Last week I loaded up my truck at 4am (seriously) and pinned it to Tsawwassen to get on the 7am ferry and head to Victoria. Earth Odyssey was done their project in North Saanich early and I wanted to see it. A few important notes: Google Maps says it takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to get from my house in Whistler to the Tsawwassen terminal.  This is a lie (or maybe just a mistake).  They obviously did not take a 4am departure into consideration nor did they factor in the now shred-ready Sea To Sky highway. I got there in an hour and 40 minutes.  Nailed it, which is great, since apparently everyone and their dog (or in this case, every motorcyclin’ baby boomer and his tiny laptop in his moto-pannier) is really pumped on the 7am ferry on Thursdays. It was 70% full when I got there (and full of elementary school children once I boarded).  Phew.

Adam, Jordie and Gunner did a rad job on their pumptrack and the dual slalom. Adam is famous because he will be in the next Anthill movie and because he was in Roam (he’s also famous for not wanting to do any work except on bike trails and pumptracks). Jordie is famous in biking for a bunch of reasons (including the upcoming event in Victoria that’ll have jumps on a barge) and Gunner is famous for Ninja Cougar, 3 years of Crankworx dual slaloms and generally for throwing down fierce stink faces at random. Not sure if it’s open yet, but I got a sneak peek before they (literally) opened the gates. Here are some photos from our super high profile photo sesssssh.

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This is a story I have been meaning to put out for almost a year – I’ve foolishly left it until now to write about. Burns Lake, BC was a big part of my tenure with Gravity Logic back in 2009. It’s a small community northwest of Prince George, BC and has seen its economic ups and downs over the years, especially because of their dependence on the logging industry. After a long application process and a serious wait time, the Burns Lake Mountain Bike Association (BLMBA) was allotted grant money to design and construct trails on their local Boer Mountain with the help of displaced forest workers. Gravity Logic got the contract to design the trails and lead the construction process.

My involvement was kind of funny – I went with Tom Pro in June of 2009 to help him flag the trails that were to be constructed in the buggiest, hottest, gnarliest working conditions I had known to date. I had no idea at the time that I wouldn’t see our efforts come to fruition personally until September of 2010 when I returned to give the BLMBA crew an instructor training course so they could involve local kids in mountain biking on their home trails.

Tom Pro and I a few days deep into our June 2009 flagging mission in Burns Lake. Bug hats and an illegal percentage of Deet were the only things that kept us sane.

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Since Adam Billinghurst stole my regular shredding partner for what I thought was going to be forever (the month of May), I’ve had to be resourceful over the last week and a half and find new crews to ride with.  This is something I’ve actually been way too picky (scared of) about because I’ve been so afraid of being the struggler on a trail bike. Turns out I’m ridiculous and riding with new crews has been the funnest thing since….well, the bike park.

Today’s crew was a real treat.  I made plans to ride with Strand initially but soon found out that Brook Baker was going to join us. This gave me anxiety because I already know from experience that Strand is a freak on a trail bike but Baker is training to do the BC Bike Race solo this year. Little did I know that after picking Baker up on the side of the road, I would be met at Katrina’s place with Fanny Paquette (stiletto bike shredder), Paul Stevens, and Claire Buchar (who is living in Whistler full time this year and only competing at select World Cup races – yikes for us at Phat Wednesdays! hah).

Well it was pretty much the most fun ever. We all laughed a ton, rode tough and not tough stuff and shredded.  Climbs were fun, descents were fun. What a kick ass time.  Thanks guys.  I am so pumped.

The problem, however, is that since Gunner and I have moved, I have managed to lose my camera in the shit show that is our new home (riding has taken precedent over organizing every day off we have) and haven’t gotten any good pics of the pumptracking and Pemby shredding that’s been going down lately.  I’m only ok with it for the time being because this post can really be summarized in the video below.  It captures why I ride bikes and exemplifies the kinds of programs that should be spread worldwide for biking and especially for women. Shredding doesn’t have to be about the cool guys and sweet costumes all the time. Sometimes it can just be super fun and be about the amazing people that come into our lives because of it.

I’m not affiliated with Specialized, I don’t really know Lindsay Vories and I’ve got nothing to do with this program, but man, this is really the coolest thing I’ve seen in quite some time. Check it out.

Ladies AllRide from Kirt Voreis on Vimeo.

-Leishner

Well known local shredder and member of the Norco factory team Nick Geddes has just had a fairly well publicized diagnosis of leukemia while at Sea Otter this past April.  His little bro Zander works at Fanatyk Co in the summer and I’ve been lucky enough to get to know the family here and there while working at the shop.  I’ve also had a few insanely fast runs with those kids in the bike park and they are nothing short of impressive.  Here’s a great write up on NSMB about what’s going on with Nick and how folks can learn more . I can’t imagine the battle he’s looking at, but I keep thinking of what a fight like this has done for people like Lance Armstrong and for my kickass landlord Bill.

Nick Geddes

All my best to the Geddes family and to Nick.  Looking forward to another dangerously fast train down Dirt Merchant with the Geddes brothers together as soon as possible.

-Leishner

April was the typical mix of sun and rain in Pemberton for riding and it’s taken me a bit of a while to feel like I’ve been really killing it on my bike again until now.  Today was the best day yet: up Happy Trail, across the Waco Connector, up to Cream Puff and down Moby Dick and Dark Forest 2. Stupid fun. It was actually a surprise to us to see how busy the trails were in Pemberton today – until we realized it was Sunday and the sun is out.  Anyway, our quick lap was perfect to get in before Gunner peaced out with Billinghurst (Earth Odyssey) to Victoria to build a pumptrack and back I’m in Whistler now to shred our own pumptrack here.

This morning in Pemberton. Not a bad day at all. Gunner photo.

May’s a bit funny this time around. I’ve been doing a bit of random admin work for a local company in town and I’ll be back at the shop hopefully as soon as this week. There’s Dirt Series camps coming up on the North Shore and in Whistler and the riding is all time – just not in Whistler…yet. The best part is my Norco frames are arriving here and there (I get the feeling the Vixa is lying in wait at the Fco warehouse as I type) and the bike park boys start digging the bike park out in less than 24 hours.

It’s sunny in the Sea to Sky and I am pumped.

Pemberton morning for the win! Gunner photo.

-Leishner