April 19th, 2006 - 11:30pm
What I've been up to lately
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Moments before I crashed
Photo Dave Pawlok
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Boulder City, NV;
Here's a little update on what I've been up to in the last couple of days. But first here's a little resume of my first race of the 2007
season: it sucked. mouahaaha ok, but more seriously it was a disappointing race for me. I managed to crash on the easiest course of the year!
Moreover I crashed on an uphill, how's that?! Jeez, I couldn't believe it... my short got caught in my shifter or my crown, not sure everything
happened so fast... next thing I knew, my rear wheel was skidding sideways and I crashed... and like if this wasn't enough, the course tape got
stuck in my cassette, chain and derailleur and I couldn't pedal anymore, so I had to coast to the bottom. God it was a shitty race. I ended
up 101st ! mouahaaha what a nice way to start the season! ;)
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Along the Pacific ocean
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West coast
During this weekend, I had the chance to visit the Monterey (California) area with Math Laurin (Marin), Andre Lecompte (Marin sales rep) and his
girlfriend. We went on the Pacific ocean coast and the scenery was incredible! At one moment, we were watching some big waves hitting the rocks
and after a little while I decided to go closer to get a picture. Take a look at the pic on your right, it's beautiful. However, what you don't
see is that the following wave went 15 feet higher than any of the other waves and hit me! It got me all soaked! mouahaaha it was pretty funny.
I really looked stupid in front of the other tourists... hehe oh well :)
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Viva Las Vegas!
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On my own
After the race, I left Math who had a plane for Montreal to catch on the next day. It was pretty cool to ride with him during the past 2 weeks.
I then drove towards Las Vegas, where I arrived on the next day. After a quick drive around the city, I then head up to Boulder City where
I planned to spend a couple of days to ride on the Bootleg Canyon mountain.
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Brent Thomson, the man behind Bootleg Canyon
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Bootleg Canyon
Even though I'm alone, I'm not bored at all! In fact, it's easier to meet people and make some friends when you're on your own. On the same day I arrived,
I met Brent Thomson one the coolest guy around. Brent is 54 and has been building and maintaining the trails of
Bootleg Canyon for the past 12 years! Every single trail on the mountain where built with his own hands,
without any mechanic help. Brent is just like a 25 years old guy but into an older body! He listens to Snoop Dog, rides like a maniac and is so funny.
He invited me to stay at this place and this is where I've been staying for the past 3 days already.
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Miles and miles of trails hand built
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XC ride
Brent is also an artist, he did a lot of painting in his life and for him building trails is also art. He took me for an XC ride and showed me
some of his creations. I've been riding for a longtime and I have to admit that Brent is really good at making trails! I was especially impress
with the constant flow of the XC trails. It feels like a roller coaster, you always have good speed, even when you ride up.
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Downhill
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DH rides
He also took me up the mountain numerous times with his truck. Downhill trails are awesome as well! The scenery is quiet different from
what I'm used to, which makes every runs special. You have to be careful at the top thought; you ride along ridges, which can be catastrophic
if you fall off one of them. But you get use to it really quickly and after a run, you don't even think about it. Again Brent did a great job
with the DH trails and riding down this mountain is such a blast! You'll have the chance to see what it looks like soon because I did a photoshoot
this morning with Brent's girlfriend. I didn't see the pics yet, but it's promising! I'll post some of the best shots when I have them.
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Bootleg Canyon
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Flat tire
I had to change a tire on my van today... Man, this van is a nightmare! I keep putting money on this
piece of junk. Anyway, Brent is going to take me on a job tomorrow morning. 25 bucks an hour... US money on top of that! ;) So I couldn't let this
opportunity go, it's going to cover today's mis-adventure with my van.
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Helping Brent fixing a skinny
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What's next
I had initially planned to go to Moad after Bootleg, but I'm having so much fun here that I'm going
to spend a couple more days here I think. I don't know when I'm going back to Quebec, but I will be in Bromont on the 25th at the latest. My condo
is not available before this date anyway, so I'm not hurry to get there before. Beside, the weather is sunny and hot here! I have to work on
my tanning a little more ;)
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