Tahoe with Sanjay

I decided to go up to Northstar with Sanj a few weeks back for some riding and to race. I rolled up to Orange County right after work and hung out with Wes for a few hours while Sanjay got everything ready. We ended up leaving Irvine at around 9pm, ouch. We arrived promptly at 4am and caught a few hours of sleep before we actually go to riding. Northstar is as good as ever thanks to many new trails and trail improvements throughout the mountain. A few highlights include the "livewire" trail that is and absolute blast to ride, and of course all the classic rock-laden trails that are part of the Northstar experience. I did not get any riding pictures because...we were too busy riding. However, we got plenty of pictures of the shenanigans that went on after the lifts closed. We did get to race, Sanjay won followed by Lealand and I came in third (thanks to some mistakes on my run). All in all it was a good weekend trip up to the 'star and I am looking foreword to going back up in a few weeks for Labor day.

Mammoth weekend

Wes and I decided to drive up to Mammoth for a weekend of downhilling and off-roading in the Sierras. The weather could not have been better, upper 70's with partly cloudy skies made for sick riding. The mountain was pretty packed with riders, mainly trail and XC riders but it was good to see a bunch of people out on their mountain bikes.

All the trails were in basically the same condition as last year with some minor construction going on at the top of the kamakaze. Upper Velocity was closed even though there was no snow, I don't think I have ever been to Mammoth when that section of trail is open.

Not much to write about...We went off-roading on the backroads on Sunday and due to Wes' "driving" we got a flat a couple of miles out in the wilderness. Check out the pictures that pretty much tell the story of the weekend:

World cup aftermath.

Well, it turns out that I completely threw away the most important race of my would-be career. I was feeling well on race day, did one practice run to make sure my wheels would make it through the qualifiers. Got plenty of rest, went through the bike one final time and headed up to the gondola with Hank to do our qualifying runs. My qualifier was good, that is until I heard the noise of my chain clanking against the spokes about a minute into my run...No worries, I would just need to keep up my momentum and hopefully have enough to qualify. I suppose I did a good job of this because I was well in the top 40 at the split without having a chain. I got through the high speed section well and proceeded to make my way into the lower tree sections. I had a slip in the lower rock garden where my brother and Wes were set up, no worries though I still had speed. pumped the lower section like never before and boosted over the final rock section and onto the bridge huck. I smashed this as much as I possibly could for as not to lose speed upon landing. I pumped the last open ski-run and held the throttle wide open into the last tree section which ultimately led to my demise. I spotted a straight line through those trees and attempted it at full speed. Just as I was to exit this final section towards the finish I hit a tree with my shoulder. The force from the impact caused me to spin off my bike and land in the centere of the course. As I lay there I shouted for someone to get my bike off the course for fear of getting hit by the next rider. Nothing was done and I lay there confused and dazed with a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Once I got my wits about me, I scrambled to my bike and grabbed on to my bars, a piercing pain struck me as I mounted and I almost dropped to the ground again. I managed to pedal-kick myself down the next small slope and towards the finish line. As I came across the finish the pain in my shoulder was very strong, and I felt as though I damaged it severely. When I came across the line I was inspected, taken to first aid and it was determined that I had bruised ligaments and a minor separation in the shoulder but nothing was broken. After some time back at the hotel room it finally sank in that I had thrown away one of the biggest opportunities of my life..it angered me for a bit. Even more so after I saw the split times and the fact that I had missed qualifying by a couple of spots in spite of all my time lost.

When it was all said and done however, this race was an enormous learning experience. I dont think I will ever think of racing the same. The level of competition here was so far above and beyond anything I had ever done and it taught me many lessons that I will apply in the future(mainly not body-checking large trees at full speed). Besides the travel woes returning home, Mont Saint Anne was an amazing event (the party was wild, and Fabian Barel cannot dance!!!haha).

St. Anne day 2 and 3

Everything happens quickly at a world cup. Before I know it I am sitting in the Media room on the eve of race day. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing I still cannot decide, one thing is for sure, tomorrow will be a long day. I found it a bit hard to get up today, I was not tired but feeling rather sick. My first run was a disaster, I fell twice and lost a couple of spokes. I took a break to mend my broken bike. After the break I headed up for another run...when I got to the bottom my wheel had again failed. I re-tightened the spokes and went up for another run, my wheel's final stand. When I came down I noticed the wheel more off balance than before, upon closer examination I noticed a large split in the rim and many deep dents in the sidewall. I will need to find a set to borrow for tomorrow. The course is fast and tough, I will need all of my skill and experience to even qualify tomorrow. Wish me luck, I will for damn sure need it.

Mont Saint Anne day 1

World Cups are badass. The course is badass, the riders are all badasses, the bikes are badass and the lift chicks have badass accents too. While the course is holding true to the hype, this region of North America definately ranks low on my list. The gondolas rock, you can yell at peeps on the course and they are super comfy to ride in. The weather is sticky and warm, it has been raining most of the time except for during practice times. From what I hear the top section is quite different from last year. The top section is mostly man-made and was quite nasty early in the day, I definately got loose in that section. The wide-open section under the lift is fast as hell and the berms are tight and some have massive holes in them already. Everyone is pinned, I got to ride up the lift with some Spaniards and they were super cool and pointed out some lines.

We Made it to Canada!

After a rediculous amount of time in the airports and in the air we are finally in Canada! Many tense moments came and went in the last 24 hours but we are all good to go. We are staying in Montreal tonight and will be driving to Mont Saint Anne tomorrow morning. Check out some pics from today:

The long road to St. anne

Traveling from SLC to St. Anne
Oh Doctor. Well now that Deer Valley is in the books I am looking forward to St. Anne and Canada. Sunday night came and we left Deer Valley, after being dropped off in SLC by a shady character known as “darkness”(left) we proceeded to check into a swanky hotel room. Mikey, Keiran, Julious, my brother and I packed into the large hotel room. Mikey’s mom was still around and we loaded the Sprinter van and headed to Denny’s. Now, it is very true that Mountain bikers are a very unique group of people…With that said, Mikey, his mom, Ian, Shwankey, Christen the JRX chick, Kieran, Adrian and I assaulted the Denny’s. Suffice it to say that we made at least one family walk out of the restaurant and made at least one waitress mad. After dinner we passed out. Julious had an early morning flight and was out of the room without waking any of us up. We however had a late night flight and would haveto kill as much time as possible, no problem right? Eh, well…it was. The complementary airport shuttle dropped us at around 1pm and our flight did not depart till 11pm!!!! Than meant that the SLC international airport would be our home for the next 10 hours! We kept ourselves entertained with whatever we could. Julious called me at around 3pm to rub in the fact that he had arrived at Montreal. I had regular check-ins with my road-trippin mates who were in Ohio last I checked. My brother must have spent at least 6 hours on