Mighty Riders

Bridge Battle IV

2012-01-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

This was my first outdoor fixie race and it was a blast. The weather was perfect, all the racers were in good spirits and it was well executed by Duncan Lewis. The night before the race it snowed, but by noon the road conditions were perfect and snow or ice wasn't a problem.

James Weeks, Lyle and myself had reconned the crap out of this race and experimented quite a bit, to come up with a solid route. This helped, but we still ended up having other racers following us, or choosing a route similar to ours.

The race started down at Granville Island and the three downtown bridges, Burrard, Granville and Cambie were the first to complete. The race started really fast and I knew I would have to pace myself or blow up and loose it all. By the time the three bridges were done, there was a lead group off the front. James and I had teamed up and took a lower route after the Cambie Street bridge, along Cordova as we found it was more direct. When we reached Commercial drive, the lead pack was merging with us, so we had chosen a good route that was paying off.

By the time we hit the north shore things had spread out a bit. We had a tough time finding the checkpoint on the North side of the second narrows, but it was fair game as most people lost a bit of time here. It's a courier style race after all, so the unexpected, should always be expected, besides it's hard to be upset when there's the cutest dog in Vancouver greeting you.

The muddy paceline along the low road in North Van was pretty good and we were increasing our gap. At this point we had Mike Sidic, Cody Callon, Lyle, James and myself cooking along. Getting closer to the Lions gate, Lyle dropped off the back and James got a flat. As I was teamed with James, I stopped to give him my 15mm. I said goodbye to James and tried to get back on with Cody and Mike. The rest of the race was done solo and I got to Super Champion thinking I was done. Nope. We had to run a couple blocks away to another checkpoint and rhyme about boobs. My rhyme was (editor approved!):

Boobs are really great, I love 'em in my face.

If I could hang them on the wall, they'd be all over the place.

Whatever the hell that means. Anyways, the run sucked as much as my motorboating skills and I think we all felt like dying after the whole thing was over. In total there were 27 racers. Here are the results:

First off, give it up for team Canada:

Congrats Cody Callon for taking home first place.

Right behind him was Mike Sidic who wanted everyone to finish together. He coached me up the on-ramp hill heading northbound onto the Second Narrows bridge.

I placed 3rd.

Lyle placed 6th

Tim Wyatt placed 9th, going against the grain and taking Lions Gate before the Second Narrows.

Emily Willobee ended up midpack and was the only female racer. Props.

Matt Hornland was 10th and also contributed to the prizes by donating one of his hand made bike racks. Go Teen Wolf.

A big thanks to Duncan for organizing, the people who were stationed at the checkpoints and to Super Champion, Mighty Riders, Mactalla and Cantilever and Press for the prizes.

Thanks to Cory Grandfield for the photos. Thanks to Haley, Nik Cee and Duncan for coming up with the idea.

(Blog Post by T-Pick)

Boxing Week Blowout

2012-01-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Photo by Doug Brons

The Burnaby Velodrome hosted a 3 Day Race over the Holidays. Claire was the only Mighty Rider competing but represented well with 2 wins in the Omnium and finished second overall in the B's Omnium. She also teamed with Mike Buckosky to win the B Madison.

Full Results Here.

Photo by Tony Hoare

Now THIS is Christmas.

2011-12-16T20:28:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Brent at R+B... Onward and upward!

BC Cup Finals

2011-12-05T18:09:00.001-08:00

Jay climbing his way to Kentucky...

(pics courtesy of Doug Brons)

The last BC Cup Race was this past weekend in South Surrey. Results:

Elite Men: Meat 5th

Open Women: Stacey 4th

Masters Men 3/4: Jay 17th

Men 3/4: Ashley 9th

And Overall BC Cup Results:

Elite Men: Meat 10th

Elite Women: Stacey 5th

Meat playing in the sand with the Big Boys now (upgraded to Elite).

Stacey

BC CX Champs

2011-11-29T19:36:00.001-08:00

A good lower mainland drenching all day Saturday left the kids with some real good mud to play in on Sunday up at Mahon Park for the Provincial Championships.

The Legendary Loder

(Photos courtesy of Doug Brons)

Masters Men 50+: Lowball Loder 3rd

Elite Women: Stacey 6th (excellent Appleton feeding technique)

Elite Men: Meat 13th (a little spillage but took the most feeds)

Paul 15th

Masters Men 30-39: Ashley 20th

Stacey with the game face on.

Meat with the game beard on.

Paul looking smooth.

Teen Wolf.

This Thing: The Cycling Version

2011-11-26T12:55:00.001-08:00

I'm not crazy about the lack of attention to detail in the font choice—but hey, I'm one of the people who chases down your creaking bottom brackets...

click to make big

SSCXWC 2011

2011-11-23T10:34:00.001-08:00

SSCXWC 2011 Report By Ashley(.ca)

On a weekend that had a gap in the local CX calendar, I decided to head to the City by the Bay for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. It was an adventure from the start and filled with 3 wonderful days of riding. The Hodala/Raleigh Team (ed. note - this page has some excellent photos) was great in welcoming this wayward northerner in to their space, and provided a base that was 10 minutes ride from the race venue.

There was a qualifier that unfortunately had a pose-down component, as well as a 150m beach run-up and California St Hill Climb, all 3 things that I need to work on.

hooligans

I raced the Men's C race and the Men's SS EAW. I missed the call-up for the C's and started 10 seconds off the back of the pack, I ended up in 8th and some worn brake pads to thank for increased corner speed.

The course was really sloppy and rainy 2 hours later, when the Mens SS EAW race went. A great course with a steep hike a bike, It's all about climbing in San Fran. The EAW was a consolation for all the folks that lacked the ability to pose, climb, and cheat their way to a position in the Mens Main. I ended up in 28th not bad, unlike my outfit:

are you sick?

Next year, SSCXWC is supposed to be in Santa Cruz. I will be trying to bring Mighty to the Main Event, and hopefully drag a few accomplices with me as well.

*I'll be there next year; based on the report from Stevil, who I do not know, I missed far too much whiskey in my friend's pants: http://www.allhailtheblackmarket.com/2011/11/ok_now_what_the_hell_just_happ.html

Bare Bones Track Race

2011-11-17T09:16:00.001-08:00

While the CX kids were busy cross-dressing in the rain/mud/yuk out in Surrey last week, Ryan and Claire rode around in endless circles. They were competing in the Bare Bones Track Race at the Burnaby Velodrome last Saturday and Sunday. Ryan finished 5th Overall in the C's while Claire was 4th Overall in the B's.

Pictures courtesy of Tony Hoare

Mighty alumni Jenny.

South Surrey CX Race Report

2011-11-14T13:52:00.001-08:00

SO.

There was a race. And it was in South Surrey. And it was good.

Real race report HERE.

Mighty Riders had a huge volunteer showing to make this happen, thanks to all of you that showed and stood in the close to 0° weather, taking numbers, money and placements, while slanging chili dogs and verbal harassment.

I don't have any photos of the volunteers; let me know if you got em.

Because of the volunteers, many of us were able to race. Results:

Citizen Men

10th - Meshkat Javid (crushing Andrew Summers)

Men 3/4:

1st - Meat Hornland (now upgraded to Cat 1/2...)
4th - Paul McCloskey (same deal with that whole Cat 1/2 thing)
12th - Ashley Stotts (also known as the waffle man)

Masters Men 3/4 (31 starters!):

16th - Jay "What-Time-Show-Time" Loder

Thanks to Matt Kennedy for letting me borrow his shoes and also for not coming down with a case of hypothermia.

Pics from the races here and here.

meat

South Surrey Cyclocross Nov. 12th

2011-11-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey there kids. Interested in the South Surrey Cyclcocross race coming up November 12, 2011? I KNOW I AM. This COLLAB is with Daryl-Evans and is in our favourite place, the South Surrey Athletic Park.

Preregistration is now open! Check it out HERE.

Permanent details HERE and you can see the outrageously colourful poster below:

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered or intends to! We'll organize jobs and whatnot and keep you in the loop.

Pumpkin Cross

2011-10-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Barry and friends from Local Ride hosted some Halloween fun in the mud of Maple Ridge. Lots of costumes were to be seen and one world champion.

Catharine Pendrel, the 2011 World MTB Champion was out getting dirty and edged out the win. Check out her Interior Cross Series.

Barber made the 'costume podium' as Angus. And actually did a lap with the guitar...

Mighty Results:

Women Haley 7th

Cat 3/4 Men Meat 4th, Paul 6th, Ashley 19th

Cat 3/4 Masters Men Jay 14th

Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

Red Bull Minidrome

2011-10-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Crazy ass stuff. More here.

Lyle qualified for the elimination round and had an intense and super-close heat.

Tpick made it to the round of 16 and ended his racing with a spectacular wipeout while leading his 2nd match race. Fun stuff! Photo courtesy of Linnaea. Much more on her Flickr.

EV Grand Prix of Cross 2011

2011-10-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Mud. Technical corners. Hard. CX fun!

Meat was 2nd in the Cat 3 Men, Ashley was 3rd in the Cat 4 Men and Jay was 10th in the Masters Cat 3/4.

Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

2011 Pacific Populaire Photos Surface

2011-10-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

A bunch of Pacific Populaire photos just surfaced from this year (yes the ride was months ago).

The photos are all up here.

Its nice to see so much Mighty representation.

Pan Am Games

2011-10-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

The Canadian Women's Pursuit team of Steph Roorda, Jasmine Glaesser and Laura Brown won gold at the Pan American Games in Mexico on Tuesday.

In the Qualifying Round they set a new Canadian record of 3:25.093 (previously 3:27.255) over 3000m. In the Final they won gold and set a new record, improving by an amazing 3.6 seconds! Hopefully they can ride this momentum through the winter and into the 2012 Olympics in London.

I have raced for nearly 20 years and invariably, at least once a season, I am asked why I race. I have always answered the same way: racing brings out the best in me. When I race, competing against others will help me push myself harder than I ever will in training. I strongly believe the adrenaline of competition appeals to something deep down in our DNA. And having teammates there on race day and in training will help me push those boundaries even more. I don't view myself as externally motivated but I still know that on a cold winter ride with teammates, I will do things I would find difficult to do by myself (see our Spring Training Camp). And I will do them harder and faster.

I think the women's performance in Mexico is a perfect example. The three of them challenge each other every day in training (they are based in LA for access to a world calibre training site and good weather). They then go to an International event and go faster than any other group of Canadian women has gone in competition. And finally, with the increased adrenaline of a gold medal final, the three of them dig even deeper and improve that record by almost 2%

That kind of improvement is usually found over entire seasons, not from the morning till afternoon. It will be interesting to talk to Steph more about it (celebrity call out: our Liisa is her 'life teammate') but i think the team probably just raised their level a little more due to the excitement and pressure of competition.

So... ? Race your damn bike! Whether on the track, in the mud, or on the road, you will push yourself farther and faster.

*Here* is a link to an interview on Canadian Cyclist with the coach and Jasmine.

Important Message From the Big Kahuna

2011-10-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Every team rider is required to come in to the shop and see Ed about having their stem slammed. That's right, we're throwing away years of sleepless nights thinking about head tube lengths and the relationship between head and seat tube angles, and doing fit strictly based on aesthetics now.

See Darrel's new Mighty Team Edition Masi winter trainer (90"+ gear on the street or you'll get heckled out of the shop) for a PRO example:

Ed's been on a "slam that stem" kick for a while now, a fire that was only further fueled by the appearance of Darrel's commuter Jamis (which we recently converted to drop bars and slammed) on the site.

COMMON MAN SLAM

So come on in and get your new PRO setup—we've got 130 and 140 stems in various levels of drop. Don't let Darrel Domenko and Dave Groves be the only people on the team doing it right.

Now THIS looks like my kind of cross race!

2011-10-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

Vanier Park CX

2011-10-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

A great turnout yesterday for some racing right in the city. In the beautiful sunshine Meat (needs some proper CX rain and mud) was 5th, Paul 6th and Ashley 25th in the Cat 3/4. Sidic was 12th in the Elite Men. Basse 15th in Masters 1/2. In the Women's Open Jenny was 5th, Stacey 8th and Haley 13th. And Timo (Basse's wee one) narrowly edged out Sophie (Stacey's little 'un) for 3rd in the kids race.

Check out the great pics by Doug Brons.

Wedgewood New Brighton CX

2011-09-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Haley ripping the sand pit.

(Photo by Doug Brons)

Sunday the kids faced some real CX weather for some muddy fun at New Brighton Park. It's great to have such a fantastic course right in our proverbial backyards. If you missed this one, be sure to ride down to Vanier Park this Sunday.

Results:

Elite Women

Jenny 4th

Stacey 5th

Haley 7th

Men's Cat 3/4

Meat 2nd

Paul 3rd

Elite/Masters Cat 1/2

Basse 19th

A big thanks to Paul for keeping us warm with beer...

Star Crossed OFFICIAL POST, in pictures!

2011-09-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

As most of you may or may not know by now, a hand full of us packed our bags and bikes and braved the border to head down to the 2011 edition of Star Crossed in Seattle. Accommodations were graciously offered up by Matt 'Meat' Hornland's parents, and let me say that after knowing this turkey for as long as I have it was a pleasure to finally, ahem, meat the parents. Muchos gracias, Janice and Garth. Big ups to Ashley Stotts and Dave Colins for driving. Enjoy.

Tigger Hornland, protector of the small white mitten.

New Mighty cross dresser Ashley wonders why I'm taking his picture, when he's the one with the camera.

Mighty/Lower Mainland HQ.

SRAM equipped bikes need extra attention.

Jay Loder, pre-race warm up and water bottle yard salesman.

Classic Meat and Bunz pose.

When your kit smells this bad, no one wants to help you pin your numbers on.

I had to go 150 kms south of the border to get a Matt Kennedy sighting.

Having avoided the slippery drain cover, Nick digs into the straight away.

Kevin 'you're a hipster' Noiles.

Mighty riders on the storm.

I'd like to see a Bart Wellens VS Bart Taylor VS Bart Simpson CX Helltrack kinda race.

To properly clear the barriers, you must hold your bike as flat as a hand sprouted organic spelt filtered rain water infused pancake. Or a UFO.

With teeth like that, I can tell EV's Dan Spry didn't grow up playing hockey.

Something must have been happening just to my right.

This is what we do.

This is how we do it.

This is what we listen to while we do it.

And this is one of many ways to clean up when we're done.
Remember team mates, we have a local race next Sunday Sept 25 at New Brighton park on Vancouver's far east side. Come out and yell loud at us while scaring our competitors!

The end.

Starcrossed

2011-09-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the sweet videos of the Elite Men's action at Starcrossed last weekend just south of Seattle won by two time world champion Bart Wellens.

(Video by James Birkenbuel)

Mighty had a good contingent out racing:

Elite 1/2 Men - Nick 26th

Cat 3/4 Women - Haley 10th

Cat 3 Men - Meat 21st, Paul

Cat 4 Men - Ashley, Barber

Masters - Lowball Loder

Full results HERE.

Doug Brons, www.dougbronsphotography.com/, was on hand and took some amazing shots of the kids in action.

Hard racing. But nobody had as bad a day as Joey, below:

SRSLY

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

T-Pick and Geoff Agnew spent a bunch of time this summer filming and editing the SRSLY video, and finally, here it is!

Whistler Fondo

2011-09-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day to ride up to Whistler on Saturday. And for Claire and Jenny it was a wonderful way to cap strong road seasons. Jenny attacked late in the Women's Giro race to forge ahead solo and win by almost a minute. Claire sprinted home behind her to handily win the (greatly reduced) field sprint and they took the top two spots in the hardest road race course in BC. Awesome.

Aside from Claire and extended family Jenny, Mighty was well represented in the Fondo with our charity team captained by Joe Fiorante that also consisted of Bill, Andrew, Dave, Connie, May, Meshkat and Mark. They raised $6000 for Project Somos and all rode well on Saturday. Unfortunately Mark had a bit of a mishap going into the finish but X-rays showed nothing serious and beer was instantly applied to ease his pain. Ian and Darrel were also out in Mighty colours for a great team showing. (I really hope I didn't miss anyone but there were over 7000 people out on Saturday!)

Saturday was a great way to cap off a long, hard road season. Seeing the Mighty women on the podium and the charity team having so much fun for a good cause was very satisfying. Not every rider on Mighty did the Whistler Fondo on Saturday (some are already distracted by that silly Cylcocross-dressing) but I feel every person in the Mighty Family has helped contribute to those women standing on the podium and our club showing they are amongst the best in BC. Just remember that as we go into the off season of hard training rides in ugly weather...

Jenny and Claire lifting some big ass cheques...

Paris Brest Paris 2011

2011-09-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Back at the end of August I rode the 2011 Paris Brest Paris. I was convinced to try to take self-photos along the ride to document it, which I tried to do. All my photos and story of the ride (in the captions of the photos) are over on flickr.

Langley Cyclocross Classic - Race Report

2011-09-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

hot cross.

I don’t think the fall sport of cyclocross was intended tobe run under the beating sun at 25C. however, for our season opener FortLangley Cyclocross Classic (run by Mighty/Team H&R Block), it’s exactlywhat we got. apparently it doesn’t affect Aaron Schooler, but more on thatlater.

the Mighty team was out in full force on race day, with aspects of the Mighty Road Team, Rando Team, Drinking Team, Support Team and B Team out to help with setup/marshaling/donut eating/takedown. Ryan Golbeck has been kind enough to lend photo evidence.

Matt Kennedy and Shane Savage, galavanting about

the Aldor Acres farm had been laid out for optimum pain,with dry flat gravel, run ups, single track, hard corners and a magicaldirt-like substance with properties closer to sand on every fast or challengingcorner.

with this years scheduling, Cat ¾ Men were first to hit theroad (with Citizen shortly behind). Mighty 3’s were Paul McCloskey and Matt Hornland,with Ashley Scotts in 4. with a field of 10 riders, Paul picked up the holeshot off the line, with Ross Green and meat close behind. Paul set a turbo paceover the gravel into the barriers, handling into the grass switchbacks and tothe runup where meat has a fuzzy memory of when or how, but managed to overtakeand was into the woods and out to the fast descent and crooked tree-maze (Bassemay be a nice guy, but is not a kind course designer).

teen wolf panting

crush crush crush

Paul battled with LucasGallagher on the runups, overtaking in the technical and speed sections, alsomaking sure not to pull riders up to meat (thanks) who had gone off the front.6 laps later, the race finished with a Mighty podium, meat 1^st and Paul 2^nd, 15seconds apart. Ashley completed his first race in 7^th place.

Ashley coming through.

as the midday sun really started to beat, the Women’s Openand Masters took to the line. another stacked Mighty start: Stacey Hutton,Haley Mousseau and Chessa Adsit-Morris (in her first race).

Stacey offering beers to competitors

thecompetition was steep, and challenges also came in the form of Masters Men ¾who started 1 minute behind. this field of 31 riders kicked up tons of dust andcaused a few challenging situations for the women’s field, but I bet money Jay“Showtime” Loder was the most polite in the bunch (he certainly looked the mostprofessional).

Chessa had a tough mechanical with her wheel falling out overthe barriers, but was OK, while Stacey powered through a rough fall and slideinto barbed wire to come out in 6^th. Haley hammered through thefluctuating men’s field to capture 8^th. so much dust.

Nick Berry lurking about. don't worry, it's his truck.

at 1:00 the late race, Men’s Elite, with Mighty Nick Berry in thefold, and Masters Men ½, Mighty Basse Clement, course designer, stepped outunder the hotness. in the first feed zone I’ve ever been at for a CX race, Ididn’t see much of the elite handling, though many were riding the challengingrun-up. water was completely necessary though. 60 minutes under the swelteringsun being pelted with dust, our boys rode strong. Nick pushed through islingering leg injury and captured 8^th elite spot, with Basse puttingin the sweat for 12^th in his field of 21. Aaron Schooler not onlygave us rides in the H&R team van, but captured 1^st place forhis first race of the season. he also gave Shane a juice box.

a great event and excellent turnout for the first race ofthe season. congrats to Mighty Riders and Team H&R for throwing a greatrace. thanks to all who volunteered their time and you can see more photos here and here and here.

I'll let someone else describe the Double Crown "recovery" ride on Sunday...

Tuesday Nighter World Champion

2011-08-31T20:52:00.001-07:00

(Photo courtesy of Doug Brons)

Dave Groves hoisting the hardware for winning the Cat 4 season overall at the World Tuesday Night Championships. He upgraded to Cat 3 and won three races and was 3rd overall in that category as well. Awesome.

Claire Cameron won 7 races en route to securing the Women's season title with 39 points with Jenny Lehman finishing second overall with 14 points.

The Descent of Man

2011-08-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

2011 Paris-Brest-Paris. This is what 1200kms in 71h 27mins will do to a Doctor... Awesome Ride!!

BC Cross Cup #1: Langley Cross Classic

2011-08-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Mighty Riders is once again proud to co-host with Team H&R Block the Langley Cyclocross Classic and opening round of the BC Cross Cup at Aldor Acres Farm on Sunday, September 4th, 2011. As in years past, all net race proceeds will be donated to the MS Society.

Come out to test your fitness on this great course with cash and merchandise prizes for all categories.

Draw prizes for all racers and volunteers will be awarded following the Elite Men's race.

For all of the race details including driving directions, start times, categories, etc. please check this link.

Any further questions, contact race organizer: bclement@telus.net

Golbeck at Paris-Brest-Paris

2011-08-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Our man Ryan is almost half way through the crown jewel of randonneuring, the 1200 km Paris-Brest-Paris. With 450 km behind him at the last control and 21.5 hours passed, he's on pace to finish within the 80 hour time limit.

** Update: 28.5 hours and 525 km... Go Ryan Go!

His GPS tracker can be found on his website here.

And to follow Ryan's official progress, search for plate # 1975 here.

Gent's Race - Mighty Two

2011-08-15T22:38:00.001-07:00

Darrel and Ian also rode the Gentlemen's Race on Sunday... here are some words from Ian (with a colour commentary from yours truly).

In their first unsanctioned race, Ian and Darrel chose the scenic route, riding the Lions Gate over the East Side and adding 7k to the ride. Ian learned some new skills for descending steep grades—too bad he didn't learn them before descending Indian River Road for the first time. His rear tire locked up—and surely his sphincter puckered as well—as he left a skid hole a fixie kid would be proud of on his tubular tire. Threadbare but still holding air, he managed to ride the thumper for another 60k without incident and they finished the race.

Two Mighty teams, two Mighty results. Good work boys!

Gentlemen's Race

2011-08-15T17:47:00.001-07:00

As rumours circulated of a Gentlemen's Race over the past few weeks the Mighty crew looked forward to team bonding in quest of free beer. We met the rest of the early risers on Sunday at Spanish Banks for instructions and the revealing of our two checkpoints. 55 riders showed up which was about 12 teams - teams were 2-5 riders. First one back with pictures of the team at both spots would be the winner.

Pre-race strategizing with an Alleycat 'champion' and our leader for the day, Berryjuice.

Checkpoint #1: Pier at the bottom of Indian River Drive

Checkpoint #2: the END of the pier at Iona Pt in Richmond.

Lats with our winnings: 6 pack of Extra Old Stock, 4 Winning Magazines, and a Beer Trophy.

The checkpoints were the public pier at the bottom of Indian River Drive and the end of the spit out at Iona. The route was all up to us. The teams started in 3 waves, 9am, 9:15 and 9:30. We were off last and like most headed to the North Shore. After climbing our way out from Deep Cove we headed crosstown and were the only team in sight heading out to Iona. We ran into our competitors out there but they ran into technical issues (flats!) and we kept pushing on. Here is Andrew's Garmin of the race.

It was a great day for team bonding and we managed to come out on top. If you get the chance, ask Meat what a Polish paceline is... if he has recovered yet that is.

Midsummer Night's Cross

2011-08-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Haley in the lead.

Kicking off the 2011 Cyclocross season was a rare summer time race about an hour outside of Seattle - the Midsummer CX sponsored by Raleigh Bicycles and MFG Cyclocross. The course was technical, dusty, bumpy and exposed to a strong wind, placing a premium on power. Most impressive was the $40,000 in prizes which included pro contracts for the top man and woman rider.

The story of the day was Haley's Cat 4 women's win: She started mid-pack and quickly began driving the pace. By the end of the first lap, she had only one other rider contending for 1st and the two of them had a significant gap on the field. Later in the day Jay placed 8th in the Masters 40+ and Ashely was 17th in the Cat 4 Men.

Spectators and riders enjoyed a VIP catered tent courtesy of Raleigh which featured a delightful selection of burgers etc and included an open bar and beer garden serving up a local microbrew. Unlike most races, the booze and food was offered rather than procured by stealth and cunning. Not sure how the Mighty Army would have reacted! The beer hand ups from the VIP tent were plentiful and ambitious.

Next race is the Mighty CX at Aldor Acres, Sept 4th.

The bumpy descent.

A great picture gallery here.

Full results here.

(Write up courtesy of Jay/Ashley)

Fastest 300

2011-08-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan continued his Rando exploits last Monday with the fastest recorded 300kms in BC's Rando History. He and his partner, Nigel Press, took twelve minutes off the previous fastest time. They rode 300k in 9:28 for a 33km/hr average. Crazy.

Check out his Garmin for all the ride deets. Here's his brief recap of the ride:

There were headwinds both ways, not as bad coming back, but the wind always seems to change midday so that its blowing west in the morning and east in the afternoon. So the only tailwind we had was going up to chilliwack lake.

We pulled Craig and Gerry for 120km and then left them at a control (we minimized control stops and were off the bike for just around 20 total minutes I think the whole day).

It got pretty hot in the afternoon, but we had a bunch of tree cover for most of the climb to chilliwack lake. We had our last water stop at around 225km into the ride after descending from chilliwack lake. I ran out of water 10km from the finish, but it worked out perfectly.

Post ride: tired but grinning.

Riding stoker on the tandem.

Inflicting pain on the others.

We need to get the four-legged Mighties doing this.

2011-08-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Le chien le plus cool du monde !

Summer Road Trippin'

2011-07-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to go for a bike ride. The idea was to head east to Ontario to hang out with my family. I had ridden to Winnipeg and jumped on the train before so I wanted to make it a little further. Here is the break down of my trip out:

June 25th - Hope to Princeton, BC 134kms

26th - Princeton to Grand Forks, BC 239k

27th - G.Forks to Creston, BC 215k

(This was one of the hardest days on the bike. Three summits, see pics below...)

28th - Creston to Fernie, BC 202k

29th - Fernie to Seven Persons, AB 351k

(Amazing day. Started at 11am but the tailwind brought me all the way across Alberta that day.)

30th - S.Persons to Herbert, SK 292k

July 1st - Herbert to Moose Jaw, SK 128k

2nd - M.Jaw to Fleming, SK 316k

3rd - Fleming to Carberry, MB 172k

4th - Carberry to St.Anne, MB 229k

5th - St.Anne to Longbow Lake, ON 193k

I made it to Ontario but had to be in Ottawa so the last two days were riding west and north to catch the Via train which doesn't follow the Trans Canada Hwy.

July 6th - L.Lake to Dryden, ON 129k

7th- Dryden to Sioux Lookout, ON 96k

[That's 2696k over 13 days, averaging over 207k a day... in case you were wondering. -Morgan.]

The trusty Olmo decked out with tri-geek bars. Not a single flat.

The three big summits in one day in the Kooteneys.

The Alberta border and Crowsnest Pass. Awesome tailwind.

One of my fastest days on the bike. Ever.

There are weird things out there...

World's Largest TeePee, Medicine Hat, AB

Giant white horse outside Winnipeg, MB

Um, random VW Bug outside Kenora, ON

This felt good.

People have asked what I ate to fuel the big km's.

As much fat and sugar as I could.

Let's just say Cinnamon Buns are a staple in my diet.

As is Dairy Queen.

And the ultimate dinner to replenish the salt is Poutine.

Picture of the family I rode out to visit.

And the lake which we ran into to escape the heat wave.

I hopped on the VIA for the trip home. Here it is parked in Jasper, one of the longer stops on the trip. It is a great way to experience the country and it's people. I highly recommend it.

I jumped off in Kamloops and rode home to Vancouver, 350k. It was a shock to the system after lounging around for two weeks but it also showed me how much fitness big km's like this trip leave in the legs. It was a hard vacation but a great experience.

Parting thoughts...

Getting High in Idaho

2011-07-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Idaho for the first time in my life, at a media event for Scott Bikes on behalf of nsmb. Sun Valley sits just below 6000 feet elevation, and I rode as high as 9150. Some more photos here, and another article to come. Stoked on Idaho!

Savage on the road

2011-07-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Shane just met up with this guy: http://grandpascan.com/ around Waldof, Ontario. He left Vancouver 5 days ago!

Update: Good picture.

two chicanes and a bump

2011-07-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

alright, it's been two weeks since our trip to Lillooet for camping, cycling, drinking happened, but since I was ASKED to write something, and I'm trying hard to be a good person, I've written this and decided to plagiarize my wife's work at the same time (hey, I said TRYING).

Chessa wrote the following blog about the trip here: http://crossingover2cyclocross.blogspot.com/

unfortunately, she's right - I did get her sick, so the trials and tribulations of Lillooet that she experienced were slightly different than those the rest of the Mighties may have experienced. to complete the other perspective, it was amazing to do that much climbing (3,300 meters) in a 200km weekend (two days) was awesome with so many killer friends.

Ryan was kind enough to share some photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/gowlin/LillooetMightyCamp?authkey=Gv1sRgCOTyi6Cl0v2O2AE#

but to get you a shot of the good stuff:

also, chocolate bananas:

and to elaborate on the title, the bumpy roads of the Duffy highway, though picturesque, make your feet fall asleep. they are covered in ice cracks, separated in sections and driven to rise and fall from the weight of hundreds of CANADREAM RVs rented by wandering tourists. warned by Shane in one of the corners for the "two chicanes and a bump", we decided it needs to be a Mighty Riders drink. I'm guessing, by what Andrew, Claire and Ryan were drinking, it should be Jack, Jim and, maybe, coffee.

Thanks to Matt and Emily, for driving my bike out, Haley for pro tips and marshmallows, Louis for low calorie beers. Bear and Bison for eating the scraps, and to Shane for driving me, Chessa and our crap out there.

Tuesday Night Crits at UBC

2011-06-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

To complement the last post, here's some info on the Tuesday night crit races. It's only $7 to race as long as you've got your Cycling BC licence, plus $13 for a number plate. These races go down at UBC near Thunderbird Stadium every Tuesday unless it's raining.

Escape Velocity's World Tuesday Night Championships.

View Larger Map

Thursday Night Crits in Richmond

2011-06-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went out to the West 4th shop with T-Pick and Matt Kennedy, and met up with Meshkat for his famous Thursday night ride. The plan was to ride a loop of UBC on the way to the Richmond crit course. We got lost and went to Steveston, and missed the races. Next time I'm not gonna let that happen, nor should you...

Coastal Race Club Thursday Challenge Series.

View Larger Map

Westside Classic - Provincal RR Champs

2011-06-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

The Westside Classic was Sunday and once again it was the Provincial Road Race Championships and once again Claire made the podium solidifying her spot as one of BC's fastest women. She finished 3rd in a tight sprint with a tough women's field that was ripped apart by Catherine Pendrell on the climbs.

Women's Podium. (Photo by John Litherland)

In the Men's 3/4 race Andrew finished 6th with Dave Groves somewhere around 10-12th and Ryan and Paul in the pack but most importantly intact after the big crash in the last corner. Ian contested his first big race of the season with the 3/4's and gained some valuable experience and hosted a wonderful post-race breakfast (pancakes!!!).

Haley raced her first ever road race this weekend and fought hard and finished with a good group in the Women's Cat 4 field. It sounded like she really enjoyed herself so maybe we'll distract her from the mud. For a little while anyhow...

Andrew leading the Men's 3/4 field through the start/finish.

(Photo by John LItherland)

Claire leading the Women's field up the climb.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Descantes)

The Women entering their last lap.

(Photo by John Litherland)

Race the Ridge

2011-05-13T21:10:00.001-07:00

Our good friends over at Local Ride put on another excellent stage race last week. It was comprised of a rainy 22km Time Trial in beautiful Golden Ears Provincial Park, a rainy, technical Crit in downtown Maple Ridge, and a cloudy but dry Road Race on the tough Thornhill Circuit.

Mighty had some good representation. Claire finished 6th in the TT, 5th in the Crit, 2nd in the RR and 5th overall. In the Cat 3/4 men: Andrew finished 11th overall, Ryan was 31st overall and Dave Groves had his first taste of a big race weekend and loved it.

Claire in a close fought sprint in the RR. Just getting pipped by former teammate Jenny. (Photo by Tim Sherstobitoff)

Climbing in the hilly RR.

Jenny, winner of the RR and still part of the Mighty family (check out the knee warmers...)

Claire stringing the group out in the wet crit. Unfortunately, there was too much water for the Men's Cat 3/4 crit to go ahead. The CX team is still laughing about that...

I only competed in the Time Trial. I was unhappy with my time but at least I was dry. Ok, maybe this pic just reflects how slow I felt and how epic the conditions were.

Congratulations to all the kids who made it out for a great weekend of racing!

New Bike Day

2011-05-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

As cyclists, we can all share in the joy New Bike Day brings. When Jodi and I were planning a 10 day bike camping trip on the Sunshine Coast, we put the invite out to friends who might want to join for a couple days of riding and hanging out. As it turns out, both Shane and Rachel had new bikes along for the ride.

Shane's new-old-stock Olmo from the rafters at Great Western is much less garish than I was expecting when he first told me about it. Sugar Shane popped the Olmo's cherry on a wet afternoon between Earls Cove and Madeira Park. We happened to run into him out on the road when our off-road route popped out of the woods and on to the highway for a few metres.

Rachel has joined the cross-dressers with this fancy new Trek. She came along on the first leg of our epic backroad day on the Suncoaster Trail, which loosely follows the power lines from Sechelt to Earls Cove. Please note the matching pink water bottle on an otherwise monochrome bike; this is known as "decorum."

Late to the Party: A Chronological Retrospective

2011-05-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

After my post here at the end of the year, many thoughts were stirred about my first year of mountain biking. I forwarded that blog post over to Cam at nsmb.com, and suggested that I tailor the story for their audience. Cam was definitely stoked, and gave me the go-ahead to start work on the project.

Looking back at a year of riding through great photos—who could argue with that? My mtb-versary was in the first week of February, and I had a few weeks to get something together. As I went through my hard drives mining photos and stories, an overwhelming amount of material came to surface. As that date quickly approached, I realized two things: I had a ton of material to work through; and I probably wasn't going to finish in time for the anniversary.

Cam was supportive, and suggested we split the story into two parts. He also asked me to fill in a bit of my background: how did I avoid mountain bikes all my life, and what was it that pushed me to give it a go. Part 1 of the story went over well, even though it was quite long. A bit more time to finish Part 2 was nice. However, it was turning out to be even longer, so it was split again. Part 3 was another epic, of course, so Cam took liberty to split that one as well.

When all was said and done, I had a series of four published articles on nsmb.com. We're looking at about 10,000 words and over 100 photos. My official introduction to the world of mountain biking has been a great experience. The value of writing down your stories and experiences is invaluable.

So, after that introduction, maybe you want to read these articles... I promise they'll make up for the lack of photos in this post!
Part I: Born Again as a Mountain Biker
Part II: A Hardtail Summer
Part III: Enter the Duallie
Part IV: The Final Chapter

I'm very happy to announce that I will be continuing to work with nsmb.com. My next article just went live today; The Digg Never Stops came together as Cam and I met up for a ride to check out and document the new work on Digger's venerable trail on Mt. Fromme, Ladies Only. Hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you on the trails!

Spring Series Wrap-up

2011-04-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

Numbers were pinned. Pedals were turned in anger. Tales of glory were told and some were even true. Another successful Spring Series campaign has wrapped up. The weather was it's usual crazy, inconsistent lower mainland spring-self and there were a few epic races as a result but also some sun. No, really.

Meat racing and no snow or mud in sight. Weird.

Spring Series is all about getting back into shape. There were the usual good results, pack finishes, OTB's, DNF's, DNS's but most importantly I believe we had NO weekend with the worst outcome, the DNB. Along the way, Mighty had some (extended) podiums:

Andrew (B group) - 3rd at River Road RR, 2nd at 232nd RR

Vic (Novice) - 4th at 232nd RR

Jenny (B group) - 3rd at Aldergrove RR

Mighty Ladies working together.

Ryan fighting the 'home' team EV'ers.

Jenny pushing on the hill at Aldergrove. For those unaware, Jenny has 'graduated' to the Cycling BC Provincial team which is sponsored by Local Ride. Follow her exploits here and on the Cycling BC website. This last weekend she skipped the Spring Series to climb atop the podium twice in Oregon.

Ryan at the front doing work.

That wraps up a busy March. Hopefully you are feeling faster and ready for the upcoming 'real' racing. I've said it before: be sure to get out and push yourself in a race, because it's the only way to find your true limits. You can train as serious as you like and have the fanciest bike but don't forget to just get out and play on it. As Jazz legend Charlie Parker said, "Master the instrument, master the music. Then, forget all that shit and play."

A big thanks to Doug Brons for the excellent photos. And full results for the Series can be found here.

Oh, and DNB is 'Did Not Beer'...

Aldergrove

2011-03-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

SSS leading an A group up the Aldergrove climb. Photo by Doug Brons. More here.

Nice Pants aka Barber Isn't Dead

2011-03-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning—and I use the word "morning" quite loosely—we headed up to Mt. Fromme to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather. Matt's on the verge of building a shore-friendly hardtail, so I wanted to take him up for some one-on-one work on my Brodie Catalyst.

This is the Pimp Coaster on Lower Crippler. It was in a state of disrepair until a few months ago, but now it's open for business. Matt surveyed the scene, and decided to go for it.

Note the literally man-sized first drop.

With a sleeve full of BMX skills, Matt dropped his front wheel over the edge and committed to the coaster.

The point of no return.

And with a second to re-focus, I caught him coming over the last hump squirrelly and stoked!

Shralptastic.

Matt was also nice enough to take my camera while I hit this massive plank to rock face on Expresso. He clicked the shutter just at the right time!

Light of god, beard of god.

This weekend we're setting out to pre-ride the course for next week's FVMBA Toonie race out at Sumas Mountain, while the road kids hit up what's said to be the best course in the Spring Series.

Airtime of the Week: Haley!

2011-03-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

Star of the day, Haley gets airborne up on Mt. Fromme. We're doing some changes on her bike to increase confidence, and it looks like it's working!

Whenever that happens, I make them do it again for another photo. Turbo boostage, and good form too!

And here she is with Jodi laughing about live emailing the proof to Matt Barber. Sorry if she misses the team ride in the morning... we might just have to steal away to the trails again.

Dirt Report: FVMBA Toonie Series #1

2011-03-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

The past week's weather left Mission's Heritage Park clear of snow but greasy as all hell. A temperature inversion had us driving through fog all the way from Port Coquitlam through Maple Ridge, but the skies parted just in time for our 8:30 arrival. With 90 minutes before race time, Haley, Jodi and myself registered and set out on a recon lap as Nick B and our honourary teammate Omar were getting sorted.

I think I just about killed Haley. The warm-up lap was our first taste of Heritage Park's trails, and the climbs turned out to be steep and slippery. Fast forward to 20 minutes before race time, and it seemed like we were farther from the start line than at any point in the past 40. We asked the marshals at the top of the worst climb yet which was the fastest way back. They pointed us down Corrie's Corners, the descent of Lap 2, steep and gnarly enough to have me behind the seat of my resurrected steel Brodie hardtail.

Feeling bad about leading the girls on such a treacherous warm-up, we arrived as the field was lining up. There would be no time to ride to the car for the pre-race organic banana that Dr. Berry would prescrible. The field was in good spirits in the late winter sun, and we each lined up behind the people who looked faster than us. A very large cowbell sounded the start, and we were off on the gravel path out-and-back to spread out the pack.

The vast majority of the race course was tight, flowy singletrack without much room to pass, so Nick and I pushed hard to gain as many positions as possible in the gravel hammerfest. As expected, I lost sight of Nick before the singletrack began, but felt OK with my position somewhere near the front. Omar didn't have such good luck, though.

As soon as he hit a bump on the singletrack, the head of his vintage Syncros seat post blew apart and he was forced to head back to the start and figure something out. With memories of helping the inventive street cyclists at Our Community Bikes, he tied his Flite to the post stub and headed back out to the course. The result? I solid mid-pack showing on his Chromag Samurai, and the unspoken award for most hardcore performance. (Ironically, Nick thinks he may have donated that ill-fated post to OCB.)

In her first race as a Mighty team member, Jodi made the sensible choice to keep the heavy, but grippy downhill tire on the front of her Brodie Ethos. Her technical riding background paid off on today's course, and apparently the 2.7 pound tire didn't hold her back too much as she finished mid-pack with a smile on her face.

With a few weeks off the trails, Haley was sure to be challenged by todays course even without my death march warm-up lap. In a discipline of riding that's kicking her ass into learning technical skills beyond the cross course, Haley's efforts are awesome to say the least. She came through with a classy victory salute finishing her first ever mountain bike race.

My own race went quite well. After the pack settled out, I lost a few spots and gained a few spots in the first series of climbs, but stayed within the top 15 as far as I could tell. I was on pace with the highly skilled Jean-Ann Berkenpas of the Local Ride crew, and a guy on an Orbea 29er that could not keep his bike upright whenever the trails went downhill. Jean-Ann and I were riding well together, and we even enjoyed a good conversation as the first lap's climbs subsided.

After a ball-busting trip off the trail right in front of Jean-Ann at the end of Lap 1, I had hoped to make up some time on the gnarly descent we'd ridden just before the race start. However, I was losing steam and slowly made my way up the steep climb to the top. I passed a guy who was riding single speed after a malfunction, and rode it out to the finish solo. On the final pitch, I swear I surfed my bike on its side more than rode it, but made it out unscathed. The bike that was supposed to introduce me to XC racing had finally laid tracks on a local course.

Ever-complaining about his Jamis XC machine's noodly feel, our hero Nick Berry was neck-and-neck with the eventual race winner until a blunder on a technical section (wasn't that the whole race?) allowed his rival to pull a gap that never closed. Nick ended up with a very respectable 2nd place finish, just 30 seconds behind the leader over a 43 minute span. Back in his street gear, our number one stunna was all full of attitude.

The post-race beers, bananas, and banana bread were well-deserved, and we later won beer cozies for our efforts at the finish line.

Here we have Nick with possibly my worst podium shot of all time, winning back twice his race entry (a cold four dollars) and a water bottle that says "Put Some Fun Between Your Legs." Nick also ended up taking home a pair of spd shoes in size 10.5 after out-guessing myself and some locals in a Fraser Valley mountain bike-specific trivia contest.

The first of the FVMBA's Toonie series gave us with great weather, amazing smooth singletrack, and a good time with a bunch of good people. At 2 bucks a race, you can bet we'll be out at the next race on Sumas Mountain, Sunday April 3.

Mini-Training Camp

2011-02-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

Race season is right around the corner so Mighty decided on a little trip to work on the form. Some teams head south to warmer climes but there is nothing like some of the BC roads to harden you up. We piled into the vehicles and headed a few hours up to Lillooet where there is no such thing as a flat road and the winds test your mental toughness. Throw in a little gravel and snow and the Spring Series suddenly looks like a recovery ride...

The sun was out as we hit the road on day one.

Day two was sunny but about 1.5 hours in the Bridge River valley gets a little shady and as the elevation gained, the white stuff was part of the day.

A little debris on the road doesn't stop any self-respecting CX team.

Quick, somebody teach me how to shoulder a bike.

The climbing kept us warm.

Meat pondering... The first dam and day two turn-aound point is right around the corner.

Earlier in the day two ride. The gravel roads were awesome.

The view we enjoyed for the three days of Nick Berry leading us up all the climbs. But he was also our chef who kept us fueled for more punishment with incredibly tasty and healthy food.

Just a mini-training camp but we are already trying to decide when we are going back. Most likely we will frequent the area a few times this spring/summer as the riding/scenery was incredible. Best part was in three days there were ZERO stop lights...

Nimby Fifty Registration is Today

2011-02-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

Haley, Jodi, myself, and the Sportsmans have signed up for the Nimby Fifty, a 35km Marathon XC race in Pemberton on Saturday May 28, 2011. There are only 300 spots so if you're interested in joining us, go here to register, quick!

Word on the street (or the trails?) is that the route is mostly singletrack, and much smoother than our local conditions. People have called it tougher than the Test of Metal because there's not as much time to rest (the Test's route uses a lot of gravel roads for climbing).

Get fast like Nick Berry!

500 Bucks: Apparently the Value of Good Team Strategy

2011-02-14T00:20:00.000-08:00

In February 2006, Lyle and Nick Towill came back with legendary stories from a race which had them ride the wrong way down Water Street in Gastown with 20 other people, and otherwise scramble around town on their old steel bikes. I was intrigued by the idea of a courier race, somewhat of a "day in the life" of a courier. At the time, my only bike was a 35 pound BMX, and it didn't go anywhere fast.

Fast-forward five years, when the following information comes our way:

Sat February 12th 2011
Crab Park 3pm
$5 and Clothing donation for the homeless(full bag)

No bullshit No sponsors Just str8 up $500 for 1st place
Brought to you by Jeff Fucking Curry
Come enjoy the Oldest alley cat in North America

The covered, yet unsheltered gazebo at Crab Park left something to be desired as the remnants of a cold front pushed their way through the city. As racers and volunteers filtered in and huddled around their bags of clothes, there was word that Jeff was running late. Being the longest running courier race in Vancouver history, I doubt this was a first.

The best way to stay warm is on your bike—and out of the rain. Nick and I headed for the tunnel at the west end of Waterfront, running loops up the hill to Cordova Street. Nick asked how I was feeling. My response: well-rested and well-fed; he had one of the two. Without explicitly saying so, it became clear that we would ride as much of the race as possible together. Both our cyclocross bikes were well-prepared with slick tires, fenders, lights, and a personal water supply.

I left Nick to ride over to Super Champion and tighten a screw on my front light. Jeff Curry rushed in the door and passed off the second round of manifests to Jamie and Nick. Back at Crab Park, everything was sorted less than an hour after the 3pm meet time.

After a hundred yard LeMans dash down a muddy hill, we retrieved our bikes from the beach and got on the road. First to the initial checkpoint and dropoff spot for the bag of clothes, Nick and I missed the address and looped the block, arriving with a rush of couriers to ascend a narrow staircase.

While others scrambled for their bikes on the side of Hastings and took off in all directions, Nick and I pulled out our manifests and did some strategizing. Twelve checkpoints scattered from railtown to south downtown, kitsilano, and deep in east van. Six picks and six drops, with a fair amount of distance to cover—this much was in our favour.

Fortunately the rain was letting off, leaving it its wake a strong and unpredictable wind. We decided on a counter-clockwise loop after knocking off the railtown pickups. On our way back through the downtown eastside, we crossed paths with many of the other racers frantically checking off their lists.

Finding volunteers to sign manifests turned out to be more of a challenge than finding racers, which isn't surprising considering the $500 prize for first place. After crossing to the south side of the Granville Bridge—one of the farthest points from the race's start—we reached the first of the three unmanned checkpoints.

We ran into another racer at that spot. Sarah had seen us at the Howe Street stop and wondered how we got to the south side so fast. Taking our picture with my phone to prove we'd been there, we were all headed in the same direction and took off east. Nick pulled out his first instance of the patented afterburner and pulled me along the next straight stretch, leaving our new companion to push her own wind.

32 blocks east, we reached the last of the unmanned checkpoints. Pulling out my cell phone to take a picture, we quickly remounted and bombed the hill back toward downtown.

Arriving at Super Champion, the end of the first manifest, we found out we were in the lead so far. Excellent. Just the motivation we needed to keep hammering. The second manifest, which only the first ten racers would receive, had all the same checkpoints in a different order. We asked about the unmanned checkpoints, and were told to "figure it out."

Somewhat drained, I was not as quick at working out the order for our second loop. Nick ate a clif bar while I had a Berry-approved organic banana. We got heckled for strategizing instead of hammering. A couple of close stops down and we were on our way for another long haul. I felt the banana boosters kick in as we left the yaletown stops en route to the south foot of Howe and another trip over the Granville Bridge.

Along the way, we discussed the possible moral decisions regarding the unmanned checkpoints. Having the phone with us, we would be able to prove without a doubt that we visited all of the checkpoints both times. If someone took advantage of the system by skipping the farthest-out checkpoints on their second run, so be it. If we didn't leave this race with the purse, we would at least leave with our honour.

The wind had picked up and seemed to be coming directly sideways as we crossed the bridge. I was unable to catch any semblance of a draft, and struggled to keep Nick's wheel over the span's crest. Having not raced in 8 months and focusing more on technical riding than pushing my lactate thresholds in that time, I was suffering behind the man who really did succeed in using cross-country mountain biking as winter training a year earlier.

Arriving at our last unmanned checkpoint at 1st and Commercial, we only had a few more stops before we'd find out if there was another manifest or if the race was over. Like the saucy receptionists he spends his day serenading, Nick Towill asked us what the hell took us so long to arrive. He said Sarah had already been through with "more of that manifest completed than you guys have." Little did he know we were almost finished. Matt Barber had unsurprisingly left his checkpoint by the time we arrived.

With the last of our checkpoints finished, I asked Nick if he was going to leave me in his dust on the final stretch, as he most definitely had the ability to do. He assured me we would finish as a team. We'd been through this thing together, and the pot was so big that neither of us would complain about splitting it.

We appeared to have startled the group of couriers smoking outside as we rushed in to the finish at 245 Main. There was to be no third manifest, and we had arrived first. As long as our paperwork checked out, we would be declared victorious. Since both Nick and I have worked as couriers, we would also be eligible to keep the trophy dating to 1995 for the next year.

Here's a very rough map of the extent of the race, without the twists and turns of our exact route. This pegs our route at more than 30km, with almost 30 stops.

Jeff was very secretive about what black magic would determine the actual winner. In the past, he's been known to throw a wildcard in at the last minute, forcing racers to compete for the grand prize. What we did know is that we had hit all the checkpoints on both rounds, and got to the finish first. In any case we would not be accused of cheating to win, and my phone would be there to back us up just in case.

Upon receiving the 16-year-old trophy of concrete and bike parts at Pat's Pub, Nick gave a short speech about eating well and properly warming up before racing. We promptly bought a round of beers and split the rest of the cash. This could be my biggest prize haul all year, and it's only February. Along with the safe keeping of the trophy, we are now tasked with organizing the 2012 St. Valentine's Massacre.

I tried my best to keep Matt Hornland from making it to the Mighty ride in the morning. Nick would be there to update the team on the ongoings and unbelievable prize haul. Having taken Friday and Saturday off of trail riding, I was itching to get to the Shore. If you want to know what it takes to stay at the top of the cyclocross field year after year, don't look at what I'm doing. At least I can claim to be a part of a great team, and have a hunk of metal and concrete to remind me of it.

SPRING SERIES FOR MOUNTAIN BIKES

2011-02-06T21:54:00.001-08:00

WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE? YOU GOT A BROKEN HECKLE?

Air-iest Couple

2011-01-22T18:02:00.001-08:00

Ok, I think I just made up a word: Air-iest. There have been fastest couples in sports. Mighty has Morgan and Jodi who get sweet air...

Lance does drugs... Duh!

2011-01-21T12:31:00.000-08:00

Get Dirty

2011-01-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

First we had Performance. Now we have the Morgan tribute vid, Get Dirty.

Burnaby 4 Day

2011-01-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

Last week Morgan re-capped the fun some of the Mighty kids have been getting up to in the snow/dirt on the mountains. They also like to get out of the winter weather and into the Burnaby Velodrome for some fast, dry training/racing.

Over the Holidays the BVC hosted a 4 Day Track Race that attracted world calibre athletes including 2 time Track World Champion Sarah Hammer, Omnium/Points Race World Champion Tara Whitten, Worlds Track Silver Medalist Zach Bell, road sprinter extraordinaire Tyler Farrar (who grew up racing Friday Nights at Burnaby), Canadian ProTour riders Svein Tuft and Christian Meier as well as a handful of International athletes.

It was the fastest racing Burnaby has ever seen and the beer was flowing with large crowds. For full results with some video see HERE.

Below are a selection of pics by Ryan (more) and Ted (more) of some of the racing.

Elite Men's action.

Farrar getting the sling.

The Legendary Svein Tuft enjoying some winter training.

'T-Shirt' Sidic won the Men's A Omnium.

Elite women's action.

Jenny was out in Mighty colours getting some world-class experience.

And could it be? Is that B looking a little heavier and laying the law down in his Cycling BC Commissaire jacket? Please, don't fine me you evil fascist.

The Twists and Turns of Winter Training

2010-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I fell very far from the world of sanctioned racing this year. Instead, I was getting lost in the woods, exploring the North Shore trails I'd known about since the early '90s but never really ridden. What had started out so innocently as off-season training for CX turned into a full-blown addiction to mountain biking.

Hidden beauty on Mt. Fromme.

In January, our Brodie Bikes rep Andrew Summers delivered a beautiful steel cross-country bike to the Broadway shop. I went in expecting to build my bike, and found Bob wheelieing it up the sidewalk just as I arrived. He was stoked to see the bike together, and had built it for me. What a guy. Maybe that's why Bob made it on to the 2011 Brodie site...

The 2010 Brodie Catalyst

I'd like to think that Mr. Summers is at least partially responsible for my disappearance from most other disciplines of riding. His great attitude towards riding and a love of photography meant that we became great friends this year, spending countless hours doing shoots on the trails, roadtrips, and generally having a good time.

Mr. Summers, always with a big smile.

Of course, to blame Andrew would be ignoring the true reason I became so addicted to the North Shore. I grew up in these forests hiking with my family, and the discovery of riding here was, in a way, a homecoming. My BMX background lends itself toward technical riding, and on the Shore, those skills are put to the test in the form of wooden structures, rock faces, slippery root drops, and so on. With these endless technical challenges I had met my match.

Photo by Lyle

What I didn't know in January, in buying an XC bike, was that I would soon be riding trails that were well beyond the limits of my bike. After a month or about ten rides, I replaced the stock fork with a sturdier and travel-adjustable Fox model. By May, I had retired the Catalyst frame on the advice of Brodie product manager and racing legend Bruce Spicer. I chose to replace the frame with a Santa Cruz Chameleon, an aluminum hardtail with a good pedigree.

Lush greenery on Mt. Seymour's Bridal Path.

I was out on the trails 2-3 times a week all year, and had familiarized myself with trails on all three North Shore hills as well as Burnaby Mountain, and visited Whistler, Squamish, Salmon Arm, Kelowna, and Rossland in the name of riding. Along with laying tracks on a ton of awesome trails, I set out to document them as well—which is a great way to improve your photography.

A ridge on the 35km Seven Summits trail near Rossland.

I even grew out my hair...

If you weren't questioning my sanity already...

Summer came and went, cross season began, and my stoke for the trails was as high as ever. When combined with a strenuous school semester, I didn't race CX once this year. After spending most of the year trying to tell me to buy his full suspension bike, Ryan Lidstone finally got through. I did a bit of research and decided that if I liked it on a test ride, the Banshee Wildcard would find a good home in my stable. Since that day, my hardtail has been neglected...

I was reluctant to jump into a full squish bike too soon with so many options out there...

As the season came to a close, the cross team was ready to come out and risk both potential for injury and an addiction to mountain biking. During a likely inebriated conversation with Jodi on the book of faces, Matt Hornland agreed to a date. On Boxing Day, exactly one year after Nick Berry, Matt Barber, and myself had an epic cyclocross ride on Burnaby Mountain, Team Mighty CX took it to the trails.

Nick Berry, hero of the entire Mighty team, spotted having fun on a bike.

This year, the District of North Vancouver invested something in the high six figures range on Mt. Fromme's trail network. One of the major projects involved rebuilding an older trail, Bobsled, into a beginner-slash-intermediate trail to make the mountain more accessible to newer riders. The North Shore's trails—even the "blue square" aka intermediate trails—are known for being more difficult than similarly-graded trails anywhere else. A "beginner-friendly" trail was a missing piece of the puzzle if the DNV was to avoid scaring people away from the recreation area.

Matt Hornland, small man with a big mouth, borrowed my Chameleon.

The revitalized Bobsled is a huge departure from the slow, technical riding the Shore is known for. It's almost like a downhill BMX track, with smooth berms and jumps, and a few cedar bridges in the wetter sections. For an idea of what the trail is like, check out this video from mtbville.com. I haven't done much shooting on Bobsled, but did happen to nail the self-timer function and snap this self-portrait on the one optional drop on the trail.

The rest of the trail is nothing like this...

Having spent his first racing days on a BMX bike, Matt Barber is right at home on Bobsled.

"Do you know who I am?"

It takes about 15 minutes to ride up to the top of Bobsled and less than 5 to get down. After a couple of warmup laps, and Nick having quickly solved a mechanical issue at Lynn Valley Bikes, the soft intro was over and it was time to take these cross-dressers to the gnar. Thomas Pickett was along for the ride on his brand spankin' new Kona Five-O, a perfect Shore hardtail.

Thomas now rides for West Coast Racing, not Glotman-Simpson... but kit ain't cheap!

Hornland was getting more comfortable on the Chameleon, and appeared to be having fun even through his normally heavy amount of sarcasm.

In hindsight, Matt should have taken the knee pads as well.

We rode to just above the 5th switchback on the gravel road which eventually leads to Grouse Mountain. From this point a number of trails wind their way down the south slope of Mt. Fromme; our destination was a classic all-weather trail: Pipeline. Here we have Jodi taking on the hamster cage, an elevated structure with steep sections, a teeter totter, sharp turns, and a very narrow log to exit.

"Classic Shore" conditions, as Mr. Summers would say.

Having done well with his off-season training program on his carbon Jamis Dakar XCR, Nick is very comfortable riding a low travel bike on the North Shore. He will descend basically anything you put in front of him with his seat way up, and have a huge smile on at the end of it. Nick's foray into XC mountain biking this year was truly inspirational from the cyclocross cross-training perspective.

Wrong bike? No problem, at least for Nick Berry.

After the hamster cage, the trail follows the pipeline of its namesake down a steep rocky slope. High-traffic trails on the North Shore have traditionally been armoured with rock to prevent erosion, and this section of Pipeline has been built into a three-stage rock roller coaster. Matt's XC bike is definitely a touch too big for this style of riding, but he made it out of this section unscathed and looking good!

Getting over it.

We had such a good time on Sunday that Pipeline was calling me back. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Summers and I headed up and sessioned the same section of trail, coming out with quite a few great shots. With a light dusting of snow, the technical challenge is taken to the next level.

Gettin' rad in the forest.

Splish splash...

Andrew takes a bit of air time.

Back up for another...

And we have liftoff once again!

Andrew insisted that he take a turn behind the lens, which meant it was my turn to get rad!

Beard Power.

We then continued down the trail where I weaseled my way on to a snowy teeter totter, then stopped to grab another photo. For a cold winter's day, the light sure was warm.

Fresh tracks.

Bliss.

Then I lined up and launched a gap I'd had my eye on all year. I hit this drop for the first time on Sunday, but it was so dark by the time we finished our ride that I didn't bother to try to get a photo of it.

The drop itself is about 6 feet into a steep transition.

Andrew was by this point very comfortable with my camera, and snapped a banger with the snowy trees and a nice beam of light coming through.

He made me jump it 6 or 7 times.

I guess in a way this is my season recap. I spent more time in the forest of the North Shore than in any year of my life, made a whole bunch of new friends, and shot a ton of great photos. I gained technical riding skills that will no doubt transfer to the cross course in the future.

Brodie is using a number of my photos for their 2011 site, and Ghostrider Messengers used one of my images for his calendar. And I won two separate photo contests.

Even as the snow line dips closer to sea level, I'm still on my bike. And isn't that the point? Having fun on a bike? Let me know if you want to join...

CX Provincials

2010-12-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

BC Cyclocross Provincial Championships were held on November 28th in North Vancouver. The snow was gone but left a very muddy course for the Mighty kids in attendance.

Jay 'Lowball' Loder was the Mighty hero of the day bringing home a Bronze medal in the Masters 50+ age group despite a good off in the tricky mud pool. He was last seen complaining of extreme neck pain on his patio deck apres race (perhaps due to the weight of this year's medal and his '09 Nationals Medal he brought out to compare). Naturally he soothed his pain with a foamy beverage or six.

Mighty's leader in the dirt, Nick Berry, had a tough day against some of Canada's best CX riders which included Andrew Pinfold, Tyler Trace and Evan Guthrie as well as Singlespeed World Champion Drew Mackenzie. In the first lap chaos he had a tough crash in traffic that left him chasing hard and working his way back up through the pack. Eventually succumbing to another crash he had to call it a day early but it was another great season from Berrryjuice.

Our racing Mama, Stacey Hutton (inspiration to all those who complain of not having enough time to train) showed up to get dirty with the ladies. She fought hard but had a few offs of her own and missed a late flask feed (hmmm, legal?) from her roadie teammate UpChuck. As usual she showed us all how to give 'er with a smile and finished 7th.

The Magical bearded one known as Meat decided to see what the big guns could throw his way. It was his first Elite race after making quick work of the Cat 3 field the last two weeks on his 'highly questionable braking' but otherwise fancy new bike. It proved to be a learning experience for our little Ginger but he raced hard as always and had a race long battle with super junior track sprinter Erik Mulder (note: Meat is about as big as one of his legs...) while fending off one of BC's best roadies Mike Sidic for lucky 13th place.

Special thanks to Hot Hot Barber who showed up early with Berry and set up the tent, BBQ and cooler and looked after all the Mighty racers and hanger-on'ers. It made for a great day to watch some fast, hard racing put on by Kevin Calhoun and friends. And thanks to Ted for some excellent photos.

Congratulations to the BC Champions for 2010, Tyler Trace in the Elite Men and Mical Dyck in the Elite Women.

No no no, THIS is Christmas.

2010-12-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, it's that time again. What time is it, you ask? Time for yet another

MIGHTY RIDERS CHRISTMAS PARTY!!

As 1/2 of the Mighty PPC, I am pleased to announce that this years Xmas party will take place on Friday December 17th 2010. Like last year, the party will be held in 2 stages. Think of it as a party specific stage race. Or a stage specific party race. Or something. Or a chance to get drunk with all your cycling buddies. You know.

Stage 1: Beers and treats at On The Rivet/Mighty Riders. 7-9pm. This is for all the Vets, the calmer bunch, the Saturday morning workers, the moms and dads that aren't going to rage into the night, the, ahem, Nick Berrys of the world. There will be decor, merriness, pals, jokes, and bike talk I'm sure.

Stage 2: Food, cheap beers (mighty beer special), raffle, and debauchery at our dear friends and neighbours fine establishment Bandidas Taqueria (2718 Commercial, at 12th). 10pm-1am. I hope to see the whole team filter over, as this is where the raffle will be held. Like last year, we will have some excellent prizes from many of our vendors and sponsors. Here's the catch: because Ed and Sean have generously provided a food budget, and because there is no cost involved in the venues, there is no need for us to generate any money by selling raffle tickets. Instead, we will be collecting 1 item of warm clothing to donate to a charity (tbd) per raffle ticket. You bring 1 thing, you get a chance to win 1 thing. You bring 2 things, you get 2 chances to win things. Cool, right?

Mark it on your calendars. Warm up your livers. Pump up the tires on your bar bikes (we will most likely all ride down 10th ave to Bandidas together). Also, please feel to bring ONE date. GF, BF, one night stand, whatever, but just one. We want to make sure we are able to adequately feed/water all of you fine folks that fly the Mighty flag so proudly all year. So there you have it. See you soon!

Yours in all things party related,

Phyllis and Angela, Mighty Riders PPC (Party Planning Committee).

Surrey Shred

2010-11-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend was slick.

Not in the good way.

More like "oh, hey, you want to spend some time on your ass?" slick.

The whole debacle started with Daryl Evans Racing CX/BC Cup Finals in South Surrey. For those who remember last year, the cruel and unrelenting forces of Daryl Evans built a course of grass, that somehow ended with me getting a black eye. I mean, I'm sure some other stuff happened. But I really remember that black eye.

This year was flatter, but still rough, with the course slick as oil about 2 inches deep, where the mud ended and the ground met us, frozen and unforgiving.

Paul, Stacey and I rolled out to the race, meeting Haley and the GS Goofs (Thomas Pickett and Matt Kennedy) already there.

Paul raced Cat 3s with myself and a crew of 24 (?) racers. He mentioned taking it easy on me since he was sandbagging rather than racing 2s.

Being a nice guy, he yelled some pretty encouraging words as he chased me down in smooth style, but I was pretty self-focused on catching Eric Mulder. Damn 17 year olds. I did not revel in his mechanical failure, however, as the guy behind me was taking full advantage of the times I wasn't looking as pro as this:

Aside from falling down the Rocky Mountain Slip And Slide next to the announcers booth almost every lap, I managed to stay out of this kind of trouble:

And ended up making the extended podium behind Rob (?) in SuperChampion kit

and David, who is always secret fast, as well as a guy who's name I can't remember. I think it got knocked out of my head when I did some break dancing before what would be the final sprint for 3/4.

Stacey gives us the following thoughts on her race

"3,4,5 was a super tight battle until the last lap in my race. I tried my best to knock them down with a hip check, but Katherine Vipond broke away in the last lap and left Joelle Guynup and I to battle it out for 4th."

I've edited the bit about the sandpits, you know, for the kids.

The Mens Elite and Masters showed a few of the usual suspects, but as we were cold, wet and tired, we didn't see too much of it. Here's the podium shot for you gawkers:

More on Matt Barber and the North Van Wieners tomorrow.

Double Crossed

2010-11-15T16:22:00.001-08:00

Here's Meat with a wrap-up of last wknd's double dose of dumb mud days:

(oh, and please ride the fancy new bike...)

Saturday morning was the first annual Glotman-Simpson CX race, with a course that was previously handled by Daryll Evans, but this year laid out by the few, the proud, the Matt Kennedy (and hosted by Thomas Pickett).

I caught a ride in the All Star Van with the illustrious Nick Berry, listening to the new Arcade Fire album and using our minds to keep us warm in lieu of a heater.

For my last debut at 11am in the Cat 4 race, I was graced with a few Island racers and folks I had never raced against. The weather was simply cold, and the new skinsuits tight as could be. Our course was similar to last year, with a beautiful mud pit, a few off cambers, but largely a flat and fast. One hill begged to be ridden, though many would run. I used Matt Atkinstall's patented "Big Ring Racing" technique and kept it 46t in the front the full race. This helped after a good bobble into the mudbath (http://www.flickr.com/photos/35696093@N05/5175323120/in/set-72157625382559316/then http://www.flickr.com/photos/35696093@N05/5174717235/in/photostream/) on the first lap, and a good number of heckles, to keep the blood flowing. I finished up first place, taking my first ever #1 and earning my upgrade points for Cat 3. GS provided some excellent prizes, BTW.

Haley competed with the Open Women, putting tires to mud with Kelly Jones as the two female competitors willing to brave the elements for a non-BC Cup event. Haley came out with a payment, which I believe makes her a pro racer. Keeping it clean.

Mens 3 went off with a fast pack and 3 solid leaders, Paul McClosky showing Mighty/OTR colors. He breathed deep and held a solid 2nd place during a "bunch" sprint to the finish. Paul kept it smooth and earned some tires and socks for that 2nd place victory, as well as upgrade points to 1/2s next time he feels like it! Paul, I'll drop those tires off at the shop sometime soon.

Finally the big gun show, with Nick Berry in 1/2s racing 10 grueling laps with Calhoun, Noiles, Andre Sutton from Edmonton and Andrew Pinfold coming out of left field. The laps were hot, with the gang of 5 playing cat and mouse, finally Pinner and Calhoun took a bit of a gap. In a sprint for the end, Pinner beat out Calhoun by 2 seconds. Nick came in after Noiles by 6 seconds, dropping the Edmontonian, who had been out performed by our fearless CX leader.

This double header weekend continued with Sunday's Atomic Racing out in Aldergrove. There are photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/graemej/sets/72157625272406709/with/5179039944/

Thanks to upgrades, Nick and I drove out for a 12 o'clock start on a drizzly Sunday morning. The conversation consisted of household cleaning products and their safety, Matt Barber, Belle and Sebastian, hemp hearts, and farming. We arrived to a wet, grassy course near the US border, holding for us bogs, hills, switchbacks and the promise of seized bottom brackets. The preride consisted of a bog ("the free bike wash") which we enjoyed crossing 3 times, a long gravel trail, back to a grass climb and long mud singletrack with grass descents and a short switchback before, well, more grass.

With Cat 3s as my new home, I lined up with Brett Wakefield of Local Ride, Geoff Agnew of GS and two others I just don't know.Classically, Brett has destroyed me on long flats, but those organic bananas must have had something in them, as I took lead on the first lap and never (well, no, I did) looked back. The extra 10 minutes of riding was nice as opposed to Cat 4s, and I opened a considerable gap on Brett after he had some bobbles on the "technical" descent. My first race in 3s was my first #1 in 3s, and I hope to keep it up as I love the sound of 60 minute slog fests. Self congratulatory enough? I exchanged some good heckling from Local Ride on the descents, so I might have to watch my back.

Haley raced with a larger field, finding the bog section to be less than agreeable, however slaughtered it out to the finish. She was kind enough to lend me some coffee after the race.

Jay Loder graced BC with his presence in the Masters Race, putting in a solid performance, though showing quite a bit of mud that I never could quite explain. The new skinsuit was looking good.

The 1/2s had more folks from the Island on Sunday, with Drew Mackenzie and Dylan Tremblay coming in with fresh legs. After a fast race on Saturday, Nick and the Kevins went out fast, with Drew, Dylan and the Edmontonian trailing the lead 3. Mr. Berry looked strong in the technical and, though neither his bottom bracket or his legs had been well stretched, put down some power to set pace. The sprints with Pinfold must have taken a toll on Kevin Calhoun, as he dropped after 3 laps. Drew, however, upped his game and pushed into the lead, with Kevin and Nick continuing to hold strong. Unfortunately, fresh from the rock, Tremblay took position over Nick at the end and our Mighty ended 4th.

Overall, a wet, muddy, grassy, skinsuit-y weekend. Nick was kind enough to pull over on the side of Highway 1 so my bladder wouldn't explode on the ride home. Fun.

[edit: I hope this information is accurate. It seems results from Atomic are yet to be posted, so no fact checking has been done]

(photos by Daryl Evans Racing)

Pumpkin CX

2010-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Another great Halloween Pumpkin Cross has come and gone. Local Ride once again managed to scare the bejeezus out of the BC cyclocross racers. Or at least get them really dirty.

Cat 1/2 Men: Nick Berry on the extended podium with a 4th place.

Women: Stacey 5th, Jenny 9th, Haley 11th. Of note was Stacey swimming the mud pond for the prime on lap 3 only to have found somebody already got it. D'oh!

Masters Men: Jay Loder 25th.

Cat 4 Men: Barry 25th.

Below: Jean Ann McKirdy - women's winner and a terrifying member of the hosts, Local Ride

Below: Pimp Daddy Paul Craig, another Local Ride'r who helped put on a great race. Apparently the inspiration of the Spiral of Death which came right after the Spooky Forest section...
Thanks to Ted for the great pics! Rest of the set is HERE.

Escape Velocity CX BC Cup #4

2010-10-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

The real cyclocross weather finally showed itself and the kids faced a wet, techincal course out in Burnaby's Foreshore Park.

Cat 4 Men: Meat was 2nd with Matt in 3rd after a good last lap battle with some questionable navigating by Matt... This gives Matt the points to upgrade to Cat 3 with Meat likely to follow soon.

Masters Men: Rob is moving up each week and finished 7th.

Women: Stacey was 5th and Haley in 12th. Stacey is now sitting 2nd in the BC Cup Overall just two points behind first with two races left in the series.

Cat 1 Men: Nick fought a good battle, mostly with the tight course, to finish 6th. This puts Nick in 6th overall for the BC Cup series.

The next local race to come out and yell at the kids or perhaps get dirty cross dressing is Local Ride's Pumpkin Cross which is always a blast. Check out the full calendar here: http://www.cyclingbc.net/calendar-cyclocross

Featherweight!

2010-10-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm certainly not a 'weight weenie' about light bikes/components but sometimes it has it's place. The boys at the shop helped Bill put together this sweet ride for his mom's 80th birthday. Check out the bling fork and stem. According to Bill, "After being used to her old 3 speed Raleigh, she couldn't keep it on the ground." Sounds like she's ready for the bike park with Nick/Barber/Morgan.

New Brighton Park & Vanier Park CX

2010-10-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

Lots of results so I am just gonna list them by category. First up on the beautiful Saturday was New Brighton Park:

Cat 4 Men: Matt 3rd, Meat 5th (missed in results), Barry 25th

Cat 3 Men: Paul 4th

Masters Men: Rob 13th, Loder 31st

Cat 1/2 Men: Nick 4th

Women: Stacey 6th, Haley 9th

Tykes: Sophie lapped the field

Sunday the weather was closer to Cyclocross norms for Vanier Park:

Cat 4 Men: Meat 3rd, Matt 5th, Barry 29th

Cat 3 Men: Paul 1st

Masters Men: Rob 12th, Jay 27th

Cat 1/2 Men: Nick 6th, Basse 13th

Women: Stacey 4th, Haley 13th

Thanks to Sean for bringing the tent out, MJ the beer and Ryan and Ted for the great pics.

Ryans pics: HERE

Starcrossed and RAD Racing GP

2010-09-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

For those of you that want a taste of what Nick Berry had to ride through this weekend, Geoff Agnew from EV put together this little vid:

Cyclocross - Starcrossed 2010 from Geoff Agnew on Vimeo.

The day started off much nicer, meaning hot, fast races for Women's Cat 4; Haley had a killer race at Starcrossed with a placing of 23rd out of 64 starters. My own race kept the sunny demeanor, though starting at the back of the pack of 70 riders was not ideal. After 35 minutes and a few encouraging words from Dan Spry (although he could have helped a little more...) I came in 13th out of 66 finishers. We hung out with some friends I manage to keep in Seattle (Ryan, Melissa and Eric who some of you met) and drank an excessive amount of beer with Thomas Pickett and Matt Kennedy. We even enjoyed the beer garden while Showtime Jay Loder hurdled barriers.

We got to watch the Elite race from a couple hundred vantage points, in the dark and the mud, and my favorite picture is this one of the whole shebang in the middle of Marymoore with Katerina Nash opening a huge gap: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfgcyclocross/5006453674/

Nick had a great showing against 60 very talented international riders coming in 26th over a fast, and muddy course. The battle between the French National CX Champion Francis Mourey and Ryan Trebon was pretty excellent too.

The next morning was Rad Racing out at Lake Sammamish; the course was mostly grass with as many switchbacks as they could find, of course over exposed roots and other such nonsense, with a dual sandpit (one of which had a huck jump right in front of the beer garden).

The competition was somewhat different on Sunday, with only half the competitors having raced Starcrossed. Haley again had a strong showing and powered into a 7th place finish.

I was testing a theory about beer consumption affecting my racing and found that I couldn't tell. I was pretty happy to find I was top 10 for much of the race, but a spill near the end, as our last 2 laps changed from sunny to downpour, cost me a spot pushing me into 11th out of 71 riders. The sudden rain meant disaster for quite a few folks taking lines that were none too kind when turned to mush. Though it gave everyone more chances to "give advice".

The showers persisted during the Cat 3 Masters race, and Showtime showed us how it was done while we heckled the sand pit from the beer garden. Many handouts were made for those that chose to huck it into the sandpit but couldn't keep the front end up. Jay ended 12th out of 44 muddy masters.

The Mighty Riders put in some good work with heckling to boot, and I'm pretty sure I drank enough for anyone that wasn't. Next year we expect more fans, however. Until then, we'll have to do our best up here in BC to stay loud, drunk and in front.

Next races are October 2/3 at New Brighton/Vanier - easily accessible and there better be beer handouts for anyone off the back.

Meat

Whistler Fondo & BC Cup Finale

2010-09-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

September 11th marked the inaugural Vancouver to Whistler Gran Fondo. Anyone who rides in the Lower Mainland is most likely intimately familiar with the Sea-to-Sky Highway and it was fantastic to finally race on this road with it's epic views and hard climbs.

It also was the last race of the BC Cup Road Series for 2010 and, as usual, our women delivered. Claire fought hard over every climb to stay in the lead group and finished with a hard earned podium in third place. Jenny capped a fine rookie season by helping Claire early and chasing hard to finish 11th.

After a long season this put Claire into 3rd overall for the BC Cup and Jenny in 12th. There may be bigger teams out there but nobody has done as well as our ladies while having so much fun and making the Mighty Family proud. It's been a phenomenal season for both as Claire re-asserted herself on the BC racing scene after a hiatus and Jenny stepped into the deep end and some of the hardest racing around and showed she is a fierce competitor.

Enjoy your offseason, train hard and best of luck next year wherever your pedaling may take you!

Georgia Street without cars! Yay!

Start-line posing...

Claire on the podium with Alex Steida (Google him and

then realize Lowball taught him everything he knows...).

Langley Cyclocross Classic

2010-09-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

The first BC Cup cyclocross race of the was held in Langley was co-organized by us! (yes a long time ago, Sept. 5th) And we barely even had to do anything, thanks to long-time organizer Basse joining the club last year.

Saturday and early Sunday morning started off with careful and deliberate course construction resulting in a course meeting high Mighty standards.

Note Foreman Savage looking on with approval while the course is being properly test ridden.


Tim "Kid Rock" Wyatt staking some stakes.

The event was put on together with Team H&R Block, and had an excellent turnout with Stacey coming in second in the elite women's field even though she crashed on the last lap. Which is interesting because I remember her crossing the finish line right behind the first place rider. Haley wasn't far behind finishing up 6th.

Tall Matt (aka matkinstal) also got on the podium with a third place finish in the Cat 4 men's race, also followed closely by Beard Matt (aka Meat) who finished complaining about numerous crashes and mechanicals.


Photo by Ted Wilson

Photo by Ted Wilson

Local hero Nick Berry also had an interesting race after just going too hard around a corner "vapourized" into a ditch on the side of the trail.


What's interesting about this bit of grass? It actually conceals a ditch.

Nick Berry trying to climb out of the thorny ditch. In true Mighty fashion, photographer Steve Cork prioritizes documenting the situation over helping Nick.

Emus kept a close watch on the action.


Race organizer Basse Clement

More action shots by Ted are on flickr.

The rest of the results are up.

August: A Harvest of Podiums

2010-09-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

August was a good month for Mighty. Jenny represented us well at her first Track Nationals in Bromont, QC. She came home with a silver medal in the women's team pursuit and some excellent experience racing the top women in Canada. Before leaving for Quebec she went out to the Steveston Crit and won 6 primes and the race! To conclude a busy month, she wrapped up 3rd overall in the World Tuesday Night Championships.

Jenny on the podium at Nationals.

Team BC Women's Pursuit

Claire headed for a change of scenery and some racing in Alberta where she won the Alberta RR and TT champs! However, being an out-of-province rider she only brings home bragging rights and not the jerseys. The TT was part of the Jason Lapierre Speed Theory Stage Race where she finished 2nd in the Crit, 4th in the RR and won the overall GC. Back in BC, she finished second in the BC elite women's TT Champs and secured 4th overall in the WTNC series despite missing the last three races.

Sprinting for 2nd in the Speed Theory SR Crit.

BC TT Champs

Life Begins at 50

2010-08-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

Lowball Loder turned 50 so decided to go epic. First up was Friday carb loading with Liisa and two of their good friends, Rye and Coke. This was followed by riding up to Whistler on the Saturday to prepare for the Masters Criterium there on Sunday. I know, it doesn't make sense and Joe Friel would be shaking his head, but he went on to finish 3rd in the crit. Obviously there is something to this technique...

Gun Lake

2010-08-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Shane and I joined Basse and family at what seems to be becoming a yearly mountain biking trip (last year Shane went) at Gun Lake, near Gold Bridge. Apparently some of the best mountain biking around, although neither of us could be called mountain bikers.

The view from our doorstep at the cabin. Boats, horseshoe pits, and hot tub outside. Pool table, shuffle board, wireless and satellite TV inside.

Some enterprising individual put a lawn chair in the middle of nowhere at a perfect lookout side over Carpenter lake.

View from the chair.

Bridge crossing a stream in a valley. I just crossed the bridge and had to climb out of there.

The end of my Wednesday ride, descending from Marshall Lake. Shane and his van parked near carpenter lake waiting to pick me up.

Cleo hiding in the tent from play fighting black bears at the Seton Lake BC Hydro campsite.

I had my garmin with me for my two rides: Monday and Wednesday.

Not everything was great. The rocky roads on the way up to Lillooet, and between Lillooet and Gold Bridge caused us two flat tires fixed at two different tire garages in Lillooet.

Rest of the pics.

There are tons of gravel roads, fire roads and mountain bike trails to explore right out of the cabin at Gun Lake, all with fantastic views. The cabin can sleep many, so there's already been talk about renting this cabin again in the Fall or next Summer at the latest. Should be able to fill a cabin easily with Mightys and crew.

QOM

2010-08-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

May Jung won the Masters Women division of the Seymour Hill Climb this past Sunday. Her time was 52:37 and this was the fourth year in a row she has won. Mighty's very own Queen of the Mountain.

(The pic above is from a Masters Hill Climb in Penticton... if anyone has a link to pics from Sunday, please post it in the comments.)

1200km in 3 Days!

2010-08-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so most of you have heard about this but we need to do a post so this crazy ass ride goes down into Mighty history as one of the most epic of the epics. The ride is part of the BC Randonneurs schedule and is called the Van Isle 1200.

On July 21, Ryan set out from Victoria and rode most of the paved highways on Vancouver Island. The route went north to Cambell River, west from there to Gold River, back to Campbell River and then north to Port Hardy. They then turnaround and head back all the way to Victoria. Take a look at the map below to get an idea of the sheer scope of this ride. And those jagged little pics give you an idea of the profile - not flat!

Our hero completed this mission in 71:37. Yup, that's just under 3 days. They sorta sleep if you call a couple of hours in a motel room a break. And as Stacey so succinctly pointed out, he completed 1/3 the distance of the Tour de France in 1/7th the time.

Buy this kid a beer and ask him to tell you more about it. He can finally sit on his bruised ass now and I'm sure he could use the calories. Full details of this insanity are at: VanIsle1200.

And more pics at: VanIslePics

View Larger Map

Tour de Delta

2010-07-12T11:38:00.001-07:00

July means Superweek and the Mighty girls came up big. Claire won the finale of the weekend, the Delta Road Race. After initiating a late race break, she out sprinted the four other girls who bridged up to her. This was a big hometown win as she grew up in Ladner and had the family out cheering her on. And the Mighty family was out to yell like the crazy kids they are as they were running support for the races over the weekend.

The sprint in the RR.

The night before they competed in the fast downtown criterium where Jenny was 8th and Claire was 9th. In the road race Jenny had a great showing for her first Superweek and finished 11th with a good pack sprint after working hard early in the race. After a challenging weekend of racing, against some of Canada's fastest women, they finished up with Claire in 5th on GC and Jenny 16th.

The other Mighty Rider out was Andrew in the Cat 3/4 criterium on Saturday. Unfortunately he had an intimate encounter with the road surface thanks to an eager rider who 'tried to put his bike in a hole that wasn't there' according to Lats. This led to a visit to the Mighty kids in the pit and he resumed racing but was a little too banged up to sprint for the win.

The late race break.

How to spray da bubbly...

Let the drinking begin.

The burdens of winning - dealing with Media.

Andrew after a good post-crit 'scrubbing'.

The Mighty kids looking all pro and stuff.

Yaletown GP

2010-07-06T08:19:00.001-07:00

The Mighty kids celebrated their Canada Day by giving it a go in front of big downtown crowds at one of the fastest, most technical races around, the Yaletown Grand Prix.

Stacey and Claire warming up and pinning numbers prior to going on to finish 10th and 14th.

Lats and Meat discussing the fine art of avoiding crashes. Both started their beer drinking early as they were held up in the crash filled Cat 3/4 race.

Liisa, inspired by the presence of the World Cup winning Viking, went on to finish 4th (Cat 4) in her first ever 'big money crit' as Lowball calls it.

Westside Classic

2010-06-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Another weekend of racing, another haul of hardware for the kids. Claire was 2nd and Jenny was 4th in the Women's Cat 1/2/3 race in a sprint out of a small lead group. Stacey came home in the chase group for 17th.

In the Masters Men's Race Horacio finished 2nd in another bunch sprint with Russ in 8th and Maurizio finishing 29th.

Jenny pushing hard after the hill onto Discovery.

Gratuitous cool-down bum shot.

Stacey making a Westwood girl hurt.

Podium shot of Claire.

Post-race fun. Don't tell Steph...

Provincial RR/Bastion Square Criterium

2010-05-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

The Mighty kids went and played in Victoria this weekend in challenging weather on hard courses. On Saturday in the Road Race Andrew had a nice bunch sprint for 8th place in the Cat 4's with Ryan finishing 22nd. In the Women's race, Jenny was 10th in the bunch sprint after a good leadout from Claire in 17th.

Hill Climb action from Friday night. Ryder Hesjedal almost caught them and he started after they finished...

Andrew sprinting in the RR.

Jenny's sprint in the RR.

Claire after a tough RR.

Cat 4 crit action.

In the crits, Claire won a prime and finished 8th with Jenny in 14th. Andrew was 14th in the Cat 4's.

All Day Dirt

2010-05-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

Mighty kids Tim and Morgman ventured forth to Salmon Arm for the Salty Dog 6 Hour MTB Enduro Race this past weekend.

Morgan competed with a teammate in the Men's Team 49-70 race and managed an excellent second place. Together they completed 9 laps in six and a half hours for a total of 90+ kms of trails.

Wyatt did it solo style in the Men's Sport under 40 category. He finished 6 laps in five and half hours (60+ kms) which put him in the middle of his group. (Tim actually finished 7 laps but was a minute over the time cutoff...)

Crazy fun! Well, crazy anyhow...

Beard.

Tim sportin' a big ass shit-eatin grin!

Maybe these kids will come race on the road one day. It's working for one of my former mountain biker teammates...

Fun with Dirt

2010-05-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Mighty kids went and played in the dirt this past weekend at the Suncoaster XC race. Highlights include Nick being told he is old and made to race Masters which seemed to phase him as he suddenly thought he was in a cross race and decided to run with his bike to finish the race. Also Basse was out giving it full gas in front of his little ones and Tim pinned a number on for his first race of the season. AND, the most amazing cow/dog I have ever seen.

Race the Ridge

2010-05-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Ladies represented big time out in Maple Ridge. Jenny won the Road Race, Claire was second in the Criterium and they finished 10th and 7th overall respectively.

Jenny winning the RR

Moustache Ride?

2010-04-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

A legend in his own mind, the one and only Jeff 'the Pain' Ain. Courtesy of Paul Craig and the fine folks at Local Ride who gave us the gravel fun of Barry's Roubaix.

Buds

2010-04-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

... by Haley Mousseau. Barber and the Morgman. Some of the prettiest little BMX kids you'll ever see. I don't think I'm cool enough to even be looking at such coolness.

2010-04-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Miss you guys!

Movin' on Up!

2010-03-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Spring Series fun! Ryan continues with his steep learning curve by placing 4th today in the C race after a hard back to back weekend of hilly road races. He keeps complaining they are under 200k - it's the Randonneur in him.

And Claire spent the second half of her 105km B race in the winning break, finishing 7th (on her second day of racing as well). Apparently she complained of having too many gears and would have won it if she was riding the fixed...

It would be great to see a few more bodies out for the last weekend of Spring Series racing. The Devo Classic Stage Race is next weekend with a crit/tt on the saturday and the dreaded Snake Hill Road Race on the sunday. Fun, fun, fun...

	The Jeffersons - Theme Song (Movin' on Up)

	Found at Theme Song (Movin' on Up) on KOhit.net