Hammerfest March 2016 Enduro

Parksville Hammerfest Enduro written by Ian Lehton. 

This is my third Enduro race with Trail Bicycles, but my first race in the intermediate category.  According to my Strava log, in todays race we rode 22.7 kilometers, and climbed 821 meters.  My top speed was 44 km per hour.

For those who do not know what Enduro racing is, it is a cross between Cross Country and Downhill Mountain bike racing.  We don't have a mass start like cross country, or get timed on the uphills.  Instead we start individually like downhill racing, then climb untimed to the next stage. 

See the picture below to see the cool chip timing we use to track the time between the top and bottom of the course.  At the top, we swipe our chip at the top reader and again at bottom to calculate our times.

For Enduro racing we have to have a bike light enough to climb to each stage, but also have enough suspension to cover the rougher course.  Today we completed four stages.

Trail Bicycles Results:

Hudson, 7th Beginner
Ian, 17 Intermediate
Jakob, 21st Intermedate
Breckin, 4th on first stage, but DNF with three flat tires

Thank you so much to our sponsors!

• Sew What I Sew
• Wedler Engineering
• Dr. Wade Luksay and Riverway Dental Inc.
• Eatmore Sprouts and Greens Ltd.
• Western One
• Royal LePage - Rob Nygren
• Airport Auto Service
• Trail Bicycles

Next up is the Cobble Hill XC mtb race, Sunday April 3rd.  Happy trails!

 

 

Hammerfest XC 2016 race report by Jake Yells

First race of the year!! Im pumped up for a great racing season!

The Hammerfest xc had a really fun course, fitting in a lot of uphill but also a lot of down. Although it was wet, cold,and really muddy everyone had a big smile on their face at the finish line.  After running to change every one one huddled under our tent by the fire to warm up!

While hanging out at the finish was fun, so was the race, with a road climb to start (my dad's reason for falling behind), then into the trails and then onto the road to the finish area. With all the rain, the course became crazy with mud that grabbed  your tires as you went through it.

While it was my first race for the cycling team I felt I did pretty good getting eleventh overall in intermediate men. I got stuck near the back of the group on the start and lost the front runners right off the beginning. I passed a lot of people on the trails but couldn’t catch them. Next time I’ll make sure I get a good start!

It was also neat that members of the Team Canada mountain bike team stopped in to race since the race was close and they are still in Victoria training.

Congratulations to: Emily Johnston for a 2nd in expert women, Kieran Nilsen for 2nd in intermediate men, Eva Leikermoser for 3rd in beginner women, Ian Lehton for 2nd in beginner men and to Hudson Webster for 3rd in beginner men.    Great work to everyone on the team, especially the people getting over being sick!

 

Thanks so much to our awesome sponsors  Airport Service & Ministorage, Trail Bicycles, Western one, Royal Lepage- Rob Nygren, Eatmore Sprouts and Greens Ltd., Riverway Dental, Welder Engineering and Sew What I Sew!!!!

Can’t wait for the Hammerfest Enduro this weekend!

hope to see you there!

Jake yells

Canada Cup XC 2016
Awesome photos from Canada Cup XC from Braison Images available on the google drive here:  https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz_ALD75RbFdZFdyOTY3Q21JVlk&usp=sharing#

Thanks so much Chris Webster!!! 

Hot off the press! Emily Johnstone's race report from the Canada Cup XC at Bear Mountain:

Emilly Johnston’s race.

The Canada cup xc,

Yes. This was such an awesome race course, it had so many different sections for different riders. I got to the event on Friday; late afternoon, after I registered I went for a lap. The lap got me so stoked because even though I’d pre rode before, they had added two awesome log rolls. That night I stayed downtown, I went for dinner out at the rebar with my dad. The morning of the race was beautiful, sunny and not to hot. It was muddy. It was extremely muddy and super fun. They had an inflatable race start, it looked super pro and was super cool. My race, the under 15 ladies started at 8:30 am, other races that stared at 8:30 were the under 13, and 17 ladies, the under 13,15,17, and 19 men all categories started with a 1 minuted gap.I went hard right off the start. The race was very exciting and my category did three laps. I ended up seeing some of my fellow team mates on course and everyone looked like they were all working hard and having a great time. I really like my new cross country bike, it was the first race I’ve done on it and it was really sweet. All of the athletes parents were helping out so much. They were our pit crew, and they always were on top of making sure everyone had the option of food and water. This race was extremely hard work and awesome. I ended up finishing first, I had a awesome race and managed to win by 27 minutes. The rest of the team did great as well. Eva got second and Erik ended up with a third. Unfortunately Keiran got a flat and had to run most of a lap. I really enjoyed this race and if anyone didn’t go this year who was thinking about it I would really recommend making room for it in your schedule for next year. Thanks so much to trail bikes and all of tour sponsors...Wedler Engineering, Riverway Dental, Sew What I Sew, Eatmore Sprouts, Rob Nygren Royal Lepage, Western One, Airport Service & Ministorage. I am really glad to be on the team again this year and am really excited for the awesome season thats coming up!! :)

Hey it's Jake Yells here!  I'll be a new guy on the team this year and am stoked to be part of it!   I raced most of the Enduros at the end of last year.  (Maple Mountain, Cumberland,, Hammerfest #2 so some of you have probably seen me out there.

I missed the Bear mountain race..sounds like everyone did great and wish I had been there.   I am ready for next weekend at the Hammerfest XC,  I pre-rode the loop today and it was crazy muddy!

Looking forward to meeting everyone...

Looking forward to our first race report from the Bear Mountain Canada Cup XC Race !!

Canada Cup XC at Bear Mountain

Canada Cup XC at Bear Mountain this weekend!!! I wanted to try out the blog so here it goes...some cheering and a photo. Hopefully we can get a 2016 photo organized soon. Looking forward to seeing the 2016 Trail Bicycles Cycling Team get out for their first race of the season! Good luck and have a great time everyone from Jen Mac :)