Goin to the 2012 XC Nationals this week, racing next Friday. Also have the Super D on the following Sunday along with a short track race. Can’t wait!

Since the last time this blog was updated I have raced just about every weekend.  So quick recaps on each race up till today. 

WORS #2 Crystal Lake Classic-Rhinelander, WI May 30th

Good legs, but not much high end fitness training in the legs yet.  Battled it out with Jesse Lalonde and B. Matter for the top spot.

Walked away with a 2nd place by seconds.

Post Race Interview.

WORS #3- Trek Big Ring Classic- Wausau, W June 3rd

Great legs, could attack all day.  Feeling really good going into last lap battling with Tristan and Matter.  Split a side wall, wouldn’t seal, game over, ran it in for two points toward the Series.

Although the race did not go well for me, I did get to pre-ride with fellow RaceFace rider Nate Knowles.  We took turns leading into tech sections and testing the lines.  After the ride we talked a bit about our tactics and plans for the race the next day.

I guess our planning worked as Nate walked away with the Win!

Ute Valley Pro XCT #3- Colorado Springs, CO. June 16th

Flight out of Madison, Wisconsin: 5:30 PM Thursday.  Land in Colorado Springs: 11:00 PM.  Pre-rode course Friday and felt good, but the 6500+ elevation was obviously rough on my mid-west blood.  On Race day I started toward the back of the staging area since I have not had the opportunity at UCI points or Pro XCT’s prior.

Start was going well up first two climbs, attempted to make up some spots descending  into the 1st techy downhill section on a wide open right line…another rider made a sudden line change into me and wrapped our bars, down we went and to the back of the pack.  From what I am told it was a fairly EPIC crash at 30+ MPH.  Anyways, this is the worst time to be at the back as the first bottle neck into single-track is when the most time can be lost.

Suffered bad chasing, had only a semi-fast speed at elevation, could never really punch it without majorly paying for the effort.  Over every climb I spent a good minute gasping and recovering.  After the start crash I worked my way to about mid-pack by the end, lesson learned, acclimate or stay home.  At least I got to have some fun sprinting it out for 34th with BMC rider Kerry Werner.

Back to the hotel, packed my bike, ate some dinner, and took the COLDEST Ice Bath in the history of mankind.  Tried to get some sleep before my 4:00 AM wake up to fly back to Wisconsin.

WORS #4- Battle of Camrock- Rockdale WI June 17th

This was the oddest race day I have ever experienced.  Wake up 4 am, 3 hrs sleep (maybe).  Eat a huge breakfast, not knowing if I could get more in during flights, packed some potatoes and Chobani’s in my carry-on just in case.  Act like I am drag racing my rental car on the way to airport to just make the check-in for my flight back to Madison, WI.    Security, AKA TSA, took the Chobani but left my Potatoes.  Pay the crazy bike fee like I am flying with my spouse and not my bike, Flight out at 6 am lay-over in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and then land in Madison at 11:15 AM.  Made it over to Camrock by 12:30 PM and had my bike built by 12:45.  Banana, short warm-up and 1:30 PM GOOOOOO!

Somehow this happened?!

So just make sure no sleep, random food, suffer at elevation the day before, oh yea and 6 hrs of plane legs lugging 50+ lbs of luggage and bike…guess that is the prep for a WIN!  Kinda expensive though…

Getting late, so update on my World Cup racing and how I got going slow again at the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup today will be coming soon!  3 letters can sum it up though, F-L-U!  Redemption to come at Wyndham next weekend!!!

As always, thanks for following the racing!

A couple of weeks ago I put my fresh new Race Face Atlas bar on my hard tail and took it for a spin at the park.
By far the best bar I’ve ever rode; perfectly wide, light, stiff, and looks amazing too!
Here’s the short video we got:

Trick Jump Short on Pinkbike

Three words that come to mind when I think back to last weekends race at Port Alice are: wet, sketchy and scary. Three things that make a race exciting and gets the blood pumping. Last weekend my friend Jarrett Lindal, my mom and me headed down to Port Alice for the 5th and last round of the Island Cup Series.

We started out with a beautiful 4 hour drive on our way to the middle of no where. Port Alice is near the Northern end of the Island, its an old pulp mill town that sits right at the bottom of Rumble Mountain. The top of the trail starts near the top of the mountain and is divided into three different sections; the expert course starts from the top and is around 4:30 minutes long, is definitely the most difficult track in the Island Cup Series, starting from the expert course its filled with rocks in the open areas and as soon as you enter the trees its filled with roots and gets really steep. All in all a really good and fun track. The Intermediate part of the course is around 3:30 minutes long and a little more tame than the expert section. And finally the beginner section starts just below the intermediate start and is basically the same as the intermediate section.

When we finally got to Port Alice on Friday in the after noon, we went up the track to do some course walk, I had never ridden the expert section of the course so I thought it would be a good idea to check it out first before riding it blind.  The track was looking really good, everything was dry and conditions were at their best. As soon as we hit the expert section I got pretty stoked, it was looking really sick. It was steep, and it was looking really tech. Just basically tons of rocks and roots all over the place. But all in all a good challenging course.

On Saturday, we woke up early got everything ready to ride and left for the DH course. It was super sunny, the track was looking really good and we were stoked to start practice and get things rolling.

On Sunday, early in the morning we were woken up at 3am by the dreaded sound of rain falling on the tent. We thought that it would just be a drizzle, but by the time we woke back up again at 7 it was still going. I knew that the course was going to be completely different now. All the roots would be wet and slippery and the back end of the bike would be sliding every where. It ended off being way worse then I expected. The entire course was just covered in ruts, all the corners were blown out and covered in mud. I couldn’t even imaging trying to race the expert sections of the course. The expert section was just scary, trying to slow down enough for the steep sections without flying off the hill was very difficult. You basically just had to stay loose through out the whole course.

My friend Jarrett in the berm section. It was completely turned to mud.

I ended up crashing in both of my race runs unfortunately. Just in some sections I couldn’t hold on to the bike. The first crash I went straight into a rock and flipped over the bars, the second crash my back end of the bike just washed out going around a corner. It was good enough for a 23rd out of 28, tied with three other people with a time of 4:59. I was just happy to walk way from that race with no major injuries.

That race ended the Island Cup Series for 2012. It was a good year for the series, and a decent year for my first time in expert category. I got 30th overall out of 61. Now just have to do good at all the other races this year, and I’m just stoked to ride my bike and get ready for next years Island Cup Series!!

Just a quck thank you to RaceFace for taking the time to support the little guys in the sport, it means alot to me. Well off the Cali with the family and DH bike to check out the So Cal scene.

Hey what’s up everyone, now is your chance to read my first blog as a Race Face rider.  You probably have no idea who I am so let me introduce myself quickly. I’m 21 years old and I love biking. I got into DH racing at the age of 14. I mostly race Quebec Cups, Canada Cups and North American World Cups.  I also ride BMX and XC/AM to train.

For the past 3 years, I’ve teamed up with JP Simard, a good friend of mine who’ve helped me a lot through biking. He worked hard to build me one of the nicest bike on earth! A CUSTOM 2012 Kona Operator! Check the pics

Also new for 2012, I’m now a proud RaceFace rider.  I’m so stoke to be part of the RaceFace family. To my eyes, this company has always been a big icon in the mountain bike industry and to have the opportunity to represent them is a privilege.

So this season has definitely started good as I finished school and started racing here and there. Stay tune to know what’s going on in the upcoming weeks. Also, add me on Facebook, I wanna be your friend!

Cheers!

Life Elevated on Pinkbike

Make sure you follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for up to the minute updates!

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/262600/

It makes it very difficult to decide where to ride the most this summer.  Northstar has their Thursday Night XC Series (I’ve been to 3 so far, and they are a blast), and Mammoth is a very special place for my riding.  Oh, to win lottery and have a 40ft RV…..

Check out this video segment of the Godfather of Freeride Wade Simmons from the old classic MTB film SHIFT…..excuse the poor quality of this video, it was released in 1998 – remember VHS?!! Think about that as you watch the huge moves stomped by Wade as he shows us why is was and still is the MAN!

Shift – Wade Simmons segment on Pinkbike