Thursday, May 29, 2014

He would hurt me...

Had a fun day Rabbiting did the TDSB Fun Run / Walk last weekend... Did this a few years ago and had a great time and this year was even better!!!  Great support from the Argos mascot (the high school kids wanted to see a rumble...) but we were too friendly...


Good times with the kids (mine and school kids) and always smiles on a beautiful day...


The difference between elementary kids and high school kids:
Elementary - "Mr Bunny... Can I take a picture with you?"
High School - "Hey Bunny Man... Let's take a Selfie so I can out it on Instagram..."
I think they may have crashed Twitter...

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Tremblant Canada Cup Mud Puddle

So the days leading up to Tremblant's Canada Cup were a bit moist, soggy, and thoroughly saturated with water.... we received 50mm of rain in the 24hrs leading up to Race Day... and Tremblant with it's snow is always a bit wet in the spring thaw every year.... but you can't get upset about what you can't control... just meant that we spent more time cleaning equipment!!  I rolled out with Mitch and Karlee in a rather stuffed vehicle and settled into our condo on the Thursday before the race....


The wet weather meant that the Bontrager 29-1's that are meant for dry and fast conditions would be coming off everyone's bikes, and were replaced with the beefy and more aggressive 29-2's...


The start was at the bottom of the village this year, which meant there would be a long push to get to the first singletrack... and as expected Rob and I were off the front pretty quickly and riding alone for the race.  We moved through lapped riders pretty well, and each of us had our Bad Moments in the mud and rocks but ultimately stayed together.  A new twist coming up the Pedestrian Village added a bit of Urban Skillz to the climb... but nothing we couldn't handle...


Laps rolled past and mud accumulated.... as well as a few scrapes and bruises.... and the Turning Point as they call it on TSN was me slipping out on a root and landing awkewardly on my left leg... jamming my knee under my bars and leaving it numb and unable to hold weight for a bit.... so I walked it off while having a conversation with a Commissaire (Him in Frenglish - Is there anything i can do?  Me through gritted teeth - No.  Him - I could get a medical person? Me - Just give me a second... Him - Do you want me to contact someone?  Me - Just hold my bike and be quit for a minute...) and then i parked myself back on my bike to see how things were.  Not bad but not great.. made it through the last lap with only 1 Near Death Descent that left me wondering how i managed to surf the muddy downhill rock berms with 1 foot clipped in while laying on my saddle... Phew... Made it to the line in 2nd and alive...


The evening consisted on a Team Pot Luck to use left over food and a serious cleaning mission... thanks to Mechanic Zack for taking care of us and our bikes.... 


Although Zack was the one who insisted on "just one beer" at the Petit Caribou... which turned into Team Shooters which turned into Team Hangover as shown above...

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Pretty White Things...

.... are showing up in the forest!!!

Trek Superfly's and Trilliums...
Shiny new Bontrager RXL shoes...
I remember posting about the "endless snow" and how "summer will never come..." But thankfully I was wrong!!
It's a beautiful time of year to be outside... So hop on your bike and go explore!!

Friday, May 16, 2014

A bit of everything...

In the week lead up to Tremblant I had a little bit of everything.... With plenty of laughs scattered throughout...


Got to go for a mtb ride with 5 different branches of the Trek Family... Emily on Trek Factory, Adam as a Trek national racer, Steve on Trek Smart Safety and Eric as Trek Store racer... Plus me on Trek Canada!!!


Mitch and Karlee came down to crash aty place before packing the car with days (me) weeks (Karlee) or months (Mitch) worth of riding stuff...


Made it to Tremblant which still has lots of snow and is expecting 40mm of rain the night before the race...


But my kids are going to be pumped about the new Minion marshmallow creations at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop...(future sponsor???)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

First real Throw Down...

Last weekend was the first OCup of the year (sorry for the delayed post...) and it turned out to be a great day.  After many days of snow / rain / cold leading up to the race, the day turned out to be cold and windy, but the course was in perfect condition.... no mud, hard berms and tons of traction.  After a short delay for the start of our race, we were off and racing.. in a slightly less-than-formal procedure.


As expected, it didn't take long before Rob and I were out front and attacking each other... just where we left off last year!!  We passed a lot of people, and were overtaken by an Elite Train (wish i had a picture of me leading Rob, Morka, Zanstra, Leandre and McSneeky) since they had a longer head start on us...


Rob and I changed the lead a few times, and I lead heading into and out of the final singletrack.... after punching it hard up the final climb ... i forgot about the final piece of trail that was not singletrack... a short piece that Rob punched it on and just got around me... after that point, there really is no other spot to get around, so i ended up finishing a close 2nd.... 


Proud of the new Trek Canada Team today.... Soren finished up 2nd, Karlee had a pain-free race finishing 4th, PG rode to a strong 8th and Mitch was still recovering from a P2A crash and came in 10th...
Next Stop - Tremblant's Canada Cup!!!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Say Hello to my Little Friend...

The newest addition to the Family is my Trek Superfly SL race bike!!!!  It's super light, super high end... and super cool in the new Trek Canada Project 1 colour scheme!!


Trek continues to raise the bar with it's carbon, design and platforms for XC Bikes...


We have gone with SRAM's new 1x11sp drivetrains.... clean, crisp, simple and way light!!


Bontrager has also revolutionized their wheel line... with the new XXX rims being strong and wide for a great tire patch, and rims that are smooth and light with tons of points of engagement... and Shiny!!!


Rock Shox SID World Cup is the benchmark that other companies strive to attain... and they are SOOO nice to ride...


once again this year we have ESI Grips to keep us connected and in control of our high speed rigs...


And the best part is that's it's Mine... The sticker says so!!!