The U.C.I. held a stop of the Mountain Bike World Cup in Bromont, Quebec this past weekend so I (Cookie, Cycle Cambridge mech. & DH/4X specialist) packed up the fam-damily and hit the incredibly congested 401 for a 6 hour drive that took 9 hours.
WORTH EVERY SECOND! The weekend was awesome. Literally. Driving into obviously steep, dark green forrested mini-mountains and arriving at the venue we were treated us to a well-signed entrance to a beautiful resort community with a bit of a Western horse ranch feel to it. Just gorgeous. We’d move there if there wasn’t a Pemberton.
The downhill qualifiers were underway and the excitement rumbled in the distance…oh no that was the thunder of the encroaching thunderstorms. I think that the riders were all pretty confident and there weren’t any riders obviously playing the stategy game and throwing their qualifiers. Sam Hill was first, Steve Peat second etc..
The finals saw the ladies off first. A couple of girls got down before the rain but then it just started dumping. Claire Buchar came down in the pi$$in’ down rain and still threw her new bike down that hill with a vengence. Then Rachel Atherton came down and just scorched the course…like wow fast. The last rider down was Sabrina Jonnier who just couldn’t top Rachel’s ridiculous time.
The men’s final a mere 20 minutes or so later happenned in the sun on a drier course. The action was really good, as the times got faster and faster more and more people crowded the course and finishline. They were handing out noisemakers too which sure upped the stoke level down at the finish. In a moment of sheer stupidity we got my 5yr old one. Duh. Greg Minnar had ‘er pinned down and I wasn’t sure if our old/young pal Sam Hill would be able to take it but sure enough he did in a fully down-to-the-last-second kind of way that really topped off the race. Good Times.
We decided to hit the road rather than stay for the storms and the 4X and XC. My little girl was fantastically patient and so was my very pregnant wife so I couldn’t press my luck too much. For some payback we grabbed a decent coffee and hit the Atwater Market in Montreal the next morning. I’m still eating.
Props to my man Alden Woodward (www.justin.tv/dj_deadfish) for the lodging and the Rosemary Super Chive Loaves. Epic G.T.’s
For those not in-the-know 4X racing is where four to six mountain bike riders line up at a starting gate and race around a b.m.x. track litterred with jumps, whoops and berms. In some places it’s gravity fed or downhill but here in Ontario it’s flat baby, real flat. It’s all about the sprint.
I raced B.M.X. a lot as an 80’s kid so this is familiar ground for me and in fact took no time at all to get back into the swing of gated racing. The competition is fast paced and there’s often a bit of elbow rubbin’ as it’s several riders plowing down the same lines. The gate drops at a random interval now which made for tentative starts for all.
The O-Cup season consists of a dismally short schedule of three races all of which are held at the same track in Milton. I’ve raced the first two so far and the next and final race will be the provincial championships. So far I sit 4th in the standings and I’m looking forward to the championship battle.
For those thinking of checking out 4X racing in Ontario there are no pre-requisites, anybody can ride and there’s always practice time to get used to the gate starts and the courses. The right bike is a small, light hardtail with near slick tires and stiff springs. BUT the fastest guy in my class runs a 6″ travel full-suspension Banshee freeride bike and makes me look like I’m pushing a wagon. The Championships are on August 23rd at Milton’s Track 2000, Trafalgar & Brittania roads by the Terra nurseries.
The second downhill race of the Ontario Cup season happened at Milton’s Kelso conservation area again but on a new and improved course. The course included several man-made jumps, some wide open pedalling (down this time) and a particularily gnarly,wet, rocky section with an off-cambre rooted turn into it that claimed a hilarious amount of carnage.
Practice day rain poured down on us all day. The gnar-bar served up crash after crash after crash, luckily I got out Scott free, just muddy. The first jump out of the gate was a 3′ booter to flat which after I hit it I could swear I heard my bike cry. The long-travel crowd were all buzzing their saddles and my man Nick blew his clean off! (There’s some ugly footage of that one online, I’ll post mine when I get it together)
Although in the films it magically appears that race day was sunny and dry which is sooo far from true. In fact it dumped a little extra slop on the course just before my class ran. I came down with a great top half but just before I got to the sketch I bailed on a little creek crossing and came right off the bike. In the slow-mo of the moment I definately knew it was going to be time consuming. I lost. I’d hoped to do better obviously but oh-well I sure had a big, wet boatload of fun.
I was running the Time DXZ World Cup spd shoe which I put on for the first time raceday (not the best plan.) Turns out these shoes right out of the box are plenty comfy and had a great, secured feel to them when clipped-in. Absolutely love them! Still no complaints other than H.M.F.I.C. Peter (the guy my wife and I call “Johnny I” after a popular Pembertonian/Whistlerite) razzing me by referring to them as “road shoes.” My race kit isn’t quite ’sorted’ as the Brits say (nudge nudge Win.)
The scene was a bit more upbeat. It would be great if the organizers could figure out a way to spread out the p/a speakers somehow though. It seems the only way to hear what’s going on is to be at the finish line and nowhere else. Spectators spread along the course have no idea what’s going on and are left feeling out of touch with the event.
I have never raced a dh race before save for the infamous ’07 Psychosis in Golden, B.C. (in which I took 7th in the hardtail class because I’m a “special kind of lunatic”,) so this was my first ‘real’ dh race. The idea for me this year is to race every one of the O-Cup races and see what the Ontario dh scene has to offer. Here is the first in a series of reports I’ll do on my findings/experiences:
The 2008 d.h. season started up at Kelso Conservation Area in the Milton area on the very rainy weekend of May 3rd & 4th. Practice day was on the Saturday which consisted of an unimaginably slow chairlift ride up to a well slick mudfest.
I’ve been told the course was the same one they always run which was actually one I’d ridden 1000 times down “Broken Spokes” to the ‘rock drop’ then pedal over to the other ‘drop’ into some slop and out the bottom. I ran a couple of practices until the rain/mud comedy just got too much.
Sunday turned into a beautiful race-day but the mud still lingered all day. The atmosphere was immediately fun. It’s great to get back into that big-bike event feel that I’ve been missing since I left the West. There were great bikes, arsehole kids…gromholes… awesome. It was great to see ‘officials’ abusing their self-appointed authority and everything that goes along with the scene.
My run went great. I was in the senior, masters, veteran’s class for guys old enough to be everyone else’s dad/grandfather. I had no dabs (foot-downs), no crashes and I took all the hard lines. I came in 16th or second to dead last. I’m actually pretty disappointed. I’d hoped to fair better.
Here’s my excuses: The hard lines were a lot slower than the easy lines and I’m pretty sure the timing equipment made a mistake (lol as the kids virtually say.)
I learned that the sport 30-39 class is not the bunch of pot-headed, beater-riding dads I thought we’d be. There were very serious strategy sessions amongst the guys as well as some of the finest kits and bikes on the market. Somehow Troy Lee Designs has hypnotized everyone into thinking they’re the only acceptable race wear. I’m pretty sure I heard a kid making fun of what I was wearing! Not my riding or baldspot but my clothing. My club jersey over the hoody look didn’t go over so well.
I thought the event was about a 6 out of 10 because of the ludicrously short course and the lack of enthusiasm in the presentation of the whole thing. I’d-a had much more ‘Hoopla’ and maybe some better music/announcement system so there could be some more noise and electricity in the nonexistent pits.
I just had a look at the new course there which I’ll be racing this weekend and I am STOKED! Couple of bigish jumps and some gnar…it’ll be rad.
This video was shot for Whistler’s Action Network and actually got into a good rotation. It became a bit of a phenomenon as people all over the village would tell me how much they loved it or how bad it sucked. The soundtrack music evoked the same reactions. No “Big Air”, no “North Shore”, just great riding (as long as the cougars, wolves or bears don’t get ya.)
Shot by my friend Tom Merraw entirely by hand at times running backwards, lying in the dirt or up a tree. The main body of trails was right in my backyard, about 200m to the trailhead. This is mid-February in the mountains North of Whistler, B.C.. Pemberton is in a kind of meeting of three valleys which give it a tropical climate for most of the year.
For the techies: I’m riding a fully pimp Norco Bigtfoot (hardtail baby!) with a Marzocchi Z1 freeride fork, Atomlab bar/stem combo, E-13 Shiftguide, Sun S-Type rims…and most importantly bigass, grippy, Maxxis DH Tires with DH tubes. Brandon, the other rider is on a Cannondale Gemini Team DH that rumour has was once Cedric Gracia’s.
As with any form of exercise check with your doctor and if this is the first time doing something like these take it slow and start with one round rather than the prescribed amount.
While you have to ride a bike to get better at riding a bike, you can speed up your gains with these metabolic conditioning workouts. They are time effective, require little or not equipment and will increase both cardiovascular and muscular endurance.
Unlike traditional strength training that will usually have more rest than work, with these workouts get a synergistic effect as you are getting more of a muscular and cardiovascular improvement than you would doing them separately. Metabolic conditioning workouts give you much more bang for your buck as long as you are willing to put the work in. Read more…
Here is just a sample list of Metabolic conditioning workouts. An easy thing to do is do two to three of these workouts a week working your way through the list.
These workouts have a unique element to track progress. Either time, number of rounds or total reps. Always track your score from each workout so when you do it again you can look back and see your progress.
Weights specified are targeted towards elite athletes. Experiment with the weights so you use a weight that is appropriate for your fitness level. Read more…
Great deals on all instock and special order products
Get a tour of our newly renovated facility including our training room and new parts & service area.
Check out new products including Orbea, Time & Opus Carbon Road Bikes, 29″ wheel mountain bikes, Single speeds and more.
Win Prizes including the grand prize of a $250 gift card, other prizes: bike fittings, Hammer Nutrition products, etc.
Meet the our race team and see them go through the paces in our indoor training center
Sign up the the Cycle Cambridge - GRG Racing cycling club including the brand new mountain bike enduro group
We all know the main reason for going to the bike show is to get great deals. The problem is the flea market atmosphere and the over abundance of last years products. So come see us before the bike show and get some good deals on this years bikes, parts and accessories. Don’t get stuck with a bike bought in a rush that ends up not fitting properly.
Thanks to our star duathlete, John Stewart, here is a cool article in , KW Record about riding year round. Article Link
We’ve be advocating it for years and it seems that the tide is turning. More and more people are using bikes for fitness, sport and transportation. With the improvements that are planned for the Cambridge Bikeway Network, the current PST rebate and lower bike prices due to the Canadian dollar, cycling just keeps gaining momentum.
AW YEAH it’s the Cookers in full effect y’all, massive toastin’. Thought I’d take a sec and write a diddy on the Cookster. I’m one of the staff here at Cycle Cambridge. If you heard the radio ads about the pierced, tattooed, hairy freaks that work here that’d be me I guess. I’m a big mountain freeride specialist who fancies himself somewhat of a turn-wrench. Read more…
Then Rachel Atherton came down and just scorched the course…like wow fast. The last rider down was Sabrina Jonnier who just couldn’t top Rachel’s ridiculous time. 
Greg Minnar had ‘er pinned down and I wasn’t sure if our old/young pal Sam Hill would be able to take it but sure enough he did in a fully down-to-the-last-second kind of way that really topped off the race. Good Times. 
