Cool rides and burning blubbah!

OOOhhhh it's cold out there! But whenever I'm complaining about the cold I try and stop myself and check out Alaska Tim's Bicycles and Icicles blog from Anchorage, Alaska. Those guys are tough as nails and make me feel like a sissy complaining about the cold "down here" in Victoria. But in saying that, they also know how to dress warm.
It was a strange feeling nevertheless, when me and Justin went for a ride at the dump last night and I wore pants. Yeah that's right, pants not shorts... I have not done that since the new years day ride. It was worth it though, because it really was freezing. Justin was tougher than I, and wore his custom Louis Garneau cross knickers from the mid nineties. The trails are in great condition since it's been pretty cold lately: No mud and lots of grip, frozen puddle here and there. We got a decent ride in although the water was freezing in or Camelbaks and my navigational skills failed us a bit (we hiked up Big Ugly). Also, we were both feeling slow and out of energy, Justin because of his Snowboarding trip on the weekend and me because of excessive beers and junk food. But there's nothing to do but to keep going out, it'll get better if you do and I certainly don't want to loose the little fitness I managed to accumulate during the Cross season. That season is over now (at least on the island) and therefore it's time to get back on the Mountain bike. So we are going to try to be consistent in going out to the dump on Tuesday nights at 6:15. Everyone is welcome to join us. Don't bury your cross bike too deep under the empty beer cases though. We're working on a midwinter Cross race to be held in January. Location and specifics are still unknown but we have a tentative name: The Post Holiday Blubber Burn Classic. This will be a technical cross race with lots of tricky sections (and probably flats). Think the dump or a similar terrain for this one.

friday Video

Nice!

Raceface All Mtn Edit from Aaron Larocque on Vimeo.

Ride report, forest fire.

photos pilfered of the NSMB forums, and from Dave B

I had a good ride at Hartland last night. It was a solo ride and that was great. It's soothing to ride alone from time to time, you can kind of enjoy the woods a little more and savour the silence. Also you can go at your own pace. If you feel like pushing yourself you can and if you get tired, just sit down and try and spot some wildlife. I tried to push myself to ride hard for a full hour, but needless to say I did not succeed. This hour thing is supposed to be training for the cross season. Since the races are usually only about 45min I've been told that this is the way to train for that sort of thing. Run for an hour, hard, or ride for an hour, hard. I tried but after about a half hour of pretty much steady climb I blew up, and had to walk for awhile. This is becoming an annoying habit, that is, me blowing up on climbs. The downhill was great though and I did some new stuff I've never done before which is my goal every time I go riding at Hartland.

I wanted to see the fire damage from the fire on July 20th. so I rode towards Snakes and Ladders on Old Payoff and just where Torpedo run starts, I took a right to the viewpoint. There used to be a really cool Arbutus tree smack in the middle of that plateau. It was one of my favorite places at the park and I always wanted to take a black and white picture there. Sadly I never did and now that tree has been burned to the ground except for one sad branch. I was pretty bummed out about that and considered taking a part of the chopped down arbutus home with me for a reminder to carry the camera at all times. This place is a popular spot for guys smoking dubies and cigarettes, and that's definitely what started the fire. I can't believe that people still do that. If you're a smoker you put out your cigarette butt properly and CARRY IT OUT WITH YOU. This is not the 50's people! You don't still throw garbage out of the window of your car do you? Maybe you do, I don't know...Seems totally ignorant to me.
Just keep in mind that if Hartland burns down because you could not be bothered to put it out properly, there will be a contract out on your head.

A huge thanks to the Saanich FD, CRD Parks, and BCFS for putting out the fire as soon as they did. You guys rock.

Get em hooked while they're young!

Nick and Emily Nicholson

Nic Nicholson is probably the most consistent rider's of the tuesday night rides at the dump. He usually shows up, rain or shine, or snow or whatever the old man upstairs throws our way. He does not let many things get in his way of riding, but fatherhood is certainly one of them-as it should be. Nic and Lucy just had their first child a few weeks ago, Emily, and as the above picture illustrates, she is already getting conditioned to the mountain biker lifestyle. Nic thought it would be appropriate to pose with Emily next to a staple of Santa Cruz bicycles, since he rides a Nomad and a Superlight. We thought it was very appropriate as well. Nic did the infamous Test of Metal Race in Squamish BC this weekend and was therefore missing in action yesterday as we went out for the ride.

The ride last night was great though, we wanted to do something different so we rode up Skull like usually but then cut across to the bottom of NiteShift and rode up it. That's a surprisingly fun trail to climb, even though descending it is much better of course. From there we rode up to lemmings run, and hiked a bike up to Old payoff. From there we went up twister to the top of Dave's line and then did Southridge. Finally we cut across the top of Fun trail and scrambled to the bottom part of Green ribbon. After that we rode crossover, ruffles and rolly ridge towards the parking lot and finished off by doing Inventive backwards and then taking the shortcut to the TTA. the Conditions in the park are great. It was a little dusty, but the rain today will take care of that. Justin had the privilege of watching Andrew do an uphill endo, which is always spectacular and earned Andrew the RSC-trophy. Justin himself, tried to lay a claim to the trophy when he did a full on endo and consequent sliding on his belly and forearms, right at the end of Green ribbon. He literally had about a foot to go...crashed through the finish line so to speak.

in body building circles (Justin is very familiar with those) this pose is called the left clockwise armtwister-reverse.

mmm...

On new trails snapped frames and backcountry repairs

I got to ride some new trails a few Sundays ago...Mitch, myself and Jeff got up reasonably early in the morning and drove out to Harbourview in Sooke. I had never ridden there before so I was really excited to try some new trails. Harbourview is a promising area that will be a part of the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt, conservation initiative.
After driving to Sooke, we made our way up to a special trail in Mitch's heart and started the descent after a brief exchange of awkward words with some other mountain bikers up there. I got to ride about 1/16th of the trail when I noticed a strange sound coming from my rear wheel, or so I thought. After deciding that this was not the normal twig in the spokes or leafs in the derailleur I decided to stop and take a closer look:
Yes, I snapped my first frame. I've cracked frames before, broken bb's, snapped steer tubes and bent cranks, but this was a new experience. And at the top of the damn trail too!!! Sheize!!!
But not to worry, cause Jeff and Mitch know what they're doing...and promptly set off to fix my bike enough to get me down the trail.

First step was remove the bolts connecting the seatstay to the rocker-link on the Fuel. Then Mitch took off in search of suitable frame repair material:

#1 Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) is an escaped garden ornamental, common west of the Coast-Cascade Mountains in southwest BC, and is concentrated at the southern end of Vancouver Island. Also, as it turns out, Cytissus scoparius is good for repairing snapped seatstays. And Mitch put on his carving hat and started cutting away with the Topeak Alien II.

Cut to fit

The phenomenal repair team of Jeff and Mitch got the broom in there... and pushed it back in from the top with the QR skewer, so it would sit on both sides of the snapped seatstay.

#2 Duct Tape: Another essential material in the frame repair man's quiver of tools. Jeff is smarter than most of us and has this wondrous material wrapped around his pump for emergencies like these.

duct tape...

ahh...duct tape, best tool in the world after vise-grips and hammers

some idiot inspecting the work approvingly, note humongous feet; all the better to snap your frame with. The frame repair worked great and I managed to ride all the way to the bottom without incident. New seatstay arrived about a week later just in time for the Super D at Hartland. That one is still holding up...knock on wood.

Super D. and stuff

Great race on Sunday we had a good showing from the store. Mitch, Justin, Chevy, Andrew and me showed up for racing. About 60 people showed up for the race which is a little less than last year but still pretty good. 35 people signed up for a SIMBS membership as well, which is great for everybody who likes to ride at the Dump. The course was the same for all competitors but there were a few line options to choose from at the top which enabled the more gutsy riders to take some short cuts.
The trails used were Jelly Roll, Lumpy Pants, Upper Daddy, Who's your daddy, Niteshift and the shortcut to the TTA.
There was some carnage on the grueling race track...a lot of people crashed or flatted and there was even a snapped chain stay...bad memories...more on that soon.
The best time for the race was an insane 8:35 posted by Jeremy Vosburgh but our own Mitch Thacker came in fourth in the expert category with a cool 9:30. Surprisingly enough I came in 4th in the intermediate which I'm pretty stoked about, but I thought my time was much worse than it actually was.
Chevy rocked in her category and came in second, say no more...
and everybody else made it down relatively unscathed, which is the ultimate goal.
To see the results look here.
There was some sweet swag given away after the race and overall the race was a huge success, even though we would have liked to see more people attend. I scored some sweet knee pads by Kali which will undoubtedly come in handy.
The Victoria Super D is here to stay as far as I'm concerned and hopefully it'll be a permanent stop on the Island Cup circuit.
Lyndon Williams took some pics at the race and they can be viewed here: http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/14892254248-1243204677-82442/0
Thanks to him for showing up and sharing the shots.

Night Ride report...

Well, it's about time I got the Rock Star Crash Trophy (RSCT). I've had a couple of close seconds this year but, last Tuesday I took it fair and square. It happened at the first climb on Jelly Roll, and it happened in slow motion. Shayne and Nic where waiting at the top and I was making my way up the rock face when my front wheel started to lift of the ground... At this point I thought it was kind of funny but I did not think too much of it. I managed to blurb out the internationally recognized "uh oh," as my wheel kept creeping towards the sky. It was at that point that I remembered that I had tightened my spd's earlier that day. Yes, they are apparently a bit too tight. The result was a dead sailor over backwards. Or as some would describe it, a half a backflip. I landed on my camelbak and thank god for camelbaks, they've saved my bacon more times than any other "armor" except for helmets. The camelbak softened the blow, but it was still a pretty hard landing (as most back-landings are) and I felt rather unintelligent laying there on my back, still clipped in and looking up at the stars through my frame. I came out of that one with a sore back but no other injuries, except for the horribly bruised ego. The bike sustained a bent brake lever wich made the rest of the ride sort of interesting.
The ride was epic though and the conditions at the park are kick-ass these days. We rode all the way to the top and shayne was "laying ze powah dooown" (insert German accent). Apparently giving Shayne a gentle tire rub at the bottom of the hill is like giving him some "Boonen powder." He was pedaling like a mad man and the hills seemed easy compared to our hangover Zoo-ride on Sunday. Tyler and Chevy did great on their 34,5lbs (TJ) and 38lbs. (Chevrolet) beasts and soldiered up those climbs, kudos to them . It was great to have Nic back as well since the nightrides just don't feel the same without him. Sadly Ryan blew apart his Crap Brothers pedal (oops who said that? What what!?) just after the tta and had the world shortest nightride, at 1 minute and 53 seconds.
All in all a great ride...can't wait for next Tuesday.

The Crew at the top of Jelly roll...soon after this photo was taken the undersigned went down.

Shayne and Nic doing the Lumpy pants drop

Dungeon Ramblings

Rider's Cycles now has a huge presence in the South Island Mountain Bike Society (SIMBS).

Shayne, Mitch, and I managed to get ourselves elected to the board of directors. Shayne is the Treasure while Mitch and I are directors at large. Our first meeting was this Tuesday. We got to know the other directors, discuss upcoming SIMBS events, and brain storm ideas of how to spend our member's money. SIMBS will be holding a screening on March 26 at the Victoria Events Center of the latest DVD in the New World Disorder series:

NWD 9 “Never Enough”

The event will be free for SIMBS members or $20 (the cost of a membership) for the general public.

SIMBS is also looking for spaces around town to build small beginner technical training areas. We would like to build parks where kids can have fun and learn the basic skills so that they can feel more confident riding at Hartland. We are looking for public land but preferably not CRD land. If anyone knows of a great spot please post it in the comments below.

Trail maintenance this month will be on Sunday the 15^th. Please contact Chris before 9:00 a.m. Friday the 13^th if you would like a free a sandwich lunch after putting in a few hours of hard labour.

Rider's Cycles just received the latest version of the Hartland Mountain Bike Trails map. It is now water proof and has been tested to survive going through a wash with your cloths. There are a few new trails and the map has been updated to remove sections of land that are not within the park.

"Speak, Build, Respect, Ride.", IMBA

Night ride!!!

Great right last night, and lets face it, when do you ever have a bad ride? The ride could only qualify as a borderline, group ride. Me and Justin made it out from the shop, and made it up our conventional climbing route: Skull, inventive, little face, centerfold, switchbacks. We were just about ready to go when we saw a light shining trough the trees and the hard breathing that most people would associate with Ryan Leech. I recognized the breathing as another Ryan, that is to say Ryan "Lavadome" Wickam. He had forgot his shoes and was late, but hammered up the trails to try and catch up with us. We let him take a breather before heading out again, and when Ryan stopped seeing double, we continued up the trail. It was a beautiful night, and surprisingly warm which resulted in slick trails and quite a few bails. Ryan took the "Rock star crash trophy," with his SUHE (spectacular up-hill endo), and I have to say that I feel blessed to have been able to witness this phenomenon for the second time in under a month. I almost managed to bail into the drink on one of the bridges and if I had succeeded in that I surely would have taken the "RSC Trophy" for myself. The park was busy with at least four groups on the go, which was awesome to see. We rode for about two hours and got a good burn going, and then had a beer in the parking lot with one of the other groups.

Cowboy logic of the day: Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

Night Ride!

Chevy (resident shop ninja) wore 300 layers and the required ninja-mask to evade recognition by the Hartland Ronins and aide with breathing. 'Cause ninjas don't like cold air you know.

Rick was running his vintage Kona with style and had lots of fun. Hopefully he'll become a frequent night rider with us.

Rick and a very winded Halldor at the bottom of Switchbacks

Laurence striking a pose, very posh.

Night ride was great last night like always. The park was dusted with a couple of inches of snow but it was not too cold. Laurence joined us for the first time out after her "bar fight" in Cumberland, and Rick Thiessen joined us for the first time. Like usually it was colder in the parking lot than in the woods, which made for an interesting combination of crunchy and slushy snow. We missed Ryan's and Tyler's "entertaining discussions" on the ride, and Nomad Nic Hardcore Nicholson could not make it this time (a very rare occurrence) which made us all feel kind of empty inside and we started to question our own existence for awhile there.

Cowboy logic of the day: Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.

Hartland night ride report

The conditions were great last night at Hartland. The park is dry and clear of snow, and the trail maintenance crews did a great job last Sunday. We came across a few of their repairs on the ride; they had cleared fallen logs of Centerfold as well as widening the trail where it had been eroded by the stream that sometimes runs down that trail. They had also done some work on Switchbacks and most noticeably on Twister where whole sections have been built up, sanded and the water redirected off the trail. The new rolldown into a berm on Who's yer daddy is fun too, and should add speed to that section of the trail. Other parts we rode had been cleaned up as well, and it's obvious that the trail maintenance crew got a lot done. This, in conjunction with the dry condition and nice weather resulted in a great ride last night. 6 of us showed up, and it was nice to see Ryan and Tyler back out on the night rides, and their "domestic bickering" made for excellent entertainment on the climbs. The rock features were bone dry, which is a rare treat in the winter, and it even looks like this dry weather will keep up all week so Sunday should be a good ride if anyone is up for it.

Cowboy logic of the day: A good bike is never a bad color.

SIMBS AGM

Reserve Monday night the 26th of Jan. off for showing up for SIMBS AGM. 7pm at the Victoria Event Center at 1415 Broad. Bike lockup at ChainChainChain and beers overflowing. Bring cash for renewing your membership, buying raffle tickets for swag and for beers.

Night ride tonight! Allthough I'm feeling a little rough around the edges I think I'm going to try and brave the night ride this evening. At least 3 guys from the shop will show up plus whoever else is up for it. Shayne is out of commission with a messed up foot from fighting and kicking a Mountain lion in the groin on his way to Picaflick to return some dvd's, and Chevy can't make it because she's hanging out with the cool kids, plotting world domination and going over plans for their cool Freeride park in North Saanich. For us other geeks who just ride bikes and don't mess with lions or the elite, we'll be at the hartland parking lot at 7 as per usual. Dead animals and beers go down nicely after a ride in the dark.

By the way, even though no pictures we're cought of Shayne's apparently epic fight with the Lion, I stumbled upon another Badass...well, uhm Ass, kicking some kitty's, yes you got it, ass: Check it:

BAD ASS!!!

blood sweat and gears

Shayne doing the stepup on Night Shift

The Crew after a brutal hike a bike, everyone a little winded.

Sweet ride last night! The Dump is shedding it's cloak of snow for the most part and the majority of the trails are rideable now. It's nice being able to use more than your two lowest two gears like the last few rides I've done up there. The snow did not really hold us back except on some of the fire roads where we had to hike-a-bike for a bit. We had some issues with fog though, and that made the riding somewhat complicated at times as the lights only lit up the fog, not the trail ahead. Justin, Shayne and me made it out from the shop, and were joined by Nomad Nic "hardcore" Nicholson who always shows up, kicks ass and takes names. The trails we did were Skull, Inventive, Little Face, Old Payoff, Snakes and Ladders, Who's your daddy, Night shift, and the short cut down to the TTA. The ride took about one hour and 45 min. No major crashes or anything although Shayne was aching for some war wounds and managed to acquire one on his arm while attempting one of the trail features of off Centerfold.

Shayne's war wound.

Justin's first night ride was excellent. He exceeded our expectations and proved that there's good material for a mountain biker in him.

Paradox of the day: Why does Chevy drive a Ford?

Night Ride!!!

And neither is winter night riding for that matter.

Night ride tonight at the Dump. Show up at 6:45pm in the Hartland parking lot, on the trails around 7pm. Good lights mandatory, post ride beverage, a good idea.

The snow is mostly gone in the lower parts of the Dump, so whoever was using that as an excuse just lost one reason not to show up for our weekly night ride. I went for a good ride on Sunday and even though there was still snow in the higher elevations of the park, the trails below the snow line were starting to clear up. I guess the word got out because I haven't seen the parking lot this busy since the summer. The trails are still pretty slick and there are "refreshing" streams that cross the trails here and there just to cool down your tired little feet that have all but forgotten about this kind of work after the indulgences of the holiday season. Anyway, lots of mud, lots of greasy roots, it will be cold and miserable - just the way we like it. It's winter riding after all, no room for sissies.

Slushy ride last night

It was a wet and slushy ride last night. There was still a lot of snow up there although it seems to be melting pretty fast. With any luck it will be gone before the night ride next Tuesday. Me and Nomad Nic showed up in the pissing rain and after some deliberations decided to go for a short ride. We managed to ride down to the TTA without too much difficulty, but from the bottom of the hill past the TTA, where a 6feet wide stream was washing over the trail, we basically had to hike-a-bike to Skull trail. Skull trail was actually somewhat rideable although some parts were pretty sketchy. At the top of skull rail we were already sweating after pushing the bikes and overdressing so off came one layer before we hiked up to the top of Niteshift in the torrential rain. Nic and I did our best to ride Niteshift but with the slush and the crusty snow the going was tough. One of us would lead, then catch a rut and be thrown off the trail, then the guy behind usually made it a bit further, seeing the mistakes of the leader. This is how we made our way to the step-up and the rest was actually rideable, super tachnical and lots of fun. We were both running ridiculously low tire pressures, so we were both pretty worried about pinch flats in the clear sections, but luckily we managed to avoid those. From Niteshift we made our way to the Shortcut, and down into the TTA which was quite sketchy as that last part was a gnarly mix of ice and mud, resulting in a unavoidable point and shoot descent .
This would normally have been a short ride, but because of the conditions it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes. All in all, a very interesting ride and lots of fun. Hopefully we'll get some more people coming out next Tuesday.