It is always amazing to me just how quickly the seasons go by.  It is even more amazing to me to watch what appears to be a shift in the seasons…  I am a believer in global warming. And it is interesting to watch how Mother earth is responding to her human infection.  In the last 5 years of riding and building I have witnessed the seasons migrating 3-4 weeks down the line from their original calendar dates. October sure acted like September this year and I think that trend is a year round ordeal that keeps shifting.

It is really hard to grasp the current state of the environment and even harder to figure out what you can do to be a part of the solution. I know my truck, excavator and chainsaws aren’t easy on the air.  The other side to that, however, is that I have a motorcycle I ride to reduce the amount I drive the truck, and my truck and excavator are both used for building skills parks and trails both of which promote cycling. I guess I have come to grips with the fact that I have a justification for my fossil fuel addiction. And I am not sure if everyone has taken a hard look at their own lifestyles to do the same.  Industry and government need to take a stand in order to be responsible leaders, yet we as consumers don’t pressure them to do so, where are our community leaders?  Where is the support from us as neighbors in municipalities to make this happen!!!?  Why is no one listening to the experts and man o man why is it that when I get a bag of chips only the bottom ¼ is full??? What is the frickin deal?  Make smaller bags or fill the big ones but stop wasting… I digress.

Pheeew…  I have had quite journey since the last blog and I think I might be a bit pent up…

Completing the final bike parks for the season thru September and October we shifted gears and went into trail building mode.  I then  spent time at the Nordic center in Canmore to build and XC trail and then building hiking trail for Parks Canada on a remote island and just recently I got back from building riding trails in Puerto Rico. Wowsa, life is quite a ride.

During the fall I also found a bit of time and busted it to Interbike and got super busy building and filming for the next Norco video short to be released in January 2010.  The vid is sic and I can’t wait to hear people’s feedback on it!

While in town filming I spent a bunch of time cruising the bike park in Hinton. Check out these two links: click here to see the Hinton bike park at the hoots site, and click here to see the Hinton bike park site.  And after 2 seasons I finally went after a gnarly line that I had been thinking about since originally building the drop zone…

I also have been testing a new prototype frame that whoops butt!  It is an all mountain bike with a 6” platform and it is around 34lbs. This bike is so fricking rad!  I am so stoked to be on it and man I have been tearing it up.  I think I am riding the fastest and gnarliest I have ever ridden on this bike. Granted one has to remember that a mountain bike is not a ‘chuck it’ bike but this thing schooled almost all of Whistler and shredded Canmore climbs.  I have sent it off 25’ drops and 40’+ jumps while turning around lifting up the seat and cranking for an hour uphill at ridiculous speed and comfort. Sure hope this bad boy makes the 2011 line up it will be hard to touch.

Here’s a cool progression: This years Mountain Bike Operations (MBO) program has 28 students in it and everyone is so keen and passionate about riding and mountain biking that I am revved!  We have already completed the basic building course with the advanced course happening in April.  I have heard that resorts and bike industry are really looking at this diploma as a huge asset when evaluating applicants for jobs. So cool!!!  Legitimization of our sport requires education and I am stoked that Cap University can offers this wicked cool course.

I am still rep’ing the Mace products and just wanted to throw it out there that everything so far is still on the solid.  Durability is becoming a mainstay of Mace and I am now finding that I can use Mace stuff in other sports as well.  I always have Mace gear on when moto’ing or sledding and even rock the armour when snowboarding now…

Aight. Huge amount of info, Rad amount of time. Get out there and grab some adventure and I will keep my eyes peeled for you! Happy Holidays and may Santa bring you all new bikes!!!

Hoots

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

About a week ago MTBR.com put up a review of our Task shorts and Foundation jersey. From the sounds of it they were pretty stoked on our gear. Here is couple of excerpts.

Task Shorts:

“I know my particular problems with biking shorts aren’t everyones. I’m a big guy, 6′4″, and even though I’m told I’m not fat, I’m still pretty thick, especially in the legs. So finding a good pair shorts that are loose fitting, long, and my size (36, 38 depending on the brand) has been challenging.  Royal, TLD, Sombrio, have all been worn and now just take up space in my closet. I got so sick of looking for riding shorts I ended up just going to Ross and getting some hip hop style plaid cotton shorts for $5 and pretty much called it a day.” Click Here to read the full review.

Photo: Derek Vanderkooy

“This Mace Foundation jersey on the other hand is special. It wicks sweat faster than any jersey I’ve yet to wear. When I sweat I go from Death Valley dry to Niagara Falls wet within minutes. On a warm day, under eucalyptus trees with a gentile breeze, I went from wet to dry in 20 minutes.  While resting under those trees, instead of getting cold with the sweat staying near my skin, it was quickly wicked away and I warmed up, keeping my back and arms relaxed. This had never happened before. I even commented on it to the people I was riding with.  They gave me that ‘what the hell are you talking about look’?”
Click Here to read the full review.

A short while ago we were faced with a problem.  Carrier pigeons are only able to carry 2.5 oz when properly trained, and not one piece of our clothing weighs this little. You see, we have an awesome group of stores that carry Mace gear in the USA but it is a small group and we couldn’t secure distribution to expand our base. The net result was that we were seeing demand for our product but couldn’t get the product to the consumer. It was quite the conundrum; so options were considered.

A pigeon carrier system was briefly considered after someone had read a Wikipedia page about a German apothecary using pigeons to deliver urgent medication.  But due to their inability to carry large loads great distances and a fear of bird poop ending up on the packages it was quickly abandoned. Next we considered hiring an intern and giving them a Volkswagen Kombi van full of Mace gear and Kraft dinner to deliver our gear around the States. An intern’s dream, we thought. But there were labor board issues, even though it was an intern, so we had to keep searching. Then it hit us,  an a-ha moment was had when we realized that we could partner with a dealer that could sell our wares online.

And that is exactly what we did. Now if you live in the US you can purchase Mace gear online at Fanatikbike.com. No pigeons, no interns hopped up on Kraft Dinner, just a simple and easy way to get our gear anywhere in the USA. Check it out and let us know what you think, because we are pretty excited. We also have a link on the USA Mace site through our Dealer and Distributor tab.

The sun poked its way through the clouds for a brief couple of hours today and as the quote: “Ahh, the day star, it burns!” flew through my mind I realized that I hadn’t seen the sun in quite a while. While I lamented on this for a moment it took me back to summer and I fell into a daydream about riding the Whistler Mountain Bike Park one day back in June.

It all started when we decided that there was a strong need riding shots in the 2009 mace gear, and a park setting in the early months of summer was a great place to get them. We put together a team of staff riders that were willing to take a day off work –a really difficult task- and wanted to go and rip the mountain bike park on a Tuesday, got a hold of photographer Derek Vanderkooy and set off for an adventure.

The ‘day star’ was out in full force that day and as we waited for the crew to pick us up in the company van, affectionately named “the A-Team Van,” we enjoyed the warm rays the sun threw down and watched the downtown Vancouverites march begrudgingly to work. When the van finally arrived we were buzzing with excitement, and exceedingly large doses of coffee. We loaded and began our journey to Whistler. I’ll skip the next hour and a half as you can probably imagine what went on in a van with four riders and a photographer on their way to Whistler.

There are a lot of opinions and stories about this park and what brings people there in droves all summer, but it all comes down to one thing: FUN! It also helps that the park features just under 5000 feet of vertical and has a dizzying 200km (125 miles) of trails to explore. Which is more than enough to keep you busy for a while and a perfect place to grab some great pictures. At this point I could keep on telling you about our day but we had a photographer there so I thought I’d show you instead. All of the pictures from here in were taken by Derek Vanderkooy check him out at dekooeyimages.com. Enjoy!