Re-hab/tard

On June 8th I crashed really hard and dislocated a bone in my hand. The doc who put my hand back into my wrist was kinda 50/50 about putting some pins in depending on how it was healing. On June 13 I had some more x-rays and they turned out great! No surgery needed. The doc basically told me to just take it easy and not to be an idiot. Harder said then done but I think Im doing a good job, so far.

This past Saturday I went up to the test of metal and took to the feed zone party. I got to feed Neal Kindree (race winner!), Kevin Calhoun, David Vunic, and Mike Hunter. Not a bad group of legends eh? It was really fun being on the other side of things and watching the race. I could get used to this........once or twice.    

up up up. The splint on my hand looks good.

 

On Sunday Mike Levy, Melanie, Max, Myself, and Mikes dog Sherpa hiked up to the Slesse Memorial. Its the first time I have done this hike with clear weather. Its an unbelievable hike cause the rock out there is just wild. I wish the Nesakwatch creek valley had a village in it. I would live there. If it was Europe it would have a great little village, but its Chilliwack and there is just an old abandon logging road. That valley feels like your in the swiss Alps but you're just in Chilliwack. Crazy stuff.

we drove mikes van up, that thing can do some serious off roading.

trail head

memorial plaque

Mike and Mel at the snow line and our turn around point.

Never one to sit still I headed out for a road ride with gravel roads yesterday. The hand was a bit sore on the bumps so I just took it easy. It was fun to do some exploring and I think I might have some new gems to ride or possible areas for secret trails. I think Ill be stuck to easy gravel roads for a bit. The hand feels better everyday but I don't want to be a dummy and Im going to let it heal up before any hucking of meat happens.  

One Hander?

Last weekend was the Red Bull Divide and Conquer race in North Vancouver. Its consists of trail runner, mt biker and white water kayaker. This year we put together a ringer team and had our eyes set on defending our title from last year, but it was not meant to be. Joren Titus would be doing the running, I would be doing the mt bike leg, and Toby Roessingh was to paddle down the river. 

 

Team the full dude men pulled out all the stops this year and got a sweet team car with sponsors and the full 8 yards. Clearbrook Coffee Company kept us toped up with some awesome brew and Mt Waddingtons Outdoors kept us looking good. For me its really fun representing two really local awesome businesses that I believe in.

 

The race went off with a bang and Joren Crushed the run! 5min up on the next guy. Things were going great until I carried a bit to much speed down Baden Powell and crashed my brains out. I fell really had on my hand and ended up off the podium and in the hospital with a dislocated bone in my hand. Im gonna be out of action for a good month now. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. I've been riding hard for over 15 years now and have had nothing major happen. So I guess I was due at some point. Maybe time to back it off a bit?

 

 

 

before crashing and burning

For our team car we took my old Tercel wagon and spray bombed it black. Clearbrook Coffee Co and Mt Waddingtons stuck some pro looking decals on and bam! full NASCAR. The Tercel has been sitting a couple months over at CCC headquarters and none of the doors worked very well, getting in and out was a bit of a pain.

team car

 

Joren came through with a 5min lead, just crushed it. Then they left it with me to mess up, sorry boys.

Joren post hand off
 

win or hospital? Lions Gate is the nicest hospital I've ever been to. they got me in very quick and helped fix me up really fast, the Doc put my hand back in with no pain what so ever. They thought they might have to do some surgery but  turns out its all good to heal up. 

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High as a kite. its my left hand, its like a little club now.

Huge props to the North Van RCMP team of Dave Vunic, Connor, and Michel Simpson. They raced a smart race and came home with the cake. 

Connor refunding his chocolate milk. 

Nimby 50

Just did the Nimby 50 race in Pemberton yesterday. Woke up to pissing rain in the lower mainland but as we got closer to Pemberton the sun was out and the weather was as good as it gets for racing bikes. The Nimby 50 course is one of the best race courses I've ever done! Its real mt biking at its finest. Big climbs, big descents, technical parts, fitness parts, and bears to avoid hitting. Plus post race you get an unreal burger and beer. Best Race Ever!

This is the second year I've done the Nimby, I came back this year cause its so much fun! This year I ended up 3rd, I dont know how or where I pulled it out from, but I'll take it. The course suits me really well being from Chilliwack, we have a lot of steep ups and downs to practice on. Neal Kindree won the race and really stepped on everyone's balls, Kris Sneddon was 2nd after flatting and fixing it. I was right on Kris' wheel with 3k to go but he has about 500 more horse power then me so that was that. Cory Wallace and Quinn Moberg were 4th and 5th. Results here

In the womens race Mical Dyck really crushed everyone and finish 1st. But the really big news is that Melanie Vaughan finished first in the 30-35 age group. It was a 3peat for Vaughan in her age group but she also finished 5th overall. When asked about her performance she gave much credit to her coach. "working 9-5 mon-fri doesn't give me much time to train. My coach is one really smart guy who knows his stuff, with minimal time training I was able to crush it on race day"

Mel on top, age group crushing!

Team kit, its fulldude man style. This year I'll be supporting a couple of friends who have really awesome business in the fraser valley. Clearbrook Coffee Company is out of Abbotsford and is your local roaster, fresh is best when it come to coffee. Mt Waddingtons outdoors is a brand new outdoor shop right next door to me. They sell sweet gear and share in my thinking that Chilliwack has the best Mt playground in the world.  

We got sweet trucker/thug hats. Papa Johns pizza is also the perfect pre race food.

on the pod, looks like Neal has food money for another year.

     

Best Car Ever!

In January of 2009 I saw the coolest car ever parked at the Callaghan Nordic Centre. So I found the guy who owned it and told him it was my dream car, he told me I had some funny dreams. Well in this case dreams do come true and I ended up buying the car off him a couple of months later. When I got the the car in April of 2009 it had 160000km and had no dents in the hood or holes in the windshield. I felt like such a bad ass with a 4wd car. The dream car now has 290000km, the windshield looks like a road map, if you want to drive the car in any other season besides winter you must crank the heat so the motor doesn't overheat, the muffler fell off on the hwy at 110kph, the back hatch doesn't lock, and if I power wash it little pieces of the car fall off with all the rust. Over the last 4 years the car has been too so many places, so many adventures, so many powder days, so many brown claws, so many hero dirt days, and so much dog drool on the back windows. The car is not dead yet but I have succumb to the pressures of modern society and bought a car with no rust, ac, cruise control, power windows, and it even has muffler. It almost looks like Im mid pack in the rat race now. More to come on the new car soon. But for now you can enjoy the memories that the terc made. It will be back on the road soon as the "full dudemen" team car. so stay tuned.     

This was taken the day after I got the Tercel. Looks mint eh? Check out that bike, back in the day we used to ride bikes with 26inch wheel, ha what were we thinking. Plus it was a hard tail, crazy!

The tercel was a great grocery getter, this was a costco shop before I went to bcbr.

I got a flat on the way to Squamish once.

Mel picking powder out of her ears before she gets into the dream wagon.

Bros gone wild on the way to rogers pass, this trip was epic! We had two roof boxs on the car and about 20 pairs of skis in them. Car made it to rogers pass and back with no problems.

Queb ski at the duffey.

powder day in Rossland.

car got stuck in Golden and we used ski skins to get it out. Boss!

skiing with honch dudes in Rossland.

One of many trips up cheam to the snow line

brown claw on the ferry, heading over to skook.

I put in this pimp aftermarket centre console,

making our own road

Salmo coffee.

Vedder sucks, tell your friends.

Crushing it, killing it, all time conditions.

Its been a very busy last couple months. Ski season is nearing its end and bike season is getting very good right now. I've just been living the dream of working part time and doing a lot of fun stuff the other part time. I picked up this sweet job doing building maintenance for a retirement home in Chilliwack. I got a bunch of sweet tools and I fix broken things in the building, its really fun and exciting, as lame as it sounds I really enjoy working. I work mon-fri 8-noon, so there is plenty of time to live the dream. Vedder mountain has been blowing my mind, playing squash with Jon Allen, mexican night at the jolly miller, hanging out with Mel and I even got a new car! next post will be on the car thing, stay tuned. 

Every mans dream. feet up, drinking coffee while the wife runs a vacuum.

went to Ikea for breakfast, all this for 5.50. Bam!!!

This one is good! Chris, Melanie and I did this rad Squamish ride and then we went to this place in Brackendale called the Red Bench. They have this meal called "the stack". Its 3 massive pancakes with layers of eggs, bacon, apples and walnuts. Chris took all these photos cause he didn't think I was man(dumb) enough to eat the entire thing.

bottom of the duck farm loop. My new favorite ride is to climb up the new duck farm to the ring road. Turn right and climb all the way to hang gliders point. It takes an hour to do the climb and its pure savage!

Top of hang gliders. I have found an all single track route from the top of hang gliders to Cultus Lake. It blew my mind when I was able to link it all up.

McDonald's knows whats up.

Changing Seasons

The south coast of BC is one crazy place in March. One week you 1.5 meters of blower snow and you're up to your eye balls in snow. The next week you have full on 20c and hero dirt.

A Wacky Weekend

Last weekend was great! Saturday was going to be the last nice day til June so Melanie and I figured we better do something outside. We decided on Mt Cheam. Its a landmark out in Chilliwack and a very popular summer hike. Its very high and with the gravel road access its a big day. Mel and I took Max with us for the first time in a while, he did great but I had to carry him down the last 5 km of gravel road. To our surprise the Chilliwack snowmobile club has groomed the entire road so it made skinning a piece of cake.

M&M, Cheam on the left, Lady peak on the right. 

The sled necks also had a little emergency shelter at the parking lot, this thing would make a very cool little cabin. 

10ft of snow. 

Mel before the final pitch. 

The little guy loving the snow. 

On Sunday the rain was staying away so we hit up a Vedder ride with Mike Levy. Snow and dirt. Awesome weekend.