Specialized Ripper 1 2006 - Seventh Relay
Surprises no extra charge
Cam McRae

The word is out.  Long before anyone showed at the start line the Seventh Ripper was 'officially' sold out.  Fortunately there were some no shows which allowed us to sneak in the folks who arrived with a fistfull of fives on race day.  In all we had 45 teams of two and 55 solo Rippers.  A fantastic turn out particularly because the weather was looking dodgy.

The rain held off though and the canopy kept the trails in good shape until everyone had crossed the finish line. Speaking of trails, the word from the descenders was that the line of sweet singletrack from Seventh down to Griffen was in fantastic shape.  Thanks to Dean Reid and Peter Morin and any others who have been helping keep those trails as well as Leopard (Leppard!) and Krinkum ultra buff - but still fun and challenging.

The Ripper series is hitting a new plateau.  It's starting to feel like a big, happy, and ever-expanding family.  Everyone who comes out checks their ego and realizes this is more about having a good time and raising money for the trails than it is about results.  Riders like Andreas Hestler, Andrew Shandro, Geoff Pendrel and Tyler Morland as well as former World Cup XC racers Amber Chorney and Christine Platt were happy as can be to be rubbing shoulders with solo weekend warriors doing the whole Rip on 45lb DH rigs.  Everyone truly is welcome at the Ripper.

That doesn't mean things don't heat up when things get rollling.  Friendly competition is still competition and there was some carnage on the descent this year.


Watch out for raging climbers.  I decided to stand in front of the LeMans start with a video camera - fully aware there would be carnage.  I wasn't disappointed. Photo ~ Cam McRae

James Wilson used to be a racer.  He was more of an XC guy but he did some DH as well.  For some reason  though he derives perverse pleasure from surprising the racers and generally messing with their heads.  The Lemans start is part of it but even that had a twist this year.  The racers started around a corner so they couldn't see their bikes. While James was laying out how things would go a team of ne'erdowells was scrambling the bikes.  Those who had cunningly placed their bikes at the front of the pack were moved back and vice versa.  Much chaos ensued.


Amber Chorney got off to an early lead in the solo women's cat and never relinquished it. Photo ~ David Ferguson
Once bikes had been located the Rippers headed uphill, thinking they were well on their way to the Entrance to Seventh Secret.  Instead, when they were almost at the second switchback the course ducked into the woods and down Bobsled.  The exit to Bobsled is right about where the bikes were left at the start so you could call it a warm up lap.  This made for some great racing action though and what's mountain biking without a little descending?  It's always great when you can give the riders with technical skills a leg up over those with 8 litre lungs!

A brace of riders head down Bobsled - saddles high and proud!. Photo ~ David Ferguson
After Bobsled the riders ducked into Roadside Attraction for a little more singletrack, this time uphill, before getting into the groove on the road.

Keith 'Keefer' Mewis brought along a can of Lucky for the uphill. Bottoms up! Photo ~ Cam McRae

Tyler Morland rode solo.  Downhillers have good lungs and good legs to go along with their skills.  Photo ~ Cam McRae

The downhillers await their partners. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

Who says the Rippers are a blast?  Andrew Shandro says. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

Andreas Hestler and David Kvick were the class of the climbing field and they soon put minutes into the pack.   The pace as hectic but after Andreas discovered that David was riding with a partner, and therefore not in his category, he was content to sit on the Kvick one's wheel. 

David tagged team nsmb.com's Eamonn Duignan at the top and he ducked into the woods just ahead of Hestler - well known as a skilled and fast descender.  Dre took the time to lower his saddle at the top and was looking good until he went hard over the bars, injuring his right hand. 


Don't play stick with Harley the dog.  Darren Butler finds out the hard way. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

"I heard Andreas for quite awhile and then nothing." Eamonn was thinking he was home free - until fate bitch slapped him the first of three times.  Near the end of Leopard he ripped off his derailleur hanger and it wasn't long before Dre took the lead for the good.  Eamonn continued along, coasting the descents and running the flats and hills until he flatted near the bottom.  This was followed by a nasty fall and a sprained ankle which lead to another pass - this time by relay competitor and eventual winner Trevor Kerr.

Eamonn managed to make it to the finish line but the rest of the day was spent on crutches.


Daniel Crowe Hutchon is a third year Ripper - and still the youngest lad out.  He rode his light bike up and his dual bike down. I guess he has different pedal systems on each bike because he had to change shoes. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

Some folks hurt on the inside - others on the outside. Photos ~ Cam McRae
It seemed like there was more carnage during this Ripper than any previous ones.  While there were no serious injuries it seems that almost every rider lost at least one battle with gravity.  I'll let the photos tell most of the rest of the story and the results will be pasted at the very bottom of this very long story.

Jerry Willows shredding the descent for team nsmb. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Andrew Sauter rode the whole race on his Knolly. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

Daniel nose wheelies for the camera on the descent. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Eamonn Duignan scored a fantastic climber.  David Kvick was first to the top.  Eamonn was leading until disaster struck...three times.  He still managed to hobble to second place in the relay. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Dave O'Dowd of Whistler Action Video performed magic with camera and software once again and came up with his best ever post Rip Vid. Photo ~ Jay Sinclair

Helena Juhasz going solo in her first Ripper. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Rocky Mountain's Jonny Rockall has done a Ripper every year thus far but this was his first solo. He rolled into a very respectable seventh place finish. 
This year he was riding a 2007 scandium ETS-X with a prototype carbon swingarm and a new forged 7005 link kit  Photo ~ David Ferguson

Isaac Melles in a jersey from the now defunct Bike Cellar.   Are those V Brakes?  Isaac won the grand draw prize at the party - a pair of sweet Race Face Atlas Cranks.  Photo ~ David Ferguson

Andreas Hestler followed up a fast climb with a ripping descent and was first over the line - despite a trip over the bars. Photo ~ Cam McRae

Trevor Kerr and his partner Carsten Ivany were this year's Seventh Relay Men's Champions. Photo ~ Cam McRae

Cooked.  This lad was either suffering after a big night or he really did leave it all on the trail. Photo ~ Cam McRae

Matt Juhasz, an entrant in last year's AIRprentice, rode solo on his Demo 9 and came in 14th out of 49. Photo ~ Cam McRae

Shandro - still smiling at the finish with a broken chain. Photo ~ Cam McRae

There would be no Ripping without our fantastic volunteers. Dorothy Luebke and Keith Dunn smile for the camera. Photo ~ David Ferguson

Jager bombs being prepared for detonation.  Apparently this concoction of Jagermeister and Red Bull has legions of fans.  I'd be happier sipping Drano. Photo ~ Cam McRae

The Ripper series is a great excuse to have a party. Here's James Wilson saying thanks and handing out some large prizes. Photo ~ Cam McRae

The tradition of great Ripper prizing continues.  It seems that everyone forgot this time around that we love to reward riders wearing costumes so the big prize went in a draw - a pair of Race Face Atlas Cranks and we also gave away two pairs of Time pedals and a plethora of other swag.  You have to come to the party to claim your prizes though and the Hurrican Grill was a great venue.  There were some great drink specials, awesome food and the staff was fantastic.  We basically filled the place with mountain bikers and the silliness went on until about 1:00.

Thanks are in order as usual.  The volunteers did a particularly good job this time around and even the registration on race day went smoothly.  Jay Sinclair and David Ferguson got some fantastic photos and Johnny Smoke of Bush Pilot Biking shuttled most of the riders up (the overflow jumped in team nsmb.com's new Toyota Tacoma - more on that soon).  Tammy and Sharon had all the logistics dialled and the crew from North Shore Search and Rescue were on site for peace of mind.  This is a team effort and we have a very deep line up. 

Looking forward to seeing you all at the next Ripper.  This time around we have the Super D on Seymour on May 13th.  This will take fast riders in the neighbourhood of 45 minutes and those of us who are mortal could easily take an hour plus.  That's a lot of downhilling for your buck.  The route will begin on CBC, head into TNT then upper Dales then up Mushroom and across Incline to lower Corkscrew.  It will then roll down Pingu, into Team Pangor and then finish up with Empress.  Don't forget that all the proceeds from the Ripper go straight back into the trails thanks to the good folks at the nsmbA. Come on out - you will not regret it.

The Super D is to be raced in teams of two or four.  The four person teams can enter the corporate challenge division.  Better get on it - since Ripper 1 sold out!  Registration is now rolling on nsmbA.bc.ca

Scroll for results below.

Cam McRae

Huge thanks to our 2006 North Shore Ripper Sponsors!


Final Results.

  Men's Team       Solo Men
  DH rider   Climber        
  First Name Last Name First Last   First Last
1 Trevor Kerr Carsten Ivany 1 Andreas Hestler
2 Eamonn Duignan David Kvick 2 Jeoff Pendral
3 Jason Bond Greg Inkster 3 Ryan Dey
4 Eric Anderson Shayn Sawatzky 4 James Shellard
5 Dieter Eckels Zac Daab 5 Jon Zammit
6 Shawn Pettersen Bart Gould 6 Alec Black
7 Simon Beller Duane Visser 7 Jonny Rockall
8 John Ramsden Dean Irvine 8 Graham Garrison
9 Gord Longden Anthony King 9 Connor Macleod
10 Cavan Brady Andrew Cartwright 10 Tyler Morland
11 Parry Pollock Duncan Munro 11 Will Dickan
12 Duncan Mortimer Willie Cromack 12 Matthew Juhasz
13 Brian Brittain Gary Tosh 13 Johnny Evoy
14 Ross McQuarrie Andy Eunson 14 Brain Earle
15 Luc Kizanak Jenelle Kassidy 15 Lee Lau
16 Derek Steven Alex Gibbs 16 Bryon Enns
17 Ryan Walters Kevin Tafts 17 Greg Heyes
18 Sven Luebeke Clif Eschner 18 Terry Walker
19 Richard Jarman Adarian McCardle 19 Jesse Grissom
20 Collin Miller Stuart Loewen 20 Arama Jillings
21 Jerry Willows Zoltan Nagy 21 Colin Yarrow
22 Dean Reid Edward Reid 22 Chris Brown
23 Bob Anderson Dean Wilkes 23 Alex Cogger
  Womans Relay     24 Max Bruce
1 Michele Carr Kelli Sherbinin 25 David Phinney
  Junior Team     26 Sean Gerke
1 Cameron Rosset Matthew Fitch 27 Dennis Richards
  Mixed Team     28 Evan Sollberger
1 Rick Martin Tara Laycock 29 Vincent Beasse
2 Andrew Shandro Christine Platt 30 Patrick Labrosse
3 Micayla Gatto Alan Carr 31 Saar Moisa
4 Chris Gravel Gwendal Castellan 32 Justin Levesque
5 Trevor Hansen Christina Piccone 33 Jeremy Saunders
6 Mary Sharkey Eric Masse 34 Chris Gagan
7 Jon Taylor Isa Szeto 35 Issac Melles
8 Tim Coleman Melenie Vaughan 36 Romain Bayle
  37 Johnny Lorenz
  38 Michael Tigges
  39 Nelson Moullic
  40 Keith Mewis
  41 Andrew Sauter
  42 Andrew Brown
  43 Connor Gillian
  44 Michael Nelson
    Women's Solo
  1 Amber Chorney Wilson
  2 Jen Sawrenko
  3 Helena Juhasz
    Junior Solo
  1 Daniel Crowe-Hutchon
  2 Austin Olij
  3 Mark Smith




Sanctioned by