July 17

Just finished a half-day at the Whistler Bike Park, and good thing it’s just half a day because my forearms are pumped! Funny that I can ride trials all day, but make me hang on through brakes bumps and ruts and I can hardly hold on!

Jay Hoots helped me tune my suspension in for the bike park, and I think that combined with a second day of practice really helped a few things click, I was on the offense on the jump lips instead of on the defense. It’s really enjoyable letting my body learn and adapt and remember these movements and techniques; once again I can see how people get stoked on riding this mountain.

There is a future shop convention happening at the same hotel as the Norco launch; I’ve been watching them come and go and do their thing. Seems like they’re in meetings all day long, and it sure makes me glad I’m in the bike industry, we get to play on bikes for most of the day!

July 18^th

I went on a fantastic cross country ride this morning through all the Whistler Valley trails, about two hours worth of singletrack, without all the huge braking ruts. Then after lunch I went and had one run at the bike park, but couldn’t hold on to the bars, again my forearms are shot, I guess they’re sore from yesterday. Chasing riders like Jay Hoots and the two Austrian Norco stars (and such nice people) Flo Gottschlich and Angie Hohenwarter, proved just too much for me today, so I thought better of it before the mountain got the better of me, and instead chased back to the condo for a very short yoga session, and now I’m quickly typing this blog, and will then go up to the top of Whistler for an interview with my trials bike for CTV’s evening news.

If you’re living in Kamloops BC, I have a show there on Sunday at the River Festival, come say hi.

Happy Friday!

 

 

No sure if I’ll have time to find internet today; seems that Norco’s 2009 product launch is keeping me quite busy! Norco sure is spoiling everything with great food and amazing riding. Whistler is the perfect venue for this event.

The first couple days Norco hosted the top Norco dealer’s, the last couple days they are hosting international distributors and media. On Tuesday I went out with about 14 dealers and rode the short loop of Comfortably Numb. On Wednesday I went and shot a podcast about the Fluid on the same trail, then went up to the Roundhouse for lunch. We rode from the top all the way down, then back up to film with the Ride Guide. Then I went to get set up for a trials show that I did later that evening at the Longhorn.

Riding the bike park is always a steep learning curve for me. Last year I had one run down the bike park in Whistler, and about half a day at Silverstar, the year before about the same; so after a couple runs yesterday, the first of the season for me, I’m hoping to build on my confidence, and hopefully start to get the feel for jumping. When I do manage to hit the jumps just right, it sure does feel good, I can see why so many people get addicted to the scene up here. I think it would be easy for me to get carried away, but I’ll be keeping it safe, I’ve got loads of shows to do still this Summer! Perhaps I’ll get more specific with the new bikes later, but I’ve gotta go get my gear on right now for the next ride. Ciao!

 

 

Ahhh, just finished a practice on my backyard deck with a nice long savassana in the shade from the maple trees. Like anything good, I wanted to share it with you. Eoin Finn, one of the finest yoga instructor around, has some great resources on his website, you can download a variety of sessions for free on his downloads page.

I’m just taking my time this morning getting ready for a week in Whistler; Norco has their 2009 product launch and will be hosting the top Norco dealers, distributors, and media for riding and dining.

This will be the first time riding in a bike park since VPS Fest last year at SilverStar mountain; I think it’ll be a pleasurable shock to my body and forearms. It’s actually always surprising to me that I can ride trials all day with no forearm pump, but a few minutes of blasting downhill in a bike park, and I can hardly hold on. I guess it’s a matter of what you’re used to.

I’ll figure I’ll post a few times this week with rumors of what will be in store for Norco’s ‘09 line-up. The weather looks great, so I think we’ll all be a bit spoiled this week. If you’re up in Whistler on Wednesday, I’ll be setting up for a trials show on Wednesday evening at about 7pm, come on by and say hi!

Happy Monday everyone, and all my best….

Hearing the words bikes and Obama together in a positive way is great news. Congrats to F.K. Day from SRAM for having the foresight to propose this fundraiser to the Barack Obama campaign over six months ago.

 

“CHICAGO, IL (BRAIN)—Barack Obama, in a private 20-minute meeting with members of the Bikes Belong board of directors, told them if he were elected president he would increase funding for cycling and pedestrian projects. And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also said he would support Safe Routes to Schools programs.” For full article from Bikes Belong Website click HERE.

“During a conversational 15-minute speech, Obama poked fun at himself telling the crowd that when he was photographed last weekend riding a bike with his children, he looked like Urkel. For those unfamiliar with Steve Urkel, he was the nerdy, bespectacled semi-hero on the long running sitcom “Family Matters.” The show was centered on an African-American middle class family living in Chicago.”  For full articles, click HERE and HERE.

 

 

 

A good friend of mine, Francisco Gatchalian, was recently invited to test the new 2009 Shimano Saint components up in Whistler, BC. Being that he is a physiotherapist, running two clinics called Trailside Physio, many of his patients may be as a result of components failure, so having his two cents of feedback is valuable and honest. Here is his run-down….

“July 7, 2008 (Whistler, BC) - In June 2008 media representatives from around the world gathered to attend Shimano’s Saint 2009 press launch in Whistler, BC. Our task was to test ride the all new 2009 Saint components. With little fanfare and no sales pitch, the Shimano staff kitted out my ride and turned me loose on the Whistler Bike Park. 

I tend to be hard on components, so I was anxious to see how the new Saint set-up would fare. Every Saint component is a little bit lighter, the new gold graphics are eye-catching and each piece has been redesigned with adjustability and compatibility in mind. But would it all survive the abuse of the Whistler Bike Park on some of Canada’s toughest terrain? ” Click here for the rest of the article.

As a fan of WIE (What is Enlightenment Magazine) and of WorldChanging, the following article that I first read in the hard copy of WIE that comes to my door, and re-read this morning on the ‘puter, follows many of the conclusions that much of my varied reading topics has lead me to come to. ‘A Brighter Shade of Green’ by Ross Robertson is worthy of a full read, and hope it is just a spark for you to do further personal research on what it all means. 

I like their term ‘bright green’, it sits quite well with me; it represents the new school environmentalists, as hinted at by Bruce Sterling in this quote from the article:

“It’s a question of tactics. Civil society does not respond at all well to moralistic scolding. There are small minority groups here and there who are perfectly aware that it is immoral to harm the lives of coming generations by massive consumption now: deep Greens, Amish, people practicing voluntary simplicity, Gandhian ashrams and so forth. These public-spirited voluntarists are not the problem. But they’re not the solution either, because most human beings won’t volunteer to live like they do. . . . However, contemporary civil society can be led anywhere that looks attractive, glamorous and seductive. The task at hand is therefore basically an act of social engineering. Society must become Green, and it must be a variety of Green that society will eagerly consume. What is required is not a natural Green, or a spiritual Green, or a primitivist Green, or a blood-and-soil romantic Green. These flavors of Green have been tried and have proven to have insufficient appeal. . . . The world needs a new, unnatural, seductive, mediated, glamorous Green. A Viridian Green, if you will.”

So gone are the days of the dark green neighborhood recycling nazi, lets welcome a brighter future, one not based on fear and guilt, but one built by first looking deep within, and then bravely creating an optimistic worldview, and pursuing a sacred activism that utilizes the brilliance of a science steeped in integrity, 

Dorothy had it right by saying “there’s no place like home”; just arrived back with Caryn last night from a long trip from MUC to YVR via YYV. Our flight was delayed leaving Munich and they said it was because of some bikes they were loading, and since they missed their push off, the delay for a spot over the ocean(600 to 800 at any one time)  was now 90 minutes; terrible they actually blamed it on that because it was obvious to many passengers who the family of six, who had been on a bike tour through Europe, were. Luckily they snuck us off without the full delay. 

So it was great to hang out with Thomas again, here’s a picture of us beside his new demo trailer. He was rocking it on the bike, he was doing a high jump thing with a small kicker and made it up 16 pallets, so smooth!

I met up with Mark from Singletrack magazine while in Kaprun, and he was with my buddy Sanny from Scotland who hosted me in Glasgow for a film festival a few years back. We were hanging out for dinner and Mark was brainstorming ideas for a top ten list of things Austria has contributed to the world for his blog; I think they did a pretty good job!

By the way, I think the fact that per capita, Austrians emit only 2.34 tonnes of Co2 compared to Canada’s 5.46 should make the list….although they have much work to do, their footprint still requires more than two earths to sustain if everyone adopted their lifestyle.

Caryn and I met some pretty amazing people during the last couple weeks, we truly are fortunate to experience the culture and see the sights of such an amazing part of the world.

While traveling in Germany and Austria during the last couple weeks, it became obvious that the culture has a lower level of stress than we do in North America, this is a generalization, but I think it holds strong. Rarely have I seen an obese European on this trip, the number of cyclist commuting and out for recreation is extraordinary, and the general pace of work and life seems to be one notch slower and thus intrinsically more satisfying. There is time to go out for a run and still spend quality time with the family; in Europe you can have your cake and eat it too! My observations seem to be supported by a recent article I read from WorldChanging on working habits. Read through and you’ll see the stats listed about European work habits and the results from that.

 

“I argued that the long hours we in the United States work — some 300 more per year than western Europeans — mean we are more likely to rely on “convenience” and disposable items, such as heavily-packaged fast foods and single-use goods. I told my audience that many people had told me they were “too pressed for time even to recycle.” Moreover, our long work hours allow us to produce and buy more and more “stuff,” resulting in a greater pressure on resources and an inevitably stream of more waste.” MORE

 

 

Caryn and I are hanging out in Kaprun, Austria, a village in the Austrian Alps that is big on mountain biking. The event we’re here for is called Bike Infection, and I’ll be performing with Thomas Oehler and Petr Kruas this afternoon.

The first day in Kaprun, Thursday,  I did a show for the local school, got to ride on gymnastic equipment.

The students seemed to have enjoyed it, and now many of them have signed up for the bike race during Bike Infection this weekend. Nice!

Then later on I had a hair cut, my hair is now the shortest is has been in about 15 years, but to make up for it my facial hair is the longest it has ever been.

Here is another link to my friend Mark’s photos, these are from our visit to the Krimml Waterfall a few days ago.

Ciao….

Hello everyone!

I thought perhaps it was time for another email/photo update. I’ve been meaning to email for a while, but I seem to always get into bed at night and fall asleep instead of staying up to type. That and the fact we’ve been staying in the tiniest of Austrian towns and when you ask about internet they just laugh at you and shake their heads. Oh the bother of all this traveling…

Anyway this first picture is of probably the absolute best hotel buffet breakfast that ever exsisted. It was while we were staying in Kirchberg and this was only one small corner of the breakfast display, but probably my favorite. Any grain, nut, seed it was there in a cute little glass bowl waiting to be scooped up and eaten, right there along side Cocoa pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch…my personal fav. This table is a nightmare for those who potentially suffer from anaphylactic reaction due to nuts, but for me, a dream.

Beside it was an equally impressive arrangements of meats, cheeses (approx. 7-10 different kinds of each) pickled anything, and an assortment of misc. spreads, all of which were labeled in German, creating too many “unknown factors” for my comfort level, therefore I ingested not one “spread”. Then we had the bread table, who knew they made that many breads, and then the egg, veggie, fruit and jam table. It was great. I LOVED it!!!

This is yet another photo of the Schwartzsee (Black Lake), and me doing my intensive training for the upcoming triathlon. I really feel like my technique here will definitely give me an edge over the other competitors. Yes, yes I do.

Yesterday brought us to Krimml, Austria a little town somewhere in Austria. I wouldn’t be able to point it on a map if you asked me too. It is small and Austrian, this is what I know of it. 

 Thankfully it was warm and got sunny so not only did we not completely freeze due to soaking, but it made many many rainbows appear all over.

Here we have our latest “Gasthaus” (guesthouse) where we are staying, which is almost directly across the street from the falls and is very sweet. Our bedroom is on the very top level, and I have been happily deadheading the petunias along my balcony this evening. Hans, the owner of the house, collects crystals that he finds and herds sheep. If only I spoke just a touch more german, or he spoke just a hair more english, I would have approximately 1000 more questions for him. As it stands he directed us to a fantastic pizzeria. It truly is amazing though how much communicating one can do without a common language. Ask Ryan, he is getting fantastic at charades. I also got to see my first firefly here tonight and perhaps the largest frog in existence. The frog was cute but the fireflies were amazing. I LOVE those little guys, so unassuming in their non-glowing state…

These last two pictures are from the GrossglocknerStrasse. The Grossglockner is a very very high peak in Austria, I do not want to mislead by saying the highest, but I’m leaning that direction. And the GrossglocknerStrasse is the CRAZY road leading up to it. The view points were amazing and the road was ridiculous. Motorcycles loved it and there were so many crazy cyclists going up, I can’t imagine how hard it would have been. There were road bikes with no granny gears, and mtn. bikes loaded down with panniers. I’ll have to find the stats on how far and how high, but it was very very far, and very very high and steep (some of the signs suggested a 10% grade). Of course with all of my fantastic-o training I have been doing for my triathlon, it would have been a breeze for me. Obviously.

Here is just a small sampling of the road. It zigged and zagged and wiggled all through the Alps and was nutty. I loved it and was terrified all at once. Watching the cyclists whiz down at ridiculous speeds right into the tightest of all switchback corners, made me highly anxious. Ryan at one point had to turn his head and he refused to watch.

So there we have it a little update in the going-ons of Austria. They aren’t the best of pictures, but they tell the story I suppose. Tomorrow we are off to find internet and Salzberg. I am now going to spend the rest of my night determining a way to convince two young men (Ryan and Mark) on why they should spend their afternoon at the Sound of Music sights.

 

I hope you are all doing wonderfully. Enjoy your summer!

 

Lots of love to you all!

Caryn