Red Bull Rampage is one of those opportunities you want to take advantage of and want to be a part of. For Kyle it has always been the style of riding that he enjoys the most, and a style that you do not get a lot of opportunities to do; flowing big lines and linking together things like big step-downs on this kind of terrain. The feeling of putting down a run and the excitement of just being around the event are what draws some of the athletes in. There are not a lot of riders in the big mountain scene, but it is a challenging area to grow with the venues being hard to access.
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| Photo: Margus Riga |
Darren Berrecloth has had a rough year. He rode the finals at the X-Games with a torn muscle in his arm that kept him off his bike until Crankworx, where he was injured again. Off his bike and out of the gym, his hips and joints began slipping and getting ‘out of whack’. He competed in his own event, The Berrecloth Invitational, back in August and post event he actively ignored his back pain until he simply couldn’t ride anymore. On his way to Rampage with Doerfling and Aggasiz, he stopped in Californaia for an MRI to find out that a blown disc, the same injury he had seven years ago, would keep him out of Rampage this year. Prognosis is a 100% recovery and Darren is focused on giving himself everyone opportunity to speed it up, including a healthy diet and quality time in a hyperbaric chamber. But regardless he is a spectator this weekend.
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Gully loves the internet and it took some heavy negotiating to have him give up his phone long enough to chat with me, but after some pensive glares he submitted and settled into his regular character; a quirky individual who ironically uses YOLO more than a drunk high school girl. The ensuing banter covered everything from his preference of giraffes over goats to his childhood spelling bee trauma that has lead to his refusal to spell the word pterodactyl.
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Everyone has a friend like Jessica; whenever you are together chaos and adventure ensue. One minute you are meeting up for a drink and the next thing you know you are passed out on an inflatable dolphin in Mexico. There is a reason why Jessica and I do not hang out all that often: self-preservation. We ran into each other at a barbeque last week and today we crossed the finish line at the Tour de Victoria in the little-known-because-it-does-not-exist category of “Fixed Fifty.” Our victory came with Chuck Taylors so full of water that fish could have lived in them and two fixed gear bikes that didn’t quite fit in. Saying that we were unprepared for this epic event would be an understatement.
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If you ride bikes then you have had a bike stolen or know someone who has. This is a fact. Bike theft is rampant. This summer we have seen an elevated profile of bike theft in the local media both with police work and vigilantism. August alone saw Dunbar Cycles team up with police on an undercover operation that recovered their stolen property, police recovered seven bikes through their bate bike program, and a local Vancouver woman steal her bike back from a thief when she found it for sale on Craig’s List. And these are only the stories that have been publicized.
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When the last downhill race of the season happened this past weekend, as a community, we were saddened. We felt the immediate void of anticipation for the next event. Practice and training suddenly took on much longer-term goals and the memories of the good times shared would have to suffice for the long winter months. Especially lost and forlorn were the racers’ parents, while they too look forward to the next season, they also feel the time slipping away. After another season spent driving their kids from race to race, investing time, money and moral support, it was over. And it might never be the same again.
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The BC Cup season ended on Sunday with the best race course of the summer at Fernie Alpine Resort; loose steep sections, wide open road gaps, tight trees and flat grassy corners. We spent Saturday evening at the 16" World Champ Dual Slalom which, post a major mechanical, became a big bike race, hanging out while the sun set and cheering for everyone who went by. Race day saw carnage on the steep sections with racers surfing their way down, many not only without their bikes, but on their faces. Well placed volunteers kept the section lively and spectators in the game with proper cowbell etiquette and well timed encouragement. After surviving that section the course alternated between wide open and tight in the trees, but the steeps were done until a fade-away wooded drop at the finish line.
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