I had a fair bit of work to do today; but the main task was to have a good outline of things to say tomorrow evening for the VIMFF, but still, nothing inspiring was coming through. Something to do with talking about myself perhaps. It all just came out boring and heavy, and almost preachy. I want my component of the evening tomorrow to be fun and light.

So the new plan is to have Mr. I mean Dr. Robin Coope to tag team comments with between film clips, sharing some thoughts about the progression of my film segments from the past 12 years. Robin got my career going way back 14 years ago and has been a mentor ever since. Hmmm, Robin talks well, so it might be hard to keep my demo/film/talk to under 30 minutes! Sorry in advance if the evening is late because of us

I have an interview on CBC Radio tomorrow (Wed) at 3:50 to talk about the festival, I think it is a 10 minute chat.

So I started to feel a little sick last night, though I didn’t get ’sick’. I think it may have been something I ate, or a mild touch of the flu, maybe a 24 hour thing. I’m starting to feel better now. I taught a yoga class from 8:30 to 9:30 this evening, that got me feeling better and feeling alive again. Didn’t eat much during the day, but when I got home Caryn made me some scrambled eggs with avocado, and that topped me off for the day. No complaints. Tired now, sleep is good, I think I can commit to a good eight hours tonight, so fortunate!

Be well folks,

Ryan

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!

It was a quick trip to Las Vegas and back this year for InterBike; I had a 12 hour turnaround from finishing my yoga teacher training until flying out, and now, I’m flying home early because I have a show in North Vancouver tomorrow.

I should be working on my lines for my trials show tomorrow, I have to ride and speak about sustainability to some college students, but instead, I’m sitting at the airport, sipping some tea, sharing what’s on my mind.

Getting away from downtown Vegas and head to bootleg canyon for Dirt Demo is always a pleasure. The trails are dusty and rocky but totally rule. I was pumped to ride, but had a rear flat on the first run, and front flat on the second run despite the fact that I had extra tire pressure; there are some sniper rocks sticking up on the trails. Got to do some uplhill pedalling with the NSMB crew which was a nice break from the bumpy shuttle ride up, and chasing Jay Hoots down the mountain is just way too much fun. I had to model some Mace gear for PinkBike, then blast back to the city for a meeting with Shimano; the senior riders on the team are involved with a secret project that is shaping up nicely.

Yoga! I had the opportunity to teach a yoga class this morning to a room of about 30 people. Fresh off my yoga teacher training with Eoin Finn, I was ready to share the good vibe. Everyone who came out, whether they were first timers, or seasoned yogis, seemed to have fun and keep the groove flowing despite our initial left curve with the yoga mats…InterBike had arranged for 30 mats to show up, but only 10 made it. Luckily, mountain bikers are so laid back they just stuck it out on the carpet! Nice! Next year we’ll have it dialed though;-)

I recently set my Mum up with a pedal assist electric bike. She has had some great bike rides already. But nothing tops her most recent adventure; while she was having so much fun riding and exploring new areas, she happened to discover this giant foxglove plant!

Happy Riding Everyone!

Yesterday, after some trials shows in 100 Mile House, BC, I raced home to check out the new ‘Trials of Life Platform’ being installed in the Port Moody trials park by Mr. Jay Hoots and his mate Owen. When I arrived they were just finishing up because they had run out of materials…so they invited me on a ride! I made a quick stop at home to grab my Fluid LT and riding gear, dropped my demo trailer off, and raced to meet them at Mt. Seymour for a rip.

(Owen, Myself, Jay; on the almost complete practice platform of varying heights)

Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of shuttling. I tend to like climbs, especially technical challenging ones. I like to get a workout and earn my downhills, I like being warm at the top before I slam my saddle down for a DH, I also like the bonus that you use an extra bit of food fuel instead of fossil fuel…..BUT, when you have the chance to hang with Jay and to chase him down a trail, how can you say no! Shuttling has it’s place, and last night, racing to the trail before sundown, was one of those times. 

The ironic thing is, that Jay and I are doing a stage of the BC Bike Race together, so we really need to get some mileage in legs. So we decided to meet today nice and early, again Seymour, but we raised our saddles and with some caffein racing through our bodies, we raced on up the trail. A good three hours later, we were pretty spent. We have some (a lot of!) work to do in order to complete the 65km stage in Squamish…did I mention I’m planning to do a trials demo right after I finish that stage!

I did some yoga this afternoon too. I usually try to practice outside this time of year, but today was wet and cold, so I decided to just put on one of Eoin Finn’s DVD’s, and did a routine called Strong, Free, and Happy. I’m thoroughly tired now so I think I’ll go fall asleep to the sound of falling rain…

Part of my trials show ritual is heading to my tent and table after a demo, and giving away signed posters. I’ve learned some interesting things about signing over the years, I’ll share further thoughts about it sometime soon, but one interesting thing I have been noticing, and it happened today, is about spelling. Names are important, even though I don’t remember most of them, I like to get them spelt correctly on the poster. For all the names that might have alternate spellings I say it out loud as I’m writing or just ask them to spell it if it’s really unusual. I forget that some of the folks coming for posters might be nervous, so they may agree to a spelling that is incorrect. So I have learned to sense this, and often double check just to make sure—still they may say “yup, that’s okay”, but at that point, it’s time to grab a new poster. 

Day one of the Sea Otter Classic is complete. Sunny skies, slower winds, and a substantial turnout really got the festival off to great start.

I have been in renovation mode for the past ten days straight. First off, I enlarged my home woodworking shop; it went from 7′x10′ to 10′x10′. Small for a woodshop, but when you live in a townhouse, you have to make do with small spaces. Then I helped replace a rotting plywood deck with cedar (found a great deal on craigslist from a local mill worker). And now, back at home, I’m laying down reclaimed fir in two bedrooms, a hallway, and 23 stairs. I love working with wood! Most cities have demolition companies that salvage wood from old buildings. With a little research, you can find these places; it costs a little more due to the labour involved (salvage, sort, pull nails/bolts, cut, etc) than buying new wood, but at least you’re not putting as much demand on the forests. I think this is a still a relatively untapped resource, I know there are plenty of old building I see being torn down and land-filled, with the good ‘old’ wood being left to rot for waste.

I sure am looking forward to riding my bike soon though. The snow has been incredible here, it’s starting to melt in the city though (skiers are stoked), so I’ll be rolling soon no doubt. Actually, I have a trip coming up in California; I’ll be visiting some magazines to be interviewed and go on some rides with the Norco Fluid.

The riding season will be in full swing in no time.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Ryan

Just getting in to the flow of being around home, loving it! The riding season has been steady for me, and after close to 150 shows, things are winding down.

Haven’t updated for a week or so on my blog, but you may have noticed my frequent lifestreaming posts on the right hand column of my blog. The lifestream is actually synced to my facebook account too, pretty handy.

Many of the links I post are political right now, for obvious reasons. For those concerned on the state of affairs down south, I highly recommend signing up for the Thom Hartmann radio show podcast; he cuts through the all the media driven drama and bias and gets down to business with a very grounded perspective.

I wrote a little rant a few months ago called “Lamborghini’s and Cigarettes”.  I’m not much of a car guy, but  when I saw this article on Hybrid Lamborghini’s, thought I’d post a link. It’s a bit ironic, but at least they’re moving in the right direction! Seems that because of Germany’s tightening emission restrictions, Lamborghini is now being forced to get with the times to keep up with sales (maybe the idea of high polluting cars going out of style, just as  I’d suggested in my article).

Props to Germany! Hopefully the new Canadian Prime Minister follows suit.

Cheers Folks!

Whistler is situated among some of the most spectacular scenery, but it can still be a fairly toxic place to spend five days, especially during a gravity and testosterone fed festival like Crankworx. Participants and spectators are recovering from Crankworx in many different ways right now. The hype, buzz and adrenaline can be a bit overwhelming, and it’s sometimes hard to shake it off and bring things back to reality.

I felt nicely grounded after listening to this song today by Xavier Rudd today….

energy-song

Anyone else stuck in the traffic back to Vancouver last night? It took me over four hours to get home! I had some good podcasts to listen to though (check the side panel to the right). I think most drivers remained positive though, one guy even got out of his car while we were stopped, knocked on my window, and gave me a beer….no I didn’t drink it Thanks buddy!

We’re spending mega bucks on a new highway from Vancouver to Whistler, and they’re making great progress. There was no construction last night, but yet the delays were enormous. My former team mate and mentor Robin Coope was stuck in the same traffic jam, and suggested that the new highway may be safer, but could result in huge delays in Squamish because of the cities traffic light situation, which has grown to seven along the highway. Once the highway is complete, we could still be in store for some huge delays during busy times, such as, oh, say for example, the Olympics. Good prediction Robin, I hope you’re wrong, but I fear you may not be.

 

 

Just had this heads up from Kris Holm about the first unicycle front flip; he said that this kid had been practicing with a gymnastics couch in private for three months to pull it off. Looks pretty bizarre, and impressive no doubt. 

 

I guess perhaps on the same note, I’ll add one of my favorite juggling sequences, it’s simple (not in the moves and tricks, but the fact that it’s only three balls), elegant, and stylish. It’s set to music, so be sure you have the volume up. Enjoy!!! (Thanks Joan Jones for showing this video to me years ago while in Moab).