Tabernacker

There's great races, good races, alright races and then there's the Tabernacker races. Last Sundays island cup xc in Parksville was a Tabernacker. The race started good with Team Yukon (Daniel Sessford) and I taking a solid lead off the front. That was where the goodness ended.

Fifteen minutes into the race Team Yukon took a muddy corner in overdrive. I figured he was going to eat it hardcore but apparantly the laws of physics don't always apply. Seeing Yukon make the corner I figured what he could do I could do as well. Not happening. Logics took over and the wheels slid out and I torpedode 30 km/hr into a stand of dead willows. Stunned, bloodied and stuck I peeled myself and my tangled bike out of the mess just in time for 3rd and 4th place riders Sullivan Reed (Team Prince George) and Carter Hovey to catch up. Carter was soon dropped as Sullivan and I gaver hard to catch Team Yukon on the long fired road climb.

In the pre-race briefing the organizer had informed us the local loony toon characters had changed some of the course markings. Apparantly we were to follow some arrows but not the others. Having not pre-ridden the course neither Sullivan and I were to sure which arrows were fake and which were real.

We found out in a hurry as the fireroad we were on deadended in the middle of a cutblock. Already 4 minutes off course in a 1 hr race I was content on calling it a day and rode into the cutblock to find a place to curl up and sleep. Sullivan wasn't too ammused and insisted we try to get back on course. I felt bad as Sullivan had drove 10 hrs from PG for the race so I saddled up and we headed back down the fireroad. We ran into 25 or so other lost racers. We turned them around and eventually got back on course to ride humbly to the finish.

All in all it was a text book Tabernacker race. I was impressed with the effort Daffy duck and Twitty bird put into getting us lost as they hadn't just changed arrows to get us off course but they had put up more arrows once we were lost to insure we got royally screwed. Grade A effort boys. Off to work...Pedi Cabing.....

Springtime on the Island

Victoria is an unreal place to train in the springtime. The last few weeks have been full of local races, exploring new roads and trails and finding out just why this place is Canada's cycling capital. Former Canada Cup racer, Carter Hovey, showed me a whole new side of Victoria when he took me up on the highland xc trails. I've ridden my xc bike over 100 times in Victoria, always at the Hartland Dump trail network. What Hovey showed me boggled my mind. There are months of exploration ahead, apparantly the "Dump" only makes up about 10% of the trails around Victoria. Super stoked to get out there to get lost in the future.

The races have been solid. The Island Cup XC series out here is probably the funnest race series in Canada. 80% singletrack courses, solid rider turn out, BBQ's, super laid back racer attitudes and $20 entry fees bring us all back to why we started biking in the first place. Last week in Cumberland was no exception. The race was fast from the start with Stefan Widmer (Rocky Mountain) and I gapping the field early. I had a good legs and could set the tempo up the climbs but Stefan is an unreal bike rider and would constantly gap me on the singletrack. In the end the best rider won on the day, not by much as I came in 40 seconds behind. Good times for sure.

The local VCL (Victoria Cycling League) is a solid series as well with weekly wednesday night road races on 2-3 km road loops out in the countryside. I had a 2 race winning streak going into the race last night but was outduelled by Nic Hamilton and Marcel Arden, both riders coming off strong rides at the Walla Walla in the States including Hamilton's victory. With a strong field I decided to set the tempo by attacking at the gun. Didn't work out. Ended up 5th which was solid considering I'm training for Marathon races and rode 6 hrs before the race. This weekend is another Island Cup race upisland in Parksville.

The other night we had a small dinner party in Victoria with homemade Veggie burgers and Chocolate Moose. Below is the Chocolate Moose recipe, courtesy of Canadian Ski Mountaineering Champion and fellow Jasperite Reiner Thoni.

Good for You Chocolate Moose

4 ripe avocados
1 cup coconut milk or almond/rice milk
1 cup cocoa powder
add sweetener to taste of your choice. Agave nectar or real maple syrup makes it smooth and healthy. Bannas or dates are also great but not as smooth. Stevia is another all natural, no calorie sweetner option as well .
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla seeds

Method

-Put all the ingredients into a food processor, or a blender, and blend until smooth.
-If it is not sweet enough add more sweetener and if consistency needs adjustment add more avocados to make it thicker and water or milk to make it thinner.
-Next, place in a bowl and put in the fridge for 1 hour. Keep in mind when mixing ingredients that it will firm up in the fridge.
-Serve with fresh fruit to enjoy this guilt free treat!

Loaded with healthy fats, antioxidants and electrolytes it not only tastes good but it feels good to eat!

Nice Work Reiner!

Juan De Fuca

Being out in Victoria has ignited a fire which has made it tough to stay off the bike. Endless roads, rockin trails, decent weather and a lack of sketchy central american dogs to chase me while I ride has made it quite enjoyable. Too much riding in April can be a problem in August though, so last week I made a point of staying away from the bike and set out to trek the 47km Juan de Fuca trail with my friend Lilla.

The trail is known as the little cousin to the West Coast Trail and the entire length of it within view of the ocean. With rocky cliffs, suspension bridges, waterfalls dumping into the ocean and waves crashing into the rough West Coast the views were pretty unreal.

The first two days were spent hiking up and down big creek gullies, we figured we made about 100 m horizontal movement for each 1 km hiked. At one point I thought I heard howler monkeys, Lilla being from the East coast pointed out they were probably sea lions. Hmmm, would've never known.... Next we thought we were seeing hoards of 100's of seals, but they turned out to be giant kelp and logs. Weird. Tides were another problem. With parts of the hike on the beach it would've been wise to check out the tide tables. Nothing 1 hr of waiting and trying to time the waves can't fix. I got pretty wet, Lilla showed better finesse and made it across dry and lady like.

The third day we woke up to rains, hiked for 4 hrs, then it started to rain sideways as gail force winds moved in and started knocking branches and tops of trees down. Hiking the next 4 hrs in the storm, on icy wet board walks and ankle deep mud with the tree's tossing crap at us was an adventure. Reaching my pickup at 6pm in 100% saturated clothes but our heads still in tact was a relief.

Rrrrrrrrr..a.rgggrgrag.. Was my pickup trying to start. F&%#@ piece of s#*$&# was my response. A couple home mechanics were in the parking lot and they helped us in the pooring rain for over an hr. No Luck. Still in wet clothes and ice cold I renamed my truck B-POC (Black Piece of Crap) and then we hitched into Port Renfrew to call the tow man. We were dropped off at the local pub, our friends drove away, we walked up in the pooring rain, saw the closed sign, swore again and then looked around for another hideout. No luck. Power was out all over town and there was nothing else in the town. Too our luck a guy came out of a back room in the pub where he was watching the new star trek movie. He felt sorry for us, let us inside, made us tea, gave us a phone too use and then let us hang out till the tow truck arrived.

2.5 hrs later the tow truck showed up and we started towing B-POC 120 km back to Victoria on the sketchy Coastal highway which was now littered with trees and branches. Half way back we went by the trailhead we had started the hike at. 3 days earlier I had stashed my bike in the bush as I had used it to get to the start of the hike after dropping B-POC off at the other end of the trail. I convinced the tow truck driver to stop for 10 minutes so I could hike down the trail to retrieve the bike.

Running down the trail, in the storm, in the middle of the night, with a small headlamp was a gongshow. After running around in the woods for 30 minutes resembling a chicken with his head cut off I waved the white flag on the mission and headed back to the tow truck to humbly continue our journey home. At 12:30 am we finally reached Victoria to conclude the 17hr hiking day, minus a bike, a working truck, and anything of any sort still dry.

The next morning my brother Dustin, Lilla and I spent the day ripping B-POC apart. Luckily Dustin is a top notch home mecahnic and he figured out the problem and pointed Lilla and I to do the labour. 6 new spark plugs and spark plug wires later and B-POC was back to life. Apparantly spark plugs should be replaced every 3 yrs or so. Mine were 9 yrs old.... Prevenative maintenance has always been on the dusty pages of my dictionary. It is now on the front cover, highlighted in bold letters and in three different languages!

A few days ago I went back and found my bike. Much easier in the day light. In the end I'm not sure if the hike fit properly into the term "rest week" but it was a solid enough adventure to help ease a guy's mind who is going through post Central America travel syndrome.

This weekend its up Island to rip some trails in Campbell River and try my luck at the Island Cup XC race in Cumberland on Sunday.