Vuelta De Costa Rica

Here are a couple links to follow the rolling gongshow known as the Tour of Costa Rica which I'm currently racing with the Canadian team "Tour de Quebec".

Race Website:

www.ciclismoenvivo.com

Costa Rica Newspapers

www.aldia.cr

www. nacion.com

Video:

www. monumental.co.cr

Hello Canada, Goodbye Canada.

I have been back to Canada for 10 days now and have come up with my Christmas wish list.

1. Fly to Costa Rica

2. Race my road bike for 12 days against Latinos on "special vitamins".

3. Rest on the beach

Don't get me wrong, the past 10 days in Canada have been great. Returning to Canada is always great. There's just something about riding bikes in Canadian weather for 5 months through the winter which my body doesn't like. This has caused a seasonal migration south for the past 3 winters. I may have to get this dealt with at some point but for now I will follow the strange outside force which sends me down to central america each winter. I really can't complain.

Too make things even sunnier down there I will be accompanied by my girlfriend Lilla this trip. She has been a huge support for me throughout this past racing season and will be helping our team at the Vuelta de Costa Rica which starts up this friday. It is clear that she is only allowed to put in as much time helping as she puts into sun bathing on the beaches.

If you look up the word Vuelta in the dictionary it will say "see gongshow". After racing it last yr it became clear some of the racers in it have "special" forces for the race and ultimately it leaves us clean eating Canadians a little off the back. For this reason I will be looking at this race as a winter training camp in Costa Rica. We do have a strong sprinter in Jean Michael Lachance which we will be trying to get a stage win for before the race hits the mtn slopes.

Tommorow Lilla and I head down to Seattle to catch a flight south. Flying out of the states is alot cheaper and it allows us to hit up some cheap shopping while the US/Canadian dollars are at par. Right now the mind is still spinning from getting back from NZL but I'm sure Costa Rica will help settle it down. Goodbye Canada! Thanks for the past week of good food, hockey games, wet rides in Victoria and long sleeps in fresh Canadian air.

NZL Bike Tour part 2

Part 2 of the NZL bike tour turned out to be more then I bargained for. Lesson learned, sometimes when 12 different people give you the same advice about what can't be done they are right. But then again sometimes they are wrong. Either way I got turned around 80 km into the adventure which changed my plans for the coming days and put me in a much different location then I planned to be. Luckily I'm in NZL where there's usually another paradise around the corner. The days that followed the lost mission ended up being some of the best yet. If any of you ever wander over hear make sure you check out Kinloch lodge and the surrounding wilderness. There is a reason the Lord of the Rings was filmed hear.

Yesterday I returned to Queenstown for another couple sleeps and had the best day yet in NZL with a bike/hike mission. Today was a little different as I road 1.5 hrs into the bottom of a deep valley, ripped a sidewall in my tire and then hiked 3 hrs back to town. You win some you lose some...

Tomorrow its back to Christurich to visit my Kiwi mates, Jeff and Karen for a couple days before another endless summer will come to an end. Thursday the crow flies back to Canada!

Sheep, Glaciers, and Bikes

New Zealand is a small country of just over 4 million people and apparently over 10 million sheep. The sheep are all over the place like a bunch of mating jack rabbits but they are slowly being removed and being replaced by the more lucrative cattle industry. It will be sad if they are removed from the landscape as they fit in perfectly with the peace fullness of this country. It seems like this place is stuck back in the 70's or 80's as the pace of life is pretty minimal. The North Island up by Auckland is probably a little different with 3/4 of the countries population living around the region.

After spending a great first two weeks being toured around the country by my friends Jeff and Karen I was finally given my graduation card to set out on my own. For me this meant a bike tour from the North east tip of the island, Picton, down to Queenstown (NZL's version of Banff).

Stage 1 Picton to Nelson: 100km
Day one of the tour was 100 km from Picton to Nelson. After 60 km on pavement I headed up over a 40 km shortcut through the mountains. Time wise this wasn't a shortcut as it went up a abandoned gravel track over a mtn and then down a sketchy loose decent. The bike and 20 kg of panniers survived and we rolled into Nelson to meet up with Jeff for a couple days of xc riding in one of the single track hot spots on NZL. I was pretty wrecked still from the previous month of travelling and spent a majority of the time laying low while Jeff made the most of the great riding.

Stage 2 Murchison-Punakaiki: 145km
Day two of the tour I hopped a bus 100 km to Murchison to avoid boring highways. I figure life isn't long enough for these. Once in Murchison the 90 km ride down the Buller Gorge to the ocean was pretty amazing. This was followed by 20 km of boring highway and then 30 km of spectacular coastal scenery to the hamlet of Punakaiki. Punakakia is famous for its pancake rocks and blow holes. I met up with James at the hostel, a traveller from Wales and we drove down to the blow holes to check them out at high tide as the sun set. Nice spot to call it a night.

Stage 3 Punakaiki- Ross: 135 km
Another nice ride by the ocean to the West Coast hub of Greymouth. Loaded up on food and then road 40 km of flat highways to Hokitika. Met up with Brandon, a bike tourer from the USA and rode with him to an abandoned Hostal called the Old Church. Place was grand with a pool table, BBQ and 40 acres of country farm to ourselves. Brandon is probably my long lost cousin as he not only shares Wallace as a last name but he also has stories of touring around Central America on a bike. Good times.

Stage 4 Ross-Franze Josef Glacier: 95 km

Rolling ride through the lush NZL West Coast rain forest and through open sheep pasture land. WET rainy day.

Stage 5 Franze Josef Glacier-Fox Glacier- Lake Paringa: 125 km

Woke up early to beat the other tourists up to the popular tourist glacier. The 3 km trail leading to the head of a glacier looked more like a small road then a path and nobody was around yet so I opted to ride up to the glacier. No biking signs look weird sometimes. This plan failed when I began hiking my bike up onto the glacier to get a good photo opt when a ranger walked out from behind a moraine. Not sure what he was doing up there but I was caught red handed. He liked my effort though and told me he didn't feel like dealing with the paperwork, so he gave me 20 minute's to get out of sight before the tourist droves arrived. Deal. Road down the highway up and down some big hills to Fox Glacier and opted to hike the no biking trail this time to a cool viewpoint of Fox glacier from through the rain forest. The glaciers in Canada are bigger and more impressive but NZL's glaciers come down to 250 m above sea level and meet a rain forest! Really Cool. After the sightseeing it was 90 hard headwind km below the Alps and through countryside to Lake Paringa for a rest.

Stage 6 Lake Paringa- Wanaka: 197 km

This day was a long one. Started with 50 flattish km along the ocean and then the road headed up a valley into the heart of the Southern Alps. Had a nice headwind and the scenery was the best yet with waterfalls and snowy peaks surrounding the valley. After 120 km of riding I started to tire a little and 2 roadies blew by me telling me to "hop on." I probably said something like "f" that". But then decided it might be worth the effort to draft them for a while. After 20 fast km we pulled over to meet up with the camper van that was following the Dad, son combo. Apparently I was now part of a family vacation as Mom and the other son were touring in the camper van and supporting there family members. After a coffee and lunch we hopped back on the bikes, panniers now in the camper van, and the three of us cruised the last 3 hrs through lakeside scenery to the tourist village of Wanaka. Wanaka is a small version of Queenstown, kind of like what Jasper is to Banff. I could have stayed hear a while but wanted to get to Queenstown while the body was still fully revved.

Stage 7 Wanaka-Queenstown 70 km

Great ride up over NZL's highest paved highway at 1070 m. This is pretty low considering Calgary is close to 1200 m! Felt high though and the 750 m drop into Queenstown was a great ending to the first leg of the bike tour.

Yesterday was spent being a lost tourist in Queenstown as I tried to let the body come down from the exertion and today I checked out some of the local xc riding which is great. I highly recommend Queenstown for anyone looking to xc ride, party and sight see. It deserves the claim to being NZL's Adventure Capital!

The time is ticking as a week today I will return to Canada! I am almost looking forward to the rest but first there is part 2 of the bike tour to take care of!

New Zealand!

New Zealand is pretty much coastal BC only on the other side of the globe with two exceptions. The first one is dangerous as every drives on the wrong side of the road. Knowing which way to look is harder then it sounds. The other difference is the language as Kiwis speak 95% english, and 5% kiwi language. Jandals, arvo, bangers, mozzie, rooting... I have been more then lost in a few conversations already but am almost bilingual after 2 weeks cruising around with my mate Jeff.

Still mopped from spending too much energy in Australia so thats it for the read today.

Croco Classic

The idea of riding 1200 km over 10 days in the northern outback of Australia with a bunch of euoro roadies and sketchy aussie animals sounded like a grand adventure. It was. I am now 12 days past the race and the body is finally starting to come around again.

Stage 1 I felt like a sack of burnt mashed potatoes. Staying at a backpackers hostal the night before and getting 1 hr of sleep due to drunk backpacker drama wasn't a nobel prize winning decision. At the start line I slept for 1 hr. We then raced for 1.5 hrs, had a 2 hr intermission due to course problems and then raced for another 3 to the finish. It was alot like La Ruta day one, jungle, mud, hills, but only 75% as tough. I probably would've finished back with the mchappy meal sized belgium roadies but my 1.5 hr nap at intermission got the legs firing just in time for the last climb of the day and a 3rd place finish.

After a 11 hr sleep, stage 2 I woke feeling like a bag of potatoes. We had a hard 45 min climb through the jungle to start the day. Last yrs winner, Urs Hubar (Switzerland) and Bart Brentgens attacked the hill like a couple of rabid dingos. I turned my pain threshold off and tried to think of happy thoughts as I hung on like a piece of dog dung on the back of there wheels. Once over the top we decsended into flatter Aussie outback country and the 3 of us road to the finish. Having 24hr diesel engine legs I had a .1 % chance of winning the stage. I tried attacking 1 km from the finish and made a perfect lead out for the other two. 3rd place.

During the night a hoard of Wallabies came into camp and made like a bunch of kindergarten kids causing havoc all over camp knocking over stoves, chewing on tents and one nibbled on my tire. I thought nothing of it as there was no damage but 80 km into the 157 km stage 3 I flatted on a open road while riding with the 3 other leaders. Gongshow commence. The stage was flat for the next 50 km into a head wind making it important to be with a pack so I took the wheel off, shook it hoping the tubeless tire sealant would seel the hole and then started chasing back to the leaders. psstttt. super slow leak. on top of the next hill I took the wheel off again to put a tube in only to look up to see a savage farm dog charging at me from 400 m away. *#&$. I popped the 10 psi wheel back on the bike and sprinted down the hill to a safer zone to repair the flat. by the time there was air in the tire again I was in 8th and road the last 60 km to the finish alone into a headwind. Lost about 30 minutes. At night in the 70 person outback village the local HillyBilly Goats band came out to entertain. Prefect way to end a gonger of day.

Stage 4. The road racing begins as the stages get flat. First 90 km our lead pack of 11 guys ride easy. With only 1 km until a 50 km finish on a highway begins we ride over a rocky patch and both my tires implode. psstt. psttt. two flats. Tabernack. Another 50 km ride alone into a wind until the mchappy meal roadies catch up and we ride in for 15th or so position.

Stage 5-8. Roadie stages on flat, corrugated outback roads in 32-40 degree heat. Scenery is pretty cool for a Canadian and watching the roadies crash in the small creek gullys kept me entertained. Stage 8 ended with a big climb in Cooktown to a viewpoint over the ocean and cool breezes. Highlight of the race. After spending the last 3 stages leading out the other riders to the finish line for the sprint I got some payback on the climb and finished 2nd.

Stage 9. Flat roadie stage. The race organizers had been giving away Boomerangs to the stage winners each night and this was my last chance to get one. I used up some energy from next season to try and get the W but came up 4 ft short in the sprint to a rider who had been sitting in the pack for the last 7 days. Danm roadie tactics.

Stage 10. 37 km TT in the jungle along the coast. Alot like Costa Rica only no monkeys. Finished 4th on day and 5th overall.

The next 4 days were spent cruising around being a tourist. 30 of us from the race went out to the Great Barrier Reef 2 days after the race. We looked like a bunch of hungover college students with at least 15 of us sleeping at any given moment. The other asian tourists on the boat gave us disgusted looks all day as they updated there twitter acounts and made chronological diaries of the Reef tour.

Riding the Croc Trophy was like riding over mexican speed bumps in a sauna with someone blowing dust into your face for 10 days. It was pretty neat. I would come back to try it again as its nothing like we have over here in Canada. Overall the biking was ok, but the 10 day camping trip that went with the race and the days after in Cairns make it trip worth returning for. After all if I was back in Canada in October I probably wouldn't be riding my bike around this much!

After a week trying to get over my croc trophy hangover in Australia I made my way over to NZL to visit my Kiwi buddies Jeff and Karen who I met in Canada last yr. Jeff, also my pit manager from 24 hr Worlds, and I tried hitting up a 80 km race in the NZL mtns last weekend. That story is currently in the press and is not too be missed!

Crocodile Trophy

Australia is a country of just 22 million people but it has 11 of the worlds 15 most venomous snakes, oceans full of jellyfish and sharks making them unswimmable for certain months as well as countless number of spiders and other creepy crawlers. Yesterday I made the 3 hr flight to Northern Australia to the tourist town of Cairns where the 10 day Crocodile Trophy SR will start tomorrow. I have been sweating bucket's since I got here as the 30 degree temps and max humidity are rivaling that of coastal Costa Rica. This place is creepy crawler central. Apparently all the bodies of water in the area are off limits to swimming due to crocs and jellyfish. I assumed all the croc warnings were like the bear warnings in Canada and more of a joke than anything. Nope, Croc warnings are for real as they apparently munch on tourists all the time! The next days few days of acclimatization could be rough without access to water.

24hrs was a tough race which drained the tank. After 8 days of recovery in Sydney the system warning lights have gone off. Thanks Jon Odam for taking me into your home for the week!

Racing in The Croc Trophy is going to be full tilt as it is 90% european with the likes of Bart Brentgens (Olympic Gold medalist), Urs Huber (Croc winner last yr) , Jaan Kirsippu (4 tour de France stage wins) and the European Marathon champion Allan Oras making the trip from euro land. I'm planning on holding back a bit and letting the crocs get the first few racers and then hopefully taking over from there.

Check out race updates at www.crocodile-trophy.com

24 Hr Worlds

The days leading up to the 24 hr Worlds were pretty gongshowish as my buddy Jeff Collins (Kiwi) and I ran around Canberra picking up food etc for the race and setting up our Pit area out at race site. Prepping for a 24 hr race is a challenge in Canada, and that's when we are able to load my truck with everything including a kitchen sink and drive 3 hrs to Canmore for the race. Making this happen half way around the World is another story. We had some help from the other Canadians down here, our home stay (Darro Stinson), and big help from the Kona boys who showed up with tents and mechanics.

Race day:

11:45 am- lemans start! I go from front row to a mid pack position over a 300 m run.
11:47am- On the bike, the legs feel unreal and I ride up to the lead group, look at the boys and then hammer away up the hill.

I was pretty nervous heading into the race as I had never been in a field of 400 riders and most of the Aussies seemed pretty serious. I figured the best way to deal with the emotions was to go on the offensive. This worked for the first 5 laps as the chase pack of 7 riders began to blow up one by one. The British national champ and a few of the top Australian's bit on my attack and blew them selves up and essentially out of the race. The only problem was the defending champion, Jason English was one step ahead of me and hung back, not pitting at all, eventually catching me on the 6th lap still with good legs. Over the next few laps he would take 3 mins out of me a lap and soon had a 20 min lead.

I was riding hard but at the same time a little pre-occupied with all the crazy animals hopping around the course. One lap I came barrelling around a corner into a posse of 7 kangaroos, I almost wet my pants as I skidded out of control towards them. A little later I apparently just missed running over a black snake which slid out of the way just in time and then lunged at the British rider behind me. I was in zombie mode at the time and didn't know anything had happened until talking to the Brit after the race. In the night a baby kangaroo (or wallaby?) lept onto the course just ft ahead of me and then back into the woods. He was a lucky little bastard as by that time in the night I was RUI (riding under the influence) of copius amounts of caffeine, adrenaline and over exerction and wouldn't have the reflex's to avoid him.

Going into the night things were rolling smoothly with Jeff keeping things together in the pit and the legs still pushing over. On lap 13 the gongshows began as I double flatted, had co2's blow up, ran out of tubes etc... 20 minutes later I got air back in my tires and made it back to pit row where I was now sitting in 4 th position.

For the next 10 hrs I had an epic battle going between 2 Aussies (Andy and Scott) for 2nd position. Jason kept his lead and managed to pull off a successful defense of his 2009 title. The guy is a true champ and deserved the win as he out witted us all with his yrs of 24hr experience. I'm not sure if he was the fittest guy in the race but he was the most focused and best prepared rider there.

The 3 of us battling for 3rd couldn't gap each other and by the last couple laps we were working our way back up to a xc race pace. This was retarded to be riding this hard after 22 hrs on the bikes but we were all stubborn like a bunch of mexican mules. With 3 laps to go Andy made a move and gained 5 minutes on us. I was suffering like a guy who had been on his bike for 22hrs but I figured Andy would have to slow down at some point and that maybe just maybe there was a little bit of adrenaline left in the tank to fuel another quick lap.

Lucky for me there was a few drops of adrenaline left which surged me through the last lap, passing Andy mid way, and into a 2nd place finish! At the finish line the adrenaline switched off and I went from feeling invincible to a 85 yr old man with arthritis in about 15 minutes.

The post race party/ awards ceremony down at the university was about as exciting as a layover at an aiprort. By 10pm the place was cleared out with just the crazy single speeder dudes hanging around. Those guys are a different breed.

The day after the race was a right off. I fell down a set of stairs and then decided to sit still for the rest of the day to prevent any further mishaps. The day after that Jeff and I forced ourselves to get organized and head over to Sydney as he had to catch a flight back to New Zealand. Huge Thank You Jeff for taking the time and effort to come over and support me for 24!

A 24hr race is a team event as it is the Pit crews which keep us riders going through the night and I had some of the best help there. Big thanks to my Dads friend Darro Stinson for giving Jeff and I a place to stay for the week and loaning us a car, Ben (kona rep), Team Canada (Erin and Kelly you guys were great, Kate Scallion, Leighton for the calming influence and everybody else that kept things rolling for me!

I was to follow Jeff over to NZL today for a tour of the North Island but after the 24 race was over I received an invite to race in the 10 day Crocodile Trophy through Australians Northern Outback. Probably not the best idea but how do you pass up on 10 days of ripping around with some of the fastest euros on the planet through crocodile and kangaroo infested landscapes. Not to mention a trip to the Great Barrier reef afterwards? Some days I wish I knew how to say no. Sorry body, I promise you a proper rest either when you quit working during the Croc Trophy or once the last day is over. Sorry bike but you will be ignored for a long time after this one is over.

Off to be a City slicker and check out some Opera house.

24 Ready to Go!

There is a wombat digging holes in the course, divebombing magpies and rumours of a skitzofrantic kangaroo around the pit area. The Aussies have guranteed themselves a 1-2-3 placing on the podium and are doing there share of trashtalking. Not sure what is going to play out down here but us Canadians are ready to get this thing rolling!

The toughest part of 24hr events are the days leading up to them. Nerviousness, preps, etc... Once the bike wheels are rolling its all cool. For the first 6 hrs its a bike race and then its survival for the next 18. I figure the 6 hr bike race should go pretty good and after that I have my fingers crossed.

Rumour has it live updates will be on the race website at http://www.corc24hour.com.au/

www.24wsc/ may also work.

Off to work.

The Other Side of the Road

September was spent overtraining myself to the point of resembling a hungover drug addict on East Hastings st in Vancouver, recovering for a couple days and then repeating. It seems alot easier to overtrain oneself after an already long race season then it is at the start. After I wrecked myself really good the last time I opted to go to the backcountry with my Dad, brother (Dustin), 7 horses and a dog for 5 days to get away from the bike.

Day 1 one we left the highway and hit snow 7 km into the ride. Soon after we spent 4 hrs cutting deadfall off the trail. We eventually rode into camp under a full moon through 6 inches of snow. 5 days later through wintery conditions, cutting out 20 yr old trails and wading through rivers we reached the highway again. Dustin and Dad went home, I hopped in the truck and drove across the countryside, hopped on a 34 hr flight to Australia and am now hanging around with Kangaroos. Thank you Lilla and all the boys at Freewheel Cycle for helping me get organized for the trip!

Being in Australia is like being in Canada. The only difference is that everyone drives around on the wrong side of the road. That is sketchy. So are the Kangaroos. And divebombing magpies. Everything else is great. Sunny days. Hospitable people. And the accents are cool. The customs officers are pretty rad as well. I heard they were pretty stingent with checking through luggage for foreign food etc. The officer checking my luggage must of been a biker himself as he rolled me through the line. Pretty stoked as I wasn't sure how my unlabled bags of seeds, buckwheat, random pills and green powders was going to go over.

With the 24 hr Worlds coming up Saturday I am trying to keep the biking under control to prevent any further burnouts before the race. There will be ample opportunities for that over the weekend.

I will update my blog once I figure out where live updates of the race will be available. Last yr it was at http://www.24wsc.com/.

Leading up the the race 24 hr Twitter updates are at. www.24wsc.com/twenty4-tweets.

I rode out to the course for a couple laps yesterday. There is going to be carnage. Gap jumps on a 24 hr course won't mix well with lethargic bikers in the middle of the night. Other then that the course is pretty tame. 2 big climbs, 2 fast rocky decents and roo's all over the place.

The race starts 12 pm Saturday over here, when translated in Australian, that is equivalent to 6 pm Friday evening Pacific time in Canada. Not sure how that works but as it sits now I got ripped out of a day of my life which I will only ever reclaim once I return to Canadian soil.

Right now there is a small problem with Jet lag. Off to deal with that. aka 10 hr + sleep.

August Goodness

You can tell how good a race buggered you up by how long it takes to post something on your blog afterwards.

The Transrockies was a good one.

Stage 1 : 31 km Mudfest time trial

- started 5th behind Adam Craig (Giant), Max Plaxton (Sho-Air), Matt Hadley (Canada), Carl Decker (Giant) (based on UCI pts)

- thinking top 5 would be solid

- left the shoot at full steam trying to catch Decker who started 1 min ahead.

- catch Decker, leave him in rear view mirror

- close in on Hadley

-finish 3rd behind Craig and Plaxton

-ride of the week!!! I thought....

Stage 2 : 72 km Climbing Roady stage

- Decker sets pace, drops eveybody but Plaxton, Craig and myself

- Craig ups the tempo, Decker drops off

- ride with Plaxton and Craig towards finish

- both guys seem to be suffering so I up the tempo and open a gap

- 3 km to go and i'm beating Plaxton and Adam Craig!

- Come across the line 1st, 25 secs ahead of the other duo

- Biggest win ever.

Stage 3: 70 km of true TransRockies Goodness

- 40 km muddy fireroad

-15 km hike/bike/crazy willows/ giant rocky climb up the continental Divide

-8 km decent down boulder field

- 1 flat, Hadley and Kona boys pass me, Plaxton is ahead for the the win

- fix flat, catch Kona boys who also flatted, real in Hadley.

- roll in 2nd on stage.

- Adam Craig had a rough day and loses 10 min. I move into 2nd in GC.

2nd overall TR3!

Stages 4-7

-Team up with John Firth from Canmore for last 4 stages.

- finish 2nd overall on stage 4 and 3rd on stage 6.

- learn John is one crazy ass hardcore Diesel engine hockey player who can tear it up on a xc bike.

- freeze our asses on stage 6. Deja vu Bow 80....

Stage 8- Party

- 1 yukon jack, 3 fireballs, 1 wine, 1 ???

- crash hard

Stage 9- Road Provincials

- get worked over by 8 man H&R block

- Jamie Sparling and I spend 1 hr chasing back break

-catch break with 8km to finish

- try to ride in on diesel fumes for the victory

- finish 7th behind riders who emerged from the pack for the first time all day at the finish...

Stage 10- Ice Cream DT Cochrane then Camp on the Icefields.

Monday-Wednesday: Write off

Thursday-Saturday- Hike up in the Rockies

I'm still pretty worked over, hence this messed up blog report.

Next up is Hinton XC and MX Provincials this weekend. Come out to the Rockies for some good times!!!

Grizzlied

The rest week after 24 hrs was pretty perfect. Fishing, camping, hiking and hanging in hammocks up in the mtns. That was until friday night when Lilla and I were returning to camp around dusk only to find a Grizzly in our way.

After some yipping from our golden retriever dog, and some yelling by us we managed to really piss the old grizz off and he charged at us through the willows only to stop 15 ft from us to growl and let out his outrage in hair rasing noises. Slightly intimidated we opted to backtrack down the trail to give the beast his space. The only problem was he started to follow, charging through the bush, stopping just short of us to let out his outrage again. After a few minutes of this it got to the point that we were either going to have to keep this up for another 60 km back to civilization or else try to get past the cranky thing to my truck which was only 500 m away.

I opted fro Plan B, Lilla probably disagreed, but she followed as we road back at the Grizz who was just out of sight in the willows beside the road. Once we got past him, old grizz started running beside us in the bush then onto the road behind us and over onto the other side of the road. I gave Lilla my best thought out advice. "Don't Fall!" "NO SHit" I think was her response. With the truck in sight and the dog already under neath it, Lilla and I hopped in and watched as the bushes and trees were trampled away only 30 ft in front of the truck. The Grizz would never come out and show himself, but we had a standoff with him in the woods growling for 15-20 min as we sat belittled in our truck. Eventually our friend got tired and wandered off up the mtn, letting off one last angry freakish noise as he faded into the night.

Our problem now was to either return home with a 2 hr drive, or to risk the 7 minute hike through the dense bush to get to the hut. We made the hike in 4 minutes. Dog in tow.

The next day the Sun was up, Grizz was no where to be seen and life was pretty good again...

Tonight we are down in Fernie gettting ready for the TransRockies to kickoff tommorow. I will try to defend my TR3 Solo title I won last yr. This is probably a pipe dream with top World Cup racers Adam Craig (Giant), Max Plaxton (Specialized), and Carl Decker (Giant), on the start list but I will I empty the tank trying.

After the TR3 finishes off I will be sticking around to cover the final 4 days of the TransRockie Team event as it finishes off in Canmore next Saturday.

Starting tommorow, reports will be up at http://www.sleepmonsters.com/

24hrs of Adrenalin

24 in Camnore last weekend was ridiculously rad. Not going to lie, I am pretty f'd up at the moment. The opening lap was dangerous with a 4 minute le mans run to start out the event. I lost over 1 minute in this to some dude in baggy shorts and was probably 30th. I was embarrassed so I ripped it up on the first couple laps putting in a solid gap on the other soloists.

24 dominator Leighton Poidevon from Canmore kept it close for the first 8hrs before falling ill in the night. This left a decent gap to the next rider, Luke Way, and allowed for some solid cruising throughout the night. Luke Way, who also grew up in Jasper and is the owner of TriWay bike fitting had an amazing ride to come in 2nd. Way to go buddy!

The closest call in upsetting the ride was when I came upon 6 other riders stopped on the trail claiming there was a bear and 3 cubs up ahead. I figured I was faster then a couple of the riders so I convinced them that if we all rolled togethar we could probably make it. We went through, Momma bear looked pissed, we all pinned it and apparantly all lived happily ever after....

23 hrs and 54 minutes after starting I rolled around to finish my 20th lap and claim the National 24hr Solo Championships and a trip to Australia for Worlds in October!

Here we come Aussies!

Huge thanks to my pit crew who kept things togethar for me throughout the night. Lilla Roy, Reiner Thoni, Travis Hauck and Dad, you guys are amazing!

I am pretty impressed I got this blog out. Off to the mtns to feed on fresh trout and wild blueberries.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ.................

Canadian XC Nationals

The XC Nationals in Canmore were pretty fricken awesome on saturday. The course was built for fitness freak's as it climbed 250 m vertical per lap. There were alot of fitness freaks on the start line.

I rode a steady race and watched the fireworks go off around me as riders blew themselves into outer orbit. The race was alot shorter then I'm use to at just over 30 km but this we made up for in intensity. The first 4 laps I rode at sustainable pace but when there were 5 of us all within 20 seconds of 4th place on the last lap the dog fights began. Once the dust settled I found myself curled over my bike trying to fight off leg cramps and gasping for oxygen as I savoured my 7th place result.

I was pretty stoked with the ride as I haven't been in a National level competition in 3yrs and wasn't too sure what to expect. Apparantly the top 7 riders will be selected for the National team to head to the World Championships in September. I am an extreme long shot given this is the only selection race I have attended. Probably a 2% chance. Next season this could make for a good challange.

Right now its off to Canmore for the 24 hr Solo Canadian Championships. This one has been on my hit list since pulling out of World's last yr with a severely obliterated mind and soul. With the winner getting a trip to 24hr Worlds in Australia the motivation won't be a problem...

The Race action this weekend starts at 12pm Saturday afternoon. Check out the link to follow live updates!

http://24wsc.com/adrenalin-live/

Canadian XC Nationals

The week after BCBR was a right off. Tubing, mtn climbing, whale watching, resting. Made it to Jasper in time for a summer snowstorm. Re-lit the legs with a couple spins. Riding a new bike with big wheels. Life is good.

Tommorow is XC Nationals. Just another ride, only this one is being televised live on the internet.

If you want to watch Canadas Fastest duke it out check out www.pedalmag.com and click on the video link.

Race starts on Saturday the 17th at 2:30 PM (MST).

BCBR

8 days, 450 racers, 400 km of trails, 8 different towns, 4 ferries = 1 hell of a road trip!

I've heard big things about the BC Bike Race (BCBR). To get to do it as part of the Kona Factory team was unreal. Right now I feel like hell. WRECKED. Body and mind are overloaded and in the same state as a world war two battle field. All logical thoughts point to curling up in a cave for a few days, but before that occurs hears a little rundown from the week of ripping some of BC's best trails!

Day 0, Prologue- 2.1km of north shore singletrack. passed 7 riders including 1 guy (Chris Holm) on a unicycle. wasn't sure if it was a circus or a bike race. finished 2nd behind Chris Sheppard.

Day1, Nanaimo- attacked at the gun. road away from the field, got lost, got back on track, got caught, road with 12 man lead group for 1.5hrs, blew up, suffered hard, downed an energy drink which was suppose to give me wings but instead gave me an upset stomach, ripped the dh to salvage a hard day. 6th

Day 2, Cumberland- leisure pace to start day, hard 20 min climb split field, dropped the americans on the dh, fell over on flat fire road trying to pick up sunglasses, road with Colin Kerr for second half, followed Kerr through singletrack and up on log rides, ended up on a 20 ft log ride 10 ft off the ground and got scared, built a small grudge against Kerr for scaring me and not choosing the easier lines, decided Kerr is the best technical rider at BCBR then dropped him on the last climb. 3rd

Post stage interview:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237274-2010-bc-bike-race/344542-stage-2-cory-wallace-bc-bike-race

Day 3, Powell River- *$&#, dropped 1 km into stage, road around like a small boy in need of a nap for 1 hr, began pondering my future in biking, got smacked by a low lying branch, woke up, rode like Jesse James, caught Manuel Prado, watched him almost die on a stair decent, walked the stair decent, hammered to the finish. 4th

Day 4, Sechelt- &#%(#, dropped again in opening km's, lost a water bottle, crashed hard on decent, fight back tears as I see my race fading away, passed by Rocky boys (Widmer, Lazarski), catch up to Rocky, the 3 of us get lost, wander around trying to find the trail, find the trail, ride like panzies, Lazarski wonders why Widmer and I are riding like a couple of high school girls, get smacked by low lying branch, wake up, ripp for an hr to finish bad day, lost a pile of time in GC, 6th

Day 5, Sechelt- Legs back firing, no gettting dropped, open it up on 30 min climb, ripp down wicked decent like an illegal mexican immigrant, look around to see trails going everywhere, keep it togethar, didn't get lost, kept ripping, made up all the time I lost in Day 4. 3rd

Day 6, Squamish- Back in 3rd in gc, 3 min ahead of BCBR 2009 winner Colin Kerr. Days mission- stick to Colins wheel like a pile of fresh dog shit. Followed Colin for 1 hr with Kona teamates (Sneddon, Wicks) making sure I stuck around. Colin attacks on sketchy bermy decent. Kona boys drop back to not risk crashing out as they have a 30 min lead in the team gc. By the bottom of decent Colin and I catch up to the leaders Sager and Shepperd. Colin kamikazes next dh gapping us by 30 secs. Never see Colin again. chase hard, lose Shepperd and Sager, chase harder, ride dh's on edge of sanity, come in 2:40 min behind Colin at finish to keep a 40 second gc lead going into final day. 2nd

Day 7, Whistler- Deja Vu of Day 1, charge hard off the line, drop field, look up to see pink flagging tape everywhere. completely lost and wishing I could dissapear. play eany, meany, miny moe and pick the trail going straight up ski hill, rest of field reaches the pink flagging gongshow and chose the trail going back to the finish, riders yell at me to follow them, i follow them as it's 250 riders vs 1. we decend back to start line, realize it's a bad choice, pedal back up hill to the flagging gonshow and take the trail I iniatially took. burry myself on the 20 min climb to gap Kerr, Kona teamates escort me for first half of race to help keep the gap on Kerr who is charging hard, ride like Geronimo for the 2nd half of race, finish 50 sec behind Sager and Sheppard and 1 min ahead of Kerr to maintain 3rd on day and GC. Podium Spot!

Day 7.5 Whistler- Podium, banquet, $10 drinks??? what, party doesn't take off for some reason...$10 beers???what... Hike back to hotel at 11 with Sneddon to be well behaved bike racers and save our budgets for the rest of the season. 10$ beers....???party poop. Ciders will be self supplied and given away at Nationals to insure no Party poop.

Sunday- Cooldown ride with teamate Erik Tonkin who was the calming influence for the team all week showing his 10yrs of experience on the team. Roll back to Victoria with Mical and Regen. Thanks for the ride!

Recap-

KONA KICKS ASS!

1st Team Division- TEAM KONA (Barry Wicks, Kris Sneddon)

3rd Mixed Team- TEAM KONA (Wendy Simms, Norm Thibault)

3rd Solo Men- KONA (me)

6th Solo Men- KONA (Erik Tonkin*) * Erik cracked ribs on day 1 and road hurt all week and still hauled ass! TROOPER

Thanks Dusty for keeping all our bikes rolling brand spanking new all week long!

Thanks Maxxis for the Monorail tires which kept us upright and with 0 flats for the week.

Thanks NUUN and CLIF SHOTS for keeping us fueled.

Monday- Costco Trip for rations. Rest Day. Wave goodbye to Bro who's off to Alaska on 6 week tour with Coast Guard. See ya in August Bro!

Test of Metal

The Test of Metal is probably the biggest single day non UCI cycling event in Canada. 67 km, 950 riders, fans lining the course, a crazy huge festival of a feed zone and some of North America's best riders on the start list such as Kabush, Pendrel, Plaxton, Sneddon, Lazarski, Widmer, Hadley and all the past "Test" winners. After the singing of "Oh Canada" it was off on a 15 min road climb to the first $100 prime before we entered the trails.

Near the top of the climb nobody was making a move so I came up the outside to make a sprint for the prime but my teamate Sneddon had the same thoughts and beat me to it. After that I took Kabush's wheel into the singletrack, blew up a little and dropped back into 6th to lead the chase group of Hadley and three Rocky Mtn Riders (Kerr, Calhoun, Day). Hadley dropped off to fix a derrailure, and soon after I dropped off to fix a leaking tire. Chasing hard through the feedzone I came through in 8th and slowly reeled in riders going up 9 mile climb.

Coming over the top in 5th, 1.5 min behind 2-4th places I was feeling good. I soon passed Widmer on the decent as he was fixing a flat and then fell off rythym for a bit through the sketchy plunge decent. The infamous Plunge is a cheeseball decent which makes even the best riders look like rookie pre school decenders as the only way down is to lean back and let your bike pinball off jagged rocks and roots. I went over the bars in the only spot there was 5 photographers in the same spot. I felt shame but was relieved everything on the bike was still in one piece.

Going through the feedzone for the 2nd time produced a unworldly sensation as my legs were cramping like a knotted fishing line yet I was still ripping. My body legs were out of control for the few minutes as we passed hundreds of yelling spectators. I was praying to god they would decide to keep moving as I knew I would fall over in a chaotic pile of knotted muscles if they didn't. Taking a feed from Kona dude Seth I managed to get out of the raging feedzone in one piece and back into the quiet singletrack through the Squamish mtns to rip the last 25 min to the finish line. With 4 km to go I was given news from a spectator that Lazarski who had 2 min on me had flatted and was trying to ride it in. I charged hard trying to close the gap but it was to no evail as I came through the finish line in 4th, only to see Lazarski just getting off his bike. 9 seconds from 3rd. Lazarski deserved the final medal as he had better legs on the day but I would've taken it.

After the race the party would start at the finish line and end at various houses party's across town. It is amazing to see how strongly this town backs biking and can make the Test of Metal one of the highlights of the yr and attract World Class riders like Geoff Kabush, Catherine Pendral and Max Plaxton. I understand why all 1000 spots sell out in 25 minutes each yr. Too show the local support the top Squamish riders are also given a huge andvil. Squamish dude, Kelly Servinski took top honors coming in 8th overall. A wicked result for a wicked dude. Kelly is also organizing "Team Canada" for the 24 hrs Worlds in Australia this October. Check out his blog http://www.squamishmonkeys.blogspot.com/

The day after the "Test" 6 of us went for a little Squamish recovery ride. Led by Kelly, and Neal Kindree we soon found ourselves wading through river's and in the misdt of a 5 hr epic with various all out sprints throughout. I'll take credit for igniting a few of the sprints but we were all to blame for the savage recovery day. All in all it was a rad day with some rippin fast dudes on some rippin wicked trails. Pretty perfect training for BC Bike Race this week.. Brian Bain had a 5 hr drive back to Salmon Arm after the ride and Simon Tremblay had a 6 hr journey back up to Campbell River. Poor dudes.

Resting in Victoria enjoying some summer time sun... Here We come BC BIKE RACE>>>>>

Rockies!!!

This past weekend was a highlight on the race schedule as racing bud Simon and I got to return to the Rockies for a couple of races up at the Canmore Nordic Center. World cups, 24 hr Worlds, Canada Cups, Nationals, TransRockies, Alberta Cups, Canmore does it all.

After pre-riding what could be the best XC course in Canada on friday evening I drove into Calgary to visit my buddy and sponsor at Triway Racing, Luke Way to fit the new factory racing bikes. 3 hrs later I rolled away from Lukes bike fitting sanctuary with the 29'r and dualie dialed in to the max. Pretty stoked to test them out I headed back to Canmore for a solid sleep before the XC race on saturday.

XC Saturday:

With over 250 riders and 26 elites on the start line including Canada cup smashers Stefan Widmer (Rocky) and Matt Hadley (Xprezo) it was going to be fast. For some reason the pace was a little slack heading up the first climb. With the race only being 1.5 hrs long I was keen on making it hard so I sprinted off the front. Soon after Widmer over took me and rolled around the wickedly fun 6 km potential National's course to take a 2 min victory. Hadley and I rode togethar for 2nd till the final lap until I lost some steam, flatted, had a C02 malfunction, walked for 5 minutes to find a pump, hand pumped the wheel and then rolled in for 9th.

5hr Marathon Sunday:

Sunday's Marathon was too much fun to even talk about. A 12 km course full of Canmore goodness, blue sky, 230 riders, 1 bear, and a super dialed in organization (Cyclmesiters out of Calgary) and it was for sure a highlight of the racing season. After getting in some crap for launching an attack in the XC event I made sure to do the same here. Sure its just an Alberta Cup race but I figure any race before Nationals should be ridden at 100% effort as these are training tools for the big events to come. I can gurantee the start at Nationals or 24 hrs Worlds is going to be a sprint at 110% so a guy might as well get use to it beforehand so he can be ready when it really counts.

After getting a sizeable gap, Stefan Widmer rode up to me but soon flatted and I was on my own finishing the first lap in 35 minutes. One lady wanted to disqualify me as she figured I cheated and cut the course. Thanks for the compliment. The rest of the race was textbook, legs were operating at full steam, the Hei Hei Supreme soaked up the technical course and the lap times stayed pretty consistent> 35 min, 38 min, 40 min, 41 min, 40 min, 39 min.

In the end I had a sizeable gap over the next solo and managed to beat the top team by a couple minutes. Now if the legs can keep that going for another 19 hrs then we may be in business at 24 hr Worlds this fall.

Off to the coast for a bit of downtime before the real first test of the season comes this weekend at the 67 km Test of Metal in Squamish. With Canada's two best riders on the start line, Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain-Maxxis) and Max Plaxton (Sho-Air Specialized) it is going to be the real deal.

Roadie Weekend

Foul weather. Good Racing.

Weekend Report can be found at:

http://cog.konaworld.com/archives/3873


Todays To Do List.

Power Nap.
Consume copius amounts of food.
Ride 2hrs at 0% effort.
Nutrition course.
Power Nap 2.
Chicago, Philly Game 2.
10hr Sleep.

Mini Golf, BC Cup, Tofino.

May long weekend 2010 was top notch. Right up there with the best of them. The first annual May long "Try Not Too Break The Club Over Your Head Mini Golf Championships" took palce Saturday afternoon in DT Nanaimo. I choked like a young boy trying to swallow a Dodger stadium foot long dogger and was out of contention after hole 2. Dad was next up after launching his ball onto the freeway. Simon followed suit with his angry frenchman antics. Dustin kept it togethar until letting his hockey past get in the way and slap shotting a ball out of play and down near the go kart track. Lilla schooled us boys bye demonstrating that mini golf is suppose to be a finesse game, not a testosterone driven power clash.

Final Results (Front 9 + Back 9: Total)

Champ (aka Lilla Roy)- 29+26: 55

Dad (aka Brian Wallace)- 26+33: 59

Brother (aka Dustin Wallace)- 36+29: 65

Angry Frenchmen (aka Simon Tremblay)- 29+36: 65

DFL (aka Me)- 33+34: 67

Camping saturday night the rain came down and the tarp went up. Pre-race meal, campfire stories and bed.

Gameday

A little rattled after finishing DFL (Dead F@!$* Last) in the Mini Golf Championships I was out for redemption in the BC Cup on Sunday.

Ripping out of the gates on the new horse (Kona Hei Hei Supreme) I quickly gapped the field going into the opening climb and everything pointed to a great race ahead. 2 minutes later it turned into a Tabernacker race as I mis timed a shift and destroyed my new XTR front derrailure and chain at the same time. With the race rocket upside down for TLC, the other racers stormed by as I used my butterfingers to set a new record for fixing a chain. I did a Taiwanese job of it though as it broke again 3 seconds later. Fixing it properly this time like a Nerdy Japanese automobile technician I was soon saddling back up to start the chase back up the the leaders. Coming around the first lap a little under 5 min down gave me a glimmer of hope as I new it was going to be a longer 2hr+ race.

With 4 laps to go on a demanding course and loving the new race machine I set the cruise control on high and slowly reeled in the leaders. Each lap had a 13 min climb followed by a wicked 6 min dh that the downhillers raced on the day before and then a short 5 min flat singletrack section through the woods. It seemed I was gaining about 1 min-1.5min a lap on the climb, a little bit on the decent and then losing a few seconds on the flat section which my middle chainring couldn’t keep up too. In the end the new rocket machine and I came in 2 min ahead of Greg Day (Rocky Mountain) to take the first legit W of the season.

It was a nice victory having family and friends on hand and I wasn't too sure how the legs were going to work after a week of treeplanting. I will also admit I was pretty lucky to have my double refixed chain hold togethar for the rest of the race as I had used a broken chain link to fix it.

In the past my Bro and Dad have come to such episodes as, Seat Falling off BC Cup, Double Flatter Nationals, 70 ft'r Ass slide Canada Games and Pukey Puke 24 hrs of Adrenaline. Needless to say I didn’t want to add to that list.

After the race I was convinced on a fast forward trip to Tofino for a day of surfing on holiday monday. Rainy, windy, wet and another new addiction is formed. Santa if you are listening I would like to wish for a new surfboard, wet suit, hoody, gloves and booties for Christmas. PS I am not sure where I will be but I will shoot off fireworks so you can find me and I will have lots of cookies and milk.

]

Next up is the BC Road Champs this weekend in Beautiful Victoria BC. Things will start off with a 4 km Hill Climb Friday night with Tour de France rider, Ryder Hesjedal on the start list. On Saturday we will race 140 km up the wild west coast to Port Renfrew and back. Sunday will close the weekend out with the historic 75 lap Bastion Square criterium in the heart of Downtown. The legs are screaming to be let loose.

May Long

Blink. kaboom, 1 week bike tour, 1 decent bc cup race, 1 week planting in the Rockies, 2 new factory race bikes.

Intermission.

Here we come Nanaimo for BC Cup race #2. Long weekends are always gongshows. May for sure. Tonight is a Wallace boy's night out as the Bro, Dad and I are headed out to the stix for bonfires and bull shit. Tommorow its racer campout on the ocean then game day on Sunday. Monday? we'll see whats left over in the tank.

Here we go.....

Tabernacker

There's great races, good races, alright races and then there's the Tabernacker races. Last Sundays island cup xc in Parksville was a Tabernacker. The race started good with Team Yukon (Daniel Sessford) and I taking a solid lead off the front. That was where the goodness ended.

Fifteen minutes into the race Team Yukon took a muddy corner in overdrive. I figured he was going to eat it hardcore but apparantly the laws of physics don't always apply. Seeing Yukon make the corner I figured what he could do I could do as well. Not happening. Logics took over and the wheels slid out and I torpedode 30 km/hr into a stand of dead willows. Stunned, bloodied and stuck I peeled myself and my tangled bike out of the mess just in time for 3rd and 4th place riders Sullivan Reed (Team Prince George) and Carter Hovey to catch up. Carter was soon dropped as Sullivan and I gaver hard to catch Team Yukon on the long fired road climb.

In the pre-race briefing the organizer had informed us the local loony toon characters had changed some of the course markings. Apparantly we were to follow some arrows but not the others. Having not pre-ridden the course neither Sullivan and I were to sure which arrows were fake and which were real.

We found out in a hurry as the fireroad we were on deadended in the middle of a cutblock. Already 4 minutes off course in a 1 hr race I was content on calling it a day and rode into the cutblock to find a place to curl up and sleep. Sullivan wasn't too ammused and insisted we try to get back on course. I felt bad as Sullivan had drove 10 hrs from PG for the race so I saddled up and we headed back down the fireroad. We ran into 25 or so other lost racers. We turned them around and eventually got back on course to ride humbly to the finish.

All in all it was a text book Tabernacker race. I was impressed with the effort Daffy duck and Twitty bird put into getting us lost as they hadn't just changed arrows to get us off course but they had put up more arrows once we were lost to insure we got royally screwed. Grade A effort boys. Off to work...Pedi Cabing.....

Springtime on the Island

Victoria is an unreal place to train in the springtime. The last few weeks have been full of local races, exploring new roads and trails and finding out just why this place is Canada's cycling capital. Former Canada Cup racer, Carter Hovey, showed me a whole new side of Victoria when he took me up on the highland xc trails. I've ridden my xc bike over 100 times in Victoria, always at the Hartland Dump trail network. What Hovey showed me boggled my mind. There are months of exploration ahead, apparantly the "Dump" only makes up about 10% of the trails around Victoria. Super stoked to get out there to get lost in the future.

The races have been solid. The Island Cup XC series out here is probably the funnest race series in Canada. 80% singletrack courses, solid rider turn out, BBQ's, super laid back racer attitudes and $20 entry fees bring us all back to why we started biking in the first place. Last week in Cumberland was no exception. The race was fast from the start with Stefan Widmer (Rocky Mountain) and I gapping the field early. I had a good legs and could set the tempo up the climbs but Stefan is an unreal bike rider and would constantly gap me on the singletrack. In the end the best rider won on the day, not by much as I came in 40 seconds behind. Good times for sure.

The local VCL (Victoria Cycling League) is a solid series as well with weekly wednesday night road races on 2-3 km road loops out in the countryside. I had a 2 race winning streak going into the race last night but was outduelled by Nic Hamilton and Marcel Arden, both riders coming off strong rides at the Walla Walla in the States including Hamilton's victory. With a strong field I decided to set the tempo by attacking at the gun. Didn't work out. Ended up 5th which was solid considering I'm training for Marathon races and rode 6 hrs before the race. This weekend is another Island Cup race upisland in Parksville.

The other night we had a small dinner party in Victoria with homemade Veggie burgers and Chocolate Moose. Below is the Chocolate Moose recipe, courtesy of Canadian Ski Mountaineering Champion and fellow Jasperite Reiner Thoni.

Good for You Chocolate Moose

4 ripe avocados
1 cup coconut milk or almond/rice milk
1 cup cocoa powder
add sweetener to taste of your choice. Agave nectar or real maple syrup makes it smooth and healthy. Bannas or dates are also great but not as smooth. Stevia is another all natural, no calorie sweetner option as well .
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla seeds

Method

-Put all the ingredients into a food processor, or a blender, and blend until smooth.
-If it is not sweet enough add more sweetener and if consistency needs adjustment add more avocados to make it thicker and water or milk to make it thinner.
-Next, place in a bowl and put in the fridge for 1 hour. Keep in mind when mixing ingredients that it will firm up in the fridge.
-Serve with fresh fruit to enjoy this guilt free treat!

Loaded with healthy fats, antioxidants and electrolytes it not only tastes good but it feels good to eat!

Nice Work Reiner!

Juan De Fuca

Being out in Victoria has ignited a fire which has made it tough to stay off the bike. Endless roads, rockin trails, decent weather and a lack of sketchy central american dogs to chase me while I ride has made it quite enjoyable. Too much riding in April can be a problem in August though, so last week I made a point of staying away from the bike and set out to trek the 47km Juan de Fuca trail with my friend Lilla.

The trail is known as the little cousin to the West Coast Trail and the entire length of it within view of the ocean. With rocky cliffs, suspension bridges, waterfalls dumping into the ocean and waves crashing into the rough West Coast the views were pretty unreal.

The first two days were spent hiking up and down big creek gullies, we figured we made about 100 m horizontal movement for each 1 km hiked. At one point I thought I heard howler monkeys, Lilla being from the East coast pointed out they were probably sea lions. Hmmm, would've never known.... Next we thought we were seeing hoards of 100's of seals, but they turned out to be giant kelp and logs. Weird. Tides were another problem. With parts of the hike on the beach it would've been wise to check out the tide tables. Nothing 1 hr of waiting and trying to time the waves can't fix. I got pretty wet, Lilla showed better finesse and made it across dry and lady like.

The third day we woke up to rains, hiked for 4 hrs, then it started to rain sideways as gail force winds moved in and started knocking branches and tops of trees down. Hiking the next 4 hrs in the storm, on icy wet board walks and ankle deep mud with the tree's tossing crap at us was an adventure. Reaching my pickup at 6pm in 100% saturated clothes but our heads still in tact was a relief.

Rrrrrrrrr..a.rgggrgrag.. Was my pickup trying to start. F&%#@ piece of s#*$&# was my response. A couple home mechanics were in the parking lot and they helped us in the pooring rain for over an hr. No Luck. Still in wet clothes and ice cold I renamed my truck B-POC (Black Piece of Crap) and then we hitched into Port Renfrew to call the tow man. We were dropped off at the local pub, our friends drove away, we walked up in the pooring rain, saw the closed sign, swore again and then looked around for another hideout. No luck. Power was out all over town and there was nothing else in the town. Too our luck a guy came out of a back room in the pub where he was watching the new star trek movie. He felt sorry for us, let us inside, made us tea, gave us a phone too use and then let us hang out till the tow truck arrived.

2.5 hrs later the tow truck showed up and we started towing B-POC 120 km back to Victoria on the sketchy Coastal highway which was now littered with trees and branches. Half way back we went by the trailhead we had started the hike at. 3 days earlier I had stashed my bike in the bush as I had used it to get to the start of the hike after dropping B-POC off at the other end of the trail. I convinced the tow truck driver to stop for 10 minutes so I could hike down the trail to retrieve the bike.

Running down the trail, in the storm, in the middle of the night, with a small headlamp was a gongshow. After running around in the woods for 30 minutes resembling a chicken with his head cut off I waved the white flag on the mission and headed back to the tow truck to humbly continue our journey home. At 12:30 am we finally reached Victoria to conclude the 17hr hiking day, minus a bike, a working truck, and anything of any sort still dry.

The next morning my brother Dustin, Lilla and I spent the day ripping B-POC apart. Luckily Dustin is a top notch home mecahnic and he figured out the problem and pointed Lilla and I to do the labour. 6 new spark plugs and spark plug wires later and B-POC was back to life. Apparantly spark plugs should be replaced every 3 yrs or so. Mine were 9 yrs old.... Prevenative maintenance has always been on the dusty pages of my dictionary. It is now on the front cover, highlighted in bold letters and in three different languages!

A few days ago I went back and found my bike. Much easier in the day light. In the end I'm not sure if the hike fit properly into the term "rest week" but it was a solid enough adventure to help ease a guy's mind who is going through post Central America travel syndrome.

This weekend its up Island to rip some trails in Campbell River and try my luck at the Island Cup XC race in Cumberland on Sunday.

New Sponsor- TRIWAY

Proper bike fit is one of the single most important things for a competitive biker. When every pedal stroke counts its nice to know you and your bike are operating at 100% efficiency.

The past two yrs I have been lucky enough to have had Luke Way fitting my bikes for me. Luke is a fellow Jasperite who now lives in Calgary and operates TriWay bike fitting. His setup is second to none with lazers, live video feeds, wattage meters etc. When I leave his place I know my bike and I our working at optimum efficieny and I have one less thing to worry about for the yr. Thanks Luke!

Check out his site at http://www.triway.ca/


After last weekends sub-par results my perfectly fitting road bike and I took on the local race scene in Victoria on Sunday. I was a little nervous going into the Newton Heights hilly criterium as the course is just over 3 minutes long and half of that is a steep climb. Doing 15 laps of the course is the equivalent of doing 15 x 1.5 min max intervals with 1.5 min "rest" between.

Not too keen on doing an interval session I attacked on the first lap and set a high tempo for the race. Too my suprise nobody followed and after 13 laps I lapped the field and took the first victory of 2010! A low key local race is nothing to get to excited about but its definatly a confidence booster to know that the winter training has been effective thusfar.

Race Weekend

Cracckkk!! That was my shin hitting a cut off log
on a fast decent during the first XC race of the yr in Port Alberni last weekend. 3 seconds later I picked myself up off the ground and looked down to see a ostrich ready to hatch out of my leg and blood flowing freely. The pain was at the level of whole leg numbness which is scary as I wasn't sure if things were broken down there or not. Luckily things were alright although there was a good limp for the next couple days. First and hopefully last DNF of the yr.

The day before was a 120 km road race in Vancouver. The legs felt good but I'm pretty sure guys were peaking for this pre season training race. My goal going in was to empty the tank. Managed to do that in the first 10 laps through various poorly time attacks and chasing down breaks. Forgot to eat, cracked and then spent the last 2 laps hanging on for the bunch sprint. My elephant sprint came out and I finished 28th out of 35 or so. Pretty stoked to cream 7 pack filler roadies.

After the race weekend I headed up to Campbell River to ride with racer bud Simon Tremblay. Simon had the week off from fixing helicopters so we spent 3 solid days ripping up some great singletrack in the area. Cumberland, Forbidden Plateau, Campbell trails... Definatly some of the best kept riding secrets in BC. Riding road bikes is cool if your going some place but theres really nothing like ripping through the woods on some tight singletrack.

Last night the 3 week road trip came to a hault as I pulled into my bros place in Victoria. Pretty stoked to dump my travel bags upside down and start to set up base camp.

Hell ya Canada!

Canada is unreal. Getting back in time to catch the final weekend of the Olympics in Vancouver was even more unreal. The amount of Canadian pride shown and the party in downtown after the gold medal hockey game was out of control. There are good parties everywhere but this one was in its own league. It made Carnival in Panama look like a small town high school party. Good Work Canada! 14 Golds is going to be tough to match.

With the Olympics over it was off to the mtns to visit the folks. Theres nothing like home cooking or sleeping in a room filled with fresh Canadian air. Central America is awesome, and I hope to continue to use it for my winter training grounds in the years to come but everytime I return to Canada I am overwhelmed just how huge and amazing this place is.

Last Sunday my mind was hurting as it tried to grasp the beauty of skiing 55km around the Tonquin Valley loop of Jasper with Jasper Ski gurus Dave Mcdowell, Tony Jones and friend Lilla from Nova Scotia. Skiing below 10 000 ft snow clad peaks, touring over a high mtns pass and ripping 25 km down a river through tight singletrack ski trails has left my my mind spinning after the previous 4 months in the jungles. A few days later we skied up a local river canyon, broke a ski, fell in the river and howled with wolves 200 ft away. Unreal.

The weather is another story. It has been nice up here but a few days ago I hopped on the bike for the first time in 10 days to start up the training again and had a bashful time to say the least. With 2 inches of fresh snow on the ground, just enough to cover the glazed ice trails it turned into a bruising day. I crashed more times in the 3 hr ride then I have in the past 4 yrs combined. Two of them were gooders. Crashing on an old injury riddled shoulder from hockey wasn't ideal. The one that hurt less physically but more mentally was standing going up a hill, having the bike slide out from under me and falling backwards on my head. It felt like getting laid out in center ice by a 220 lb d man after a suicide pass. When I finally made it back home I was feeling like Ovechkin must have after our Candian Junior team rag dolled him in the 2005 World Juniors.

The last week was highlighted with a road trip through Western Canada's major cities with Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver on the list. Had a great 150 km ride through the foothills of Calgary with Ultra endurance crazy Dallas Morris last Sunday. Last time we rode togethar it was 2am in the morning and Dallas was shouting at me to cowboy up as I was curled over my bike trying to lay an egg during the 24 hrs of Adrenaline Worlds.

Back in Vancouver now, living out of the truck for a few more days. Things are starting to smell a little funny in there. Usually the first sign its time to set up camp somehwere and get things back in line. With my bro out in Victoria with an empty bedroom available I may have a solid home for a while.

Goodbye Costa Rica-Panama, Hello Vancouver.

Kaboom! 3.5 months in Central A. and base training is done for oh 10.! Capped it off with a splendid 5 day voyage back to San Jose from Panama.

Day 1 was a 3 hr hike a bike, 2 hr ride through the mtns. Met 12 Germans coming down the trail and was told I was out of luck as it was impossible to go up there with a bike. Hahahah. Funny people.

Day 2 got baked for 9 hrs in the sun. 4 crappy flats, 1 crash = broken off front derailleur and eventually a 35 km hitch with a bunch of grungy watermelon workers in there wagon to the un touristic town of Palma Norte.

Day 3 nice 3hr cruise along the ocean to gringo surf vill of Dominical. Spent the afternoon cross training (aka battling riptides and cruising around with a couple of Swedes.

Day 4 another nice cruise to Costa Rice tourist central of Manuel Antonio. Drafted a semi for 35 min. Pretty stoked. Monkeys, iguanas and swimming in the hostel.

Day 5 was a top notch 10 hr ride through the mtns back to SJ. Asked for directions to San Jose and was told ¨Nope, too far to bike¨. Alright, but which way is it. ¨Nope can't be done on a bike in one day.¨ Alright I get the point. Asked 3 more people for directions (3 is the magic number as everybody will till you a different way). Once I had the 3 different directions and distances I took the average and headed out. First 3 hrs got sun baked royally. Next 3 hrs the road went up. Final 4 hrs were spent between being curled up in a ditch, riding backwards 4 km to pick up a lost glove, eating 2000 calorie sugar load followed by 2 hrs of ripping to my buddy Ronald´s town of Santa Ana. One last 20 min hill effort up to Paolo Montoyas house to watch him pack for his trip to Italia to race world cups for the summer then down to Ronalds house for a sleep.

Today I woke up broken and satisfied as the body is done for a few days.

Tommorow it is off to Vancouver.

Thank you Ronald, Paulo, the Tedman Family, the Wynn´s, and everyone else for helping make this voyage a memorable one!