FVMBA XC #1

I can't describe how excited I am that race season is finally starting. Although there's no DH races for another month or so, I am just as happy to get out on the trails for some 'just for fun' cross country races. Last weekend myself, Cheryl Moore and Alex Dove as well team manager/cheering squad D'Arcy O'Connor trekked out to Mission for the first in a new series put on by the FVMBA of 6 races that span the season. There are XC, Super D, and All mountain races in the 6 and an overall points winner, as well as a special category for those who are using one bike (and fork) to race all six races.

I'm going to try to make it out to all of the races if I can, and will be racing all of the races on my 2011 Rocky Mountain Element with a 120 mm fox fork. If there was ever a 'bike to rule them all' for XC and AM I'd have to say that this is definitely it.

The first XC race was a super fun greasy course with a healthy dose of climbing though Heritage Park. I was happy to come a respectable 4th place in the Open Women category and am looking forward to working on my climbing and fitness a bit more in the next few weeks. Best parts of the day were definitely a tie between the final steep loose descent in the race, and the Swiss Chalet chicken feast that we partook in after.

Saturday Afternoon...

Yesterday D'Arcy and I spent the afternoon hanging out close to home. D'Arcy had shoulder surgery in December so he's been off the bike which means free shuttles and filming for me. This is probably the only time I'll ever ride circles around him, so I have to take advantage while I can. Here's a little video from the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfuam8q1M34

Fromme in the Snow - with video!

I woke up Saturday to a bright sunny day, and in Vancouver sun in the wintertime is definitely not something that is taken for granted. It seems that I wasn't the only one thinking that because there were lots of bikers and hikers out on Fromme when I got there at 11 am. Not entirely surprisingly despite the sun everywhere else in Vancouver, it was snowing pretty hard on the mountain. We rode up past the snow line which was around the 4th switchback, then rode down Leopard and Krinkum Krankum followed by a couple laps of Bobsled to finish off the day. Here's a short video of the snowy scene on Fromme this weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2JFB1J3Yt4

Winter XC

It's the new year, it's 3 degrees, it's raining... it's time to ride some xc. I'm so stoked to have my brand new Rocky Mountain Element in my bike room. It just arrived last week and I'm such a lucky girl, Santa brought me xc shuttle rides for christmas day. I can't wait to get in a few more rides on the shore and Burke to tell you how much I'm loving the new ride.

Many thanks to my good friends Terry Brown and Dan Webster for making this website so pretty, and for reminding me to update my site all summer (which I already know Dan will do). Hopefully I'll have some new video of me out on my Element to post on here soon. Happy New Year!

Whistler-Fluidride Cup #1

This weekend was the first of the Fluidride Cup series that takes place mainly in the states, but the first race was on some familiar trails in the Whistler bike park, so I thought I'd check it out. The race course started at the top of Schleyer, crossed the fire road to Detroit Rock City, then ended in a straight away down the the finish line near the top of the boneyard. It was a fun, technical course, and although I've ridden the trails many times, I've never tried racing down them so I ended up spending a lot of time Saturday picking lines through all the rocks.

On saturday it rained most of the day so the rocks were slick and the wood was even slicker. Luckily for the racers, Sunday the rain stopped so the course dried up a bit. I had a clean race run and ended up finishing first in the Women's Category 1 open division. Next up is the 3rd BC cup race down Neds this weekend. (Photo: Cameron Hunter)

Nanaimo BC Cup #2

This weekend I headed out to Nanaimo for the Turner DH. The race course was a trail called Roller Coaster, which was pretty fitting. With few technical sections, most of the course was flowy single track with big loose berms. As more and more riders practiced the course, which was still untaped as of Friday evening, there were a number of creative lines in and out of corners to avoid some of the more tracked out parts of the course. Nonetheless, this race seemed to be all about keeping your speed and holding it together through the corners. The weather race day was overcast with rain off and on, but I got lucky with a dry race run and the course was nice and tacky. I'm pretty stoked to have won my senior women's category with a time that would have put me just off the podium in the women's pro elite category. I'm looking forward to a home trail advantage at the next BC Cup on Ned's. Next up is the Fluidride Cup #1 in Whistler May 29-30. (Photo by Matt Mallory)

Pemby Ride

Apparently spring is here... at least I hope so. D'Arcy and I headed North for a ride in Pemberton on some sick, tacky trails with some very cool folks this weekend. But since Matt Mallory is a far better writer than I, I'll just link you to his article about our ride on Cycle Component Network.... Enjoy :)

http://www.cyclecomponentnetwork.com/news/bike-trails-in-pemberton-are-open