I find it easy to get in to journal and blog mode when sitting in an airport lounge. Whether writing about an upcoming trip, or reflecting after one gone by, an airport is the perfect spot.

My alarm went off at about 5:30 this morning; the idea was to give myself some extra time for traffic getting to the airport, and or getting lost. Neither of those happened, but when I returned the car, the guy said the bar code on the rental wouldn’t beep with his little remote check-out device, so he sent me inside to the Budget counter to get my receipt and check out manually. So I left the keys with the guy and made my way in to the building and to the registration counter. After waiting in line I was told that I rented from Thrifty not Budget!! So I ran all the way back with my luggage in hopes that they hadn’t driven it off to the car wash already…. fortunately it was still there, and I managed to find my way to the correct drop off area. Sheesh!

Two days of riding in the desert was a blast. The trails are so different in Bootleg Canyon. Not a tree in sight of course (makes it hard to find a pee spot), the air is hot, the sky is blue, and the dirt is bone bone dry - the complete opposite of Caryn’s compost dirt at home.

My role for Norco was to hang out at the booth, meet up with dealers and media, and go riding with them. Nice gig eh! I rode a couple short cross country loops, probably 20 minutes long each; but most of my riding was up the shuttle. They had two flat deck trucks hauling bikes and riders up the dirt access road. I always seem to think that the drive up is more dangerous than the ride down, and it certainly seemed like it on one ride up. After one of the two shuttle rigs broke down, the shuttle I was one (after waiting over an hour for it) stalled out half way up the steepest hill. So the driver did a sketchy back up job down the hill, and proceeded to try his restart a few times on the hill unsuccessfully, rolling backwards quickly each time. We eventually were backed down to the flat and managed to get going with enough oomff to make it up (helped that he didn’t up shift at the steepest point this time though).

I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face on all the rides down. The trails are so much fun! My favorite was a fairly simple trail called Girl Scout because it was full of beautiful berms, natural whoop de doos, and little boulders and features to goof around with and pump through the whole way down. The trail isn’t so steep that you have to brake the whole way, but you could coast down no prob without much effort, but if you want to have a lot of fun, then powering a few pedal strokes along the way makes it a roller coast ride, good times!

I’m packing up and getting set to fly to Nevada today, it’s InterBike time again. I’ve been doing this yearly trip for about a decade now. Fortunately I don’t have to expose myself to the radiation of Las Vegas for long since I’ll only be present for the dirt demo days, which takes place up in Boulder City, a cute town about 45 minutes SE of Vegas, and just a few minutes from Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.

The Outdoor Dirt Demo portion of this trade show is showing some green signs, such as:

• Biodegradable concession ware
• Organic Food options
• Recycled bins located throughout Demo
• Carbon offset program for shuttles
• Recycled/recyclable Demo bags

Trade Shows in general are very waste abundant and energy intensive. I’m glad to see that the InterBike show is taking steps in the right direction with their “Green Steps” initiative.

The headline on the Green Steps page of the site reads as follows:

“The Interbike Expo is 100% wind powered and uses 25% recycled carpet. And we are just getting started.”

At first glance, I had the vision of electricity used to power the Sans Convention Center with windmills located down the valley from the trade show. A little more digging and you’ll see that they bought carbon offsets for the equivalent power used at the show from an offset company that invests in windmill plants - which is great! They’re moving in the right direction.

They’re also encouraging visitors and exhibitors to buy offsets for their travel, I’ll have to encourage Norco on this one again; personally, I’m still Playing it Cool.

Alright, better get to the airport….

Hey Folks,

Just threw this video together from EuroBike ‘08. It shows some of the environmentally friendly products and trends in the bicycle scene. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, just some stuff that caught my eye…

Nothing like the feeling of coming home to BC after a trip. A new Xavier Rudd song is titled Home, it’s a beautiful peice of music which I’m sure to listen to a few times on the flight home, have a listen!

Home - Xavier Rudd

My short visit to England was quite productive and enjoyable. I was travelling with Chris Hennessey, the International Sales Coordinator for Norco Bikes, and he is opening up an account with a new distributor, Fisher, in St. Albans. The Fisher crew is a great bunch, I think they will do a fantastic job spreading the Norco brand through the country. Chris gave a great product knowledge presentation to some of the key shops and sales reps, and the reception was positive. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Norco’s new website, the bikes are certainly worth a browse.

So during the three days in the UK I snuck in an impromptu demo at the Fisher warehouse, drank a pint at the oldest pub in England, Ye ‘Ol Fighting Cock (over 1000 years old), had curry twice, had a great photoshoot with Steve Behr in front of the St. Albans Cathedral, and got to hang out with my old trials riding buddy Martin Hawyes.

Now I’m at the Heathrow airport in London, waiting to fly home. Again, glad to have found the time to do some yoga this morning, always feels good before sitting for 10 hours straight, whew!!

Ride ON!

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….

I live in a neighborhood that has loads of young children (none are my own, but I do have two nephews across the street). On any typical day, if I go out my front door I am greeted by grinning kids riding around bikes, how awesome is that! So I took my camera out and filmed them just to give you an idea of what it’s like.