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If you are wondering why you have not seen me on my bike or even wrenching at Pro City I have a lil story for you. Mical and I had our usual mildly lazy morning and pre-ride breaky before heading out on what I think was one of my first no leg warmer rides of the year. It took till the second week in June but hey, its here! So a long ride on the road and the goose and on to Durance Lake road so Mical can do her Intervals with Partridge Hills being the End Zone. We entered Partridge the hard way climbing around the outside shoulder and with conditions being perfect.....it still sucked. But it brings you to the best single-track out there. We ended up on the Danger Trail so I figured why not, dump a bunch of elev. but its super old school techy trail and Mical dug it. Climbing back up the quad trail to the summit again i feel a pop and it was my chain had broken a link. So no biggy, Mical had a link so I installed it and we were again on our way oblivious to how abrupt my day would en

pic courtesy of Dave Mclellan So its finally sunny and warm here on teh South Island for the weekly TNR. As usual at this time of year i have one or two too many layers on. At any rate it was great turnout as you can see, with the retyrn of Suds as he has been away working in Alberta. We the usual route through Highrock Park, past the 4mile pub and on past Thetis to Highland Road. I am trying to stay out front a little bit these days, but as I slow and wait for instructions on where to go but none come, until the group turns right behind me. 1st to worst again. I forgo the broom infested powerline trail to Munns and just boogie down the road. Its a good thing as well as Shank had some derailuer grabbing by the voracious weed!! We pick up the pace up Munss Road where Eugene attacks, Dave counters and they peel away. Johnny gives them just enough rope to hang themselves with and then goes out after them, reeling them back in a quick. As we turn onto Robb Rd and hit the trail the pace qu

So its a pretty busy Thursday and 4:50 is steadily approaching! The fear of missing the mtn bike ride is creeping in as I panic to finish the bike that I am repairing. Thankfully all works out with no more major bugs and I get to mount up and hit the road. A small group shows as the weather is not the best, some have a new edition to the family, others are adding additions to homes. At any rate it is a managable size group. Right outta the gate we lose a rider as Eugene does a header in Highrock Park and sprains only his ankle, luckily. Troy almost loses it down the slick rock as well, riding right through the bushes cutting up his hand. It is an ominous start to the ride to say the least. As we make our way on the road to some trail the rain begins to hammer us into oblivion. In desperate need of shelter we hit the highway trail past Thetis and up Bellamy road to a trail down to the speedway. Shank drops a chain and does a graceful header in front of me as we make our way in a splint

SOOOO I am sitting at Trek Pro City because in my walking slumber I thought 8am was 9 am, so I figured I would tell you about my Thursday. Mical has made the Pan Ams team which has her racing in Columbia this spring. SWEEET. So my day started uber early, 3am to be exact, so I could Drive her and Hadley to the airport. Really? Is a 530am flight truly necessary? I guess so. It has been a stressful week trying to squirel parts for Mical's new Trek 9.9 Elite but with much help from Melanie McQuaid and Peter Wellsmen, not to mention Bill Fry for getting the frame. it all worked out, with one day to go. had to peel some parts of Gary to make it work in the end but now she has a sweet hardtail speed weapon . With the long morning of driving and not being able to sleep again I decided to edit my photos from the Cobble Hill XC . Some of which I think turned out ok. I also wrote a quick write up about the race for Canadian Cyclist . SO as you can see it has been a busy week NOT on the b

Hadley and Dyck Conquer Island Cup #3 ( Brief) The quaint little hamlet known as Cobble Hill is the third stop on the Vancouver Island Cup XC series. This course was split into two climbing sections and two descending sections measuring roughly 6.5km. This race brought out some big Island names like 3 time Single Speed CX Champion Drew Mackenzie, Master National CX champion John Fokkema and even former national triathlete Kelly Guest. Throw into the mix names like Hovey, Skinner and Woodburn and this was a stacked field and no easy laps for anyone. With a mass start and a short steep climb before the first single track it was the key to be out front. Matt Hadley, National Team member and Olympic hopeful, led out Drew Mackenzie and never looked back, increasing his lead each lap and winning by about 1:30, with Carter Hovey getting past Fokkema in the last lap to claim 3 rd . The women’s race saw two National Team racers go head to head. Mical Dyck lined up next to

It was an awesome night for a mtn bike ride. My day started with an impromptu "staff" meeting on the deck @ Pro City Cycles . By staff meeting i mean there was sun light on the deck for the first time in 6 months so we all said#5 and had coffee a Jen Maclean cookies in the sun. On with the day, leaving at 445 with daylight and a light strapped to my head as a "just in case" is sooo awesome. Woodie even decided t cmoe out so yo know its close to summer!! Partridge hills was the flavour of the day so its a rip through the Cairn ( i wont talk about the two flats in the cairn......but i just did.) followed by a long stint on the goose to Durrance Lake road, with some pinners off the front already which means its a long night if they are attacking already. The group gets split going up the climb and as we enter Nowaks "herky" trail there may have been a wardrobe change and another mechaincal. This trail is super loamy and tech, but fun all the same. And Onwar

Well here we go again. After my first full year of racing I was pretty stoked to get going again in 2011. New bike, same old me. I feel quite strong this year, not so much as a racer ( which i do not pretend to be) but as a rider. A lot of riding with Mical over the winter and the cross on the rocks series, and the Thursday Nighter really put the screws into my legs. With Mical away i sleep even less then normal....and those who know me know that's not a lot. so with a whopping 24 hrs of sleep for the week i head out feeling pretty alright. Palmer and I hammered pretty good the day previous but whatever. Like I said i am not a racer so i cant turn my fun button off. Got there early as I had some schwag for Pro City so I hob nobbed a little bit before getting changed. With still a couple hours to go I rode around for a while to keep warm. Even seeing Russell in "i need a mechanic mode"! Fix him up and head down executive trail and over to the Red Barn for a pre race b

Of course this Thursday brings a beautiful sunny day to the Island. That’s great, no rain. Well around 430 a wall of water approaches the shop with fury. So much for a clear starry night ride. Put the shell on and run a fender and I’ll be fine. Big group out this evening so with the weather as dodgy as it is we head straight Thetis Lake. I am so stoked that the first hour of the ride is now light enough to run no lights. And soon it will be “no lights” time. Tor ends up with a flat right after Highrock Park due to cement stairs and 20psi. With some help from Sudz he is up and rolling. We cruise into Thetis and around the McKenzie Creek network running through some uber deep water, even had the pleasure of having to dead stop after the rock garden, only to try and power through a deluge at the bottom. Needless to say but i ended up with a soaker. Thank god for wool socks.With all the snow there were a lot of low branches which i was lucky enough to snag my light on, 3 frig

So we live in Victoria for the moderate climate and (if you discount the cost to live here), easy living. So its funny when we sometimes get walloped by mother nature. We awoke Tuesday to find about a foot of snow on the ground. Snow day you say? Not for this hearty Albertan. I merely put one more roll into the cuff of the jeans and hopped on the Xross bike. It was so deep that my feet were buried at the bottom of each pedal stroke. But with no tracks anywhere it was fun and rather easy to ride. What wasn’t easy was shoveling the super heavy wet snow to make a path to the front door at work. But I got’er done. Needless to say it has been a little slow around Victoria with all the snow. It feels like I am driving around in Alberta because it is actually cold(ish) as well. And let me tell you I don’t miss it much. Mical dragged me out Saturday to try and ride in this 0degree snowy weather and let me be honest. For some reason I was very grumpy at the prospect of it. So we lef

Just a remembrance to a great cyclist of my time. Passing in 2004 on Valentines Day. 'Il Pirata" had one of my favorite stages in memory and thanks to the interbox, here it is. Galibier/Les deux Alpes 1998

Well its official....I am finally sick. I have been fighting it off for at least a week but it finally got me. Woke up today feeling rancid and as the day progressed it worsened. Of all days Thursday?? Come on!! Thankfully a well timed dose of Day-Quil and Drumroaster espresso helped me get to the ride on time. exciting news is that I have a new rig. My Gary Fisher Superfly got a full re-fit with some hand built King-Crest wheels and full Shimano XTR ( no, not the new 10 speed ) . Follow those sweet add-ons with a full compliment of Crank Brothers bar, stem and post and my summer rig is complete. I really didn't want its virgin ride to be a Thursday niter but what the hell, trial by fire. It is by far the sexiest bike i have ever had and at a svelte 22lbs I was stoked to ride, no matter how sick i was. Well the legs were dead and besides my rear wheel losing most of its tension the bike held up great. Thanks to David Sudburry for carrying a spoke wrench to get me home.....and

I am trying to raise some funds for Mical's season abroad so will be doing T-shirts sporatically through the winter and spring. Right now i have light pink "Fixies are Lame" shirts for 20bux each. email me at reganpringle@gmail.com if you would like one, or more then one. i have mediums and larges left and they are a hanes no label shirt.

There are 4 brave souls on the misty, rainy Friday night. Clay, Tony, first timer Kenyon and myself. Haldor had a shoe malfunction so he was out this eve. shoe malfunction def: 1. When you forget the shoes that attach to your pedals. Heading down esquimalt road to the Cairn and I hear Clay Ask " Guess what I forgot?" Well being as he had delivered the 15 PBR and had one at the shop I was surprised to hear that it was his road PBR he had forgotten,hmmph. Kids these days, no focus. Soooo, after a pit stop at another beer store we head into Highrock Park. A few twist and turns and a near wheely drop wipe out my part ( thank god for long limbs ) and we start to head out to View Royal. Heading across the tracks.....most of us on our wheels. Kenyon had a little issue with timing and the sound of lycra and aluminium across wet pavement echoed in my head from the left. All is good so we carry on. The trails past Thriftys were surprisingly muddy, like grab your wheel and send you t

Friday night comes this week with a little panic this week then others, as the shop was a little quieter then weeks past. This means we actually had time to get ready. Just 2 combatants on this full moon evening: Scotty, Clay and Myself. Mitch had sold his cross bike about 2 hours prior to the ride so no PBR'S for him. A downer to be sure but the high to that is that Pro City DH star Dave Pfaffenberger was the proud new owner of said cross bike so we have another man to introduce to beer flavored suffering. We decieded to shoot the goose out to Mt. Doug to check out some of the shoulder trails that in the day are way to busy to try and ride. We stopped for a PBR and after a lot of grunting, climbing, and even some bike shouldered running we were at our destination. Half way up to trails that are fast, swoopy and full of sneaky rocks and roots waiting to grab your wheel and ruin your buzz. The problem is that all that fast dh means you have to climb back up. This climb was fire r

So a small crowd on this balmy Friday eve. Just 4 of us: Clay, Jamie C. and Tony decided to venture out. With a quick brake pad install and detour to appropriate the PBR we were on our way. I may have been a little overdressed for this evenings activities with the temperature hovering around 11. yes, that's +11. Same route in a different order this week. Everyone hung on well, no real incidents. Clay had a slow motion, not really a bail, more of a fall over, on the bridge up to Goldstream Ave. No harm done though. Then a brisk pace set back home and another PBR stop along the way. Very fun ride, may mix up the trail network next week, keep everyone guessing. Then over the trestle the group splits and Jamie and I look at the new 18% grade bike path connector that no leisure cyclist could ever really use and a meandering coast down Catherine to scoop up the truck, when i notice a dog behind a truck looking at us. No big deal so I look over my shoulder and hear Jamie yell " Look

Thank god I had no HR monitor!!! Garmin

I thought this was pretty fun as Mical has never seen them either. Star Wars Kinda

So I have decided to try and organize a fun Friday night ride on the cross bikes. The Friday Night Lights ride. We got a nice turn out for the 1st official ride. No rain and a little brisk. We went out the goose to do a lap around Thetis Lake which was in mint condition. One minor mechanical with Clay's SS as the chain slipped under his massive power. A lap of the lake followed by a PBR piknik break in the park. Wellsy peeled off leaving 5 so we made our way to Royal Roads to enjoy some sweet single track, all be it tech rooty singletrack, but sweet none the less. After that its another short sprint down The Goose, with a short stop at OBB Westshore to replenish or frosty beverage supply. THX Dan and Chris. The off to Nixon Trail which goes around Langford Lake and is fast and flowy. There are a few bridges on this trail, and they do get pretty slippery, as Hal and Clay found out. I was up front and it sounded like a Dodge Dart running a Hyundai in the guardrail. Hal ended up a li