ticket2ridebc.com Blog

I explained that we have run the ride weekends for the past three years as a fun and social event where we can get as many of the ‘T2R Family’ together in one place for a great weekend. This year’s event was set to be the largest yet, with 37 riders attending. This included McBannister and Lee from the 2008 team and Kris, Kezz, Lisa, Manbeast and the Leprechaun from 2009, as well as most of the T2R DH and XC race team members, as well as a number of guys hoping to be selected for the 2010 guiding team.

Alexx and I were the first to arrive at Innerleithen, so we set about getting everything sorted out with our accommodation. I had arranged for all of the applicants and some of the race team and guide team to stay with me in a couple of rider friendly apartments that are run by Joy, own operator of Tweed Valley Holiday Lets. (www.tweedvalleyholidaylets@co.uk)

The apartments are very well located at Innerleithen, being a couple of minutes walk from the Traquair Arms pub, and less than five minutes on the bike to the car park at the bottom of the Innerleithen trails and race course.

Joy met us at the apartments to give us a tour of the facilities that were ideal for what we needed, having everything that you would need for a weekend of mountain biking, from secure bike storage and bike washing facilities through to complementary trail maps. The apartments combined sleep 14 people and a couple more if you don’t mind sleeping on the sofas.

Once we had got sorted out in the apartments; I popped to the supermarket to get a supply of beers and breakfast items before returning to the lodge. By now it was getting close to 5pm, the agreed meeting time for all the riders in the Traquair Arms Hotel, where we had organised a function room and pre-ordered our meals.

From 5pm I took up residence in the bar and from that point we greeted new and old members for the T2R family up until we ate at 8.30pm. It was great to see everyone and the conversation flowed at pace through to almost mid night, when some of the guys started to return to their accommodation. The hope had been we were all going to be staying at the same place; however the group was so large that we needed four lodges for the weekend. Lee had organised a lodge for the six XC race team members, and Kris had another for the group of nine that he came out with. Steve and a few of the guys from the DH team were also staying in a different B&B.

Back at our accommodation we had a few more beers whilst we all crammed into one of the lounges to watch some TV and chat. Eventually in the small hours, everyone retired to bed, looking forward to the riding the next day.

As agreed the night before we all met at our lodge ready to ride out at 9.30am. The weather was extremely cold with a heavy ground frost; however it was dry, with clear blue skies which was superb. Andy Penn and Matt Elis of our XC race team drove to our lodge from their accommodation in their van containing six brand new Commencal demo bikes which has kindly been supplied by Rus at Madison. This was especially handy, as I had not taken a bike over from Guernsey with me, so I quickly bagged the new Meta 5.5. Other All Mountain bikes in the offing were a Meta 6 and the Super4 Pro.

The other big event happening at Innerleithen on the weekend was the first round of the Alpine Bikes Winter Series, and Saturday was the practice day with the uplift operating from 8am. As we had a number of guys competing in this event, once we got to the Inners car park, we separated with Lee leading the All Mountain ride and those taking part in the race taking part in the practice section.

On the All Mountain ride we took the 18km Red route, which essentially takes you up along side of the DH trails and then to the top of Minch Moore at 567 metres, before descending back to the start point with one secondary climb to complete before returning to the car park.

It was a great ride and with such clear weather the views were very impressive, however it was extremely cold especially for the riding around Minch Moore, where the hard pack snow covered ground added an unusual challenge to your normal trail ride.

We were out on the trail for a total of three and a half hours, which was pretty decent considering the size of the group and the fact that I was holding everyone back. My winter spent riding the desk has not done much for my fitness levels that’s for sure.

On completing our trail ride we arrived back at the main car park where we were informed that due to the large amount of ice on the DH course the race had been cancelled. Despite the cancelled race, the organisers were still running the uplift service, so after a small amount of negotiation with Mike the organiser we managed to book on six bikes for the Sunday uplift, so the guys could try out the new Supreme and Supreme DH, as well as have some fun on the other DH bikes we had with us.

We returned to the lodge for the afternoon, to get ready for the evening and watch a slide show of the 2009 season from Whistler. Then it was back to the Traquair Arms for some beers and a meal. Whilst we were all at the bar, the news circulated that the race was back on for Sunday.

Sunday morning was much colder than Saturday had been. We all met up at the trail centre car park, prepared for the uplift service, but at the same time expecting to see some racing, however by the time a couple of practice runs had taken place the it was clear that the ice was as bad as it had been on Saturday, and so the race was cancelled for the second time. Still the uplift service continued and all the guys got to give the demo Commencals a good run for their money.

The time on Sunday seemed to race by and before we knew it, it was time for the guys to get on the road back home.

It was a great weekend, and was superb to see so many of the team again for a good catch up. I can’t wait for the next big group get together.

Racing has been a bit thin on the ground in South Wales this year, which is a real shame when you consider the number of great downhill tracks to be found. The Taff Buggy series has been a glimmer of hope and was rewarded with great weather for all three rounds. There’s been a track at this venue for years but the Dragon series has missed it in recent seasons and, to be honest, I’d always dismissed it as a glorified BMX track. How wrong could I have been?!

The track was short but perfectly formed: a mixture of big stunts, rock gardens, flat-out pedalling and off-camber roots and grass. From the start mound you pedalled through four long, grassy corners before being faced with your first test of character – a big-assed step-down with a really slow chicken-run. Man-up over the step-down and you soon hit a loose berm and were catapulted into the major rock-garden. The rock-garden was taped wide and there were many possible lines, all offering something. This would be the site of most of the crashes come race time.

A six foot drop led into a flat-out section, followed by a slippery, off-camber entry to a steep chute. Down the chute and you were lined up and pinned for a 15 foot double that led directly into a tight berm. More roots, rocks and pedalling led to a series of hips and a final step-down before a steep blast to the finish line. Two minutes would get you close to the podium.

Having got sucked into the chicken lines a Caersws last time out; I was keen to try a different strategy in practice to ensure I hit the fastest possible lines come the race. I had a good look at the track on foot and then got stuck straight into all the big stunts from my first run on the bike. This led to a few sketchy moments but I hucked every huck from then on and it was great! Six runs in perfect conditions did me for Saturday and I hit the hay looking forward to a great day’s racing.

Two runs on Sunday morning were enough to confirm that yesterday hadn’t been a fluke. Everything was going great and I went into my first race run full of confidence. I clocked a 2:19 and found myself in 10th place. I was chuffed and knew that I had some more to give on the second run. When my time came ‘round again, I pinned it from the start; I flew over the first big step-down and just about held on through the rock garden. I was still flat out when I hit the big double, halfway down the course. I carried a little too much speed into this and failed to make it ‘round the next berm – gutted! I finished the run in 3 minutes and dropped to 12th in Masters – still my best result.

Despite the crash, nothing could detract from a great weekend and a fantastic course. I never thought that I’d need to consider slowing down to be quicker!

Following on from my win at Pitfichie I had been training hard for Fort William, the plan was to hit the track the weekend before the race, get most of my lines and take it easy on race weekend.
The weekend before the race would see 11 runs in 1 day and a blown set of Boxxers, not enough time to get them in for a service I had to try and do the best I could with what I had.

Fort William is the track that everyone wants to race, comparing their best efforts against what the best in the world can do. There is always the aim to get down this track in under 6 minutes for most riders.
My aim for the weekend was 5:30, thinking that this was enough to take the win in masters.

The track itself never changes up to or down the bottom, there are only the occasional track changes to the middle, wooded section of the track. There was to be no change here, with a new steep section of track added that would have even the best of riders visiting the floor on the Saturday morning.

I had decided that due to the rain on Friday night and the promise that the weather was going to be good for the weekend that I would leave practice on Saturday morning and head up the hill to look at a couple of lines and how the track was holding out to the beating it would take from the guys who can only get down the hill with brakes firmly on…
Saturday afternoon and it was time to see how the bike was going,3 practice runs, my Boxxers playing up and a smashed rear mech and I thinking that someone was against me.

Saturday night saw young Ben take another step forward in his bike maintenance, learning to strip and change bearings on Crank Brothers pedals, shame we forgot to tell him to put the axles back in the correct pedals…

Ben and myself also headed out on out cross country bikes in the rain to ride the world cup cross country track, which has a nice long descent in it.

Onto Sunday, and after some rain on Saturday night, I decided to do 1 practice run late in the session. A nice steady run just to see that the bike was still working fine. Race run time and on race 1 I had decided to go flat out, well I took this too far and got a flat not far into my run, so ended walking down the hill. Everything now hanging on my second run.

Masters times of 5:35 had been posted, so I was confident that a 5:30 could be enough to get a good result on run 2. Run 2 and I took it steady, guiding my now not to healthy Boxxers down the track, making only 1 big mistake that cost me a couple of seconds, coming in in a respectable time of 5:32m enough to take my second win of the season and put me firmly at the top of the masters table.
Best 4 results from 5 count this season, so I can’t afford to let my current form slip. Dunkeld next if I can get an entry.

Friday, September 19, 2008

We returned to the T2R lodge this August for the third summer running; it’s just not possible to get too much of a good thing! Freeride Shuttle Fun was the name on the tin and that’s exactly what we got.

We spent the first two days riding the bike park and trying to get used to being able to do two or three month’s worth of UK downhill riding in a day. With so many great trails it would be easy to bite off more that you can chew too early in your holiday so we were careful to build up from trails like Crank It Up before getting down to the nitty-gritty of Original Sin, Dirt Merchant and Detroit Rock City.

As a bonus, that first weekend was the finale of the Crankworks festival – slopestyle on the Saturday evening and the Canadian Open Downhill on Sunday. The slopestyle was jaw-dropping with Lacondeguy’s double back-flip and Lance McDermott’s back-flip on, front-flip off the final box. The Canadian Open was a who’s who of world downhill with the locals attempting to beat the powerhouses from Monster Energy and Animal Commencal.

Monday brought the first day’s shuttling on the legendary trails of Vancouver’s North Shore. After a warm-up run or two, we got stuck into CBC and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – two classic trails with flow and stunts aplenty. The biggest and baddest lines were sent where possible with only a big-arsed step-down left as homework for next week’s return visit.

The next stop for Big Red was in and around Whistler itself. Whilst the trails that can be shuttled are few, the prize is to be able to ride PHD. No stunts, no big gaps or drops, just awesome, peerless, rocky and rooty steeps that go on forever.

Finally, Thursday brought the big one – the one all others merely lead up to: Squamish. The trails here really are bigger, steeper, faster and nastier than other places. Everyone ate plenty of dirt during our assault on Deliverance, 19th Hole, Home Brew, City Boy and East Infection. I was particularly proud of the 18-foot drop I sent on East Infection – a real sphincter tightener!
The weekend was spent shredding in the bike park and each run got faster and higher. It’s no coincidence that there’s a trail called Crack Addict – you could go into the park and never be seen again. But to come to Whistler and ride nothing but the park would be to only scratch the surface of the riding in the area and that’s where T2R comes to the rescue…

Our second week saw return visits to the North Shore, Whistler and Squamish where we rode a good mix of familiar and new trails. With wet weather, even trails you though you knew well took on a whole new level of difficulty – great training for the perpetually wet racing season back home. Highlights of the week were finally putting the step-down on Neds to bed, riding PHD in very hairy conditions and pinning it down Power Smart on the final day.
Except it wasn’t our final day. Zoom kindly gave us a two-day extension to our trip by going bust the day before we went home! The two extra days in the park were awesome but, until the credit card company coughs-up, very expensive!

A big thank you goes to all the T2R boys and girls for another great trip – Pete, Dan, Lee, Scott, Jo, Kris, Andy and Alice. Thanks also to Geezer, Crowe, Mark, Andy and Steve for being such entertaining riding buddies. One of us has got to find a job in BC…

Friday, September 12, 2008

Steve;
Once again the Brits rolled into Pra Loup en masse. First port of call was the Lou Penguoin Bar and yes Ivan was still there with the two lovely waitresses still trying to control him – ha!
The Legend!

Previous reports of a shorter course were confirmed, but with a similar elevation drop as last year the track was a lot faster with long ‘fall line’ straights up top leading into technical, ‘Innerleithen-ish’ type sections mid to lower with the same arena finish over the double into the finish. This was more like the tracks the Brits were used to so spirits were high.
Unlike last year, there was an extra days practice, so following registration, which was a tortuous affair were one person was processing 400 riders, (there’s a clue for things to follow!), we were on the hill and ready to roll by late Wednesday morning.

To try and reduce the horrendous queues of last year the field was spilt into two groups, which did reduce the queue time of 1.5 hrs plus encountered last year, but not enough to still be standing in 30 degree heat for 45 to 60 mins, since a single slower gondola was being used!!! Last years major complaint had been ignored and normal day ticket freeriders were able to walk straight to the front of the queue and this was abused by many riders too as they got frustrated. In each 2.5 hour session you were lucky to get two runs in, which is unacceptable.
Within the Brit contingent there were quite a few riders who know how to organise an event themselves and rather than listen to their good advice, they were abused in some cases and at one point the UCI officials were heard to say in French that it would be better for all if they sent the English home!!!

In the opening ceremony on Thurs evening, the Chief UCI Commissaire reported that the Mayor of Pra Loup has promised two lifts for next year, so fingers crossed they might get it right third time lucky.

As last year, bar three small wet patches, the course was bone dry and dusty as hell, resembling a sand pit in places. Consequently lines into some corners were changing on every run and eventually by race run time nearly every single one had been blown out so the best and safest option was to cut high through them and not rail the berms.

Railing the First ‘Dust Bowl’ Corner before it got Blown out Completely!

My main aim for this years race was to try and finish in the top 5 as I was majorly disappointed in my 10th place last year. Over the 3 days of practice, I’d managed 10 runs and knew exactly were I was going come seeding. As usual, my policy was to reasonably push on were able but take it steady on the technical bits so I knew there was time to be gained in the actual race run.

John had done a steady head cam run in practice in a time of 3:07, so knowing I am a bit slower than him, I was expecting something in the region of a 3:20 time in seeding. Everything went like a dream during the seeding run, steady as and hitting all the lines. About half way down I started to hit the ‘dust curtain’ from the rider in front and whilst drifting through the last dusty switchbacks I caught him up so decided to follow him home as there wasn’t much room to pass in the final forest section and I didn’t want to upset his run too much either. Just coasting down the final arena section I was fast approaching him so had to brake constantly, I decided to pass him over the last jump, but hadn’t noticed that he was doing exactly the same to the rider in front of him! As he hit the jump he braked to avoid the rider cutting across him, not realising that he was doing exactly the same to me! John said that my hip jump off the side of the ramp, through the finish flag looked pretty cool but it was totally unintentional and an action of self preservation – ha!

I crossed the line in 3:21 and 6th position, so was pretty pleased, especially when I clocked that I was only 9.5 secs off the podium – shit, things just got serious as I reckoned if I hadn’t been held up I had a sub 3:10 in me!!!

A decent feed, no beer and an early night was called for to try and shake off the muggy headache caused by the heat, something that a lot of people were suffering from.
Saturday dawned, big blue again, but the air seemed cleaner and crisper than previous days which was a welcome relief. As per the previous seeding day all riders were only allowed one practice run in the morning so I decided to leave it late, that way the track wouldn’t have changed so much by my early start time.

As suspected after walking the course on the Saturday, every dusty berm had blown out and railing them now had you looping behind trees, definitely not the line of choice, best policy was therefore to go in slow and cut across them high. I did a steady practice run and was ready and happy for my race run.

Prior to going up I watched Lynda come across the line to retain her title and cheered Paul Braithwaite home too. Without the queues, I was at the start line in 15 mins and ready to roll.
As mentioned previously, the course was fast. I was starting in 5th gear and by the first turn ~ 100m later, was already in top gear and spinning. Unfortunately I hit the first left a bit too fast and came high out of it which required a dab of the brake – plank! I managed the inside line past the large tree and then let it loose. Through the left / right dog leg and whilst giving the brakes a gentle feather noticed that the front had pumped out fully, so the front was over braking and retarding me too much – D’Oh!

I tried to stay off the front as much as possible, but it was needed before every tight switchback and I was getting more and more pissed off by the lack of modulation, as it was either full on or full off with nothing in between.

I had a clean run but knew I had gone faster in practice through some of the sections. I hit the line in 3:18 into first place, which was faster than seeding, but I guessed not fast enough to worry the podium. I kept my fingers crossed that one of the next two riders wouldn’t beat my time, but they both came down faster and in fact all top 6 seeding places finished exactly in the same positions for the race. One bonus though was I beat one of the Mojo riders in his fully ‘gimped’ up one piece lycra suit – ha!

So 6th place it was, one position and 4 seconds off my target. I’m a bit P’d off about it, but again quite pleased and I’m now officially the 6th fastest 45 to 49 year old in the world! Overall I finished 174th out of 416 riders, again not too shabby considering 334 of those riders were in younger categories than me.

What happens when you cased the double – Ouch!!

Cocky Stylin It Up for the Crowds again – Top man!

Ex Team Member Seb Ramsay, back on the gas after a long Injury lay off

John;
This was to be the highlight of the season, a chance to race in the sun for once….
First I have to thank Steve for organising the Hotel, positioned 50m from the bottom of the track, and for taking my bike to and from France. I handed it to him semi clean,(Errr it was filthy! – Steve) from the SDA race at Ae and got it back cleaner than I have ever seen it. There was some dirty tactics going on though as he had filled it full of water, I think this was an attempt to get me down the hill faster.

The drive to Pra Loup from Nice airport looked easy on the map, ‘only’ 100km, can’t take too long we thought – 4 hours and 2 passes later, on some of the smallest roads in Europe and we were there.

The first thing that I noticed about Pra Loup was the laid back approach that people were taking to the race, this is how it should be. No pre-pubescent teenagers running around, just a bunch of old guys eating pizza, cooking on stoves, drinking beer and rockin’ out to AC/DC, Quo and Black Sabbath on the public address system. I have not even seen the track yet and I am coming back next year.

I was bunking with John and Lynda from the T2R team and Paul Braithwaite, the accommodation was ok, and as it was cheap I was just glad of a bed and a shower.
We walked up the track on the first evening, there was nothing to technical on the track, but what it lacked in technical terrain (I think the technical thing is a Scottish thing) it made up for in flat out sections, fast corners, off camber and a couple of nice jumps.

Practice went well all week, with no crashes. The format of 2.5hour practice sessions with 2.5 hour breaks in between and 1hour uplift queues meant that sectioning the track was not a real option. 8 runs in 2 days was not that bad, and the track was easy to memorise so no big issue with lack of practice. Rumours of more lifts open next year to make the queues smaller are nice to hear. Being a Scot we never get 30C, then having to queue for 1hour in that heat was like having a whole summer in 1 day.

Seeding and race days were to be strange, with 1 practice run allowed in the morning and seeding / race runs at 1630. I think that this is something that needs to change next year, as every run felt like the first run of the day.

The seeding run went well until the person in front had destroyed the tape and it was flapping over the track with the marshal running on in front of me to get the tape back! I end up off line heading for a bike friendly red pad on a tree. I get the rest of the run in with only 1 small mistake and end up seeded well with a 3:02. I know there is 10 seconds that I can take out of this time on the race run and am confident that I can take more.

Race day and practice is a nightmare, catching the guy in front of me and not being able to practice the lower half of the track as I can’t get past and when I stop to give him some room the marshals start bellowing in French.

Saturday race run and the run was going well, with a steady top section, avoiding the pad on the tree and into the woods, this is where the Brits are making time on the continental riders, I come out of the woods happy with a fast wooded section, then flying along one of the off chamber sections there is a tight line to hit to avoid one of the only wet sections of the track, by this time I am into the dust of the rider in front of me, hit the line and out goes the front end, sending me skidding though the wetness. No. My first crash of the week and it is on my race run, I get back up, run beside the bike get back on, nearly crash again and pin it to the bottom of the track. The time is 4 seconds slower than my seeding run. I failed to break the 3 minute barrier. I end up in 50th place which was disappointing, without the crash it could have been into the top 20/25 but that is racing for you.

I had a great time in Pra Loup and should be back next year, possibly with a road trip on the way. If they can do the same weather with a slightly better uplift service then that would be great.

I have to say that it was the most fun race that I have ridden, the atmosphere was good all week and the people real nice, I made some new friends from all over the world.

If you are thinking about racing, can ride at a reasonable speed, then this could be the race for you, a holiday and a race all in 1 with like minded people.

Lynda;
Even though I am told that women can multi task, writing race reports doesn’t appear to be one of them!!!

Masters World Champ Again!

For all your mountain biking requirements visit;-
www.descent-gear.com

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Driving up on Friday night to sterling we had a lie in at the travel lodge and went up to fort bill late Saturday morning. I did about 5 runs down the track to get used to the conditions and I agreed that tape round the fingers was the good idea as my fingers were killing about half way down each run.

Sunday morning came and the race brief took place to ensure everyone knew how it would work. Lining up at the start line I placed my bike quite far up the road to try and be at the front of the pack. The air horn sounded and I immediately got beaten up by a gang of 6 foot tall people (basically everyone but me) which I wasn’t too happy about. Where’s the respect for the little guy nowadays!?! It didn’t affect me too much though as I passed 95% of them on the ride up. I was about 10th to the wall-ride and I had a job to pass the many xc riders in the way on the DH track. When the first bike went on the gondola the 6 hours started.

After getting off the gondola at the top you go over the timing mat which, to many riders dissatisfaction, was about half way up the walk to the start ramp. The track used was the main downhill track with the board walks at the top, through the deer gate and then the old berms were used instead of the world cup woods. Past the wall-rides and down the motorway into the finish.

As I got a good start in the ride up the hill I was in the front pack for the downhill. In the first few runs it was a battle to get past the many xc riders who had no DH experience but this proved to be not too bad as the day went on because most of them broke their bikes. After about 8 runs we were on the gondolas wondering how long we had left as we were feeling the non-stop element of the race. Quote: Must only be about 2 hours left now. No 4 hours left actually!!

As the final hour started I was told by Dave Hutchens that I was within the top 10. This urged me to keep going and I finally invented a way to stop my fingers hurting so much. I got on one of the last gondolas which meant I had a sort of advantage over late starting riders. Through the finish line and Fraser had sounded the air horn to state the end of the race. After this we packed up the van and got all my pit area cleared. A gruelling 2 hour wait for the results to be posted was well worth it as I found out I had come 6th in the senior category. As there was no junior category it was a big category of about 100. The only other person to beat me was Ali Maclennan in the vets by 1 run so I came 7th overall.

Last 4 races for me have been 10th, 9th, 8th and now 6th. Looking forward to inners next week and maybe it’ll be a top 5 this time.

Friday, August 22, 2008

A mate recently asked me to describe this year’s Whistler trip with Ticket2RideBC in 3 words or less. So looking back on my third trip out to BC, I replied with “awesome and painful!”
First off, for me to have returned for 3 years straight, the experience has got to be nothing short of awesome. For a UK rider, the thought of endless descents, blue skies and dusty trails, is fast becoming a complete non-reality on our shores. (Ok, the endless descents weren’t really there in the first place…)

And painful… well the BC trees and rocks aren’t the comfiest to fall on/into, are they?

So, here’s what me, Matt, and the T2R guys got up to in 2 weeks in July…

Arriving “fresh” from an uneventful 9 hour flight from London, a caffeine fuelled drive up the Sea2Sky highway saw us arrive in Whistler in the evening. A quick bike building session made sure the steeds had made it across the Atlantic in one piece too. And then we unpacked and repacked for a spontaneous 3 day roadtrip the following day.

A quiet weekend for the guides left them with the chance to ride elsewhere in BC, so up at the crack of dawn and by 5.30am we were in the truck back on the highway, with a dodgy iPod connection and only and AC-DC cd for entertainment. We headed for Horseshoe Bay, and a ferry to Langdale on the Sunshine Coast. But last minute planning caught us out – the ferries close ticket sales 10 minutes before the boat sails, and we missed it! Chance to grab some coffee and breakfast, or so we thought… we ended up taking out the food we’d ordered and planned to eat in (don’t go to Toads) and feeding ourselves in the van queuing to get on the ferry. Still, we were fed and ready to get over the water and onto the trails. An hour later we reached the shore and found the local bike shop in Gibson’s Landing, bought a map, and headed to the trail head at Robert’s Creek.

It turns out there are loads of well built technical trails off the main road along the coast line and has been the location for some of the sections found on DVDs. We spent the first day shuttling trails with names including Lost ‘n’ Found, Cunning Stunts, Janet’s Jungle, Highway 103, and Mach Chicken.

Andy riding the Sunshine Coast trails, not your average UK xc trail….

Some of the woodwork included super skinnies, see-saws, drops and plenty of undulation to catch you out. It was a steep learning curve to adapt to the technicality of these trails but all were great fun to ride. Andy managed to have the first big stack of the trip when a piece of woodwork broke and sent him down, apart from that there were no major incidents. After a hard day’s riding we packed up, headed to the pub and thought about looking for digs to crash in. We found a motel straight out of the movies and a dodgy Chinese for dinner.

Luxurious roadtrip accomm…

Day two we went back to ride the same area again, this time Andy managed to hug a tree and bruise his rib cage. The escape of the day went to Dan for his dismount from about 10 ft up and drop of the day went to Kris and Acky who managed to session a huge drop off rickety thin woodwork. We did a bit of exploring and found 2 sections of jumps and woodwork on a massive scale that look like they’ll be filmed on shortly. We drove down the coast to the next town where we took a ferry across and drove on to Powell River where we could get a ferry across to Vancouver Island the following morning. There was only one local bar in the town full of the locals singing karaoke (badly) all night but they served Kokanee and had a pool table so we were happy!

Roadtrip day three and we caught the early ferry to Vancouver Island and drove up to Mt Washington for breakfast. The bike park had about 16 trails on it with access from two lifts, most of them black with sections of woodwork and drops. We caught a glimpse of the site where Darren Berrecloth will hold his annual Invitational but unfortunately none of the course had been constructed. Judging by the area it covers it will look pretty impressive when complete. After making a couple of runs Andy managed to break his forks, blowing the damping cartridge leading to several off-bike moments as he pogo’d down the hill! Not a good day for Marzocchi but served as a reminder that over here the trails are bike breakers! We didn’t get a chance to do all the trails in a day and several were too good just to do once! Our final ferry brought us back to Vancouver in the wake of a glorious sunset. A very worth while trip with plenty of great riding already done but ‘the best is yet to come’ according to the guys…

Ferry back to the mainland

Having returned from an awesome road trip the next day saw us on the road again to the Whistler Municipal Heliport, and a chopper which would get us up to the top of Rainbow Mountain for the a sweet descent back into the valley. As part of many T2R holiday packages the Heli-drop offers the chance to ride down a normally inaccessible trail with stunning views of both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains and the surrounding valleys.

Rainbow helidrop

Matt dropping into the Rainbow trail

Matt on Rainbow

The snow was still covering areas of the peak which made for amusing attempts to ride across it! Once into the tree line we found a few rock rolls to play on.

Andy on Rainbow rock roll

The trail varied from very technical to very steep to very dusty. The dust was a bit too much at one point leading Matt to leave the trail and into a bush he couldn’t see, an amusing attempt to get back on the bike followed! The trail ended with several fast flowing switchbacks and all I wanted to do at the bottom was to go up and do it again! Once we got back we had a BBQ and several beers at the lodge to celebrate Scott’s birthday. We ended up in Longhorns bar at the bottom of the hill – cheap beer, table service and the Bone Yard as a backdrop makes for an easy place to relax and enjoy yourself after a hard day on the trails.

Finally, midway through the first week of our 2 week stay, we got ourselves into the Bike Park! Starting of with a couple of blue runs, B-Line and Crank It Up, to get ourselves warmed up then went about riding the rest of the mountain trails.

Andy on Original Sin

Favourites were Goats Gully, Karate Monkey, Crank It Up and Schleyer. Naturally we had to session the hip jump on Original Sin to send back home as a postcard…

Matt hitting the hip

Nothing back home quite prepares you for the length of the trails, the level of concentration required to stay on the bike at both high and low speed and the thrill and adrenaline rush of nailing a section cleanly. There were a few comedy stacks and a couple of near misses and Matt’s head meets rock experience riding In Deep. Nothing broken save his full face lid, but a timely reminder of the need for armour!

Whistler’s title as the mountain biker’s Mecca means it attracts, some of the biggest names in the business. We managed to watch Ryan Leech demonstrate his impressive trials skills as part of Norco’s press week. The amount of new equipment being tested was also very apparent on many of their ‘09 bikes. Other familiar faces include Andrew Shandro on one his summer gravity camps.

Ryan Leech

We spent another day with the new guests at the lodge being guided around the XC trails in the valley, including those in the Lost Lake network. We broke off in the afternoon to ride the Whister valley classic, A River Runs Through It.

Matt on A River Runs Through It

Another of the trips T2R offer is a day riding the North Shore. Shuttling on Seymour all day was an insight to the trails nestled right by Vancouver, which make up the legendary Shore. Runs down Ned’s, CBC’s and the surrounding trails quickly showed us the different nature of the riding.

Andy on Ned’s

Compared to Whistler, the North Shore trails have a lot more loose rocks strewn about them leading to careful line choice in addition to riding the woodwork carefully. Everyone had a couple of moments, Andy slammed into yet another cedar, and my best came clearing a drop on Ned’s in a sketchy way!

Matt on Ned’s

By this point we were feeling pretty beat up from the intense riding but still managed another day on the hill getting some footage and pics on our favourite jumps, drops and sections. All too soon it was time to head back to the UK..

For some of the best riding on the planet, get yourself out to BC. If you want to improve your tech skills get yourself out to BC. It may be painful and expensive, but it will be awesome!

To get yourself out there, get in touch with the Ticket2RideBC guys…

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Ben;

As this was my first time abroad with my bike as well as my first time abroad by myself, I was excited and was counting down the days until my flight. Friday came and I was up at 4am, in the van and off to Manchester Airport. After check in final goodbyes were said and I went through to my plane. Coming in to land in Vancouver I was amazed at how big everything was over in Canada. I was welcomed by Jay from ticket2ride and met up with the other guys who had come on the same flight. As the drive back to the chalet in whistler was a 4 hour drive we stopped off on the way and got used to the local food. Big slices of pizza and more energy drinks than I could imagine were lined along every shelf so I stocked up with Monster energy for the week. Arriving at the chalet we were all greeted by Dan and we settled in and built our bikes. This was a scary moment for me as a washer on my rear axle had dropped into the bike bag and I thought for a moment that I wouldn’t have a complete bike.

After a much needed sleep it was morning and I was excited and just wanted to go to the bike-park and ride. I did my first runs on the easier tracks such as ‘Crank It Up’ and ‘B-line’ with Matt Parkinson just to get used to the tracks and the length of the mountain. We moved onto some of the bigger tracks like ‘A-line’ and ‘Dirt Merchant’ and did some jumps and drops. This was more my style and made a welcome change to the tight and twisty tracks which I was used to acing on back in the UK. That day I rode till closing time and was so happy to have finally lived my dream of riding Whistler. That night we ate in the chalet where chef Andy worked his wonders and cooked us a fantastic three course meal.

Day 2 and we went back to he bike park to ride for another whole day. The riding was better today as I knew a lot of the tracks and had got used to riding the steeper and longer tracks. I had a break from doing endless runs down ‘A-line’ and went over to the tighter and more downhill type trails such as ’Karate Monkey’ and ‘Schleyer’. With Matt not having any forks I met up with Paul from Norway who was pinning the trails on a short travel Turner. We rode all day down tight trails and I was pushing myself to go faster every run. Day 3 was also spent in the bike park and I got to know the bars and restaurants around the village at lunch. Although the waitresses at Longhorn’s were outstanding I think the coke refills at the GLC took my fancy in the hot Canadian sunshine.

On Tuesday I was going on the North-Shore trip with Dan, Lee, Kris the mechanic and all the other guys from the chalet. First run down we did was slow and learning to ride the skinnies and the rocky drops. This was an ideal place to take some pictures of the guys and Keith the camera man got snapping. Further down the trail we ran into a mini bike park with several lines of north-shore made from both natural logs and hand built shore. After this we were shuttled back to the top of the mountain which was bigger than it looked. A well deserved lunch was eaten and we did a run from top to bottom of the trail. The shore on the top section was a lot bigger and a lot of the guys conquered their fears and showed off their new whistler skills. Back into the Astro and the four hour drive was fun filled with music and the amazing views.

On Wednesday and Thursday I rode the bike park again and also got a chance to do some bike park riding with the chalet crew. Once again Keith and Tony took charge of the camera and some still memories were recorded. Taking the guys down A-line was a good experience and everyone was laughing all the way down behind me. These two nights also entailed me trying to get into the local bars which I’ll admit didn’t work.

It felt like no time at all until my week in Whistler was over and I was packing my bike back into the bag and getting all my clothes folded neatly. Tim and the boys played their cards right and managed to find a way to gain an extra day of riding. Unfortunately because my flight was early on Friday I couldn’t do this. Running around the airport trying to find our flights was hectic but I checked in well on time. Final goodbyes were once again said and emotions came out. No tears thankfully. Minutes later I was sat around with Jay and Steve waiting for our call and eventually I left sunny Canada for rainy England.

I would like to thank everyone for making my experience the best it could possibly be. Especially all of the guides, Andy the chef, Chris the mechanic who saved my skin a few times, Tim and the boys, David, Alice for keeping us all in order and anyone else who helped out and rode with me. Also Mr Felstead himself for lending me his bike-bag and dad for emptying his wallet to send me out there.

Photos courtesy of Keith.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Sorry for the lack of pics… the rain was not camera friendly at all

Matt’s bit…
Sleepless In The Saddle was the XC team’s second 24hr race of the year but the first with all four members racing together (myself, Andy, Andrew and Rob), unlike Mountain Mayhem which was more of a mixture due to injuries. The weather forecasts had been predicting heavy showers for the Saturday but bright sunshine for the Sunday, personally I was only hoping for a dry night lap for once! The course at Catton Park doesn’t have the change in elevation of most courses and truth be told it doesn’t have the amount of singletrack most riders prefer, however for an endurance race for all abilities it does the job. As ever there were hundreds of competitors all camped out at the bottom of the course and plenty of trade stands ready to provide any assistance required.

The rain had been falling since mid morning, but seemed to let up just before the off. The start was the traditional short run before getting on the bike and sprinting off. Rob was up first and did well to come out of the run towards the front to help avoid the inevitable bottleneck of riders going into the first tight sections. There was a strange altercation between a couple of riders getting to their bikes which must have stemmed from personal issues we were unaware of. Other than that the crowd cheered through all the competitors and we went off to prepare for our own laps. Rob came back to report the track wasn’t in great condition and seemed to mostly consist of riding round the fields but at least it was all ridable.

Andrew went out for our second lap by which time we had had a chance to go and examine the track and riders as it dropped out of the woods near the campsite. The slope had attracted a crowd as there was a good chance of someone falling off to be greeted by cheers and shouts of encouragement to get back on and ride back up the hill. The reports from this early on dictated that mud tyres would be essential to getting through without too much mishap.

After the two Andy’s had gone out it was my turn, straight away I felt glad I had changed to thin mud tyres as the course was already becoming difficult to ride the intended lines, most people had started to choose wider and wider lines to find something more dry. The first section was a long stretch to the far side of the course following the hedge lines before cutting up and into the woods, this traversed back towards the arena and despite the ground being solid underneath this only served to create the affect of riding on glass which I found amusing if not very challenging. At one point I was helped up a slippery slope by someone walking next to me although I may as well have been walking given the speed I was going. This section led to another field section flowing into the bluebell woods where the ground provided a little more traction but still had a couple of off camber bits to catch you out. This dropped back down to the field next to the arena and after a quick detour through some bomb holes we were back round the edge of the arena passing through the red bull tent (fully stocked with refreshment) marking the half way point. There then followed a long section of fields and short singletrack including a long grassy off camber section which required determination to stay on a steady line and not get dragged down the slope. This led us to the top of a descent with a small group of riders gathered at the top when I arrived watching another attempt to go down without his bike on his bum, I chose the no brakes and full throttle approach and reached the bottom without incident. This led us into the woods above the back of the campsite to the top of the descent with a crowd at the bottom, again I went with speed rather than brakes and got a round of applause as I turned at the bottom without departing the bike. The last sections went from back at the top of the same hill, riding down the off camber slope, along the bottom beside the campsite, back up into the woods briefly and then into the arena.

Just as I got back to the tents the rain came down again hard for Robs second lap and by the time he came back he was pretty fed up, unfortunately he didn’t feel up to continuing so he retired leaving only three of us. This presented a problem, made worse when Andy came back from his second lap reporting the mud had become impossible to ride through in several places We had a short meeting as the rain continued to fall and decided that we’d leave it until the early hours before going out again.

I got up for another lap at dawn but the course had only gotten worse and riding through it had become a slog. After the others had done another lap each we decided to call it a day. This view seemed shared with several others as the toll of broken rear mechs and moral hit home. The best idea going around the site was to go back home and have a few beers.

Andy, sketching down the off camber descent on the Sunday morning. The only time he was seen with a smile and on the bike…!

Not the best race we’ve managed to do, the first 24hr race I haven’t completed no thanks to the British weather, hopefully a future SITS will be held in a more resilient place to keep everyone going through the worst of the weather!

…Andy’s bit…
As team captain I was pleased to get all the team together for the 24 hours, and also keen to ride seeing as I missed Mayhem with a slashed up arm. Matt has already told the story of the event, so here’s how it went for me.

Fri eve – rocked up, chose a piece of field to call home, pitched tent, ate food, drank booze. Good start then.

Sat am – cloudy… Rob turned up. Started to rain. Matt turned up. Gazebo went up (shelter ). Andy turned up. Rob volunteered to ride first, still raining.

Sat pm – Rob does first lap, comes back moaning about course and weather. Rain stops. Andy goes out 2nd, I soon follow. Mud mud mud rain slippy mud going ok gears still work, not any more… mud mud mud mud hand over to Matt. Rain starts again, Rob goes out, comes back, gets in van and drives off. Team morale plummets, not sure of the plan anymore. I go out again, mud mud mud mud gears don’t work wheels don’t turn can’t ride can’t stand up can’t push bike pick mud off bike so wheels turn (repeat for 1 1/2 hours) try to ride rooty descent, end up riding it backwards on my belly. Get back and team decision to slack it off overnight as its so bad…

Sun am – Matt goes out, Andy goes out, I get up and realise my bike still resembles a swamp monster. Pick more mud off and make the wheels turn – good enough. I go out, dry line appearing, and most of the course rideable. Sweet. Fellow rider compliments my “jedi” riding through the bluebell woods. Laugh like a loon down the descent and get a big cheer from the crowd. Nearly take out spectators and gatepost of off-camber descent. Finish the lap and realise I didn’t have my timing chip on…. Oops. Team decision to relax a bit and go out towards the end (not like we are racing anymore is it?…)

Sun pm – Decide that if we ride another lap we’ll get muddy again and seeing as we aren’t racing any more there really wasn’t much point. So pack up and hit the road, feeling pretty gutted with the whole event…

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ben:
With dad taking the day off work on Friday we headed up early and arrived in a field at 1:30pm and the sun was shining. After spending about half an hour deciding where to park we spent a further half hour attempting to level out the van on what seemed to be a 45 degree slope. Finally we got set up and got the easy-up tied down so I went for a walk of the track. From the top of the hill the track went round some off camber corners with a drop in but due to the bad weather and high winds at the top, the start line was moved down to the quarry drop 200 metres down. Pedalling off the start you go round a big dip in the ground and it’s a sprint round the first 3 corners which were all cut inside on the grass. Round to the left on a grassy corner and you go off a small drop and into two big double jumps which fortunately were sheltered by the banking so you could jump them.

From here you go through a series of switchbacks and down a set of small, off camber drops which wind down the side of the valley and into the road crossing. Due to high winds, 99% of the riders didn’t even bother to try the road gap so you do two smaller jumps instead. Crossing the road you go down into a bomb-hole and then back up onto the side of the valley. Here you have a sprint all the way along the side of the valley consisting of rocky ground and some small but fast drops and a bus stop jump. Round the end of the valley takes you through a broken down wall and onto a long off camber section keeping high and putting a few pedal strokes in to make up time. The right hand corner before the road crossing was very off camber and only got a decent rut dug into it by the end of Sunday’s runs. Off the rock slab and over the fire road you go over the inside of a double, trying to keep low to avoid the wind. Keeping a road tuck position down the field and cranking the pedals leads you through the trees, past the ticket2ride team van and over the final launch through the finish line.

On Saturday the rain came down hard for most of the day and the track was getting to the stage of being a bog in places. Several clean kits later and Saturday practice was over. That evening there was a long jump contest held on the launch jump in the field. When the prize was announced as a crate of Monster energy and £60 I decided to give it a shot. Several flat landings later I came 3rd in the long jump clearing 39 feet, just 3 inches off the win. Gutted!!

Bubba’s got nothin on this boy!!! (Photo courtesy of www.fastlanephotography.co.uk)

Sunday was better than Saturday with the sun finally coming out before racing started. As there was no seeding it was number order and I was one of the last juniors down. I sprinted off the line all the way down to the switchbacks and then kept a low profile to reduce the drag from the wind. At the top Joe Flanagan had a skin suit and no peak on so I was determined to prove this as a false concept. I did this and came through in a time of 2:23.842 and I got 10th place in junior, beating Joe by 5 seconds.

The added bonus of being parked next to the Monster energy speakers gave me a few headaches but the music was at least very good. Now driving home in the van I’m enjoying my last few hours as a 16 year old. So tomorrow, “watch out there’s another idiot on the road”, in the words of Steve.

Steve;
Bit of a strange one this race! The NPS normally go for big wide tracks with multi line options – silly one’s for the brave and foolish and the ‘sheep’ trail lines for the less technically gifted riders, however what we were presented with this weekend was a very tightly taped track down the previously used course, (apart from a new road crossing), and a single line all the way down! Apart from a few tight off camber lines through the gorse switchback and the potential of a big road jump where the new section was, that wasn’t actually achievable due to the strong head wind, it was a single trail all the way down.

Due to the strong winds up top, the start was also moved down to below the rock drop, taking out the biggest obstacle on the course and then the course was taped wider around a couple of bomb holes making it really easy for everyone, so the top section now required no technical skill whatsoever to get to the couple of doubles before the switchbacks. Whether this was the input of the Chief UCI Commissaire who did appear to be a bit risk averse and probably more used to dealing with namby pamby XC racers, but it did severely sterilise the top section.
As Ben mentioned, the forecasted rain battered us on the Saturday turning the track to gloop in places and then when seeding got cancelled Sat afternoon, with the rumour going round that Sunday would be one practice run, seeding and then race run, a few people packed up and went home. Thankfully sense prevailed and Sunday was organised as normal with seeding done on current series form which appeared to work for the majority.

I’ve become a bit of a fair weather rider as the years have progressed so I wasn’t enjoying Sat at all, but thankfully due to the sterile nature of the course there wasn’t much to learn, so three runs and I knew where I was going, just needed to speed up and there would be plenty of time on Sunday for that with the prospect of dry and sunny weather forecasted as a bonus too.

After a surprisingly good sleep in the back of the hired van, Sunday did dawn ‘dryish’, but the odd brief shower kept the track slick so the spikes stayed on during the couple of practice runs. The wind had picked up though and the flat pedal across the traverse after the road crossing. especially with spikes on, was like hitting a brick wall! By the end of the plebs practice session the track had dried considerably and over 1.5 hours later when racing started, I noted that all the riders were coming down bone dry.

The old race brain started ticking and I decided to gamble and fitted the Comp 16’s when everyone else was still running spikes – any tyre that rolled faster had to be an advantage against the head wind and could hopefully pinch me a podium spot. Sure enough the tyres were magic and I nailed all the fast sections, what I’d forgotten though was to change the pedals and shoes too so I could nail the jumps also, as I still can’t fully commit to big doubles using the flats and consequently I found the fingers nervously hitting the levers on every jump, thus sapping the subsequent speed and it showed in my final result – 8th Arse!!!

Someone measured this one for me, apparently it was 39′ 1″