Thursday, October 27, 2011

Pumpkin Cross

Last weekend Barry and friends from Local Ride hosted some Halloween fun in the mud of Maple Ridge.  Lots of costumes were to be seen and one world champion.


Catharine Pendrel, the 2011 World MTB Champion was out getting dirty and edged out the win.  Check out her Interior Cross Series.


Barber made the 'costume podium' as Angus.  And actually did a lap with the guitar...

Mighty Results:
Women    Haley 7th
Cat 3/4 Men     Meat 4th, Paul 6th, Ashley 19th
Cat 3/4 Masters Men     Jay 14th

Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Red Bull Minidrome

Crazy ass stuff.  More here.

Lyle qualified for the elimination round and had an intense and super-close heat.


Tpick made it to the round of 16 and ended his racing with a spectacular wipeout while leading his 2nd match race.  Fun stuff!  Photo courtesy of Linnaea.  Much more on her Flickr.

EV Grand Prix of Cross 2011

Mud.  Technical corners.  Hard.  CX fun!

Meat was 2nd in the Cat 3 Men, Ashley was 3rd in the Cat 4 Men and Jay was 10th in the Masters Cat 3/4.




Photos courtesy of Doug Brons.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

2011 Pacific Populaire Photos Surface

A bunch of Pacific Populaire photos just surfaced from this year (yes the ride was months ago).

The photos are all up here.

Its nice to see so much Mighty representation.




Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Pan Am Games


The Canadian Women's Pursuit team of Steph Roorda, Jasmine Glaesser and Laura Brown won gold at the Pan American Games in Mexico on Tuesday.


In the Qualifying Round they set a new Canadian record of 3:25.093 (previously 3:27.255) over 3000m.  In the Final they won gold and set a new record, improving by an amazing 3.6 seconds!  Hopefully they can ride this momentum through the winter and into the 2012 Olympics in London.

I have raced for nearly 20 years and invariably, at least once a season, I am asked why I race.  I have always answered the same way:  racing brings out the best in me.  When I race, competing against others will help me push myself harder than I ever will in training.  I strongly believe the adrenaline of competition appeals to something deep down in our DNA.  And having teammates there on race day and in training will help me push those boundaries even more.  I don't view myself as externally motivated but I still know that on a cold winter ride with teammates, I will do things I would find difficult to do by myself (see our Spring Training Camp).  And I will do them harder and faster.

I think the women's performance in Mexico is a perfect example. The three of them challenge each other every day in training (they are based in LA for access to a world calibre training site and good weather).  They then go to an International event and go faster than any other group of Canadian women has gone in competition.  And finally, with the increased adrenaline of a gold medal final, the three of them dig even deeper and improve that record by almost 2% 

That kind of improvement is usually found over entire seasons, not from the morning till afternoon.  It will be interesting to talk to Steph more about it (celebrity call out: our Liisa is her 'life teammate') but i think the team probably just raised their level a little more due to the excitement and pressure of competition.

So... ? Race your damn bike!  Whether on the track, in the mud, or on the road, you will push yourself farther and faster.

*Here* is a link to an interview on Canadian Cyclist with the coach and Jasmine.



Sunday, October 16, 2011

Important Message From the Big Kahuna

Every team rider is required to come in to the shop and see Ed about having their stem slammed. That's right, we're throwing away years of sleepless nights thinking about head tube lengths and the relationship between head and seat tube angles, and doing fit strictly based on aesthetics now. 

See Darrel's new Mighty Team Edition Masi winter trainer (90"+ gear on the street or you'll get heckled out of the shop) for a PRO example:


Ed's been on a "slam that stem" kick for a while now, a fire that was only further fueled by the appearance of Darrel's commuter Jamis (which we recently converted to drop bars and slammed) on the site.

COMMON MAN SLAM


So come on in and get your new PRO setup—we've got 130 and 140 stems in various levels of drop. Don't let Darrel Domenko and Dave Groves be the only people on the team doing it right. 

Monday, October 3, 2011

Vanier Park CX




A great turnout yesterday for some racing right in the city.  In the beautiful sunshine Meat (needs some proper CX rain and mud) was 5th, Paul 6th and Ashley 25th in the Cat 3/4.  Sidic was 12th in the Elite Men.  Basse 15th in Masters 1/2.  In the Women's Open Jenny was 5th, Stacey 8th and Haley 13th.  And Timo (Basse's wee one) narrowly edged out Sophie (Stacey's little 'un) for 3rd in the kids race.  
Check out the great pics by Doug Brons.