painted my goggles, i love golddd!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Healing Vibes
Yesterday Graham had a bit of a tumble while snowboarding up at Sun Peaks and ended up breaking his collar bone. After last summer the fractured clavicle and I are very close enemies and I understand his pain. Luckily the break is super clean and he should be healed up quickly enough to kill it in the Quashqai series over in Europe this spring! Make sure to send Graham some good wishes and candy if you have the time. he really likes Mike and Ikes, although im not sure if they would be good for his healing process!
Get better soon Bro!
Get better soon Bro!
Monday, February 16, 2009
First shred of the year.
On Sunday morning I loaded up the Thunderbird and headed to Merritt with my little brother and Ace. They have had no snow for a few weeks now and while Kamloops is burried, I felt the runaway was needed. When we got there the bike park had a tiny bit of snow on it, just enough to make the jumps nice and wet. As the day moved on the dirt dried up and the jumps rolled fast. I started getting the hang of riding my new Kona Bass and I was STOKED. The day was awesome, something clicked for me and I finally learned how to rotate 360's with some control, and of course my Bass was killer for doing inverted tables. Ace shot a all the photos, along with this banger shot below, Click on it! I am going back next weekend to do some digging and shredding so expect more soon!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Californiacation written web update
I got a little busy while I was in Cali and never finished with my daily updates. So here it all is written in to one!
Graham Agassiz
California update
Kona, Sombrio, Nike 6.0, Smith optics, Giro
It felt soo good to be back on the bike again. It took a while to get the hang of everything back again, but after a few hours of goofing around it was back to normal. We rode soo many cool places and met soo many cool people on this trip. We all had a lot of fun and had a lot of funny stories to tell to our friends and family when we got back. There were 9 of us on this trip all together. In Jordies truck there was Eric, and Geoff. While Ross Measures, Luke Fulton and I drove down together in the Blackbox van and picked up Harookz, Danny Brody and Kurt Sorge along the way. The crew on this trip was awesome, and the trip itself couldn’t have been any better!
We started off at Woodward West. I had never been there before and I was super eager to ride everything. I had no idea how big this place was. There was not just the hanger to ride, there was also many different skate parks, dirt jumps, and cabins everywhere for all the campers in the summer. There were also many other buildings that were used for various things in the summer. The hanger was also attached to a gymnastics training facility as well as a large arcade room. My first day riding I unfortunately had some tire/tube problems. But once I got that all sorted out it was all rock n roll from that point on. We spent 3 days here mainly taking advantage of the foam pit and the resi ramp. We were all trying lots of new tricks, and dialing in others. I learnt superman flips, 360 inward tables, and fly out whips on quarter pipes. This place was the ultimate training ground for anyone, and I was sad we had to leave after only a few days. I could spend weeks there and not get bored. I loved that place.
We then headed off to Santa Monica where we spent a few days and nights hanging out with T sage and Cam Zink. The weather was bad so weren’t able to ride. One day we went to the beach and went skimming for the day. That was a lot of fun. Weirs being in the Ocean in January! We ended up going shopping at a few malls, and one night going to the movies where we saw Notorious. We spent most of our nights playing intense battles of beer pong until finally the weather got better, but unfortunately at this point Geoff and Danny had to leave early. So the rest of us headed off to Six Flags, haha suckers!
So the rest of us were all really pumped on going to Six Flags. I for one am terrified of roller coasters! I was almost bitter about going. Everyone thought it was so funny that I was soo scared so we rode one of the gnarliest ones there right off the bat. I was freaking out the whole time and screaming, “O My God, O My God” the entire ride. After that ride I didn’t think it could get any worse so every other ride should have been a walk in the park. I slowly started getting more and more comfortable throughout the day. Eventually I was stoked on all the gnarlier ones and got over my fear completely! Then at the very end of the day we rode this one ride called X2. I guess this was one of the newer rides that they had, and also the one with the biggest line up! But it was worth it. This was the most high tech roller coaster I think around. It had speakers right by your head that would play music and different sounds, and would even talk to you. There were so many different flips and spins and even flames! I was even yelling “O My God,” all over again. At the end we were all soo stoked, but the park was closing and it was time for us to go.
We then hooked up with Heath Pinter, and rode his jumps and stayed at his place for a few nights. I think we were one of the first mountain bikers to ride his jumps. They were soo much fun, with so many different lines and transfers. I could have spent week’s riding there! We shot a few things with Harookz and I was able to get a few good nugs. Riding these jumps were the high light of the whole trip for me. I had seen videos of all the BMX guys riding them and I had always dreamed of going there but never thought I would get the chance to ride there ever. It was really cool, and Heath was super sick about everything, such a rad guy. Thanks for putting us up, letting us ride your jumps, and everything Heath! We also got to ride Corey Nastazio’s one day also. That place was pretty awesome also. We didn’t spend much time there, but it was also pretty amazing riding there as well.
Aptos was our last stop, and unfortunately we didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked there but we had a lot of fun there with the little time we had. We of course spent a day at the famous post office trails. They are way more fun in person for sure. Our local friends A Rev, R Dog, T Mac, and Greg Watts were there killing it as always. They also took us to this pretty cool little step up trick jump. It was pretty small but Jordie was almost able to pull off a three flip, while the rest of us all tried some other random and different tricks. We had a pretty rad session there and even ripped off Luke’s last pair of boxers! Sorry buddy.
That was the end of our trip, followed by another long and painful drive back home. But I am definitely not complaining. I’m now off to Mexico with the family for a week, yeee! Till Next time, over and out.
California update
Kona, Sombrio, Nike 6.0, Smith optics, Giro
It felt soo good to be back on the bike again. It took a while to get the hang of everything back again, but after a few hours of goofing around it was back to normal. We rode soo many cool places and met soo many cool people on this trip. We all had a lot of fun and had a lot of funny stories to tell to our friends and family when we got back. There were 9 of us on this trip all together. In Jordies truck there was Eric, and Geoff. While Ross Measures, Luke Fulton and I drove down together in the Blackbox van and picked up Harookz, Danny Brody and Kurt Sorge along the way. The crew on this trip was awesome, and the trip itself couldn’t have been any better!
We started off at Woodward West. I had never been there before and I was super eager to ride everything. I had no idea how big this place was. There was not just the hanger to ride, there was also many different skate parks, dirt jumps, and cabins everywhere for all the campers in the summer. There were also many other buildings that were used for various things in the summer. The hanger was also attached to a gymnastics training facility as well as a large arcade room. My first day riding I unfortunately had some tire/tube problems. But once I got that all sorted out it was all rock n roll from that point on. We spent 3 days here mainly taking advantage of the foam pit and the resi ramp. We were all trying lots of new tricks, and dialing in others. I learnt superman flips, 360 inward tables, and fly out whips on quarter pipes. This place was the ultimate training ground for anyone, and I was sad we had to leave after only a few days. I could spend weeks there and not get bored. I loved that place.
We then headed off to Santa Monica where we spent a few days and nights hanging out with T sage and Cam Zink. The weather was bad so weren’t able to ride. One day we went to the beach and went skimming for the day. That was a lot of fun. Weirs being in the Ocean in January! We ended up going shopping at a few malls, and one night going to the movies where we saw Notorious. We spent most of our nights playing intense battles of beer pong until finally the weather got better, but unfortunately at this point Geoff and Danny had to leave early. So the rest of us headed off to Six Flags, haha suckers!
So the rest of us were all really pumped on going to Six Flags. I for one am terrified of roller coasters! I was almost bitter about going. Everyone thought it was so funny that I was soo scared so we rode one of the gnarliest ones there right off the bat. I was freaking out the whole time and screaming, “O My God, O My God” the entire ride. After that ride I didn’t think it could get any worse so every other ride should have been a walk in the park. I slowly started getting more and more comfortable throughout the day. Eventually I was stoked on all the gnarlier ones and got over my fear completely! Then at the very end of the day we rode this one ride called X2. I guess this was one of the newer rides that they had, and also the one with the biggest line up! But it was worth it. This was the most high tech roller coaster I think around. It had speakers right by your head that would play music and different sounds, and would even talk to you. There were so many different flips and spins and even flames! I was even yelling “O My God,” all over again. At the end we were all soo stoked, but the park was closing and it was time for us to go.
We then hooked up with Heath Pinter, and rode his jumps and stayed at his place for a few nights. I think we were one of the first mountain bikers to ride his jumps. They were soo much fun, with so many different lines and transfers. I could have spent week’s riding there! We shot a few things with Harookz and I was able to get a few good nugs. Riding these jumps were the high light of the whole trip for me. I had seen videos of all the BMX guys riding them and I had always dreamed of going there but never thought I would get the chance to ride there ever. It was really cool, and Heath was super sick about everything, such a rad guy. Thanks for putting us up, letting us ride your jumps, and everything Heath! We also got to ride Corey Nastazio’s one day also. That place was pretty awesome also. We didn’t spend much time there, but it was also pretty amazing riding there as well.
Aptos was our last stop, and unfortunately we didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked there but we had a lot of fun there with the little time we had. We of course spent a day at the famous post office trails. They are way more fun in person for sure. Our local friends A Rev, R Dog, T Mac, and Greg Watts were there killing it as always. They also took us to this pretty cool little step up trick jump. It was pretty small but Jordie was almost able to pull off a three flip, while the rest of us all tried some other random and different tricks. We had a pretty rad session there and even ripped off Luke’s last pair of boxers! Sorry buddy.
That was the end of our trip, followed by another long and painful drive back home. But I am definitely not complaining. I’m now off to Mexico with the family for a week, yeee! Till Next time, over and out.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Bicycle Camp!
This is hilarious, "because you know your brain is inside your head if you bump it there is pain if you break it you are dead!!"
feb. schred weekend!
this weekend was sick! ian and bryan came down on saturday than ian and ace on sunday..unfortunately we only did filming on sunday and it was getting a little dark, but we still had alot of fun!
heres a little wrap up of sunday!
http://vimeo.com/3141176/
heres a little wrap up of sunday!
http://vimeo.com/3141176/
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Vicarious awesomeness
So today my amused vicarious enjoyment of life achieved a new level. Richness to me is having the opportunity to inspire growth and success in others, and today I was rich indeed.
Just got off the phone with kid who I coached at Sun Peaks a couple years ago. Seems he is buying my bike this Friday with a little help from his parents. Super nice kid, can totally picture where I was at as a young guy purchasing my first full on downhill bike. So much excitement in his voice, makes me super pumped. Gonna help him to set it up proper and then coach him on it in the summer as well, as he is all keen to get into racing. A little bit melancholie over letting the old girl go… ah well, vicariousness.
The other freakin sweet part of my day was coaching ski racing. This is my 8th year coaching ski racing at Sun Peaks and I absolutely love it. This morning we mixed the groups up to do this group race, and I had a couple little 6 and 7 year olds who stole my heart. So much energy and trust, just stoked on racing with the older kids… unbelievably cute. In the afternoon we went back to our usual groups (I have a group of seven ripping 9-11 yr old girls who I coach 2 days a week) and I took out a couple older girls who I used to coach as well. I have been pairing my girls up with the older kids a lot to give them a little inspiration and bring them up into the next level where a lot of them will be next season. We ended up freeskiing all afternoon and doing a ton of park, and my little girls were KILLING IT popping little spread eagles off the small sized large jumps… like 9 years old at waist height…big smiles… too cool. And then the older girls came out of nowhere and wanted to learn how to do showcase (the largest jump in the park). One of them used to be pretty daring but it was pretty unique to have a group of them wanting to all step it up in that way, especially in the park. So I had these 14 year old girls with me that my girls super look up to, all like seriously committed to learning how to push their limits… what a wicked example for my girls. I believe young girls have an equal ability to objectively approach risk, just needing the right environment to work in, and this was it. So we stepped up the size of the jumps one at a time, analyzing what to do and then committing, and the girls were absolutely perfect. Like a bit nervous and excited beforehand but when the time came to get it done acting totally committed. Two of the girls ended up hitting showcase twice, and they were so stoked at triumphing over their perceived limitations and discovering their own inner strength it was unreal. Like I remember the first time I went really big on a bike and suddenly everything was attainable, that was the look that was written all over their faces. Those looks pretty much sum up my love for life, and I was gleeful. The fact that I coached them when they were little, taught them to think objectively in sport, watched them grow up into serious athletes and now get work with them side by side as a friend and mentor as they use everything they have learned to push their limits and find themselves… very special. So afterwards we went back to the clubhouse to get our awards from the race and the club was buzzing. All the little boys attitudes had vanished, replaced with equal parts respect and determination, and all of the limiting excuses anyone held had fallen to the floor. The girls didn’t hold their accomplishments over any of the others, just wanting to get back to do the jumps again, encouraging others to push themselves and actively setting goals and timelines on how they wanted to do other things. Rediculous. Now for the hard part, I have to teach them the respect that needs to hold hands with the temporary invincibility they hold so they don’t hurt themselves like me.
All the best,
J
Just got off the phone with kid who I coached at Sun Peaks a couple years ago. Seems he is buying my bike this Friday with a little help from his parents. Super nice kid, can totally picture where I was at as a young guy purchasing my first full on downhill bike. So much excitement in his voice, makes me super pumped. Gonna help him to set it up proper and then coach him on it in the summer as well, as he is all keen to get into racing. A little bit melancholie over letting the old girl go… ah well, vicariousness.
The other freakin sweet part of my day was coaching ski racing. This is my 8th year coaching ski racing at Sun Peaks and I absolutely love it. This morning we mixed the groups up to do this group race, and I had a couple little 6 and 7 year olds who stole my heart. So much energy and trust, just stoked on racing with the older kids… unbelievably cute. In the afternoon we went back to our usual groups (I have a group of seven ripping 9-11 yr old girls who I coach 2 days a week) and I took out a couple older girls who I used to coach as well. I have been pairing my girls up with the older kids a lot to give them a little inspiration and bring them up into the next level where a lot of them will be next season. We ended up freeskiing all afternoon and doing a ton of park, and my little girls were KILLING IT popping little spread eagles off the small sized large jumps… like 9 years old at waist height…big smiles… too cool. And then the older girls came out of nowhere and wanted to learn how to do showcase (the largest jump in the park). One of them used to be pretty daring but it was pretty unique to have a group of them wanting to all step it up in that way, especially in the park. So I had these 14 year old girls with me that my girls super look up to, all like seriously committed to learning how to push their limits… what a wicked example for my girls. I believe young girls have an equal ability to objectively approach risk, just needing the right environment to work in, and this was it. So we stepped up the size of the jumps one at a time, analyzing what to do and then committing, and the girls were absolutely perfect. Like a bit nervous and excited beforehand but when the time came to get it done acting totally committed. Two of the girls ended up hitting showcase twice, and they were so stoked at triumphing over their perceived limitations and discovering their own inner strength it was unreal. Like I remember the first time I went really big on a bike and suddenly everything was attainable, that was the look that was written all over their faces. Those looks pretty much sum up my love for life, and I was gleeful. The fact that I coached them when they were little, taught them to think objectively in sport, watched them grow up into serious athletes and now get work with them side by side as a friend and mentor as they use everything they have learned to push their limits and find themselves… very special. So afterwards we went back to the clubhouse to get our awards from the race and the club was buzzing. All the little boys attitudes had vanished, replaced with equal parts respect and determination, and all of the limiting excuses anyone held had fallen to the floor. The girls didn’t hold their accomplishments over any of the others, just wanting to get back to do the jumps again, encouraging others to push themselves and actively setting goals and timelines on how they wanted to do other things. Rediculous. Now for the hard part, I have to teach them the respect that needs to hold hands with the temporary invincibility they hold so they don’t hurt themselves like me.
All the best,
J
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Not Stoked!
Today I had the great displeasure of becoming a statistic! After running errands all day and feeling pretty accomplished for having fixed the alternator in my car I was off to town in my mom's car to pick up baby shredhard from school. After chilling in the intersection and waiting for the light to change so that I could turn left over to Bryan's school a car decided that slowing down for red lights wasn't in style today, and she blasted into the back end of me after Id almost completed the turn. I flipped over onto a different car, and then rolled off onto the empty lane I had been aiming for in the first place, comming to a sliding stop on the driver side. I pretty much had no idea what had just happened. It was like one of those extremely off guard bike crashes. I crawled out the top of the vehicle only to be surrounded by a ton of people and feeling like I was in a movie. My thoughts were clouded with an intense amount of adrenalin and having rang my head off the window pretty hard. I was really really scared, but thankfully, tottally ok and so was everyone else involved. I am a pretty laid back guy and keep things fairly low key, so a high-stress situation like this is not something I'm versed in. Thankfully, within a few minutes of the accident alot of people that make me happy started showing up. Taylor was there pretty quick to lighten my mood with his always upbeat sarcasm and Aggy is just always stoked so he helped out a ton by being there as well. A couple I hang out with, Mike and Katie were there also. They took me to the hospital to make sure everything was ok and then cooked me chicken ceaser salad for dinner ( My Favourite!). I'm feeling better now but still pretty rattled. I definetly need a bike ride! Thanks to everyone who helped me today!!!! I love you guys.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
08 under wraps
Well, the 2008 season is well behind us and the changing seasons leaves merritt in the wind at many many times, so i got a little bit bored and did an edit of a bunch of matts footage i had, because i love seeing stuff of my friends, so i threw a bunch of it together. bryan, korb, me and matt. enjoi!
http://www.vimeo.com/3073221
http://www.vimeo.com/3073221
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