Durian Cup and bombs

Second round of the Durian cup mini mtb series is happening tonight at Hartland. Check out the race poster here. Tonight there will be an orienteering run. How that works, I have no idea but it should be fun. Looks like it's going to be a great day weatherwise so there's no reason not to show up. Three dollars is all you need if you have a bc race licence, and if you don't you can buy a day race licence for $10. The organic athlete people that organize these events also have some interesting swag at the end of each race...think: Vegan Cupcakes, climbing passes for Crag x, cookbooks etc. What more do you need? Come on out, it's a lot of fun.

Also, for you bike nuts out there:
Some of our staff will be going out for a zoobomb, or a vicbomb on Friday. There will be a pavement run and then a dirt time trial...So if you have your own bomb and would like to join feel free to do so. Just shoot us a line in the comment section and we'll let you know where this will be happening...prepare to be destroyed by "Little Missy."

Poker race report

The "very serious" Billy idol pose captured by Kat Wright on my third checkpoint

The SIMBS poker run on Sunday was a great success. 40 people showed up for the race and everybody had a blast as far as I know. Awards were awarded for best time, DFL, best hand, worst hand, best team time, team hand, and best team name and whatever else category Mitch could come up with, so there was lots of nice swag given out to good people. The race was set up with four stations scattered around the park, and at each station you had to pick up a card, that would build your hand. The stations were located at Inventive/little Face intersection, at the Bench on Dave's line, the lookout at the end of Dave's line/start of Southridge, and at the bottom of Bottom feeder. Most people took their time between points and stopped to chat with the guys giving out the cards at every station. I did the run in about an hour or so and came in somewhere at the middle of the pack. I added some trails to my ride just for fun, and rode down Green Ribbon, and then did Crossover, Ruffles, Rolly ridge, Inventive and short cut on the way back, trying to avoid the fireroads. I had an absolute blast at the race which was organized by our own Mitch Thacker and he did a great job. He also destroyed the sprint race on Friday but more on that later.
Reinert from the Zone/Q cooked up some kick ass burgers after the ride, with his own barbecue and for free. That guy's awesome, he does not even ride mountain bikes but offers his BBQ and his time to SIMBS without hesitation. Very cool.

Race report, upcoming races, poker run

So after a mad dash in the shop van and a consequent rotor change in the Hartland parking lot I managed to show up for the race last night. Just before the race I thought: "Hmmm... that rear tire is a little low, ahh to hell with it, it'll be fine... NO IT WONT! If it can go wrong, it will at some point or another, said some guy named Murphy. Well, he was right. In the first few hundred meters, I got a flat. I was only half way up shock treatment too. So I walked back to the start, repaired the flat and got to start again. The second lap was pretty good, but on the third and last lap I felt the rear end getting loose again. Oh sh&%! Another flat?! Yes indeed it was, but it was a slow leak, and I managed to finish the race on a mushy tire...The race was good overall and my cunning strategy of getting a flat on the first lap so I'd only need to do two saved me from puking my guts out. These XC dudes have some weird perverted love for climbs.
There were about 22 people that showed up and the race was nice and casual, true Island style.
The loop that we did consisted of: Shock Treatment, second ave, emergency one, rolly ridge, crazy horse, little face, inventive, skull trail, and the regional trail back to shock treatment. Everyone had a good time even though competitors were somewhat plagued by mechanicals. I think there were 5 or six flats in the race, broken chain etc. The mixture of tough climbs, technical trails and the recklessness of full out racers combined to make for good carnage. Fun times where had by all though, and I'll be sure to show up for the second round which will be an orienteering race, whatever that means.
Tonight its sprints somewhere on the "mean streets" of Victoria. But the real race is on Sunday:
The glorious SIMBS poker run! It will be fun, it's dirt cheap ($5), not to mention all the sweet swag that will be there and the BBQ!!! - Bike race, free stuff, burgers, and beer...what else can you ask for really?

Check it: Poker

Durian cup

There's a fun event coming up tonight at the Dump. Dave Shishcoff of organicathelete.com has organised 4 races in cooperation with SIMBS. The first of the 4 race weekly series is on tonight. Sign up starts at 6:30 and racing starts at 7:00. The race fee is a meager $3 if you have a Cycling BC insurance. If not you can buy a day licence for $40. http://www.organicathlete.org/blog/durian-cup.

Unfortunately I don't think any of the Shop staff will make it out tonight, but I'm sure we'll be there next week.
This is a nice development. There have not been a lot of races at the dump for awhile, but after the first super d there last year and the second one this year there seems to be an increased interest for putting on races at Hartland and this will train the Capital Regional District in being more accepting of such events. It's a constant struggle to keep the little land we have for riding in the CRD and events like these, that show that there is a big group of energetic people using the trails might help in developing more land for mountain biking. What seems to elude the CRD is how much is to be gained from having a nice network of trails within the city limits. CRD tends to focus on liability issues, but forgets to think about how much mountain bikers contribute to the local economy...Somehow this goes unnoticed. BC is a Mecca for mountain biking and there are thousands of people that come here (BC) specifically to ride our trails, and if the city of Victoria is interested in keeping a healthy tourist population they should expand the riding in the region, not limit it. Mountain biking adds to a list of nice sustainable things to do in Victoria and it would be great if those that travel here would have more options in trail systems to ride.
but that's a whole different story...Go out there and race the Durian Cup... It should be great fun and I'm sure there will be some beers afterwards...