Deaner and Drew adding a little spice to Tremblant

DEANER AND DREW AT CANADA CUP #1

Canada Cup # 1

Course walk with the Dunbar/Devinci/Elka Team

With team mates Andrew Mitchell and Dean Tennant

So as we headed to the course through the village we could see that the snow was still lying around. As we got closer to the infamous rock garden we could see some sort of animal moving about, but we were also missing Dean. Wait a minute... thats Dean so pumped on smashing boulders.

Everyone has always enjoyed racing tremblant except that you have to go through a river that everyone hates! So Stupid.

Not this year!

This course hands down has to have some of the knarliest sections on any track we raced imagine trying to race across this rock...

Overall the track has had some great improvements and we are looking forward to practice tomorrow!

Except for this jump which you have to turn off the race line to hit but was just freshly built for the race.

Team Dunbar

Kamloops BC Cup #1

This past weekend in Kamloops was the first round of the BC Cups. It was my first time racing on the track but I had heard horrible things . It turned out to actually not be too bad, with a good little tech section at the top and the rest of the track just being a series of super fun berms and Jumps(there was a pretty brutal 15 second sprint at the bottom)

From the get go conditions were super dusty. If you have ever been to kamloops you know that the place is super dry and this weekend there was no lack of blown out dusty corners.

It was awesome to have another weekend of Dean, Drew, Rob, and myself all out practicing and arguing about our line choices.

In drews race run he layed down a smoking start and crushed the top section including the jumps and pedalling at the bottom. He placed second in the huck to flat off the last feature of the course. He finished in a solid 3rd

Dean messed up in the same rock garden I did right out of the gate and he said he struggled through the loose steep corners. He apparently went furthest in the huck at the bottom so he placed 1st there and 5th overall in the race.

I was feeling good all weekend. I was struggling with a hip on the course that went over some rocks. I almost went down on it in practice than watched the after math of a kid breaking his back on it. Come race run I actually nailed the hip smooth but blew off my line through a rock garden up top and slid out in a pretty crucial spot lower down the track in some flat corners. However given the track conditions I was pretty stoked with my time. Times were super tight.

I finished 12th 3 seconds off the podium with a couple mistakes so I was still pleased.

Me sending the Last step down in my race run.

Rob the pedaling machine apparently just cruised the steep bit up top than layed down some serious horsepower in the bottom and came in with a solid 16th.

Awesome weekend stoked for next weekends race on the sunshine coast.

A Tale for your Sunday

When I look back on February one tale in my mind sits above all else. And this is that tale:

A few months ago my good buddy Seb Kemp started telling me tales of a bike he tested that defied the laws of physics. A bike that carried so much speed through every section, it was as if it was equipped with an engine and yet was so smooth the pilot could do it all whilst drinking a cup o tea. A bike that was like flying through the depths of space on the back of a Red Horned Dragon who's diet consisted solely of Metallica and Mega Death*.

Needless to say I was intrigued and wanted to find out what bike he was speaking of. But before I could enquire further Seb was gone, carried off on the wind to another international mountain biking Mecca.

Devastated would not even begin to sum up the emotions coursing through my veins in the aftermath of Sebs tales. Long had I dreamed of such a perfect bike and I finally had a taste of that sweet nectar only to have it slip away. My great white buffalo had come and gone, leaving me in its dark wake. Alas there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel . That light came in the form of a partnership between myself and Intense Bicycles distributer (OGC). It was with some reluctancy to that I got on board the new Intense M9. Sure it may have been the bike of choice for the winningest World Cup team in 2010, but alas it was no great white buffalo.

So the day came for my maiden voyage on my new Intense M9. Even the nicest weather Vancouver had scene in three months could not lift my heavy heart as I pushed my new ride to the top of the trail. I sat there on my new steed waiting to drop in giving myself one last chance to think of what could have been with that bike Seb was speaking of, but those days were over and I had a new ride and was going to make the best of it. And so I pushed off pedaling down the hill leaving behind my dreams of the perfect bike....my Great White Buffalo.

And like a flaming eagle from the gates of heaven my Intense M9 fired me down the hill. I could barely hold on. Fire was coursing through my veins as the bike crushed through lines I had never even imagined of riding so fast. The smile across my face grew and grew while I carried more and more speed through every section. Braking later, braking less, carrying more speed, all while making me feel like .... like...... Like I was riding on the back of my great white buffalo. Without even searching for it, my great white buffalo had found me.

(Some of the events in this article might be slightly exaggerated but for the most part entirely true and yes the M9 was actually the bike Seb was talking about)