Hood River Oregon Enduro #3

Coming off  a somewhat disappointing result at MSA I was looking forward to a fun weekend of riding on the famed trails of Hood River, Oregon.

I've realized in the last couple of months that I actually quite like enduro.  It's different.  It's not downhilling.  It's got some downhill in it, but it's long.  There's no memorizing 50 minutes of trail.  It's not XC either.  It's got some uphill and it's got some pedalling, but being the guy with shaved legs in full spandex is only going to win you maybe one or two stages out of 5 or 6.  Each stage is a different length, maybe it will be 2 minutes of hairpin turns and gap jumps, or maybe it will be a 10 minute traverse across an exposed cutblock, you never know.  It often seems that every stage requires a slightly different game plan, and lends itself to the particular skill set of a different type of rider.

I think one of the things that really appeals to me about enduro is that one or two mistakes in 40-50 minutes of riding isn't going to lose you the race, since everyone is bound to make a couple in that amount of time.  But by shaving a millisecond off every corner, or putting in an extra pedal stroke whenever you can, those all add up.  When I think about ways that I can start to improve my results at enduro races it seems simple, just keep becoming a better rider.  In many ways enduro races are a true showcase of a rider's abilities, and the all-around best rider will almost always come out on top.

Practice laps, so fun.

D'Arcy hanging a leg, getting loose.

D'Arcy and I had an interesting debate over the weekend on what was the fastest/best way to corner, hang a leg? keep your feet on the pedals? get loose? brake, then pedal hard out?  We asked around to a few of our pro rider friends, turns out they all gave us different answers.  Hmph.  I tried a little bit of everything this weekend and the jury is still out for me, but I did learn that cornering at a speed where you are still in control is always the best option.

Shuttles in Hood River: sitting in the back of a flat bed truck with your bike between your legs.  Thrilling, especially during the freak thunderstorm Saturday morning.

Me and my Element 999.  I love my bike.

Sometimes it seems strange to people that D'Arcy and I travel so much to get to races.  They have trouble understanding how each weekend we travel a few hundred kilometers just for a bike race and then all the way back.   But the only way I can explain it  to them is that this IS vacation to us.  It's most certainly the most fun thing I can imagine doing with my time off.  I guess I'm pretty lucky to have a boyfriend that shares such a bizarre point of view.

Post race lake bath at Kingsley Resivoir.

D'Arcy begged me to let him buy this sandwich.  It was actually pretty yummy, but definitely excessive.

So I ended up finishing 5th in Pro women, and D'Arcy came 15th in Cat 1 men's with a crash in stage 5.  A few other BC riders have been attending the series and it was great to see Chris Johnston and Dylan Wolsky of the Nomads racing team finish 3rd and 7th respectively in a stacked pro mens field.

I have truly enjoyed meeting so many rad american rider ladies, and they have been a blast to hang out with at every race so far. Congrats to all the ladies on the podium and thanks for the motivation to keep getting faster!

Pro Women at Hood River

Canadian DH Nationals

On July 5th the Clan arrived in Quebec City to compete at the Canadian DH Nationals at Mont Sainte Anne.  We were lucky to have some awesome hosts in Quebec City that housed us, fed us and helped us practice our butchering of the french language.  Here are a few photos from our travels.

The rental place was out of mini-vans, so we got stuck with an SUV.  Fitting the gear of 3 racers, plus 3 bikes was no easy task.  Good thing Jeff is the "tetris king".

Thursday, course walk.

Bottom of the course, from the last step up looking back.

The best part about Quebec is definitely some getting my hands on some fresh curd.

I had a crash on my second run on the first day of practice.

The aftermath of bottoming out on a rock.  I didn't know that could happen to a chain guide.  My chain ring was split in two.

My knee hurts.  1 hr post crash... 

My knee on Sunday, still sore, but able to ride.

Clan rider Cody Ratte on his race run.

Clan rider Jeff.  Is that a dirty sock in your chamois or are you just happy to see me?

Dinner post race.  People like these are the reason I race.  The best.

In case you're not sure how to do it.

Clan team photo.  

Oregon Enduro Series #1 -Bend

When we signed up a few months ago for the Oregon Enduro Series I remember thinking I had always wanted to ride in Oregon because I've heard so many good things about the biking there.  I wondered how, with Oregon being so close (only one small Washington away) we had not made it down there before.  It wasn't until about a week before we were set to leave that I actually looked at a map... Bend, Oregon is about 9 hours away as the Deli drives.  Maybe 8 hours or less for more efficient but far less rad vehicles.

The race weekend started with a bang on Wednesday when D'Arcy realized that his passport was still in the mail.  Whoops.  Turns out that the people at Passport Canada are actually a team of super heros that truly care about the people of Canada and their travel plans, and with a day of frantic phone calls to sort out references, the D man had his passport in hand by 4 pm on Thursday.  D'Arcy is still looking into the address to which he can send a thank you card and maybe some balloons.

At the border, passports in hand, no big deal.

With all that drama behind us, we were on the road.  The Deli was packed with our two new Rocky Mountain Element 999s. With a fresh set of Maxxis Ardents, a Sram 1 x10 drivetrain, and a Fox Talus 36, I was definitely feeling well equipped.  We crossed the border uneventfully and were able to drive all the way past Seattle before we stopped at a rest stop off the I-5 to sleep in the back of the Deli.  In 'merrica rest stops are a lot more elaborate than the ones we have here.  This one had free coffee, bathrooms, and a guy with a giant white parrot selling pink frosted cupcakes.  No joke.  I was going to take a picture but it was 1 am and I couldn't decide if parrot guy would oblige.

Deli Camping, comfy and cozy.

Friday was a bit of a whirlwind day.  Breakfast in Portland, a beautiful scenic drive down to Bend, then straight to the course for afternoon shuttles.  We geared up at a parking lot part of the way up the road to Mt. Bachelor.  We dropped into the first trail "Funner" which for the first 5 minutes was just to get to the start of the course.  As we did our first lap, even taking it easy, getting to know the course these trails were super fun.  Flowy, open, little jumps here and there, only a handful of rocks many of which you could just jump right over.  We stopped at the bottom of stage 1 with giant smiles on our faces.  This was going to a be a fun weekend of riding.

Near Sisters, Oregon, on our way to Bend

6 PBR tall cans for 5.49.  D'Arcy is incredulous.

We called it quits around 7, ate, did a little grocery shopping and retired to the Deli.  D'Arcy was happy to learn that in Oregon they serve 20 oz pints, and PBR costs less than a dollar a can.  I was happy for him, and opted to try something from Deschutes- the local  brewery.








Saturday we raced the first 4 stages.  Stage 1 was about 8 minutes.  When we got to the bottom we rode out to the road and were shuttled up to the start of stage 2.  Stage 2 was only 2.5 minutes of super fun awesomeness, so you can imagine how sad I was that the best stage was the shortest.  It was big berms and gap jumps that got progressively bigger, the last one being about 10 or 12 ft.  I hucked my sh*t but got a little out of control in one corner and lost some precious seconds.  Stage 3 was longer, about 8 minutes, and definitely my second favourite.  It had some tricky punchy climbs over some rocks and a section of loose dusty corners that were tough to nail at speed.  Oregon is a dry, dusty place and so a lot of corners on the course got pretty blown out over the course of the weekend.  Stage 4 featured the most uphill, it took about 10 minutes to ride.  There were a couple of straight-aways where I found myself spinning in my biggest gear...that doesn't happen much in B.C.! By the time I crossed the line on the last stage I was spent.

Here we are getting in trouble from a Safeway worker for taking pictures.  Apparently it's not allowed.

When we found out that some of the motels in Bend were only 45 bucks a night we opted to spend a night in a real bed with a real shower and some wifis.  We were pretty dusty after two days of riding and it seemed like a more restful option.  Also, as a bonus, it allowed us to get up early and watch the Val de Sol WC on my android phone in bed.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Motivational signage in Bend.

After a good breakfast we headed back to to the course, did a quick practice run and then waited until our start times which were not until about 1 pm.  The times from the previous day had been posted and I was sitting in 2nd place which I was quite happy with, but I had only a 3 second margin on 3rd.  I knew I would have to pin it in the last stage to keep on the podium.  Stage 5 was stage 1 plus stage 4 from the day before, plus the transition which was a short climb then a traverse.  I was anticipating it would take me about 20 minutes and it having to climb right in the middle would be tough.  I laid it all out there and rode stage 5 as fast as I could.  I was wheezing, panting, and my legs were burning so much that it was hard to stand at the end.  I ended up finishing second in the stage, but because Mary Moncorge who was in third made up over 25 seconds on first place, she overtook the lead.  I made up a bit of time on first place but not enough to get ahead of her into second.  D'Arcy ended up in a very respectable 10th place in Cat 1 (19-39) which was the biggest category in the race.  Despite being held up by a photographer on his Stage 5 race run.

Post race stout and sandwich. Yum.

Overall I was pleased with my result.  I learned a lot from the race and can now see what elements I must include in my strategy and race script for enduro races in the future.  The best parts about finally being done racing were Dechutes Obsidian Stout, getting told off by the burrito truck guy for eating a ham sandwhich instead of one of his burritos, and having to change all my clothes before the drive home because they were soaked in champange :)

Pro Men's Podium

Pro Women's Podium

Canada Cup #1 Mont Tremblant

Quebec is an interesting, and kind of backwards place. It's not like the rest of Canada...and they like it that way. Although we really only saw the airport, Mont Tremblant resort, an IGA and a sketchy gas station in Montreal, there is a distinctly different character to the people of Quebec. They smell like perfume, they wear impractical shoes and designer clothes, and they will line up for hours just for a little scoop of five dollar ice cream... or wait, maybe that's tourists.  Either way it was fun pretending to speak french, and having people still reply to us in English.  Bonjour, allo, ca va?

View of Mont Tremblant resort from the course.

Other strange things about Quebec are that it is a provincial law to wear full mountain bike equipment when riding, including elbow pads and a back protector. I heard about this ahead of time and thus came prepared, but I haven't worn elbow pads since the summer I crashed enough to scrape my elbow skin into permanent, hardened scars. I don't need elbow pads anymore, I tried to explain, but I didn't know the french words for elbow or scar. Luckily, most riders feel they don't need silly pads, and there were some great counter-fit padding ideas to copy that provided the look of protection without the cumbersome, restrictive nature of actually being protected.

 Jeff and I flew from Vancouver to Montreal on the red eye Thursday night. I slept like a baby for most of the flight and had my recurrent Doug Gilmour dream, and we arrived in Montreal bright and early. We picked up our sweet rental car, the Nissan Versa which proved itself worthy of its name. It looked like a go-cart but we easily fit both bike bags, our gear bags, groceries, and Jeff's giant head. Just kidding.

Packed to the tits.

We got to the resort and went for a course walk. I was intimidated, lots of big rocks, right in the middle of the trail too. Lots of pedaling. And it was long. In the words of Jeff, this is the kinda course that when you get to the bottom you feel like a real man. Hmm, I wondered what I would feel like at the end. I hoped that I would still be in one piece. After our course walk I got my gear together, Jeff kindly reassembled my bike, and I went for a couple laps. I took it easy, had fun, and just rode my bike. I tried to find a little flow in all the rocks. I felt better after, but I didn't quite feel like a man yet.

Me and my bike.

Saturday we trained. It was hot, and part of that weird Quebec law is also that you can't have any exposed skin. We were very sweaty. My morning runs went well, still getting to know the course section by section. The crux of the course is a forested section with a rocky entrance off a ski-run straight away, there is drainage through it, so it is perpetually wet. It is a giant sloping rock that the racers affectionately call "slick rock" that ends in an excessively corrugated bridge into a rock garden that that looks like a petrified pile of sleeping dogs, oh and this is all while making a 180 turn to the right. Cory Leclerc can vouch for this: I don’t really like turning right.

 My first run after lunch I finally started to hit sections at speed. I rode the slick rock and pounded my way through the rock garden, I hit the drop after with a reasonable amount of speed and kept pedaling. I let go of my brakes and jumped off rocks to land into more rocks. I got to the bottom and realized, I totally felt like a man.

This is Jeff's game face.  

Race day was even hotter than practice day. My back protector was crusty with salt when I put it on in the morning. I was more nervous than I had ever been for a race before, but I tried to relax and focus on the fact that I was prepared. My race run felt good. I pedaled everywhere I could. I hit the rock gardens as fast as I could while staying in control. My lungs and legs were burning at the bottom, but I felt like I had gas in the tank right until the end. I felt like I had a solid run, and I didn’t make any major mistakes. I was glad I got my first race in Quebec under my belt, it was good preparation for National Championships at Mt. St. Anne later this summer.

Final jump on the course.

Jeff told me at the beginning of the weekend that I was going to learn a lot. He was right. There is a lot more to racing than just riding your bike really fast, although that’s obviously an important part of it. There is so much mental preparation and it is so important to have a game plan, especially when you are traveling thousands of kilometers to compete. I have already learned so much this season, and it's just beginning. Thanks Jeff for all your support this weekend, I definitely couldn't have done it without you. And of course, thanks to all of you out in facebook and twitter land, I have the best, most supportive friends! Finally, thanks to D'Arcy for making sure I ride the best, sexiest looking bikes, so I can look sexy riding them.

 So, another weekend, another race in the books. Did I mention I came 4th?

Women's Elite Podium.  (L-R) Me, Danice, Miranda, Katherine, Anne

Early Season Recap

The FVMBA series has wrapped up and I'm excited to have finished first overall in points. The last race was a leg burning all mountain sprint down Sumas mountain. I had a really fun race and was stoked to finish third after two very speedy ladies, Jean-Ann Berkenpas and Katherine Short. I took home the award for Overall points in the series and also overall points doing all races on one bike. My Rocky Mountain Element 29er performed great on everything from the XC to the DH races. Second place overall went to Jaclyn Delacroix and Third to Aja Philp. Here are a few pictures from the final race!

Thanks to all the fine folks at the FVMBA for their hard work in making the series happen. A great warm up to the race season!

Vedder is Better!!

Last weekend we headed out to the Valley again for another fun weekend of muddy (and snowy) shredding. For me it will be remembered as the weekend that my bike fell apart, it was just one thing after another! But after almost a year of ripping hard on my prototype RM Element 29er, especially over the winter, it finally succumbed to all the abuse!

Our first lap of the day started with my pedal ripping off its axle, and me left confused standing beside my bike trying to figure out where my pedal went, oh right, it's stuck to the bottom of my foot. Hilarious. In the end I found some pedals, and a whole bunch of awesome people showed up and it was a great day. It even ended with a rainbow!

The FVMBA race #3 was the next day, so we headed out bright and early to Chilliwack. We got there around 8:30 am and headed up the mountain to find ourselves in winter wonderland. Sweet! The top half of the trails were snowy but grippy, and bottom half was slick and sloppy. Unfortunately in my race run I had some derailleur cable issues and ended up trying to pedal my way through most of the race skipping in and out of my hardest two or three gears. Needless to say it was a rough race. I had to run a few sections, lost a minute or so stopping to try to fix the issue, and was forced to sprint the slightly uphill fire road section leading to the finish line in my hardest gear.

I happily took 5th place despite my mechanical issues, and was pleased to see my training partner from the day before Cheryl Moore, take the top of the podium. Lessons of the day were definitely something about bike maintenance, pushing through and finishing your race no matter what, and taking my experience from an early season race and learning/growing/using that experience to make sure it doesn't happen in a big race later in the season.

Early season racing in the valley!

The race season has begun!

This weekend I raced a super-muddy super-d out in Mission on Bear mountain. It was cold and wet and slick, but it was well worth any discomfort to rip down the BC cup DH course on my 29er Element! I couldn't hit all the jumps, but my 29er and Talus 36 fork felt stable and light even in the steep rocky sections. My new Rock Shox Reverb was just what the doctor ordered for this course, with a couple fire road climbs, steep muddy shutes, a puddly traverse, and a whole lotta DH.

I won the Women's category by a 34 second margin. 2nd place went to Aja Philip and 3rd was Jaclyn Delacroix also on her RM Element. Everyone I saw had a little mud in their teeth as they crossed the finish line, from smiling so hard on the way down. Except for poor D'Arcy who had mud in his teeth and his eyes, because he neglected to wear his glasses.

Over March and April the FVMBA is putting on a 5 race super-D/AM/XC race series. The first two races have already gone down, and I am signed up for all 5 so watch for more results in the coming weeks. Or better yet, come out and race!

For more details and results check out the Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association website.

www.fvmba.com