BC Bike Race Here I Come!

Three days to go until the start of BC Bike Race!!!
Wow. This race is finally here and while I have had some ups and downs with training, work, and my bike self-destructing, I believe and am finally fully ready to hammer on some of the best singletrack that the west has to offer.

The course is slightly different from last year with more singletrack riding on the first day by starting the race in Shawnigan Lake rather than in Sooke. Day 6 in Squamish is going to be similar to the Test of Metal route (which means more singletrack) and Day 7 is going to be a longer day of riding in Whistler compared to the short time trial that last years course offered. Check out the course map below:


The best news of all is that Oak Bay Bikes seriously hooked me up! In the meantime, while the Niner Jet9 issue is being worked out, Oak Bay hooked me up with a Rip9 frame! The Rip is very similar to the Jet except that it has a bit more rear end travel , slightly different geometry, and is a bit more beefed up for harder abuse. The good thing about this, is that the bike feels pretty much the same; an amazing ride where the bike simply disappears under you while you flow through the singletrack. I don't find the suspension to be too much and does a great job of hooking up while climbing. As I have been away on work trips, I only just built the bike this past Saturday, got in a solid ride, and again pushed this bike to the limits last night.

I know I keep raving about these bikes but for me, I can't get over the amazing feeling of finally having a bike that was designed for someone my size. I am so glad that I am no longer riding a 26" circus bike. The smaller wheels make no sense for tall people with a high centre of gravity. I now know how a bike should feel and I love it. If your over 6' and your riding a 26er, you simply have the wrong bike and do not know what you're missing.

Bryan Tasaka will be covering the race and doing up a full daily blog report on the MOMAR site so be sure to check it out!

Wish Gary and I luck!

TNO

Victoria to Whitehorse to Sandspit

Yes, I have been way too busy lately. At any other time, I would be more than happy to travel to these amazing places and enjoy the scenery while doing some work while I'm at it. Unfortunately, all this work has coincided with the two weeks leading up to BC Bike Race. This means less riding than I would have liked but on the flip side, also more recovery which means that I should be super fresh on the start line of Day 1.

Now for the bike. As my Jet9 self-destructed in the Test of Metal, I have been without a bike... that is until yesterday. As the Jet9 is going to probably take weeks or months to warranty and figure out the linkage issue, I was left with a hard-tail Norco Nitro 29er that Oak Bay Bikes had loaned me to get by on. However, after taking it for a ride, it just did not work for me. So, I talked to Oak Bay again and they came back with some awesome news. They had a Niner Rip9 in the store and would lend it to me until the Jet9 issue was sorted out. Once this happens, I can swap everything back and then they'll turn the Rip into a demo bike. This was such good news and the best solution that could have possibly happened to me under the circumstance.

I arrived back from Whitehorse on Friday, had the bike built by Saturday morning, and was off for a long epic ride. Five hours later, I came back ecstatic about how fun the bike was just how well it rode. The Rip is very similar to the Jet except there is a bit more travel which was super nice on the rough stuff. I rode a section of trail - that I have ridden many time before - much faster on this bike than I ever have before! So, after all the stress and worry about what was going to happen with my ride for BC Bike Race, I now have a sweet machine ready to hit the line. You'll have to check this thing out. It glows in the dark as well!

Here is a selection of the past seven days!

The City of Whitehorse, Yukon

The City is located right beside the Yukon River which, along with glacial activity, have carved out the landscape and left steep bluffs and nice flat terraces on top.

Some nicely erroded bluffs

The Yukon River looking North toward Whitehorse

Trying to get in some exercise. Crossing the Yukon on a nice 16km run.

The historic SS Klondike paddlewheel boat

No stop to Whitehorse is complete without visiting the Klondike Grill. Excellent food with amazing pie for dessert!

A typical Yukon scene. Mountains, short black and white spruce, some lodgepole pine, and of course, lots and lots of RVs and motorcycles touring the Alaska Highway.

The 'Signpost Forest' in Watson Lake. Apparently, what started as a joke posting a sign saying '1500 -> to Victoria' or whatever, has continued into craziness. They must be in the hundreds of thousands.

Some of the signs are licence plates, some of them are made by people who don't know about it and just take a piece of wood with a marker as do up a sign, while others travel with custom made signs, made in their hometown, and travel with them for thousands of miles just to hang them on their way through.

I just came for the tractor ride though!

Working hard at Good Hope Lake, BC. One of the residents told me, 'If I'm feeling bad about something, I just look up.' Looking around at the surroundings, it was easy to understand his sentiment.

I think this speaks for itself

Flying out of Whitehorse, I spot the local ski hill with Alaska calling me in the background

Alaska calling between the cumulus and sirrus

If heaven is on earth, I think I found it.

On the way to the worksite in the Charlottes, I think I found it again!

A tough day flying in via helicopter

There are hummingbirds everywhere! Ok, maybe it's the suger water! I love these birds.

On a side note, it has been raining constantly here which isn't much of a surprise coming to the Haida Qwaii. What suprised me here though is how pure the rain water is. I am using a water tape which measures water level in water wells and works by using a current between the tip and side of the probe which, when connected either directly or through water, makes the unit beep. Well, in order for the current to conduct, the water must have some ions available to achieve this. First I thought the unit wasn't working. After some cleaning of the probe and changing the battery, I finally figured out that the stream I was using to test if the meter was working was so pure that there was just not enough ions to conduct the current! Try finding that in Vancouver or Smogonto!

As for BC Bike Race, man am I stoked about this event! Seven days of some of the best singletrack around. I simply cannot wait!

TNO

Test of Metal Race Report

Yes, I have been sucking on the blog lately. I've been super busy at work, am going up to Whitehorse this week, going up to the Queen Charlottes next week, and then heading to BC Bike Race the week after for the best week of mountain biking that I'll have yet to experience!

Having said all that, I have been able to get some solid training on the bike in with lots of group rides, and just some good time in the saddle. After putting in over 200km on the road bike on the past weekend, I was feeling really strong and knew that I would be able to put in a solid effort at the Test of Metal.

The Test is the first mountain bike race I've been to in over three years as all of my bike time is usually tied in with adventure races. It was also the biggest bike event that I've ever participated in with over 800 riders ready to push their limits. I was truly impressed with the community support for this event with hundreds of spectators lining the course and cheering on the competitors.

I stayed at Gary's place in North Van on Friday night and then headed up on the Saturday morning. While it seemed like we had a lot of time before the race, before we knew it, we were at the start line ready to go. I have never seen so many bikes together in one location before. The start area was pretty incredible with everyone's bike turned wheels up to hold your spot among the 800 other competitors. This year, they set out estimated finish time area so that the field would be sorted out and you wouldn't have someone who would finish in five hours up with a three hour finisher. I'm not sure this did much though as so many people pushed for the front who simply shouldn't have been there. The reason why this is so important is that after a good initial climb on some roads, you head into some narrow double track which turns into single track and thus, it is hard to pass (especially all the riders who hammer off the start of the 67km race and end up slowing down significantly after less than 15km. So, the start really becomes a full on red-line to get a good place once the trail narrows.

After a moment of silence and our national anthem, the race was on! We were lead out on the highway via a pace car and soon everyone was cranking hard up the first climb. I was in a decent position but wanted to get furthur up front to make sure that I wouldn't be slowed down after the climb. Just before a steep and tight right hand turn, I clicked to gear one down and my drivetrain jammed. Ah... F!@#! I looked down and realized that I had shifted into my big-big combo and as my chainstays are longer on the Jet (than my last bike), the chain was now too short and jammed in this position. I quickly got off, fixed my gearing and was back on in no time. However, in no time, around 50 people had just passed me! I again went to work on gaining some positions but was definitely back of where I wanted to be once we finished the main road climb and entered the double track.

From here, I passed where I could and generally the pace wasn't too bad which made passing even more dangerous on the single track of Jack's trail. Once we got to Alice lake, eveything opened up but here I found myself in a kind of no-man's land. I passed a few riders but a group in front of them had already hammered off. Little did I know, The Test has a lot of road strategy in it as there is a lot of non-technical and fast riding that allows for a good draft line to setup. If you can hook onto one of these, you'll be in good shape; if not, you'll be in no-man's land and end up like me. Fortunately, this didn't last too long until Gary and a few other riders came up from behind and I jumped on. The extra riders also adds speed simply by the motivation of having other people pushing you. We eventually broke into some singletrack, into a new steep climb, and then into Rob's corners. This was probably my favourite part of the course. The trail is a slightly downhill swoopy trail with bermed corners that has to put a smile on your face. I think I even let out a scream! Again, I would have liked to go a bit faster on this section but I had some slower riders in front of me. Because of this, Gary had gapped me a bit and shortly thereafter, on some fast downhill singletrack, I saw him on the side of the trail.

He was standing up (which was a good sign) and was inspecting his bike. I was getting ready to slow down when I called out if he was ok.

"Somebody F-ing cut me off!"

Knowing Gary, I knew that since he swore, and swore in a very angry pissed off tone, that he must be physically ok :)

I took my fingers off the brakes, and kept going not knowing where he was really at.

The trail 'Roller Coaster' was another highlight of the course with the end consisting of steep banked corners and tons of spectators cheering us on. It was quite the sight.

After a bit more riding, I passed through the main aid station that would be the start of the dreaded '9 mile hill'. I had never done the climb before but got some good advice from Gary before the start of the race. First off, the climb is 9 miles from the highway rather than where we start the climb; in total, it's about a 9 km climb. Secondly, it's not all a climb with some downhill sections involved. After hearing horror story comments about this climb, I didn't really find it that bad. I didn't feel like I was climbing my strongest but was picking off several other riders and made up about 10 positions but the time I hit 'lava flow' at the top. I was a bit bagged by the top but once the gradient started going down, I was right back in it. The downhill was super fast with lots of rocks and one particular boulder that could have done me in! I stayed on course and flew down to the top of the powerhouse plunge. Most of the downhill I was on my own with a group of riders in front that I just couldn't seem to catch. As soon as we got to the plunge though, the group slowed and I was able to pass and gap them.

The top of the plunge was a bit hairy at first as my legs were like jello having not used them much on the downhill sections and thus, I wasn't ready for the most technical part of the course. I did put my feet down a few times at the top, and had to stop once as I lost my flow, but once I started to get the ryhthm, I was ready to go.

I was feeling great at this point and had no cramping issues since I stayed up top of my electrolyte inputs over the course of the race. Before the race, Gary actually set me up with an ingenious electrolyte dispensor that is currently top secret. It allows for a one handed intake of a tablet and worked well the entire race. Cudos to Gary for that.

I had a big smile on my face and started flying down the switchbacks of the powerhouse plunge. And that's when it happened.

I heard a load popping noise and immediately knew that something had just happened to my bike. I got to the next switchback, got off my bike, looked things over, and found that my upper suspension linkage was done. Not only was it done, but it had completely self-destructed in three locations!

At first I was pretty pissed but then I just took it in stride, and walked my bike down the rest of the plunge to the aid station.

My race was over.

At the aid station, I met a few people I knew and when I was showing them the damage, I also noticed something else. Not only had the linkage failed in three locations, the rear frame triangle that holds the pivots snapped in half! I have never dealt with a broken frame and breaking one definitely concerns me as doing this in BC Bike Race or a big adventure race can simply mean the end of the event. I knew that this kind of thing can happen with a newly released bike and I guess I took it so well since it gave such as nice ride.

After staying at the aid station for awhile, I noted that Gary had yet to come through. I was pretty sure that he must have dropped out of the race as well and it was after that I found that he was hit by someone off the the trail into the bushes going over 35 km/hour. Luckily, he escaped with no major issues. He did however bruse his quad and break his pinky finger!

Two teammates, one broken finger, one broken frame, and two DNFs.

So, am I pissed about how things went? Well, I'm definitely not happy about it but I can say that I was having a great race up until the break and that the bike was performing incredibly. What does this mean for BC Bike Race? I still do not know how things will pan out at this point. I love the bike but a replacement (of a working Jet9) will likely take several weeks or months and BC Bike Race is only two weeks away! Yes, this is stressing me out but I'm sure I'll figure something out somehow.

TNO

Niner Jet9 Review

After much waiting and suspense, Niner Bikes has released what is arguably the most highly anticipated bike of 2008 - the Niner Jet9.

Niner bikes are dedicated to making, you guessed it, only 29 inch based mountain bikes. They claim 29ers are a revolution and based on what I have seen, read, and experienced myself, I would tend to agree with this. Compared to a 26er, the bigger wheels of a 29er reduce endos, provide unparalelled traction and roll over obstacles much easier; in short, they give you a distinct advantage over 26 inch wheeled bikes. Yes, the wheels do have a weight penalty but the overall advantages far outweigh the weight gains. Here in Victoria, 29ers are seen more and more. Talk to anyone who rides them and you'll get a full smiled and forceful response that may resemble a conversation with a righteous religious zealot; they love their bikes!

The Jet9 was based on its bigger brother the RIP9 which blew open the doors as the best 29er in 2007 and who some claim as the one of the best bikes ever made (read the reviews on mtbr.com). The RIP9 is more of an all-mountain versatile machine that provides 4.5 inches of rear wheel travel which is huge for a big wheel bike (since the larger wheels take out the pounding of the trail, less suspension is required; because of this, more and more people are reverting to 29er hardtails or even fully rigid machines and are loving it). The Jet9 is more of a race ready machine with 3.1 inches of rear travel designed for a 80 or 100mm front fork. The geometry is a bit more racey and the bike cuts 3/4 of a pound off of the RIP frame.

Check out those sweet chrome plated alumium linkages! You can't go wrong with those curvy, sexy seat stays as well! The CVA suspension design is bar none.

After a long delayed boarder hold-up, the frames arrived in town early last week. Eager, I picked up the frame and Fox F29 100 fork and started to build up my ride.

I put on some new 180mm XTR cranks which have been incredible. The longer crank arms are perfect for my longer legs and I can definitely feel the difference in tork when I'm cranking up a steep climb.

Most of the other parts I pulled off the old hardtail and everything came together nicely. I got some new NOKON compressionless cable and installed this for my gravity dropper seatpost which has made it butterly smooth in operation. For those of you who have never heard of the gravity dropper, this thing is amazing.

It gives you the ability to raise and lower your seat by a handlebar mount by 4"; this makes riding a technical downhill section not only safer and easier, but much more fun!

For wheels, I took apart my old wheelset and built up my King hubs to some sweet new Bontrager Mustang rims with the offset spoke bed. I used some DT revolution spokes up front and some DT Comps on the drive side and DT revs on the non-drive for the rear wheel. Overall, I think the wheelset weighs maybe 40 grams heavier per wheel than my old Mavic 717 setup and the Bontrager rims are even stiffer.

For rubber, I picked up some Panaracer Rampage 2.35s which hook up like snot. While they are heavy, the rolling resistance on dirt is pretty low and the traction is great. I'll probably use these in the Test of Metal but might move to something lighter for BC Bike Race which is now just a month away!

So, was it worth the wait?
ABSOLUTELY!!!
This is easily the best bike I have ever had the pleasure to ride. The large wheels combined with just the right amount of suspension and the racey geometry creates a bike that is uttery mind-blowing. The bike simply melts underneath you as you ride it. Maybe it's just that I was riding a hardtail before but I feel like this bike is giving me an unfair advantage.
I'll take it!


TNO