It’s been kind of a crap week. Between all the things going on I found myself driving home tonight not in my usual enjoying the ride mode, but rather stewing over the latest crap I heard about. Then I got to thinking, this would be a good time to go riding…

I grabbed the DH bike and the truck, adjusted my rebuilt fork and headed up the mountain.

It’s been raining all day, and the clouds were pretty thick on my way up. I got to the top of Cakewalk and realized if I took the time to go any higher I wouldn’t be able to see the trail I was riding on. Last week was hot and sunny, so I still have my tinted mirror lenses in my goggles. Just dropping into Cakewalk was almost blind. Blind, tacky or slick…all depending on where you put the bike.

I’ve been struggling with my riding for the last few weeks, each time I get out on the bike I’m not happy with the way it, or I, feel. My fork was rebuilt right before crankworx, and while there I had my rear shock rebuilt. A couple of adjustments into my ride, and things started to come back. By the end of cakewalk I had some flow back. A little bit above I made some big errors, but simply jumped over the tumbling bike without consequence. I think a front tire change (which is probably 10% tire, 90% mind), a couple of more suspension setting tweaks and I should be back on track.

It’s weird, when I feel like the car is different and I’m fighting it…I have try to ignore the car and sort myself first. With the bike, I can’t help but think that if I had checked the settings/suspension over more carefully four weeks ago whether or not I would have caught it. I have (had?) totally hit a big rut…and it’s quite possible that rut was mainly due to worn out suspension bits feeling like crap.

Hmph.

Ah well…it was wet, it was dark, it was challenging…and I really enjoyed the ride.

-Dave

I need to go riding tomorrow.

Seriously.

-D

Best part of a show is hitting the swap meet and making some deals. I paid too much for the speedo, but got killer deals on the rest of it.

-Dave

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I skipped out on the last day of Crankworx to head down to Vancouver for the Great Canadian VW Show. The show is put on by a couple of the local VW clubs, one focused on air-cooled and the other focused on water-cooled VWs. The original plan was to just park and check out the show, visit some friends and scan the swap-meet. I head heard, however, that parking near the show is crazy…so I figured I’d just pay the entry and park with lots of space to spare.

I ended up beside a ‘68 and a ‘66.

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Work this week has been crazy. It’s Wednesday at Crankworx, and I have officially ridden zero days. Okay, zero days until tonight. Wayne and I ran into each other during the day and he asked me if I was going to be riding later. Now, I’m tired and figured I wouldn’t, but hey…it’s Wayne, I gotta ride with Wayne.

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Another year, another crankworx! I’m honestly not sure how many I’ve been too, but they are starting to feel a little old. Unfortunately, I won’t be riding much this week since the owner, ops manager and office manager are all on vacation this week…

This year we got a little smarter. Clint, Mir and I got a place in whistler to stay at, instead of doing the drive-up-drive-down on daily basis. Packing for the week would have been the easiest if I had just decided to bring the truck. I suppose, on the one hand, this is the exact thing that I own the vehicle for…moving bikes and gear for riding. But the V8 is a gas guzzler and I need to go back and forth a bunch while in whistler this week. Besides, in the 60’s families of four used a beetle to get around…could we do it today?

Packed into the trunk of the beetle is: emergency tool kit for the bug, bicycle tool kit, a flat of redbull, two pairs of riding shoes, a pair of kneepads, a floor pump, wash kit (two sponges, soap, hard brush and soft brush), coveralls for working on the car, 1 full set of spare bike brakes, 1 set needing warrenty work, two chainrings, a rear axle kit for my marin, a litre of oil for the car, two rolls of blue towel rags, brake cleaner and a few other miscellaneous things I’ve probably forgotten. After the photo was taken I packed in Clinton’s riding shoes, 3 towels, his spine protector, a bag of bagels and a few other random food bits.

Behind the front seats was my laptop, clint’s helmet and the bike stand. On the back seat was the cooler of food, my camera bag, a flat of water, and a few shopping bags worth of food. The luggage area, or ‘well’ as it’s known in my family, had my helmet bag, my clothes bag and Clinton’s big duffel bag on top. The roof, of course, had our two bikes on top.

It all fit, but wow does the performance suffer. I can usually bomb to Whistler doing a comfortable 80-110. Trying to get a loaded beetle to do the same was fruitless endeavor, and instead we were going 70-90…and felt like we were taxing the heck out of the car to do it.

Hopefully Scott brings my truck when he comes up…much easier to get all the crap home!

-Dave

A couple of years ago I took a chance and bought a $19.99 Playstation2 game called “Toca Racing”. Everyone was convinced it would suck, but once we popped it into the machine we discovered a racing game with more playability then any-other game we owned. Despite being one player, we’ve had a tonne of fun playing it, even in large groups. Craig invested in an xBox360 to assist him in dealing with the boredom that comes with a broken back. Since the day I first saw it I’ve been dying to buy the sequel to Toca, called “Grid”.

I hadn’t bought it yet because we’re all a little skeptical of the concept. Toca took you on a race career through a huge variety of motorsport races. If the type of racing could be found in real life, or was hugely successful in a historical sense, Toca had it. You could race the famous old pre-war series, right up to modern open-wheel series. With Grid, however, the whole theme has gone a little bit more to “the streets” and you now will also race things like drift and street races. In truth, it sounds (and reads off the box) kinda lame.

Seeing how Craig and I just finished playing 11 hours of Grid, I can confidently say we were completely wrong. Grid is absolutely the best racing game any of us has played. Dirt is awesome, but Grid is just better. It’s got a depth of playability Dirt will never reach.

We’ve muscled and beaten our way though the packs to win championships…left body panels, tires from barriers and competitors cars littered across the track…I’ve even had to learn to pass cleanly without touching the other cars to win. It’s just awesome…

Warwick is going to be so chapped he missed out!

-D

I took the opportunity today to run some laps of Whistler while waiting inbetween groups I had in town. Shaums was out on an ATV tour, so I borrowed the proto and headed up the garbonzo chair. First lap down was pretty rough, I was riding stiff and the bike felt like it was bouncing around underneath me in a most uncomfortable way. I was supposed to be riding the course with Miranda, but I kinda screwed up and told her to meet me in the wrong spot…

While waiting at the bottom for her to figure it out, I ran into Wayne who was waiting to train for Dual Slalom. The three of us headed back up for some runs down Crank it Up. Crank it up is an easy run with small jumps and small wall rides. Despite being rather easy, it flows quite well and is a hoot to ride. By the time the second run was over, I was feeling like my riding was coming back together.

…just in time to head back to the office. Sigh.

-Dave

Not that anyone besides my dad and I will be able to tell, but I’ve done a bunch of work to the beetle that improves the cosmetics. So here are some photos I shot the other day! Click on the photos to see a bigger 800px version.

-Dave

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Had a good solid ride down 19th with Harrison today. My fork is still in getting rebuilt, which meant I had to pull the Wolf Ridge out for another full-downhill trail, not exactly what it was intended for! With Harrison leading I trailed, trying as hard as I could not to use the brakes too much. For whatever reason I’m feeling rusty, and my cornering skills have taken a turn for the worse. Combine the two and I’m on the brakes too much, not feeling the flow. That snowballs back into feeling rusty…but hey, even a not-so-great run on the bike is better then no run on the bike!

The end of 19th, and Peanuts, where the grade levels out a little and flow picks up, are absolutely awesome on any bike. With the trail not over powering the W.R., I could find some flow and was having fun. It sold me on getting back onto the Quake once I get my fork back. I’m definitely stoked to start riding hard and fast again…

…which does mean I’m going to need to get out for some ‘working’ runs. Early in the season I tend to focus on working particular skills on a given day, I’m feeling like I need to return to that ‘workout’ style of riding. Time to get the rust and bugs out, and quick. I’ve clocked a couple of killer runs down 19th on the Wolf Ridge earlier this season, so I know it’s not the bike that’s holding my riding back. It’s all between my ears. I think I need a couple of solo shuttles to get my head back into the game.

Someone who’s figured out what’s going on between the ears is Harrison. He’s found his flow and his riding has taken off big time. There is a part of me that’s a little worried I won’t be keeping up once I’m back on the DH bike! Harrison has found his cornering ability, he’s picking clean lines and he’s really pushing it. If he can keep that trio working for him he should have a good end to the racing season.

-Dave