Yep, that’s me these days. As I book my time into October and our “off season” (not really!), I am looking back at my September calendar. Kinda nuts – after trips to Stevens Pass, the Gravity Logic Forum, our recent trip to the Chilcotins and days here and there patrolling and working at the shop, it’s been completely non-stop. Not that I’m complaining – I’ve had tons of time on my bike and as soon as we got back from our awesome trip to the Chilcotins, it was go time in the bike park with all of our friends in rad indian summer weather.

Stopped for a second in the Chilcotins with 3 of my favorite women and another 11 of my favorite shredders from Whistler (you can also see Jay Cyr, Paul Stevens and Chris Kovarik in the background).

Todd Hellinga snapped this one on our big day up to Camel Pass. There were moments when it was hard to take in the views because of the wind or just having my head down grinding out the distance, but it pretty much looked like this the whole time. Rad.

The Chilcotins trip last week was great. A new experience for me, but I enjoyed myself. We didn’t exactly rough it, though, as we all stayed in one of the Morrow Chalets in Tyax (the biggest one for all 12 of us) and cooked amazing meals for the entire 3 day trip. We managed one alpine day (above) but were forced into the lower areas of the area after the crap weather settled in. Still awesome and a bit of a learning curve for me – even though I have spent more time on my trail bike than ever this season, it doesn’t come as easily to me as being on my big bike does. It’s getting better though!

Strand says I should be entering the “active recovery” stage of my training cycle this season, meaning still riding but not as hard or far or long as we did all summer. Feeling a bit tired but already setting goals up for next season that are motivating me to do double headers on the gym/trails. I guess it’s still a one step at a time kinda program…

-Leishner

Very excited to start working with the newly reconstructed Race Face in the women’s soft goods world as of last week. The company had a bit of a rough go last spring but is famous for over a decade of time developing products for mountain biking based out of their Vancouver location. So pumped – this is a small group of people who wear so many hats with the company. They love the sport, love their brand, work their asses of to come up with stuff we love and are good to riders like me. Thanks Race Face!

Thanks Race Face! Stoked...

Now off to Stevens Pass, Washington to check out their brand new trails with Strand, Claire and Mason Mashon!

-Leishner

Otherwise known as the Phat Wednesday final. After three years of Phat Wednesdays and two consecutive seasons prior to this one as a second placer overall, I won the coveted Phat Wednesdays overall. Hah. That means I was third in the overall standings of the PhaSt Wednesdays series (I won the one event I entered of the three and Strand and Claire tied for first) and won the Phat. I’m pumped. I also won by a margin I was happy with in the Nick Geddes Chainless ALine Classic, which was cool – I was only off my Crankworx time by 6 seconds.

Here are a couple of photos from the night (oh, and there was over $3000 raised for the BC Kids Cancer Centre in the name of our friend Nick Geddes, which is awesome):

That's me in my B Ball stance for the dress up Phat Wednesday final! Bernie Duval photo.

You had to come to all the races to win this one! Me and Julie Istvan are shown on the overall podium - Casey Brown is missing (she was at World Championships in Switzerland!).

It’s kinda nice to check that one off the list, so thanks to everyone who volunteers their time and lets us race these things every week. I can safely say that my summer social life is largely built around these events in the summer – alot of my good friends do it and it is a great time. This season the competition was legit, too – with heavy hitters like Claire Buchar, Strand, Casey Brown and Gabi Molloy around, it was tough to put down a win (I think I only won 3 of the 6 events this season, thanks to these pinners!). So nice to have this available to us riders.

I think I should also mention that Claire Buchar is my hero. She and her husband Chris Kovarik waited for months for their bikes to come from their sponsors – they missed the entire World Cup season as a result. She only got her bike the day before Crankworx started, won the Garbanzo DH, was second in the Canadian Open (to Rachel Atherton no less) and then headed over to Panorama to win Canadian National Championships. Claire just finished 3rd at the World Championships in Champery, Switzerland, which is huge and so well deserved. Congratulations, Claire – you really are amazing.

Claire Buchar, 3rd place, World Champs. Ya Bucker!

Here’s a clip of Danny Hart’s winning World Championship run on what is famously known as the steepest, gnarliest, toughest courses on the World Cup Circuit, not to mention in the most harrowing of weather conditions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaaZKx9tSqg&feature=player_embedded

-Leishner