The Bakery: Chasing Waterfalls with Team Gong-Show

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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Pinkbike: Project Freeride

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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The Bakery: Season of Change

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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Pinkbike: The Final BC Cup - Fernie

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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The Bakery: Evictions and Heli Drops…Turning 40 as a Mountain Biker

Kelli was 23 when she started mountain biking, 26 when she started racing and 40 when we hit the road to celebrate her milestone birthday with a few days of riding that included a heli-drop and an unplanned campsite eviction. A lot can change in seventeen years and as someone who works in the bike industry (Kelli and her husband run a mountain bike tour and instruction company) her identity is strongly tied to riding. Priorities change throughout our lives and, at points, bikes often end up collecting dust in the garage, waiting for years when work isn’t so busy or the kids are ‘old enough.’ But when it is as entwined in our lives as it is in Kelli’s, giving it up is not an option. Changing our perspectives is.

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The Bakery: My Date with Rob Warner

Photo: Paris Gore

Rob Warner is a legend whose World Cup commentary is as worthy of your attention as the racing itself, Seriously, when was the last time you heard an announcer state, “He’s all over the place like a monkey dry-humping a football!”? When I found out that Warner was in Whistler for Crankworx, I had to get an interview with him.

Naturally, I followed the standard journalistic protocol for such matters, which is to say I propositioned him in the line-up for a bar. Like a creepy groupie violating a restraining order, I blurted out, “You’re Rob Warner! Will you go on a date with me?”

Surprisingly, that approach didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. Two nights later, with some solid work from two wingmen (apparently I can’t even pick-up for a fake date on my own), I got Rob to agree to an interview over dinner with me.

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Pinkbike: Ten Commandments of Heckle Rock... Crankworx 2013

Crankworx used to end with a bang, and then a fizzle. After the big event on Saturday, the Canadian Open always felt like a bit of an after thought; something to watch from the GLC patio while sipping Caesars and nursing a vicious hangover. That was until a shirtless and half-cut Moses descended on the racecourse and a new sport was born; Heckling. Yesterday morning a mob of nearly-nude-never-nudes showed up to Heckle Rock early for the best vantage points like they were getting in line for T Swift concert tickets. Beer bongs, booze and boobs were unloaded as the crew settled in and prepared to enlighten the world of downhill racing. With them they brought a new set of rules, new wisdom and the ten commandments of Heckle Rock. 

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