Cardiac Classic BC Cup...or AKA 5,000 ft of uphill in 2 hrs.

So, that was a dam hard race. I can see why Marty Lazarski said before the race he has only done it once in the last four years and didn't really want to do it this year because its too hard. The race was awesome before and after, but during it felt like you a parachute tied on the whole time. I had my garmin on and was looking at my speed up the cardiac hill and it was like 3-4 kp/h. Makes you just feel like your on fire. And you can't stand up because of the loose gravel, so as Tom Skinner would say "put it in a harder gear and pedal faster, it really does make you go faster" That is a true quote and very inspiring quote, good thing he said it after the race.

So the race went like this: I got the holeshot, then pulled off and let Marty pull through, then Tskin hit the climb like a mountain goat and was going way too fast for my liking, so I dropped my chain into the beloved granny ring, then Marty started to ride faster, well I think I actually started to ride slower, anyway he was tearin' the climb a new one, then got chain suck because he said post race "the thing wrong with this bike is, I built it, I don't know how to adjust the set screw in the derailleur, so it must be something like that, can't run middle and big, its too much tension, and the chain is too short" So that sums that up. I was now sitting third on the 20 min grinder of a climb, then Marty went by me again and then by Tskin and made me suffer. I pinned the top section to catch these two for the downhill, successful. Then we recovered on the downhill and Marty and I got to chatting and he was was trying to tell me that I should "man-up and get a flat bar" I almost fell off my bike laughing, such a funny guy. But then he and that flat bar and took off. I had nothing to say there. Rode my fastest through the technical singletrack up/downhill until the cardiac climb for lap two and got caught on the climb, fell back and then caught the guy in the downhill again only to put on a gap and keep it on the climb. Then on the downhill I was pushing so hard my nose started to bleed and blood was everywhere, made my bike even red'er.

So I tried to ride to feedzone with my head pointing up buy then I couldn't see the trail so I had to keep on bleeding everywhere. Got some tissue's from a nice lady and stuff my nose. Kept riding and getting the weird but funny looks from all the spectators. Tried my best to supernuke the last climb went one gear harder everywhere and was able to open a gap on 3rd place. Rode that to the finish right behind Marty. Nice day for Rocky Mountain. Two entries equaled 1st and 2nd place. We quickly pounded a couple chocolate milks, and a burger then went for a cool down ride. Came back for another burger. Had some good chamois time before the podium. Got the most raddest medals ever.

Came back to my dad secretly drinking beer in the parking lot. De-chamois'd and started the drive home. Stopped at Whatcom rd in Chiliwack for Schnitzle burgers. Then back to Peachland.

Garmin Files:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36805442

The bike paths were nice here, made for a interesting ride, then hit the singletrack and was back to why I love westcoast riding.


Burnaby Mtns Cardiac climb, I was thinking pff what is this, and then of course when you say you turn the corner and BAM! it hit's 30%. Hello granny ring, PS I love you.


Vancouver is actually a pretty rad city during a nice sunny day.


Stayed at SFU, thought it would be cool with all the college people, but then when we got there, realized schools out. Sweeet...


Pretty solid hotel room for under 100 bones if you ask me.


The Spread.


Watching UFC, and eating some healthy food instead of my choice of burgers at the pub..


Photos below by Marie Devantier:

Cow Trail Classic

This past weekend I raced just outside Merritt BC, only like 40 min from my place. Nice change to sleep in my bed the night before. Woke up in the AM had a nice big coffee with my dad and brother, waited a bit until my Grandad arrived and then we caravaned out. we hit the turn off to the race and had 7 km of a bumpy gravel road, pretty funny watching my dad's Corolla rock it through there!

Next up was so chamois up, waited until that last possible second, as I had a long day of riding in the chamois the day before. Didn't do the usual warm up, as I was tired from Saturdays ride. So I just rode around for 20 min, just tried to keep my cool. Contemplated running the Maxxis Maxxlite 310's, but since I hadn't ridden the course, I just opted to stay with the Aspens. Rolled the single ring again, more impressed with it each race I run it in.


I Went off pretty hard, yet thinking "I hope we don't actually race on cow trails today" then cooled it through the single track, which was like half a km. Then it was fire roads, and more fire roads. Probably the worst course I've raced to date, as it was like 80% on the roads, and then some of the technical was so bumpy and rooty I coudl hardly ride over it. There were some sections that were unreal though, descending down a mountain in a big open field, with tall grass and a little trail just weaving through the meadow. That kept me sane. I stopped halfway through and took a pee, I was able too because it was so open I could see up to at least 5 min behind me in some sections....It's not fun when the bladder's full. Rolled in to take the first W of the season. After the race I went back to my thought before the race of "I hope we don't race on cow trails" and now thought "Dam! I wished we actually raced on cow trails" Stoked on that, I even got a big Belgian beer and a trophy made of a cassette and rotor welded together. Something cool for a trophy finally.

With our entry we had free tickets for burgers after the race and if you know me, I can never turn down a burger. That pretty much sums up the day.

Some sweet tire pumping action, with my Lezyne pump getting them Maxxis tires all set and ready to roll.


Getting the Garmin ready to roll.


Start.


Mini-mud bog.


Final corner.


Post-race fun.


Mmm Beer.


Photo's by my Brother, Tomas Guthrie, and my Grandad, George Fenton.

Cool ride yesterday.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35829435

Hardwood Wrap

Had a better call up today(42, rather than 85th in Tremblant), but once they told the rest of us to roll up I found a open spot up the side and got in between the second and third row, and off the start everyone went to the right and I went to the left then got up to speed and pull over and was 3rd wheel for the first 3-400 M. Then we hit the climb and it got crazy and my legs were a bit heavy at that point, didn't want to digg too deep too early, that happend last weekend. Rode in the comfort zone and got into the single track top-20 and rested and recovered in the first section and was able to ride a nice steady pace most of the first lap and then got into a little group and started moving a bit. No one really wanted to work and I just wanted to race and not race tactically for like 17th place, I could see we were catching Francis Morin, and I just slowly bridged the gap to him and we had a nice espoir group going, Just Andrew and I did the work, Tyson Wagler attacked off and Just kept riding hard steady and thought he might blow. On the last lap it was just Francis and I he finally came around and just surged a bit on the climb and I didn't have it in the tank, just had the one pace, so I rode that most of the way in, once I was by myself I seemed to slowly slow down, hard to keep the speed up on that course if your not being chased right behind or chasing right in front. Pretty stoked with how the race went, considering I hadn't done any intervals really in like 2 months. Can't wait until I get the race legs back!

Hardwood Hills Course BC Style

Mont Tremblant

Here are a few photos to sum up my Mont Tremblant Canada Cup trip:

Day 1 pre-ride on Tremblant.


This is me post-race which is post-crash as well. Yeye.


View from our cottage's porch.


Recovery day canoeing adventure.


Waterfall.


View of the Mtn from the chairlift.


Pit stop enroute to to Barrie, ON.


Little bit of Ottawa.


Nappy Nap time.


Watching some 90210 on the drive.


Trucker stop in hick-ville Ontario.


First day in Ontario. 32 degrees and counting in the AM.

Mont Tremblant 2010 video

Luge-ing a la Queebec.

Queebec to Ontario.

Just arrived here in Barrie, ON last night, after a long 8 hour driving day.We had a wicked rest day on Sunday in Mont Tremblant. Started with a sick omlette in the morning, followed by a canoe ride for an hour and a bit up river, only to race back down to the cottage before we suited up and had our easy spin over to the mtn. It was a nice hot sunny day, 25 degrees I believe, which meant the shirts were rolled up, lotion was on and hopefully some well deserved vitamin D. Once we got the mtn, we headed over to check on the DH'ers. Maybe give them all a few tips on descending or whatnot... Off came the chamois's and on came the shorts(commando of course) it was a cooker out. We watched some of the dh runs, some good wipeouts, some good little stylies. We saw the BC Juniors get 1-2-3, Lauren Rosser of BC was third in the junior XC yesterday and won today. That deserves a "Snap". I then decided to go hang out with that Andrew Watson guys and his mini-him Zach Hughes, Cody Canning and Andrew L'esperance. We contemplated luge-ing, and finally decided screw it right. So we went and paid 18 bones for two runs. And was that not the best 18 $ I spent on this trip! It was unreal, Made a video of it too. Took of the camera and duck-taped it to the handle bars so you could see how was done. If you look closely on the vid you can see how fast we flew by everyone. The workers told us not to be assholes....but who needs brakes right?

XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.

We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!

Queebec to Ontario.

Just arrived here in Barrie, ON last night, after a long 8 hour driving day.We had a wicked rest day on Sunday in Mont Tremblant. Started with a sick omlette in the morning, followed by a canoe ride for an hour and a bit up river, only to race back down to the cottage before we suited up and had our easy spin over to the mtn. It was a nice hot sunny day, 25 degrees I believe, which meant the shirts were rolled up, lotion was on and hopefully some well deserved vitamin D. Once we got the mtn, we headed over to check on the DH'ers. Maybe give them all a few tips on descending or whatnot... Off came the chamois's and on came the shorts(commando of course) it was a cooker out. We watched some of the dh runs, some good wipeouts, some good little stylies. We saw the BC Juniors get 1-2-3, Lauren Rosser of BC was third in the junior XC yesterday and won today. That deserves a "Snap". I then decided to go hang out with that Andrew Watson guys and his mini-him Zach Hughes, Cody Canning and Andrew L'esperance. We contemplated luge-ing, and finally decided screw it right. So we went and paid 18 bones for two runs. And was that not the best 18 $ I spent on this trip! It was unreal, Made a video of it too. Took of the camera and duck-taped it to the handle bars so you could see how was done. If you look closely on the vid you can see how fast we flew by everyone. The workers told us not to be assholes....but who needs brakes right?

XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.

We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!

Queeebec

Just a few photos here, have very limited internet access. Will do a big update early next week. Only interesting thing during my race was the sweet crash on the last lap, best crash of my life so far! Stoked on that, but not stoked how many positions I lost...

Salty Dog Start

My New Whip

The Working Life.

So I am now a working man as you would call it. Been working at The Bike Barn and its been just great, such a good group of staff members, and its a great work environment. And of course they are helping me out and working with my schedule for training which is unreal, because you can never find a job like that! Its been great though getting back into a routine and livin' life again, it was pretty boring back in April there when I got the doctors word I had mono, and just sitting around doing nothing but spending countless hours on the web and watching 90210 and such.

On another note I raced the local crit on Thursday, and the my teacher gave me a pass, I believe it was like a B, was able to ride the whole race, mix it up, cover moves and do a couple little digs myself. Super stoked on that, considering that when I did the short track in Fontana it was like 15 min and I was pulled at like the 8 min mark. So this crit is definitely a pass in my books.

Been making some tasty food lately. I have been perfecting my omelet's as well, thought I would give a little show below.



This is a little present I got from Rocky Mountain the other day, just got the new shoes all molded up and the new helmet stickered up with the CCA and Geoff Kabush`s "Race Clean, Own Your Victory" slogan.

Clip From Yesterdays Ride.

As you could hear, that is my 6 year old little girls voice.

Salmon Arm-Best Singletrack in the Interior!

Went out and rode some trails in Salmon Arm BC again yesterday, exploring new trails that the city is building. Once again I was in awe when we hit the singletrack. We couldn't ride the single track up the hill yet because of the snow, so we rolled the fire roads, and holy was it worth it! The trails were unbelievable, I was almost getting too excited if you know what I mean! I couldn't get over how well built and flowy they were. We were going down pretty darn fast and pushing the limits on our XC bikes. Which is how and why we Canadians love hard technical singletrack.

Getting prepped for a solid day of bicycling.


Contemplating, should we go back or suck it up and be real men?


Draining the bladder, need to be light and efficient for the downhill.


Yep, we manned up and hiked a bike through the snow, which was totally worth it. Almost five thousand ft of descending is worth some snow-hiking.


Beautifully sculpted trails, the district of Salmon Arm is paying a trail crew to build countless amounts of trails out there, how sweet is that?


My beautiful Rocky Mountain Element. Just sitting there, enjoying the day as much as I was, I put her through alot yesterday and have to really make up with some lovin' today.


Aart tearin' it up.


Just finishing up the singletrack, we are all pretty dissapointed that the ride had to end, after some of the best singletrack I've ever ridden.