Knocked off a short 4 1/2 hours of driving today, the first warm up drive of my cross Canada tour. I’m in Penticton, BC right now, I have two school shows tomorrow, plus a yoga class in Kelowna in the evening—busy first day! (Yoga is at OranjDance starting at 6:45pm and is a fundraiser that benefits Pediatric Cancer Research-check out my fundraising page-more to come on that)

So I pulled up to what looked like a clean cozy hotel, it was pretty late so I didn’t want to be too picky. First odd sign was that the attendant at the front desk didn’t know how to swipe my credit card. Hmmm. Anyway, got my key, grabbed my things from the truck, walked in the smelly room and looked at the caved in bed, hmmm, pulled the sheets up and spotted a bed bug, eeeee. Caryn and I had done our research from previous encounters, there was no doubt. Not good. I booked it out of there and put myself up somewhere decent. Might do some camping this tour!

I’m just downloading a couple new songs right now to add to my yoga playlist for tomorrow nights class. It’ll be a 75 minute long session, I think it might be a hard class, I have to go over my routine after writing this blog. I always like to mix my yoga classes up a bit, different each time, some spontaneity.

Well, I’ll sign off for now. More soon….and hey, don’t let the bed bugs bite…

Ryan

Recently we rounded up all of our athletes and put together a little video of their awesomeness, and added some of our new gear as well. Being that they help us develop and test all of our products it only seemed fitting. Enjoy.

Mace rider, Ryan Leech was recently featured in an Interview at NSMB.com. Not only is he exceptionally good on a bicycle he is also amazing at Yoga.  Here is a quick excerpt from his recent interview:

“Ryan Leech began dropping hints in videos and blogs.  Knowing his personality it was no surprise to learn he was into yoga. The moves he performs take large helpings of concentration, balance, strength and flexibility.  If yoga helps him get there I was keen to know more.” Go a head go to NSMB.com to read more.

After close to 1000 shows over the past five years in front of close to a quarter million people, it looks like I will be upgrading my demonstration obstacles over the winter. The goals are pretty simple; they need to provide a new challenge, be lighter, and be quicker to set up. They need to look professional, and be innovative in some way. I am just in the brainstorming phase right now. I recently checked out this high quality scaffolding system of which many elements make a lot of sense for a trials set up. Check out the photo. These things fold up flat in seconds, so moving obstacles through doorways at schools or theaters will be no problem. They are lightweight and surprisingly stable. The appearance can be worked on, perhaps removing the ladder part and adding sponsor banners. They could even be anodized. The only drawback is that there is some play in the pivot joints, but nothing a few modifications can’t fix. The thing is that I set a very high standard with my current demo obstacles; so to top that will be a challenge!

Next year is shaping up to be a busy one for me. With a two month long school tour through Canada (let me know if you have a school that would be interested), various mini school tours through BC, performances at major events such as The Sea Otter Classic, Seattle Bike Show, and Crankworx,, I’ll be leading a mountain bike and yoga retreat in Whitehorse with Boreal Mountain Biking (more details to come on that soon), a couple different video projects, and of course mix in a few longer term sides projects, and I think the year 2010 will blow past in a flash!

My sponsorship roster is looking strong. Norco bikes is continuing their rock solid support in all I do, I don’t imagine I’d still be doing what I do at the level I do it at if it wasn’t for their encouragement and support; my relationship with Shimano is growing, and I look forward to visiting their Canadian office in Peterborough, Ontario in the Spring during my Trials of Life tour, their head office in Japan also has some ideas for me next season; Marzocchi has been a long time partner and I am excited about their product developments for 2010, it trumps their ’09 offering; I have some projects developing with the good folks at Ryders Eyewear (based in North Vancouver); and my trusty clothing sponsor Mace seems to be progressing their vision and embracing the entire cycling scene instead of just the hard-core. This suits my lifestyle perfectly, I live in cycling clothes for the most part, I haven’t had to go clothes shopping for 13 years now , so using a brand that is developing commuter friendly gear that is still stylish and also worthy of the demand I put on them during a season of shows is a great fit for me (sorry for the pun).

Have a great Fall folks!

The days have been long (approx 20 hours of light) and full during our visit to Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

Yurts rock! Boreal Mountain Biking’s Headquarters (Yurtville).

Josh, the cinematographer/editors from The Ride Guide setting up for a shot beside a caribou antler. We’re on a mountain above Carcross, about one hour south of Whitehorse. This ride was called Mountain Hero; it is historic because it follows the path of the old miners that built a wooden tram line over century ago. Check the image below.

Our host and guide Sylvain pushing up to the top of Grey Mountain for a trail called Money Shot and Easy Money. That’s the Yukon river in the distance.

Today we’re hitting the town getting some scenic and lifestyle shots, some yoga in the park shots, farmers market shots, bike shop shots, and then we’re going to hit the trails for some evening sun.