The Canadian summer has been flying bye recently! After returning home from the World 24HR Champs in Italy, Unbound in Kansas, and training in Colorado, I had a brief time at home before heading down to Utah for Round 3 of the Lifetime Grand Prix at the Crusher in the Tushar. The legs were firing, riding well within the top 10 before a freak mechanical derailed the day. The trip was not lost though with another few good days up high hanging out with my teammate Becca Fahringer and a few friends before heading off on a solo bike tour through the Utah backcountry. Loading up my Kona Libre with my Apidura bike packing bags always gets the excitement going!
The Utah bike trip was great, highlighted with a night up at Powell Point and a few other nights up high as I made my way to St George Utah via some sweet backroads and stunning Utah Geography. From here is was back to Canada for some training in Jasper, and then a 4 day trail clearing trip with my Dad up the wild Moose River valley. It was like going back in time joining my Dad and his friends as they took a train of 8 horses up the rugged valley while I hiked ahead with the chainsaw to clear trail. This intermission from the bike race season went by in the blink of an eye and soon I was catching a chopper ride back out to the front country to join my friends Simon and Mareve who were visiting from Quebec. We had a great time training out in the backcountry surrounding the Mcbride/Valemount area. From there it was back to Jasper for a few last days of training and then packing, as the plan was to drive to Colorado for the Leadville 100 and Breck Epic.
Having had every flight taken this year turn into a gong show, I decided to let the airline system sort itself out again and take a relaxing drive down south. The first stop was Canmore for some last minute preps for our race, the Canadian Rockies 24 coming up August 27-28th. Next up was a stop at the Bicycle Cafe to get the bikes dialled in for the next stretch of racing. From here it was onwards to Crowsnest pass to join my friend Sydney for a few nights of camping and exploring around the area, capped off with racing the Crowsnest Pass 100 mountain bike race. This race was tough, but also one of the best race courses I’ve been on as it heads out on a 47 km loop into the surrounding wilderness with some great ridge line trails mixed in. Local young gun Carter Nieuwesteeg would take an early lead of around 1 minute for the first lap before I closed it on the 2nd lap. We’d ride together for a bit before a flat tire would cost me a couple minutes. With Carter riding strong he would take the W with myself cruising in for 2nd, but most importantly one last big training effort before continuing the drive south!
The drive south went smoothly, camping up high in Montana the first night to kick off the altitude training for Leadville 100. The 2nd day I’d roll into Leadville late evening after a brief stop at the Holidaily gluten free brewery in Golden for a cold one and Pizza with my buddy Tyler from Nepal. I should’ve been driving all year rather then flying around America as at the moment it is easier, cheaper and more relaxing! My homestay is with a friend, Mitch who lives right on the finishing stretch of the Leadville 100 course. The last few days have been great training out on course, catching up with Mitch, and now it’s time to rest for the big day on Saturday as round 5 of the Lifetime Grand Prix is around the corner. This evening I’ll head off to Frisco to pick up my teammate Rebecca Fahringer. Tomorrow we’ll dial things in for the race, Saturday haul ass, and then Sunday it will be off to the other side of the mountain range to kick off 6 days of racing at the Breck Epic!
The Summer is flying by but it has been one to remember with great weather, minimal smoke and some great adventures!
Over and Out from Colorado!
