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Paulo Blog

Posted by Paul Stevens on 2011-07-04

The simple fact that this might be the longest that I have sat still since digging out the pump track gives a good indication of how the last few weeks have been. A few days with temperatures pushing into the twenties has been enough of a sign of the drawn out spring finally giving way to summer, for the Whistler collective to forget about winter and start thinking bikes. Finally being able to ride without having to pack up a car and drive to the trails has been amazing, and has led to a crazy busy month, packed full of every kind of mountain biking.


   Early season the plants are as stoked as I am to see the sun, and bust out some serious greens! Amy Mcdermid Photo

The snow line is receding quickly, chased by a mob of Whistler mountain bikers willing (and digging) the trails clear. Trails are opening up by the day and the trail bike has seen some serious hours, exploring the valley to see what has become rideable each day. Last week I was lucky enough to get my hands on the 2012 Stumpjumper EVO, which has taken over valley roaming duties. First impressions have blown my mind! Stay tuned for a full report of how the new steed handles the rocky, rooty smorgasboard of trails in the Whistler valley. 

  What better way to break in the new steed than some fresh Westside loam? The Stumpjumper Evo eats it up. Todd Hellinga photo

Fuelled by my best result to date at a WORCA Toonie race, and feeling fitter than usual for this time of year, I decided to enter my first ever Super D race at the North Shore Ripper on Seymour. Big respect to the guys who put me in my place and made me realize I still have a way to go with my fitness before I can be competitive in this kind of race! A slightly disappointing 7th, but a great event with some awesome people involved. For my race story, see here.
   Loam appetizer followed by a main course of rocks. The Stumpy is still hungry for it! Todd Hellinga photo

Recently the varied weather has kept things interesting, but with a little help from a few dedicated dirt sculptors, it's also kept the dirt jumps and pump tracks in amazing shape so the hardtail has been seeing a lot of action too. My excitement as the bike playground throughout the valley has become rideable again meant that the opening of the bike park crept up on me fast. Despite the amazing efforts of the trail crew, who must have been looking forward to the day they could turn their shovels to the dirt instead of the snow, a lot of trails remained covered on opening day. However, as the weeks roll on everyone's favourites are beginning to take shape and quietly open, and the typical coastal weather has meant near perfect conditions! Needless to say, the downhill bike is now getting dialled in, and is receiving magnitudes of abuse only achievable when you have a chairlift in your back yard.

   Off one bike and on to the next, putting the demo through it's paces. Amy Mcdermid photo

It makes me realize how awesome it is to live here, and how fortunate I am, when the big decisions of the day are which bike to roll out on, and which part of the Whistler playground I am going to hit today. Not a bad problem really, when every outcome is a win. Okay that's enough sitting down for now, I'm going riding. See you on the trails!

   Classic bike park, it never gets old! Laying the table, Crabapple hits. Amy Mcdermid photo

Last year we crowned two riders at AIRprentice - and Paul was number two. He's been a top acheiver on the team without a doubt. Do YOU have anything to say? Go to town here...

NSMB on Ride Guide

Posted by Eamonn Duignan on 2011-05-02

First Trail Day of 2011

Posted by Eamonn Duignan on 2011-04-14

Come out this Sunday to the first NSMBA trail day of 2011.  We will be giving Upper Griffen on Mount Fromme some much need maintenance plus a new upper reroute. Green Coast Rubbish-Vancouver’s only junk removal company (shameless plug) and On Top Bike shop will be sponsoring the event, so come out and show your love for our trails on the North Shore. As always, lunch and refreshments will be served! 

AIRprentice: A Man for All Seasons

Posted by Matt Montadon on 2011-03-21

Wrangle the Chute is a 2 day western themed big mountain ski competition with a twist. Hosted at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, the two main sponsors of the event are Wrangle and Red Bull. Not only is it a big mountain comp but there is also a park jump and an athlete powered bronco at the bottom!

I caught wind of the event from my older brother Jesse. He mentioned it on the phone a couple times and ended up sending me an invitation to it via email. After emailing the events coordinator and getting the thumbs up, it was all up to getting a ride to Golden. The only people I knew that were going was the Lazy Crew. Fortunately they managed to squeeze me in. The Lazy crew is an awesome group of friends that I met through working at Whitewater.

The trip started off with a long drive to Golden to a cabin that my dad’s friend let us stay at for the night. We showed up late and didn’t know what to expect but we were stoked when we arrived Thursday night. It was this awesome quirky cabin with little paths everywhere leading to some other shacks and huts and a hot tub as well! It was a nice way to start the trip for sure.

When he can't ride the dirt, Matt goes big on the slopes.

Friday was registration and the comp was on Saturday and Sunday. The way it worked was each competitor got two runs--one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The big mountain venue was closed and had been for roughly a week.  Therefore, only visual inspection of the course was allowed. In the run you picked your way down CPR ridge and funneled into a thirty foot gap jump at the bottom of the ridge. After the jump you had to take of your skis/board and ride a bucking bronco that is powered by the previous 4 athletes. The bronco was just a barrel dressed up as a horse suspended by four ropes between two snow cats. Scores were judged out of 30 points for the big mountain section, 15 points for the jump and 5 points for riding the bull. Ya follow me?

So Friday we got to hit the jump a few times and scope the venue out a bit but we mostly just shredded the hill with the Lazy Crew. Saturday Morning we got to hit the jump a couple more times before we had to be at the top of the ridge ready to drop in. My run on Saturday was pretty cool. I started the run off with the cool hip double drop that I scoped out that no one else had seen. The drop sent me into a chute with some time to do a few turns before hitting this sketchy wind drift jump that I managed to land a sketchy 360 off of before skiing into the jump to do a lincon loop and just make tranny to ski up to the bull kick off my skis and last for maybe 6 seconds on the bronco. My day one score ended up putting me into fourth place over all.

Here's a highlight video of the event. Check out my winning run at the end.

Friday and Saturday night we stayed at Mary’s motel in Golden and enjoyed their hot tub and sauna. Sunday was the big day. I got to go fourth last so I had some more time to scope a line and watch other rider’s lines and what not. I knew that if I wanted to up my score from yesterday I would have to go bigger and find a line that no one has done yet. I could see this one shelf that ran diagonal across a very exposed section of the ridge. I could see that there was snow along the whole shelf but how much? How steep is it in spots? Is there anything beneath the snow that could potentially grab me and send me tumbling off a hundred foot cliff?

When the time came I dropped in my line and followed my landmarks that I had scoped earlier from the bottom. Around that rock, between the big trees and the cliff, across the channel of doom. Stop. See if you can see landing, scope take off. Ski around dead little tree pick up speed. Hit tiny lip. 360 over the chute to the fan, land and dodge big tree. If I can do that I will survive. I managed to pull it all together and hit the jump at the end with just enough speed to claim the line once more with a big rockstar air. After kicking off the skis I managed to ride the bull long enough for me to yell “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT BULL?” and need six people to get me off.

Matt Montadon riding the "bull" after his first place run.

And that’s how I won Wrangle the Chute. I ended up beating Daryl Tredway by 2 points to take the lead. Two of the crew Chris Shook and Davis Fultz got first and second in the snowboard category.

Matt stands tall at the top of the podium. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it back on top this summer.

After the awards and the bar, me and the Lazy crew bought a pitcher and some nachos. We drove our way back to Nelson with some wine, some wrangler gear and a nice big thousand dollar plastic cheque. We even had time while waiting for the ferry to get the boots on and hike some lines into the parking lot. Haha, skiing is awesome!

All in all it was an awesome weekend. Lots of skiing and partying, good music and friends. It was a super fun competition and I am glad I had my brother and the Lazy Crew to show me the ropes.

To finish off, here's one last video of my first place run:

Matt oozes talent. I sense big things for him this season on the bike. Congratulate him on his big win over here...

Twilight

Posted by Paul Stevens on 2011-02-09

Twilight. It will come as a relief to most of you, and a disappointment to the emo teenage girls amongst you, that I am not talking about a series of movies about gay sparkling vampires. No, I am referring to that period of the day where the sun begins to kiss the horizon, and you are milking the last slivers of light slicing through the trees.

  Sitting at the trail head is all well and good when the sun is still shining. Later in the day is a different story.

Riding in the twilight is a weird sensation. The thought of whether the obstacles ahead are reflecting enough light to be able to avoid them crosses your mind briefly, shortly followed by the realization that you didn't bring lights, and the longer you spend procrastinating, the darker it is going to get. With the alternative being walking, of course you drop in, to find that now you are moving, everything seems to be a lot harder to take in, the messenger running the pathway between eyes and brain has had a long day, and he's already half asleep. Trees and stumps are flying past, but they seem sped up when they appear just a few feet in front of you. Heart pounding, you finish the trail, and tell yourself that was reckless, and you will bring lights next time, when deep down you know you won't, because the majority of the time you ride the twilight, you aren't planning to, the ride was just too much fun to end while the sun was still shining.

   Making hay while the sun shines, Squamish.

Apart from the small issue of Whistler being covered in snow for most of the winter, the impending twilight has made winter rides few and far between, and usually frustratingly short. So I jumped at the chance to work once again with my good buddy, and expert film maker, Mike Goldstein, when he called me after a few dry days, and a cold sunny spell, to do some riding in Squamish. My new Demo 8 and I had only been out for a couple of rides together before this trip, but with the sky so clear that the sun felt warm again, and just a dusting of snow on the higher peaks, it was the perfect day to get more accustomed to it.

  Getting in some quality time in the sun with the new steed.

With camera and editing technology becoming exponentially better, cheaper and more readily available to the masses, we decided that we needed to branch out from the norm, and come up with something a little different. Mike had some great ideas, including the "7D crotch cam" otherwise known as the rich man's GoPro, which was the only time I have ever been so worried about crushing somebody else's valuables between my legs. Also included in the day's inventions and innovations was a terrifyingly wide bar mount, held together with a lot of duct tape, and a comparable amount of hope.

   The crotch cam, terrifying to ride with!

   Just in case the crotch cam wasn't awkward enough...

A brief walk into the trails, and it was soon apparent that the cold snap had drawn almost all of the moisture out of the dirt, leaving a crunchy brown layer of surface hoar in most corners, but sheet ice in others. Conditions were challenging, but in the spots where there was grip, it was like sandpaper. It didn't take long before the twilight began to creep up on us. The old growth surrounding us started to block the sun's rays early, trees began flying past me way too fast and coming out of nowhere, so it was time to escape the forest and head into the clear cut, to milk the last of the light.

   Milking the light as the sun nears the horizon

Keep a look out for More of Mike's work behind the lens in the next few weeks, we are working on a very different kind of bike check...watch this space.

We're stoked to have Paul - and his 2011 Demo 8 - back on the team for 2011. Share your wisdom here...