Just Race it!
2011 was the most amazing summer of my life. I decided wanted to race the BC Cup Downhill circuit for the first time, feel out the racing scene and see what it looked like. I hope I never miss another race season…
Sunshine and Jumpin’ on Dirt
First of all, I didn’t notice the ‘bummer summer’. The season kicked off in Kamloops for Race the Ranch, and we had 25-30 degrees of heat for the weekend, and clear blue skies. Keep in mind this was April, and Vancouver was socked right in from Delta to the North Shore, and it was darn soggy on the hills at home. The Ranch was my first ever DH race, so I drove up alone, not knowing anyone and stayed with family. The Bryson racing Clan let me store my crap under their Kali tent, and took good care of me (kept me hydrated, helped me get the keys out of my truck after I locked them in right before my race run, leant me goggles as mine were locked in the truck) they even let me in on their course walk, and I more than appreciated the insights of Jeff and Adriano. Practice day was so much fun, I sessioned 8 or 9 laps of the course, and was lucky enough to follow Kelsey Begg (Junior Elite) down a few times, and hit the jumps with her. The race went more than well, I ended up second in my category, and took home a boot mug.

There was a rather large gap between the Ranch and Bear Mountain, so I went to Hawaii to work on my tan, and surf some summer waves on the North Shore. They were just the right height, and super easy to catch, but I was desperate for my bike by the time I got home. Honestly, desperate. I don’t think I’ve ever logged so many runs in the bike park in such a short period.

Goggles: No Lenses Required
Bear Mountain came at the end of a week-long monsoon that hit the lower mainland. It had been raining for days, and showed no signs of letting up. Everyone who thought they knew the course had no idea how different it was going to be from the previous year. I discovered the goggles no lenses approach if you run out of tear aways, it works depending on the sonsitency of the mud.  The top of the course had a few fun jumps, a ‘techy’ section, (if your wheels touched the ground, as most just sent it over the whole section) and tons of deep rutted out muddy wet corners. The bottom of the course is all pedal all the time, in fact most of the course you really should be crankin’. Lots of jumps, lots of mud, and a few gnarly passes during my race run…that was Bear.

Check out the pics @ http://davemackie.exposuremanager.com/g/bear_mountain_dh_2011
A Hole Where Arduum Used to be
Arduum was cancelled. There’s not a lot to say about it, some were relieved, some were deeply saddened. I was certainly disappointed, as that was so my style, and I wanted the challenge of having to go fast on that kind of gnar. Arduum, come back baby, we miss you. Though, I did just head up to Whistler instead that weekend, and stayed all the way through Crank worx. I raced the Garbo DH and the Air DH, and would recommend everyone do the same.

 
The Garbo was 12k of heart pounding pedalling, tech, gnar, wet roots, mud, pretty much everything…right to the GLC drop. I crossed the finish line 10th, in amateur division, and had the biggest smile on my face. The Air DH was freakin’ hilarious. I hadn’t learned to suck up jumps racer style yet, or to scrub at all…so I rode it like it was the funnest fastest lap I could imagine down ALine . To go fast and styled out on ALine all I have to do is imagine a cute boy following me down, and try not to let him get past. It worked, I think I got 15th or something and can’t wait to do it again next year- aiming for top 5.

Still to come: Panorama, Western Open, Mt Washington and Hemlock.

The Last two weeks of racing have been amazing with plenty of podium time in the family!  I been a bit busy getting ready for school starting this week, so I am a week behind on posts, will have this past Sundays race report up soon!

2 weekends ago was the Border Battle in River Falls, Wisconsin.  Awesome event which brings together both the Minnesota and Wisconsin State series to see who’s who in a friendly State Rivalry.

My daughter Asa did her first race at the Border Battle.  Those Monday night rides we run must be paying off because she made the podium and rode almost everything on course.

Check out “The Look” right away in this video of the Junior start climb.  These little ones put on number plates and all the sudden they start making all-star moves and gestures!

 

My race went pretty well.  Thanks to Claire Cannon @ WORS I got a nice little write up in cyclingnews.

Here is a video from Pro/Cat 1 start climb.

Here  is how the climb sorted out. Mike Phillips demolished the start climb and obviously from the picture below I was just focused on staying with that back wheel.  Brian Eppen and I were able to follow and we made a 3 man lead group for 1/2 a lap.

After 1/2 a lap there was a steep rocky service road and the pace slowed a bit going up, so either someone is hurting or just checking to see who made the break.   I took the lead to see which it was and kept the pace high. 

This course is single-track heavy, with sharp turns, short punchy inclines, and blind corners all over.  I saw small gaps forming behind me as I ramped up out of each corner.  I just kept it pinned wherever possible to not let anyone settle into a comfortable rhythm/pace. 

To win the way I did was somewhat new to me and I learned a lot from this experience.  Coming up the ranks  I used to win a few cat 3, 2, and 1 races, but many times the moves were very decisive, even the Pro Wins I have were 1 and done type moves.  Those wins took less gauging of  my competition as to whether they were hurting or simply just wearing me out at the front only to be spit out the back.  With the competition so close this year in our State Series I am realizing it takes a well trained and perceptive eye to  know when and how to apply pressure that counts.

After 1 lap it was down to just Mike and I, but I figured he was just hanging on as the 1-3 second gaps kept happening, so when we hit the start  climb I punched it full gas.  

This was the story every lap but the gaps were slowly growing from 1-3 seconds to 3-5 then 10 seconds etc.   Each time up the  2 big climbs I would hit it as hard as I could and the gap would widen just a bit.  Mike is an amazing technical rider though, especially descending and he kept the pressure on high every time we came down this new section of off camber undulating single track, just when I thought I was alone I would hear “click'” “CLICK” of shifters, and knew I had to keep it on the rivet!  He was always within sight for 3 full laps.  Going up the climb on lap four I finally looked back with no adventure 212 colors in sight.  I rode hard but assured the W was mine without any mishaps.

Check out that wooden berm, high speeds and flowing single track is what this course is all about, one of the best on the circuit!

After a couple of missed opportunities these last few races I finally was able to pull it off!

 

As always thank you so much to all my sponsors linked over there on the right, none of this would be possible without your support!

Stay tuned for Reforestation Ramble write up very soon!

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

Photo Credit: Amy Dykema, Gary Frost, Niki Frazier, XTRPhoto

Here is a recent write up/video that a local journalist did on the Flowshow that I was a part of in Penticton this past month. I did not know at the time of the interview that he was going to be using it in a video but it turned out ok… just wish i had not been rocking the Eamonn Duignan style shirt…HAHA! (if you know Eamonn you will understand)

Peachfest

 

Riding a new trail, a trail you’ve never ridden before is
one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of mountain biking.

 

 

Living in Vancouver, we become accustomed to our ‘go-to’
trails. There’s the after-work Seymour shuttles top to bottom, the Saturdays we
spend eight hours up and down Cypress, the extended play sessions at Whistler
Bike Park, pedalling up Fromme on a Tuesday night with your crew, and racing
down Ladies admiring the work Digger has done since you were there just the
Tuesday before.

First things first: Stud muffins
This weekend I was lucky enough to ride the bike park Friday, and head up to
Lillooet Lake for a little camping and meteor shower watching. Early to bed,
early to rise, and off to the trails for Saturday morning.

We started our day as every day in Pemberton should begin;
with a stud muffin and coffee at Mt. Currie Coffee Co. From there it was off to
Bike Co. the local bike shop, to talk trails and take a peek at a map (we of
course left our Pemberton trail map in Vancouver). Thanks to the guys at the
shop for the advice, and directions!

Gravitron, Gravitrout and Overnight Sensation
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Pembi, in the two pilgrimages I’ve made
to the biking trails there, it’s that you certainly earn your ride.  Sure, you can shuttle some of the trails, but
you may want a pair of 4×4 capable vehicles. We only had access to one, so we
drove up in our truck the road as far as we imagined our retrieval Volvo would
make it, and hiked another hour past that point. We were greatly rewarded with
three amazing trails that led us right back to our car.

We dropped into Gravitron, followed it up with Gravitrout (follow the fish!) and
finished on Overnight Sensation.  What we found was slick rock, slippery corners,
steep shots and plenty of fun airs all
the way down. The dirt here certainly isn’t North Shore Loam – it was dusty, it
was slippery, and it definitely took us a few turns to get into the groove. It
was steep, and I like it steep, but honestly some of the steep corners were
really making me push it on the commitment front, it was definitely good
training for the Western Open in Kicking Horse the following weekend

In search of PHD
We had heard about a trail in the Rutherford Creek area called PHD, so we
rushed over there as soon as we had de-shuttled.  It was relatively simple to find, but being
that we didn’t have a map we didn’t know which fork in the road to take, and
opted to hike up (what we assumed  was)
the top third of the trail.

Steve and Sterling removed a fallen tree that had fallen across the crux of the
line between the boulder field and the rock face, and we all paused to eat a
few handfuls of (the tastiest) blueberries that were growing on the trail. We
hiked to the plateau, but didn’t manage to make it out of the trail to discover
where it began or joined the service road before we decided to drop in.

Commitment Issues
Sterling dropped in first, rolling over and through the boulders, and
committing from the get go to that gnarly rock face.  I couldn’t see him or his line, but I could
hear him laughing and hooting the whole way down. It sounded scary honestly…but
I figure every line is worth rolling up to. As I made my way through the sharp
rocks, and through the tight corner that lined me up for the rock face, I still
was not committed to hitting the line. I crested the first major crux of the
huge face, and next thing I knew I was half way down the face, yelling just as
much as Sterling did before me. What a feeling. This face set the pace for the
next 15 or so epic rock faces we encountered, and rolled into confidently. Make
no mistake Shore dwellers – Pemberton has technical, and it has steep – it is a
destination worthy of your long weekends.

After coming in fourth in a 6 man Sprint for the Win last year, I was really motivated for the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic this year.  It is a “point to point” race and these can be termed semi-road races with all the fire roads/atv trails, but Ore to Shore is a rough and rugged mountain bike race!  I really wish I would have worn some sort of camera for the race.  A video edit could give you an idea of what we actual traverse through this 48 mile course.  Throughout the course a rider pretty much has to take their bike through every kind of obstacle or terrain the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has to offer.  Rock faces, Iron mine gravel roads that paint your bike and tires red for days to come, sand pits covering huge lengths of the course, un-groomed/slightly cut grass fields and service roads with hardly discernable trail strewn with  hidden bumps, 30 mph+ descents into valleys, giving way to climbs through sand at 5 mph with tires slipping and competitors all around fighting for the best line and position.  Beautiful back country paved roads descending and ascending through and around some of the U.P.’s most amazing lakes, streams, and rivers.  Finally dropping into the Noquemanon ski trails where we descend from the most amazing outlook peering over Marquette and lake Superior 10-15 miles in distance, but the race is full-on from here taking each and every descent and corner to the extremes our bikes can handle.. 

This Race is simply Epic and I cannot praise the course enough, it is both a challenge of physical strength and smart racing tactics, while being one of the most aesthetically pleasing rides one could ever take.  Although the aesthetics are merely an addition to the adrenaline of battle, especially when 10-15 of the fastest Mountain bikers in the mid-west are fighting for the honors of fitting in the first out of three Jewels in the Mid-West Triple Crown Events…Oh Yea and one of the biggest prize money checks around helps a bit too.

My race “weekend” actually started on Wednesday when my wife Lindsay, the kids, and I traveled up to Ishpeming, MI to stay with the Gauthier’s.  This is an amazing family and we have truly found some kindred spirits and what feels like extended family.  Huge thanks to Tyler, Lance, Diane and the rest of the family for all your help and getting accustomed to the area.  Tyler and I did some recon of the first 10-15 miles both Wednesday and Friday.  Thursday we scoped out the last 10-15 miles from the overlook, during all these rides we planned some possible attack spots and marked places to make sure to be up front to avoid mishaps.

Saturday morning it was up early to a hot Breakfast of Potatoes and eggs “Guerra Style” as Danny K. likes to say!  Getting ready to improve on the Number 4 plate I earned last year…

Preferred Start had me at the front line and the top ten were all representing.  Here is a sweet Video taken by MQT Photo on the back of the lead out vehicle.  You can see most of the top contenders in the shot as we barrel out of downtown Negaunee, T.J. Woodruff, Derek Graham, Brian Eppen, Darrin Braun, to the left…Mike Anderson, Tristan, Matter, Tyler Gauthier and I are toward the right.  Almost every big name from the Midwest plus a few others are in the line-up!

All I really cared about for the first few miles was to stay upright with such a huge mass of people.  Lucy hill was the first challenge and being positioned within the top ten going in was the goal.  “Lucy” is a luge sledding hill we climb straight up for the first race split.  I made the climb well within my limits and proceeded to work  my way to 2nd wheel as we left the dirt for a few moments going into the streets of Downtown Ishpeming.  I led into the infamous railroad track section as it forces everyone to go single file and tends to push riders into the bushes or onto the ground and I did not want to be behind any misfortune. 

Plan was to be at the front into the descent right before the powerline climb, the first real make it or break it selection makers.  Simonster seemed to have the exact same plan as he jumped a bit harder than I did for the lead going in…I gave a shout of encouragement to push the pace and tried to ride the fast lines uphill, but Simonster is a big dude, hence the name, and he rides in this awesome all over the bike masher style, so getting around him was not happening on the initial climb.  I got around eventually on a jedi knight/ninja line I created and Matter and Cole house went to the front a bit later as we crested the final powerline climb.  Looking back I played it pretty safe here and never really attacked as it seemed we had many in tow but I was not able to come into the initial climb with the speed I had wanted. Not sure it makes much of a difference this early in the race with so many contenders in tow.

So I was still pretty comfortable and having fun on the descent following Matter as he seemed to be feeling good and content to play around on the course doing little jumps and jives here and there as I commented on him seeming to like the New 2012 XR1 Tires he picked up at Trek World. 

Powerline is the first place I know I am strong and nothing really went down to break up the pack from any big contenders so I was patient and waited till the “Jungle”..a section of untamed nature, lacking any real discernable line, you just survive descending at crazy speeds through bumps, grass, and sandpits, only to ascend like snails fighting both riders and obstacles for lines that make little sense to your oxygen depraved body. 

I thought I was going to have a bottle hand up before this section and was already out of water…I went to the back and tried getting one of those tiny water cups at an aid station as we cruised by at 25 MPH, yea right…!  I felt kind of bad for the volunteers as I knew my frustration and failed reception was the first of many showers that the gray hair of the local American Legion was going to receive.  We started into the Jungle and I was on the back…so much for attacking.  I spent the whole section making my way back to the front and then it was misery hill, everyone says it cannot be ridden and here is a video to show why…

T.J. led into the climb and made an attempt to clean it…I did as well, but riders were off in front of me.  We suffered the slow sluggish hike a bike to the top without unlatching anyone in the long run, still 10-15 strong, including my good friend Tyler Gauthier, which was awesome to see!

After seeing this “Misery” hill 3 times now I was convinced it could be done.  On the Sunday after the race I rode the course from about the half-way point backwards.  The hill had nothing to do with why I rode the course but when I rode down misery I turned right around and cleaned it first try.  So, in the future it could be coined “victory hill”…  During a race though, well that is a different story…lots of factors thrown in during a race.

From here our lead group crossed this huge bridge going over a beautiful basin.  I saw my kids on the bridge cheering and Lindsay was up the road positioned perfect for a great water hand-up. To my surprise some attacks started to fly on the road climb, I was feeling very comfortable and really did not feel any of it as a threat until Mike Phillips went to the front in the Noque Trails.  I knew this was the moment as Simonson told Tristan and I to come by as he fell off a wheel.  We were descending and people were dropping  like flies, yea it was Ludicrous speed fast, trees blurring and all.  When Mikey got done, T.J. and one other were still just hanging a few wheel lengths back from me, but Cole and Tristan were a little off the front following Matter and Mikey looked like he was slipping after putting the hammer down for so long.  I had to sprint to close the gap and it looked to me like the selection of 4 was made as the other 3 were chasing hard and I knew the overlook climb was coming. 

Hit that climb at your limit and anyone ahead with momentum and speed going over it will be out of sight.  I was planning on being the aggressor here, but Matter had the same plan and led over.  I went to the front and was hoping the group had whittled down to 3, but Cole and Tristan were both there, so I shut it down.  From here it was all cat and mouse games and I kept wasting precious energy chasing Matter’s and Tristan’s attacks from the back instead of setting up launches of my own, rookie....  I was feeling amazing here too and I thought I had could pull it off, but cramps started to catch up with me after too many chases and a not so well timed caffeine gel…done with those late race caffeine gels…I put in a dig or two of my own and the cramps just kept growing.  We came out into the final 1-2 mile stretch and Tristan tried one more from off the back that I closed down, then Brian went and I stood for a second chase, but was sick of being the only chaser dragging everyone else along, so I immediately sat down to see what the others would do.  I figured the others are going to have to chase this one, especially this close, as it was the winning move if no one went for it.  Cole responded and I was happy at first as I could draft till my planned jump point, but I soon realized I had burned my last big match chasing all the attacks. My legs seized with one corner to go, I started to soft pedal as there was nothing I could do and semi-sprinted the rest the way for fourth Overall.  Find 2011 results here.

It was nothing like last years sprint where we all waited till the last two corners to go.  This year it was a huge wind up from 1/4 mile or more out.  Way more fun and interesting!

Great result and defended my placing from last year.  This is a hard one to win and I am learning you have to be willing to put it all on the line at some point here, taking the big risk of getting chased down, as it is really hard to get out of sight alone on this course.  I am still learning that kind of confidence, but I think it only comes with trial, error, and success. 

I want to give a  huge thanks to Quick Stop Bike Shop, now owned by former WORS regular Phill Ott!  I had so much fun hanging out with Phil, Andrew Hanson, and the rest of the guys there Friday night.  Huge help with a last minute find of my favorite tire ever!  Then getting the bikes all tuned as well! Huge support up there and definitely the go to bike shop in the area for down to earth people and the kind of high quality service you only find with those who love to ride bikes as much as they love to work on them!

The sponsors this year have been flawless, thank you so much to Wheel & Sprocket, Powerbar, Standard Process, Trek, Fox, RaceFace, Easton, and Giro! Thank YOU for all the support this year! 

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

Photo Credit: Jon Holcomb, Unleashed Imagery

I know one of the biggest races in the mid-west went down this past weekend, and my name is now T.J. Woodruff according to the pic, but I have to do write ups in order and Camrock deserves one…Ore to Shore write up tomorrow.  But you can check out Matter’s write up for his perspective, as we had just about the same race till 1/4 mile to go…

The Battle of Camrock was race #7 in the Wisconsin Off Road Series on August 7th.  My pre-ride and race was somewhat nostalgic for me.  These trails are where I first learned to Mountain Bike!  A few laps on this course and I was dialed on the old technical trails, which have not changed a bit! The new stuff is amazing as well, but I definitely was not riding it as fast as the trails I was introduced to Mountain Biking on.

As I continued to ride faster and faster on the extremely technical trails it was as though I time traveled back 8-9 years to when I first started riding Mountain Bikes with my wife on these exact trails. I remembered her first Over the Bars crash and learning the extremes to which I could push my old school panaracer fire XC Pro 1.8 Tires!

Testing the limits of those old technical sections brought me back to the days I was on a steel Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo I borrowed from Grandpa’s garage to race my first citizen race.  I am pretty sure Grandpa never saw the bike again.  I was too busy honing my skills on these exact trails a few times a week.  I would stop by Camrock on my commute home to Madison, as I was mentoring kids all over Southeast Wisconsin.  I even used to get a few of those kids out to these trails to try an activity away from Drugs and Violence, maybe some early roots of “Vision”?

 

Anyway, here is a pic of Tristan, Brian, and I having some fun chatting on the line, what exactly is Brian pointing at, maybe the sport course crossing immediately in front of our start line?

Race was amazing and I thought I had a Win coming!…for 3/4’s a lap that is and then I rolled a tire completely off the rim.  Up the start climb I followed Tristan and Brian Eppen, waiting patiently for my planned attack.  I launched to the front right before the 1st single-track section and within a 1/4 lap I had a sizable gap that was growing quickly.  Coming into the last tech section I looked back and could not see the chase group at the end of a field I had just exited.  I was way out of sight! 

Then disaster!…The tire coming off was all my fault.  First off, I was taking lots of chances to push my 30-45 second lead higher and higher with every tech section.  2nd, I ran a few psi too low, the XR2’s/29 2’s are great tires, but they just cannot handle the psi I am used to in the Bontrager XDX’s, hence since I swapped to the 29 2’s I have burped or rolled a few times.  It is just a bit too round with big slicer knobs that catch the ground hard, which is good for cornering, but with low PSI can grab a bit too hard and roll the tire.  Lesson learned when I tried taking a 90 degree turn between two massive trees that  only had about 3 feet of room to pass thru at about 20 MPH…Run XDX like tires only for crazy low PSI and bring it up a few PSI when going for a lower weight and rounder rolling resistance tire like the XR2/29 2’s.

As the lead group came up to me I was just getting the tire seated and filling up with the one co2 cartridge I had along.  I looked  right at Tristan and smirked/laughed saying' “It’s never easy…is IT!?” I had to laugh a bit and shrug it off to keep my emotions from going crazy over losing so much time and the possible Win…

I failed to get much air in my tire from the C02 and rode into the spectator area on a flat. 

It is hard to see in this picture, but I am riding on like 5-10 PSI in tire pressure here, it was pretty sketchy!

I finally got some air in my tire and got rolling in about 25th-30th position.  Not exactly sure on the position but that is around where some of the riders finished whom I was riding with when I got my bike going again.  I rode fairly defeated and conservative for a lap and even stopped twice to adjust tire pressure and crashed quite a few times passing riders.  During this lap a sudden down pour of rain completely changed the course, surprisingly the conditions changed for only that lap, but I was in chase mode and taking some risks, so it had me on the ground a couple times.

This  picture taken by Melissa Kennedy is absolutely amazing!  Big Shout OUT to Jeremy Drake on the left in the picture, he was the ultimate Hand-ups support, his encouragement, time splits to the leaders, and water hand-ups kept my head in this race when I thought my race was done for the day!  You would think this photo was setup as the best Forks and Shocks in the racing business is represented well as the hand-ups and support…NICE!

If you look close, you can see how hard the down pour of rain suddenly came…you wouldn’t think it was the same race as the pictures above, and just like it came the rain was suddenly gone and the course was back to the speeds of the 1st lap if not faster!

Laps 3 and 4 I was on fire and just got faster and faster.  Somehow I started to see riders I thought could be inside the top ten.  The last lap I rode for broke to see if maybe I could grab a podium and I knew with every rider I caught I was gaining a little bit more cash for the day.  In the end I was 6th overall just off the podium, but a great ride considering what I had to overcome.

Next up is Border Battle, Ore to Shore write up is in the works…and I literally just got my Chequamegon 40 entry Confirmed! 

Thanks for reading,

Nathan

 

Photo Credit: Melissa Kennedy, Amy Dykema, Niki Frazier

I was surprised last week, waking up to warm weather and sunny skies. With our grassy hills already burnt brown and not a trace of dust on the trails, it was beginning to feel as though summer would pass us by this year. Not that I was missing the dust by any means, but I would have been sad had the summer sun not began to shine and all our lakes not warmed up enough for swimming.

I actually find that the heat robs me of any motivation to ride and right now, I am stoked to be taking a bit of  a break from  all the recent action. I have been riding more this season than I ever have in my life. I have the aches and pains to prove it! With a lot of plans on deck for a hectic fall season swiftly approaching I feel good about giving my body a break from the beat down.

Even when I am not riding as often there still seems to be a lot of excitement going on around me. I just had a fun interview come out on an east coast website called 613cycling.com, you can check that interview out right here. And even more fun then that, we recently got a foam pit in Kamloops. I don’t think of us Kamloops riders can thank big bad Brad Stuart enough for getting it going. I have been diving into the fluffy blocks of foam and practicing some flip combos I have always wanted to learn on my downhill bike. Hopefully I will get them going in the dirt soon.
Thats all for now!

The past three weeks I have been in the interior of BC racing at the Canadian National Championships, the Canada Cup finals and the Western Open BC Cup.

I stayed with the Cycling BC team for just under two weeks at Panorama, which was great and a lot better than camping. Nationals was the first race in Panorama. We did a course walk Thursday and had a bit of practice in the afternoon. Friday was a full day of practice and then Saturday was seeding. For seeding I had a good consistent run, I pedaled hard but kept it steady through the tough sections. I seeded 3rd in Junior which I was satisfied with. Sunday I had a good run and kept it consistent and finished in 7th. I wasnt too pleased with my time or placing and figured out that I just didn’t push it enough, I was thinking about my placing and who I had to beat too much which distracted me from having fun and going fast.

The next weekend was the Canada Cup finals also at Panorama but on a different track. I learned from the mistakes I made at Nationals and made some changes to my mental game. There was no seeding for the Canada Cup, so we got two days of practice and then raced Sunday. Sunday the Juniors and Elites were mixed and placed in the start list by ranking. I was within the last 20 riders to race. My run was great, I pushed it and got quite loose on some sections. I didn’t get too serious before or during my run because I ride the fastest when I’m having fun. When I came across the line I had the third fastest time if the day. I finished 4th in Junior less than two seconds off the win and 4 seconds off the fastest time of the day. I was very happy with my time as it placed me with the 12th fastest time of the day.

The next weekend was the Western Open BC Cup at Kicking Horse Mt in Golden. My parents came up for the last Canada Cup and than I stayed with them for the week and weekend of the BC Cup. We camped out in our Westfalia van. The course was the same as last year except a bit rougher and drier. It was a lot of fun practicing and racing on the course because it’s so fast and loose. My race run was very good, I got a bit loose and put everything I had into the last horribly long pedal. When I came down I had the second fastest time of the day and fastest in Junior. I stayed in the hotseat until the last junior, a local racer Riley Suhan, came down and bumped me out. I was very happy with my result because it was Riley’s home track and he’s unbelievably fast on it. At the end of the day I finished 2nd in Junior and had the 14th fastest time of the day.

After all these races I finished 4th in the Canada Cup series, 1st seventeen year old in Canada. I am also leading the BC Cup series in Junior with two more races to go.

I am still waiting to hear if I’ve been selected for the National team to go to World Championships in Switzerland. There are four Junior riders going and I am in contention as I finished fourth in the Canada Cup series, but nothings official yet. That was one of my goals this year was to make it to Worlds and I am anxiously waiting to hear if that will become a reality.

I’d also like to give a shout out to NRG enterprises for helping me out a couple times on my trip. I was stuck and needed some parts twice and both times they pulled through and got me the right parts when I needed them.

Thanks to Dave Hord for all the awesome photos.

Thanks

Forrest

Be sure to check my blog at forrestriesco.blogspot.com for more updates and photos.

When Anthony Messere and I got into Denver things were not looking pleasant.

The flight was thankful short since it was direct and we spent the night before in Seattle.  All our bags made it and we unfortunately miss a shuttle, the next one was in 4 hours.  In those hours we ate a bunch of Mexican food and  met up with Sam Pilgram and Yannick Gannieri, killed some time and headed to the shuttle.

The rain started falling and didn’t lighten up for some time.  Made for a sweet back drop over downtown Denver.

Since the Shuttle company we were traveling with to Winter Park forgot about bikers having bikes, there simplify was not room for us in the Van.  We had the option to spend extra money and stay in Denver over night, or take a taxi to Winter park, some 2.25 hours away.

The taxi turned out cheaper than if we had stayed in Denver as the Taxi each way from the Aiprort (The only place the shuttle company would pick us up from) was $30 each way, plus the $100 hotel, and we still had to pay for our shuttle the next morning.  To make things more expensive which we forgot to factor into our decision was that our hotel that night in Winter Park was already payed for.  $230 seems like a bargain now!

Pretty pumped on this shot.  Opposite 360 out of the satellite dish.

I am even more pumped when I saw this in Winter Park!

The Event was good. I had a decent qualifying run which put me into finals.  In the finals the wind picked up and it was tough for me as I got wind blown both runs. Not what I wanted to happen as I had gotten blown in my first run in qua lies.

My first cover!  It is on the Crankworx event guide and they give these out for free.  The other side is the Whistler Crankworx Event Guide so huge numbers went out!

- Mitch -

This 15 year old phenom continues to impress in his break-out season as he bests all but one of the worlds best slopestyers in this past weekends Bearclaw Invitational at Mt. Washington. With Bearclaw designing the course it was going to be an epic comp. with the stunts leaning toward big mountain style. Anthony laid down a strong second place finish on his Atlas cranks, handlebars, and Respond stem and then showed off his amazing boost powers as he took the big air contest as well. This kid is legit and the slopestyle world has been put on notice!!