Day Three and Four

On day three Aggy joined us, three weeks off a broken elbow, and I bumped down to Group 5. Group 5 were under 13 but were all little rippers (with my 11 year old Café protégé Jackson Phillips at the helm), and as I got my bike back I was stoked! Fox sent me a new 2011 compression cartridge as a surprise treat (THANKS FOX!) which felt great, and despite my appreciation for the rental back-up bikes while mine was down, it was sooo good to be back on my Giant which fits me perfectly, weighs about 20% less and performs flawlessly in every aspect. Again, Group 5 the riders were thinkers, and together we discovered what worked best for them on the trail and in the air. While fine-tuning advanced moves is great, there is something really satisfying about working with riders on perfecting foundation skills and watching them progress quickly and gain a ton of confidence and control as they learn. Good times indeed. Day 3 was really hot and the kids were starting to fatigue, so by the second half of the day we had to stop for water breaks every run. Unfortunately Aggy came to the conclusion that 3 weeks was a little too soon to be riding, so he decided to just come back and hang out for the last two days.

Day four saw me bump back to Group 7 and I decided to take Jackson with me. I have worked with Jacky for 3 years on both on dirt and on snow, and he seriously has everything together he needs to succeed in either sport (think spinning 3s, hitting double black park jumps and winning races at 9 years old on skiis, and shredding his little Stinky 2-4 just as hard). While not able to role quite as fast on his 24’s as the older riders, on most of the hill he was only just behind them and on the jumps a lot of the time he was taking the lead. While the whole group have progressed into seriously amazing riders over the time I have known and got to work them and it is hard to single any rider out in the crowd of over-achievers, Liam Stevens (http://www.pinkbike.com/video/164020/) returning for his 5^th year was a definite highlight for me. At 9 years old when he joined us for the first year he was already standout rider and by the third year Hunter had helped him get on a junior development program with Specialized. Now at 14 on a dialed little SX that can finally keep up with his skills, he shreds for the love, mirrors the pros he rides with, has zero attitude, slays corners and jumps equally well and nacs harder than your mother (or your favorite pro). I know he has the skills on snow to match, so like Jackson he is a 4 season shredder. Very cool. Day four had to be one of the most fun days I have had on a bike, with the riders and I basically discussing riding as equals in between fantastic shred-fests. We did a few group drills but mostly only minor individual fine-tuning was really needed. Every rider was throwing down everything they had while screaming down the hill in a massive supersonic pack, mixing up the order, trying new things and feeding off eachother’s energy. I seriously regained my sense of youth on a bike, just shredding in a massive pack and having the most fun possible. Part way through the day the riders had been earning it hard so we focused on developing their style in the air with different types of whips, scrubs, tables and a few tricks. Again it wasn’t a teacher-student atmosphere, instead we discussed our favorite styles, brainstormed ways of achieving our goals, demoed different moves for eachother and all of us (including myself) came away having learned new style moves. A couple highlights for me were getting to be mid-pack in a massive scrub-whip train and following a couple feet behind Jackie on the last big step-up on Steamshovel while he layed out a flat one-footed euro-table. Pretty much blew my mind… 11 years old.

Day 4 (cont'd) and the Devil's Dandruff

By the time we only had a couple hours left we were pretty spent so we decided to slow down the pace a little, grab a camera, session and get some filming in. We had a couple whip off’s, sessions and train shots before finally settling on the last step-up of steamshovel for a last massive session. Jonas Burke had his x-ups absolutely clicked and all our jaws collectively hit the floor when Liam pulled a 90’d moto-whip nac-nac. So cool. Finally we decided to put down the camera and make our way down to the bottom. We ended the day with a massive bar-hump train on the last step-down and called it a day with smiles on our faces while laughing over the day’s events.

The final day saw the weather turn against us. We arrived at 9am to find the clouds unleashing the devil’s dandruff all over the top two-thirds of the hill, inspiring Safety-Ken to shut down the lift on us. We were told we would have to wait it out until the snow melted off the wood structures, so we took over the empty child-minding center, found a TV and DVD player and plugged in some riding movies while deciding on our next moves. We got word that we would have to wait until at least lunch to ride so after a couple movies we decided to open the floor to the kids on any topics they were interested in. Getting shut down on riding turned out to be a really positive opportunity for the kids to learn from us as we got to discuss our experiences growing up riding, our careers, the bike industry, filming, racing, building jumps, hitting gaps or lines for the first time, injuries, recovery and strategies for minimizing risk. A bunch of the kids I talked to afterwards were very appreciative of what we had to say and took a lot from it so I was happy. After lunch Safety-Ken decided that the hill would remain closed to the public but that the camp would be allowed to load the lift, ride half way down the hill on fire roads and access the bottom of the hill from there. The top of the hill was indeed coated in a couple inches of slush but the bottom of the hill was in decent condition. I rode again with Group 6 and we collectively decided that the weather was not going to hold us down or back. The last hour or two of the camp even saw sunshine. By the end of the day my back had had it with the 6^th day straight of riding, so when one of my kids got a flat on 24” wheels I switched him bikes and walked out. When I got to the bottom of the hill the campers were gathered at the trucks and we handed out prizes and schwag. Afterwards we took a group shot as well as lots of individual pictures and said our goodbyes to the 2011 Freeride Camp.

Despite all the challenges of running a camp of this size, the roadrash, strained tendons and nerve damage I sustained and the ensuing tendonitis that decided to plague me afterwards from riding hard for 5 days on an injured wing, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and would not have given it up for anything. I love coaching and the camp presents such a unique opportunity to work with so many upcoming riders, many on a multi-year basis, that after 9 years of being involved with the camp I am sure I will be back for a 10^th year and well into the future. I wish all of the riders all the best and hope to see them all next year!

Justin Terwiel

Bear Mountain Challenge 2011 (Mudfest)

So this weekend was the 15^th running of Bear Mountain Challenge DH in mission. It was the 2^nd BC Cup DH of the year, but the first race back for me from my extended bout of injuries and 11 months away from the race circuit. I have raced Bear at least 8 times before, have always loved the track and placed 4^th there two seasons ago (crashing hard there last year), so I was cautiously optimistic about what I could pull off. I knew my fitness still wasn’t going to match that of my competitors who had been able to train the entire winter, but being that it is a bit of a shorter track and I have been training like mad, I hoped to be able to strategize a way to play my strengths and minimize my weaknesses in order to pull off a decent result.

The adventure started for me when I decided to resurrect my van as a means of travel. As it hadn’t moved in over 10 months since I took the insurance off it after my knee surgery, that meant replacing the tires and brake pads, changing the oil and refilling the tranny fluid, all on the most minimal of budgets possible. Adding to the headache was the fact that seemingly every bolt rusted itself on. Fun times. After getting the van running and insured and working late into Friday night at the bar, I packed up all my gear and early the next morning began the voyage down to the coast. It was rather satisfying to pack down the van with all my gear, crank the tunes and head down there surrounding by everything I needed to succeed.

When I arrived a couple of the boys who had come down the night before were already training. The first task I set for myself was to find and maintain a consistent race-head as I have not had much opportunity to practice long runs at a race pace and I needed to increase my level of focus at speed. The mischievous weather had thrown a bit of a curve ball at us, so on the track we found deep mud, to the point that on the four packs that usually you would have to scrub to avoid landing flat, you had to sprint with everything you had in order to make the first set before landing in squelch and missing the second sets. Tristan, Thomas and myself got to do a number of runs together which was fun, figuring out the track while sliding around in the mud. The track was sloppy as all hell but I really enjoyed it, drifting corners and surfing tough lines. It took a good few runs to get up to speed but by race day I was feeling half way to my old self.

It was fun to work with a few of the younger guys who are just getting into it and see them put together a solid weekend of racing. I was really impressed with their attitudes as they faced bad weather, a super foreign type of track and mechanicals, but despite the adversity, came through charging. Jordan blew up his back wheel casing a muddy double in training on Saturday but managed to get a new one built so he was back in the game. Tristan’s back brake decided to die on him late Saturday and as it was a Formula no one had the required equipment to fix it so Sunday morning we poached the brake off my hardtail to get him back running. There was also the obligatory Bear training line-up in the rain to deal with, but as the boys learned, all such is racing. Being more prepared for adversity than the next guy is half the battle and we pulled together our race-heads while putting together everything we needed to at least be in the competition.

Bear Pt. 2

I faced a mechanical myself just before my race run - as I took my rear caliper off to clean out the grime that was packing it, the connection from my brake line came loose so when I reattached the caliper and squeezed my brake lever oil spewed out everywhere. I managed to bleed the brake before my run but as I was about to find out, the damage was done and my rotor and brake pads were contaminated, with no brake clean to be found anywhere. Despite this I headed up the course in a good mind-set focused on the task at hand. I did a thorough warm up and was as ready as I have ever been by the time I was in the gate. Just into my run I realized that I had minimal if any stopping power in my rear brake, which forced me to be a bit conservative in the technical upper sections, my main card I was hoping to play. Once I got to the second hairpin entering the long flat middle section I was consciously relieved and set to work on the pedals. The weather had wrought havoc down on the course to the point that run-times increased by over 50%, so I found my handicap in conditioning really impacting me as I slogged through the muck. Save for a few dabs and a wash-out to near dead stop I felt I had a pretty consistent run, but by ¾ of the way down the course I was seriously hanging. I really didn’t have any power left at the end of the track, but I made it down safely and was pretty happy to find the end of the track.

After my run I was pretty satisfied with how things had gone, all things considered. My race strategy and mental game both went really well and I didn’t get hurt, which were three of my main goals. My mechanical was unexcusable, but there was nothing I could do about it at the time. I didn’t feel that I rode at my best and my lack of stopping power didn’t help, but a bunch of friends came up afterwards and complemented me on the sections they saw, so that was encouraging. As well it was really satisfying to work with our younger riders and see them pull off a successful weekend. I ended up 23^rd, which was a long way off where I was hoping to be, but it was my first race back in 11 months and my conditioning, confidence and speed will only increase as I get to spend more time on my bike so I have to try to be patient. A highlight of the weekend for me was getting to throw Thomas in the Old Mill Pond after he placed 3^rd, a Bear Mountain tradition for those who earn the podium. He is killing it every time I see him on the bike and undoubtedly has good things in his future. Our next race is Arduum on the weekend of the 10^th, so we have our work cut out for us over the next 2 weeks in training for the most technical race of the year, undoubtedly much more my style.

I've had my share of fear-filled pivotal moments, standing completely still and staring anxiously down some misshapen escarpment. One foot readily pressed against the leading pedal, my other foot planted firmly in the seemingly safer ground beneath me. Eyes transfixed with a piercing gaze in the supposed path I should take. Although my planted foot may leave the ground to meet briefly with the other pedal, and my sights may lift up to the bottom of the line below, my fingers remain clutched against the brake levers. And while the wind whips cold and never gives up on trying to rip the shirt from my back, I just can't seem to find an answer to my rhetorical question, "Should I go?"



I've been putting myself in that pivotal position a lot this year and it's a scary place to be. In one hand I can have my celebratory moment where work and risk pay off. But on the other hand everything could blow up in my face before I even knows it's coming. This year in particular, the other hand often seem more likely. I have had a lot of friends going down hard and coming up short with major injuries. Haunting nightmares of their injuries and my potential absolute destruction have plagued my daydreams and the hesitant moments while hiking back up the roll in. Still even with all the scary moments and all the horrifying thoughts that occasionally cross my mind I have been stepping up to the plate and pushing myself to ride bigger jumps, trick sketchier lines and tweak my bike further and harder than I ever I thought I could.



What's my motivation? I have a continuing curiosity that bugs me so much that I can barely call it a curiosity anymore; it's become an obsession. I am constantly asking myself, can I do this? If I have been shredding for years and I don't keep stepping it up, am I just wasting my time? I'm not totally sure where the questions stem from, but every time I drop in it feels like the opening track of an old punk CD. I'm a little too excited, a little bit aggressive and admittedly, maybe a little misguided. But for the first time in my life, I sort of feel like I have something to prove. Maybe at the end of the track I won't be any further than I was when it started, but at least I'll know I tried. So even when I'm feeling more than sketchy, and the whipping wind tells my planted foot to stay planted, I am letting my fingers off the brakes. I'm dropping in and the best is yet to come.

Its Only May

Check out what I have been getting up to lately with my friends Matty Miles and also Kaleb and Jim from http://www.tnlphotography.com !



If I told you I handled a year of riding in the past six weeks, would you believe me? I suppose everyone rides on their own schedule and a rider's methods of measuring the ride will vary. But what if you rode almost everyday? And every lap was a balls to the wall, all killer no filler, blast straight to the bottom succeeded by floods of laughter and equal amounts of excitement from all your friends? By those measurements I feel content in my exaggeration. I've been rushing to cram as much as I can into every day and between the rides I've taken and the people I have shared them with, I certainly crammed a years worth of golden moments into April alone.
Surrounded by friends I pedaled into sticky trails while whoops and hollers echoed between the trees. Pedaling faster I chased the sun across picture perfect photo frames. Silhouetted against the shimmering layers of hills I became a black sail in another spectacular sunset. I'd Shred and slash from side to side through silt and loam and mud, dodging branches of leaves who had barely began to bud. Skidding up to my truck I would toss my bike to the tailgate and rally shuttle roads at an uneasy pace. I was in a mad race, squeezing out the final moments of glorious sunlight and laughing about the few sketchy minutes before the forest turned completely black and cold. The fires felt so warm and the beer tasted so cold while the scent of fresh split wood and wide open meadows stained the sleeves on my flannel sweaters. And between fast laps down the trail and slow sips of the bottle I couldn't help but wonder, why am I in such a rush?
I worry about a lot of things, really unnecessary things, and that's probably why I'm always rushing. Will the barely budding leaves have the chance to glow green before they fade to yellow this fall? What if the sun doesn't set so bright for another six or seven nights? And even if it showers tomorrow, will the trail ever be that tacky again? In retrospect it seems ridiculous to me, but in their conceiving moments those worries are valid reasons to trade a good nights sleep for a killer set of photos and some black bags under my eyes. It's only the middle of May and I've already counted over 50 rides, helped out at some races, snapped some photos with Gibby, filmed a few videos and launched a new website on the side of working full time every week. At least the rushing is productive. Maybe I should slow down a bit, drink a few less coffees and stop rushing so much. After all, it's only May.

March session

Last month Graham and I had a good session at the bike ranch. I ended up crashing a few too many times, but fun was still had by all.. Matt Miles And Karl heldt put a fun little edit of it together. Here it is.. http://www.vimeo.com/22589250

Somtimes Simple

Matt Miles Photos
Shredhard Words



Spring may have sprung and the temperature may quickly rise but a fine ice still shines on the root of the trail, still clenched in winter's fist. Winter was colder and longer, meaner and deeper than usual. It came unannounced and tore the scene apart and the forest has still yet to recover. While the cracks and the contours of the forest floor where I usually play have yet to escape winter's hold, wide open valleys where dirt jumps live are clean and dry, even dusty in some places. This has lead me to a new bike, one I never would have seen myself riding. The Lacondeguy hardtail. I have long been known as a hater of the hardtail, dirt jump specific hardtails in particular. I have always loved to jump and it's my favorite part of riding. But I like riding big jumps on big bikes. Long distance gaps with long travel suspension. A bike with narrow tires, one brake, one gear, and no rear suspension? Sounds pretty useless to me.



Buried deep in thought of tossing old ideas to the wind and contemplating whether or not I could make use of a useless bike, I figured out something pretty simple. If I ride a hardtail into the energetic resurgence of the Kamloops Bike Ranch, I could be riding a month before a single trail in Kamloops dries. Even if the area in which I ride that funny little bike is featureless and grey and leaves me with nothing to daydream about, I'll still be riding. Even if it lacks all of the technical features I thoroughly enjoy tinkering with and the bike has nothing to think about, I will still be riding a bike. So I built up my Lacondeguy with collected parts from a short travel bike and gave it a chance. And I really didn't expect much. Flying through trees, skidding down boulders and navigating my way through the unimaginable are elements that excite me. I don't see how I will have fun riding a simple bike over simple terrain, with no chance of the unpredictable presenting itself.



I guess now is the point at which I can admit that I was completely wrong. As soon as the Lacondeguy's tires touched dirt the simplicity and predictability pulled me in. Even if the jumps aren't massive and the terrain isn't in the least bit sketchy, even if I don't have compression dials and pressure setting to play with, I am still riding and that gets me smiling. Every time the bar leaves my grip and spins back into my palm, every time the tail floats out from under me and the pedals whip back around to my feet, every time I come back to the ground and feel the bike do absolutely nothing, the simplicity drives me wild. No matter how far I throw it away from me, it comes right back to me right when it needs to be there. I haven't had a bike that has been this fun to play with since I was a little kid. It is more responsive and more nimble than I could have imagined. I am so glad I gave in to my previous way of thinking and gave my hardtail a chance. I am riding weeks before the trails are dry, smiling every day and making great use of my useless bike.

Spring Has Sprung

This past winter tip-toed by at a pace seemingly much slower than those of winters past. At first I was restless and couldn't find an outlet for my energy. Then as the days grew to their darkest I became bored. Reading books, watching my beard grow and counting the days between sunshine. Eight was the longest sun-free streak I counted. It was all a waiting game for which I had crafted many plays. But once my new bike arrived insanity began setting in and I was no longer set to win. The past few weeks of winter had really began taking their toll on me. More than once I found myself with the whiskey bottle in my mouth and my finger on it's trigger, asking myself irrational questions. What if spring never comes?


After having touched tires to dirt a few times now, I believe I am safe in making my call. Spring has sprung and once again I can see the familiar and anxiously awaited transformations taking place. Steadily warming winds sweep through the valleys and wick away the snow and ice. The trails are thawing and coming back to life. Birds now fly overhead and sing to me the songs of their winter travels, the places they've been and the things they've seen. The world is being painted again, shaded valleys and carefully brushed hillsides with the greatest attention to detail. More and more each day I see truck boxes filled with bikes and bright shining smiles in the cab. Wheels are turning, brakes are squealing and hearts are beating.


Time is on our side and it seems we can go anywhere we want from here. I am starring down the barrel of a loaded season and in the scope I see a lot. There are a lot of roads, some I have traveled and some I have yet to drive. A lot of trails, some I have memorized from beginning to end and some that will plant me flat on my face. And a lot of challenges lie ahead, some that I will conquer and some that will snap me in half. It's Time to shift into top gear and hammer out every last pedal I can. Here's hope for a long healthy season filled with laughter and adventure. This is going to be a big one, look out.

February Update

It’s been a long winter but It looks like it’s finally almost over. I went and checked out the bike ranch the other day, and it looks like at least some of it is going to be rideable within the next couple weeks. I haven’t ridden my bike since the first heavy snowfall this winter but I haven’t been hibernating.. About a week ago I did an interview for NSMB.com which I think turned out pretty good. You can get to the link in the post below. Thanks to Dylan Sherrard and Cheryl Beattie for doing the writeups and putting it together for me. There are also a few new companies that I have been working with this winter. Coming into the 2011 season I’ll be riding for Loaded, Giro, Raceface, Oakley, Dakine. I’ll also be competing a bit more this year in events like crankworx Colorado, and Goatstyle. Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for now.. Hopefully the dirt dries up soon and I’ll have something more to talk about!