I was stoked that my parents offered to fly me home (Toronto) this summer, and planned it so that I could race an Ontario Cup as well as the first Canada Cup at Mt Tremblant. The track at Horseshoe valley was brand new thanks to a relentless Shane Joachim and crew. It was short, but jam packed with speed, flat corners, big berms, and a couple big senders.

Flying down the short track at Horseshoe Valley during Sundays race

It was exciting to be racing on the Ontario circuit again, as this is where I based myself last season, and was glad to catch up with old friends. Having won multiple races, the championship, and the overall last year, I was a bit nervous going into this weekend feeling like I had put pressure on myself to perform. This was the shortest track I had ever raced, and knew it would take a perfect run to win with the talent racing in Ontario. To add to the challenge, the course was drying up quickly, and most corners where becoming increasingly unpredictable.

From the start gate I could hear the crowd going nuts midway down the track- this got me amped. I was fairly relaxed knowing that if I could put it together a podium was in the cards. Next thing I knew, I was the last rider atop the hill and it was time to rock and roll. Then I blinked, and it was over! I was disappointed with my run, as I had not ridden my best of the weekend. After speaking to a few of the other elite riders however, it was clear that I was not the only one. The tricky track led to many mistakes and very few perfect runs.

After finding out that I had crossed the line in 2nd, I was pretty stoked and relieved! As predicted the times were super tight, as I was only 3/10 of a second back, and first through tenth were separated by 2 seconds. Congrats to Mike Hermo on his first elite win.

Left to right: Rob Fraser (Primary Trek-Sram); Harold W (Cove Bikes/ Sombrio); Mike Hermo (Silent Norco Racing); Sid Slotegraaf (Lapierre Canada); Brad Zdriluk (Adrenaline Racer/ To Wheels)

It was a great weekend racing back home and I am now continuing my preparation for the 1st Canada Cup at Mt Tremblant.

Happy trails.

H

Hey everyone this is my first post up on the new blog. I thought I would share some recent photos taken by a couple good friends of mine mike zinger and wink grant from the first part of 2011 so I hope you enjoy the photos and I will have more post coming in the near future so stay tuned!

These Two shots are from Mike Zinger

And these two shots below are by my good friend Wink Grant

Keeper outa the cabbage!
Luke

Awesome weekend in Kamloops to kick start the BC Cup Season with both a Dual Slalom and a Downhill event. This was my first race on this circuit as an elite and a brand new venue for me, as I have never ridden in Kamloops. The terrain in Kamloops blew me away, ridge-lines everywhere with endless possibilities, big booters wherever I looked, and really fun dusty terrain. I was really stoked to get things rolling. Making the switch from racing on the East Coast to the West will allow me to be better prepared for the big races, as the elite class is deeper and more talented, and this weekend was no exception! Both my Cove Foreplay and Shocker were dialed and ready to rock and roll for their BC Cup debut.

Saturday night was the Dual Slalom. I was stoked to have the chance to get some more gate practice in on my Foreplay, but also to have my Cove Foreplay to session the big slopestyle jumps at The Ranch. It was the first time that they had run this event in over 10 years, everyone involved was stoked! The track was a bit wild, fairly tight rythym sections with some big triples and quads! Unfortunately there were some big crashes, resulting in some people shy’ing away from the race.

When things got rolling, I knew that I would have an advantage on the gates. However, a big crash at the start of the night robbed my confidence on some of the bigger lines that 2-3 guys were ridding. I wasn’t confident on the big triples, and I certainly was not going to quad the bottom rythym section. My plan was to ride smart, smash out of the gate, no big risks, and no more crashes, as I had to be dialed for the DH on sunday. The plan was well executed, as my gates carried me through to the finals without any problems. Knowing that the other finalists would send it, Brett Tippie tried to egg me on over the PA system for the triple- quad line, but I would have none of it. In the end I took the win by a narrow margin. Thanks to my good friend Dean Tennant for pushing my bike up all night so that I could catch my breathe. After the win we both had to get dialed for the DH: Food, bike check, and sleep!

The DH track was loads of fun, two minutes long, a fast top section, and a pedally bottom half. I was confident that my off-season preparation was well done and I was feeling strong on the track. I knew that I could hit a podium with a good run, despite the deep field (32 elites) and a start list which contained Canada’s top DH athletes.

I got wild over a hip jump just before the crucial pedalling section, landing with one foot on the pedal into a fast and rutted corner. I saved a near crash, but this mistake would keep me off the podium. On a short and basic track like this, one mistake and you’re down! 1st-10th were only 3 seconds apart, I ended up in 8th. Congrats to Trevor Burke for the win.

All in all, great start to the season with the DS win, and a top 10 in the DH. I can’t wait for Rd #2 at Bear Mtn, a track I know I can do some damage on.

H

I always knew Holly and I were good riding partners, but our times from the Sunshine Coaster just re-affirmed my assumption.  Yesterday, both Holly and myself raced in the local Sunshine Coaster (x-BC Cup event).  Holly and I both ended up with a time of 3:11 min!  We both hit the SAME tree on the course and both ended up with the same gold medal.  Mind blowing really.

My race was good…  Not great.  I ended up hitting a tree on the way down and getting launched off course HAHA..  Not to debilitating though, as I got up and continued to race and win the elite category which included Micayla Gatto, Rebecca McQueen, KJ Lone, Nicky James and Lindsay blankety-blank..

Our house was filled with fun, we had 12 people staying in our humble country home, mats on the floors, couches occupied, bedrooms brimming, and rock stars everywhere.  My momma was a hero and fed the whole gang for the entire weekend.  She made dinners, breakfasts, and lunches that were out of this world.  We drank beer and hot tubbed and watched hockey and ateeeeeee when we were at home.

I love home town racing.  This was the funnest weekend I’ve had in forever.  Getting to race World Cup racer, Micayla Gatto was also super fun.  A good way to compare what I should be doing for racing in the next few years.

It’s raining today, and work is calling my name…

Till next time,

Kath

The last few weeks have been pretty rad around Santa Cruz. April is always busy here as everyone cruises into town for Sea Otter. The mayhem actually began the weekend before Sea Otter with the Santa Cruz Bike Festival which was a lot of fun. I am sure most of you have seen/heard of the Post Office jumps, well those jumps have played a huge role in the development of riding and world class riders in this area the current location is going to be moved here in the near future (to a permanent location) so the event was basically a fundraiser for that. The Bay Area has tons of bike companies  so pretty much all of them were in attendance plus lots more, breweries donated beer so there was a beer garden, there were raffles…all the proceeds went to the mountain bike park. There was a short track, a pumptrack challenge and of course a jump jam. I got people set up on demo bikes all weekend with Specialized, I also took a bunch of people out on rides on the short track course and one lucky lady got a one-on-one in Nisene Marks.

Sea Otter was fun as usually…I was my normal social self and exhausted myself with a wide assortment of activities. I raced downhill and slalom. I spent a couple of hours everyday in the SRAM Women’s Lounge…sooo fun. SRAM and Rebecca Rusch teamed up to create a whole lounge devoted to women complete with catering, bevys and a whole lot of schwag. We did panel discussions, signed stuff and just hung out. The ladies were loving it and so was I. I did a lunch + game time with Little Bellas, Little Bellas is a camp for girls ages 8-14 that was developed by the Davison sisters. There should be a video here shortly, I will post that as soon as I see it. I hit up the Camp of Champions airbag and practiced my tricks. I got to pit out of the main Specialized pits for the first time too which was a big thing for me! I am so happy to be working with the best companies in the business…they let me do my thing and they believe in and support me so that is something pretty special, couldn’t ask for a better bunch.

I only have 2 more weeks around here until I hit the road for the summer…it’s gonna be a busy one! I am really looking forward to it, as I have a lot of fun stuff on the calender. Lots of racing but lots of other fun stuff too like coaching, photoshoots, media events…I am getting that Spring restlessness. Let’s get this show on the road.

Photos: Rick Pucket, Arleigh Jenkin, Camp of Champions

Mountain bike freeride innovator Darren Berrecloth has long been the most progressive and stylish mountain bike rider in the mountains and on slopestyle courses the world over, and now that he has signed a multi year deal with fashion forward and technically driven apparel producer Sombrio he is set to continue to do so.

Vancouver Island born and bred Darren is a true leader in the sport of freeride mountain biking and teaming up with pioneering local North Shore Vancouver clothing company Sombrio is a perfect fit. Darren Berrecloth grabbed hold of the lapels of mountain biking in 2002 when he crossed over from the world of BMX and walked away with third place at the Red Bull Rampage. Since then he has time and time again hockey punched the sport by managing to produce incredible film segments in films like the New World Disorder series, Roam, and Follow Me. He has also been very successful on the competition side of freeriding, most notably with a 2nd place at the 2010 Crankworx Slopestyle in Whistler, various Nissan Qashqai wins, winning the Adidas Slopestyle in Austria several times and multiple best trick championships to boot.

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