Looking ahead

After close to 1000 shows over the past five years in front of close to a quarter million people, it looks like I will be upgrading my demonstration obstacles over the winter. The goals are pretty simple; they need to provide a new challenge, be lighter, and be quicker to set up. They need to look professional, and be innovative in some way. I am just in the brainstorming phase right now. I recently checked out this high quality scaffolding system of which many elements make a lot of sense for a trials set up. Check out the photo. These things fold up flat in seconds, so moving obstacles through doorways at schools or theatres will be no problem. They are lightweight and surprisingly stable. The appearance can be worked on, perhaps removing the ladder part and adding sponsor banners. They could even be anodized. The only drawback is that there is some play in the pivot joints, but nothing a few modifications can’t fix. The thing is that I set a very high standard with my current demo obstacles; so to top that will be a challenge!

Next year is shaping up to be a busy one for me. I’m scheduling a two month long school tour through Canada (let me know if you have a school that would be interested), various mini school tours through BC, performances at major events such as The Sea Otter Classic, Seattle Bike Show, and Crankworx, I’ll be leading a mountain bike and yoga retreat in Whitehorse with Boreal Mountain Biking (more details to come on that soon), a couple different video projects, and of course mix in a few longer term sides projects, and I think the year 2010 will blow past in a flash!

My sponsorship roster is looking strong. Norco bikes is continuing their rock solid support in all I do, I don’t imagine I’d still be doing what I do at the level I do it at if it wasn’t for their encouragement and support; my relationship with Shimano is growing, and I look forward to visiting their Canadian office in Peterborough, Ontairo in the Spring during my Trials of Life tour, their head office in Japan also has some ideas for me next season; Marzocchi has been a long time partner and I am excited about their product developments for 2010, it trumps their ’09 offering; I have some projects developing with the good folks at Ryders Eyewear (based in North Vancouver); and my trusty clothing sponsor Mace seems to be progressing their vision and embracing the entire cycling scene instead of just the hard-core. This suits my lifestyle perfectly, I live in cycling clothes for the most part, I haven’t had to go clothes shopping for 13 years now , so using a brand that is developing commuter friendly gear that is still stylish and also worthy of the demand I put on them during a season of shows is a great fit for me (sorry for the pun).

Have a great Fall folks!