After a few dry, but chilly, days of practice the sun finally came out and scorched us on Sunday at the Western Open/Provincials this past weekend. While flesh obsessed black flies that swarmed like repellant was a pheromone, the Dunbar Cycles crew taped the course on Thursday morning. By Friday racers were slowly arriving for practice laps and the camping areas filled up while the lift lines began to stretch as far as five people deep. Tippie's voice rang out across the land, or at least over the mic for Saturday, and it really started to feel like a race weekend!
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The week between the Silver Star BC Cup and The Western Open (Provincials) has become a bit of a road trip tradition full of bad ideas, riding, and general shenanigans. No one has ever died, but this year we narrowly escaped serious injury from flying go-kart tires, excessive amounts of sushi, falling trees and lightning strikes. We competed in the Summer Championships which are totally made-up, have nothing to do with bikes, are very official (completely unofficial) and extremely competitive. Only one could win but many would eat giant balls of wasabi for randomly assigned points. The winner had to show prowess at go-kart racing, mini golf, and bowling. Bonus points were allocated for consumption small green balls of death at all you can eat sushi and the reward came in the form of a much sought after and forever cherished plastic gold medal and the sweet satisfaction of earned bragging rights.
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The last time we all assembled at Silver Star Resort was for FrostBike back in March, when we headed to the mountain on Saturday morning the temperatures didn't feel all that much different. After driving through a hot and smoke filled Kelowna where the city was desperately fighting forest fires on Friday, the torrential downpour the next day was a welcome relief for everyone but the racers. Most found that the course was slippery with some tackiness in surprising areas, however paying attention to the wet lines while dialling in their practice runs that morning had little value as the sun was out by noon and the course was nearly dry by the end of the day. Unfortunately the weather was as unpredictable as Britney Spears during her head shaving years, and the wind came up; course tape billowed, trees threatened to fall, and only part way through the timed practice runs the mountain had to shut the lift down.
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This could be a story about how mountain biking saved Eric (Lornny) Lawrenuk from a life of professional rollerblading, but instead it is the story of someone who found mountain biking at an early age and has used it to shape his path in life. If you have ever met Eric it is clear from the start that he has the right mix to be successful at anything he sets his mind to. Dedication and skills are only half the equation of being great; it is equally as much about who you are as what you can do. And it is clear that Eric has a strongly developed sense of self. Following in his older brother’s footsteps he experimented with hockey, skateboarding and rollerblading before finding mountain biking. Biking is where he stopped following and set out in a direction that would define his individuality.
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