Arrived in Canmore, Alberta for the Canada Cup XC Nationals after a solid two and a half days of driving with Taylor Near. We arrived early evening and were welcomed by rain and cool temperatures, which later that evening switched to sun and warmer temps. We unpacked the truck, grabbed some groceries in town, ate and hit the hay.
We awoke the next morning to go do some practice laps with Peter Glassford. I led him out to show him some lines that I may choose on course, it was a good ride until... I came over a wood bridge a bit too hot, over shot and compressed hard, which caused my back end to flex or something, which ended up grabbing my derailleur in the wheel and ripping it off the bike, wiping out 7 spokes while at it, bummer. I stopped, assessed the situation and felt sort of weird, maybe a combination of a long drive, high altitudes, adrenaline, not too sure, but I reached for my bottle on my bike and continued to topple into my bike as I passed out, weird. I hydrated like mad and felt fine, but my bike was in rough shape. I managed to hit up CAFE, the local bike shop in town, to grab some spokes to rebuild my wheel. Luckily my derailleur was fine and I had a spare hanger, so I got my bike rolling once the team bikes were all checked over and race ready.
Taylor and I headed to the Nordic Center early afternoon to get all of the wheels set up in the tech zone, and take the teams water bottles up with us in the cooler. Cayley Brooks was the first of our riders to race in the U23 women's category. She came around on her second lap with a rear flat, which we changed out with lightning fast speed, and got her running again, she ended up in 8th. As the sun came out behind the mountain and clouds the temperature increased, just in time for the men to race. All of our Elite riders had a good start and pushed hard. Adam had a good clean race and ended up in 5th! Peter Glassford had a crash on his third lap, burped his tire on his fourth and still came in across the line in 7th, after fighting his way back up to pass Norco Factory team rider Andrew Watson. Eric Batty had some unfortunate mechanical issues causing him to loose a bunch of time and got pulled on his last lap, he was riding well too. In the U23 men's category, young gun Mitch Bailey rode an awesome race and was looking great but just couldn't hold the win, he finished up in 2nd. All in all, it was an awesome race, the entire team rode really well and did a fantastic job! Tomorrow Peter and Adam are riding in a team relay so that will be cool. I also look forward to riding the other trails around here and having some fun! Check back for pictures and other updates soon!
Happy Trails!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Buckwallow XC #4
Buckwallow, around Gravenhurst area, was host to the last O Cup XC race this past weekend. I had never ridden there before and was told I would absolutely love the trails, and I definitely did! It's pretty much flat, a few small climbs but nothing serious, with tons of flat open double track and super technical single track at times, lots of fun!
I went up Saturday morning to get in some practice laps. There was a new section they had added just for the 1:30 start times which was interesting to say the least. It was all rock, quick uphills and some drop offs and other rocky bits, it was slow and hard on the body. I did 4 laps, 2 a little slower and 2 race laps and felt pretty good. I got to bed at a decent hour and felt good the next morning for the race.
I got to Buckwallow nice and early and fed my friend Mike who came up with me during his 11:30 am sport race. His race finished and I started my warm up. I got to the line a bit late and ended up lining up at the back of the pack. My first three laps felt pretty good, then on the 4th lap I bonked hard (meaning my body was on the verge of shutting down). Luckily Barry Near of the Trek store was there for the race and kept me going with his comments. I picked up the pace a touch for my fifth lap and ended up crossing the line in 7th. I was happy with my result, but not too happy with the way I performed, so definitely some work to be done there! I may also add that the top elite guys were off at the world cup at Windham, so it let the rest of the elite field battle it out. Overall I am pleased with how it went and will definitely be getting back up to Buckwallow to ride again, the trails are amazing.
I just arrived in Canmore AB for the Canadian National XC race, so I will keep you posted as things unroll.
Happy Trails!
I went up Saturday morning to get in some practice laps. There was a new section they had added just for the 1:30 start times which was interesting to say the least. It was all rock, quick uphills and some drop offs and other rocky bits, it was slow and hard on the body. I did 4 laps, 2 a little slower and 2 race laps and felt pretty good. I got to bed at a decent hour and felt good the next morning for the race.
I got to Buckwallow nice and early and fed my friend Mike who came up with me during his 11:30 am sport race. His race finished and I started my warm up. I got to the line a bit late and ended up lining up at the back of the pack. My first three laps felt pretty good, then on the 4th lap I bonked hard (meaning my body was on the verge of shutting down). Luckily Barry Near of the Trek store was there for the race and kept me going with his comments. I picked up the pace a touch for my fifth lap and ended up crossing the line in 7th. I was happy with my result, but not too happy with the way I performed, so definitely some work to be done there! I may also add that the top elite guys were off at the world cup at Windham, so it let the rest of the elite field battle it out. Overall I am pleased with how it went and will definitely be getting back up to Buckwallow to ride again, the trails are amazing.
I just arrived in Canmore AB for the Canadian National XC race, so I will keep you posted as things unroll.
Happy Trails!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Blue Mountain DH #4
Canada Day long weekend at blue mountain, blue skies, perfect weather and riding bikes, what a great time! Aside from the 4.5 hour drive Friday a.m to get to Collingwood. We opted to enjoy Canada Day and save the riding for Saturday and Sunday. A friend of mine brought over a little 50cc dirt bike to play around on, and I had a GoPro, things got loose! check back for some hilarious footage soon.
In the woods off a small feature
Practice day went well, I was feeling good and riding well, my new POC helmet was feeling great too, and the POC goggles I had to match kept my line of sight clear! There were a few new sections on the course from last year, which made the track a little more interesting. A couple of rock gardens were built up, a new berm and little step down jump were added, and near the bottom of the course they added in some "steps" made of about 15-20 logs laid across the trail filled between with slabs of stone and some dirt, it could get rough if your speed wasn't up. Then right before the finish line they added in a take off ramp but also left the option to go beside it, faster? maybe, the outside line around it was loose and felt slow, and the inside line beside the jump was tight, I opted to hit the jump and just stay nice and low.
Squatting one of the final jumps
Race day came around and I was stoked to be riding Blue Mountain. After a few race course practice runs the course was closed for lunch. I just wanted to keep riding so I rode the other trails that Blue had to offer until it was race time. It kept me warmed up and loose, but probably tired me out too, but I was just having too much fun. Race time rolled around, I dropped in and was riding rather "hack" for the top quarter then finally got into a groove and started feeling good. I came through the finish line in 5th (0.5 seconds behind Terry Leimonis who I had been riding with all weekend) then ended up finishing in 7th again. Mike Hermo form Silent Norco Racing took the win by a good margin, followed by local and young ripper James Frost with Brad Zdrillluk in third. Another awesome event, and another great weekend at Blue, it was an amazing time, thanks to Harry for the place to stay, SirBikealot Racing and all of the Volunteers, Buckwallow report coming next!
Race Run, mid scrub
Happy Trails!
In the woods off a small feature
Practice day went well, I was feeling good and riding well, my new POC helmet was feeling great too, and the POC goggles I had to match kept my line of sight clear! There were a few new sections on the course from last year, which made the track a little more interesting. A couple of rock gardens were built up, a new berm and little step down jump were added, and near the bottom of the course they added in some "steps" made of about 15-20 logs laid across the trail filled between with slabs of stone and some dirt, it could get rough if your speed wasn't up. Then right before the finish line they added in a take off ramp but also left the option to go beside it, faster? maybe, the outside line around it was loose and felt slow, and the inside line beside the jump was tight, I opted to hit the jump and just stay nice and low.
Squatting one of the final jumps
Race day came around and I was stoked to be riding Blue Mountain. After a few race course practice runs the course was closed for lunch. I just wanted to keep riding so I rode the other trails that Blue had to offer until it was race time. It kept me warmed up and loose, but probably tired me out too, but I was just having too much fun. Race time rolled around, I dropped in and was riding rather "hack" for the top quarter then finally got into a groove and started feeling good. I came through the finish line in 5th (0.5 seconds behind Terry Leimonis who I had been riding with all weekend) then ended up finishing in 7th again. Mike Hermo form Silent Norco Racing took the win by a good margin, followed by local and young ripper James Frost with Brad Zdrillluk in third. Another awesome event, and another great weekend at Blue, it was an amazing time, thanks to Harry for the place to stay, SirBikealot Racing and all of the Volunteers, Buckwallow report coming next!
Race Run, mid scrub
Happy Trails!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Dylonn's bike is done!
So here is a sweet Session 88 that has been a few weeks in the making. New employee Dylon, bought Rob Fraser's session 88 from last season, it was a used bike when we started, now its close to mint and ready to roll. So, we replaced all the bearings, got the main frame re painted matte black, and got all of the hardware anodized cherry red, look s sweet. Check it out! May I add its 37.75lbs with nothing too ridiculous!
Fresh Session 88
Red anodized parts... Smart!
Fresh Session 88
Red anodized parts... Smart!
On to Blue Mountain this weekend for the DH O-Cup, might try a Super D! Check back to see how it goes!
Happy Trails!
Happy Trails!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
What a Weekend!
This past weekend was one of the busiest I have had in a while. During the day Saturday I provided Tech support for the 2011 Cycle For Sight bicycle tour, then packed up and headed to Albion Hills for the 24 hours of summer solstice.
Glorious!
My day began bright and early with an unpleasant alarm clock waking me up at 5:15am. I sluggishly got myself out of bed, jumped in the truck and headed to the Trek Store to grab the Trailer which I had packed the night before. 6:30am, Starbucks opened, glorious! By 6:45 I as set up at Downsview station awaiting the 150+ riders that would be doing the grueling 141 km ride to Collingwood. My job was to assist any riders with last minute tune ups, which primarily was just inflating tires and lubing chains. Several thanks and inflated tires later, and I was off to the first rest stop of the ride, a descent 30km away.
The set up
Go Time!
I arrived at the King City Lions Club where the group had started to seriously break up into small packs. Several riders were already on the way out while I was just pulling in. I hung around for a bit but every one's bikes were functioning just fine. So after some much needed refueling from the thousands of calories I had burned while driving, I grabbed a bunch of cookies and headed off to the next stop trailing the medium paced group of riders on to the next stop. Once again, no issues to report along the way.
King City Lions Club
I arrived back at the Trek Store around 6pm, grabbed my weapon of choice for what I thought was going to be a relaxing night of riding, a slightly modified Trek Remedy 9. I met up for dinner with Candice, picked up another rider and headed up to Albion Hills, arriving at around 8pm. I was riding with the Norco team (bike manufacturer and one of our major distributors), which consisted of Silent Norco Racing's DH team (Jeff Faulds, Tom Kakamousias, Dave Klaver, and Michael Hermanovsky), also joining them was Pat Dennis of Norco, and Mark Sommers of Joyride 150, and of course me.
The 24 hour race starts at 12pm on Saturday and runs throughout the night until 12pm Sunday, which can get very tough on your body as well as disorientating. I was a little disappointed when I arrived and was told, "Zach, we're in the lead, we need you to put in some fast laps", aw man! I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend of night riding, but cest la vie, it was go time! The remedy is not exactly a cross country race bike, having 6" of travel and 2.4" wide tires, but it was still a whole lot of fun. I set off at around 10:30pm for my first lap. The course was a lot of fun, but on the remedy it was tough! Well, at least the descents were fun, which made my first lap a 44:51, which was pretty god for a night lap.
Remedy 9 (The one I was on had a single front ring and some other switched out parts,
amazing bike!)
I refueled, sat around, and with no luck at all, tried to get some sleep. Trying to get yourself ready to do a race lap at 3:30am is tough to say the least, but to stay ahead we had to put out consistent laps throughout the night. On a borrowed XC bike I finished my second lap with a 44:58. We were battling it out with the Lap Dogs team that was managing to stay very close to us. But, with my two night laps on fresh legs, and the rest of the team holding it down, we put a 10 minute gap on them throughout the night.
Norco set up, 2:00am
Daylight came around and it was again my turn to go. After much whining and protest (See picture below) Tom K took my turn. I was finally able to go for a lap at 9:00 am. I took out Pat Dennis' bike for this lap and put down the hammer. I came to the end of the lap where they had opened the mud bog, a large mud bog with a very skinny bridge running through the middle of it, covered in mud. As if that's not enough, one of the Rupel's from Chico Racing was nice enough to hose you off, in the face, before you fell into the bog (I speak from experience). So, after climbing my way out of the knee deep mud quicksand, I jumped on the bike, and sprinted to the finish line for a 41:41 lap, pretty sweet, oh and a mud bog champion tee shirt for attempting to ride the bog. I handed the time card over to ringer Andrew Watson who took the last three laps to the finish. We ended up taking the win in the Corporate 6-10 person team, a category of 81 teams!
A little tired, stylish too!
(Thanks Pat)
We packed up and headed back to the city for lots of food, and about 14 hours of sleep, but what an awesome weekend. Thanks to Norco for letting me ride for them, Robert at Trek for letting me use his Remedy, Chico Racing for another amazing event, and of course Trek Store for the transportation. See you ate the next one!
Happy Trails!
Glorious!
My day began bright and early with an unpleasant alarm clock waking me up at 5:15am. I sluggishly got myself out of bed, jumped in the truck and headed to the Trek Store to grab the Trailer which I had packed the night before. 6:30am, Starbucks opened, glorious! By 6:45 I as set up at Downsview station awaiting the 150+ riders that would be doing the grueling 141 km ride to Collingwood. My job was to assist any riders with last minute tune ups, which primarily was just inflating tires and lubing chains. Several thanks and inflated tires later, and I was off to the first rest stop of the ride, a descent 30km away.
The set up
Go Time!
I arrived at the King City Lions Club where the group had started to seriously break up into small packs. Several riders were already on the way out while I was just pulling in. I hung around for a bit but every one's bikes were functioning just fine. So after some much needed refueling from the thousands of calories I had burned while driving, I grabbed a bunch of cookies and headed off to the next stop trailing the medium paced group of riders on to the next stop. Once again, no issues to report along the way.
King City Lions Club
We had one more quick stop along the way before pulling into the main lunch stop in Alliston. There were a few people that required some assistance at this point. It had been raining on and off a little bit during the past stage, and a few people had crashed as a result of the slick roads. A straightened derailleur and a couple of other adjustments, lube, air in some tires and it was off to Stayner, the second last stop of the ride.
Alliston lunch stop
This leg of the trip actually got interesting, I picked up a rider who was having some back issues and said I would give him lift back to Toronto. On the way to Stayner I got to change a flat on the side of the road, true a wheel and adjust a derailleur, cool. Then about 100 ft up the road from where I did this there was another issue, this one a little bit more labour intensive. These two riders (on a tandem) had had their rear wheel completely de-tension, causing it to flex so badly that it grabbed the rear derailleur, ripped it in half and off the bike, and also broke the chain. Hmmm, after about 30 minutes of work, their wheel was tensioned and fairly true, and they would have to push on with only one gear as I had abandoned hope of salvaging the shifting and cut the chain to run only one gear. But, there were two of them riding, and I assured them there were less hills to come (but really I had no idea), but they were able to finish which made them quite happy. Onwards to Stayner! This was the last stop for me as they had arranged for another mechanic to be at the finish line in Collingwood. After hanging around for bit it was back to Toronto.
Alliston lunch stop
This leg of the trip actually got interesting, I picked up a rider who was having some back issues and said I would give him lift back to Toronto. On the way to Stayner I got to change a flat on the side of the road, true a wheel and adjust a derailleur, cool. Then about 100 ft up the road from where I did this there was another issue, this one a little bit more labour intensive. These two riders (on a tandem) had had their rear wheel completely de-tension, causing it to flex so badly that it grabbed the rear derailleur, ripped it in half and off the bike, and also broke the chain. Hmmm, after about 30 minutes of work, their wheel was tensioned and fairly true, and they would have to push on with only one gear as I had abandoned hope of salvaging the shifting and cut the chain to run only one gear. But, there were two of them riding, and I assured them there were less hills to come (but really I had no idea), but they were able to finish which made them quite happy. Onwards to Stayner! This was the last stop for me as they had arranged for another mechanic to be at the finish line in Collingwood. After hanging around for bit it was back to Toronto.
I arrived back at the Trek Store around 6pm, grabbed my weapon of choice for what I thought was going to be a relaxing night of riding, a slightly modified Trek Remedy 9. I met up for dinner with Candice, picked up another rider and headed up to Albion Hills, arriving at around 8pm. I was riding with the Norco team (bike manufacturer and one of our major distributors), which consisted of Silent Norco Racing's DH team (Jeff Faulds, Tom Kakamousias, Dave Klaver, and Michael Hermanovsky), also joining them was Pat Dennis of Norco, and Mark Sommers of Joyride 150, and of course me.
The 24 hour race starts at 12pm on Saturday and runs throughout the night until 12pm Sunday, which can get very tough on your body as well as disorientating. I was a little disappointed when I arrived and was told, "Zach, we're in the lead, we need you to put in some fast laps", aw man! I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend of night riding, but cest la vie, it was go time! The remedy is not exactly a cross country race bike, having 6" of travel and 2.4" wide tires, but it was still a whole lot of fun. I set off at around 10:30pm for my first lap. The course was a lot of fun, but on the remedy it was tough! Well, at least the descents were fun, which made my first lap a 44:51, which was pretty god for a night lap.
Remedy 9 (The one I was on had a single front ring and some other switched out parts,
amazing bike!)
I refueled, sat around, and with no luck at all, tried to get some sleep. Trying to get yourself ready to do a race lap at 3:30am is tough to say the least, but to stay ahead we had to put out consistent laps throughout the night. On a borrowed XC bike I finished my second lap with a 44:58. We were battling it out with the Lap Dogs team that was managing to stay very close to us. But, with my two night laps on fresh legs, and the rest of the team holding it down, we put a 10 minute gap on them throughout the night.
Norco set up, 2:00am
Daylight came around and it was again my turn to go. After much whining and protest (See picture below) Tom K took my turn. I was finally able to go for a lap at 9:00 am. I took out Pat Dennis' bike for this lap and put down the hammer. I came to the end of the lap where they had opened the mud bog, a large mud bog with a very skinny bridge running through the middle of it, covered in mud. As if that's not enough, one of the Rupel's from Chico Racing was nice enough to hose you off, in the face, before you fell into the bog (I speak from experience). So, after climbing my way out of the knee deep mud quicksand, I jumped on the bike, and sprinted to the finish line for a 41:41 lap, pretty sweet, oh and a mud bog champion tee shirt for attempting to ride the bog. I handed the time card over to ringer Andrew Watson who took the last three laps to the finish. We ended up taking the win in the Corporate 6-10 person team, a category of 81 teams!
A little tired, stylish too!
(Thanks Pat)
We packed up and headed back to the city for lots of food, and about 14 hours of sleep, but what an awesome weekend. Thanks to Norco for letting me ride for them, Robert at Trek for letting me use his Remedy, Chico Racing for another amazing event, and of course Trek Store for the transportation. See you ate the next one!
Happy Trails!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
O Cup Dh #3, Kelso 2
This past weekend was the third round of the Ontario Cup Downhill series which took place on the Kelso 2 course. There were a few small change from the previous years, a couple of extra jumps, which were also a bit bigger, and also a new option in the rock chute which was better until a decision was made to remove it because its easy entry allowed some of the groms to get into it, only to find that the line was actually pretty tough, so to avoid unnecessary injuries the line was removed, which meant it was back to the old line, which was now a small river.
Into the rock chute, race run
(Photo: trailburn.ca)
Into the rock chute, race run
(Photo: trailburn.ca)
Practice runs were good, I was riding well until I did my last practice run where I messed up the first corner, then entering the chute I hit a wet root and some rocks which shot me quickly off line and in to the woods. So with no more practice time left I grabbed some lunch and tried to relax a bit. Race time came around, I was feeling pretty good, got to the top, did a good long warm up, as I've learned to do for cross country racing now, and got into the start gate. I had a god start, pedaled hard through the flat sections but unfortunately went a little bit too conservative into the rock chute, hesitated too much on the entry, but came out with descent speed and pedaled to the finish. I was sitting in 3rd when I crossed the line with Taylor rowlands in the lead (finally held a run together), Matt Z came down and took the lead, followed by teammate Rob Fraser who edged Matt out by 0.4 seconds. I was still in podium position until just like at Horseshoe, Brad Z came down and knocked me out of my spot, this kid is quick! Mike Hermo (Silent Norco Racing) also came down ahead of me so I ended up finishing 7th which I was pretty happy with. It was another great weekend of downhill racing, probably the most fun you can have on a bike, Shane and his crew of slaves once again did a fantastic job on the course. Now comes a bit of a break in the season, next XC is buckwallow, and the next DH is at Blue Mountain, have some time to get some training in.
Happy Trails!
Happy Trails!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Kelso 2, O Cup DH #3 Preview
Headed up to Kelso yesterday to get in some practice runs for the DH O Cup on Sunday and put a little video together with my GoPro. Kyle Lockyer (Silent Norco Racing) and I went up together in the afternoon and got in some good runs until Kyle decided to crash near the end of the day, he's alright though, and unfortunately he was behind me so there was no footage of the crash, his bike took most of the impact.
Anyways, it was a god day of riding and hiking, check out the course.
Looking forward to Sunday, weather is supposed to be good which is exciting.
Happy Trails!
Anyways, it was a god day of riding and hiking, check out the course.
Looking forward to Sunday, weather is supposed to be good which is exciting.
Happy Trails!
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