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Friday, May 27, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
5 Mountain Bike Races I'm looking forward to in 2016
Race the Ridge - Sunridge, May 28.
While I sometimes struggle in the twisty singletrack at Sunridge, I always enjoy racing in Edmonton. You know exactly what you are going to get. At Terwillegar, you get short, steep, punchy climbs. At Sunridge, you get longer, steeper, punchier climbs. And the race organizers have decided to ignore the complainers and we will be racing on the switchbacks of pain!
Mountain Maiden - Canmore, June 4.
Believe it or not, until I saw that the Spin Sisters would be running a NEW course this year, I was contemplating not even bothering to buy a race license. I even made a joke about how they were going to change up their tired, boring, high speed, old course (that everyone still seems to like). With a nice big section of the EKG trail, I'm pumped to be back racing on natural trails at the CNC! Will the other Canmore race step it up with a new course and offer more than a coffee mug and coffee for an elite podium?
Kootenay Krusher - Nipika, June 11.
If I decide to make it 3 weekends in a row of racing, there's quite the prize at the end. The scheduling of the Krusher has in the past conflicted with the date of the Maiden. Not this year, and if I feel up for it, I'll be able to race 2 laps of Nipikas 25km punishing singletrack loop with gorgeous views of the Kootenay and Cross rivers.
Marathon Provincials - Bragg Creek, Aug 7.
I saw the GPS track from this one and was instantly pumped. We're racing to the top! No more driving to the mountains and racing a half loop that barely leaves the parking lot. This loop looks to make a great ride in itself and we will be doing it 2..maybe 3 times?
https://www.strava.com/activities/580754307
Kootenay Sufferfest - Kaslo, September 3.
The organizer has stated this is the final year for the burly 100km point to point race, so I will try my best to make it out there. I had a great time in 2014 by riding at a sustainable pace and keeping on top of my nutrition, while really enjoying the huge final descent and singletrack to the finish line.
While I sometimes struggle in the twisty singletrack at Sunridge, I always enjoy racing in Edmonton. You know exactly what you are going to get. At Terwillegar, you get short, steep, punchy climbs. At Sunridge, you get longer, steeper, punchier climbs. And the race organizers have decided to ignore the complainers and we will be racing on the switchbacks of pain!
Mountain Maiden - Canmore, June 4.
Believe it or not, until I saw that the Spin Sisters would be running a NEW course this year, I was contemplating not even bothering to buy a race license. I even made a joke about how they were going to change up their tired, boring, high speed, old course (that everyone still seems to like). With a nice big section of the EKG trail, I'm pumped to be back racing on natural trails at the CNC! Will the other Canmore race step it up with a new course and offer more than a coffee mug and coffee for an elite podium?
Kootenay Krusher - Nipika, June 11.
If I decide to make it 3 weekends in a row of racing, there's quite the prize at the end. The scheduling of the Krusher has in the past conflicted with the date of the Maiden. Not this year, and if I feel up for it, I'll be able to race 2 laps of Nipikas 25km punishing singletrack loop with gorgeous views of the Kootenay and Cross rivers.
Marathon Provincials - Bragg Creek, Aug 7.
I saw the GPS track from this one and was instantly pumped. We're racing to the top! No more driving to the mountains and racing a half loop that barely leaves the parking lot. This loop looks to make a great ride in itself and we will be doing it 2..maybe 3 times?
https://www.strava.com/activities/580754307
Kootenay Sufferfest - Kaslo, September 3.
The organizer has stated this is the final year for the burly 100km point to point race, so I will try my best to make it out there. I had a great time in 2014 by riding at a sustainable pace and keeping on top of my nutrition, while really enjoying the huge final descent and singletrack to the finish line.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Columbia in a day
After day tripping Mt. Joffre and the Wapta traverse, a day trip of Mt. Columbia seemed like the next logical challenge, and something that has been in the back of my mind since first skiing the Wapta in 2013. For a successful attempt, weather, glacier conditions, and a good team all need to come together. Upon hearing that the Athabasca glacier was in good condition and a good weather window aligning was aligning with the weekend, it didn't take much to assemble a team. Given the choice, I would prefer doing these types of trips with a strong team, not only for the bragging rights of throwing down a fast time, but also to limit the amount of time spent in ski boots.
So the plan was hatched, with a little logistical challenges as my gear was all in Canmore, but I wanted to drive directly to the icefields from Edmonton. I arrived late in the night, slept in the car and met up with the rest of the gang in the morning. Fortunately all of my required gear made it to the trailhead and we all took our time packing up to get ready to go.
The six of us set off at around 2:30 with headlamps, stumbling up the trail to the toe of the glacier. Shoes were traded for ski boots and we continued stumbling up the stream crossings and lower part of the glacier. Once we hit a previously established track, I was surprised how efficiently we climbed up and around the icefalls that are usually quite a formidable crux of the day.
Once on the icefield, we were able to follow a track to the base of the face set by parties camped on the glacier. We caught them on the face, and then me and Travis got some pretty good summit fever, pushing up to the summit with parched lungs.
Total time was 11:38. A beautiful day to be in the mountains. The skimo race gear enabled us to move efficiently across the glaciers, yet still perform well on the steep descent off Columbia's east face. The next day, "the Berner" smashed our time going under 10hrs! Potentially some unfinished business on this one, now I know how many nutella bagels I really need.
So the plan was hatched, with a little logistical challenges as my gear was all in Canmore, but I wanted to drive directly to the icefields from Edmonton. I arrived late in the night, slept in the car and met up with the rest of the gang in the morning. Fortunately all of my required gear made it to the trailhead and we all took our time packing up to get ready to go.
The six of us set off at around 2:30 with headlamps, stumbling up the trail to the toe of the glacier. Shoes were traded for ski boots and we continued stumbling up the stream crossings and lower part of the glacier. Once we hit a previously established track, I was surprised how efficiently we climbed up and around the icefalls that are usually quite a formidable crux of the day.
Once on the icefield, we were able to follow a track to the base of the face set by parties camped on the glacier. We caught them on the face, and then me and Travis got some pretty good summit fever, pushing up to the summit with parched lungs.
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| Cresting a roll on the neve and the objective appears in the distance |
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| The trench in the middle of the approach was freezing cold. It was nice to get back into the sun. I led the entire approach to the base of the face, it was nice being able to set a good pace! |
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| Lots of 11,000ers were visible on this perfect day. Here the Lyells look mythical draped in glacier. |
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| Looking back from the base of the face, time to start the steep climb! |
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| More "mythical" 11,000ers, the Twins, Stuttfields and Kitchener. |
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| Clemenceau |
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| Travis and I drilled it to the summit, so we were there to encourage the rest of the group to top it out! |
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| Not the greatest ski conditions off the summit, but time to finish off the day moving across the flatter neve. |
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| We missed seeing all of the blocks of ice as we skied up the Athabasca glacier under the small beams of our headlamps. |
Sunday, May 8, 2016
BREAKING NEWS: Leaked 2016 Mountain Maiden Course
Eager to provide a course that was actually worth driving to Canmore for, the Spin Sisters have updated their course for the upcoming Mountain Maiden Alberta Cup. Citing the unrealized increase in spectators that previous courses tried to achieve, the course has been lengthened and ventures further from the stadium onto the classic Canmore Nordic Centre singletrack. According to the Spin Sisters race director, they were also pleased to reduce the severity of crashes by eliminating high speed sections and of course the Organ Donor feature which claimed the spleen of an elite racer last year. Look forward to a course that actually uses some of the good trails at the Nordic Centre!
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
The case for N-1
Where N is the number of bikes you currently own. Such an equation is sacrilege in the bike community that commonly touts N+1. I’ve heard that the industry has figured out that unless they get more women riding bikes, the total number of bikers will stagnate and even decline. So to sell more bikes, they’ve got to sell more bikes to the same number of riders.
We now have some amazing bike that are designed to kill it in specific applications. Aero road bikes, comfort road bikes, lightweight road bikes, time trial bikes, gravel bikes. Cross country bikes, trail bikes, enduro bikes, bike park bikes, downhill bikes. Fat bikes, plus bikes.
Listing all of those categories is sure to point out the gaps in your stable, and you’re probably about to open a bunch of browser tabs looking at the different categories and have already budgeted in the costs.
But think about the variety of the trails you enjoy riding or see yourself riding. How much time do you really have to ride? What if instead of buying a cross country bike and an enduro bike, you got a really nice trail bike with carbon wheels and dropper post. Something that weighed close to the cross country bike, but only gave up a small bit of capability to the enduro bike. The extra suspension would make the bike faster on all singletrack, climbs included. What about a cyclocross bike that could fit 42mm tires? The bike would be capable on everything from roads to rocky doubletrack and easy singletrack. Not impossible. Like a 29er hardtail with cyclocross geometry and a narrow road bike bottom bracket. Discs and cyclocross geometry would limit it for road racing.
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