Web edit

Karl made a pretty sick web edit for me the other day, suuper stoked on it. Not sure why he called it Rose we were definetly shooting the Ranch! ahaha

Graham at rose from karl heldt on Vimeo.

Stoked

Just about all of my projects are ready to roll and Aaron Larock is landing at my house tommorow night to start filming for his movie "Whats Next?" I have always wanted to do a video segment where I could work closely with the person who is making it and share our ideas to come up with some really interesting shots and points of view. On top of that, Aaron is going full on snowboard style and releasing the movie in HD on the internet, FOR FREE, the way all the rad bmx and snowboard videos get done! This is one of my biggest projects for the year and I am super super stoked. Time to kill it! ------- Side notes: Graham and I had our Kona Kids Day last weekend and it was an amazing experience. Taking out a bunch of younger riders who look up to us was so rad, deffinitely inspiring. Look for a full length write up about the event with photos hitting the Internet in the near future!

Talk soon!

Shooting with Matt

Well last thursday i had a halfday at school so ian and korb and matt decided to come down for the day. At first we rode a cool little trick stepup i built where korb did some flips, and ian did some flatspins and tailwhips, and i continued to work on tailwhips as usual. after we rode that guy for a little while, we headed up to some bigger jumps ive been spending alot of time rebuilding, since they weathered really bad over winter. There i did some supermans which i was super stoked on and matt got some cool shots. We also shot a berm for a little while where Matt got another cool shot,(he is good at doing this), as well as a rock wallride. I was super stoked to get out on my big bike and get a couple shots, since i usually am only seen as a dirtjumper, i do ride trails alot, there are alot of them in this little ol' town! All in all, it was a good day when the weather was nice to us and the wind mellowed down. Some falls were taken but everyone was all good. Look out for more of Merritt soon!

The last couple weekends were pretty awesome. Easter long, a bunch of friends from Vancouver came up to our house for the annual bike season kick-off. This has been a tradition for the last 5 or 6 years. Usually we would just camp out at Harper, ride bikes all day, have a big bonfire, drink our faces off, ride fire-totters, etc. We usually had a crew of around 15-20, but this year we had a small group of 10. Nice and manageable for shuttling. We rode pretty much everything that was open and managed to avoid the crowds of people that had come from all ends of the province to ride as well.
Last weekend Jason and I decided to head up to our local trail, Jamieson, and do some maintenance and also finish a short section of trail that we started 2 years ago. We spent 7 hrs up there digging and shaping. What a reward it was to be able to ride it the next day almost completed. The ground is perfect for digging up there right now. I am finding it hard to want to ride because I know that soon we will lose this excellent opportunity and will be stuck in the hard, dry soil. I’m going to be heading up a couple more times before the weekend to do some work on the upper trail and also scope out some new lines for the area – ‘cuz there really should just be more.
Looking forward to this coming weekend - friends are coming into town for riding and must prepare for a disco party as well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mepFmJNqsus love john travolta!

Spring Bliss Part 1

So finally getting the Glory dialed in and I barely have words to describe how amazing it is on the trail - I have not been able to put it down. Rode the the last 5 days straight, 3-6 hours every day and in the gym 3 of those so I am officially beat. If it were not for my last remaining final looming ahead this week I would still be out there now too. Every day I feel so much more comfortable on it and every day I think to myself that is the fastest I have ever ridden... but it doesn't feel like I am being overly aggressive or really pushing my limits. I just feel more and more one with the bike and it is so much more capable then what I have experienced before, so when I step it up it is out of enjoyment instead of intensity. After this crazy winter I appreciate everything so much more - friends, riding, free time - every turn brings a laugh and gleeful smile and every friend I get to share it with I am just as stoked for. Yesterday I coached some wicked groms in the morning and then got out in the afternoon with Nikki and Dexter on Rio and Knutsford... it was honestly one of the most fun days I have ever had, and it's been a long time since I have had the opportunity to think in those terms.
Thursday we had the Cafe group ride which was sick!!! The entire team was out pinning Rio like a herd of winged unicorns! Due to poor planning retrieval took till it was getting dark, so most of the crew bailed but Shredhard and I were committed to hitting a blueflag.

Spring bliss Part II

(Cont’d) By the time we had 4x4ed up there in my poor van and were ready to drop in the sun had set and dusk had taken firm hold. It was Shredhards first time and we rode it completely blind so it was interesting to say the least, a giant gongshow of drifting by feel down wash, tight, technical turns over a steep gunmetal landscape with black trees whipping by our heads. Our whoops of glee, cries of fear and howling brakes had all the dogs of Juniper barking too. We survived Blue Flag with our hearts in our mouths and then rode across Juni, shaking our heads and laughing while reminiscing, to finish the ride on Razorback. By this time it was getting dark(!), but thankfully in the open grassland with the light clay trail you could aim for the lighter brown glowing streak and hope you were still on the trail. We actually pinned it for the first half which was ridiculous. It was an exercise in looking as far ahead as possible and trying to perceive where the trail was going next, which was super good practice for racing but resulted in a few zigs where we should have zagged, some off trail escapades, some high speed collisions with invisible tumbleweeds and some mysterious glowing dust clouds tasting of sage (ask Shredhard). As our sight started to fade and the trail became more dished further down the trail things got progressively more sketchy. As soon as you were off the middle of the groove you would be fighting blindly to stay upright, and I had a few near death experiences that ate up my unrealistic confidence and resulted in us pulling back the reigns a bit. When we got to the bottom it was 8:54, 25ish minutes after sundown. Rediculous! But what fun!
So I will now attempt to put the bike away for the next 5 days to finish up finals with Law on Thursday, but see how long that lasts. Might do a quick lap or two tomorrow night haha.
Peace and Love.
J

Video Sneak

Brock is a busy busy boy with a huge course load for his last semester in Grade 12. He threw together a couple clips and apparentley its "just a sneak peak" at the video he is going to make of our Easter Sunday session!


Dylan Sherrard; sneak peak. from Brock Anderson on Vimeo.

The Unicorn 5000

Bicycle Cafe is hosting a downhill race at Harper Mountain soon. We expect it to be a ton of fun and I have been trying to pull some strings and see if we can get an ACTUAL UNICORN for the event, but they are hard to find man!

Brock Anderson!

This weekend my buddy Brock Anderson was visiting Kamloops. He 100% kills it with media, both photo and video. I had to make some time away from the shovel to go film some stuff with him. We did Video for the lower half of Rio, and then some more video shots in the bike Ranch. I was riding my Stinky Air for one of the first few times and I am in love. Its soooo gnarly feeling, and really likes getting sideways. When we were done getting some good video footage for him to work with later, he pulled out his photo camera to play around with his new Fish Eye lens. I was pretty pumped on the lens, it puts a crazy perspective on otherwise ordinary looking things. We continued to do bang off fish eye shots of lots of different bicycle tweaks and other stunt manouvers. I had alot of fun with Brock and can't wait till he finds some spare time to edit up a video from Rio. I gotta go get back to the grind, see ya soon!

Aggy Unleashed!

I did a fun little interview with Graham for NSMB.com a little while ago. If you ever wonder whats going on in Agassiz's head, check it the interview for some answers!

Business Time

After having been riding ALOT for the past few weeks I am starting to feel really solid on a bike again. Not quite as dialled with some things as I want to be, but much more comfortable with sending it and charging whenever I ride than I have ever been before. I think its all in my head. In the past I have always been timid with the thoughts of getting hurt dancing throughout my head. After being hurt all of last season I had this problem even more-so. However, some recent visits with my shoulder specialist have taken all my fears away. It turns out that I re-broke my right collar bone for the fifth time a few weeks ago, and it will never heal again. Although this sounds terrible, I have developed an interesting condition along side this injury. Due to the fact that I live very healthy and remain active with hiking and other activities during my injuries and winter down time, there was excess bleeding in damaged tissues around my collarbone. The end result of the bleeding is an awkward net of firbous and scar tissues holding the two bone pieces stable. I was convinced that my doctor was yanking my tail, as I'd been riding on it almost pain free since the crash which apparntly re-broke it. So when all is said and done, I have a permenantly broken collar bone that doesnt seem to effect me in any way (aside from awkward feelings of the tips moving around!) With all of this comming into play I've realized, what do I have to worry about? I'm already broken and not supposed to be able to ride right? I'm basically on borrowed time... So just GIVER! Although, I won't be doing much riding over the next few weeks. I am strapped with digging before and after work every day and from sun up to sun down on my days off, in preparation for a video segment I am filming for the end of the month. It's stressful and really tiring, but I've come to understand how the hard work pays off and when all is taken care of, it doesn't seem like it was such an ordeal after all. Mainly drawing my inspiration from old punk rock music and videos of me and my friends from last year, I will have a ton of banger stuff to shoot and film for the rest of the year soon, as well as a killer jump line in my back yard!
Have fun everybody, See you on the trails in the near future!!!

Cody and Joes!

Had an awsome session out at cody and joes check it out!

codyandjoes from Matt Miles on Vimeo.

back in the saddle!

Well, I’ve been on the bike now for about a week, and now that I’ve started, I don’t want to stop. There are still not a lot of trails open right now, but I’m so stoked to be out. I’m so happy – it’s almost +25 degrees outside which means soon all the snow will be gone and all the trails will be open! I've been riding mostly short, low trails, town rides, bike ranch and Savona. I am getting extremely stoked on my new wheels – the Glory 0. Though I know I need to tweak a few things on the suspension still, I am feeling really comfortable and faster already. Not that I’m trying to be fast for racing or anything – but it’s just such an awesome feeling when you are flowing a trail, pushing your limits and are able to have full confidence in what’s underneath you. The bike is a bit smaller than my old one (big hit) and easier to manoeuvre which I know is going to be beneficial when it comes to jumps and such. I’m now sporting a new Troy Lee helmet, which is absolutely amazing, and so light. Good for my twig-like neck, so my boyfriend says. And also some new Oakley goggles that match my helmet (excellent graphics on both the helmet and goggles). Still not sure about the fancy new nose piece for myself, but I’ll try it out for a bit and see if it suits me.
I don’t have a lot of great photos to show at this time, but they will be coming soon! For now, I will leave you with a few shots I took with my new gear! Stay tuned.

Kamloops bike tour!

I roadtripped out to kamloops again this weekend, and long story short, the trips get better every time. On saturday i rode with ian and matt out at Cody and Joe Chambers' house and it was waay to much fun on such a nice day! the jumps out there are super tight with nice steep landings, with water access whenever they need it. couldn't ask for anything better! Than, on sunday, two of my favorite people, Taylor and Dylan arranged a super fun tour day which consisted of a session at monte carlo, a session at cody and joe's, and finished at a challenging session/BBQ at taylors crazy pumptrack/jump track. The session at cody and joes was jam packed, and even Kurt, Aggy, and Matt Brooks(who hooked up a really rad jump watering contraption at monte carlo) came out and jammed with the rest of the super fun crew. Jeff Conner also made it out for sunday and shot all of the photos! check out the rest at his flickr page- http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffconner

Thanks to Matt miles and his family for letting me bunk at their place, Ian for driving us everywhere, Cody and Joe Chambers and their parents for letting us ride and drink their water, Taylor and Dylan for making sunday so much fun, and everyone else for a super super super fun weekend!

YESS

haha k so i went out to monte with karl and wyatt the other day to work on a project for english on how to do something, since im stage fright i made a video to show the class and humiliate my self that way, and i did not fall short of humiliating myself!

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/68443/

pinkbike kids seem to like it!?

edit: only kids with a sense of humour like it