on mountainbiking, bike proms, and ritualistic strangeness

Are you Jesus?

Well it's been a busy few weeks, with racing and riding...This weekend however, the only riding that was done was a long Mtb ride yesterday at the Dump. I finally rode trails that I knew about but had never ridden before. These are off the map and a bit hard to find but they're fun. Even though there is a hell of a lot of climbing it seems like it is easily possible to link up some trails to ride on singletrack for about 4 hours which should be good practice for the Test of Metal. This week I also rode out to the dump from Victoria and did a loop there and rode back. That's an ok ride but mountain bikes are not much fun on longer commutes. Hardpack gravel is fun on a crossbike but gets old pretty fast on a mountain bike. Nevertheless, with a little help from Dave Shiskoff (and when I say little I mean a gps map) I realized that you can ride all the way to the dump with very little time on the road. This makes that commute a bit more interesting. I was pretty tired after that ride though and when I came back into town I was begging for red lights so I could take a breather! The Victoria Bike Prom was on the weekend before, and as always it was a blast. On Friday there was an alleycat and a Midnight mystery ride and on Saturday there was a polo turney, the prom ride and the Prom itself. On Sunday there was some pickup polo and a breakfast. All events were very successful even though the live music that was supposed to happen under the bay Bridge was shut down by the police (surprice, surprice). I took part in most of the events although not the polo (had to work). Then on Sunday I went out for a mountain bike ride with Will Rondoff of Midnight Mystery Ride fame and Gabriel Amadeus from Portland, but he was keen on riding some Victoria singletrack. Good way to get rid of the cobwebs. Up next: Road ride with the Rider's crew tonight, sprints on friday in the Capital City Summer series, and a XC race in Duncan on Sunday. Not to mention a lot of road action to watch from Giro D'Italia! Anyway, here are some photos from the prom weekend:

Will, Shiva and Gabe joined me on a ride on Sunday

Bučan Bučan played during the prom ride and at the prom, they were extremely entertaining.

Friday mystery ride

This kind officer took my beer, but to my surprice, in stead of having a sip...

he proceded to poor it on the ground in some strange police ritual of fertility or to celebrate mother earth or something. Anyway did not make too much sense to me.

Cole wore his fancy shoes

Gabriel wore his bitching Zoobomb vest.

Andreas and Bill

What? This is not a reasonable place to have a concert?

Bay st. Bridge

Andrew brought out the white Stumpjumpers for the occasion

Triane lays down the law for the alleycat!

Colin, BelleDawn, and Annina plot for the alleycat. Serious business as you can see!

on touring your hood

Imagine having your own firehall...how cool would that be? Lots of space for your cars and bikes and what have you, photo by: tourdehood.wordpress.com

I've always been interested to visit Detroit. Not only because the Pistons have always been my Team in basketball or the fact that I'm a car nut at heart, but also because it's a city with an interesting history. It's also a representation of the rise, and more recently, the fall of American industry. Detroit used to be a metropolitan city of 2 million people. Now, it's a city of 700,000. I've always liked to photograph, industrial landscapes, and the more abandoned and desolate, the better. This is also (perhaps strangely to some) part of the appeal for me as far as Detroit goes. But since I can't see myself traveling there any time soon, I travel there virtually every once in a while through http://tourdehood.wordpress.com/. It's one man's photographic documentation of his weekly rides through his beloved city. I'm sure it must be sad at times to ride through neighborhoods that are falling apart, but the author of the blog does a good job of looking on the bright sides, and brings us a very interesting view of a city you never hear about here in Western Canada. To quote the author of tourdehood: "Detroit is [also] a synopsis of America’s rise and fall as one of the world’s manufacturing powerhouses. It was the “Arsenal of Democracy”. Much of Detroit was based on making things – from cars and all their ancillary parts, to giant machine tools, to smelting and banging and forging. That’s all gone now, and the hulking remnants of that 20th Century glory still stand, empty, and collapsing, while someone tries to figure out what to do next. (No one’s come up with a workable idea yet)."

On racing and racing some more...

I got a puncture a few hundred meters before the finish line but managed to limp to the end. Note the manly bike rack.

Fuel, something I've discovered is rather important. Pix by Jaxattacks

There is a lot of racing going on on Vancouver Island these days. There are the Island Cup mountain bike series, the Victoria Cycling League series and the Capital City Cycles Summer Race series. I have been racing in the Island Cup and C3 series, but I think I might do at least on race in the VCL series. For the last two weekends I've been riding in Cumberland, which is about 2.5 hours north of Victoria. Last weekend I took the Niner up there and raced a punishing XC race. It's always a joy to ride in Cumberland and it is definitely one of my favorite riding spots of the island. The XC race was tough, but not nearly as grueling as the Port Alberni race a few weeks ago. I was also more careful to have lots of gas in the tank before I started the race this time and that made a big difference. The Cumberland XC was a mass rolling start, and I believe my biggest mistake in the race was to not pinning it off the line and get in a good position before the singletrack. Having all skill levels funneling into the singletrack at the same time made for a huge traffic jam on the trails and I was held back by riders with less technical skills. The saddest part was that some of those slower riders, who had to jump of their bike and run, did not have the good sense to make way for faster riders behind them. In my mind it's pretty simple: If somebody is breathing down your neck, you move out of the way. If you cant ride the trail, you move out of the way of people who can. If you're getting lapped, you move out of the way. If you crash, you move out of the way. It's just common sense. The fact that some of the riders were not aware of this unwritten code was very frustrating and I hope next year there will be a different setup. That is, the different classes will be started separately. But in the organizers defense, I made the mistake of not getting myself in a better situation, and perhaps that is what it is all about. Overall I loved the race and managed to crawl my way up to 8th place in spite of long punishing climbs, which I traditionally don't excel at. I also rolled through the finish line on a flat tire which was pretty cool.

The lower part of the top section just before entering the woods. These berms were fun. Photo by Len Martell

This week we had the Cumberland DH race. It was my first DH race and I finished in 31st place out of 60 riders in my class. I'm happy with that, even though I would have liked to have come in in the upper half of the racers, like in 29th place or something like that. DH racing for me this year, is mainly for fun and to practice my technical skills. I rode my Remedy for this race and I was surprised by how well it handled the course. The course had a "pedaly" upper half mostly in a clear cut, with a steep rock strewn lower part in the woods. The course should have suited me pretty well (because my bike pedals pretty well) but I took the chicken line around some of the jumps in the top part and I believe I lost some time because of my gutlessness. The lower part was a combination of rather gnarly rock gardens and rooty creek beds and mud. It was mostly a point and shoot affair and I just tried to keep focused and hold on for that section and luckily made it down the course without crashing or flatting. That's success on it's own right there. One thing I did not like about downhill racing however, is the lineups and the waiting. You want to be there early to ride the course and get a feel for it but as soon as the shuttles start to run, the waiting begins. In the worst period there was a three shuttle lineup for the flatbeds. I did not particularly want to wait for 45min for a 10 min ride in a van so instead of taking the shuttle I rode up the fire-roads twice to get more practice runs in. In the end I got four practice runs in (one hike a bike, two rides up, and one shuttle) and then I shuttled for my race run. I figured that this is what my Remedy is designed for, and again I was surprised by how well it pedaled up the fire roads. I did wear myself a bit thin on those rides though so when the time finally came to do my race run I was a bit tired. But I certainly made it worth my time to drive up there and got lots of riding in. The United Riders of Cumberland did a superb job of organizing this race and set a standard which other races will be measured by. After the race there was a delicious BBQ and bike toss for a six pack of Phillips Slipstream. I wanted the beer but lost to bigger and better bike throwers:

Photo by Strahan Loken

Next up: Sprints on Friday, and Hammerfest XC on Sunday.

Patients Pedal Past Parkinson

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while: Patients pedal past Parkinson's: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/patients-pedal-past-parkinsons-10264680

trials via Milano Fixed

On niners and the dark side

Self portrait in church...

I knew it would happen sooner or later. The fact that I'm 6'3 and the 21,5" bikes I normally ride seem kind of small beneath me made this a logical progression. Yes, I now have a 29er. I got the first ride in the night before the first XC race this year at Hartland in Victoria. I went up there and prerode the course in the dark with my lights and tried to get a feel for the bike. Since then I've raced the bike twice and I've taken it on rides two other times. The bike is a Niner M.C.R. 9 Steel hardtail, with a Rock Shox Reba fork, Juicy Five Sl's, x7/x9 shifters and derailleurs, carbon bar and seatpost, and Dt Swiss 470 Sl wheels. It's strange being back on a hardtail but just as I enjoy taking my old singlespeed, rigid Cannondale out for spins at the Dump this bike is also a blast. Sure enough, you can't go off any big drops and it's not exactly built for fast and rough downhill sections, but I'm surpriced at how comfortable I'm on the bike. It also forces you to be smooth, which I can definately use at times. Don't get me wrong, a hard tail will always beat you up a bit, but the Reynolds 853 steel helps out a lot. The big wheels also do help, and even though I have not experienced the "roll over anything" feeling that some 29ers talk about, I have noticed a difference on technical climbs and other bumpy sections. The big wheels come in handy on steep rock rolls as well, since the transfer from rock to ground is evened out a bit by the wheels. I wouldn't say it makes up for the 72 degree head tube angle, but the bike is surprisingly capable on rolls. The bike also climbs really well, something that you'd expect from a hard tail of this sort. It's not overly light though and I've read reviews where a seated climb in a low gear is recommended. I disagree with this. One of the things I've noticed riding a 29er, is the increased distance you can get out of a single pedal stroke, and this comes in handy on difficult climbs. So I like to climb in the middle ring and 1st. The only issue with that is tight uphill cornering, where you really have to keep in mind the added difficulty of getting those big wheels up to speed before you hit the next obstacle. This is the only time I get that feeling however, I can't say I notice it anywhere else. It's a joy to climb on the bike and the only thing that's holding me back on that front, at least as far as the bike is concerned, is the rear tire. It's a Specialized Fast Track, a tire that is definitely not designed for the greasy conditions we experience here on the west coast. So that will be one of my updates in the future. Another thing I'm considering is going to a wider bar for more stability at high speed. I'm currently running a Syncros Gain Carbon bar and it's not narrow at nearly 26" but I feel I could go a bit wider and gaining some leverage and stability. Another drawback is the Reba QR forks. Even though I've dialed in the suspension too my liking (running it way under the recommended psi ratings) the problem lies in the lack of stiffness in the forks themselves. I guess this has to do with the big wheels and is undoubtedly the reason for so many through axle 29er forks (mine is a 9mm q/r). I'll probably run this setup for this season, but I'll be looking to upgrade in the future. One other drawback is the wheels. they feel very light and so far have held true but I believe they in conjunction with the forks, are the cause of at least half of my already numerous crashes on the bike. They are not stiff enough to withstand tight cornering on steep downhill sections. The combination of a noodle of a fork and those wheels I've actually seen the wheel flexing towards me in a hard turn, before it locks up and then in a split second I end up sitting on my ass on the outside of the turn. This is not acceptable. It looks like the wheels are built up using light weight 1,8mm spokes, so for now I'll get my boss to lace them up on some heavy gauge 2mm spokes and see if there is a difference. If not, I'll put the forks up for sale. But overall, the bike is a blast and I'm sure I'll enjoy this one for a while to come.

Forest bike

on racing xc and suffering (kind of the same thing)

practicing a track stand at the start line, Tyler Johnson is behind me (out of the frame) trying to throw me off my balance. He eventually succeeded.

Coming onto the bridge on crossover on my first lap, post crash. (photos: Dave Shiskoff's camera shot by Alyssa)

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I'll try and regain some regularity in posting from now on. Lots has been going on since I last wrote here, I'm in a new job and racing has started on Vancouver Island. I'm working for Capital City Cycles now and things are going great there. I'll be posting on their blog as well, and as it was with Rider's, there will be some overlap of posts from the Capital blog and this blog depending on the subject matter. The first race of the season was on March 14 at the Dump in Victoria. It was a xc race on a really nice course laid out by the Trek Victoria/Pro City Racing guys. This is going to be a huge season for me (basically from now until the end of november), and I'm more focused on racing than ever before. I've cut back in other areas which feels great for everybody except the closest liquor stores! The race at the Dump was my second ride on the Niner MCR bike that I just got for racing XC/Marathon and the Test of metal this year. The big tires and steel frame are a cool change from full sussers and aluminum, but it sure beats you up when you have not been on a hardtail for awhile. I prerode the course the night before the race and made some adjustments to the bike. But what I had not gotten used to before the first race, was the steep angles of the frame. Those help in making the bike nimble and quick in techy singletrack, but you have to be aware of how they change seemingly intuitive stuff like going hard into sharp turns etc. I was doing pretty well at the start of the race, after the climb to the top and was preparing for the descent down Crazy horse and into Rolly ridge. This is were I usually make up some lost time from the climbs so I turned on the gas and had this idea that I'd probably gain a couple of places before the next grueling climb. This was not to be the case as in the third turn of the downhill I went over the bars and slammed into the ground so hard and so fast that I saw stars and had no idea what had just happened. "RESPECT THE 72DEGREE HEAD ANGLE!"-Said the bike god at that time. I got up as quickly as I could, checked myself for injuries and kept going. But at this point I had already lost a few places. So now my strategy was all messed up. I had planned on going a little easier on the first lap and making a real push for it on the second but now I had to hammer hard to make up for that crash. All tactics were now down the drain, so I just rode as hard as I could for the rest of the race. I had a small crash later on but nothing as drastic as the first one. I ended up in eight place in the Intermediate category which I was very pleased with. After the racing I got my camera and took some shots of the experts. Check them out here:

http://s304.photobucket.com/albums/nn169/h-gunn/Vic%20xc%202010/ Drew Mackenzie one of my heroes, he's the two-time Single Speed CX champion of the world. Capital City Racing boys. Angus' face better represents how we were feeling after the Port Alberni Race. Photo by Regan L. Pringle.

Next up was the XC race in Port Alberni. Me and Angus went up there and arrived in time to do a prelap of the course. On second thought that time may/or may not have been better served by getting some food in our bellies, but we'll get to that later. The course was long for the race and the Intermediates only did a lap and a half. The preriding was awesome and we'll definitely be back there to ride just for fun. The course had a lot of climbing, and nasty technical sections with a sprinkling of fireroads climbs and insane downhills. All this suits me pretty well except for the climbing part, but the downhill part was obviously a favorite. Since I had done surprisingly well on the first super techy climb, I was in a pretty good position before the rest of the long fireroad/singletrack climb to the top. At this time I was really starting to feel the lack of fuel in my system but I managed to get to the top (was passed by a couple of guys on the way there) and then gained a few places on the downhill. I was looking good aside from the fact that I was almost totally blown before I finished the first lap. Poor pre-race planning has a lot to do with that I'm sure and I think I went a bit too hard on the first lap. However, it seemed as though I had built a bit of a gap from the guys behind me, so I had a chance to finish well if I did not totally bonk. I was probably in 4-6 place after the first lap. So off I went up that torturous climb again, but this time we only had to go half way to the top or so. I was riding in a considerably lower gear for the second turn around and at the same time was trying to maintain some speed through the descents so I would not fall too far back. In the end I got passed by a few riders, but did surprisingly well given the fact that for probably the last 15-20 min I was just grinding away in low-low, and trying to think about nothing except to keep turning those cranks while trying to ignore thoughts like: "why am I doing this" and "Oh my god, if this is so horrible, how is the Test of Metal going to be?". This method got me through to the finish line, where I suffered for a good half hour before I started to feel vaguely human again. The mixture of a tough course, tough conditions, and poor pre-race preparations made this the hardest race I've ever done. But it sure was fun, in a strange masochistic way. Also, I took a couple of lessons home with me after that race: Race and Learn.

Blubber Burn Classic 2010

Blubber Burn Classic 2010The Blubber Burn went well. We had a pretty lame show of people, but I suppose that's to be expected if you only give people a one week notice. Some people may also have used the hockey game later that day as an excuse, even though they could well have done both. A real surprise was the lameness of my own people (Andrew, Shayne). But this lameness has reared its ugly head too often in recent months, a situation that I hope will remedy itself with the rising sun.

At least Justin and Cam showed up and kicked ass in the race, and jax, Colin and Mitch came out for support and to photograph (Colin could not get his own frankenbike together in time, Mitch is battling an annoying wrist injury, and Jax does not have a cross bike (yet)). I don't know. If you're doing an event for a bike shop that you work at, is it unfair to expect everyone from that bike shop to show up? Anyway, I'll try and put that one behind me (on to the next one). Because of the small field I decided to race in the race myself, and therefore got a taste of my own medicine, and by the second lap that drug wast tasting mighty sour. I had an advantage over the rest of the field of course, since I'd ridden the track numerous times when I was scouting for it and marking it out. This helped me work myself up to the second place behind Cam, where I was quite comfortable. After seeing Cam disappear over the hill ahead of me in a cloud of dust with a thundering roar and the mad laugh of a man consumed by racing, I thought to myself: "I'm not going to try and catch him, cause I wont. I'm going to keep it smooth, try not to crash and try not to get a flat." I was perfectly ok with the second place, but figured that if I was lucky, Cam would have a flat or a mechanical or something and I would be able to steal the win. Sadly for Cam, this is what happened. He got a flat on the third lap I believe and I stole the race. Dave Shiskoff came in second on his Vegan power Salsa, followed by Justin who had to sprint to the finish to hold back Cam who was battling back after his puncture. Some prizes were dealt out, and overall I think everybody had fun. here are some photo's: http://pbckt.com/s4.u9V So, over all I think the race was a success. I might hold this race as an annual thing, so be prepared to shed your housecoat of winter next year around the same time.

on clunkers and new bikes

Well, this is how the Ladies Raleigh ended up. I sold it the other day, but did not really make too much money on it. If I'd think my labour was worth anything I'd be loosing money on this one so I try to ignore that fact. The girl that bought it was a cute little pixie from Nelson that had just moved here with her boyfriend and I felt like helping them out. In any case, she looked awesome on the bike and was polite and eloquent in her e-mails to me. That goes a long way in my books. Now I have two other ones to sell:

Good Year Hi-Way Patrol/Columbia Roadster

Raleigh (Sprite I think, but with wicked "aftermarket" drop bars)

I'm still not sure about the age of these bikes, but they both cleaned up nicely. I've been having a lot of fun cruising around on the Columbia, and If it ware a bit bigger I'd probably keep it. You would not think it, but the Columbia rides like a dream. Steel frame, steel rims and nice 26 1 3/8" tires equal a super smooth ride. There's also something about baskets and coaster brakes that just puts a smile on my face. I'll sell these for cheap too, because I need the money for this: That's a 2009 Trek Remedy 8 that I'm working on getting. It's a nice compromise for me since most of my riding will be done in all mountain situations but I seem to be drifting a little bit into the freeriding category as well. This will be a bike that I can pedal up the hill and then cook down it. I'm not blown away by the "Rootbeer and white" paint scheme but I don't mind it either, it's a little different and I think I can learn to like it. With the introduction of the Trek Scratch for this year the Remedy has been changed up a bit. It now has steeper angles and a 32mm fork as opposed to the 36mm fork on the 2009. So that's why I'm going for the 2009 version. Of course the two old clunkers wont pay for a new mountain bike, so my old one has to go too. It's served me well, but it's time to move on.

ON training, and old clunkers

Cycling for me has always been a rather relaxed affair until now. Sure I've raced and been serious about doing my best in the races that I've taken part in, but I've never really trained. I've just gone out for rides and ridden to work and wherever else I go during the week and that has been my "training." This will have to change fairly soon however, since I signed up for a race that will force me to show up in decent shape or I'll get a DidNotFinish. Yes, I've signed up for the Test of Metal this year and will be racing in Squamish this june. I've always been interested in doing this race and now I'm finally doing it. It's a 67km point to point XC race with 1200m of climbing and 35km of singletrack. So I better buck up and start some sort of a training routine. Problem is that I have no idea how to go about this so I'll have to seek advise from friends. I understand that building a "base" fitness is essential and this is achieved by steady, long rides. Therefore the Frankencross will go through a bit of a morphing in the next few weeks. Lime Green Vittoria Rubinos, 50t chainring, left hand bar-con, new bars and front derailleur will go on the bike along with donated gold SKS full wrap fenders (for group rides). So Frankencross will become a winter road machine for a bit. I also plan to take a longer route to work a couple of days a week to give me about an hours ride there in stead of 20 minutes. That should help a bit. The dilemma is what bike I'll be racing. I'm kind of on the fence now, on whether or not to get a new bike. On one hand, the Trek Fuel EX-8 that I currently have would make a nice Test of Metal race bike, if I got rid of the Rock Shox Lyric 2-step for something a bit lighter. On the other hand, The Test of Metal will most likely be one of two XC races that I'll do this season. The rest being Super D and depending on if I get a bike or not, Downhill. The problem is I can't afford to have two bikes and the bikes I'm looking at are six to seven inch bikes more meant for All mountain/Freeride and would be horrible for a XC race. So I have a big decision to make. However, I think I might just get a freeride rig and deal with the TOM when I get to it. Perhaps I can build something up in those 5 months ahead. We'll find out I suppose.

This is one of the Raleighs I'm working on now.

I sometimes buy old bikes when I come across them, either in the shop or somewhere else. I like fixing them up and selling them again to make a little extra money. Since we don't really sell used bikes at Rider's, there's not any conflicting interest there, so the owner does not have a problem with me doing this to supplement my meager income. Right now I've got two Raleighs in the works and an old Columbia built Goodyear Hi-Way Patrol. The Raleighs are usually easy to date since the year of manufacture is often engraved in the Sturmey Archer rear hub of the bikes but in my case neither hubs have a year on them. So I've been trying to narrow down the age of the bikes using incomplete serial number charts and other resources, but I have not yet been able to pinpoint the age. I did find the coaster hub that is on one of them, to give me an estimated year of manufacture to be in the late sixties to early seventies. Not a bad hub if they used it unchanged for 15 years!

Sturmey Coaster 1963-1978!

Sturmey has a great "heritage" site that's fun to check out. Pretty nerdy stuff but I like it: http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/history.php Managed to estimate the age of my Raleighs to be between 1963 and 1978. Not super accurate but I'm getting closer.