Dylan and Jena's Two Wheeled Adventures

After being on the road for the past four weekends, we've come back to Fernie to train, take care of some business, spend time with Apollo and rest up for Singletrack 6! Dylan has decided NOT to do the Canadian XCO National Championships in Canmore next weekend for a number of reasons.  We've preridden 5 of the 6 stages for ST6 so we feel very prepared and we'll be doing it individually this year as opposed to co-ed team. This is a top priority race for us, so we're very excited.  The courses are awesome and it's closer to home than everything else we've done this year, so we're stoked! http://singletrack6.com/  

 They say "Never go Full Enduro (Bro)" and now that makes so much more sense. What a riot!  Jena and I will always love trail riding and XC racing, but we'll definitely be signing up for a few more enduros this season and for years to come. We just may have caught the Enduro bug while racing the North American Enduro Cup​ held at Silver Mountain Bike Park​ just outside of Kellogg, Idaho. ABOUT THE RACE: 8,223 ft. of climbing, 16,026 ft. of descending, 75km of pedaling! The 9 stages covered the most epic and diverse terrain possible. From loose shale motocross tracks, to jumps of every kind, drops (from 5 to 10 feet), berms, chunky rock, rock faces, wide open sections, tight-twisty sections and literally brand new trail. JENA'S TAKE: I took the win in the Expert women's category by roughly 9.5 minutes, which would have placed me 9th amongst the pro's (25 seconds off 8th). Some of the best male and female enduro athletes in North America wer...

The Sp'akw'us Challenge is a two day endurance race in Squamish, BC.  It's the fourth of five races in the BC XC marathon (XCM) series, and the Sp'akw'us was a race that we were really looking forward to all winter.  The first day was a 43km (even though they call it the Sp'akw'us 50) technical challenging course that climbs about 1300 metres.  The course takes you up some tough climbs and sends you down some of the deadliest, most fun descents that Squamish has to offer.  Day two was scheduled to be around 29 km but due to a family of bears roaming around the top of a trail named Mad Hatter, the course was shortened to around 26 km.  It was a bit tamer, and featured some of the more flowy trails in the area.  We wanted to do both days for two reasons: 1) Doing back to back longer races is great training for Singletrack 6 which we'll be doing at the end of July. 2) We drove all the way across BC, so WHY NOT do two days of riding sweet tra...

What an experience. The ninth annual Nimby Fifty mountain bike race in beautiful Pemberton BC is just that: A mountain bike race.  A true race that  tests a rider in every way a good race should.  To do well on this 37km course, a rider must be able to: a) climb fast and smooth for long periods of time b) navigate switchbacks like a boss c) keep some gas in the tank for when it's needed d) descend rough, loose, steep terrain Sometimes athletes train for a certain type of sport/event all year and then quickly realize, at some point or another, that they weren't quite as prepared as they would've liked to be. This was the case for Jena and I at Nimby Fifty.  It's an escorted start on the road for a few kilometers, but then once that truck pulls off, it's time to lay down some horsepower! It's a steep, wide open road climb for a bit until you hit a nice singletrack loop that takes about 10 minutes.  So you get to rest for a bit before you start the m...

I was told by a few people that if I ever get the chance to do the Salty Dog, then I should. So that's exactly what I did. I taught an 'advanced cycling and race preparation' course at the College of the Rockies in Invermere BC this spring and a student of mine, Tony Helmer, had the goal of doing this 6 hour event with his son.  When he told me that his son was unable to make it, I jumped on the opportunity to take his place.  I worked with Tony leading up to the race to get him as prepared as possible.  We hashed out a training plan for him and worked on some technical skill building as well.  I had a blast getting to know Tony and we became good friends throughout the process. We pre-rode the course the night before the race, and then saddled up and put the power down on race day.  It was a special day because it was both Mother's day and my birthday.  Tony's lovely wife Seona joined us on the trip to Salmon Arm so I felt like their adopted son ...

The expression "Well, that's racing" is a common expression in cycling. On any given day, a racer, no matter how well prepared they may be, can have a bad day.  It can be caused by a number of things: A poor night's sleep, a crash, an upset stomach, a wrong turn on course... the list goes on and on. For Jena, her goal of standing on the podium at the US XC marathon championships came to a halt when she heard the sound of air rushing out of her tire.  Flat tires happen during bike races.  It's always been part of the sport and it always will be.   After attempting to fix it multiple times with no avail, Jena, unfortunately had to call it a day.  She was physically and mentally ready to kick butt that day, but the sharp, jagged rocks on this Arkansas course got the best of her. So what does an athlete, one who trains year round and fully dedicates themselves physically and financially to their sport do when such a thing happens?  Well, they ...

The 2018 Pisgah Stage Race is in the books!  Jena and I did this race for the first time in 2017 and we loved it so much, we just HAD to come back.   There are a number of reasons we had to return: The trails in the Pisgah Forest, located just west of Brevard North Carolina are simply amazing.  They're fun, rough, challenging and have exceptional variety. Jena won this event in 2017 and wanted to defend her title. Todd Branham and his company, Blue Ridge Adventures, put on an extraordinary event.  Always organized, on time, well sponsored and the food is delicious! The PEOPLE and the ENVIRONMENT! Everyone at the event, from the racers to the volunteers and everyone in between, was so kind and awesome The weather?!?! It's supposedly in a temperate rainforest, but we got nothing but sunshine and beauty days for a second straight year! Timed enduro segments each day!  What more can you ask for?! This year, we are fortunate to have GearHub Spor...

Winter has come and gone so we finally said goodbye to the cold and snow and welcome the fresh dirt and sun with open arms! Jena and I had a great winter here in the Columbia Valley.  A winter filled with nordic skiing at Panorama, Lillian Lake, the Whiteway, Canmore and our favourite spot: Nipika Mountain Resort! Downhill skiing and snowboarding on fresh powder at Panorama and Fernie Alpine Resort was sweet, and then there was fat biking... A whole lot of fat biking on our sweet new Van Dessel Primo Ballerinos! Oh... and Jena learned how to play hockey and curl!  Yep, armed with some second hand skates, a new Sherwood she got for Christmas and an unparalleled desire to play every sport possible, Jena was out there stick handling and passing like a boss!  She even fired off her first slap shot, making this Canadian boy pretty proud. I  had a great opportunity to teach my first ever cycling course as well!  I taught a 20 hour course at the...