Hey! This is my first post since joining the Cafe team this season, and I'd say far overdue. I guess Ill start by saying that this season has been great so far! I've had some really great Trips and days here in town that have been memorable for sure. Like Jim and my trip to the island for Gorilla Jam, and our trips to Vernon, Penticton and Clearwater. To top thing off, having the support and friendship of everyone at Cafe has been great. So thank you! I have lots of plans for the rest of the year so Ill keep you updated. Hopefully with some good pictures and maybe a video or two! Last. I got my new parts in today! I love it so much!

Arduum (Gnar-Doom)

So this past weekend saw the 3^rd BC Cup DH of the year, the Arduum Challenge, go down just outside of Mission. The track is located directly across the valley from the Bear Mountain Challenge course, but Arduum is surely Bear’s taller, meaner and much more evil sister. Three years ago when I first attended the event the course was rich and loamy, but the steep terrain combined with increased traffic sent all the soil packing in short order. Unbeknownst to our innocence then, beneath the rich till was evil, slimy roots of death holding together a boulder field. Fast forward to the track now, steep, turny, physical, highly technical and requiring an extreme level of both commitment and trail knowledge. The erosion has left a large portion of the track on off-camber rock with a maze of cross roots everywhere. Combine all of the above with heavy rain the night before practice and you had the perfect recipe for slime covered roots and a busy paramedic team.

Coming into the weekend I came down with the plague, so instead of resting for the two nights prior, I practiced staying up all night, curling up in a ball and sweating as much as possible. I can’t remember being so sick or afflicted by fever but I was determined to race so I spent most of Friday in a daze working on my bike and trying to get prepped. Due to logistical challenges I arrived in Mission on Saturday with all the pieces to my bike with me but the wheels still to be built. It took forever in my state, but after a trip back into Mission for spoke nipples and gracious help from Buckwheat and the Bryson Racing Clan I got everything together and was on my way up. Once on track I was taken off guard by how much the track had changed, so I took my time to figure out the course, memorize sections, take a soil sample, befriend a trackside cedar and get a little too intimate with a boulder. My bike felt amazing with my new Hayes Stroker brakes on and it helped me to overlook the fact that I didn’t have my normal strength or precision with me. Near the bottom there was a large new hip who’s crucial and extremely tricky run in took a few tries to master. Just before I hit it the last time I asked the time and realized it was two minutes before the last shuttle went up, so I had to settle for one run on training day.

After training Dunbar held their 16” BMX dual slalom which was an absolute hoot. Picture grown men racing 2 at a time down a mini-ds course on 16” bikes, trying to pin it around berms and over jumps but mostly falling on their faces or into each other while drawing loud cheers from the crowd of drinking hooligans. I will post a quick edit of the event shortly. After 4 advancements I lost in the semi-finals to Tyler Gorz, and then lost in the loser-finals by a hair to Jeff Hunter to take 4^th. Dunbar had some pretty sick prizes on tap, including a frame for Tyler who won. My prize was a big smile and lasting stoke at sharing so much fun with the best of friends.

Race Day

Sunday I awoke and headed into Mission to begin training early. Fast lines on the course required you to be perfectly balanced while being powerful yet light on your tires. Precision in line choice was everything. The course was also extremely rough and forced you to be making saves constantly so it was very physically demanding. I started to open it up and began to find my confidence but I also tired more quickly than I would have liked, so after 2 runs I called it. After some food and a stretch my Mom showed up so we hiked up the course to find good viewing spots for her to watch from. Tippie was on the mic at the bottom jumps so we had a brief stop for a chat on his couch before moving upwards. Up course in the amateur categories it seemed to be a war zone, the injured walking down the trail, crash stories coming from every angle, radios calling in severe injuries and stretchers going up-trail with paramedics, so after re-assuring my mom I was not long in staying. My vibe was a bit thrown so I headed back to my van to listen to some sweet tunes, re-focus and visualize. I got my head back in the game, had a really good warm up to G’n’R and headed up the hill with confident anticipation. The start area is seriously my happy place, and at the top of the hill looking down into the valley everything was really green and fresh looking so I was extra content. I also really enjoy the presence of the officials who grant me my run with their countdown. I thanked them, put on my goggles and at 5 seconds to go was out of the gate. My first section was really solid, but perhaps a bit on the aggressive side. Maybe 20 seconds in, coming off a wide open root infested side hill I got a little late bounce turning off a rock pile and missed the critical catch root to give me direction into a cross-rooted wall-ride high line so I ended up lower then I needed to be and started sliding. I tried to save it but on the side hill laced with exposed downwards facing roots there was nothing I could do. I slid out, hit the tree I was supposed to be above and flipped off the trail. I righted myself, got my bike through the tape and started on again to the encouraging shouts from spectators. Unfortunately the biggest thing I had lost other than my speed across the rooty flats was my headspace. I tried to get loose and start flowing again but all I could think was about was making up time. This was not a course to muscle your way down, so my aggressiveness saw me quickly shoulder a tree and from there my headspace was shot. I tried to refocus but I started riding defensively, fatigue set in and after 2 more crashes, what was left of my run was done. What a disaster. With the course being my favorite on the circuit and after my second place there last year I was definitely emotionally attached to putting together a good run, and the hype that surrounded it didn’t help. More than the result, what disappointed me the most was my loss of headspace. Despite everything, I could not be presented a better or more personal situation to analyze and grow from. I had an amazing weekend surrounded by everything I love, got to partake in an epic challenge and am left inspired and empowered to put together better race weekends.

Many thanks to the race organizers, volunteers, medics and everyone who was involved in putting on such a flawless event. There could not be a more challenging event to host, but it went off as well as could possibly be accomodated. My start time was even on time despite all the course holds. As well, props to the two juniors who won the top male and female times of the day and their coaches who got them to where they are today. Nice work all. Can’t wait to see everyone at Bear Mountain in two weeks!

Justin

In The Press

Last year I started getting the chance to shoot photos with some pretty high profile photographers. Photography has always been my favorite aspect of mountain biking media. A nice photo can generate so many feelings and raise so many thoughts. I am extremely fortunate to get to know some of the worlds best photographers and work with them to create amazing images. It seems as though I am getting the call to shoot photos more and more often these days and weather it is for commercial use or just plain shooting pretty pictures, I love it! Recently I have had a couple photos published in Bike Magazine, which is my favorite magazine so I am really excited. One is an Adam Stein photo shot at Sun Peaks Resort and used in a Bike Parks B.C. add campaign, the other is a from my buddy John Gibson, shot in Kamloops and published in the BUZZ section of Bike’s current issue. I just finished up a few days of shooting with Gibby so hopefully we will get to see more soon!

North Shore Bike Fest

So this last weekend saw the North Shore Bike Fest DH go down on Mt. Seymour. It was held on Neds, which is armoured (think cobblestone path) in between all the roots, so basically we were riding on either rock or wood for 90% of the trail. Combine the trail surface with rain and you have a tech setting for a race. Despite the race’s anti-Kamloops nature, it was a ton of fun to ride and even more fun to put a race run together on. One of my main process goals coming in was to find lines that would allow me to link sections without braking. It was an interesting challenge to say the least, and my lines had me riding all over the trail up on stumps, trees, rocks... whatever I could find that would allow me to straighten out sections and carry speed. I had a ton of fun in training with a couple of the kids I am coaching, working in depth to put together our runs. They are putting it together piece by piece so I am excited to see what they can achieve in the near future.

I felt confident coming in to my race run that I could really open it up and achieve a good result. I was a little worried about my back with the rough track and the high-speed drop to flat in the middle, but I decided I would just put it behind me and lay it all down. My first section went really well with my bike felt absolutely spot on. I consciously thought to myself coming through a rough section early on that my suspension felt absolutely perfect - thank you Manitou. Mid-way down the trail there was a tech chutey rockbed section that was a bit faster and steeper with a bit of a twisty armoured staircase feel to it. It was the dominant section that I had been working to no-brake due to its crucial position above a flatter tech section with some s-corners and then the dreaded 6 ft drop to flat. Carrying speed out of it was crucial, so in practice I was airing into the staircase, cutting the first two corners inside, drifting outside around some gnarly boulders and slippery roots, diving inside on a massive, slippery exposed tree / root and then hammering into the s-corners. I came into it faster than I had in practice, nailed the first 2 corners without braking, drifted outside perfectly on the third and then got a little loose which forced me to hit the exposed root high, taking my back wheel out sideways and forcing me to slide off the trail downside on the wrong side of the next tree. I jumped off my bike, lifted it back up on to the trail and got back on the hammers, but the damage was done. The rest of the run was a bit wild but for the most part went pretty well. At the very bottom there was a long section where most of the crowd was watching from with a couple tech corners and a finish line gap. The corner before the last jump had a tech inside line where you had to snipe between a stump and a rock to hit some roots and kind of hip turn off a tree. When I hit the tree I got bucked off my pedals and did a no footed seat bounce that excited the crowd quite a bit, but after I found my pedals I still was able to get speed for the gap and hammer through the bottom corners to the finish.

The weekend was a ton of fun putting together my race, hanging out with friends, coaching my racers and being a part of the atmosphere. I was a bit disappointed with the results of my off-trail excursion, but I am feeling confident and more motivated than ever coming into the next race. Fuel for the fire. I cannot wait.

J

jump on it

having only ridden my hardtail once this year, i put this little video from last year together of some jumping and tossed in a rad funny song.

tonto, jump on it! from Luke Beers on Vimeo.

other good use of this song.. best show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCFRJEjM3fc