One more round

Ouch, the stage 10 climb hurt. Ouch again as the 30 km time trial today hurt even more. I experienced a bad case of deja vu as the time trial we did took place on the same 30 km piece of highway in which I got monkey sick in 2007 while bike touring. That day was probably my biggest gongshow day ever on a bike as my engine fell apart after weeks of copoius amounts of biking and I was swerving all over the road and puking in the ditches. It took me over 3 hrs to ride the small piece of highway. When I finally made it to the town of San Isidro I went to Mcdonalds, bought a smartie Mcflurry then passed out on a table for a couple hours and soon after hopped a bus to San Jose where I spent the next week curled up in a hammock. Today was different. The ride took just over 40 minutes although it was full of flashbacks and the guys with time trial bars and aero helmets definatly made us mtb look a little slow. At the finish line I cruised by Mcdonalds to a proper food joint and started refueling for the ride back to San Jose tommorow.

Stage 12 is the final day of the Vuelta. The Queen stage they call it as they saved the best for last as we will acend from 700m up to 3300 in just over 40 km. Over the climb we will have a 100km, 2300m vertical decent into San Jose where the beers and the flor de cana rum will wait for stage 13.

9 down, 3 to go.

The Vuelta is getting weird as all us riders are starting to act hungover 24/7. The dutch are starting to understand the guatemalans, the english canadians are starting to understand the french part of the team and the Russians are still hanging around the hotel surfing around on facebook all day. Not too sure why the Russians arn´t down on the beaches with the bikinis but I havn´t understood many of there decisions since they arrived.

After two crazy climbing days and an uphill time trial we were given a day of rest on the 24th to send out belated wish lists to Santa. I headed to the Canadian embassy to send mine as 3 of our packs were randomly selected for Santas anonymous and somebody took off with our pass ports. Guess I may be stuck down her a little longer after the race until Santa finds me with a new pass port. I am really sad about this as I may have to head down to the beaches to kill some time. After my embassy visit, Cody Canning and I headed down to the nearby town of Sant Ana for Christmas haircuts. They took close to 3 hrs and once they were done it was dark. Not quite what we had in mind for a rest day but we hopped on our bikes and pedalled 1 hr back to San Jose in the dark. The locals said we were gonna get mugged with our nice bikes as the city was dangerous at night. We were lucky and didn´t get mugged although I was questioning how ¨dangerous¨ it really was as kids were playing on the streets and and Chirstmas music filled the air.

Today was stage 9, the Presidents Circuit in the beach town of Jaco. Doing 10 laps of a 10 km course with bikini girls lining the streets was enough to get me off the back of the pack and into a 6 man break for the last 3 laps. I figured if there was ever a stage to win this would be the one but the only problem was that my legs dont´sprint so well as 8 hr bike touring days build more of a diesel engine then the croch rockets the Ticos are riding.

After the race we stopped at a river to see alligators. We couldn´t see them so well off the bridge so we pulled a Jon Nutbrown and went down to the river bank to get a closer look. Our photographer was getting some sweet shots of them but when the Guatemalan with us got a 12 ft stick and began poking one of the gators we decided it was time to go before someone got munched on. The scariest part of the day was the 2hr drive back to San Jose. We saw 6 vehicles with smoking engines on one of the steep climbs and witnessed numerous close accidents. I don´t understand why there aren´t more accidents in this country with the crazy highways and the even crazier drivers. I think Costa Rican´s would make the best rally car drivers ever.

Tommorow we climb a 50 km 2600 m climb. Not sure where were going but it sounds like a nice ride. It will probably hurt though with the Colombians setting the pace.


Merry Christmas!

Road Racing

Road Racing in the Vuelta de Costa Rica is like doing interval sessions for 4 hrs a day, day after day after day. I havn't done intervals in 2 yrs and these intervals are the variety that last anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 hr, the pack decides. The first few days blew my lungs up and left my legs in a world of hurt but since then the body seems to be adapting alright as I have slowly moved up from finishing in the mid 30's to 25th today. With the so called "flat stages" behind us we will start up on the mtns tommorow.

So far our team of 7 from Canada has had its ups and downs as Jean Michael Lachance was in the sprinters jersey for 3 days before crashing out in todays stage to join Arnaud who also crashed out of the Vuelta. There are 5 of us left now and the pace is picking up although we seem to be getting more adapted to the nasty pace being set by the Ticos.

The 5 teams from Costa Rica are flying as this is there show. Guatemala is all over the place. On day 3 three of them hit the same pothole with two of them flatting and the other going down. They also have a crazy 110 lb climber who is riding in the top 10. The Russians won stage 2 and 3 but then boycotted the race after one of there riders was dsq for cutting 20 km of the course and then winning a stage. Not to sure what happened there. The Dutch are suffering as I don't think they have hills in Holland like they do here. The Colombians are starting to rev it up as the real mtn stages start tommorow. This week they have been busy shaving bus drivers heads and whistling at girls.

Highlights of the week have been watching a dog run into the middle of the pack and somehow dodging all the bikes and not causing a massive pile up. Yesterday we deceneded a road at 75 kmh with 1 ft deep potholes all over the place. It was like dodging land mines. At least 3 riders hit the pavement hard and about 12 others flatted. Today the huge crosswind sent a few riders mtb riding into the ditch. I never new road racing could be so exciting but I am starting to find a liking for it. Tommorow will be a real test as the road tilts skywards.

Vuelta de Costa Rica

12 day road race starting on wednesday... (http://www.vueltacostarica.com/vuelta2009/)
http://www.tourdequebec.com/article.php?sid=150

Living with 4 teamates from Quebec, training in 28 degree temps.... good times.

Getting ready to roll...

Tour de Panama

Post La Ruta is a weird time as the body and mind experience an aftershock something like what a drunk experiences when they try and sober up. This year the days of post La Ruta started in the small village of Puerto Viejo on Costa Ricans east coast. This town has a plume of marijuana smoke coming from it with everyone and there dogs trying to impersonate Bob Marley. The overall attitude is “nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.” Pretty much the reverse motto of La Ruta.

On our second night we headed off to the beach to get away from the reggae noise and check out the crashing waves. After 4 minutes of tranquility we were ambushed by 8 policia with machine guns as they figured 4 gringos on the beach must be smoking the ganga. I couldn’t stop smirking at the robo cops as they tried to act tough. I thought it was a goodtime given I was probably the only person in the whole town who had never smoked marijuana. I wasn't too sure about the history of my friends but we all escaped without incident. I have nothing against marijuana or people that smoke it. I figure it has a much better overall effect on society then alcohol but nonetheless I rather get high off my bike. After an unsuccessful search, the robo cops wandered away rattled. I’m pretty sure they would need the whole Costa Rican police force to deal with the weed problem there.

Having enough of that gong show we headed off too Bocas Island in Panama for Spanish school and living on the ocean for $10 a day. We learned some very important Spanish phrases which will come in handy.

“A donde Chica’s picante?” and “Bueno Culo”

This Panama island was a proper place to relax although the weed was still everywhere. As we walked down the streets the locals would walk up to us saying their three words of English “weed, weed, weed”. After the 8th time of this I confronted one of the weed men and tried to sell him pills of vitamin C which I had in my pocket and hassled him till he walked away. This tactic probably wouldn’t last long before we got into trouble but we were scheduled to ride off the next day so we made full use of it.

The 110 km ride inland Panama is epic as it tours along Panama’s poverty stricken Caribbean coast and then climbs over the continental divide through lush jungle. The last two yrs I did this ride it went somewhat smoothly with no confrontations. This yr I was being told it was dangerous and not to do it alone. I figured info coming from drunken American ex-pats wasn’t legit so I headed off on my ride. Three km into the ride a man in the ditch began yelling at me while whirling his machete overhead. Ten minutes later 8 seventeen yr old punks walking down the highway with there hats on backwards and skull t-shirts tried to stare me down. A little later I stopped at a store for some water and 6 punks surrounded my bike and tried to look tough. I bought a bag of M&M’s to share with the punks and pretty soon we were friends. Seven hrs later I rolled into the Lost and Found hostel unscathed and still a firm believer that people are good wherever you go in this world.

After two nights of Snoreathon in the 13 bed dorm room I talked my friends Jeff and Karen from New Zealand into moving onto the quite mountain town of Boquete for some proper rest. 2 days of riding later we came on the peaceful little town. What we didn’t know was that it was Panama’s independence weekend and they had set up speakers throughout the town to insure everybody was involved in partying till 4 am for 3 straight nights. Night 1 we gave in and headed down to the party where we found a no cover charge, no liquor charge party zone. This = trouble. We couldn’t understand who would give away liquor in these quantities for free but nobody complained.

Trying to fight off a cold and a still a little fatigued I headed for Costa Rica the next day as I signed up for a road race called the Vuelta de Costa Rica which needed proper training. As the daylight faded I opted to hop on a bus so I could meet my Tico friend Ronald and his family at there cottage on the Pacific Coast for the weekend.

Buses are a great idea but I have a long history with them and we don’t get along. This bus was no different as there were over 70 people on the 50 seat bus. After standing in an aisle smelling BO for 45 minutes people began complaining “Much Frio, (were cold)” and everybody started to close the windows. “What??? You guys are drunk, this is a Much Sauna.” After another 10 minutes of dripping sweat and trying not to puke from the twisty pothole ridden road I got off the bus at the next stop which was very soon given we were on the milk run. It was dark out and my 7 hr bus ride only lasted 1.5 hrs so I had no clue where I was but that bus was a rolling gong show that I had no interest in being involved in. I spent the night in a ½ star Chinese hotel, woke up at 6 am and rode 180 km, close to my friend’s house and received a nice surprise as Ronald and his girlfriend Angela gave me a ride the last 20 km of the way. The next two days were spent getting a 100% pure Costa Rican sunburn, practicing my hammock swing and tossing peanuts to crocodiles.

Since then things have been calm as I have rented an apartment close to San Jose for the month and have settled into a proper routine of training in the mornings and studying to be a nutrition consultant in the afternoons. Looking at ridiculous weather reports from Canada I’m content as I transform from a mountain biker into a road racer for the 12 day Vuelta de Costa Rica starting on the 16th. I will be racing with the Tour de Quebec team from Quebec. Apparently the race has around a 50% attrition rate and theres National teams from Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala coming. Not too sure what I've signed up for but my friend Ronald has been looking after me and has been showing me how the Ticos train down here (25% climbs, 25 km climbs up volcanos and high end bike skills in an attempt to survive on the roadways.)

A Story about La Ruta

When it was snowing and minus 10 in Canada La Ruta seemed like a good idea. While pushing my bike through gongshow mud for 1.5 hrs in plus 33 temps with humidity on day 1 with Costa Ricans sprinting pass me I began wondering why I thought this was such a good idea. Racing day 1 of La Ruta with improper training is about as smart as sticking a metal fork in a socket. I like sticking metal things in sockets though especially in Costa Rica. Midway through the day was a tour de france type climb for 22 km over a mtn. Ben Sonntag from Cannondale had some troubles in the mud as well and caught up to me half way up the climb. He probably had the 3rd best legs in the race this yr. I tried to keep up to him for 15 minutes, blew up for the 3rd time on the day, got passed by 4 more riders and was soon pretty much over the race and began looking for ice cream. Half way down the back side decent Rune Hoydahl ripped passed me asking "What are you doing"? "Looking for a ice cream I shamefully replied". He shook his head and continued on his rampant decent. Having a World Cup downhill winner rip past you doesn´t happen often so I put my ice cream aspirations on hold and took to eating his dust. For the last 3 hrs of the day we road togethar. We made good riding partners as we were both suffering hardcore from being 165 lbs riders from snowbound countries trying to keep up to a bunch of freakish mountain goats. At one point we met a car head on and I was about 6 inches from being the rocketeer. Thankfully I am use to dodging two hundred pound defenceman and made a finesse move to the lefthand ditch. Hoydahl was impressed.

Day 2 is probably steeper then M-ount Everest. I road hard staying in 13th place, just behind the lead group of 12. Decending down the back side of Everest I caught up to 3 riders including Bishop who had took a wrong turn. Riding with Bishop we caught up to a Costa Rican taking a feed from his car and holding on for an extra ride. A little after he took some pills from the car. With the race organizers stating that anyone receiveing help outside the feedzones would be disqualified Bishop and I reminded the Tico of this and he had a spaz attack and began riding into Bishop. Bishop told the guy if he ran into him again that they were going to get off there bikes. The next 10 minutes included being run off the road into a front yard, having gum spat at us, being called ass holes by 5 guys supporting the rider and finally Bishop sprinting off to get away from the unright Tico. A little after I was gaining on my friend before he took a short cut. At the finish line there was a confrontation as I wanted to jersey the guy but his support crew stepped in and his sister sweet talked me out of it.

Day 3 Bishop ripped over the Volcano with Tinker and would get lost going down the decent and would eventualy finush 10 minutes behind a Tico that knew the way. I spent the day riding in 11th, 15 minutes behind the lead group and 15 minutes ahead of 12th place. On the decent I made it to 8th before disintegrating my back brake and eventually finishing 10th. Decending Costa Rican roads with brakes is sketchier than Guatemalan street food and without brakes its pretty much suicide as dogs, cars, kids, chickens and donkeys are all over the place. At the finish line I talked to Bishop to see how his day was. He responded "Great, I still have control in this uncontrollable environment. I knew coming in that racing down here was full of suprises and I´m just running the course.¨ Pretty solid words to come from a guy who had the legs to win the race but had mechanicals, route finding problems, and ticos trying to fight him.

Day 4 is a day for the diesel engines. With my legs coming around I managed to get over the first two climbs of the day with the leaders and was stoked to get down to the flatlands to give some payback to the climbers for making me suffer for 3 days. Unfortunately I bent my front derralure on a fall and then proceeded to crank my chain around my crank and bending a link on the chain. The next 30 minutes included 2 broken chains, a ripped off front derrailur and a bent rear derrailure. I was soon back in the 40´s riding a 3 speed. I caught riders for a while but then a Tico sped by me motor pacing behind his support vehicle and I got rattled. This wasn´t proper racing so I changed tactics on the day and slowed down to help American Louis Kobin. Louis was in 2nd overall in the womans gc and needed to gain 5 minutes on the Costa Rican that was winning the race. Apparantly the Costa Rican had two male riders helping her and a support scooter throughout the race. After my experiences at La Ruta over 3 yrs I decided it was time for a whitie to get some help and let Kobin draft off me for 80 km to the finish. She was riding well on the day and may have taken over the lead anyways but this way she won by over 23 minutes.

In the end La Ruta is always a great adventure. I will probably be back for more but it will either be as a reporter as an end of season cool down or possibly with a support crew and proper training to try and even a few scores. For now it is off to Panama for spanish school so I can learn new trash talking words.

DeJa Vu

For the second straight fall I have unexpectedly ended up in Costa Rica. It is starting to be a problem. Ready for a rest after 4 month and 5 month Central America adventures the past two winters, somehow I end up back here with a huge grin on my face. With school falling through and the work scene weak I had little choice. Unlike the unorganized shows of the past, this yr is going smoothly with my friend Simon and a couple friends from New Zealand, Jeff and Karen joining me as we stay upper class in an air con condo. A rather large step up from the cockroach infested, bloody wall hostel cell I stayed in last yr.

Thinking the race season was over, October was spent riding horses, playing hockey and hiking the legendary 190 km North Boundary trail in Jasper. Thankfully bike fitness comes back fast and with a couple weeks of decent riding things seem to be coming around. Too simulate the 4 stages of La Ruta we booked a flight down with 4 legs to it (Portland to Phoenix, Phoenix back up to Philadephia, Philadelphia to Charlotte and Charlotte to Costa Rica.) It was very important we did this 20 hr, four leg flight as it perfectly simulates the 20 hrs and 4 days of La Ruta. I'm not sure if Bishop, Tinker, Rune Hoydahl, Heras, or last yrs winner (Lico) did this so they may be in trouble.

Right now we are in full rest mode. Tomorrow we will try to restart the engines and then day one is on. This La Ruta has allot less racers at around 200 but the competition is the best ever. I'm not sure if this race is the end of my season or the start of the next one but either way I am stoked as this race is one of a kind. Day 1 is going to hurt hard. Two of the toughest days of racing in my life our La Ruta 2008 stage 1, followed closely by La Ruta 2007 stage 1, followed by Transmexicana 2009 stage 2. Day one is like a boxing match where both the boxers get knocked out only in this case over 200 racers get ko'd and then have to race for 3 more days afterwards.

Can't wait, gotta go!

Throughout the race I will be reporting at www.sleepmonsters.com

Fall in the Rockies

My fall was set to take place in Nanaimo at VIU going to school to be a faller. VIU will now be refered to as the school of Gongshows after they cancelled the course for the 4th straight time in the last 18 months. 1st time a student got saw dust in his eye. 2nd time they forgot to arrange a block for the students to practice on. 3rd time there was a fire hazard. 4th time there weren't enough students. Rumour has it they have replaced the fallers course with a new program called "Sh*t Show 101".

Being pretty hard done by I have had to resort to the following to pastime this fall......

Eating Recovery Food.

Walking the dog.

Fish studies.

Searching for Sasquatch.

A little Play.

Next on the list ..... Search for forestry job went 0-6...... It's -7 and snowing in Jasper........Plane tickets are $270 to Costa Rica..... Sleepmonsters could use a reporter at La Ruta...... I have a bike.... I like to bike..... I like warm weather, beaches, waves, and riding around foreign lands.... hmmm.... Some tough decision's lie ahead.....

Double Header Gongshow

With the ’09 mountain bike racing season coming to a close my buddy Simon and I had a little adventure lined up to end it in grand style. The plan was to race the 70 km Cheakamus Challenge in Squamish on Saturday then hop in my nascar racing truck and drive 11 hrs to Bragg Creek for the Bow 80 on Sunday. We figured if everything went perfect we could be in Calgary by 1 am for a decent sleep before a nice sunny ride on a beautiful Bow 80 course followed by ice cream cakes and swimming with hot girls in a lake afterwards.

At 10 am Saturday morning we set off with 260 other riders to race up to Whistler on some super fast rolling trails. Things went pretty straight forward with Marty Lazarski (Rocky Mountain) and I battling it out for the win. With around 8 km to go a stick slammed in my derrailure, I stopped for 7 seconds to get it out, Lazarski gapped me and I could never close it with him eventually pulling away for a 2 minute win. Simon would come across the finish line soon after in 13th place and then the next race was on as we hopped in the transport machine and peeled off to Alberta at 3 pm. From this point on the small korean guy with the big stick began wailing on the gong.

Between pit stops, highway construction, a crazy rainstorm over rogers pass and a 1 hr time change our perfect schedule ran ontime like a ukraniane wedding as we rolled into Bragg creek at 4 am. We were hoping to party with the Bow cycle guys at there end of season bash but they were being good race organizers instead of hardcore partiers as they had already gone to bed. With the race starting at 7:30 we figured sleep was a good idea and pulled our sleeping bags out and slept in a meadow. At 4:45 it began to rain and soon after Simon took off for the truck and I moved below a large pine tree for shelter. At 5:30 the rain began dripping through the tree. I tried to think like a fish and enjoy the wetness of my soaked sleeping bag but I'm not a fish and was soon off to the pickup to find Simon. At this point we were both not super stoked. The next hr was spent contemplating our decision making skills and searching around my truck in 2 weeks of piled up gongshowness to find our riding gear and food. After being told I couldn't race by the lady at the sign up desk then being allowed to race as the other lady remembered me from last season I made it to the line just in time to head off with the other racers to try and defend my title from last yr.

Early on I realized the day was going to be hard work as the internal racing system was short circuiting and I felt more like a 13 yr old hockey player with a concusion playing in the 6 am sunday morning game of a five game tounament than a biker. Probably too my advantage the weather on the day was short circuiting worse than I was and the light drizzle we left in was a full on downpour and pretty soon frosty began spitting large snowflakes down at us. I was super stoked as I hadn't been in the snow in over 16 months but that feeling was overiddened by an odd numbness which would take over for the rest of the day. If it was a treeplanting day we would've planted for a half hr to make camp costs and then started lighting things on fire. This was a bike race though and Brian Cooke and Brian Bain were riding hard for the win. Cooke would drop off but Bain was taking advantage of my concussed hockey player riding skills on the technical sections and I was clawing back on the climbs. With 15 km to go Bain and I were riding togethar and going down one hill he told me he was going to die. Soon after we began running up most the climbs to stay warm and coasting slower on the downhills to prevent wind chill. It was fricken cold still, probably in the top 2 of my coldest rides ever next to another eskimos day in Chile.

We had no choice but to ride happily on through the snow with Bain eventually dropping off on one of the climbs. Riding alone in the lead I did a sketchy endo in a hub deep mud puddle but felt zero pain when I landed thanks to my numbed body. Pretty cool I thought, I was now a feelingless human pin ball but somehow the legs still went around which was nice. With .5km to go from the finish I came to a sign reading "Tom's Snow re-route", pointing right off the main trail. Thinking like a concussed 13 yr old hockey player I went right as I figured some guy named Tom had made a re-route to shorten the course due to the snow. Apparantly it wasn't the right way as after a while I finally re-connected to the real trail to find myself in 2nd place with Brian Cooke 20 ft ahead. Feeling like Frosty the snowman on drugs I chased up to him and said "Hey", he looked back confused asking "what???what the hell are you doing here??". "I'm cold." I responded as I sprinted ahead to take a 6 second victory to defend my Gold Buckle from last yr.

At the finish line I was escorted bye Mrs.Bain to the medical trailer where Brian Bain and I would spend the next 1 hr curled up in sleeping bags, drinking hot coco and acting like drunk 13 yr old concussed hockey players. As the day wore on only 40 of the 180 riders would finish as the other 140 were either pulled or had enough logic to pull themselves from the snowy gongshow. My buddy Simon spent his race leap frogging from warm car to car to keep warm as he was determined to make it two for two on the weekend as well. By the time the last rider crossed the line the sun poaked through the clouds but there would be no ice cream cakes or swimming in lakes with hot girls this day.

The next day Simon and I were unproductive. We left our campsite at 1 pm to find the ranger had locked the exit gate on us. After trying to move some rocks we put the 4x4 on and made our own road out. Tuesday more of the same continued as we went for ride in revelstoke and ended up hiking our bikes in the dark below some huge rock bluffs for close to an hr. Today is Wednesday and nothing has happened yet as we are having coffees and green teas discussing a no body moves, nobody gets hurt tactic for the day.

USA Marathon Finals

The road trip to Cali hit a small bump in the road at the boarder crossing when we forgot to claim our apples. The boarderguard asked if we had any fruits or veggies but we figured he wouldnt check so said no but he checked. My bro had 1 bag in his backpack and I had two bags in different areas of the truck with the patrolman finding one of them and not looking to pleased with us for trying to smuggle them into the states. After a short lecture on apple bugs etc.. we were on our way south 1400 km to Soda Springs, CA the sight of the USA Marathon finals. Friday evening after two solid days of driving, camping in the woods and getting lost in Portland we arrived on race site with Tinker Juarez rolling up beside us with his bodyguard/mechanic. Tinker Juarez is probably the most identifiable mountain biker in America with his long dreadlocks, Mexican skin tone and 20 plus yrs of Olympic and world cup race experience. Being on site caused quite a stir in the other riders as they constantly wandered up to him asking for autographs and pictures. My bro and I were pretty tired from the days of driving so we hit up a local campsite for a short nights sleep before rising at 5 an on Saturday for a 6:30 race meeting and race start shortly after.

Race day was a bit of a gong show with us waking up a little late, hitting road construction on the interstate and then having a valve fly out of my front tubeless wheel about 10 minutes before the start. The valve posed a bit of a problem as my front wheel was now empty and the piece I needed was somewhere below my truck. Somehow I must of ate a four leaf clover somewhere along the way and managed to find the valve below my pickup and pretty soon the bike had two inflated wheels and I rolled into the start just in time for the gun to go off. Another lucky charm on the day was that the opening 6 miles of the 92 mile race was down hill, this gave me a chance to pop out of the sleepy daze I was in which ended also requiring a 2x caffeine gel's 10 minutes into the race and half a bottle of cold water down my back. Going along in the top 15 I was watching guys flat all over the place as the terrain was super rocky and dusty which posed huge problems for the poor guys with tubes. Once we hit the bottom of the hill I encountered another problem as the bowels were sending signals reminding my head that it had forgot to hit up the john before the start. This was a problem as the pace was picking up and Tinker and 4 other riders were quickly riding out of sight and there was no time to stop. I began thinking of the Hoover dam to keep things clogged up and set off to catch the leaders.

Pretty soon I was up with the leaders just in time to watch Tinker and a Chico rider attack up a hill. Soon after the Chico rider blew up and then it was just Tinker ahead going into a 4 mile decent. All the way down the decent I followed Tinker’s Dust and was able to close the gap a little before he pulled away on the next climb. I soon pulled some time back on a 10 mile single-track section before running into Tinker as he had beat a volunteer to one of the junctions and didn’t know which way to head. I was pretty stoked to be back with Tinker with close to 1/3 of the race down but soon after on a long steep climb the 135 lb Tinker began to use his special dust to fly away and out of sight around a switchback. BAAANNNGGG!!!!, just as Tinker went out of sight either his wheel blew up or someone was opening up shooting gallery. I was scared to go around the bend but having paid $160 in entry fee’s I wanted to get my moneys worth on the day so I kept going to find an old school hick with a rifle across his shoulder. Tinker was now a long ways up the road and riding way faster then I’ve ever seen someone climb. I’m not sure if this is how he always rides or if he was freaked out by the gun firing hillbilly but this was the last I would see of him as he would claim victory on the day in 7 hrs 24 minutes. Getting past the crazy hillbilly was my victory on the day as I would cruise along the last 50 miles solo in the spectacular rugged California countryside to claim second around 20 minutes behind Tinker and his special dust.

Finishing 2nd to Tinker was a wicked day for me and to celebrate I jumped off a dock into a 2ft deep lake. I hit the bottom hard, came out with a bloody toe and am now contemplating a better way to celebrate the next celebratable moment. After the race closed out we headed back to camp for a little relaxing around the campfire with apple ciders in hand. Today my Bro watched NFL sunday, I went for a wicked singletrack ride up in the mountains and tommorow its off to Oakland for Monday night football! (We'll be the guys hanging off the rafters with binoculars.)

Road T to Cali!

I tried finding work for the fall but the bush scene has dried up so I have had to resort to plan B, A Road Trip to California! Yah, life is tough in this economic downturn so it looks like the fall is going to be full of spinning pedals, not planting trees. Tommorow its off to the west coast to pick up my Bro and then southward we go. Theres only one thing guranteed for sure on the trip and that is getting stopped at the boarder and being pillaged by the boarder patrol for having hemp seeds on the dash and a sketchy looking black truck.

The unknowns include trying to scalp tickets to a monday night football game in Oakland and racing in the USA Marathon 100 miler finals in Nevada. The race is the main excuse for the trip and has me pretty stoked as its 100 miles through the mtns up and down gold miner trails and down old outfitter trails. They call it the most wild and remote of the 7, 100 mile races and it sounds like an adventure in the making for sure.

After the XC Provincials last weekend it was back to Jasper for the week to ride some local trails I have yet to hit up this summer. After the last 5 days of sweet riding I have confirmed that Jasper is the #1 place to mountain bike in Canada. Other places such as Fernie, or Squamish come close but being able to ride a different trail full of wicked flowing singltrack for 2 weeks in a row without crossing the same line is pretty tough to beat. Add in the road rides up to Cavell, Marmot Basin, Maligne lk or down the south highway through towering mtns and you have a smokin place to ride around. My oppinion may be slightly biased but I was pretty pumped to get out to explore around my own backyard for a while after travelling around for the summer. Later on in September once the races are done it will be time to scale some peaks and check off a few epic rides i've had in the books for a while.

Race Weekend in the Foothills

The Provincial XC race was pretty sweet on the weekend. Thanks to Crazy Larry, the Froehler family and all the other volunteers that showed up things went off pretty smoothly. Having a black bear with her cubs on course chasing racers the day before the race added to the weekend although it seemed a little dangerous so I called the fish and game warden to chase them away. He showed up 26 hrs later, sunday evening as we cleaned up the course. He walked the course with a rifle trying to find the bears. I'm pretty sure he was probably off duty and actually hunting as the last racers had gone home 3 hrs before and nobody is probably gonna ride the course again until next yrs race.

As for the race the local Freewheel Jasper team did pretty good as Loni Klettle won the Elite Womans Race and I won the Elite Mens race. Andrew Bovard was second in Master Sport, Derek Anderson was third in Seniore sport and Angus Jenkins won the U15 Novice mens race. All and all not bad day for the small town of Jasper. Being the race organizer I didn't think I was going to get to race but thanks to all the helping hands I was able to hop on my bike at the last minute. Cody Canning kept things close for a couple laps before I gapped him on the climbs as I was pretty motivated to get my first Provincial Jersey. Pretty stoked to be able to win a race so close to home and have the chance to wear the Provincial colours next yr!

After the race Crazy Larry kept everyone entertained giving away swag and tossing out comments from left field that only he could think of. Sunday night Larry and Brian Bain stayed at my house. We were all bagged but Larry iniated a midnight game of glow in the dark frissbee with a bunch of 15 yr old girls in the middle of the street and then a strobe light dance in my living room (without the 15 yr old girls). Spending the weekend with Crazy Larry was memorable to say the least. On Monday he set off from Jasper with a 50 lb backpack on his way to Banff with a random lady from Australia. They were hoping to make it there by Tuesday morning. Haven't heard from them yet but I'm sure they made it or are out there swinging off a bridge somewhere along the way.

One of Crazy Larrys many dreams is to be able to bike to races across the province to announce at them. If anyone has any ideas to how we can get him a decent bike to do this let me know as he is a great guy with a heart of gold and the ability to make a chess match between two 85 yr old blind men more exciting then any superbowl or world series game. Crazy Larry will be at next yr's event as we hope to fill the weekend with a xc race, night crit, marathon race, midnight game of glow in the dark ultimate frizzbie and dancing Costa Rican girls!

XC Provincials

This weekend is the Alberta XC Provincials in Hinton. Nathan Froehler (Hinton race organizer from 2002) came up a few days ago and we've been sprucing up the trails he built over a decade ago into what is becoming a kick ass xc course. People will suffer tommorow on the relentless course, especially in the 30 degree heat. If your sitting at home this weekend not sure what to do you can still show up tommorow morning and sign up on race day and transform a non eventful weekend into a biker riders ecstasy. Go to www.albertabicycle.ab.ca for more info.
Rumour has it Crazy Larry will be on site heckling riders as they ride through in pain.

The 9.5 km course is wild and rugged with a super sweet 7 min technical decent followed by a cruisy 18 minute climb back up to the start all of this taking place in the middle of the wilderness with moose and grizzlys around as we saw both yesterday. We will be putting out jars of honey along the course to insure more Grizzlies are out to watch the race tommorow. Tune into TSN or CTV Sportsnet TV tommorow night for full race coverage or if they don't make it out you'll be able to check out the post race report on www.pedalmag.com.

TR3

Chalk one up for the treeplanting legs. After having a rougher start to the season the legs caught on fire for the Solo version of the TransRockies and I came across the line after 3 days of epic riding as the first TR3 winner. Roddi Lega and Colin Kerr kept it close but I was pretty at home in my first ever stage race in Canada and was able to ride away on the last couple days. The Transrockies is a super pro stage race, the best organized one I've ever been at and definatly one I'll be headed back too. For now the body and mind are wrecked so its off for a 4 day horse trip with Dad into the backcountry.

TransRockies

The Tour de Bowness road races went like this:

1 km Hill Climb- Blew lungs apart trying to keep up to Jamie Sparling, finished 11th

1 hr Criterium- Sketchy 7 corner circuit with 45 elite riders, being use to riding with mountain goats in the mtns I was sketched riding with a large pack so hung off back until end and finished 22nd.

80 km circuit race- learned road racers are crazy bastards and dont know how to relax. super fast pace, attacked off the front with Sparling, blew up like Iraq and finished in chase pack.

After the little journey into the warped road racing world its back home to the mtns to take on the 3 day solo version of the Trans Rockies. Tommorow is day one which starts with a 1200 m vertical climb up Panorama ski hill.


Throughout the event I will be posting daily reports on www.sleepmonsters.com

24 Overload

Coming in 5th at last yr World 24 hr Solo's I had been waiting patiently to get back to cause some suffering this yr but things unfolded quickly and I was the one suffering like a pot of overcooked soggy pasta starting to fry along the edges. Coming into the event pretty exausted from the previous two weeks of racing in Colorado and bike touring on the island I knew things were on the edge of a wholesale explosion but being hopeful I figured things would work out. Arriving in Canmore on friday the system overload signs were popping up as I tried pre-riding the course but had ot cut it short as WW3 was occuring in my stomach along with a system overheat due to the heat and some internal combustion. No pre-race meal and a sleepless, feverish night later I got out of bed at 8 am on saturday, ate some seeds, napped for an hour and at 10 got up and made the way to the start line. Being on sight boosted the system into adrenaline mode and at 11:45 we were off with the Kiwi's and Aussies setting the early tone. Things rolled along all right for a couple laps before I peeled over on the side of the course and tride giving birth to whatever was hurling javelin poles into the side of my guts. After a couple dry heeves and a few self inflicted punches to the stomach I made it around the lap and back into the pit area and figured the day was done after just 4 hrs. A little rest and a zantac pill later things were going again and all of a sudden I felt like a bike racer and raced around for 8 hrs getting up to 6th spot before everything went into the blender of distruction and after a lap of being bent over the bike I crawled back into the pit area and slept off the rest of the race.
Not quite the 24 hrs I was hoping for but gongshows happen. What was cool on the night was 2 Canadians made the top 5 this yr. Leighton Poidevin from Canmore had a wicked race, finishing 4th overall and Dallas Morris came in a solid 5th proving he is probablly the steadiest biker out there and pretty much unfaisable.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out and supported me in the event:
-Freewheel Cycle and all the boys and girls cheering out there.
- Dave Mcdowell and his pit crew who came by and made sure things were online
-Doug Eastcott, for his support in the pit
and Mom and Dad for everything you did to help in what is in no way a Solo race as I believe the Solo's is more of a team effort than the team event itself due to the fact that after 10 hrs of racing us solo bikers begin functioning like overgrown 3yr olds on adrenaline rushes.

After a week of rest and some time out at my buddies cabin 60 km in the middle of the woods the body's system failure lights have switched off and the Road bike is getting dusted off for the Tour of Bowness in Calgary this weekend. Not really a road racer or a sprinter I'm not sure how a 4 minute hill climb or a 50 minute criterium are going to go after the last race lasted 15hr but theres only one way to figure that out.

24

Summer of 2009 has been a wild one and this weekend its gonna get a little wilder down in Canmore. Having done a 24 hr solo event last yr I am pretty stoked to get back there for a epic ride in the mtns with a bunch of crazy guys from around the world.

Thanks Summer for the last minute training and the great week of riding around Vancouver Island!

Congrats Jana and Kent on your wedding!



The 24 hr race can be followed live starting saturday at noon on:

http://24wsc.com/

and

http://twitter.com/WSC24

Crazy Days

Racing in Colorado has been quite the journey with results going from 9th, 40th, 4th, 24th and then 4th again. Like many of the racers down here we are at the mercy of our bodies as we can;t seem to figure out what makes them tick up here in the altitude. Apart from the racing we have been chasing down our tents as they've blown all over the baseball field, putting rocks on the sprinkler heads to prevent the confusion of how our tents keep getting drenched on sunny days and fixing flat tires as the rocks down here are hungry. Having various results has been pretty cool as you get a chance to ride with different people everyday. I must admit though when a single speed dude caught me on day 2 I was getting ready to take up a new sport but then riding behing Bishop and Brown the next day lifted my spirits. After tommorows final stage it will be time for some smooth riding as this event has tossed us all on quite the roller coaster ride.

Colorado

The voyage down to Kananaskis and back was pretty wicked. The icefields parkway is great for riding as there are slow moving motorhomes all over the place to draft behind and pretty wicked mtns all along the way not to mention the 5 hostals which allows a biker to travel pretty light. The race in k- country went alright but 170 lbs is too much for a mtn biker to climb up hills with when there's flying dutchmen (Tim Heemskerk) on the start line.

In another effort to jump start the season I hopped a plane to Colorado to take on the 6 day Breck Epic SR (http://www.breckepic.com/). Stage 1 was a 5 mile prologue which blew my lungs apart. Stage 2 was a smooth 40 mile loop up to 12 00o ft. Going out hard with the 6 leaders up the first 7 km climb I soon blew up like the fireworks down here on the 4th of july and began pedaling backwards. 20 minutes later I started pedaling forwards again but then my wheels started mimicking the 4th of july and 3 blown flats later I slowly crawled across the finish line in a millionth place. Riding down here is not easy as the whole course is above 9 800 ft and when there's aclimatized racers like Jeremiah Bishop and Travis Brown leading the way the pace is not slow. My lungs are blown, the legs are still warped from planting and the pain threshold is growing through each pedal stroke. I have never raced before in the USA but I must say some of the singletrack is alright although the green money is lame and being forced to carry a rain jacket in a race is a good sign your not up in Canada with the lumberjacks.

Throughout the Breckepic I will be doing reports for sleepmonsters at www.sleepmonsters.com.

Hungover

I had big plans after planting of a coastal tour down to the Test of Metal and BC Bike Race but I forgot about the post planting hangover which can last from 7-10 days. The problem is that the body is working on turbo mode for 6 weeks during the planting season and its all good until a guy takes enough time off to let the body shut down. This occured as the planting season ended and for 8 days I suffered as my body functioned like that of a 85 yr old 400 lb drug abused chain smoker from downtown vancouver. I would bike a couple days but when I had to walk up hills I had been able to ride since I was 11 yrs old I decided to let the planting hangover take its course and I huddled down and rested, and ate, and rested, and ate until one day I woke up and wanted to ride again. That day is today as I will attempt to get the engine going again with a 2 day blitz as I will try to ride 400 km down to a xc race in Kananaskis this weekend. Not sure if I will make it 6 km or 400 km but the sun is shining, the bike is clean and its feeling like a good time to roll on.

New Sponsor

Thank You Rudy Project for the Helmet and Glasses!

Bushed

6 weeks of Treeplanting = 50 000 trees planted, 4 stuck trucks, 1 wrecked quad, 12- 15hr days, millions of bugs, living with the dreadlocked society, 4000 calorie meals, and one pretty bushed biker. The planting season went from my crew in PG for 5 weeks then back to the Robson Valley for a few days of bike planting. Bike planting was the best job ever as I pedalled between burn piles on deactivated roads through willows with 500-700 trees in my backpack at a time. Trying to cross road deactivations with this much weight in a pack was the cause for one major endo which nearly ended my planting/biking days for a while but instead all I got was a face full of mud and a brused cheack bone. A couple bear encounters were another story as a Grizzly and her 2 cubs prevented one set of burn piles from getting trees in it and then there was the large black bear which stood on the road between me and home. Without mace or anything else I opted for tossing a huge log at the bear as a decoy as I sprinted 6 ft from the bear on my bike. The bear was pretty stunned and did nothing which was alright by me as I was stoked on not being dinner. Probably could of petted the beast if I wanted too. Now I rest here at home with bushed legs as I prepare to transform them back into pedal mashers for the rest of the season. The logging course I keep trying to get into was to start today again but is pushed back till further notice which was good news as the bikes are getting restless.

Treeplanting & Bikes

I use to think of work as something for people that had nothing better to do but after a new tranny for the pickup, 5 months wandering around central america, bike parts, food, gas etc I have come to realize that work can be alright once in a while. Tommorow its off to the crime capital of Canada, Prince George, to pick up the work truck and 5 planters for my crew as we head out into the woods to plant trees for a month. The bike is coming along for some early morning interval sessions as I will be testing out a new training theory involving planting 6-8hrs a day for the endurance and sprint work on the bike for the high end. Should be pretty much perfect.

Back from the woods

After a couple weeks out in the boonies around Mcbride I found my Canadian ways again and made it back to Jasper in time to meet up with Dik (Kona Rep). Between Dik at Kona and Wendy and Chris at Freewheel Cycle I have been set up with 3 rippin bikes for the season. Kona Kula Supreme (hardtail), Kona Hei Hei Supreme (Dualie), and a Kona King Zing (road). Thank you!!! These are bikes I only ever dreamed of.

This past week I was testing out the new machines in the cycling capital of Canada (Jasper) as the roads are free of vehicles and the trails are within a couple days of being dry. These bikes are solid! On top of it I may be scene in some new racing clothes this season, the 10 yr old jerseys I have been using are now in the vintage collection.

Next week I was to become a lumberjack as I was headed to Nanaimo for a 2 month lumberjack course but due to the low wood prices the course is postponed. Now its back to the drawing table to figure out another plan. Thinking of growing a field of marijuana and selling it as hay bails to music festivals across Canada. I figure instead of everyone smoking a little joint they should light one giant hay bail in the middle of the festival and get everyone done at the sametime. Entrapreneurship.

Return to the North

Isla Mujeres is a lost paradise. I was the flip of a coin from being stuck there forever. Beach front hostel, blue caribean ocean, white sand beaches, travelers from around the world and a 20 km paved highway looping the island for the bike. I pulled myself away from the place before it was too late and on Sunday morning I found myself driving through Canmore in a snowstorm. I figured I had heldout long enough down south to have avoided such a thing but mother nature was waiting for me. So were the cops. 2 hrs after getting off the plane I found myself with a $150 speeding ticket. When the cop asked how fast I was going or what the speed limit was I came up blank. After being in the freedom of central america where virtually nobody is liable for anything they do I was brought back to Canadian reality in a hurry. I am now off to visit my Dad in the mountains to chop firewood and drive tractors until I can figure out how to function in such a proper country again.

Hippie Van

Out on my $70 rental bike for a second ride I began to cirucmnavigate the 70 km of Cozumel island. About 10 km in a old hippie van (aka volkswagon) blew by, only to have its rear left wheel fall off about 100 ft past me. Watching the van skid along the highway on 3 wheels was pretty amusing but even better was watching the free wheel roll down the highway for 300 metres and into the other lane causing a old pickup to nearly swerve off the highway. As I rode past the hippie van now resting along the highway I pointed out to the driver that he was missing a wheel, he gave me the middle finger. The rest of the ride around the island was spent trying to draft off random tourists on there rented scooters. Done with Cozumel I headed back to Cancun for another night of spring break and then the next day headed to the Island of Mujeres to relax for the day. Last nights bonfire party on the beach was a much nicer pace then the out of control chaos back on the mainland. Tommorow may be the final day in paradise so I am soaking in whatever heat I can to take back with me to the frigid north.

Mexican Yucatan

Spring Break in Cancun is the gongshow of gongshows. After two days of hanging out in the chaos I determined that there are three ways to enjoy it there:
1. 8 beers,
2. 8 shots of tequila, or
3. 4 beers and 4 shots of tequila

On day three I headed south to the more civilized resort city of Playa del Carmen. Day 4, was spent with 2 other Canadians and an Aussie as we rented a car and headed south to the seaside Mayan ruins in Tulum. Tulum was a welcome break as its much cheaper and more relaxed place to visit then the northen resorts. Day 5 was back in Playa del Carmen for a beach day. Day 6 I woke up with the need to bike after 5 days off so I hopped a ferry to Cozumel and rented a bike for the afternoon to cruise the island. Riding a $70 wal mart bike is sketchy as the bike was ready to fall apart at any moment but it heald togethar for the day. Resting in the Mexican Yucatan has been a welcome break although on some occasions rest is difficult to come by a.k.a: Cancun. Tommorow I will head back to Cancun for another round before I start preparing for my return to the Northern Lands.

Less Bike, More Beach

Riding with Fernando turned into another epic 7 hr ride as we road on singletrack and jeep roads up to 4000 m then across a frigid plateau for 2 hrs before decending down dusty off camber singletrack back into the city. Half way down we stopped at a trout farm and we each took care of a 2lb trout. Once back in the city we played dodge the rush hour traffic for 1 hr as we returned home. On saturday I hopped in with Julio and Sos (friends from TransMexican) and we headed to the National XC race in Leon to join 800 other bike junkies. The track was technical, rough and flat, as it wound around a lake and up through dry, cactus filled mexican terrain. Having not done a National level event in almost 2 yrs I didn`t know what to expect but I knew if I stuck close to Lupillo that I would have a good day. This plan worked for the first 2 km as I road with the leaders before I tried launching a drop on a decent and wrecked my rear wheel. DNF. After the race I sold whatever was left of my bike and bought a plane ticket to Cancun to become a Spring Breaker. After 4.5 months of riding up and down Central America my former bike and I are pretty trashed and in need of beaches.

Mexico City

The acrcheology museum we went to was pretty wicked for the first two hours but after that our heads were full with enough info to last a lifetime so we raced through the last 5 rooms setting a new museum speed record. My head still hurts from all the history but it was worth it. On Sunday Simon took off back to Canada and I headed down with my Mexican counterparts to catch the last stage of the Vuelta de Mexico. Fellow Canadian Andrew Pinfold won in front of tens of thousands screaming Mexicans. Later on we would head out to a Cantina for Enchiladas with mole sauce (aka best food ever). Training down in Mexico is dangerous for two reasons, 1. Mexican Food and 2. Mexican Pollution. I have had a smoggers cough ever since I got to Mexico city and am starting to wonder how long it will take till I have the lungs of an Italian chain smoker. On the other hand is the food which is not biker food. It is the food of the second fattest nation in the world and for good reason. Chiliquilis, tacos, tortas, fried bananas.... Mexicans have a perfectly good excuse for being a large nation as the food is top notch although sketchy for reasons previously stated in the TransMexicana. After todays training ride and coughing up more Mexican pollution my mouth is starting to feel like an exhaust pipe but lucky for me a good Enchilada cures everything down here. I am stoked for tommorow as Fernando, one of Lupillos racing buddies is going take me on a ride on Mexican singletrack outside the city. My lungs cant wait for the fresh air.

Post Race

The Transmexicana is over but not forgotten. After an amazing race experience last yr, this yrs version of the race was a little different. Day 0 started with the racers each getting to let an Iguana loose into the forests around Huatulco. Simons Iguana was over anxious to get going and squirmed out of Simons hands leaving behind its tail. Apparantly Iguana tails are pretty fragile and when removed from the body they keep twitching for a couple minutes. This turned out to be a bad oman for Simon as his race didn´t end up going as planned between broken bikes, getting lost and bathroom runs. I managed to keep the tail on my Iguana but I couldnt keep the flu away as day 2 severely limited my chances of ending up on top of the podium.

Simon and I arrived to Mexico city on Sunday night and have been staying with the TransMexicana race photographer Edgardo ever since. After 4 days we have figured out that Mexico city is pretty big. Last night after a 6 hr ride up a 3800 m mtn with fellow racer Julio, Simon and I tried to find out way back to Edgardos house but ended up biking around like a couple headless chickens for 1.5 hrs. At one point we tried calling Edgardo with my new mexican cell phone but the battery died along with our hopes of finding our home. After another good pedalling session we finally recognized a local coffee shop and later found our digs pretty exhausted and feeling a little dumb. We now wrote down the address as it could probably help in the future. Today we went for another pretty epic ride through the city and up to a mtn bike park hanging at 3000 m above the city. Riding through the 2nd biggest city in the world is pretty crazy as we are constantly weaving through a maze of vehicles and trying to hit holes in the traffic. Simon hit one hole today but I was cut off by a taxi and soon caught in the middle of the Mexican freeway. Getting to the safety along the edge I kept going but I missed Simon who was waiting a little further ahead as I was probably passing a bus at the time. After ripping down the highway aways thinking Simon was ahead of me I opted for a u-turn as I was getting lost again and Simon had the apartment keys. Luckily I ran into Simon who was still waiting along the edge of the road and we continued on our way this time finding our home like a couple heat seeking missiles. Tommorow is tourist time as we will grab our cameras and head to a couple 0ld castles and some sort of archelogoy museum people keep telling us about.

Ground Zero

Simon and I are now in the small coastal village of Huatulco, ground zero for the 2nd version of the 6 day, 765 km TransMexicana mtb race. The gun is ready to go off in just over 12 hours and the Mexicans are looking scared.

Throughout the race I will be doing daily reports for Sleepmonsters which can be viewed at www.sleepmonsters.com

Time to roll.......

Guate Gongshow part 2

From ChiChicastagongshow Simon and I figured the excitement would wind down a little as we planned on putting the bikes away for the long bus trip back to Guatemala city and then onward to Mexico. Too leave ChiChi we found a mini bus, paid $5 each extra for our bikes and handed them to the driver who tied them ontop of the bus. We hopped in the bus and it took off and the driver drive our bikes straight into a cement overhang leading out of the bus station. A little concerned I jumped out the window and crawled up on the bus to access the damage. My $ 500 front wheel was mangled and bent beyond repair but luckily that was all the damage. The bus driver got out and tried explaining it wasnt his fault but rather the cement walls fault for being in the way. Not reallty caring too much about whos fault it was I tried getting some information so I could make an insurance claim but all the driver could tell me was that he worked for a guy named Juan. After a lenghty conversation it became apparant that Guatemala is a free system where liability doesn´t exist. Later on we caught another bus in which the driver tossed our $ 5000 bikes on top like a couple of rag dolls. Still a little rattled from the previous incident Simon and I climbed on top of the bus to rearrange the bikes so they wouldnt be smashing togethar for rough cobblestone ride out of Antigua. The bus driver lost it, pulled Simon of the bus then proceeded to shut the window which was used as a step so I couldnt get down. I continued to re arrange the bikes and tie them down while the bus driver started pulling his hair out and trying to get the tourist agency to take our tickets away. After I finished with the bikes I sat down on top of the bus and waited as I wasnt to crazy about trying to make the 14 ft jump down. After a few minutes Simon managed to get in the bus to re open the window so I could get back to solid ground. The proceeding trip to Guatemala city was rather fast as the bus driver let loose his rage on the gas pedal. The next day was spent driving to all 8 bikeshops around Guatemala city with our friend Oscar trying to find a new front wheel for my bike which proved rather difficult but in the end we found something we could work with. Too repair, Simons bike took 3 hrs and mine took a little over 9 as the mechanics were still finding La Ruta mud in my shox and bearings. $ 300 later I had new bushings for my shox, a new front wheel, tubless tires, clean bottom bracket and pretty much a brand spanking new looking bike. Later that afternoon Simon and I hopped on a bus for the 20 hr ride to Mexico. A day later we are still feeling hungover from the trip but we are where we want to be and our bikes are ready to roll.

ChiChicastaGongshow

For the past week my buddy Simon and I have been riding all over Guatemala training for next weeks race in Mexico. For the first 3 days were were joined by the Race Organizer of Guatemalas 3 day mtb SR El Reto del Quetzal. He toured us across the 300 km course on countless miles of singletrack and up thousands of meters of climbs. Having a Guatemalan guide was pretty sweet as we got an inside look into the country and taken to some places we never wouldve found ourselves. After our friend returned to his home in Guate city, Simon and I headed out with a change of clothes in are packs and headed up to the highlands for 3 days were we road across a 3000 m plateau from the town of Nebaj over to HueHuetenango. The dirt track we were on was freshly made and didnt mess around as it headed straight up for 4 hrs of riding. Up top the sceneray was amazing as the landscape was barren and full of small huts with people running around the hillsides. After touring around for the last 7 days, riding over 36 hrs, we are pretty worked over and now sitting in Chichicastenango on market day. After walking the markets for an hour we have optly renamed the town ChichicastaGongshow. Everywhere we look people are decending out of the mtns to the small town transforming the streets into a carnival setting as they try to sell everything from axe heads to chickens. We are accompanied by gringos all over the place as tour buses have acended into the town to join the chaos. Later today we will try to make our way over to Guatemala city to get our bikes repaired and pick up the rest of our luggage before we head out to Mexico for some restful days of surfing in Puerto Escondido before the TransMexicana race starts on the 22nd.

Wild Ride

After a 7 day bought with stomach bug 2 I headed out into the Honduran mtns for the best bike touring ever. 5 days on rough dirt roads through Indeginous villages in the highland country with more stares then Pamela Anderson gets when her shirt falls off. One drunk nearly ran me off the road but my lucky penny from Canada is still holding its charm. In between the rides I hoofed it 8 hrs up into the cloudforests of Mtn Celaque and almost ended up staying. The forests were surreal as I saw dwarfs, peter pan and tinkerbell. I may have been hallucinating from lack of water and food but Im sure they were there as the place had a mystical aura. Monkeys, crazy raccoons and all sorts of birds were all over the place. Returning to basecamp in the colonial town of Gracias in the evening I prepared for a 7 hr 145 km ride to Copan Ruins the next day. The ride started out at 6:30 am with my panniers falling into my rear wheel as I hit a hard spot on the cobblestone streets leading out of town. Slightly dissapointed but I new this was coming as I had the pannier rack duck taped for the past 2 weeks as the metal kept breaking in different places. Finally the last piece broke and nearly took my rear wheel with it. Luckily I was close to my hotel so I went back and spent the next 1.5 hrs rearanging my luggage and finding a new system of carrying my supplies which involved wearing my backpack and tying my two pannier bags on top of the rack which no longer had its pannier supporting sides. Heading out for the second time I soon flatted 5 minutes down the road, fixed it, continued on for an hr then hit some glass and flatted again. Using my last tube and using my last two patches to fix the tire I fixed the problem but a new problem was arising as I had only gone 20 km and it was nearly 11 am. Knowing there was a dirt road shortcut across the mtns which would save 45 km I nervously opted for this option knowing if I flatted again I was walking. The shortcut started out smoothly as I road through forests and coffee plantations but soon it started to downpour and the road went to mud. Passing over the first mtn range I decended into the village of San Augustin and was soon getting an uneasy feeling as everyone and there chickens came out to look at me. I asked a man in government clothes where a place to eat was in town and pretty soon I was eating with 20 or so spectators watching my everybite and looking at my bike trying to figure out what planet it was from. When I finished eating one man came up to me and started yelling and waving his finger in my face. For the first time in the trip I was getting pretty sketched out as this guy was getting pretty worked up. Thankfully another local pulled the guy away and I was soon informed that I had been dealing with the towns character who was short a few sandwiches in his picnic basket. Riding away in the rain with the friendly locals waving there hats I headed up a 1 hr climb over the second mtn range. On top the problems started again as I was now cold for the first time in the trip, the fog and rain limited my visibility to 30ft and I came to a junction in the small dirt road. Both junctons looked equally used. I didn't hesitate to take the left fork as I use to play left wing in hockey and had always been treated well with the left side. Soon decending down the steep mtn side into another valley I began to get worried as the road I had chosen was becoming more and more faint. After a long decent I came to the valley bottom and began criscrossing a creek multiple times which kept getting bigger and bigger as I went downvalley. It was getting late int he day and I was now up to my waste in rushing muddy water whenever I crossed the now river. I knew if I had to cross the raging muddy water again that I would probably have to turn around as it was getting dangerously high and I am sure I would never see my bike again if I lost my footing and went for a swim. Not to excited about the prospect of turning around and climbing back up over the mtn to see the crazy guy in San Augustin again I continued on. Thankfully I came to a small village another 5 km down the valley and after that the road was maintaned and had bridges. Riding another 20 km on mud roads I finally rolled out onto the highway and cruised in the touristy village of Copan Ruins about 20 minutes after dark and nearly 12 hrs after I had left my hotel early that morning. In hindsight the right junction was probably the better choice up on the mtn but this way I got a couple extra hours of training in. The last two days have been spent checking out old mayan ruins and preparing for the next part of the journey which will lead me into Guatemala. I will meet up with my friend Simon who is flying into Guatemala city on saturday for a couple weeks of training before we head out to Mexico for the TransMexicana race starting near the end of Feburary. As for now I am hobbling around as my legs are still trying to recover from the hike up Celaque. Apparantly being an alright biker doesn't make you much of a hiker.

Tegucigalpa

After two days battling my second stomach bug of the trip in Ocotal I tried biking 140 km through the mtns to the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. The ride lasted 70km until I was dizzy and dead tired beside the road and having to catch the first bus of the trip the last 70 km to the capital. Training tip; not eating for two days and still half sick is not a good time to try a 7 hr, 3000 m vertical ride. I have been in this chaos of 1.2 million for 3 days now still trying to recover. Went for a 3 hr ride downtown and up to a lookout over the city yesterday and have decided that riding in large central america cities is the perfect training for any type of biker. For one it teaches you to be 100% focused throughout the whole ride as if you phase out for a second you will be taken out by a vehicle and become a hood ornament. Two, it is great for bike handling skills as your constantly weaving between vehicles, jumping curves and dodging pedestrians. Three, it is great practice for race starts as every light is a new 20 second interval as you sprint to keep your place in the traffic. Four, its probably the quickest most efficient way of getting to see the sights of a city while at the sametime getting a decent workout. I now have a new respect for bicycle couriers.

Currently the UNCAF Futbol Cup is taking place as the 7 Central American Nations battle it out for a spot in next years World Cup. Last night myself and an American companion went to the Panama, Guatemala match and were probably the only two gringos in the building. Some drunks started a gringo chant for a minute before the Policia shut them down. Panama won 1-0 which was too bad as they were a bunch of divers. 3 players got carried off on stretchers, each one was back in the game within 5 minutes. The fans here are great hecklers though and let them have it. I learned some new spanish words to heckle the Calgary Flames next time they head to Edmonton. Off for more rice and beans. Chow

The Real Nicaragua

After over a week in the toursity side of Nicaragua I headed up into the highlands and spent three days riding over mtn passes and through forest reserves. It was like being in a different country as the people up here weren´t affected by the tourist dollar yet so there were no scams, no begging kids and no crazy raxi drivers. Life seemed pretty simple, people hung out alot, drank alot of cokes and ate lot´s of rice and beans. The dogs were pretty relaxed as well as I figure they´re either to hot or to hungry to give chase to a biker. Im beggining to think that the economy of a country could be judged solely by sending a single biker to bike through the country and count the number of dog chases to total loose dogs. Fairly simple formula as I figure the richer the country the more vicous the dogs as they are better nourished and taken cared of. I will write a book on this theory once I return to Canada. Todays ride started with the plan of riding 40 km over rough roads back to the pan am highway and then to head north up to the Nicaraguan boarder town of Ocotal. 4km into the ride the plan changed as there was another road heading up a 900 m vertical acent into a plateau at 1400 m and the cloudforest reserve of Miraflor. Having only enough food and water to last the 3 hr ride I planned to the pan am highway and not for a 6 hr detour I stopped into the next house I came across and asked to buy some food. The family was pretty stoked and served up a plate of tortillas, cheese, beans and coffee, filled my water bottles and then refused my money. Not sure how to thank my generous host family of 9, who lived in a single room house, I gave them a slideshow of Canada including pics of biking in the snow and Mtn Robson which impressed them to say the least. Afterwards it was onto another ride through the heat of another scorching Nicaraguan day. Tommorow its off to the unknown land of Honduras.

Land of Nicas

After some epic rides coming into Nicaragua and dealing with the low ballers around the boarder crossing I finally set foot into the land of Volcanos and lakes and put myself and the bike down to rest for 4 days. I studied spanish, my bike collected dust but soon enough it was game time again and we were off to the colonial city of Granada. Riding around Nica land is alot different from Costa Rica as this is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere and over half the population lives well below poverty. In Costa Rica people generally live like we do in Canada, working to improve there social status and increase there ease of living. In Nicaragua the people work to live, often earning around one dollar a day for 10 hrs of back breaking work in the sweltering sun or trying to work there marketing skills down in the mercado central. People struggle to live here, the kids are constantly begging for money and food, garbage is everywhere and urine flows down the streets as bathrooms are hard to come by. Nicaragua also has some spectacular sites though and is slowly becoming a tourist haven as the cheap prices (1.5 meals, 4 dollar beds), dozens of volcanos, colonial churches and natural reserves is slowly making tourism the second greatest contributor to the economy. Riding a full suspension carbon bike down here gets some looks to say the least and somedays I figure Im in hollywood with all the attention. Today though my ego was taken down a level as a taxi driver swerved in front of me then slammed on his breaks as he tried to make a right hand turn. With no time to react I road into him pretty hard but still managing to stay up right. Pretty choked I went up to the window and said a few words till I realized the guy was over 250 lbs and undoing his seatbelt getting ready to get out. Being a better biker then Sumo wrestler I hopped back on my bike and began riding up the shoulder against the traffic to a more peaceful setting while the large taxi man yelled some unknown spanish words in my direction. Apparently not everyone is friendly in this country and I must try to remeber to and roll within the path of least resistance if I want to stay safe. As for the rest of the ride it was the best ever in Nicaragua. Leaving Granada at 7am I climbed slightly up an old volcano and then decended into the crater lake of Lago Apoyo where I spent the afternoon floating around on tubes and jumping off docks at the Monkey Hut lodge. In the evening I hopped back on the bike and road up Volcan Masaya in the dusk to look into the depths of hell as smoke plummed from its crater. After a false eruption a few years back in which one rock shot out of the Volcano and landed on an Italians car it is now mandatory to back into the parking spaces so people are ready to roll if things heat up. Decending back into Masaya for a nights rest I am preparing for whatever tommorow might bring.

Argentinians and shortcuts

Riding up the pacific coast of Costa Rica is perfect for a mountain biker with dirt roads, few cars and lots of beach riding and surf towns all over the place. After a few good days in the saddle I came to Tamarindo, Costa Rica's premier beach resort which probably has 7 tourists to each local. After surfing and biking my sunday away I headed to bed at 8 as the next day I had a 10 hr ride to Nicaragua and was hoping to get an early start. All packed and in bed my plan was going well until 9 ramped up Argentinian girls checked into the hostal. Soon enough myself, 2 Swedes and a couple Kiwis were accompanying our new guests down the strip to the local dance club. Being saturday night all the clubs had 3 to 5 $ cover charges and none of us were to keen on bucking up so we hung around outside with the 9 Argentinians dancing on the street to the blaring music. One of the Kiwis must of been a bussinesman as he figured that the clubs should be paying us to go in with our dancing team and soon enough he had coaxed one of the bigger clubs in waiving the cover for our group. Inside the problems started as none of us guys were to great at dancing and next to the Argentinians we probably looked like a bunch of pee wee girls trying to play hockey with the Oilers of the 80's. After about 3 minutes all us guys were dizzy, out of breath and tangled up in our feet but to our relief the music stopped and the light opened up on the stage. Not sure what was coming we were stoked until we realized we were in the drag queen bar. Not cool. None the less the night went on and after 4 hrs of sleep I was on my voyage to Nicaragua. A little behind schedule and not quite 100% I started looking for shortcuts. My National Geographic map showed a couple dirt roads cutting across the Guanacaste land of Costa Rica and linking onto the Panam Highway. The first road ended up being a longcut and probably doubled the time the original route wouldve taken as it climbed up and down steep dirt rutted roads and after 3 hrs I had gone just over 25 km. The second shortcut was about 4 times worse as first I ended up in a remote government camp being told to turn around but after some negotiations one of the members said I could continue on my tour through the Guanacaste agriculture land but the fact he was smiling shouldve been anough to warn me of what was to come in the next 4 hrs. Travelling 24 km across cattle pastures, through 4 locked steal gates and 9 barb wire fences and past one very sketchy house with a dead cow and a broken car outside and one kid running inside I was pretty sketched as it reminded of a scene from Texas chainsaw massacre. Putting whatever power was left in my legs I continued on with two barking dogs putting chase, one with a very bad limp and the other looking drunk and probably full of rabies. They were poor chasers though and I continued on my lost journey eventually coming to a thick clump of trees with a large river. Emerging from the brush onto the riverbank I startled the 40 to 50 costa ricans who were trying to relax there day away. One old man asked with a crazed look across his face "what the heck are you doing kid and where are you going?" Not sure of either answer I put a smirk on my face, saluted the rest of the onlookers and continued on my way to the next town where I found the closest restaurant and then a spot to relax my aching body for the night. Ending up nowhere near Nicaragua and probably having only travelled 70 or 80 km on the day I prayed for no more shortcuts and for at least one night no more Argentinians.

Becoming more Tico

After a pretty lackluster Christmas the rest of the holidays were top notch as I spent over a week with Ronald and his family in there two homes, one near San Jose city and the other out in the countryside near the pacific ocean. Being fed gourmet Costa Rican cuisine, learning some spanish while speaking to his parents and girlfriend, eating sushi and gelato down at the Super Mall and going on 5 hr rides up into the mtns and down XXX downhills made for a pretty wicked time. Staying with there family was like being home and was the perfect place to stop and rest for a while and prepare for the second half of my journey as I head towards the Transmexicana bike race. On January 4th I bid farewell to my Tico family and left at 9:15 am to catch the 11am ferry in Punta Arenas to crossover to the Nicoya Peninsula. The ride was over 55 km away so time was a factor but Ronald set a nasty pace and took us on a few short cuts through the forest and we arrived at the ferry at 11:00 where I hopped on the boat as it was pulling away. The next two days were spent in the surf village of Mal Pais which is the coolest place in all of Costa Rica. Sweet waves, long beachs, waterfall jumping, tarzan swings, ample food, beach bonfires and the best hostal in the country makes for a pretty wicked set up. After a day of R&R its back on the bike as I head north up the coastal dirt road through a handful of Costa Rican surf towns and onwards to the more primitive Nicaragua.