riding feels good

Sweet Pete's Friends and Family Sale

 

Check it. Good times, great deals, and eggnog.

Bromont WC

I've been meaning to get this post up for, well since the world cup. I won't say much about the race that's old news now but I thought I'd share these pics anyways.

 

Justin Brown flying the colors.

 

This one is Mathieu Laurin. I was trying just to get a shot of crowds, then Mat came crashing in.

 

After I took this shot I pumped my fist. I always new Dean was fast seeing him qualify top 50 and finish 43 was awesome. This is just his second WC and first WC final.

 

That's some good support.

 

Steve Peat. The chair stopped with Steve just over the Course. All the fans stop watching to turn around a cheer for him.

Freelap in the Don.

Drew and I have been talking about doing this for months, and now with the season over we finally had our chance. We found a nice little DH trail in the Don and set up our Freelap timing poles.  I was a bit skeptical about how fun doing DH runs in the Don could be, but the track was a blast, tough in spots fast in spots, and yep, short. The fastest time was 32.18 sec. We will be hitting it aging in about three weeks, and next time will try and make sure more people are in on it. It's our hope that this turns into a regular DH jam.

So watch this space for time and location of our next jam and we'll see if anyone can do a sub 30.

BC Provincial Champs

My final race for the year was to be a wet one: the BC Provincial Championships at Mt Washington. The race was held on the infamous Monster Mile course, which held the National Championships in 2007. The course is a technical and fast one with a few new changes that shortened it a bit. Rain was on and off all weekend so the technical, rooty bits were extra sketchy but that's how racing on the west coast usually goes.

The practice runs were feeling really fast, and I was hitting a lot of sections full throttle. Although this is was my first time riding Mt Washington this year, I consider it my home track because its closest to home (Victoria) and I've raced here many times before. Leading up to my race run it was actually snowing at the top slightly but thankfully it stopped before I got to the gate. I was last man down and that always puts the pressure on a bit, but I like it that way. Despite making some mistakes in my run I managed to pull down a decent time of 3.46, fast enough for second place.

Here's the top 5 pro men results;

1. Steve Chan 3.42.39
2. Dean Tennant 3.46.28 (Primary/Devinci)
3. Tim Coleman 3.49.23
4. Ross Rosingrave 4.01.34
5. Tyler Gnitt 4.03.31

Thanks to my sponsors- Devinci, Sram, Makeready Tuning, Want Beverages, Wrex Clothing, NSK Bearings, Obtainium Springs, and Sweet Pete's Bike Shop

Keep  the rubber side down! -Dean Tennant

Schladming pre-race report

Today was walking inspection of the track and it's full of extremes. This is how you know you are at the world cup finals:
It's the steepest track you have ever seen.
It's the fastest track you have ever seen. I'm talking like 90+km/h in the open sections.
It has the most turns you have ever seen. Tomorrow I plan on counting as I lost track around half way down but I estimate 40 or more. Lets see, off camber right, to late apex left, root high left then cut inside to set up wide for the next turn to 30 foot gap, land inside to set up wide for the early apex berm....and so on and so on. It's a lot to memorize.
It has more roots in the technical sections than you imagined possible in an alpine forest. The tree sections 2/3 of the way down look like spider webs of six inch roots intertwined amongst the trees.
It has the best jumps you have ever seen. There are about 7 scattered down the track ranging from 25-50 feet and all look like super G ski jumps. Some of them are built up at the edge of where the pitch drops away and you look like you are jumping off the edge of the earth! And the jump into the finish is a step down that is about 50 long and 10 feet down, with a camel hump in the middle ensuring you are dead if you come up short, just to keep things honest. At the speed you'll come into it I estimate you'll clear it wishing it was twice as long. It's balls deep.
There are people all over, all ready, racers, and videographers an spectators scoping out places to watch, three days before the race!
It looks like the track is the raddest thing you have ever raced. period.

There are almost no rocks on the track at all which suits me fine. My ankle is still very soar from my injury two weeks before leaving so I'm glad the track is fairly smooth in the high speed sections.
I just hope I can stay off the brakes cause even though I love going fast this is a whole other world from what I have ridden before.

Now I'm off to fine tune some things on the bike, ice my ankle after walking the track and watch the sun set over the mountains. Should be a pretty mellow evening. Perfect.

Drew

Crankworx

Primary/Devinci was present at Crankworx this past week. It was a great time; the weather was great for the most part, with the exception of the Garbanzo race, and the courses were awesome. Here's some results and photos;

Garbanzo DH Pro Men

1. Gee Atherton--------14.20.4

2. Sam Hill-------------14.37.8

3. Marc Beaumont-----14.44.6

4. Dan Atherton--------14.50.0

5. Curtis Keene--------14.50.1

6. Amiel Cavalier------14.55.0

7. Andrew Neethling---15.01.6

8. Chris Kovarik-------15.03.8

9. Paul Stevens---------15.10.8

10. Matti Lehikoinen---15.10.9

23. Dean Tennant-------15.33.8 (Primary/Devinci)

Canadian Open DH Pro Men

1. Sam Hill-------------3.09.6

2. Gee Atherton--------3.11.2

3. Chris Kovarik-------3.17.4

4. Nico Vink------------3.19.1

5. Andrew Neethling---3.19.5

6. Brendan Fairclough-3.21.4

7. Jared Rando---------3.21.4

8. Andrew Mitchell----3.22.8

9. Chris Van Dine------3.23.3

10. Curtis Keene-------3.26.3

11. Cesar Rojo---------3.26.7

12. Steve Chan ---------3.26.9

13. Tyler Morland-----3.27.5

14. Ben Reid-----------3.27.9

15. Dean Tennant------3.28.0 (Primary/Devinci)

Thanks to Devinci bikes, Sram, Want Beverages, Sweet Pete's, Obtainim Springs and Wrex Clothing

FREEZING TIME

Behind every great moment that has been captured on film is an artist. Only fractions of a second separate a good shot from one that gets the adrenaline pumping and makes you want to get on your bike. And it takes a true artist to freeze these milli-seconds of time. But not everyone who has talents with a camera is suited for action sports either. You have to live the sport to know exactly the right time to pull the shutter, instinctively.

Marc Landry has it dialed. And after only a few short hours with him in Bromont Quebec between World Cup races proved once again great photos are a team effort. If you ever get the chance to shoot with him feel honored. Landry is grounded, super fun to work with, and loves the sport of downhill mountain biking more than most. He saw the talents in Eric Ceff years ago and was co-managed his career as his first sponsor, he shoots motion and stills for the best companies in the business like the launch of the new Shimano component groupo's, and the Norco catalog shots with Ryan Leech, and holds his own on a bike with almost anyone.

Thanks for capturing these moments with Dean and I last weekend Marc. Looking at them again and again brings back such a great feeling. You rule.
 

Camp Fortune Ontario Cup

Primary/Devinci put on a stellar performance at the latest Ontario Cup in Camp Fortune with 3 team riders finising in the top five.

The Camp Fortune course was awesome; it was rocky and in the trees for most of it but with some good gaps that kept things fun all the way down. The weather forecast had predicted rain for the weekend but luckily it was wrong. The vibe at the race was pretty cool, there were many spectators and lots of people taking video and pictures on the way down which made you feel like a rockstar on the way down.

Saturday's practice went great, I walked the course a couple times and started to find the good lines. I did have a flip over the handle-bars in which I landed with my neck against a tree but besides looking like I had a massive hickey, no major damage!

Sunday's race day came and I was the first elite rider off the start. I was able to stay in the hotseat until the end with the fastest time of the day which was really cool. My teamates also pulled off some good runs, so it was a good day for Primary.

1. Dean Tennant 2.21.52 (Primary/Devinci)

2.Guillaume Saucy-Allaire 2.23.48

3. Peter Mclean 2.24.67 (Primary/Devinci)

4. Drew Pautler 2.26.22 (Primary/Devinci)

5. Harold Woolnough 2.26.39

Thanks to all the sponsors; Devinci, Sram, Makeready Tuning, Want Beverages, Wrex Clothing, NSK Bearings, Obtainium Springs, and Sweet Pete's Bike Shop

Primary Rocks Nationals

  The Canadian Championship is the most important competition at national’s level. More than being consecrated Country Champion, the winner is automatically selected on the National Team in prevision of the World Championship of the same year. For those reasons, this competition rises the level of stress and pressure on racers. In some kinds, It’s the contest that determines the best riders in the country for a given year.

 

This year, the Canadian Championship was held at Mont Ste-Anne as a part of the Velirium Bike’s Festival. The best racers from all around the country met there to compete in the exciting course of Beaupré’s mountain. Why exciting? Because the course, realised by Gestev, is the fastest and probably the toughest of the Canadian circuit (and maybe the Wolrd’s circuit). For example, the long section under the Gondolas which is named «Carrousel», gives spectators shivers while they watch those adrenalin addicts riding berms, jumps and drops at such a high speed. Even in the wood, the speed is excessive! Maybe that’s why Mont Ste-Anne is still holding all those big events and why athletes from all around the world are always so excited to come to Quebec.

 

The Show

«Viet-Nam», «Cambodge», «Gong Show», here are the words used by riders to describe the course after the torrential rain that fell on Mont Ste-Anne’s head on race day. Between morning’s training at 9:00 am and the pros race at 2:00 pm, around 300 riders went down the hill to dispute the Quebec Cup race. So the pros had to race in a brand new track, naturally formed by rivers, rots and rocks who showed while wheels of previous racers where rolling down the hill. Each pro riders was facing the unknown! Envisaged lines had to be revised each time to avoid to crash in holes or hit big new rocks! And so the rain was giving racers another challenge because they had to figure out how to see with all the water and mud coming to their goggles. But even in those challenging conditions, everybody had a lot of fun and enjoyed the ride!!!

 

Team Primary Devinci did pretty well at this race! In Pro women, Marie-Eve Marcotte grabbed the bronze medal behind Morris (On) and Gatto (BC). Her strategy was to ride 80% of her capacity so she was sure to stay on the bike. In pro men, Drew Pautler came 9^th, Dean Tennant did 14^th and Joey Jenkins came 36^th. Racing the Quebec Cup, Cadet Eve-Marie Beaupré came 1^st.

 

See http://www.velirium.com/competitions/cdq-dh/resultats for all results.

 

To watch the television’s report made by TVA (Quebec TV channel) about Marie-Eve Marcotte see :

http://tva.canoe.com/stations/cfcm/nouvelle/20080711.html

 

Thanks to all our sponsors again!

Anse-St-Jean Quebec Rounds

So the L'Anse St Jean rounds of the Quebec Cup happened last weekend. I drove up on Thursday to be ready for practice on Friday morning. I didn't really know where to go, but from the large map of Quebec I had figured driving to Chicoutimi would be best. I passed through Quebec City at 5pm with heavy traffic... "hmmmm, let's try this way"... and I'm lost. Somehow I got sidetracked from the main highway to a residential neighbourhood... don't even ask me how. I eventually get to the Comfort Inn and book a room for 3 nights. It was late and my french is limited so I found a way to heat soup on the coffee maker that night. And the next two nights too.

L'Anse-St-Jean is an hour east from Chicoutimi if you drive fast, which I did. The place reminds me a lot of British Columbia, with coniferous trees, mud, big mountains, mud, roots and mud. Did I say mud? Just doing one run became an absolute mission. The chairlift has no hooks for bikes so you hold them whichever way is most comfortable as you go up the cold, wet, and long ride up so you didn't really feel like riding once you get to the top. Each run challenged my riding skills just to keep the bike under me. I put in as many runs as I could and walked the course a couple times to get my lines to make sure I was prepared. It's fun slipping around in the mud but cleaning the bike and gear after is a huge job.

I was feeling pretty good come race-day. I had been pinning some lines but I hadn't been able to do a full run top to bottom due to the volume of riders on course. We were to do two races on Sunday that would make up for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the Quebec Cup. I asked for a 5am wake-up call since practice started at 7am but luckily I woke at 6am since no wake-up call ever came. I skipped breakfast, rushed to check-out, and went directly to the chairlift. The conditions had deteriorated from the previous day due to more riders and more rain. I was able to stay on the bike both runs and pulled down a couple decent times in both runs. In the first race I got 5th place with a time of 5.05min. I tried hard to step it up in the second one and it felt good and the clock showed 2 seconds faster, which gave me 4th place.

Quebec Cup DH #3

1. Benoit Rioux 4.58.28

2. Louis-Phillipe Leonard 4.59.42

3. Andy Thibodeau 5.01.54

4. Mathieu Laurin 5.02.69

5. Dean Tennant 5.05.30 Primary/Devinci

Quebec Cup DH #4

1. Mathieu Laurin 4.57.01

2. Benoit Rioux 4.58.57

3. Gillaume Soucy-Alarie 4.59.98

4. Dean Tennant 5.03.12 Primary/Devinci

5. Stephane Mailhot 5.04.05

Thanks to all the sponsors; Devinci bikes, Sram, Makeready tuning, NSK bearings, Wrex clothing and Sweet Pete's bike shop for their support.

And to the race volunteers who braved the weather.

That's all for now, see you at Nationals!!!!