It’s finally here! My first 650B DH bike, the 2015 GT Fury. I haven’t ridden it a lot yet, but so far, I’m finding that I can push myself a lot further than on my 2014 Fury. Maybe it’s because of the wheel size? Maybe the suspension? I guess I’ll have to go ride more to figure it out.
A few days ago, a few friends and I went riding on Seymour. We decided to go check out where the big rockslide was that took out Twin Bridges earlier on and this is what we found. The picture does not do it justice. I couldn’t get back far enough to get all of the rocks that fell in the frame, so this is just a little taste. I would have liked to have been near it when it happened so I could feel the ground shake as the rocks fell. I must say, I live in a pretty interesting area.
In mid December, I finally purchased a new vehicle after selling my car in November. I wanted something that was a lot more comfortable and practical than the car. After over a month of looking on craigslist, I finally found a good vehicle.
1998 Jeep TJ
I also had to learn how to drive a standard. This took a bit longer to get to because I twisted my ankle and I had to wait a while for it to heal up so I could push the clutch in. After a few times driving around our block, I was ready to drive it to work and have had no problems with a standard since.
A few days ago, I went out with a freelap tower and watch to record some times on a trail on Seymour. It was pretty neat to see how much little mistakes can take so much time off in the end. From my first to my fastest, I only took off 4 seconds, but on a 1 minute trail that’s actually not to bad. I will be doing this much more often as soon as my heal from my ankle sprain.
Here are my times:
1. 59.62
2. 58.80
3. 58.56
4. 58.63
5. 55.79
6. 55.48
7. 55.53
8. 57.20
Before I got sick, I went up to Squamish to talk to Cory Laclerc of C4 Rider Training about having him coach me. We talked about my plans for riding in the future and we also talked about what we’re going to do before the official coaching starts in January. He gave me some freelap equipment to use and told me to find a trail or a section of a trail that’s about a minute and keep riding and timing myself to get faster and faster. I’m having trouble finding the perfect trail to use, but I have a few ideas that I’ll have to check out once I get my new DH bike.
I was forced to take a week off because I got the Flu and was stuck in bed for 7 days. I tried to do some light cardio during that time, but I quickly realized with the fever after that it wasn’t a good idea. I decided to wait it out. It was quite a terrible experience, and I was quite mad that it happened 3 weeks in to my training and set me back a week. My first day back on the bike was Monday and even though I was quite weak and winded, it felt really good.
I finally got a text from a fellow worker at Sportchek that my new bike was in, so I immediately headed over to the shop to build it up. With a little struggling with the dropper post, which I still haven’t perfected, I finally got it all together. Yesterday was the first day I got to ride it on Fromme. Here are my first impressions.
Climbing:
On the slower, less steep climbs, I didn’t feel like I had just as much power as I did on other bikes. This may have been because the Force X was long and had slacker geometry. This wasn’t a big deal to me and it wasn’t enough to make the 40 minute climb to get to 7th Secret even the least bit unbearable. I am surprised to say that on the steep technical climbs, I found myself staying on the bike way more as opposed to getting off and pushing. I was really impressed that I was able to climb through slippery rocks and roots much better than I have on previous bikes, even with the Fox Float X CTD in Descend mode.
Descending:
I generally ride all of my bikes like they’re downhill race bikes while descending, so this one was no different. Because it was so long, I thought It would be even better for going really fast downhill. I did have some trouble pushing this bike on the trails though, mostly because of the tires. It may have been because the bike is new and that I’m not used to it, but there were a few things that I didn’t like.
My first Impression of the Continental Mountain King tires is that they didn’t grip that well at all on the wet rocks and roots compared to the Schwalbe Hans Damf which I had been using on my dads all mountain bike. New tires generally don’t grip that well, so I’ll have to wear them in a bit to see if the grip improves.
Another thing that bothered me while descending was that the bike was so loud. The chain was constantly hitting the carbon chainstays on the bigger hits and it really felt like I was breaking the bike. That is an easy fix, however, there really should have been chainstay protectors already on the bike.
I will have to ride this bike a lot more to break in the suspension and the tires to really tell what it actually rides like, but from my impression, despite a few minor issues, it is a great bike!
Just in case you didn’t know, a new type of riding has recently made it big in the biking scene. Enduro, or “mountain biking” is becoming more and more popular. Enduro riding is where you pedal yourself to the top of a hill or mountain or hill and ride down. In an enduro race, there will be two to three days of riding 5-9 stages of un-timed uphill and timed downhill. The bikes used must be able to handle black to double black diamond downhill trails, but also must be able to climb relatively well to not burn out the riders legs.
Why is it so popular? Because most people can do it. It takes a very particular person to race or even ride Downhill to a moderate level, but the decents and trails aren’t as gnarly in Enduro. Don’t get me wrong, if anybody saw or had anything to do with the EWS (Enduro World Series) Race in Whistler, you’ll know that it was 9 straight hours of hard riding. Many riders dropped out or weren’t allowed to continue because they were too slow on the climbing sections. With climbing stages averaging in 1.5-2 hours in the 36 degree weather that day, I’d say that for some of the men and women who competed, they would’ve rather joined me in taking a dip in the lake.
I have decided to take part in the BC Enduro races as well as maybe the EWS Race in Whistler. I think it’ll be a lot of fun, good for training/skills, and also a way to get to know and talk to more mountain bikers. GTs Enduro race bike, the Sanction won’t be out until November/December or so I will soon be receiving the GT Force X Carbon to be training on until I can get the Sanction.
Gt Sanction
GT Force
Last week, I had the honor of riding with two of Whistler most established locals, Remy Metailler and Chris Kovarik. It was really exciting to ride with them! Here is a video clip of us hitting the infamous jump line, Crabapple Hits.
A week ago, I received an email from Todd Schumlick, the creator/owner of PerformX Racing. I did a short training program with him last winter. This year, I have been selected to join his Elite Training program.
Why is this a big deal? One can’t simply go up to this man, throw some money at him and expected to be taken under his wing. With Todd training guys like Aaron Gwin, Steve Smith, Brook Macdonald, and Sam Blenkinsop, he doesn’t have the time to train just anybody. In his email, he said that he has a reputation to uphold, and that he’s fortunate to be in the position to pick the “best of the best”. You can imagine how that made me feel, right? Pretty awesome. I will be going up to Whistler/Pemberton at the end of the month to do some testing and to learn new movements and exercises in the gym. I’m really looking forward to this training and how it will help me next season!
Here is a Pinkbike article that talks a bit more about what Todd and his athletes get up to.
