Getting Internet access out West was more complicated than I thought!!!!

Anyway I’m home, and it was now my own internet that didn't want to cooperate last week...  So after a 5 hour visit from the propeller head yesterday I’m back on the web!

Slanted surface, loose rocks that only want to roll down the hill, and few places to go if things got a little bit wrong. Yes, riding in the Rockies is different than back East!

Let's start with round 3 and 4 of the CEC. It was in Penticton (BC), so I was expecting sand and desert type riding... But I was really wrong, as the start was at a ski hill. In the East, the ski hill base is at the foot of the mountain, but in BC the ski hills are at 5,000 ft, so no sand for me....   The track was really cool again with a major 2 500 ft up and down the ski hill every lap, the man-made Xtreme Enduro was pretty gnarly, with some concrete wall (highway dividers) to get over, which was stressing me big time...

Saturday went pretty good, I even managed to jump the walls easy, my times were really good, and I ended up 4th in E2. Things were looking good for Sunday, I was getting used to the altitude, and the bike was great. For Sunday they put in an Enduro test that was really tough, a single off-camber trail, covered in loose rocks...and I was slow!!!!!!!!  There is nothing like that here, and I had no confidence, so guys were taking 30 sec less than me in there..... So I lost 2 more spots for 6th in E2.....  

That Western trip was a big eye opener for me, the riding those guys have is so different, from traction, to altitude, to settings, everything threw me off!!!

I'm already working on changing my riding and the bike settings for the eastern rounds...  I won’t be happy until I get on that podium!!!!!!!!

After the second CEC round, the plan was to drive slowly from BC to Mosport (East of Toronto!) for the BMW fest, so we left on Monday morning, with all kind of plans to have fun on the drive back east. Holy shite, is our country ever big...  We stopped twice to sleep, and we only got in Toronto at midnight on Thursday.

The Xtreme track – more rocks, jumps and stupid-tough obstacles. Hard work!