Sun Peaks DH Finals and Provincial Champs

So this weekend was the BC Cup and Canada Cup DH Finals and the Provincial DH Championships at Sun Peaks. For me this represented the last series race for me and the wrap up of the 09 race season. Coming straight from Crankworx I coached a couple days straight at the hill and then set up a couple chill days to get some much needed rest. My roommate Katy’s dad was a first aid attendant at the hill for the xc and dh, so her parents got a condo at the hill for the weekend which Katy, her friend Candace and I also stayed at. Friday night I arrived at the hill and decided to save training for Saturday to conserve energy and wait for the course to break in. We made a huge feast and then proceeded to have a short but super fun evening out consisting of slaying the pool table and dance floor before calling it early. Saturday I did 4 runs to get up to speed in the loose sections, and by the end of the day the upper sections had deteriorated into super deep powder chutes filled with big holes. I saved most of my practice energy for visualization, and by the end of the day felt quite solid on the bike and in good form. That night we again had a big feast and then went into the village to partake in the Café party at Bottoms and the last race of the year celebrations. The Dunbar boys were holding their 16” BMX slalom race at the bottom of the chair with about 50 spectators cheering loud enough to be heard across the village. As soon as I heard they were hosting it I was in. The course they set up consisted of pylons, jumps, flat corners in gravel, burms and a stepdown, all to be completed in the darkness, on a 16” kids BMX, heckled and cheered on by the crowd and at varying levels of sobriety. The timing was accomplished with a freelap system and all the names and times were written with marker on a box. My first run was super fun and qualified me for the super final. My second one was super quick and might have been in the running for the win if I didn’t explode out of the last corner and faceplant before slowly getting up and dragging the bike to the finish line. I ended up only a couple seconds back, but big smiles all round.

After the race I hit the village again and had a super fun night with the girls, the Café crew and a couple of the Dunbar guys. In the morning I banged off two training runs and felt super good. The course was getting BEAT! In the upper section the dust was so deep that your tires floated on top instead of breaking through to the dirt. Pretty interesting sensation indeed. The holes were also getting super bad, but I polished my lines to make the most of the track and felt confident. I spent the rest of the day prepping my bike, visualizing a ton and then staying super chill and hanging out in the village with Candace. A bunch of my family and a couple of my friends also came up to watch, so before I left the village to get prepped I had an extended good luck hug session. It is super cool to feel so supported by your community.

Sun Peaks (cont'd)

After I gathered my gear I went over my bike once more and then headed up the lift for my run. I had a peek at the very top of the course and it was looking pretty haggard. I had a super good warm up and visualized a few more times before it was my time to go. The whole weekend was pretty surreal just drinking in the atmosphere of the race scene at home with all my friends around doing my favorite thing, and the entering the start gate was no exception. The start official counted me down and I was OFF! My race run went really well. The very top was SUPER FUN… pinning loose corners and drifting like mad. I had a few close calls and a bobble in the steeps because the track was falling apart so bad, but held it together and pinned into the high speed middle section. By the time I entered arm pump I was starting to feel the effects of all the sprinting over the flats, but managed to nail all my lines through the tech section so I was stoked. After arm pump I started to really feel my lack of cardio training over my super busy coaching season catching up to me, and hammering across the ski run started to get pretty painful. Upon entering home run I just dropped into my tuck and held on, flat out. I landed the container fall away turn pretty much flat, bottoming front and rear suspension hard, and then had a super fun drift entering into the last couple corners, which all went really well.

The sprint to the finish was one of the most taxing exercises I have ever partaken in… coming out of the last corners I was just yelling at myself to pedal, and my screaming quads listened just long enough to get me through the finish. I finished 11 seconds off 1st in 20th. The results were super tight and the field was stacked…this race defined good competition and makes me want to train my ass off. The result also earned me a 4th overall in the BC Cup Series for Elite Men which I am super pumped on. Overall I was satisfied with my run and the end to the season. I definitely feel being able to focus on training much more next year will benefit me immensely, and I feel I have room to find more speed, so I am excited to do both. After the race everyone was celebrating in the pits, saying goodbyes and planning fall trips to visit eachother. It was a surreal end to an epic race season and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it. Other years it has felt like the race community goes its separate ways after the last race, but this year it feels like a big offering of road trip opportunities to visit my best friends, so I am stoked. After the awards Katy, Candace, my buddy Steve and myself went for a super nice dinner at the Delta. It was a perfect chill cap to the weekend, and a nice celebration and good chance to reflect on the season and all I am thankful for.
All the best.
Justin Terwiel

Sun Peaks promo vid

Yesterday when I returned to the real world from Crankworx I found that Karl had finished the web edit for the Sun Peaks promo vid we shot last week. As well I got some pics back from Drew Summers of the same shoot. Super stoked on all of the, props to them both!
J

Crankworx Bro-down and Shredfest

So just got back from Whistler and I am super stoked. The trip was amazing, being surrounded throughout with tons of racing, friends and the biking community. Crankworx, for all its faults of lineups, crowds and busyness never fails to amaze me with how many people from different walks it brings together. I saw so many people I haven't seen in forever, and so many people I didn't expect to see, it was a treat indeed.
Seeing as the Duffy lake was closed with the Lilloet fire earlier in the week, I arranged to stay in Vancouver Tuesday night on my way to Whis to hang out with my cousin. I haven't seen her in far to long, and the combination of close family, all her friends and a bunch of schenanegans made for a hilarious night.
Wednesday I awoke far too early to drive my cuz downtown to school, and then make the voyage to Whistler. With my limited budget Wednesday was a rest day for me so I hung out, took care of registration, watched the Air DH and checked out all next years goods displayed throughout the village. All of Giant’s new bikes were on there and they pretty much rocked my world. Despite the fact they were offering free demos, with my race coming up I chose to wait and spend the week focusing on the race on my own bike. By the end of the day I was eager to ride, to say the least. I stayed the week with a bunch of juniors I am coaching, and sleeping in the living room exposed to their relentless practical jokes necessitated barricading in my sleeping area so they couldn’t get to me.
Thursday I awoke unscathed and jonesing to get a peek at the Canadian Open course, which I heard was fast, gnarly, super tech and full of serious jumps. I talked to a number of friends, and a few of which who race pro, who dropped out when they saw it. The trail, designed by Tyler Morland, did not disappoint and promised to be right up my alley once I got up to speed. The track was quick even in the tech sections, and extremely fast in the wide open sections. The course was constantly turning over the steep, undulating terrain, with tech commitment moves all the way down. The ground was a pretty equal mix of rock slab, roots and dirt, and the challenging nature of the terrain was compounded by the fact it had been raining all week, so the mud covered rocks and roots made for a fair bit of gleeful surfing. There were also 7 large gap jumps in it, ranging from 20 something to 40 something foot gaps, with around routes on all of them for those unable to hit them. The bottom section remained closed as it came through the boneyard at two points, but was the best finish section I have seen. It was super spectator friendly, completely wide open with a good mix of bermed, flat corners and fall away corners, a hip step down, a big double through the trees, a road gap and a huge finish line jump. Trail builders at Sun Peaks and elsewhere take note; this is a how to design a race track. As I had two days to train I took my time learning the course and memorizing how every line linked together to ride the course as fast as possible. My other big focus was rest so I kept it down to three training runs and one play run, and by the end of the day I had figured out all the mandatory sniper lines and teed up all but the biggest jump.

Crankworx (cont'd)

Elsewhere, the rain prevented the VW Trick Showdown from going down in the boneyard, so the organizers decided to postpone it and integrate it into the slopestyle. That night I went for sushi with a bunch of really close friends I never get to see and had an awesome, chill evening hanging out and conversing over really good food. That night I stepped up the barricade, sleeping in a corner of the dining room under the dining table surrounded by chairs, bikes and everything else I could muster to protect my sleep.
Friday was another training day for me, and I focused on really getting up to speed, dialing everything in and hitting everything the way I would in my race run. It had rained overnight and there were a few spurts in the morning, but the weather forecast called for improvements. The challenging course really offered me a chance to play with my mental game, and watching how the world cup guys approached sections helped me nail it down. I kept the runs again down to three training and one play, and watched a bit of the Giant Slalom. I am super stoked to have small bikes again next year so I can race small bike events, which I have missed. I did a bunch of runs in the dual slalom course and felt super fast, but on a big bike you just can’t be competitive against others on quick, efficient bikes designed for those tracks.
Saturday held the Monster Energy Slopestyle and a dedicated rest day for me, so I got my gear prepped for the race and watched the big show, which blew mine and everyone else’s minds, as per usual. I had been talking to a bunch of the slopestyle guys throughout the week and it was cool to see how their runs evolved throughout training and culminated in their competition runs. I had a bit of envy of all my friends competing all day, but the slopestyle course was really designed for tricks on small bikes and the DH track had plenty of senders, so I just sat back and enjoyed the show. I was also really happy that none of my friends got injured in it this year, which is on my mind when I watch them and has had some bad moments in the event in the past, so that made me happy. After the event I had a drink with some friends and then called it an early night to clock some good rest before race day. Since my juniors headed home on Saturday, that night I stayed with a friend’s parents in the village, and when I got to their place they were making a late dinner, so I ended up having an amazing meal with good wine and more good conversation.

Canadian Open

Sunday I awoke, got my gear together and headed up the hill to do a couple quick training laps. The trail had gotten considerably rougher over my rest day and a few new lines had developed, but for the most part my lines still held. The course had dried up a fair bit in the open sections, but in the trees it was still pretty wet and the roots were still slippery as hell. The last section through the boneyard was finally open, so I got two runs through it and it was a joy. I got two solid practice laps in but my suspension had broken in considerably since its service during the week, so on the larger features I was bottoming pretty hard and I felt the need for change. I then spent some serious time dialing in my suspension with the help of the boys at the Giant tent until I felt satisfied, and then took a play run in the park to feel it out and get used to how it reacted. Nothing is more satisfying then finding a perfect suspension set up, so I was thoroughly stoked upon finishing that run. The rest of the day until my run I chilled out, made some good food and chilled out at the Fairmont pool. The weather improved considerably, and when I went up for my run the course had dried out a ton. This was especially a relief going over the big triple step-down under the chair, which had a steep off camber slimy rock face corner run in directly into the muddy lip you had to pop to clear a good 35-40 feet to make the wide open landing so you could send another gap. Up top I had a solid warm up, visualized a number of times and got my head in the right place. In the gate I was stoked but relaxed and in total control. My top section was super fast, and the only part of the track I was unsure about how I would fair on, a steep, sniper slippery rooty run in to gap line into the run in to a big rock double went super well.

The landing cornered right into a super steep rock face roll over to tech corner section before the big step down, and there were about 30 drunken Aussies and 60 others cheering super hard.

It was fairly epic to pin it in front of such a large, appreciative crowd. I got pretty loose under the chair, but managed to nail the big step down and the whole middle section. At that point I briefly noticed my right shoe feeling loose before I sent the last step down under the chair. When I landed and hit the super chunder right corner into the trees my left knee pad slid right off my knee, and I was briefly thrown off trying to tell myself it didn’t matter as I descended into the start of super tech middle section. When I hit the tight right hander at the bottom of the initial wooded pitch my foot nearly came out of my shoe and at that point I had Gee Athertons words “this is falling apart man” running through my head when he had his shorts come undone and slide down his legs at the World Cup Finals last year. My middle section was a bit of a blur for me fighting to get my shoe back straight on the pedal without my foot coming out over the super tech and steep rocks and roots. I managed to survive the tree section and the super steep gnar root chute upright, albeit awkwardly, with a few near deaths. On the flat, wide open exit to the trees I finally had a chance to sit down and get my foot straight on the pedal. Once accomplished I hammered across the flats into the bottom section. The bottom was super fun, full of jumps, fast corners, cheering spectators and the commentators booming over the loud speakers. As I came through the finish with one knee pad and one shoe in tact all I could do was shake my and laugh. Despite everything that went wrong I was thoroughly stoked to have the opportunity to run such an amazing track and have such a good experience. The track and the atmosphere left me buzzing, and after racing this track everything else is going to feel like childs play, so I am stoked to take this race and build this week into my race run at Sun Peaks this weekend. In the Open I ended up 38th out of 64 pros from around the world who started, 6 seconds off 20th and considering the misfortune of my apparent poor preparation, definitely within striking distance of a really solid result. Ahh, I will earn the right to a run devoid of stupid errors yet. Another good lesson.
Now preparation begins for the Canada Cup Finals, BC Cup Finals and Provincial Championships taking place at Sun Peaks this weekend. I am super pumped. Wish me luck.
J

crankworx update!

Today was a pretty chill day for me, it was the air dh race, after crashing super hard in 3 consecutive days in a row, i took it easy on my sore body and pretty much coasted through a-line. I made a couple small mistakes and one major one because of the rain again... i ended up getting 39th out of 77 after sliding wayyy to much and going to fast into a corner and blowing it out and riding over the next berm... aggy said i should take it easy so i did since he knows what hes talking about.. 39th out of 77 may not seem too great but im acutally kind of stoked on chillen and getting that against worldcup racers who are all riding insane bikes and protos... now im just super stoked on riding with bros without weight on my shoulders and having a good time! hope to see everyone soon!
Ace

Too much excitement!

Were in the heat of summer and it is craziness all around. I haven't been riding nearly as much as in the spring but deff still having blast. All I was doing for a while was riding my downhill bike but I was really excited to get out with Killicker and a couple of the other kids for some purple bike shredding in the bike park. I get bored easily and find I need variety in my life so switching up my riding is always a great treat. I have even been doing some XC riding. Big Bri and Chuffer from the Cafe in Canmore took me on a super xc ride a short while back. They were just chillin out in the 40 degree weather while I busted my balls just to keep up with them. Their fitness almost frightens me, Big Bri claims that I would need to do a hard ride such as that one almost everyday for nearly fifteen years If I ever want to be in the shape he is in. No Thanks! I recently had a fun oppourtunity at Sun Peaks where Chayse Marshall, Matt Hunter and Myself got to do a little shred-guiding for Ryan Kuhn and his Pinkbike Roadtrip Possie. They wrote a short article about our trip for pinkbike.com today. I am headed to whistler for crankworx this weekend and really excited to meet up with a lot of Bros I havent seen for a while! Last but not least, I nabbed my first magazine cover!!! A photo that Dan Barham shot of me and my kiwi friend Kelly Mcgarry last fall is being run on the cover of BIG BIKE, it's a french magazine that Aggy has been on the cover of lots. Also, Poor aggy went down hard filming for NWD 10 the other day and broke his collar bone again :( luckily he is partying in whistler right now to keep himself happy, im excited to join him tommorow! Talk soon! P>S> FALL IS COMMING

Rippin in Revelstoke....

The last few weeks have been somewhat uneventful.... bike-wise that is. I just haven’t been able to get myself motivated to ride, especially when it is +35 out! So, I’ve been hiding out, lounging in the pool, trying to stay hydrated with the newest batch of home brew. I did manage to get out to ride Silverstar a couple of times so far, and also made a trip to North Vancouver to do some old favourites up on Cypress and Seymore. After that Jay and I headed to Whistler for a day of getting our asses kicked. I realized after the Shore and Whistler, I no longer care for my single crown forks! I haven’t felt that frustrated with my riding in a long time. So, I now have freshly built 888’s on, some renewed confidence, and cooler weather to get me back in the game. This past weekend a group of us (Warren Todd, Jeff Sykes aka. Trail Nazi, Jay, Rob and I) decided to try and find some cooler trails, so we headed out to Revelstoke. We rode Martha Creek trail, which starts at an elevation around 6,000 ft. It’s a beautiful singletrack trail, not very technical, but just fast and flowy. Everything seemed to be going so well until about ¾ of the way down. Jay was behind me trying to get some footage with our video sunglasses, and ended up sliding out on some loose dirt, crashing into the ground with his face! The sunglasses broke and basically cut a large chunk of flesh out of his face! The blood came gushing out like a faucet! It was so disgusting, I couldn’t handle seeing him like that so I left. No, I’m just kidding. Luckily, Rob and Jeff were close behind and had first aid supplies with them. They cleaned him up and we continued riding to the bottom. A fast visit to the Revvy hospital and 8 stitches later, we continued on our mission to find more new trails. We went to Boulder Mtn. and found a really neat trail with some stunts . The area reminded me of the lower mainland trails, like the woodlot and Eagle Mtn. A bit steeper and littered with cedar – this area just seems like it has a lot of potential for great trails! I’m definitely excited to go back there again, maybe next time with someone that knows the area a bit better.
For the next few weeks, I’ll be keeping busy with a trail that we are working on and also riding as much as possible.....as long as it stays below 30 degrees! Hope you’re all having a great summer!

Whistler Bound

Just packing up to head to Crankworx and super stoked! The last few days have been super rad and leave me inspired to head to Whis and get trained up for the Canadian Open DH, regretfully the only race I am taking part in there.
Last weekend was Mt Washington, which was gnarly and super balls out. The course was super fast, dry, and rough, and claimed its fair share of victims. Two of my friends broke their legs, and one of them I had to help carry out. Not the best situation to inspire confidence on that type of track, but I didn't let it get to me too much. I felt strong mentally and on the course and charged on my race run. The course was so physically challenging that half way down the track I started to make mistakes in crucial sections, and by the bottom pedal section I was spent. My bike took a pretty good beating too, cracking my front wheel and putting a bunch of bad dings in the rear. Poor thing. My run earned a 6th, being 6.5 seconds off 1st. I was fairly disappointed with mistakes on the bottom half of my run but I survived in one piece, the weekend presented a lot of good lessons, and I have made some positive changes which I think will help me a lot in the last few races. On the way home I stayed an extra day in North Van and rode Seymour, which was amazing, and then booked some serious dock time on the ocean. An epic weekend with the best of friends indeed.
Last week I ended up coaching 2 days, which were both super fun. The first day I had a bunch of 11-12 year olds out who were all super keeners, and then the second day I went out with two 8 year olds. They were both on little 20" Kona Shreds and blew me away. The girl, Kenzie, I coach in ski racing so I knew she we be a pinner. The boy I hadn't met before, but he races BMX and it showed. I filmed both of them during the day and the whole time I was just laughing to myself at how rad it was. They were both so small, but were absolutely fearless and had the most focused look behind their little goggles ever. Both days were an absolute blast and I can't wait to get out tomorrow coaching a women's day camp in town before I head out.
Yesterday I went shooting with Karl Heldt and his buddy Drew Summers to make a Sun Peaks promo vid and get some stills. The whole day we shot only two runs, hiking sections over and over, but it was a blast and I am stoked on the results. It was also really good training to get to do tech, gnarly sections a bunch of times in a row and figure out just how fast I could ride them. It definately increased my confidence so I will take that with me for next weekend at the Open, which I hear is super gnar this year. Bring it.
Well I am out for now, send another update after Crankworx.
All the best!
Justin Terwiel

crankworx update!

So far im having a fricken blast in whistler, im staying with just noah till monday and from then on its a whole bunch of people at my place.. I originally entered the Dual Slalom but after a few runs i realised i wasnt the biggest fan of it, so i switched into the Garbonzo DH race...Not knowing it was the most insane run ive ridden! Its from the very top of the mountain and curves around the back and then back down the front and top pro time hasnt broken 14 minutes yet.. all Rock and roots and mud and dust all on a super steep course makes it super sketchy all over, Today in my last practice run i went way to fast into a part you should go realll slow in and ended up lawn darting into a big boulder, super sore and gonna take it easy tomorow and practice for the air dh race also.. other than that noah won first in his category in dual slalom and kyle strait won mens pro beating out lopes in the final! super sick race to watch
P.S. Team wolf is all ready getting realllly rowdy!

will update soon!
ace

Day3- Was without a doubt my worst riding experience ever.. I ended up not being able to get a practice run in so i was going into it on raceday with only two prior runs.. and on top of that, it started pouring rain right before my race run, ya RAIN, not what us kamloopians are used to, so now the already sketchy course is covered in mud all over the place. I ended up trying to fly through the course at a fast paced race speed and thought i would just deal with all the mud and ride, right near the top my front tire slipped on a wet root off the trail and i slammed the hardest i have in a long time! shins into rocks, head and shoulder into some more rocks and of course my pre-existing elbow driven straight into the ground, once back awake i got back up, straightened out the elbow and could literally not hold my grip or squeeze my brake, back brake and mud and roots and rock and steep didnt end up well, i crashed another several times in several minutes and thought it wasnt worth it to possibly end my season finishing a race i had already lost, i have a race on wednesday so i thought it was a bad idea to work myself over even more, Which aggy gave me a speech about once i got to the bottom, whata good kid, so i took a sick fireroad down and now im chillen till wednesday and am going to try extraaa hard for the next race
Until then
Ace

Taking it easy

every time mid-summer rolls around i am completely blown away by how hot it is. every year i forget and wonder why i didnt ride much mid summer, but once again i am sadly reminded. the past 2+ weeks have been 35-40 degree weather around here and i havent ridden my bike more than 3 times in those 2+ weeks. however!, i have been digging many morning and almost every night, and if you are wondering how this is possible with such dry conditions, see my setup:

so stoked on this thing. my dad bought it at the beginning of spring and ive been sending it with many water jugs and basically whatever i can fit. thats all for now!