The Specialized North Shore Ripper
Leg Three
It's a wrap...

It hit me moments ago.  In order to choose photos for an article I often put them in a slideshow, cue up some tunes and let them sift through my retinas into my bones. I did this with David Ferguson's shots from Saturday and I got a chill - complete with gooseflesh. 

In the throes of compiling results, sorting prizes, marking the course and putting up banners it's pretty difficult to get a sense of what we might have started here.  It should have hit me when Wade Simmons said "that was the most fun race I have ever done" but I was busy fumbling with the mic.  It should have hit me when I noticed the buzz among the participants and spectators but at that point I was absorbed in trying to get the shot.  Overheard comments about the professionalism of the event just surprised me - but I guess James Wilson and Sharon Bader get the credit for having made sure all eventualities were anticipated and dealt with.

By all accounts we're on to something here and that is a great feeling.  Ripper 3 wasn't blessed with fine weather but the volunteers, the troops from North Shore Search and Rescue and the fanfrickingtastic riders who came out made up for any lack of vitamin D.

The riders were smiling but they were also working hard.  The fastest time down the hill was over 7 minutes and while that might sound like nothing to a marathoner, it's a long time to be riding skinny cedar planks suspended above the bony forest floor.  Despite the aforementioned mishaps, what surprised me was how many riders tried every stunt in very slimy conditions. 

Two riders, Lee Lau and Al Stepaniuk, fell off the high point leading into the Millenium log but managed to finish the race. Rare was the rider who didn't go down at all - even Wade slipped off the very last stunt after going in a little too hot.

The race format involved time bonuses for riding the stunts so there were volunteers at 9 points on the trail tracking who rode what.  Being picky went against what we are up to so if you started and finished the stunt, no matter what happened in the middle, you got the bonus.  Colin Miller got the bonus on the berm pictured above by getting off his bike and rolling it above the magic line.

Somebody made the comment that this wasn't a real race.  If a real race is one where you have to be serious and aggro and clip in - just because it's faster - we'll leave those to other folks.  If you can't wear a corduroy suit it's not worth doing in my books - nice touch Smoke.

If it's freeride is it really a race?  I guess the best way to prove that is to squeeze maximum fun out of the event instead of stressing about squeezing the lowest time down the hill.  If you can do both that's great but if you're up for the North Shore Ripper for next year please remember that shits and giggles are the priority. The best example of this philosophy was Jason Winters - a mystery rider who nobody seemed to know.  Riding CBC on a hardtail is hard work but blazing it on a full rigid with cantis and still riding all the stunts is magic - Jason did all that with a grin and still managed to finish a very respectable 16th. For his efforts Jason won a Giro Semi Helmet.

CBC is truly the work of a madman.  The rockwork in some of the berms is beyond obsessive and some of the woodwork belongs in a museum.  On top of that it winds through some of the largest trees in the lower mainland, all the while keeping the trail off the ground because the trail crosses a sensitive swamp.  Tonnes of work is what I'm talking about. 

The mastermind behind this marvel of human effort is Jeremy Power and without his efforts as well as those of the nsmbA and the crew he lead during the initial building stages, CBC would still be a nasty mudhole. Thanks Jeremy - the great condition of the trail meant that even after all the recent rain the trail was race ready Saturday morning.  Thanks also to Barb Haley for organizing the trail day Sunday and for all the volunteers who came out.

I mentioned in my previous article that we would be crowning the Ripper King and Queen.  Megan Hoodspith was the undisputed Queen winning two of three and finishing second on Oilcan and Ryan Newman was King, finishing close behind both Wade Simmons and Andrew Shandro and finishing Ripper one with a flat tire.  Congrats to our new Monarchs.

When Wade Simmons rolled by everyone started to buzz about his lines.  None of us knew he was coming so it was a great surprise.  In typical style Wade wanted to give his prize to the youngest rider who came out and that was 13-year old Daniel Crowe-Hutchon, who walked away with an nsmb hoodie.

Wade Simmons - nothing but style and class. Here he is presenting a prize to the youngest participant Daniel Crowe-Hutchon Photo ~ David Ferguson