Not to much to update on, Just sitting down here on my day off drinking a nice cup of coffee and watching the rain just pour down. This is day 8 of myself being sick, only ridden twice in the last week, pretty big bummer as Cyclo-Cross Nationals are coming up, but I'll take the rest. Last weekend we had the Catherine Pendral interior CX series #2 race. It was a total mountain bikers course, with a crazy steep run-up and some wicked descents. This was also the day I woke up sick, and I opted just to race and support the local scene, probably should have backed off the gas a bit mid-race. Here's a sweet photo sequence courtesy of Van Pratt:












Photos Courtesy of Van Pratt.

14 min descent on helmet cam!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_32Zkjl5Joc

Thanksgiving and Bicycles

Well, Here is how my Thanksgiving weekend all happend:

-Drove to Vancouver Saturday morning for another bike race with my Grandad. Except this time I was able to win it and not get 2nd again. Think I surprised myself more than everyone else...Plus I won 125 bones. Pretty solid I know

-Drove home from from the race. Stopped at my favorite road trip stop, Whatcom Rd in Chilliwack. Usually after a race I opt for a Schnitzel burger, but today I went for the double whopper with large fries and a coke. This made the drive a little easier.

-Came home and laid on the couch and caught up on missed 90210 episodes.

-Sunday morning I was planning on watching the Kelowna Marathon in the early AM, then shuttling a bike trail for an upcoming race we have, but my buddies canceled. After my bodum of coffee I quickyl rolled into K-town to hit the last bit of the marathon. Couldn't find anyone I know, so I decided to head home because I looked kinda funny riding my lime green fixied out Kona Jake the Snake by my lonesome.

-Laid on the couch a little more. Then a whole bunch of family came over for Turkey Dinner. Good thing I'm not a turkey fan and everyone else is. Because they stuffed themselves on turkey dinner and I had half a plate. This is where it gets good. I was then able to eat way way too much homemade cooking. Even after the point where I started to feel sick and grossed out with the cookies, I had some more. Thinking I have a little addiction that needs an intervention.

-More couch time to try and somewhat burn off some calories. I even did 8 push ups to help the process!

-Monday was up darn early and off to the Cascades area,just outside Hope area. Made for almost a 3 hr drive from my home of Peachland. Park one car at the finish of the trail and then drove to the start, the top of a twisty 16 km rd to the top of a mtn at 6,000 ft. It was also just over 0 degrees I believe. Which meant I could almost feel my testicles in my stomach for the first hour. Anyway it was unbelievable, the views, the trails and the 6,000 plus feet of descending. Can't explain how sweet, so here are some pics:(short form for pictures...incase you didn't know..)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/52666805

A weekend of bike racing and American cars

Had an interesting weekend. Makes for a good story though. Saturday morning I was up early with my dad packing our Ford van to get ready for the back-to-back CX BC Cup weekend in Vancouver. We were off to a nice start with the great weather and nice coffee's. Then it happend. Right around the halfway point to Merritt the van made 2 weird shifts in a row and then we were like "that doesn't seem right??" so my dad hit the gas for a sec and BAM the tranny blew on us. And it worked out perfectly as it was on a downhill and there was a brake check where we were able to nicely role into. We both had a potty mouth for a couple minutes. Then my dad busted out with Special Gold Visa and got us a free tow back into town. Good thing it was only two of us, because if there was a third they would have been sitting up on the Connector all by them selves. We waited for like 2 hrs until the truck got up there, thought about just doing a ride out there because we weren't going to make it down for day 1. Called and tried to cancel our hotel but it wasn't 24 hrs before. So once we got home I buzzed out for a couple hour ride and did some good efforts to make it seem like I sort of raced that day. Back home showered up and we took the more reliable rice burner down to Vancouver instead. Did I mention our van was American...yah that's why is blew. Bad news was now I didn't have enough room for my spare bike, so I rolled down with 3 spare wheels instead. On our way through Merritt we stopped and watch the Pacific Forrest Rally for a bit. Where my neighbor Mark Jennings-Bates was racing. He is going to be racing the Dakar this fall. Check out his website, http://www.rally4life.org/ he is not only racing but helping fund raise to save thousands of lives!!

Race Day: Vanier Park is a sweet venue, with being on the ocean and have downtown right there, so the specatator side of thing was pretty good. Had a good warm up beforehand on course, they changed the course a bit from last year for better, and with rain a bit the night before it made the first half of the race a little slippery and tougher for the roadies. Got the holeshot and took it into a S turn going sideways and almost took everyone out...my bad. Then Mr Tyler Trace came shooting around a little ways after and hit the gas, strung out the field and slowly just rode. I was able to do that with him last, but it was a suffer fest of me the first half. Then started coming around at the halfway point and no one was too committed to chasing, just short pulls. So I tried my best but was getting tired and not making any ground on T Trace. So then with two laps to go Kevin Calhoun hit the front and I sat behind him and waited until half a lap to go and I attacked just after the set of barriers and right before some twisty stuff. So just had to keep the gas pedal on and not mess up and it would make it hard for everyone to come around. Was able to grab 2nd for year two at this race. Totally different race though. Won $100 bones and a six-pack of muffins. Then made the drive home to have my mom making a amazing dinner.