AB Cup Provincials

Well the end of the race season has passed with the provincials in Blairmore, AB. I was looking forward to the weekend for a couple of reasons. First and foremost it was the start of my summer holidays which I'll wright about in a couple more post over the week, and secondly I hope the longer, more traditional DH course would provide me with a chance to get another top 10 and end the season on a high note since I've managed to fall in 3 of the 4 last races. Practice had me feeling good on the course and I felt a top 10 in the large field was an attainable goal but after a fun day of practice the skies opened up over night with rain, lightning and hail and we knew a new element was just added to race day where staying on two wheels was going to be a big part of placing well.

After the mornings practice I still felt good having survived the tech sections on every run and felt good on the rest. However come to my race run I tried pushing a little past my limit on the top sections and lost it on some roots bending my brake lever. Trying to salvage my run, knowing the conditions would slow a lot of racers down I pushed hard but lost it on the rock face locking my rear brake not being able to undulate the braking power properly with the bent brake lever leaving my hopes of a good finish out the window. I'll leave you with a few pics and hopes that next season I manage to keep the bike rubber side down.

AB Cup # 3 - Rabbit Hill

First to thank the crew from Park Cycle, the ADHRA and the volunteers who made this a great weekend. It was a fun weekend where the best was made of Rabbit Hill. I'll be the first to admit on it's own merit Rabbit Hill doesn't provide a course that is considered a true DH track, and isn't suited to my riding strengths personally so I didn't have high expectations for this race. However, living in Alberta it does provide lift access racing, with great a group of riders from Alberta, and you know you are in for a fun weekend regardless of the terrain. The track reminds me more of a slalom style course then a DH run with a long pedally top section in a few trees after that for a couple of turns and then out into the open for a few doubles and step downs before ripping down to the finish. The weekend went on without a hitch till race day. Where rain and high winds shut down the lifts making the race runs a hike bike (only time I was glad rabbit doesn't have much more vertical). That same wind made the pedal at the finish into the headwind much harder and I'm sure the gust of wind on their own was enough to add a couple seconds to someones time.

The Rage Crew showed strong with 3 of the top 5 pro times and Mark Wolstenholme tearing the field apart the day after his Stag with a 1:24 about 5 seconds ahead of the second fastest time of the day, and 4 podiums with Mark and Derek 1st and 3rd in Pro, Tyler Gregson winning the U15 even with a hard bail just before the finish, and Michelle Wolstenholme taking 2nd in the Masters A Women. Personally I had a bad race run with a few bobbles and almost eating it on the doubles but still managed a 16th out of 27th which looking back isn't all that bad considering how poorly I did and a course that I new I wouldn't be particularly strong on. Now I'm off to travel a week in the prairies before making it back for the Provincials in Blaimore next weekend which starts of my weeks holidays in Rockies, mountain biking and hiking.

Panorama Mad Trapper BC Cup # 2

Well well another race weekend in BC, how to sum this one up. Wicked fun course, awesome people, great weather and the snow melt made sure the course was just muddy enough to be a riot to ride. So after an amazing 2 days of riding, and maybe a little drinking I can home stoked as soon as I managed to forget about my race run. Two falls and Dropped chain resulted in my worst finish ever and I guess I'll be looking to regain a little pride once the Alberta Cups start next weekend. But oh well that's racing! A quick Shout goes out to Tyler who took a top 10 finishing 7 in his class in his first race after killing it all weekend, look out for him on the Alberta Cups as he has a lot potential for some podium finishes in the near future.

Spring Training

We'll with everything that led me to Edmonton over the winter I'm a little (ok a lot) behind on my cardio. But as thing settle training has begun both on and off the bike.