Here's an interview from last weeks World Cup in Mont-St-Anne:

Also made a new "album" for 2012 on Facebooks if your into that sort of stuff. I mean Facebook, sorry. But shouldn't it be Facebook(s) with an S, because there is more than one right?..

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151086550513083.503292.506058082&type=1

Here's a few more photo's I found from the trip last week:

 Recovery ride morning. Ran into Luna filming the course for Red Bull.

 Watching the Elite men on the famous "La Beatrice" descent in MSA.

View from the gondola in MSA. Rad day for downhilling!

 Travel meals while on our way to Lake Placid, New York.

New blog up on Rocky Mountain from the past two months of traveling. Check it out:

http://rockymountainbikes.tumblr.com/

Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup recap 2012

Well I had a nice little write up all done Friday night pre MSA World Cup but I didn`t save it correctly, so here comes the big one..well not that big, just full of sick pictures.

Let's start off with a video recap of our super awesome group ride post relay nationals last weekend:Click Here

After that the national team project I am taking part in started Monday in Mont-St-Anne, Quebec. Legendary for it's tough World Cup course and 22 straight years hosting the World Cup or World Championships. With water falls, lakes, trees, mountains and such it is a just a great place to have a world cup.

I was also fortunate enough to be present for the announcement of the men's and women's Olympic mountain bike team in St-Anne. It was great to see past Olympians and the new deserving soon to be Olympians. Rooming with Mr Max Plaxton this week and it was great to be around him for a few days before the 'official' announcement. He also killed it this weekend with a career high 5th! As well as doing a bunch of bicycle riding on course this week with Catharine Pendrel. Congrats to Emily Batty and Geoff Kabush, well deserved.

Did lot's of creekin' before the race: 

Race day came and I was pretty excited to just race my bicycle. Sainte Anne is probably my favourite course in the world and is pretty special to me as it's where I won my first mountain bike National Championships as a junior as well as winning a junior World Cup. 

Race reports can be found here:

http://www.canadiancyclist.com/dailynews.php?id=24409

http://pedalmag.com/?p=163159&c

Our race took off at an early 9 am. Which called for a 5:45 wake to consume some water, coffee and breakfast. It was already balmy at 7 am and by 7:30 we I made my way to the venue my skin was getting moist from this humid eastern weather. Joined up with the many different spandex wearing cyclists. We started and then we went hard for 1.5 hrs and then we finished. I finished in 13th. It was just another bike race, things went well and I felt decent but had a pretty solid thinking head which helped me ride well. Crushed the technical descents on my Rocky Mountain Vertex 990 RSL. Bike was fast and light and can handle descending faster than guys on full suspensions..Sick? yah I know! I actually rode fast up the hills against them skinny Europeans which was quite nice. Things always seem easier when your feeling good and/or have a good race. I wouldn't say I had the best legs ever but I was just excited to race bikes and go fast on the best course on our home turf. I also had my bike working great thanks to our team mechanics and a fully functioning body thanks to our physio and some great motivation from the coaches. I think I also rode slightly faster because of all the people cheering  me on the hills! Thank you. It's funny how all the excuses from the top Euro riders are all about "jet lag" and when we go to Europe 2-4 times a year they don't think about that for us..but once a year to North America for them is sometimes too tough. It was tough enough that Olympic favorites in the elite men's and women's races opted not to come over. Lame. I was pretty damn excited to cut my time in half on my deficit to leader compared to last year. It was great that almost all the top-10 in the World Cup standing's for under-23 men were here. Enough about my race. 

If your into Strava, check out the race: http://app.strava.com/rides/11632182

And today's super sick DHing on the big hill: http://app.strava.com/rides/11632441

Plaxton killed it, Pendrel killed it, Marc-Antoine-Nadeau killed, Frederique Trudel killed it, Micayla Gatto killed it..Canada is going well on the podium this weekend. 

Video and photo updates also on http://www.cyclingdirt.org/video/643603

Today, since my bike team is awesome, I was fortunate enough to use a Rocky Mountain Slayer and do some downhill shuttling on the mountain. Probably the best post race recovery ride ever! GoPro footage coming soon to a computer near you..Or right to your computer. 

Time for some more creekin' and a cold brew to cap a great weekend thanks to Cycling Canada and all my support from Rocky Mountain, The Bike Barn, my family and friends. 

Well after I wrote a bunch of stuff down yesterday and then it didn't save I'll say that there is a race today.. World Cup time in Mont-Sainte-Anne Quebec. Bigger better and for awesome report coming post race. I will warn if I have a good race it could be done as soon as tonight but if I have a not so awesome race it could take a few days..

Post Nationals cross country and relay

I was one without internet for the past 5 days. So it's now time for the post Nationals, post relay nationals and post relay Nationals sUPER aWESOME fUN tIMES!

After arriving in Saint Felicien, Quebec last Wednesday I had spend two days pre-riding the fantastically designed and groomed nationals course. With jumps, berms, rocks, roots, ups, down, overs, under, twists and loose dirt it had Okanagan riding written all over it. It's too bad my legs didn't show up for the race..I won't get too into but it was not a good day to not have your legs there. After a big week of training of Kingston I thought I had rested up enough but apparently not. I rode in for 7th which isn't bad but I wanted to be on top of the podium and take that maple leaf jersey, or at the least be on the podium. It's been a long time since I have taken a national champion jersey and hoping I can take it back before this streak continues.   It was pretty cool to see Leandre "The Flying" Bouchard take the jersey yet again in front of him home crowd. Mitch Bailey once again second and my teammate Jeremy Martin in third. Podium repeat to a tee from 2011.

Can't get disappointed over races or it's just going to happen again. The bigger races are coming up the next two weeks with the Mont-Sainte-Anne and Windham World Cups. Looking for some good legs and big rides at these races before heading home for a long summer break in the Okanagan. Really looking forward to Axels GrandFondo on July 8th when I get home. Having  a great low stress event to ride in is going to be a great way to cap off a eight week, seven race block.

Full weekend race cap from the one and only Cycling Dirt all the way from the US of A.

Now comes the fun part! Relay Nationals Sunday, with some big smack talking happening the showdown was on. With Ontario taking all the pressure as the defending champions us with the BC Team had a quiet confidence with Max Plaxton taking the elite mens cross country title the day before and Catharine Pendral taking the womens. Our junior Quinn Moberg has a tough day along with myself in the cross country so we were looking for some redemption. I was our starter for BC and kept us in second position after the shortened mini lap of the course. Quinn took over and held us in third, Pendral pulled back into second place when she handed off to Plaxton but we didn't get it close enough as Max pulled back 15 of the 30 sec on the Ontario anchor. We rolled through for a solid second place, having that relay national title elude us for year two.

Post relay came the awesome and what now seems like the annual post relay group ride. With 31 riders from the Norco Team, Subaru-Trek, Trek Canada, Luna, Scott-3Rox, Rocky Mountain, Cycling BC, Xprezo, Ontario, Quebec, Cycling Dirt, Opus, Cycle Solution, Specialized,  National team coaches, provinicial team coaches, team mechanics, team managers and even guys like Kyle Douglas.  We talked trash, had laughs, made fun of people, did some sweet tricks and gnarly bike skill session involving pump tracking, skidding under tape contests, and drifting contests. It was a good thing Cycling Dirt was there to document some stuff and I took a bunch of GoPro videos..Video coming out soon! Soon after there was a ride to a creek for some cooling off and then did some evening go karting..it go so serious I may have t-boned one of the guys so hard I pulled something in my back. We then had so much fun we bought another round and went for a total of 40 min. I am embarrassed to say that I was so stiff the next morning in my arms and shoulders that getting out of bed was tough..

Here's my Saint Felicien trip in pictures:

 Great Canadian comradery.

 Mike Garrigan getting low low loww.

Myself trying to crush a sideways drift and tuck under the tape.

 Starting the post relay group ride.

 Mid-ride break/chat and mock people.

Post-ride creekin'

Evening go kart session.

Arrived in Saint Felicien for Nationals

Here's a little picture collection from my last week and half at the Mcneely household in Kingston, ON. After some needed downtime and going more than a week without flying to Europe, flying home from Europe, Flying to Ontario, sleeping in hotels and eating gourmet microwave food it was great to eat well, sleep well and be in a family environment! Helps me miss my family and friends less..

Had some beautiful weather in Kingston. Checked out some sights, went swimming, got WAY to into www.strava.com. It will take over the Okanagan in T-minus 14 months.. Ate some awesome ice cream, cooked lots, did some some actual riding, got a nails in my bike tires, raced bikes with high seats on the BMX track and many more life changing things. 

Today we made the long trek from Kingston to Saint Felicien where cross country mountain bike nationals are this weekend. During the trip I managed to read two pages of book before I fell asleep, watched nine episodes of Two and Half Men season 8 episodes 1-9, started Ace Ventura Nature Calls and slept some more. Mcneely also thought it would be a good idea to hit a railway crossing at 100 k/ph. My bike was on the hitch rack and did survive the abuse. By the way, Team BC is put together a top secret team for the national relay..that's all. AND there is some talk and planning of some Sunday evening go karting in town. Blog message me, facebook me, call me, text me, twitter me, or you can even strava me now..

After this weekends nationals, where Cycling Dirt is rumored to be making an appearance, it is onto the Mont-Sainte-Anne world cup in Quebec, then on to the second to last world cup of the season in Windham, New York.

I am quickly heading home so I can take part in this years Axels GrandFondo in Penticton BC on July 8th. Super excited to be home and able to be there for such a fantastic event in, or close to, my home town. I was sad to miss last year's first edition of the Fondo. I am sure this year is going to put a smile on many people's faces! 

The E-van packed and ready for the 8 hr Kingston-Saint Felicien drive.

 The haunted mansion that Evan is or says used to be scared off

 It rained lots the other day..

 Kingston is by far the nicest place I have visited in Ontario, or as people seem to call it "Toronto"

 Trying out a Scott Kelly wheel truing session

 Needed some hydration for steak prep

A very Paleo meal I think even Peter Glassford would be proud of

 Trails in Kingston were pretty minty (Prime Strava segments click here)

 The Evan Mcneely showing off the "ultimate self haircut" 

 Pre-tune up on the hair. Trust me ladies, it looks magical now.

 Mcneely demonstrating the "water punishment" from 1867 at the Kingston Pen.

2011 Test of Humanity GoPro video

It's been long enough but I have finally finished the GoPro video from last fall's Test of Humanity mountain bike race in Summerland BC. I`m already excited and ready for the 2012 edition. More info at http://www.testofhumanity.com/

Kingston Life

Living life at the Mcneely household the past few days. It's been sunny so doing a full overhaul tune up on the race rig was pretty easy. Now I got me some of them slick tires so I roadie bike ride now. Evan showed me all the prime Strava territory, Fort Henry and did a prison like tour. Some of those prisoner's are pretty inventive with all their escape ideas. The craziest was one where a prisoner lost 30 lbs so he could fit into a stack of food trays, which he hollowed out!, and then was transported right out of the maximum security prison..wow. Anyway yesterday I was feeling a little recovered from the weekend and went exploring. Pretty much the road riding is awesome here..Then I think I've gotten hooked on Game of Thrones. I was also lucky to be taught some was very important life lessons on how to cut your own hair. First I watched, laughed, then paid attention to Mcneely as he had some key pointers to make your hair go from not so awesome to pretty awesome. Stay tuned for more. Today is Kingston trail day, watch out!

 

Hardwood Canada Cup Report

4 races, 4 weekends, 4 countries traveled, 10 thousand miles flown, lots of driving and this road trip is only half way done! The past weeks have been exciting with racing and traveling.  Once again I've seen some amazing places, hung out with great people and made some awesome food. Currently landed at the Mcneely household last night. I was even lucky enough to see the Kingston penitentiary on my first night!

Race report from www.CanadianCyclist.com here. Check out Rob Jones photos here.

Here's for the amateur Evan Guthrie race report. Sunday morning started off with an earlier than usual wake up for caffeine consumption and race breakfast. After Cycling BC crushed the Georgian College dorms all week with tasty food, early bed and getting sooo hydrated we were in for a our last meal. Bags were packed, bikes were somewhat dialed after a hallway clean and tune. Courtesy of the skills I have learnt while wrenching at The Bike Barn. It was unlike other years at Hardwood where the usual is sun, dust and fast trails. Race was was cold, raining and just awesome out! After getting a 8th position call up on the front line I was ready to put on the gloves and go. It was a pretty mellow start, I grabbed second wheel and held that until just before the singletrack when a couple big guns like Kabush, Zandstra and Jette jumped ahead. No Problem though as I was able to stay with the front group the first 1.5 laps and then little gaps opened to the front guys and I was in a U23 chase with Mcneely and the flying Bouchard. After loosing track of laps again, thinking lap 4/6 was 5/6. Same issue I dealt with last week. After the legs started to say No to going really hard on lap 5 it was damage control time and I did accomplish more than last weekend by only loosing 3 spots on the last lap and not 4! Nationals are in two weeks and race times should be 1:20-1:30 which should help a bit as Hardwoods almost 1:50 time felt like a marathon. But old guys like Watson live for that and were able to make some last lap attacks. Four minutes back from the engineer himself, Kabush, isn't too shabby. Didn't seem like he dropped the hammer until mid way..but still decent. Finished off with other Evan just ahead. He didn't even slow down for a two up sprint..just floated up ahead at 4 sec..we could have gotten some good crowd cheers!

No cool down as it was cold and wet. Bike got sprayed down and shower were taken from cold hose water. Picked up my prize money, which at least covered the race entry..Packed the Mcneely E van. With two Evans who both bike race that meant an easy van pack with a hockey bag, two luggage bags, two backpacks, personal bags, foam rollers, 5 wheels, two MTB's, a road bike and other random bike racer belongings. Stopped somewhere in, around or near Toronto for some extreme pita and chocolate chip cookies. Arrived in Kingston and slept.

Doing a little Kingston exploration recovery ride today before I sit back down on the couch.

Pictures borrowed from the Mitch Bailey..

Over and out.