Ripper 4 Brief Recap

I was really looking forward to the Triple Crown. Years ago we rode the Triple Crown in the other direction (west to east). I remember it being an epic day. We got lost, we ran into impassable obstacles, but we had an awesome time. For Ripper 4 I again teamed up with my fit friend Ron. Ron has been training for the Trans Rockies race in August and I have been doing a lot of bike commuting. Perfect team match up!

Our philosophy for the race was to ride like we always do, no shuttling, ride everything and have fun. So we rode up Seymour, down CBC, Corkscrew, Ned's and Bottletop (were I pulled another rider up the bank after he endoed and slid off the trail). On Fromme we rode Executioner (thanks to former pro race Amber Chorney for helping us with the route, I think it has been about 10 years since I have ridden Executioner). From Cleveland Dam we rode up through the British Properties, and yes we did get lost, to Millstream trail and across to the Cypress road. We rode up Cypress to the top and then came down Mystery DH (or Spine Board, or what ever else it is called), back along Millstream through the Properties across the Dam, down Capilano road, through Edgemont Village and then, after a lap of the skate park at William Griffin, down Mosquito Creek.

At each check point we had great conversations with the volunteers and had a wonderful time the whole day. We rode like we always do, with a bit of pace up and down the mountains while riding all of the stunts. Sounds like Shore riding to me. We finished as a team at Dizzy s with a total time 6 hours 2 minutes for the 70 km trip with ~7000 ft climbing. We were the first to cross the line! Remember it was a poker challenge though and the "winner" is the rider with the best hand. 3 ten's and 2 fives is all I had. We were both thrilled, we had an awesome day.

Thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors of the race. It was a great day.

This was a brief recount of the day. I'll try to add to it in the next little while.

I'm on vacation for a month and will be away from phones, TV and all other sorts of communication devices. I'll do my best but I can't promise I'll be writing soon.

Take are and have a great summer.

Final Ripper -- The Triple Crown

Well tomorrow is the final race (it is not a race, it's a poker challenge) in the Ripper Series put on by NSMBA and Dizzy Cycles.

I have written about these races in previous posts. They are great community events. They bring all sorts of mountain bikers together for a fun filled day. Each of the Ripper's has been different. There was a cross country "esk" one, a Super D, a DH and finally a full on bonkfest.

this weekend's Ripper is the Triple Crown. We will start at Seymour mountain and ride up to a check point and then pick any trail that we want to descend to the next check point on Mt. Fromme. Again we will ride to the top of Fromme to a check point and then down any trail that we want to the Cleveland Dam. From the dam we find our way up to the top of Cypress, check in and then descend to the finale at Dizzy's bike shop at the bottom of Lonsdale.

55 km. ~6500 ft of climbing. It should be a good day.

Here is my proposed route with my partner:
On Seymour, CBC, Corkscrew, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Bottle Top,

on Fromme,Executioner,

on Cypress, Spine board

Click on the above image for a more detail route.