The Bicycle Cafe Team - 2012 Year in Review

It's hard to believe another year has gone by already. 2012 has been a huge one for the Bicycle Cafe and all of our riders so as the last few days of the year come winding to an end, we feel like looking back at all the stunning content our shop riders have treated us too over the year.

Graham Agassiz is punk rock and he has been riding for the shop since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Kona and Sherpas Cinema started the year off with this profile video to help you understand why Graham Agassiz is on top of the freeride world.
The Graham Agassiz Profile on Pinkbike

Matt Hunter and John Gibson landed on the cover of BIKE in March.



Dylan, Matty, Aggy and Sean Melnechuk started a new camp program at the Kamloops Bike Ranch to make sure the little dudes got there wheels spinning quickly last spring.
 

 Dylan Sherrard partnered with the boys at Pinkbike.com to produce "Life In The Loops," a monthly feature to bring his riding adventures to a bigger audience than ever before.
 

Matt Hunter has been changing our perception of what is possible on a bike for a large number of years. As April came around Silvia Films released a video that featured Matt pushing the envelope another notch further and starting a new riding frenzy in Kamloops
Silvia - Winter trails with Matt Hunter on Pinkbike


Anthill Films released their long awaited film, "Strength In Numbers," and our local riders stole the show. Hunter crafted another segment filled with creative lines while Aggy set a new standard for Utah segments with some of the most progressive riding the world has ever seen.


Matty Miles and Karl Heldt of Silvia Films won the Pinkbike Video Of The Year contest with a video of Matty crushing the Sun Peaks Bike Park. Shortly after, Matty and Karl signed a gig with Specialized to ensure the rest of their season would be stellar.
Silvia at Sun Peaks Bike Park - Matt Miles on Pinkbike

Dylan took us behind the scenes of a mega-mission he and Graham Agassiz were a part of in Bralorne, B.C.


One of our miniature Cafe DH Team shredders, Tristan Klausat, showed us why we should be keeping an eye on him in years to come.
 Tristan Klausat rides KBR on Pinkbike

Graham Agassiz embarked on an excellent adventure to New Zealand.
Graham Agassiz's New Zealand Adventure on Pinkbike

Graham also met up with Brandon Semenuk to film a couple episodes for the new Red Bull Reality series, "Life Behind Bars."



Ian Killick suffered a nasty crash very early in the season and broke both of his legs. He Surprised us all by making an early recovery and getting back on his bike in June.
 Silvia - Ian Killick riding again on Pinkbike

Dylan, Ace Hayden and Brad Stuart teamed up with some of the NSMB.com riders, as well as Reuben Krabbe and Seb Kemp to produce a huge Kamloops article that was printed in DIRT UK later in the summer. Here is a sweet behind the scenes peek of their project.






 Matty Miles got loose on his fresh Demo 8.
Silvia - Spring Trails with Matt Miles on Pinkbike

Dylan went on his first international bicycle adventure to compete at the Chatel Mountain Style in France. After a week of shredding the Alps he made it home alive and with an 11th place in the FMB World Tour event.


Silvia put together a fresh Sun Peaks Video showcasing how Matt Miles and Karl Heldt get it done in the park... faster than everyone else!
Silvia - Sun Peaks with Matty and Karl on Pinkbike

Silvia also reminded us how spoiled we are to live in the B.C. Interior, close to much of the best riding in the world.
Silvia - All Mountain...All BC on Pinkbike

When the Bike Magazine Photo Annual came out in July, our Jaws hit the floor. Not only did Graham Agassiz land on the cover with a legendary Sterling Lorence photo, Dylan also had a rad two page add and Hunter made a few appearances appearances as well.






 Everyone seemed to take a break from the craziness in August. Most of our riders were found crushing laps and coaching camps at Sun Peaks, shredding gravel pits and enjoying sunset sessions in Taylor's backyard.








 Matt Miles spent some time at Retallack Lodge filming with the Coastal Crew for their upcoming movie. He had a pretty big crash that put him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season but not before he already had a banger segment in the bag. We can't wait to see him in a big film and back on the trails in the spring!



In September we were treated to a new Rock Shox event in the Bike Ranch, a game of B.I.K.E. between Kurt Sorge and R-Dog.
 RockShox B.I.K.E. HD Trailer on Pinkbike

We also got to see a trailer for EXPOSED,  a new video coming from some of our younger Cafe rippers. It's exciting to see there is another group of young shredders on the come up and we cant wait to see what they accomplish in coming years.
 EXPOSED Official Teaser - Luckynugget on Pinkbike

Peopled started getting really excited about fall weather and night riding....


Where The Trail Ends was released at Interbike and our good friend Kurt Sorge stood out from the crowd while he pioneered gnarly new lines all around the globe.


In early October we shipped a crew of Brad Stuart, Graham Agassiz, Dylan and Taylor off to Utah to help Kurt Sorge with constructing a line for the Red Bull Rampage. Our crew felt pretty successful when Kurt came out in 1st place!



Ace Hayden made it into Pinkbike.com's Photo Of The Year contest with a sick Utah picture by Mike Zinger.
 

Back in the loops, Aggy finally got back on his bike after a broken leg and it sure didn't look like he was slowed down at all...
Silvia - Treefur with Graham Agassiz on Pinkbike

Aggy also teamed up with the Tippie bros for some old school gravel pit action like we haven't seen in years.
 Gravel Pit Pillows - Aggy and the Tippie Brothers. on Pinkbike

 As the season began to mellow out in late November, Dylan and Dan Barham put together and unique video to show how rushed everyone is to get there final laps in.
  An Ending from Dan Barham on Vimeo.

And now were nestled into winter. Things are quiet aside from the odd spiky tire snow ride or super cross party, but everyone is anxiously awaiting spring and the plans for 2013 projects are quickly taking shape.

Thanks to everyone who continues to show support for the Bicycle Cafe and all our riders. 2012 has been the best year yet and we cant wait to see what the future has in store.

Bicycle Cafe Team 2011 Super Season Recap

2011 was a big season for riders of the Bicycle Cafe Team, popping up in more places than ever before. It would appear as though everyone is growing up and finding their places in the industry, and still keeping things tight with the shop. Check out this collection of photos, videos and other content created by our team riders and their productions partners from last season!

SPRING
The season had a late start and people were itching to shred. By the time the trails were dry everyone dived head first into make new content. Dylan helped Karl and Matty start the season off with a new media crew titled as Silvia Films.

The first video released was an edit of Dylan showing off his big bike capabilities on the new Kona Supreme Operator.

Silvia Introduction - Dylan Sherrard on pinkbike.com

-Matt Miles back on his bike. Photo by Karl Heldt


Part of the gig with Silvia was that Matt Miles was back on his bike after a two season hiatus. The timing on that comeback seemed perfect as this video of Karl and Matt used carefully constructed cable cameras and flawless riding style to blow peoples minds.

Matt and Dylan also got together with riders like Ian Killick, Kurt Sorge, Graham Agassiz and Brandon Semenuk to do some photo shoots with Dan Barham and John Gibson that have been landing in magazines all over.

-A behind the scenes look at Barham's editing suite.

-Killick getting dumped!

While this chunk of the team were doing there thing, Aggy and Ian Killick were busy preparing for their fast approaching contest season.

Silvia - Graham Agassiz and Ian Killick on pinkbike.com

And Aggy released this 3 day collaboration project with Monster and Solos Productions.

Three Days with Aggy on pinkbike.com

Another really exciting event from the spring portion of the season was Matt Hunter finally getting back on his bike after a long recovery from a shoulder surgery.
Matt started doing some epic rides to get back into the swing of things and he delivered this video of one of his favorite rides.


Finally, a big part of the reason for spring in Kamloops being so fun and our riders being so successful was the addition of Brad Stuart to the Kamloops Bike Ranch. Soon after he started work as the park maintenance manager things were looking better than ever before and riders were as stoked as could be. Everyone got to know Brad a little better and we made a killer Silvia edit in his world famous back yard.

Check out Matt, Dylan and Brad shredding in this one!

Silvia - Going Big With Brad on pinkbike.com

SUMMER
When the summer season rolls around it seems like everyone gets really busy and does there own thing. Unfortunately Aggy went down hard at the 26 Trix event in Leogang and sidelined him just long enough to miss out on coaching at Sun Peaks, but the rest of our crew did a great job holding down the camps.



Also at Sun Peaks, Matt Miles threw it down with an edit to really inspsire everyone's chairlift spirits.

Silvia at Sun Peaks Bike Park - Matt Miles on pinkbike.com

Dylan took off to his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon to produce some fun photos and stories with Dan Barham and Boreale Biking .

-Story and images here on Pinkbike.com

Quickly after all that, Crankworx came around in Whistler.
Aggy got rowdy in the slopestyle, and joined Matt and Dylan in getting sideways at the Whip Off World Championships.

-Aggy upside down out of the Kokanee Cabin


- Matty getting steezy at Whip Off Worlds


-Dylan playing Nac Nacs and Rock n Roll at the Whip Off Worlds


Killick went to Crankworx Colorado and everyone else took a little rest.
Then Brad built a foam pit at the Kamloops Bike Ranch and everyone finished off their summer's feeling a little crazier.

-Dylan practicing super flips. Photo by Riff Stills

- Kris Foster getting right rowdy. Photo by Riff Stills


FALL

Fall pops up like a big surprise every year. Finally it is time to relax a little more and enjoy the best conditions of the season. Fall is time for shredding tacky trails, making epic camping trips happen and watching all the seasons hard work start to appear on film. And the Cafe team was up to just that...

Killick teamed up with Silvia to release this crazy edit that dropped jaws and landed him a spot on the Giant Bicycles Team.

Silvia - Ian Killick rides Giant on pinkbike.com

Second Base dropped the teaser for "From the Inside Out" which featured sweet segments from Aggy and Hunter.

From the Inside Out - Official Trailer on pinkbike.com

We had an amazing From the Inside Out premiere in Kamloops where Karl and Matty also unveiled plans for a Silvia Winter Web Series soon to come and surprised the crowd with this Bicycle Cafe Team Teaser.

Silvia - Bicycle Cafe 2011 on pinkbike.com

Dylan and Graham went on an epic heli biking/back country camping mission with Kona, Sherpas Cinema and Blake Jorgenson to produce a commercial for their Supreme Operators.

Kona / Saint Supreme Operator on pinkbike.com

There is a short article about the project here on Pinkbike.com
and some sweet behind the scenes images seen here on Blake Jorgenson's blog.

As the season slowly started winding down many of our team riders found new friends at the Full Monte Dirt Farm just outside of Kamloops. Ron Penny, Tedman Parkinson and Krystina Green have some heavy hitting lines at their farm and anyone who rides there seems to come back raving about not only the amplitude and excitement of the riding but also the precision and dedication all three farm owners have put into their land. Ron Penny going full speed tuck for the distance world record. Photo by Ian Hylands.

Ron and Tedman went on a mission to set a new distance jumping world record for bicycles. Here is some video about the event and a massive photo article about who they are and what they do.

World Record Jump Weekend on pinkbike.com

Later in the fall Dylan published a Rider Perspective Column on Pinkbike.com, look out for his feature column to appear monthly in the 2012 season.

Finally, Silvia Films followed up their Bicycle Cafe Teaser with a 6 part video series to wrap up the year. Check out each installmentlisted below...

Jeremy Tenisch In Merritt

Silvia - Jeremy Tenisch In Merritt on pinkbike.com

Jamieson with Matt and Ian

Silvia - Jamison with Matt and Ian on pinkbike.com

Jackson, Tritan, Liam and Justin at Sun Peaks Bike Park

Silvia - Jackson, Tristan, Liam and Justin at Sun Peaks on pinkbike.com

Ian Killick Crashing

Silvia - Ian Killick Crashing on pinkbike.com

Matt Miles In The Fall

Silvia - Matt Miles in the fall on pinkbike.com

Dylan Sherrard Season Finale

Silvia - Dylan Sherrard Season Finale on pinkbike.com

Well I think that's that for 2011. Everyone mentioned in this post has a lot of exciting new plans already in development for the 2012 season. Keep your eye out for a lot more action in the months to come and thanks for staying tuned in all year!

Sun Peaks Silvia web edit

Sun Peaks Silvia web edit is up! Full credit to Matty and Karl for an amazing job on this one! Super stoked!

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Silvia-at-Sun-Peaks-Bike-Park-Justin-Terwiel-2011.html

Silvia Coaching Edit

On a chairlift ride part way through filming with Silvia on Wednesday we were discussing our goals of what we were trying to communicate through the edit and how we were going to express them. As well as discussing what I wanted to show with my riding, what kind of shots we were looking for and where this collaboration would come to fruition, we also talked about what riding is to me, the impact that the resort has had on me as a rider and how much of a role coaching plays for me in my relationship with bike riding. We concluded that coaching is such a major part of riding life for me that it would be cool to include some of my riding protégés in the edit to add some color, differentiate it from all the other edits out there and give the younger Café riders some exposure. As Karl and I had Saturday off I suggested that we bring 10 yr. old Café shredder Jackson Philips along to shoot on the weekend. Over the next two days it turned out that 14 yr. old Café slayer Tristan Klasaut was also available and stoked to shoot, so we added him to the roster. On Saturday morning upon arriving at Sun Peaks we found my longest standing riding protégé, 14 yr. old Liam Stevens, up from Rossland with his dad. After some short discussion Liam was added to the stacked Limitless Racing / Café line-up. It was really fun and refreshing to get to film with the three of them that day as they all ride savagely, have a ton of energy and truly love riding for what it is. As well, I have been coaching both the Café boys for the last 3 years and Liam for the last 5 years so it is really cool to see them progressing as riders and growing as individuals. The boys were equally stoked for the opportunity and I heard more than once that filming with Silvia was fulfilling dreams, so I was pretty happy to have them there. Unfortunately Matty was still down for the count from his crash on Wednesday, so Karl had to fly solo, manning two cameras and one extra heavy pack for the whole day. We rode in a train, for the first run hitting Gummy Bear to Sweet One and then later shredding a Steam Shovel / Route 66 / Steam Shovel to the Jump Park. It was definitely a creative challenge to capture four riders down a piece of trail but Karl was up for the challenge and the shots I caught a glimpse of were rather epic. For singletrack sections we rode with myself at the helm followed by Liam, Tristan and Jacky. Jacky stayed pretty much right on our tail despite being on 24” wheels and eating clouds of dust, and Karl made good effect of it. I felt bad but then I did hike both our bikes up most of the steep sections - such is the life of the youngest rider. The boys were all pinned and looking good, their speed keeping up with their excitement levels and their front tires just off the rear tire ahead of them. When we left the singletrack to find some air we switched up the order. It was super fun to be part of the pack and just play all over the hill. Over the wooden creek gap four-pack on Sweet One Jacky led and we sessioned for a good while before moving on. The jump looked gigantic with a ten-year old sailing across it so it made for good effect (I apologize for the poor iPhone picture quality).

We sessioned a number of other sections on the hill while constantly looking for new angles on things and then headed down to the Jump Park. We split up into two groups, with Trist and Liam sending the dirt jump to step down with style and myself training Jacky over the first jump in the Pro Line. As it was the end of the day and we were getting tired, after a couple runs through we called it and ran a massive train down the Bikercross to the bottom of the hill. With big smiles on our faces high-fives were exchanged and then we said our goodbyes, packed up and parted ways. Many thanks to Karl Heldt of Silvia Productions (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silvia/149128011826656) for another epic day of filming. Not a bad day, considering the night previous I hosted my going away party at my house and had 2 hours sleep…

I am now off in Lyon, France for at least the rest of the year and if I get to post it won't be of the Kamloops dirt I love and miss. I wish all the best to my friends and Cafe teammates over the fall and can't wait to go for a rip when I return! All the best!

J

Matty Miles Slaying!

Matty slaying the big step-up in the Sun Peaks Jump Park like only he can, compliments of Royce Sihlis Photography (http://www.roycesihlis.ca/)

Sun Peaks Silvia Edit Shredfest

After my grassland shoot with Rick Hanchard I thought that I was in good enough shape to get back on my downhill bike, so that weekend I headed up to Sun Peaks to meet up with Café rippers Jackson Phillips and Keenan Kovacs amongst others for a day of fun. It was sooo good to be back on my DH bike after 3 weeks off the Glory and the boys were all shredding so I was well and truly happy. I felt good enough to try to get some more filming in so I called up the Silvia boys and set up 2 more days of shooting that week. Matty, Karl and I shot a solid day on Tuesday, filming one run of Barn Burner / Mach / Spicy Taco / Wagon Wheel and the Bikercross over 3.5 hours before I had to head to town for my last night of work.

On my bike I was fairly pinned but I felt a little off balance and lacking focus. As such I had a couple near-death moments, getting in over my head coming into sections fast and not thinking far enough ahead. On a wide-open section of mach I hit a fade away corner into a stump drop chicane on a completely new line, drifting to scrubbing the stump and landing hot on the inside of the next corner before slashing out… definitely a first, and possibly a last. I like to earn my speed by being smart and riding well, but on this day I seemed to have the throttle wide open regardless. Hopefully it resulted in some good shots but really I am happy I walked away in one piece.

That night was my last night of bartending at the Noble Pig before my trip to France, so from filming I was a little tired but I walked away from that night a free bird. We shot again on Wednesday, joined by my friend Royce Sihlis on stills, and put in a solid 5.5 hour day as I had my first completely free evening. For the first run we shot a warm up of sorts down Steam-shovel to the Bikercross before heading towards some more serious terrain on Kaboom to Honeydrop for the second run. Honeydrop is my favorite run and was amazing to ride but exhausting to film.

We shot it in 5 sections, shooting each section 5-6 times, so needless to say it involved a lot of hiking. The s-berms on the face we shot to death until we decided that it wasn’t possible to ride any faster. On my last run down the section I powered a berm, got hot in the next corner and then couldn’t make the following turn. Unfortunately Royce was entrenched right in the spill out zone so I hit the tree beside him and had to bear-hug it to avoid sailing into oblivion. On one of the lower sections Karl caught a moment where I slashed off the side of a rock face to get direction into a following corner and in the process sent a rock flying, illuminated directly by the sun... Definitely a shot I am looking forwards to seeing in the edit. By the bottom of Honeydrop I was so spent I could barely stay on my bike so we called it a day and headed down to the jump park so Matty could get some shots in the low light. My god that boy can lay it out, to the point that he has coined his own style… done right they are no longer Fairclough whips, they are Matty Miles whips. New appreciation for that style of whips for sure. Unfortunately Matty threw it so far sideways on his last jump that he took it to the ground on landing, and though he was ok, his day way done. I got to ride from there down with his full pack and I have new appreciation for the weight the boys cart around while riding from shot to shot during a day of filming.

Many thanks to Matt Miles and Karl Heldt of Silvia Productions (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Silvia/149128011826656) and Royce Sihlis of Royce Sihlis Photography (www.roycesihlis.ca) for their creative collaboration, hard work and mad skills behind the lense. Keep your eyes peeled for the Silvia edit, coming soon.

Golden Light Shoot

Over the Simpcw camp I was quite surprised and really happy with how my wrists held up so I called up some cameramen to try and make something out of the end of my injury-compromised season. Nobody seemed immediately available to shoot, but a friend at work put me in contact with her cousin, Rick Hanchard, who had recently moved to town and wanted to break out his camera. He seemed super excited to get behind the lense and the weather was epic so a few days of rest later I found myself out in the hills of Knutsford seeking to capture some all mountain riding in the grasslands under the golden afternoon light. I was out on my little Giant STP, which is an absolute blast to ride on the smoother, flowing terrain on Knutsford. We shot for two afternoons in the grasslands and I was really happy with what we came out with. Check it!

Many thanks to Rick Hanchard for the excellent shots and hard work!

Nationals Disaster and Simpcw Sun Peaks Camp

Coming out of the Sun Peaks Freeride Camp this summer I was reminded of the reality that you just cannot rush coming back from injury. The day previous to the camp I had a hard fall and injured my hands, among other things, straining tendons in my wrist and fingers. The first day of the camp I was unsure if I would be able to hold on to the bars but through pain killers, medical tape and ignorance I made it happen as I really wanted to coach. Over the five days of the camp, through adjusting my hand position on the bars in order to guard the injured fingers, I brought back some old tendonitis and irritated a bunch of nerves in my wrists. After the camp I was unable to grip my bars so I was forced to take some time off the bike and work with my physio to try to regain my ability to ride. For the two weeks preceding Nationals I saw my physio 5 times a week to advance the healing process, employing the ultrasound machine, alternating hot and ice baths and stretching. Two days before Nationals Kevin taped up my wrists to mid-forearm and I went for a light ride to test out the progress. I was pleased with the results, other than the excruciating tape removal, so I shaved my wrists and decided that I would try to compete that weekend in Panorama. I packed up my van and after work, powered mainly by hopes and dreams, made the trek to the Kootenay Valley. I slept in my van and in the morning awoke with a strange stiffness in my wrists. After a good breakfast, warm-up and stretch and receiving my registration package I geared up under sunny skies and headed up the hill. When I dropped in to my first run I found that I had very limited grip strength, although I hadn’t taped my wrists, so I took it fairly easy while getting reacquainted to a course I had raced a good few times before. When I got to the bottom I taped my wrists up tight and headed back up for a second run. Upon dropping into the second run the support helped me feel noticeably better so I started to open it up a bit and play on the track, although I was far from 100%. The Panorama course combines high speed with flow, gnar and tech. I felt comfortable on the flowing sections but had trouble gaining confidence enough to truly let it go through the burly sections. About half-way down the trail I stopped to look at tech transfer through the rocky creek-bed section. I was stretching my forearms while scoping the entrance and I felt a zinging pop in my wrist. My immediate concern turned into legitimate worry once I tried to grab onto the bar as I couldn’t close my ring or pinky finger onto the grip with any strength. The rest of the run I basically had to hold on with my middle and pointer fingers of my left hand to make my way down, downgrading my grip to one finger when I needed the front brake. It was really frustrating because the rest of my body felt great except for the one stupid limitation. When I got to the bottom I phoned my physio for advice and ended up looking up a physiotherapist at the hill. A few hours later I was again in the hands of a specialist trying to find a solution to enable me to ride. Try as we might what my wrists needed was time, so I was forced to call the race and drive home empty handed – definitely not what I was hoping for when I had made the trip in the opposite direction. When I got home we concluded that I had some temporary nerve damage along with advancing tendonitis that would most likely take 6 weeks to heal. As I only had just over a month left in Canada before I departed for Europe I decided to call my race season to an end and focus on other things. Over the next couple weeks I was contacted through a friend by the Simpcw First Nations to do a beginner camp for a bunch of their kids involved in their youth leadership program. I was a little tentative as to if my hands would be good to go, but testing them out while commuting lent me enough confidence to agree to the camp. Two days before the camp I went for a light ride and they felt good enough to coach beginners so I was happy. Three weeks after Nationals I was back on my bike and loving it. The group was awesome, filled with keen kids who learned quickly and were a ton of fun. They had never been downhilling before but after three days of coaching were confidently riding all the blue trails on the hill and were confidently challenging technical lines and easier parts of black trails. Aside from the riding, I was also really impressed with the kid’s attitudes and how the Simpcw First Nations are engaging their kids to stay active, learn constantly, get in touch with their heritage and stay out of trouble. I see many economically more advantaged kids who are sorely missing the foundation skills these kids are receiving through their community, so hopefully the future continues to shine brightly for them.

the reign sx!

Well it's getting pretty far into the riding season and I've just recently finished adding a few new parts on to my favourite bike I've ever owned (Giant reign sx). Its prettymuch the perfect do-it-all freeride/all mountain/slopestyle bike. I recently rode it in Crankworx Colorado, and more than a few times I had people come up to me and say "Dude that bike is huge, how are you riding slopestyle on it?!" My response was usually something along the lines of "It's way lighter than it looks." Then they'd lift it and there would be a shocked look on their face. The weight of the bike (33 pounds), Isn't the only reason I like this bike so much.. the dudes at the Bicycle Cafe set up a suicide shifter and a hydraulic gyro for me so that I can spin the bars as many times as I please without having to prewind them or worry about kinking my cables. Last but not least, the guys at Loaded U.S.A. hooked me up with red wheels, bars and stem along with a seatpost and clamp for this bike. Not only are they the most luxurious looking components I`ve ever laid eyes on, they`re also insanely tough. I aboslutely pumelled my bike in Colorado and I`d check my bike at the end of the day to see that everything was still straight as an arrow! I don`t know how you could possibly make anything that tough, but they did. That`s all I`ve got for now, see you on the trails!

Sun Peaks Freeride Camp Day 1 and 2

Over July 4-8 Sun Peaks hosted their 5-day long Freeride Camp and I was hired on as lead coach. Fourty-two riders from across Western Canada came to the hill to improve their skills and shred with the best. The coaching staff included a large Bicycle Café contingent of Matt Hunter, Graham Agassiz, Dylan Sherrard, Ian Killick, Thomas Sullivan, Shawn Melnechuk and myself, as well as my father and Chayse Marshall. The camp started out a little painfully for a few of us, as Aggy was coming back a broken elbow and Dylan, my Dad and I all had hard bails on Sunday. Mine wasn’t too pretty and I was sharply reminded of why I only leave my full gear behind once every couple years. Yeah, one of those…

So day one started without full confidence that I would actually be able ride, but a few Advil, a little athletic tape and some mind over matter saw me at least able to hold onto the bars. As my bike was in the shop waiting for parts for my fork I picked up one of the rental bikes to ride for the first couple days. Headlining coaches Hunter and Aggy were joining us on day 2 and 3, so I got Café shredder Thomas Sullivan to move up the ranks from a tail-gunner and kid I used to coach to one of the team. Inevitably the first morning involved a fair bit of time invested in organizing all the groups and handing out all the Dakine kits to the riders, but all in all it didn’t go too badly. By the time the lifts were turning we were all in line, kitted out and stoked to shred.

The first day saw me taking Group 7, the most advanced group of 14-16 year olds. Out of the seven riders, five were return campers and two were returning for their 3^rd and 5^th years, respectively. It is really fun to work with riders over a longer term and get to make progress over consecutive years, so working with this group was a treat. The kids were slaying! Second time up the lift we went over the trail crew who had seen our first run down Route 66 and they were raving at me about the group. We were raving right back about the condition of the trails - the trail crew have been on fire this year and the trails were buff! Many of the trails have been reworked, berms have been added everywhere and overall flow has definitely been increased. After a few runs the kids were tuned back in on the foundation skills so we worked on advanced moves and style for the rest of the day. I found that holding on to the grip with my busted pinky finger was less painful than letting it flop around, so despite inevitably being a bit slowed down after a while I stopped paying attention to it.

On the second day Hunter arrived and I bumped down to group 6 with Thomas joining me as a wingman. The group was full of enthusiasm and the sun continued to shine down strongly. While not quite as fast as the top group, the kids made up for it in enthusiasm, were fast learners and picked up skills quickly. The riders really thought out everything we worked on and with a bit of Socratic method we got them to figure out much of what they needed to learn in their own minds. Thomas, who I coached for a couple years as he was coming up in the race scene, made an ideal wingman and together we worked together to help the kids reach for their potential. By the end of day two we were pushing it with big smiles on our faces, but also starting to feel the effects of two days of non-stop park riding in the heat.