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.