's Rich at the bottom of Red Baron

...and Danice

This was my lap to drive - that's how it works: one rider sits out each lap in turn to drive the van down

I pulled over a couple times to see if I could see them coming through and got these snaps

further down I walked 20ft into the forest to get these amazing "god-ray" shots

Beautiful British Columbia

Unfortunately when Rich got in the van to drive up he informed me that the light on the dash that had come on to keep me company in fact indicated that the rear brakes had failed. Completely. Oops. Good thing I drove down slowly!!

Fortunately for us Naz was at the bottom and offered us a ride up when his group got down. Fresh from wading a creek crossing Danice was pretty cold but Naz's Harley blanket and the vans heater soon sorted that out.

After Naz's kind ride up we did what is usually our standard first lap and rode up then down a bit then up some more then down then.....well you get the idea. It makes for a good long lap. As things transpired we wouldnt get time for another lap as the darkeness crept in as the sun dipped behind the mountains.

Our last stop was the jumps and jumpy trail. A bit challenging in near darkness but fun as always.

You can just about see Rich here on the DJs

Poor old Damn Van isnt doing so well with the ' Coast. Last time a flat tyre, this time failed brakes. Maybe I'll bring the elephant next time.

A great day was had by all despite mechanicals, creeks and very low temperatures.

(oh and the van made it back - slowly - but it made it back using just the front brakes)

Thanks guys for a great day!

MMR Training with Shaums

2008-12-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

I had some coaching the other day. A four hour private session with Shaums March from MMR - it went well. I went fast. I learnt. I'm gonna be harder to beat next year!

During the session I bumped into Clark so at the end of the day I squeezed in a quick lap with him down his freshly built trail. Mmmm, sweet.

Squamish at Sunset.
Clearly pictures do it no justice.

A rainy day in Burnaby

2008-12-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

With all the rain of late it's been pretty crappy riding in the hills. Since my first time dirt jumping the other week I've snuck off to the dirt jumps a couple times for a quick sesh which has the added advantage of getting me more comfy on the tiny bike! With this in mind, I wanted to check out the new(ish) skills park at Burnaby Mountain; I'd heard it's pretty good!

We were going to ride the hills but given the weather it seemed a great time to check out the park

It's pretty damn good although I would recommend going when it's dry as the woodwas very slippy and the ground a wee bit too soft between the jumps

Click on the videos to make them play!

It wasn't all bad though, the pump track was awesome and I even managed to ride along a cable in the extreme-skinny area!

I helped D with some pointers on manuals, bunny hops and pumping and in doing so I actually learned a lot myself - when we started I was only just making it round the pump track but by the end I was going so fast I could barely stay on it!

A happy, if soaked bunny

Fromme at its best - in the mist

2008-11-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

Fromme is such a beautiful place. I think most people would agree with that statement. I think most people would also sgree that the best time to see it is in the mist and/or the rain. The forest is just not the same when the sun is shining. When it's misty it has a mystery about it that is simply magical. A Mysterious magical mist one might say. Well today, ladies and gentlefolk it was my pleasure to enjoy the pleasure of Fromme on a pleasant ride in the pleasurable company of Jennifer. What a pleasure! (too much?)

We rode the deliciously loamy Executioner into the sumptuous pumpfest that is Dreamweaver. This is my favourite way down Fromme. Steep and rocky at the start, Executioner drops pretty sharply down into loamy goodness then drops onto Dreamweaver which traverses across the mountain as it descends.

Ahhh, Fromme. Awesome.

4X !!!

2008-11-20T21:52:00.000-08:00

Yay!! Its indoor 4X season again!!
(for those that dont know, 4X is 4 riders racing round a short track with jumps and banked corners)

"Riders ready"

I've been nagging Danice for ages to come to this cos I know how much racing on the track did wonders for my pumping and jumping skills last winter. I think it's also been an eternity since she rode a hardtail so it was a steep learning curve for her.

"watch the gate"

....which didn't stop her from winning tonight!!!
Notice here how she's a good six inches in front on Rich even though she's only moved 6 inches! Yes, Danice has the starts DIALLED!

"Beeb-Beeeeeb-Bep"

We had a few other friends with us and actually bumped into loads more at the track - it was so cool to see so many people there - not to mention great racing!

Aja in white and pink

Danice slaying Rich and Aja out of the start!

I had a good night myself. Last winter I didnt manage once to get into the final - I'd always get knocked out in the semi's. Not tonight though!
Tonight I won the quarter, won the semi and just got pipped to the post to finish 2nd on the night. Sweet :D

Can't wait for the next one!

I miss oak trees

2008-11-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

I like the countryside from whence I came. I miss it. So, I took a few snaps to share with you all.
These were taken at Goldings, just outside Hertford

You can click on any of these to make them BIGGER!

And particularly, I miss oak trees. I'm not sure why but I really like them so I found a good one to photograph. Alas, my photography skills are quite limited but at least I got it in focus ;)

The last ride....

2008-11-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to fit in five rides while back in the old hood. I didn't manage to take many pictures while we were out but on the last ride I snapped a couple:

Sara

Sara

Ahh, Broxbourne Woods. As they said in Dirt Magazine:

"No Shore, sculpted lips or berms. Just well connected flowing brilliance"

I found this micro move on a previous ride - it was nagging at Ed but he got it beautifully today

Thank you so much to Sara, Ed and everyone else for some great rides on my favourite old trails. I'd love to come back and do them at mac6 in the summer - maybe one day....

:)

A day at the Zoo :)

2008-11-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

With time to spend with my Nephew, what else could we do but go to the zoo!

Just up the road is the local zoo - Paradise Park. Worth a try we thought as its only ten minutes away. I've ridden past the back of the zoo hundreds of times but never been in so was really quite curious.

I was impressed! Loads of animals.
If you're in the neighbourhood and in the market for looking at animals I highly recommend it :)

Riding in the old hood

2008-11-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

I was so happy to ride when I was home. My usual visits are at Christmas and although it's always good to get out on the old trails its usually pretty bleak, muddy and frankly a bit of slog.

Here's Jackie - complete with pretty new bike (and by that I mean it was a pretty turquoise colour)

So imagine my delight in finding the trails all fairly dry with only a thin coat of slim - you couldn't really describe it as "mud" proper. AND the bonus was the autumn colours. The woods everywhere we rode were beautifully yellow and orange. Superbe :)

Sara leading out as usual. This girl is STRONG
(yes you are Sara)

Clicky picture for a closer view. This was Mardley on a week day. S'funny I'd never noticed before how beautiful it is in fall (that's Canadian forAutumn)

More Mardley

Wider view

The perfect end to a great ride - tea and cake in Sara's kitchen

Jackie's thinking: "I wonder if I can distract her long enough with this mug to eat another piece of cake?"

Thank you ladies for a great ride and Sara for many great rides - 4 I think?And thanks for the loaner bike. Soooo much easier than lugging one of my (unsuitable) bikes across the Atlantic!

Until next time :)

A Grand Day Out

2008-11-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

During my whirlwind trip I of course had to have a good curry - mmmmmm curry.
Alix looks like she's enjoying it....I was lucky to catch her in town between a family holiday and going back to uni :)

proof i was there

....but enough of curry, onto my grand day out....

The next day Holly (right) and I headed down into the big smoke - we met up with Anna (left) for a coffee before starting the adventure in earnest

It were joost lik bein' a tourist!

St Pauls and the Millenium Bridge - I'd never seen this up close before so set on going over the bridge to get to the Tate Modern

This the bridge that had to close straight away cos it wobbled with the resonance of people's footsteps! doh!

The TM in the distance

Built in an old power station the TM entrance is cooool! Check out the three fellas standing around in the photo!

High enough to fly a kite

Slightly out of sinc- Holly proving she's"arty"

Inside there's 5 or 6 floors of art. We toured all the free ones before deciding it was feeding time

Lunch at the Oxo Tower anyone? Err, not us but we did go up there to check out the view

The south embankment

...which led us to probably my favourite place in London - Covent Garden :)

Lots going on, day and night

...and good snack foods

I think the space here is really cool - its old obviously but its also very pretty

After spending some time in CG we wandered off to Soho and China Town

...and then Carnaby Street - very cool shops - needless to say I didnt buy anything!

Then Holly insisted we go "look at the woodwork" in Liberty's department store. I'd never even heard of it (Kiyoka will shoot me for that!) but the tudor building looked so cool from the outside I had to check it out

HUGE fancy light thingy

the timber for the building was taken from two discommisioned Royal Navy Ships

They sell some cool stuff to. This is a piano stool made of pencils - and they're all loose so you'll never be caught without a pencil again!

But all too soon we had to wave fairwell to London and head back out to reality. I'm so glad i went though - I think I'll make it a regular on my trips back - next time I think I'm going to go to St Pauls - I've never been.....

Sis gets Hitched!

2008-11-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

Jane's big day arrived a couple weeks back and of course i was there to celebrate it with her. In fact I was honored that she asked me to give her away - which of course I did

They do....

They had everything - even a guy in a skirt

confetti

err, no Fin - over here!

ahhhh :)

Look up Fin. Look up. FIN. LOOK UP......oh I give up

moi, Fin, Sharon the Maid of Honor

me and my nephew - I'm the tall one

Reception was at Ware Priory - built originally in 1339! Only the rocks are that old in Vancouver!

Someone thinks they're being clever with the helpful pamphlets: Ware to Stay, Ware to Learn, Ware to Worship - very witty!

people

more people

It was a fun day and great to see my sister so happy with such a decent guy.
Mark and Jane, thanks for making sure I could make it over and may you have a long happy life together :D

Back to Blighty

2008-10-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

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!

New Digs

2008-09-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was sick of constantly driving back and forth from The Shore to go riding AND it takes too long so a 2 hour ride becomes a 4 hour mission. There was only one solution: Move!

I'm now living in the heart of North Vancouver just a stone's throw from the best riding in the world :D Check out the satellite photo (courtesy of Google) - I live at the blue blob :) You can see Stanley Park on the left with Lion's Gate Bridge spanning the inlet and Ironworkers Memorial bridge on the far right

...or check out the map version

It's a pretty sweet place with a pretty sweet view of the city. Rich was homeless at the same time I moved and we were both looking for a place in the same area so we decided to share a place and get the most of our money :)

This is the view from our 3rd floor balcony. Its a fancy balcony as it goes round the corner :)

Mist on the water

The night view

It's a great neighbourhood. We have the SeaBus and all the shops we could ever need just a short walk away at Lonsdale Avenue - the main drag in this town. Of course the trails are close - prob not riding distance in practical terms as it takes 30-40mins to ride UP to them but it's do-able for sure.

This is the view from Lonsdale Quay just down the street

A wider view. I think I'm going to like living here. We also have Jenn, Danice, Monica, Arthur, Danielle and Aja all in walking distance so should be pretty sociable too :D

Club season wind up ride - Boogieman

2008-09-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

The final club ride of the summer season is usually a hot dusty affair. Not this year! The rains have come a little early this winter and today was no exception. I was very impressed by the turn out though - about 50-60 riders turned up in the pouring rain.

I was leading the faster of the shuttle groups and quickly frightened off most people with my choice of trail - Boogieman. The B-man does have some hairy bits but it's not as hairy as its reputation. Riders that don't know it are often frightened away but I managed to persuade a few that it was well within their capability.

The Shore is beautiful in the rain. The way a rainforest should be. All misty and smelling of earth and tree. Gorgeous. You'll notice a strange sight in this pic - Jon riding in the rain! And - wait for this - he actually really enjoyed it!! An epiphany for Jon for sure.

Everyone enjoyed it so much we all went for another lap - still pouring with rain - crazy - but sooo much fun.

I heart Boogieman :D

Newest Addition to the Family

2008-09-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

My poor long suffering Brodie has served me well for three seasons now but it was time to retire her. Last winter I found myself wanting a little more travel to allow me to more comfortably ie confidently throw myself down stuff. Many of my friends ride 6 and a bit inch bikes so it seemed like time to trade up and join them.

One of my friends was selling this '08 Norco Six frame so I snapped it up and swapped all the components over from the Brodie. I also took the opportunity to upgrade the fork to the latest Fox 36 Float.

Today was (Peppermint) Patty's maiden voyage and The Colonel was her perfect companion for the ride with D along as pilot.

Part time World Cup racer, full time hottie, Danice gets ready for battle

Patty was brilliant. Is brilliant in fact. Enough travel (6.3in) to cope with most things on the trail, small enough to maneuver on the tight Shore trails and light enough to pedal up the climbs. Sweet!

Patty and will be clocking up many many miles together over the coming months and years so stay tuned for more adventures!

Thanks to D for a great ride :)

BC Cup Final - Mount Washington

2008-08-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Mount Washington is on The Island, Vancouver Island. Confusing to those who aren't up on the geography of this part of the world. Vancouver is on the West (Pacific) Coast of Canada, on the South Shore of Burrard Inlet - a very long tidal inlet. On the North Shore of Burrard inlet you'll find the mountains of "The North Shore" - aha! Yes, I was confused too. So, where does Vancouver Island come into it? Well, Van Isle is a few miles off the coast - it provides beautiful calm waters along the main coastline as it shelters it from the raging Pacific. On the West (Pacific) side of the island can be found the good (but very cold) surfing - in fact people say during the storms the waves crash right up and through the forests!! That'd be a shock if you were riding your bike there!!!

First part of the journey then is to the ferry terminal an onto a boat. I was first car onto the top car deck so ended up right at the front on the boat looking out onto the ocean. This was the view from the drivers seat.

Its an hour and a half boat ride so I soon got bored pretending to be Captain Ahab looking out from his bridge! Roll on the modern technology of convenience! I stuck the laptop on the passenger seat, folded the seat back flat and sat in the back seat with my feet up watching a movie! The BEST part though was the sound system - I plugged the laptop into the car's sound system (6 speakers plus sub woofer) for an awsome wrap around, rubbling soundtrack!

After a comfortable night in the (Honda) Element I awoke to the sound of rain on the roof :(
Everyone said "it will rain" so I was prepared but still a little grumpy.

I set off to kill some time by exploring. Ten minutes later I was done! The "resort" of Mt Washington is pretty modest: One restaurant/bar. One shop. One bike shop. Ah well, I'm told the track is fun so off I went to check it out on foot - in full rain gear!

The track was actually really good. Quite technical but so well ridden that it was still pretty fast. In fact I found the faster I went, the easier it got :)

There were some vicious sharp rocks up top with no great lines through it so speed was the order of the day - try to skip across them

Near the bottom there were a couple of new sections which were only just done for practice. Pretty soft but still pretty fun.

Another shot of a rocky section - you really can't see how rough it is but believe me - it's rough!

One great thing about racing in BC is the landscape. With few exceptions, it's always a beautiful view from he top :)

Practice went well for me. By the end of the day I was really starting to fly and feeling quite confident about doing well. I headed off the mountain to stay the night with Fiona and Simon in Cumberland (just down the road). They were great hosts and showed me the sites of Cumberland by bike - kinda funny as Simon still has a broken ankle! 10 minutes later my tour was done and we took a short cut home through the singletrack in the pitch black. Once again, I pulled out the trustly cellphone to light the way!

Race day saw the weather dry out a little more and with it the track. I wasn't coping too well with this as I was enjoying the previous day's wet slippyness. Today I felt like I was riding through peanut butter. Despite this I had a pretty solid run with no major mistakes and did well enough to finish 5th on the day, putting me 4th overall in the BC Cup. Not bad for the second oldest guy in the category! (the oldest guy actually won it) Comparing my time today with the 40+ category that I'm supposed to be in next year, I would have won by 20 seconds! Hmm, perhaps I'll get much slower over the Winter ;-)

This is Fi's local mountain and she proved it by having only a couple practice runs and still making the elite podium. Nice Job :)

Si and Fi (even their names make a good couple!) invited me to stay another day to ride some local trails. It was a long weekend so I was happy to accept :)

I saw this sign on the way to the trails the next day - not sure if they have a "Ware" but it made me feel more at home :) (For those from over here, my home town is called Ware).

Fi took me to ride the "Forbidden Plateau" An old dismantled ski hill that isnt really forbidden. Some great all-mountain (that means riding up and riding down) trails and a beautiful view of the island.

This bit of trail reminded me of back home. Almost flat, windy singletrack through the trees with not a rock in sight!

It was soon time to go. Thanks to Si and Fi for putting me up for the weekend and Fi for the ride - you rock!

Back on the ferry - all the cruise ships seem to be heading out this afternoon - I think the one behind here is the Vendaam that I went on many years ago. I recommend trying it - especially if you're hungry!

I had a great weekend at Mt Washington and came away with a decent result. Next year I want to get 5-6 secs faster on these 4 min courses so I'll be a contender for the win! I'd better start training!

BC Cup Race - Sun Peaks

2008-08-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sun Peaks is an excellent winter location but i'd not given it much thought as a summer destination - until i found out I'd be racing there!

This was the 5th of 6 BC Cup races but it also doubled up as the 3rd and final round of the Canada Cup (which my mate Danice was leading).

The track was craaaaazy fast! I've never been that fast. On one speedy section one would sprint up to flat out in the fastest gear totally spun out THEN drop into a steep fast open section and let gravity take you! Sooooo fast. Sooooo fun!

I even got a pic of me :) 6th.

Crankworx '08

2008-08-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hmm, well. What can I say? Crankworx is probably the biggest mountain bike festival in the world and definiately the best!

I've dipped my toe via the endurance downhill race a couple times now but had yet really get my feet wet! This year was different. This year I did the Dual Slalom (8th) the Garbanzo Enduro Downhill (again) (13th) and last but by no means least the Canadian Open Downhill.

Whistler crowds baying for blood on the slopestyle course

Traditionally the Canadian Open is gnarly. Very gnarly. This year was no exception. Once you got through the pointy rocky bits at the top you drop into some fresh trail that is quite possibly the roughest stuff I've ever ridden - oh and you're going mach1 just to make it more err, exciting!
If you survive the rough you're onto the rooty bit and believe you mean, it's rooty alright! Did I foget to mention something? Oh yes, that'd be the 30ft step down gap jump with the blind take off (see D gracefully floating over it left)

Gnarly it was, but I survive it I did. 7th. :D

D somewhere on Garbo

I can't wait 'til next year - maybe I'll take my camera next time ;)

Whistler

2008-08-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Late season in the bike park. Paradise.

Blue skies, tacky trails and no lift lines. Once all the tourists go home it leaves the park to the locals and we REALLY appreciate it :)

Today was Jon, Tim, Sean, Colin and I for leisurely days rip around the mountain

Perfect weather for it. Oh so much fun :D

Unfortunately the bike park is an unforgiving place and Colin fell victim. He was forced by some idiots standing on the trail to brake over a wooden bridge and lost the bike. A broken wrist will see him out for a couple months. Heal up soon mate.

This is the scene as the reality of Colin's "sore" wrist dawns on us all...

He'll be back.

Fast Friends!

2008-08-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

You may remember my friend Danice? Well, she's so damn fast she actually got enough world ranking points to enter the World level races. No mean feat in itself. However, not content with just competing at the very highest level Danice stepped up to the challenge and finished 15th at the World Championships in Italy!! 15th IN THE WORLD. Sweet.

Fresh from that mind-bending experience she packed her bags for the two Canadian rounds of the World Cup Series. Now at the World Cup races you have to do a qualifying run and only 20 girls make the final - so qualifying for the final is a dream come true. This clearly wasn't enough for Danice as she ripped her way down the course to finish an incredible 12th at her first world cup race. Quite an achievement for only her second season racing.....

But then she went one better. 11th place at a World Cup race. Only 10 girls on the planet faster and you know what? That was after a big crash!

R E S P E C T !!

Nice one D. Keep it up!

Flashback to the Ripper

2008-08-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

I found this picture online the other day from the Ripper Super-D back in ohh, June? Cool pick though eh?

Rag Doll

2008-08-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

There's a nice little trail on Fromme called Rag Doll. We found this interesting alternate line at the end and Euan made us ride it a few times to get a good shot. It was getting dark so he did a fine job getting this shot of me :)

It's my pardy (and Rich's and Derek's)......

2008-07-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

There are three of us with birthdays very close together. Derek on 26th July. Rich on 30th July and mine on 6th August AND we were all born the same year. Quite a coincidence as we ride together all the time. This is probably the first time we're been aware of it in advance so we all thought it'd be good to do something. And so it was that we rolled up to Squamish for a spot of riding

Michele has always been a bit of ripper but since taking a biking course and getting a new bike she is "off da hook!"

Meg, our wonderful host as always

me on the unfinished bridge

and what's this? Could it be ANOTHER picture of me? Wow, it really is my birthday!

another attempt at the arty picture. Met yet again with a chopping off head! Sorry Rich.

Meg had a little accident with Derek's fancy test bike - she backed it into this post. Only Derek didnt see the funny side - well it was his birthday ;)

More friends at Meg's for dinner :)

Of course, the best thing about birthdays is cake. We are fortunate enough to have Michele on the team - ace cook and baker to produce SPIDY CAKE! Unfortunately for Michele, Rich insists on chocolate cake and I insist on anything but! So two cakes it was :)

mmmmm, spidy cake!

The next day we were up early and headed across the water to the wonderful Sunshine Coast. Here's Michele yet again but this time just about to have a big crash. This drop was wet, slippery, up hill and on a corner - tricky for sure so full marks to Michele for trying it

We had a great day as always and topped off every run with cake! Perfect :)

Didn't chop Rich's head off this time!

It was a little early but a great triple birthday weekend.
I'm looking forward to next year (kinda) lol!

Bear Mountain BC Cup Race

2008-07-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Bear Mountain is about a hour's drive from the big smoke and literally a stone's throw from Arduum (you may remember Arduum from some of my previous adventures). Anyway, I was looking forward to the Bear Mt race as I'd already checked out the track and done some of the big jumps; it always pumps up the confidence when you know (and are comfortable with) what you're getting into. This was Bear. Bring it on.

Look. A photo of me!

The track is really fun but some of the jumps are pretty big AND unforgiving - a wall of logs if you come up short - not too friendly. Unfortunately Simon (fresh from winning the Canadian National Champs) followed an idiot into of of the biggest ones. The idiot (that's the previous idiot I mentioned - not Simon) stopped on the take off causing Simon to brake, then squeeze past and try to make the jump - he didn't. Instead he piled into the wall of logs and broke his leg. Oouch!

I also had some issues with the jumps. I wasnt "feeling it" all thru pratice so didn't do the biggest jump and for some reason I couldn't jump one of the smallest either. Granted, it was pretty tricky but just something about it got the better of me. Eventually I went for the jump but managed to crash hard into the back of the landing (a wall of rocks in this case). I managed to mangle the fork, giving it less than half the travel it should have. Oops. This of course meant the race didnt go so well but I finished 7th. The crash did linger with me though, I think I must of cracked somethin in my foot cos it REALLY hurt for a few weeks after :( Its better now.

Tim had a great race and finished 2nd in Elite. Nice one mate.

Tour De Gas Town

2008-07-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

A slight change of pace today with The Tour De Gas Town!

Lots of roadies in lycra ripping round and round in circles like a pack of dogs. In lycra. With shaved legs!

Squamish Club Ride

2008-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

My club deal is a great one. In exchange for handsome pricing on bikes and parts all I have to do is show up and lead a bunch of rides. Occasionally I lead the slower groups and it can drag things out a bit but they always turn out to be good rides no matter the group or who turns up.

Today was the turn of Squamish to host the ride. I was paired up with Euan (by Euan as it happens - action shot of him left) for an intermediate/advanced ride.

I dont know Squamish that well but I was happy to take up the rear. Unfortunately Euan knew less than I so I tentatively took pole position.

We did a great trail to start although I rode straight past the entrance as it was too obvious! - I remember the entrance as being subtle and easy to miss so I was thrown a bit by the major junction as we rode past it. Ah well, no matter - it just made for a better warm up!

I'm not entireley sure why I took this shot but here it is anyway in its full fuzzy glory!

One of the many nice features on this trail is this steep ladder-roll. It used to end with a gnarly off-camber route but this has now been chopped out so its all good!

Rider leaders everywhere!

This rock was quite trecherous - it was covered with gravel and fine dust so despite the appearance of grip there was none to be had. It was just an illusion. Ooo ooo, ah ahh. Illusion.

Yes, they have woodwork in Squampton. Have you seen Shandro's segment in Seasons? "Where is Squampton" I hear you ask. Its what (some of) the locals call Squamish. I think it's kinda cool.

This one actually feels a little precarious as the fall to rider's left is no inconsiderable and onto rocks

New bridge almost finished next to decommissioned bridge

My attempts at photography meet with much inconsistency. Here the water in the foreground looks cool but I chopped the rider's head off! Oops. If only for a wide angle lens.

After 3 wonderful laps we called it a day and headed to the pub only to find that most other people had already been and gone. We're pretty hardcore doing 3 laps - I think 1 was the order of the day. Ah well, we had fun :)

Road trip pt VI - Heading Home

2008-07-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

We took a couple days to drive back so stopped off in a couple places. The first wasnt too far from Golden

incredible trails very much like the shore - but with loam!

good times :)

The crew - photo by Jenn. She had a broken wrist from a particularly poor landing in Whistler

crap views

stand by for action!

further on during our trek home we stopped off at Crazy Creek to check out a waterfall I'd glimpsed on the way up

pretty impressive - and this was the middle of summer - I'd like to check this baby out in the spring!

"do something interesting" says Tim - this is what I came up with ;)

We also took a day at the oh-so-brilliant SilverStar Bike Park. Sooooo much fun. I even bumped into Johnny Smoke in the parking lot!

A final day at Whistler closed out our road trip. Wow. It was good. Cheers Tim.

Road Trip pt V - Psychosis, Golden

2008-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

So. It's been a gazillion years since I last blogged (despite the fact that through a marvel of modern technology the dates don't appear to show it - assuming I remember to doctor them!). It's just that it takes a month of sundays to figure out which pictures to use, upload them (yawn) and rearrange them into something that makes sense. Well, I suppose not quite a month, maybe a fortnight of sundays ;-)

So onto the business in hand. Now....let me cast my mind back.....

So the headline news today - or rather yesterday - or perhaps even a few weeks ago - Is the CRAZY conditions we saw in practice. We thought we'd sneak in another run and maybe it'd rain later. What we didn't realize was that by the time we'd done the half hour drive to the top the clouds were literally busting with rain. "Hmm" we thought "it's starting to rain! Better hurry up and head down". Rich, Tim and I were all done with Dead Dog and didnt want to push our luck too much so we bypassed it and headed down to the singletrack. Dave and Derek wanted more of Dead Dog so dropped into the super-gnarl - in a rain storm! GNARLY!

Unfortunately for Dave, it proved a little too gnarly. A hundred feet or so in, the mountain got the better of the battle and took Dave down - to add injury to insult, it also gave him a serious shark bite - 9 internal and 36 external stitches - OUCH!!

Unfortunately for Dave (to say he was having a bad day doesnt really cover it) he was now seriously injured and 100ft below the summit of a large mountain in torrential rain, thunder and lightning! Fortunately for Dave (at last some luck) there were a number of other riders at the top. It took 14 of them over an hour to drag Dave back up to the waiting ambulance. Good work guys and special thanks to Arthur, Clark, and the Dunbar Cycles crew.

With Dave all patched (stitched) up and a good night's sleep under our belts we headed off for race day.

...the damn van with the Red Bull arch in the background

The race went pretty well for me. I cleaned dead dog and hit most of my lines to come in 8th with a time of 17m 35s. I was just happy to have had a decent run.

After my race we had plenty of time to head up for a spot of spectating - riding in the back of Brian's truck was so much better than the crazy army trucks the organisers were using - I swear there must have been more than one rider to have developed back problems while shuttling Psychosis style!

Here we are at "Wet Dream" - a big jump over and down past some rocks

imagine coming over the lip of this rock right in the centre of the picture and landing out of the bottom of the frame. Oh, and watch out for the tree dead ahead!

If you survived Wet Dream you have only to hang on for another 5 minutes before you get to the road gap.....

The road gap is HUGE. I walked up to the edge but I'm not quite ready to chuck myself off this one just yet! If D was here, she'd hit it. Crazy gal.

Tim

Tim, Tim and Tim

Well done guys. Quality job and thanks to Dave for being totally understanding and accomodating to all of us riding despite his shark bite.

Road Trip pt IV - Kicking Horse, Golden

2008-07-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

After a couple days of Psycho action we decided to get away from it all with a day at the Bike Park on the other side of the valley at Kicking Horse.

Brian came with which meant sitting on a cooler in the back of the Element for the ride over there - Brian's a pro so he was cool with it.

one curious thing - to get to the hill all the traffic has to negotiate this narrow, single lane bridge that felt like it was going to wash away at any minute!

Kicking Horse is a small resort but seems to have a pretty big ski area. The Bike Park goes almost as far by using the full length of the main gondola

At almost 8,000ft its pretty high at the top and the view is breathtaking

Unfortunately the bike trails don't extend all the way to the top so each lap starts with a 5 minute descent down a gravel access road - here's Tim and Brian heading out for a lap

Tim seemed to like it

Further down there's a mixture of trails with some of the now obligatory wooden ladder stunts - this one was actually quite fun - but I'm not so sure I'd want to go there on anything other than a bone dry day!

hey! it's me!!

and here's my version of Tim - this was the first time I noticed Tim doesnt have a head!

One trail we all enjoyed was "Rock and Roll" - mainly singletrack but with two memorable rock faces - the first was about 75ft long, very steep and a good warm up for number two: about 150ft long and quite a bit steeper. Neither had much of a run-out so control was the name of the game!

Here's Brian dropping in on the second section. The rock is smooth here and not very grippy. Brian was having some bad luck with this - the first lap he crashed half way down - it was a miracle he managed to survive it - and the second lap he got a flat tyre so rode the last third in very wild style!

We had a great day and rode most of the trails - it was good but it wasnt anywhere near to Whistler or Silverstar in terms of quality trails. Gnarly yes, flowy...maybe not.

we didnt have a place to stay the night but Jenn and Brian's host - Cara offered her back yard - perfect.

Here's Brian juggling invisible chainsaws....

Meanwhile, I broke out EZTent - Jenn had heard all about EZTent so grabbed my camera to document the pitching process...

she almost missed it - its pretty easy to pitch and very quick

This is the bit I forgot the night before - the locking mechanism!! lol

et voila!

meanwhile, across the valley - a storm was raging....thunder and lightning decended on Mt 7

Next morning was sunny weather in Golden but the forecast didnt look too good. Unperturbed by the impending doom, Cara and Jenn started the day with an impromptu hula session

Road Trip pt III - Swansea(!?) and Golden

2008-07-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

A strange thing happened while we went in the pools one more time at Panorama....
....while the bikes were locked up outside the bike shop they mysteriously grew reflectors!! People have suggested it was Darcy but I think it was the "ground squirrels"

After a couple nights in the relative luxury of one of Panorama's, err more cost effective suites we were ready to save some cash and rough it a bit.

Half an hour later and after an extensive dredging of the dark corners of Tim's memory, we found a cool spot in the mountains to camp for the night.

It had plenty of wildlife - we saw some deer wandering around us but it was too dark to get any decent photos - only managed photos of the flowers

Although you'd have thought I wouldnt have a problem with light on account of my farmers sunburn which was GLOWING after the 40deg heat the day before - no need for a fire!

After a false start with EZ-Tent's inaugural pitching I got a great nights sleep despite the fireworks (its Canada Day y'know!)

The next day after a quick visit to the local bike shop (it has to be done) we met Nick, Steve and Jamie at Mt Swansea for some shuttling action.
Aaron was our local guide and he did a great job of showing us the best trails before he had to rip of for some family duty

unfortunately Tim managed to wedge himself under a fallen tree but he survived to finish a couple laps before we had to refuel the truck and ourselves.

After a quick subway we decided that Mt 7 was beckoning but a short drive away.

Psychosis here we come!

An hour away is the town of Golden, the home of Mount Seven which is where for the past ten years the local nutters have held the The Mt 7 Psychosis - "The Most Demented Downhill Mountain Bike Race in the World"

With a drop of 4,500ft it takes about 40 mins to drive up - but only 15-20mins to ride a bike back down!! ;-)

The view from the top is amazing - click the picture for a better view....

S'funny how most trails have a sign on a tree - The Psychosis trail starts like this - an ominous arrow pointing over the side of a cliff! This is why its called the Psychosis!

Like me, Brian hadn't been here before. This was his first look over the edge. He was scared. I was scared. EVERYONE WAS SCARED!

Obviously photos cant do this justice but this is the view down the first pitch. Doesn't look much does it?

Does this help?

The top bit of the trail is known as "Dead Dog" - its the obvious trail you can see going straight down.....then even straighter down - yes, that's where it really get interesting!

You might just be able to make out the hang-glider launch pad on the left - its not as steep on that side ;-)

It has to be the craziest thing you could ever ride a bike down - to this day, a month after the event I couldnt settle on how I feel about it: Scared, fun, thrilling, sketchy, fast, ridiculous but oh so.... err..... so psycho!!!!

Post-ride, things were a little less tense than before the ride! We all survived but not without incident! I managed an 100ft sideways slide - speedway style - I get that from my mum's side of the family....

Mum's cousin Brian Brett in 1965 showing the style that I'd use 43 years later to ride down a cliff in Canada!

After our first run, Tim and I went up with the trail crew to help with some maintenance - good karma i thought - hmmm, not so sure now - I managed to roll a hugh rock onto my foot which resulted in a leaky big toe! Probably good that it bled and oozed for a week as it didnt build up too much pressure and I might just keep the nail.
So much for karma.

Road Trip pt II - Panorama

2008-06-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend is round 3 of the BC Cup Downhill. Having crashed in the first race (Kamloops) and got 4th in the last race (Arduum) I was keen to do well but had no idea what to expect other than Tim's description of the "80kph roller jump"

We stayed in one of the resort condos - pretty good except the standard of cleaning - no-one wants to find tissues and condom wrappers under the bed when they arrive!

There was a big crew up for the race - including most of the oldies that are my competition!

(pic by Tim)

Beer
(pic by Tim)

Tim and I stayed with Danielle Baker - photographer extraordinaire!

, Kevin - sorry Kev, no lifestyle photo for you

(pic by Tim)

and the newly weds, Ryan and Kat
(pic by Tim)

some random pics of the resort

ski lifts - yay!

Dawn's dog

here's that roller jump I mentioned - the track wound down through trees and blazed across the occasional ski-run before popping out just above the village. Next came a long straight fall-line descent into a gentle left hand corner and over this crest - at about 40-50mph - enough to send riders into the air for about 50ft just before crossing a stream bed - exciting stuff. The challenge was to pedal down the big hill and not touch the brakes - pretty scary at those speeds

Ah, Kevin, there you are - and there you are again just to make up for it! The jump didnt send you very high but you sure went a looooong way!

Team 203.... or was it room 220? I cant remember but you get the idea

(pic by Danielle)

It was record tempretures in Panorama this weekend with a high of 40! Fortunately they have excellent pools to cool off in, complete with 2 waterslides - the Dunbar boys managed to have the slides shutdown after they got a little too competitive and developed the running-start to to win the race down the pipe! There's something very appealing about a bike race with a nice pool...
(pic by Tim)

So how'd the race go? Well, in practice I'd been getting pretty fast but was still dragging my brakes a bit on the ski runs. In my race run, I stayed off the brakes in the first two open sections and was having a pretty stella run when.... phsssstt! I got a flat. I was only a quarter of the way down so no point in carrying on so I just peeled off my armour and started the long walk down in the blistering heat - little did I realize at the time just how blistering! The next week of blistered shoulders under body armour would teach me (yet again) about sun protection. Damn it!

(pic by Tyler Maine)

Danielle looking very fast as usual

(pic by Tim)

Kat suck ing up the landing of the jump across the 4X track (pic by Tim)

...and Kev. This is his race run - he lost his pedals on the creek jump after the roller jump and in this pic he's doing 30mph through the grass trying to find them again! A scary moment for everyone watching but he carried on to finish safely (pic by Tim)

And the legendary Tim Coleman
(superbe photo by Ryan Potma)

the signature panoramic shot of the final section of the track with the village in the background

With race day out of the way, Tim and I spent the following day exploring the rest of the Panorama Bike Park. As you can see, the views here are stunning

(pic by Tyler Maine)

don't mind if I do!

The park has some really cool bits in it. This section of "Punisher" was pretty fun - a steep rocky line that weaved between the trees - it also helped me get some steep riding practice before next week's madness - the Mt 7 Psychosis!
(pic by Tyler Maine)

We'd arranged to ride with Darcy - the Bike Park manager (amongst other things) and also Tyler from Pink Bike

Here's Darcy

(pic by Tyler Maine)

(pic by Tyler Maine)

(pic by Tyler Maine)

(pic by Tyler Maine)

(pic by Tyler Maine)

Here's me just before flatting for the 2nd time in two days - and only the 2nd time since getting the bike in December! Does that mean I've had good or bad luck? Hmmm?

That put an end to my day and after 3 days of ski-lift assisted riding I was pooped. You might think it would be easy with a ski lift to defy gravity but you'd only be partly right. With the effortless uplift comes a bazillion downhill runs which can really take it out of an old fella like me.

Anyway, off to explore somewhere new tomorrow before heading to Golden.

For more on Panorama, take a look at Tim's blog on TimColeman.ca (look for Mad Trapper) or Tyler's professional write up on PinkBike

Road Trip pt I - The Rockies

2008-06-27T18:15:00.000-07:00

BC is a big place and with two races scheduled on the eastern border only a week apart it was the perfect opportunity for a road trip.

My co-pilot for the trip was Tim, the original Element driving, Norco riding immigrant although he hails (hales?) from South Africa.

Element loaded and we hit the road Friday bound for Panorama near Invermere on the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

This was also a great opportunity to drop in on my boss, Genn who moved up to Revelstoke over the winter. This is here new house - pretty nice eh? I think she'll be seeing me again come ski season ;-)

The drive was boring - nothing to look at ;-)

have Element will travel... this is Tim's one, I left mine at home

boring

nothing to see here, move along.....

Once over the beautiful Roger's Pass the terrain took a slightly flatter shape as we headed across the shallow valley that is the source of the Columbia River - slightly misleading as the valley bottom itself is over 3000ft above sea level

With only a stop in Revi we made it in 9 hours and change. A quick stop for groceries and we were set and finished the day with a midnight stroll up the downhill track by cellphone light - after all, we dont want people seeing our lines!!

awww look at the sunlight on the power lines, so priddy

Arduum BC Cup

2008-06-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

The BC Cup is made up of six races, Arduum is race two and is held at Red Mountain in Mission, behind the shooting range!
The track was first raced last year and you can tell because there is still a lot of loam on the track.

Here am I in a less loamy section

Photos courtesy of Corey

Rich

Its a very hard track. Even the start ramp is perched on top of a rough rock roll! After some really tight, steep and techy rocks and roots there's a 6-10ft drop off a big rock - now if the drop was the only thing to worry about it would be pretty much ok BUT the run in to the drop had riders squiggling over a few feet of seriously off-camber roots just 4 feet from the edge - not much room for corrections!!

Jenn slaying it as always but this time on her little bike with big forks borrowed from the big bike

Jenn, like me took the Chicken-Dinner line round the rock drop - all the best people were ;-)

There were also a couple of gap jumps near the end of the track that claimed many a back wheel - the course marshalls stopped counting a little after 20! Jenn and I once more took the Chicken Dinner line

Brian O

Brian B - next year I'll be relegated to the 40-49 category so I'll be up against my team mate Brian - or Bottom Bracket as we like to call him. Not sure how I feel about racing with the REALLY old boys. And no, before you even think it, I'm not 40 yet but next year is the year of my 40th birthday so I have to race the whole year in that category.

Here's me again. I was a little out of it again at this race - couldnt seem to get my head into riding so didnt manage the gaps or the drop and therefore felt quite down at the prospect of coming dead last. I figured out later it was my new tyres and lack of sleep which put my head in a strange place. I was trying to be ahead of the game by putting on wet weather friendly tyres knowing the track is almost always wet but as it turned out it was dry! The lack of sleep was because I was up at 3.30am watching the World Championships online - Well done to Danice for coming 15th IN THE WORLD!! Nice job :)

As it turned out, I had a clean run (around everything) and finished 4th su-weet!!

I'm really looking forward to the next BC Cup race at Panorama next week :)

The Woodlot

2008-06-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Rich, Derek and I thought it'd be a good idea to sample the woodlot in the dry as an alternative to the snow and rain we usually see there. I wasnt having a great day - just wasnt on it - but Derek certainly was. Armed with a new Trek Session 8 on test with him for NSMB we hauled up the huge climb to the top of Platinum...

Here's Derek starting as he meant to go on with the first gap

Rich on the first berm before the tricky hip (complete with special effect bendy trees!) - no-one made this one although it was the only one Derek didnt hit!

Slightly less odd looking trees with Rich - these two pics are of course made up of two photos each, spliced together courtesy of Photoshop

Some close up action of Derek

Rich

Derek

Derek

This one was a little crazy - jump up over a gap, over a ladder, over another gap and onto the landing (which was completely blind at takeoff)

Nice work D-rek

Derek sussing out the final (substantial) drop which minutes later he hit as the last feature of a run of about 6 - superb!

more ladders to get out. Well done to Derek for stepping up to virtually everything on his first run down - and on a new bike too! Crazy!

Just a quick Whis shot from the next day - the bear got a bit flustered in the middle of the bone yard - 100 metres from the lift line at the bottom. The photographer in the foreground was chased off seconds after this was taken - awww, cuddly Whistler bears!

The Rat Race

2008-06-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

Regulars will know how much I enjoy riding on the Sunshine Coast. Each year they hold the "Rat Race" there for both cross country and downhill. Couch potato as I am, obviously I only entered the downhill. Some photos courtesy of Corey and Danielle Baker

The great thing about the Rat Race is EVERYONE goes - well pretty much, I can only think of a few who didnt (Fiona, Jon, Michele - we expect better next year!)

Here's Danice storming her way back from a crash to the podium

The course is really fun - a few small jumps, lots of roots and totally pinned everywhere (for my mum I should just explain pinned means really really fast ;-))

Here's Rich

Danice again, getting a bit out of shape in the sand dunes known as the berms

heyhey! C'est moi!

and things went pretty well - imagine my surprise when they did the medals (before results were published) and they called me up for 3rd place! Suweeeet!

One of the more interesting bits - the jump over the log - it caught out a few people but nothing too serious fortunately. I think the prize for crash of the day has to go to Penny who lost it landing from the log and face planted into a random log right next to her mum and dad! No problem though, she jumped back on and finished her run

and the lovely Danielle Baker, not only good behind the camera but looks sooo fast when captured in front of it too!

Everyone had a great time and loads of my friends podiumed so a great weekend and one I'm already looking forward to next year :)

At last - Vedder (and Bear Mt)

2008-05-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

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