2009 World Police Fire Games ! Double Deuce !! XC and Road Race

Ahhh,
A little shamesless self promotion... After years of taking photos of other people it's weird throwing images out there of myself.. Thanks Brian Green !!
Anyway,
The 2009 WPFG attracted over 10 thousand athletes from around the world. Every sporting event under the sun was held over the 10 days and all levels competed from weekend warriors to retired pros in their sport.
When the games were announced to be held in Vancouver I decided to compete in Mountain bike and Road racing after more than 18 yrs out of real competitive riding.
Starting last Aug I started my base building logging 20 hrs a week with training camps in Hawaii (most amazing place to put in winter miles..East Maul loop is a must do) mid winter and California in the spring.
Cycling B.C grandfathered me a Category 2 road liscence and Pro-Elite MTB liscence.
By the time the games rolled around I had about 45 plus races in my legs with mixed results. I had an early peak in March and was riding really well considering the amount of time out of the sport. Mid-April I had my 1st bad race and realized I was burned out. Went down to Peru for 2 weeks of fun MTB and thought it would be a restfull break but with the altitude and riding with 10kgs of camera gear I came home more tired than ever.
I took a week completly off the bike and felt better but still not the same tireless legs I had for the spring months. It was survival mode now, trying to figure out how to get the form back. Sometimes it felt like I needed to do more to get things done other day's walking stairs was a chore. I sided with more rest for the week heading into the Test Of Metal MTB race and then started stepping it up 2 day's prior. I was stoked to ride into a solid 9th Pro/Elite with a small mechanical that took me out of a group of 4.. I nipped their wheels at the finish but ran out of road.. Killer finish seeing those boy's looking back at me, stressing out as I closed the gap..
After Test back into the funk but had some good day's mixed in.. Just not getting results.
I went down to Bend Oregon as my last Prep for Fire Games and rode the Masters Category for the 1st time. 4 Stage race that ended up being as hard as anything else I've done this year. 2 time USA pro champ along with a number of National champs from USA and Canada present so it was full gas in every stage. No results there but rode ok and came home feeling stronger and motivated.
From there I had 9 day's to rest until the games and I mixed easy road rides with soft laps of the Whistler Cross Country course to get used to it, generally riding @ the hotest point of the day to get used to Whistler heat. I helped the organizer with some suggestions to dial in the course, mostly just to add some more zones for passing to keep flow going to those events.
My 1st race of the games was due on Aug 4th and on Aug 2nd I got the wicked 24 hr Flu.. That thing knocked me on my ass. I lost 3kgs in fluids ( mostly out the back side) and doubted racing all week. The day before the crit I was able to walk around without passing out so I went up to one of our local lakes and went for a swim.. the cool water seemed to revive me so I went for a quick ride and decided to go to the crit and maybe start it..I woke up feeling pretty good so I gave it a shot. There were not many Open men in the crit but it was still pretty fast and with everyone watching each other, trying to figure out who were threats it was looking like a bunch sprint. I could tell I did not have the deep snap because of my sickness but made some solid efforts to form a small group but everything got reeled in. Last lap last corner I got boxed in and took a dicey line tagging a pedal.. Kept the rubber side down but lost my momentum and ended up 5th behind Spain/Belguim and
3rd place Guy Biggar from Delta Fire Dept.. he has been on a tear this year, amped for the games and would have enough medals by the end of the week to sink a boat.

next focus was the MTB Cross country so the following day I went to Whistler to pre-ride the new course. The new additions were great and I was feeling about 90% now so super motivated to race..
RAce day 90 riders were on the line and holeshot was going to be important..Looking around it looked like there were a dozen guy's or so that were true rippers but I've also learned to never pre-judge or presume so I was going full throttle.
Gun went off and I fell in second wheel for the 1km lap to allow the field to sort itself out before the tight singletrack of Lost Lake.
It was pretty clear this was going to be a race between 2 of us and we rallied super hard for the 1.5hrs well clear of 3rd place.. Maybe it came down to who made fewer mistakes but Raymond Hall a Pro out of Oklahoma Fire rode a great race and hit the finish line 26 seconds in front of me for the W on a 29er !!
SOLID RIDE RAY !!
I had dug pretty deep and was definetly concerned about my recovery for the Friday Road race.. I missed my scedualled massage and made some panic calls through Whistler and Squamish and finally got hold of local ripper himself "Mike Charuk" for a killer massage..Next up.. fuel the engine..
Pasta and a big old Baseball sirloin for din din..
Next morning I arrived at the road race super early and went for a 1.5 hrs spin to loosen the legs and warm up. The day was cool compared to what Vancouver has been through and more or less welcome but I do enjoy the heat !!
Gun went off and a small group charged full gas but the peleton would have none of it. Except 1 Italian dude dangled off the front and crept away up the road. I considered going but did not think he was a solo threat judging by the size of his legs..looked more like a sprinter than anything else...Never Judge !!
3 laps in his move was looking serious as he had a 1 minute gap with the main group fluctuating speed and reluctance to go pinner for any length of time. With 35 km to go I popped away and quickly put time on the peloton and was soon joined by the winner of the crit who was from Spain. We worked together getting within 30 seconds of the leader but as we looked back we could see the main group single file ending our effort.
The effort ended when they reeled us in and the Italian started to put time on us again, ( He was an absolute monster out there) , . A solo counter attack was put in from a guy from Barcelona and he quickly rolled away with everyone unwilling to close it up.
With 7km to go we rolled over the top of the 1st climb and the pack was more or less strolling along, seemingly resigned to a bunch for 3rd.. nobody wanted to be the fool to do an effort before the sprint.... Cept for me !!
I knew I would be crushed in a sprint so I pulled the famous non-attack !!
I sat on the tops of my bars, looking non-threatining and just spun away from the group. As I got further away I quietly dropped into bigger and bigger gears until I was 53-11, in the drops chewing on the bars looking to put distance on myself and the Peloton. Damn 5km feels long especially in a head wind. I was stoked looking down at my speedo and saw 44 km an hr in the head wind.. Meant I had legz even though it felt like I was crawling. I quickly caught the guy from Catalonia and we worked together for a short bit.. He kept saying in Spanish 2nd place, 2nd place.. I was not sure what he meant for sure, whether he wanted 2nd or what so with 1.5 km to go I jumped away as a bit of a test an could see he was just hanging on for what he could get. I soloed in for 2nd behind Italy and he hung on for 3rd just in front of the Peloton..
Stoked !!
It's a wicked feeling having a plan actually come together for a good result !!
Thanks so much to :
My Partner Julie who puts up with either my resting or riding..it was her idea to go to Hawaii and that set me up with a great base for the season.
Ryderseyewear.com
Trek/Redtruck
Corsa Cycles in Squamish
Tantalus Bike Shop in Squamish
Simons Bike Shop on Robson
Zoltan (Best damn massage period !!
LOCAL 1525 WEST VANCOUVER !!

Big Mountain "Ride Big Peru 2009"

The title is a complete understatement.. Ride Big.. Everything else is really just an appetizer compared to the massive descents we hit on this trip.
Dean Payne of BC bike Race http://www.bcbikerace.com collaborated with Chris Winter of http://www.ridebig.com/ to bring 10 friends together to head to Peru for mountain biking in one of the most amazing zones on the planet.
I'm usually not one for organized trips and tend to do the "guy" thing and travel with no itinerary or guides.. Well this trip was completly streamlined with the help of Chris's great partners in Peru and they showed us the goods in a super organized fashion so time was maximized eating/drinking, taking in the culture and of course gobs of riding over our 12 day's adventure.
Soon after arrival in Lima and greeted by Wayo, (our bike guide in Peru) we were quickly testing the local Ceviche and Cervezas while building our bikes that thankfully all arrived intact and no panic searches for bike parts was neccessary.
Wayo was the XC and DH champion of Peru and has been exporing the deep corners of Peru and was going to show us the plum lines that took over 10 years of networking in the high mountains of the Andes. Good luck going it alone !!
Day 1-
The jet lag was minimal as the time difference was only 3 hrs so we were all chomping at the bit to see what this landscape could throw our way.
Day 2-
Soon we were on the deluxe 12 seater and heading out into the smog filled streets of Lima in search for the streamlined route to the mountians. Today was to be a stretch the legs day and a chance for Wayo to see how the gringos managed their bikes before we got down to the bidness over the next few day's.
The landscape was decievingly large.. We wound down a dry river bed in a wide valley and took in the views of the arid side hills.
The 2nd night we discovered a taste of the incredible food, again Wayo made some fine suggestions and we fueled up for the 1st real big day in the mountains.
Day 3-
The alarm fired off at 5 am and we were all up scrambling to find coffee, chow some breakfast and get the bikes loaded for the 6 am departure of our bus trying to beat the rush hour traffic out of town. The shuttle was about 4 hrs and had some great scenery along the way. It wasn't long before we started ascending and the views gave us an idea of just how big of a downhill we were anticipating.
The highpoint of the day was going to be 60 km descent from 12 000 feet to 8 foot swells in the out skirts of Lima. Rumoured to be the biggest bike descent in the world.
The landscape here is very arid and can be dusty but we hit it just right with enough moisture on the surface to rail the descent. We had to bear in mind that any form of rescue was unlikely so everyone kept the showboating to a minimum..


Day 4..
Another huge day ahead with a long pantshitting shuttle to San Pedro De Casta @ just over 10 thousand feet. Ok.. I'm a climber and exposure does not bother me but I'm also a bit of a control freak when it comes to someone I don't know driving a bus 6 inches from 3000 foot cliffs.. High anxiety and some quiet dry heaving were the order for the shuttle.. In the end it added to the experience but not sure If I would drive that road again..
From here we were greeted to our next form of shuttle...Horses... Holy shit.. My body armour was on..It was roughly 2 hrs on horse back on at times narrow trails with some good exposure to the MARCAHUASI Stone Forest.. This area had a very sacred feel to it as the ruins dated before the incas..
All told we descended 10 thousand feet and experienced top notch cutlture and rode a ridiculas amount of amazing single track.
Day 5-
We were supposed to fly to Cusco but low cloud prevented any flights from departing. We spent the day with Brents fake dog poo freaking out the tourists..
Day 6- Huchuy- Cusco
One big ass climb to nearly 14 grand before gravity took over, I had nearly 14 kg of camera gear on my back so good X's were had.
this trail was a sacred valley inca trail and had diverse culture and changing landscapes, from open big mountain to narrow lush slot canyons. STUNNING !


Day 7- Brent Martin, David Norona and myself rented motorcycles and did a 450 km circuit to some remote hotsprings. A highlight of the whole trip as we caught a lifetime of amazing culture and festivals on this 10 hour enduro.. sketchy roads and crazy bus drivers kept us a alert all day.. One mistake big pancake on some of those roads..
Day 8-Patacanch to Pumamarca

35 km downhill with huge views and some lush narrow single track dropping into some inca ruins and some small villages. We had and amazing customary lunch in a small dwelling. The locals arrived to show us some of their incredible hand made crafts.

Day 9-Lares Inca Trail. Another Sacred Inca path.
One of the best in the Andes. Starts at over 14 thousand and passes through different ecological zones and narrow slot canyons.
The trip was fast paced and not many moments to realize just how amazing this area is until we got home and sorted through hundreds of images and video. I put this trip at the top of any list of "MUST DO IT'S" Go down there fit so you can really enjoy your time and soak it all in.. Hey Gringo...do yourself a favour and learn some spanish ....

Cherry Blossom Classic.

Recently I dropped down to Mt Hood area to compete in the Cherry Blossom Classic  Pro/ Cat 1-2 road cycling race.

It's been 18 yrs since  I Last raced at or near this level.. I've been working my ass off since Sept preparing for this season, now 25 lbs lighter and  starting to feel like a fighter again..The British Columbia circuit has been a good intro back into the scene and this stage race will be the real deal. 

3 day’s/ 4-Stages in The Dalles Oregon. Some of the circuits used in the Mt Hood Classic used.

Stage 1, 140 Road stage, 4 laps of a  circuit.

 The circuit was  super windy 4500 feet total climbing (Garmin).  I started the race keeping in mind Pro Team Bissel has 4 riders here and LandRover Orbea has 6 along with some other teams/riders I know are solid.
 There was a break right of the gun and I decided to just sit near the front and wait it out as Bissell had no one in it. Sure enough they came to the front and started attacking and countering.. Fun stuff, super fast in the gutter styles. The Break got up to 2 minutes before Bissell started throwing down. We hit the longish climb 6-7% and  the break was down to 20 seconds. A few jumped across and I was right there but I hesitated cause I thought there would  be no way the peleton would let it go.
 It Did!!..
 We hit the winding decent in big cross winds (45 km+ head/cross winds) and no one was willing to do anything. Over the next few laps I tried a few times to instigate but  got shut down, which made no sense as the race was way up the road @ this point.
 Oh Well,
 My legs were still good..Just need to dial in decision making/timing???

Day 2, Morning- 12 km Time Trial.

Out and back 4% grade out, very fast on the way home with some techy sections, narrow bridges.
Had a mediocre TT,    No loss in GC for me so it is what it is. I hit the wrong function on my Garmin @ the start and let myself get occupied with dialing it in. Soon after the start I turned around and my 30 sec man was closing in. That idea quickly made me find my head space and  pull away. Oops.

Evening Criterium- 60 minutes
Bad crash in the women's final delayed our start so they cut our total time down. Made for a fast night, I don't think the speedo went under 47 km hr. I was not interested in a bunch sprint so I jumped away with 1.5 laps to go. Group hesitated, I got a gap and the final Prime with 1 to go and got caught with 400 ft.  It was hopeful but coming into the last corner I could sense the train of doom.

Day 3- 145 km  Road stage,
Garmin 7400 feet of climbing,

The highlight of the stage was the  3x up the Cat 2- 11 km climb with sustained 6% and some sections tilting briefly to 10%. Bissell had 2 guy’s in the top 3 GC so they rode tempo which worked in my favor cause it meant no attacking on the climb and I could focus on 1 thing, “Surviving”..
1st lap up people were popping off the back and I was able to just hang on over the top. Jerseys zippered up we hit one of the most memorable descents I’ve ever done, we were hitting 90 km hr and I watched a guy get high speed wobbles,  front Wheely his bike for about 100 feet, I almost lost the group hammering my brakes to avoid him, just glad he did not eat it, would have been really ugly. .One dude did crash and broke 6 vertabrae/broken ribs, bruised liver. Thankfully No spinal issues so he will be ok in the long run.

The last 5 kms of the decent had about 10 hairpins, I tried not to think about my gluing job on the tubs.
Unfortunately I lost the plot 2nd time up the hill with about 2km to the summit and could not link onto whatever was left of the group for 3rd time up, I settled into a small group and we picked up shrapnel on the run home.
80 starters Pro-1-2, with 52 finishers.
I was 32nd,
 fun 3 day’s of just being a bike racer.
Chris

Inversion

Finally Vancouver is out of the inversion. Lots of cool photos floating around of the city under cloud. 

Unfortunately one of my cameras is now a pricey paperweight as I damaged it beyond repair doing a long exposure in damp conditions.

Anyway,

I got the chance to climb Lions Gate Bridge (legally) during the inversion. In the morning the towers were sticking out of the cloud but by the time we made the long climb up the inside they had dropped so we did not have visibility. Would have made for some awesome shots for sure. Here are a few images from my Point and shoot.

Cheers.

Fall/Winter

I have not updated for ages.. I caught the biking bug back in August and have pretty much been on a mission since. Photography has slowed a  little as I  started focusing on riding as much as I can before winter drops the hammer. I went into last season feeling like a slug and I vowed not to let that happen again. 

Years ago I road raced throughout Canada/Parts of USA and lived in Belgium following the tough amateur circuit hoping to turn pro one day..I had a few results there but not enough to continue with that as a career option so I retired the road bike in 1992 . Over the years I maintained a decent fitness base through expedition racing and mountain biking but really focused on skiing/climbing as a passion.

In 2000 I was hired in the West Vancouver Fire Department and am stoked to have a wicked job in a great area. 

Summer 2009 Vancouver is hosting the World Police Fire Games which involves just about every sport under the sun at a very competitive level. This inspired me to start training again and see what level I can get back to in a season. Since August I've been putting on 10-15 hrs a week and with the fitness rising it's like a snowball effect.. Just want more.. It's difficult holding back when the weather has been great for riding and marginal for skiing. So I'll take the bike for now and when the pow fly's it might be the dreaded Nightly indoor trainer missions.

Anyway,

this is just a quick update, hopefully the next one it will be about some epic in the mountains shredding pow.. That bug needs  a fix asap !!

Camp DirtBag !!

This past weekend I joined a crew of 12 misfits and went on a mission up the Hope Princeton Hwy in search of some alpine mountain biking before the snow made it's 1st appearance for the season.

This was my 1st road trip in "The Executive". This unit is a sight to behold.. It's a 1971 RV in fresh off the lot condition.. bought for a song with all the old school amenities you could ask for including the shag carpet. Just wish the 70's fuel costs were included.

Anyway, with RV stocked we picked up a few stragglers along Hwy 1 heading for Hope.. There Might have been a refreshment or 2 stop along the way as we had to ensure hydration for the huge rides planned for the next couple of day's, Not sure how the hydrating was going cause I must have made about 10 trips to the can on the way.

  The Executive handled the long grades on the hwy like the veteran it is and before we knew it, arrived at "Camp Dirtbag" close to Manning Park.

The Debauchery had already started as we were the last to arrive but in good form we did our best to contribute to the Dirtbag roots that we all have in us. 

Someone came up with the idea for an early start that likely became a bad idea at some point.. because it was quickly forgotten. We let mother nature wake us up with a brilliant day of fall sunshine pounding in the RV. A quick pot of Cowboy coffee to warm the internal engines and remarkably everyone managed to be ready in short order for long day in the saddle. This is the 1st trip I've done in ages where I decided to leave the camera behind.  Dave Silver  Vancouver Island was with us and he was carrying the goods so I jumped at the chance to travel light..  http://davesilverphoto.com/

So we enjoyed 10 minutes of a flat approach and then the trail tilted up.. For 3hrs... The 1st 2 was middle ring mashing, generally non-tech climbing and as we passed through an incredible burned out Aspen grove ( gotta come back and shoot this both summer and winter) the trail steepened and we quickly got to see who ate their wheaties that morning.

Soon enough everyone was pushing and we were in the alpine among 1500 hundred year old Larch trees that were just changing color.. Once on the summit ridge we were forced to carry on blocky scree and was entirely unrideable. We ditched the bikes and scrambled an amazing peak with 360 view and spread some ashed from Fucker pants Fontaine who passed away 1 year ago on an adventure that went sideways.  YaaaFFFer !! love ya brother..

Back down to the bikes,  a quick down climb and then one of the most pinner 4000 ft decent I've ever done.. Non tech and super fast with some 90 deg corners that came out of nowhere.. Everyone made the decent with little to no issues somehow..

Back to camp for more hydrating and Dirt BAg bro brahing for the next day's ride which ended up being an out and back up a long climb of similar style to the 1st day..

There is something about a dirt bag crew rat racing for 3000ft of fast decending that puts a perma grin on your face..

This one just might wrap it up for the alpine rides this year..Bring it on Ullr !!

Now everyone back to the office until next weekend..

Out.

Ridge "0" Rama !!

Went back up to the Chilcoltans of SouthWest B.C this past weekend for some huge miles and outstanding fall weather. This past August it snowed on us up there but not a chance this time.. Light packs (except for mine with camera gear)  Sunscreen and Chamois butter were the only thing we needed this go around.. Even the bugs were done for the year.

The day before we left I did a 6hr mish on the bike which definitely haunted me on the 2nd day of this ride. Generally it's  3hr push to the alpine in the Spruce area so there is no hiding if you don't have the legs..I pretended as long as I could, leap frogging from group to group getting shots.. Not easy when you got 3 pros in the group and one freshly retired hockey star "Trevor Linden" showing what they got. Had our share of mechanicals but everyone made it home for cold beers and a giant B-BQ at the cabin.

Anyway, Ridge "O" Rama is a must ride for the scenery.. 3hrs up, 2 hr hike a bike and 5000 ft buff decent is the added reward after straining your neck with the views for so long.

I complety ate shit on the downhill. Tagged a pedal on a stump at high speed.. Not often I hit the deck but this was a gooder., Kinda like getting suplexed by Hulk Hogan to the ground followed by a 30 ft slide into home in baby powder dust on my stomach.  What a freaking mess.. Camera gear was all good though.. and a fresh 20hrs on the legs...Yaaaaaaaa/