First Mountain Bike Race of the Season DONE!!!

Last Sunday was the 9^th annual Skookum Salty Dog 6 hours Enduro Mountain Bike Race in Salmon Arm BC. The race course linked various trails of the South Canoe Trail System. From steeper climbs, fast single track descents, logging roads and of course slightly technical sections, the 10.5 km track was a lot of fun to ride for all level. This is a family oriented event with kids, youth, adult team and adult solo categories, which also makes it a great event for the first timer! The Salty Dog sold out really early this season with over 400 registrations in the different categories.

Day of the race:

At 8am on Sunday, cars were already starting to pile in the field adjacent to the trails. The tents were starting to get set around the start/ finish line area and racers were starting to get excited… the pros were busy adjusting their light weight steel horse, others were already talking about the after-race beverages... People were smiling, joking around, hanging out with friends, which made for a great pre event atmosphere. Just after 10 am we all rolled down to a further start line in order to give some distance between the riders. There was some excitement and butterflies as this race was the first one of the bike season for me! A few cheers to fellow racer later, it was “Go Time”! We climbed a nice steep and dusty logging road to gain the first section of single track and that’s where the fun begun… 6 hours of mountain biking! On a race like this one, it’s really hard to know who you are racing against because of the many different categories. It’s really easy to get carried away. As riders were passing or getting passed, lots were cheering and or teasing, which helped keeping the mind away from the growing pain in the legs. As the clock was ticking, racers crossing the finish/start line were covered with more and more dust which made for really funny faces… we were all really dirty!

The fastest men solo expert was Brian Cooke with 9 laps in 5:42. The fastest women solo expert solo did 8 laps in 5:57. As for me, I finished 1^st of the women solo category with 8 laps in 6:08 which makes me second women overall. Congratulations to Joal Borggard (from ski mo racing) who finished 25^th in his category and his friend Kevin who came in second. Also congrats to Audrey Ayotte and Julie Gamache (team Poutine) who had a wicked race and finished 2^nd in the women team category!

For full results: http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?id=3035

More details on the event: http://www.skookumcycle.com/salty_dog

The Skookum team did a great job once again at organizing the event, which was a huge success. A big thank you to all the volunteers who did an amazing job at cheering racers and helping out.

Special thx to Skookum’s Tom and Greg for the team jersey, the yummy apple pie and the good times! Next Skookum event will be in Revelstoke on the 10^th of July for the 2^nd annual “Get Rev El Stoke”. As for me, some skiing and biking in the week to come!

Rab Backcountry Gear Review

Introducing Rab :

"The Rab brand is renowned for producing outstanding quality clothing and sleeping bags, suitable for extreme cold environments and high altitude mountaineering".

This company starting producing gear oriented toward expedition for extreme weather about 30 years ago and Rab is now working on a new line of clothing oriented towards backcountry skiing. Rab just started infiltrating the Canadian market and I would not be surprised to see more and more of their logo out in the Canadian mountains next season.

I had the chance to test and ski with Rab clothing over the last ski season and I have been truly impress with some of their innovative, comfortable and practical gear. Rab has also been kind enough to support our Canadian Ski Mountaineering team by donating "Neutrino Endurance Jackets" to 13 athletes and team support...

http://us.rab.uk.com/clothing/down_insulation/neutrino_endurance_jacket---19/

Where can Rab be found?

If you would like to have a look at the full Rab line: http://us.rab.uk.com/

I know locally ValHalla Pure will have some sample available during the summer and a full order in the winter time.

Should you be interested, here are some of my personal feedbacks on the gear I tested over the last winter months and please do not hesitate to ask questions!

1-Latok Alpine Pants: Love the pants! I never thought I would ski only with these and a pair of under layer underneath…! Really surprised on how the material is waterproof but also allows it to breathe very well on ascents and under warm temps.

2-VR Trail Pants: The pants work well for cold dry days since they are really warm. As previously mentioned, when we wear under layer under them, they are really warm but the liner moves when taking the pants off.

3-Photon Pants: I love them!!! For what I used them for, they were just perfect… (after races and after training). They kept me warm and allowed me to keep dry underneath. I don’t have much more to say about them besides from I like the fit, long enough and roomy.

4-VR Lite Jacket: I like the fit and the style and really useful for the really cold days but it was a bit too warm for me… I was getting really wet quickly with it even if I was just wearing a short sleeve short under. Good jacket for under layer when skiing down but maybe I sweat too much for this kind of jacket!

5- Latok Alpine Jacket: Love the jacket, nice fit and nice style. Really comfortable in ascent… I was only wearing it with a t-shirt under and was fine most of the days.

6-Neutrino Jacket: One of my favorites along with the Microlite!!!
Amazing down jacket! Love it! It’s really nice and warm, really good for the cold days ski touring in the bottom of the pack. Keeps its loft for a while even when wet. All the Canadian team had nothing but positive comments on them!

7- Microlite Alpine Jacket: One of my favorite pieces of clothing… I basically wear it all the time! It’s really nice to have in the pack when day trip ski touring to keep warm when stopping. Light and small, can be put anywhere.

8-Rab Expedition Bag
Nice, solid and roomy, it’s all you need for travelling, going to competition and bringing at the start line. The “back pack” straps are a really nice feature. The material is waterproof enough to be kept outside in the snow and not get all wet. I really like the mesh pocket inside the cover but it would be great to have an additional division inside as well or smaller exterior pocket for the smaller items.

9-Ice Gauntlet Gloves: the gloves still look great after many days of ski touring, patrolling and such. The string of one of the wrist ropes gave up on me but besides from that, they are in great shape. They are warm and don’t get wet easily.

10-Rab M14: these gloves got lots of use and still look fine… just starting to rip between the thump and the index a bit. I like the fact that the top of the hand is always staying dry since the material seems to do a great waterproofing job.

11- Baltoro Softshell Gloves: I really liked those gloves and love the fact that they are long and breathe well. They seem to never get wet. They are a bit on the cold side in cooler weather when descending but perfect on those same days for climbing up!


Thank you so much for help and support over the season of 2009-2010. Rab really made a difference for me this season and I am really grateful."

I never thought I would!

Yes a first post...I have come to realize that this is a great way to inform people about races, events, results but even more so a way to share experiences, training tips, trip itineraries and so on...and this is where I think I would like the blog to move towards. There is also great opportunities for gear testing and review which I will post and will be happy to answer questions about!

I am looking forward to sharing a lot of experiences and adventures!