AB Cup # 1 - Grande Prairie

To start this post off I want to give shout out to the Bikehawk Bike Club, Nitehawk Ski Area and the ADHRA for organizing a great weekend of racing. The Bikehawk and Nitehawk volunteers worked hard to make sure this event was fun, they all had tons of enthusiasm and organized a great event. I'll be honest coming into the event I wasn't expecting much from the course knowing they had limited vertical and it was a relatively new hill. However, as with all the riders I spoke to, we where pleasantly surprised at how much fun the course was, and how it wasn't only a great race but a great event with the race, a BBQ, opening the Freestyle Ski Water Ramp , fastest speed with the RCMP on site with a radar gun and camping right near by. The course was approx. 2 minutes long, with some steep sections, well manicured berms, a variety of terrain, multiple little jumps, drops, natural features, and even if the area is a little short on rocks and roots they did a great job at adding some technical bits with some off camber sections, quick shoots and tight corners leaving all the riders stoked about the weekend and the fast course.

From my standpoint the weekend went well and I'm quite happy with the results considering I had a scary spill on Sunday's practice before the race run. I will say I'm glad I decided to start riding with the Leatt Brace this season though as I felt my helmet hit the brace as I came down hard head first and walked away with minor bumps and bruises. As a result I was a little hesitant on my race run but my times where still respectable with a 10th place finish out of 18 or so riders in my category but more importantly I was only about 2 seconds off the pace I was hoping to be on which would have had me close to the top 5. The Rest of the DHR had a good showing as well with 1st and 2nd in the Elite Class, The fastest the womens time on the day and 4 riders in the top 10 for Senior Sport. Unfortunately I won't be able to make the Kicking Horse next weekend so the next race update will be sometime after the Rabbit Hill Race in two weeks. (I'll hopefully add a few more pictures as they surface in the coming week.)

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.

Hiking in Kananaskis

Well this weekend saw another weekend of the many I plan on spending in the Rockies pass by. Me Jess headed down to Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for the weekend with the Hopes of Hiking Burstall's Pass. Knowing the pass was snow covered we knew there was chance we wouldn't be able to complete the desired route. But our hopes where high and we where ready to thrudge through some snow as long as it was safe to do so. However, we where greated with high avanlache danger and suggestions not to hike the route so it was time to reconsider and we ended up hiking Pocaterra instead. Which was an awesome day, (what day isn't when it's sunny, cool, and you're in the rockies). However, the hike has been added to my do not repeat or suggest list. It's was basically a 22-24KM fireroad walk with a good view at the top. Oh well i guess another trip will have to be planned for Burstall and a couple of the Alpine hikes in the area. Enjoy the pics.

Kamloops Race the Ranch

We'll last weekend saw Race the Ranch in Kamloops come and go. It was a fun weekend, as all weekends that include friends, bicycle and a mountain always seem to be. I have to say racing in Kamloops is an entirely different ball game though., and the picture to the left sums it up pretty well. The thick powder of dust on the trail resulted in perpetually changing lines, and multiple riders falling into pillows of Dust. For myself the runs where mixed. In all honesty I only had one practice run where I felt good in this foreign terrain. So I had hoped to just take it relatively easy on my race run in the top portion which seemed to be claiming so many racers and then pedal my @#% off on the bottom to tie in a decent run. Well the top third went well, but trying a slightly different line I got sideways took out flag pole amd in an attempt to make up the lost seconds bailed twice on the bottom sections killing any hopes of a decent finish. However as always it was fun weekend rippin' on bike, and I can't wait till the next race to try reclame a little bit of pride ; ).

Baseline Mountain

First chance to get out and ride some vertical and looking forward to Race the Ranch in Kamloops this weekend.