BC Bike Race, TranRockies...

There has been a lot of racing since my last blog entry, and I got sick a couple of times. One of the highlights was the B.C. Bike Race. Though my form was good going into this event, I was not quite sure because I had a rough Test of Metal. The BCBR started in Shawnigan Lake and 7 days later ended in Whistler. Went through some of the finest single-track in the world. My partner Barry and I won stage 4 in my home town of Sechelt, which was on Canada day, and took the overall victory a couple days later in Whistler.


BC Bike Race, photograph by Gibby.

Then it was back to normal MTB racing Canadian nationals were I ended up 14th not so good, and two world cups 26th and 34th... sort of mediocre performances.

I figured it would be fun to end on a epic note so I talked Max P into doing Trans Rockies, holy that is an epic race! Completely different than BCBR (lots of granny gear climbing and hike a bike) Max and I ended up second.

NMBS#1 Fontana, CA

Well what do you know, I missed the podium at the first norba xc. Felt pretty good worked with JHK for a lot of the race and on the last lap punched hard to try and catch some of the shrapnel from the lead group (Geoff, Adam, Max, Sam, Barry, Ricky) which had self destructed. Well I was only able to get Ricky, and came close to Barry. Big thanks to our Mechanic Bass Man. He was a big help.

I had a wicked start on the short track, came from second row to fourth through the first corner. Ryan led for the first lap, Barry lead the second, Geoff took half lap, then I went to the front and gave it everything that I had for a lap. Barry went around, and all the sudden there was a crash behind me and Geoff. I ease up and Barry got a gap, Geoff tried to bridge the gap, but didn't make it. I couldn't hold his accelerations, and my front derailer twisted sideways into my crank, which sucked. I was, however, able to finish. Barry won.

The Super D was fun but I didn't like the downhill running start on pavenment in bike shoes, that is a good way to twist an ankle, so I took that bit easy and ended up mid pack. If I didn't get disqualifid for a radd line, that some spectater gave me crap over - remember this is super D, anything goes! It was actually longer, it is not like I cut a switchback.

Kris

Lake Sonoma MTB #1 - March 22

The plan was to do the Copperopolis Road Race, but Eric Tonkin bailed and Max Plaxton broke his road bike. It seemed like a better idea to do a mtb race close to Sonoma Lake anyways. Liam Killeen came into town this week and we were able to talk him into racing.

The day of the race was awesome... nice and hot. From the gun Barry went out like a bat out of hell, followed by a couple locals, then Max, Liam and I. By the second lap Barry and Max were ahead one minute, while I was in third with 1:45 on Liam. The third lap was the same but the gaps opened up more. On the fourth Max said Barry headed it but flatted a couple miles from the finish, so the Canucks took it 1, 2! Barry ended up third and Liam fourth.

Went swimming in Lake Sonoma which was cold, but awesome. Looking forward to Fontana next weekend. All the info for the Sonoma lake race series is availible at www.bikemonkey.net.

Kris

Chileno Valley Grasshopper

So I did the infamous Chileno Valley Grasshopper last Saturday. It was supposed to be a showery day but turned out beautiful. For those of you that don't know Chileno is a 67 mile group ride unofficial road race. Levi and Scott showed up as rumoured, along with about a million NorCal bike sport team people. There were 139 finishers. I road the first third of the race at the front with Levi, Scott, and Tim, but came off on some climb that I don't know the name of. Hung out in no mans land for a wile, until I got picked up by the chase group of 3, John, Ryan, and Jonathon. We worked well together for the rest of the race, but on the final climb Ryan and Jonathon came off, John and I worked togather all the way to the finish, I beat him by a couple of bike lengths. Levi won, Tim second, Scott third. I was forth.

After the race we proceeded to my buddie Glen's place were I had a early birthday party. Odessa made the cake and Glen hand a bunch of Molsons Canadian. About 25 people showed up.

Yesterday Max, Shane, Chris and myself rode lake Sonoma, which is 3 hours of the best singe track around here, If you ever are in the area, you should check it out.

Kris