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Mike

CPTA 2010

I have been sitting here vegging to the Olympics on TV and thought I would figure out a schedule for the year while on the couch!

We will do 2 major events....Whistler and one CPTA. The rest of the CPTA events will be a cross between a competition, social and free riding clinics. I thought if we had more frequent smaller events we can get more people to come out and help. The 2 major events will have prizing with the rest just being fun events to try and encourage others out to come out and set, teach, bring friends, wives, girlfriends, kids and just have fun! I thought of having only 3-4 sections at the smaller events, maybe close together and starting near the same time with other riders/parents setting them to get a feel for the process. Maybe some speed sections, team competitions, very young kids sections, whatever it takes to get people out! I would really like to start easing out of it and we will need more people to step up to take over eventually!

Riders will need to sign up online to Cycling BC for $30 to cover insurance, then possibly a $10 drop-in fee for the smaller CPTA's and slightly higher entry fee for Whistler and the big CPTA.
More info to come

Tentative schdule

April 3 CPTA Social/Competition/Clinic

April 17 ?? Mill Bay Competition (Websters!)

May 15 CPTA Social/Comp/Clinic

June 12 CPTA Social/ Comp/ Clinic

July 3 CPTA / Golden Spike Days / Canada Day comp

July 17 T-Town Throwdown Tacoma

Aug 13,14 Whistler Trialsworx

Sept 18 CPTA Social/Comp/Clinic

BIU Worlds

Canada put on a fantastic show in Ping Tang China with John Webster getting 2nd place in Senior! This placing automatically moves John up to World Elite next year. He will be the first ever Canadian Elite rider! Jeff Anderson was 6th and Steve Dicken 7th. Figures.....those 2 are never more than a placing apart...EVEN AT THE WORLDS! Dave Herr was 15th and Aaron Dobler had an injury and had to bow out after the first lap. Mitchell Long was 8th in the Benjamin Category....a very respectable showing!

Mitchell and family are now touring Beijing and the great wall....I am sure if Mitchell could get his bike up on it he would be all over that! John, Jeff and Steve are now in Australia for the UCI World Championships. We should know tomorrow morning the semi final results.

On a more local front, CPTA 4 was scheduled for the 27th which would have put it on a Sunday. That day doesn't work well for the Islanders so we will change it to the 26th...the Saturday!!!!

Come on out and cheer on our Canadian team!

Greetings from the Long's in China

Ni Hao;

Just a quick email to all of you to let you know that we are all doing fine in China. It is hot and humid as expected and the flight was pretty grueling as we arrived Monday morning at 3:00 am. We lost an entire day!! Everything was pretty uneventful except for the part of loosing Mike at the Beijing airport for an hour and a half!! That's another story! We are settling into a groove in Ping Tang. Life is certainly different here! People are very friendly and foreigners are certainly a novelty. Lots of talented riders here and Mitchell is sizing them up and schmoozing with everyone. Jeff, John, Steve and Mitchell have been getting in
daily rides and also riding with others from different countries. Food is okay and we are loving the noodles for breakfast! Rest of the food is starting to taste all the same! Tomorrow
is Mitchell's competition so we will head out of Ping Tang for a 2 hour drive. We'll let you know how everyone did as soon as we know! We met a local guy who is 20 years old and he invited us to his house for a visit after dinner. He showed us his dance moves and then took us all out for drinks by the river on our first night here. Mike is enjoying the cheap beer and we are all looking for a place to get a massage this afternoon. The time is going by fast and before you know it we'll be travelling on our own off to Guilin and Yangshuo.
Well until then... hope all is well with everyone and we will hopefully keep in touch!

Cheers from the gang

Mike, Lynda, Mitchell and Nicholas

Trialsworx

John Webster from Mill Bay, BC beat a very competitive international field for a win at the top Biketrials competition in North America. John finished with only 12 points to beat Japanese Elite rider Yasutaka Shibata by 2 points with USA rider Ryan Cecil 3rd with 25 pts and Andorra rider Xavi Casas with 26 pts.

The Biketrials portion of Crankworx began Friday afternoon with the 4th annual Kidsworx Competition. Riders 9 and under were put through their paces on 4 actual Biketrial sections. Each section was manned by one of the top professional Biketrial riders in the world! There were 63 riders registered for the event including many on push bikes and bikes with training wheels. Each competitor received a very cool medal for their efforts. The smiles on the kids (and parents and grandparents) faces lit up Whistler for an hour! Many of the parents say they are forced by their children to come to this every year now!!!

The first part of Trialsworx began right after Kidsworx with riders under 16 and intermediate riders setting off to ride the 6 different "sections". There was one in the Town Plaza, 4 in Rebagliati Park and 1 along the raging Fitzsimmons Creek. This year it was also the North American Biketrials Championships with riders from around the world competing. Kids as young as 5 were out there showing their skills. In the Poussin category Danielito Chernetski from Port Moody was flawless, not getting a single "dab" or point against him for the win, beating out an amzing 7 year old in Felix Pratt and emergin 5 year old star Jackson Goldstone from Squamish. Benjamin winner Mitchell Long from Burnaby is heading to China for the World Championships on Saturday! Minime winner John Goodwin has dominated all year. This competition was close for a while but he eventually wore down his competition by just not making any mistakes the second lap. Chantal Laurie was the Femina winner.

The Master, Senior and Elite riders started out on a beautiful Saturday morning. They were riding 6 sections with 1 in Town Plaza, 1 in Village Common and 4 absolutely crazy sections in the dry Fitzsimmons Creek river bed. The competitors ride them in order doing 2 laps for a total of 12 different sections. Lowest score at the end of the day wins. Ryan Cecil from the states started early and put the pressure on the other Elite riders with some amazingly smooth rides thru some very technical sections.
In the Junior/Senior Category Zak Maeda from Los Angeles took the win not making many errors the entire time. He finished with 10 points to beat local riders Kevin Lui and Chris Hii by 1 and 2 points respectively.
In the Master category, which is riders over 30, Dave Lloyd from Vancouver Island beat out Trials legend Jeff Lenosky by 3 points. It is such a treat for the young guys to see riders such as Lenosky still competing at such a level, and to see the interaction between them.
This was the finest Elite field ever in Canada with Yasutaka Shibata (one of only 20 World Elite riders) coming from Japan, Xavi Casa from Andorra, Ryan Cecil from the US and of course our incredible local riders John Webster, Jeff Anderson, Steve Baia and many more adding to the awesome field. The sections looked incredibly difficult to maneuver through with the village sections having massive logs, rocks and water for the riders to find their way through. The Fitzsimmons Creek sections were strewn with huge boulders and some great spectator areas to watch these world class riders do their stuff. John Webster won for the the second consecutive time in Whistler, getting a little payback for a slim loss to Yasutaka at the CPTA event the Saturday before in Vancouver. Ryan Cecil from North Carolina rode very well for a 3rd place finish with Monster sponsored rider Xavi Casas from Andorra coming in 4th a point back of Cecil.

Biketrials is one of the most spectator friendly sports and the international field of riders put on a great show all day for the thousands of spectators.Thanks to Whistler Arts Council, Tourism Whistler, Kokanee Crankworx and the Canada Pacific Trials Association for supporting a fantastic event!

Also thanks to the Goodwins, Longs, Minato's, Ian, all the checkers, Secret Cycles, MEC, Me and Eds Pizza, Bryan at BetterAwards.com, Tom Lee, Eric and Brad from the Whistler Works yard.....

Results here

Pics here..

CPTA 2

The second event of the year is in the books. All went well....except for the first time in a while the Elite winner wasn't named Webster! Japanese Elite rider Yasutaka Shibata came over and just barely beat John. There wasn't a lot of difference between the two....a tough timing (language?) issue for Yasutaka and a very slight brush on an arrow by John were the only mistakes the two made. They were both flawless on what I thought were going to be some tough sections. They have two totally different riding styles but the results were basically the same.

Just slightly behind those two were Jeff Anderson and Steve Dickin, then Russ Phillips and Steve Baia. A couple of Euro riders who I thought were going to be here didn't show. They all will be at Whistler though.

Jason won a real close Expert field with honorary Canadian Pete Hellenbrand was 2nd with first time Expert rider Jesse Ellingson coming in 3rd. Jesse rode amazing for his first time with the biggger boys but I think they had to pry his fingers off his brake levers at the end. It is definitely a big step up from Sport.

In Master Dave Lloyd came away with the win in his first Master Category competition, taking the crown away from perennially winner Ian Johansen. Ian was seen checking Dave's ID after the competition.

In Femina Chantal won with Haley Martin 2nd. Both rode well on some tough little sections.

Danielito Chernetski took first in Poussin with another first timer, Jackson Goldstone (5 YEARS OLD) coming in 2nd. The sections were a little tough for Jackson but you couldn't tell that by the huge smile on his face the entire time.

Another very close race was in Sport with John Goodwin and Mitchell Long never more than 2 points apart the whole day. They ended up tied at the end of the day but John won in a ride-off. These two really missed Jesse (who moved up) and Kevin Minato (vacation) but they put on a great show nonetheless. I think these 2 will be joining Jesse in Expert very soon.

The rain held off all day and many thanks to Lauren and Kylie Goodwin who ran an awesome bbq and concession ....... on their birthdays yet!!!!

Heading up to Whistler Sunday....see y'all up there!!!

Pictures soon!

Results

Pictures

CPTA #2 and Whistler Trialsworx

Quick pic of Steve at the T-Town Throwdown in Tacoma. Sounds like another very successful event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whistler prep is coming along.....lots of great riders coming including Andrei Burton from UK, Xavi Casas from Andorra, Stephan Pcola from Slovakia and hopefully Shibata from Japan.

To register ahead of time go to this spreadsheet and fill out the appropriate tabs (CPTA 2 and/or NABC) and email it back to me at mbaia@shaw.ca. This way we can get a lot of the work out of the way ahead of time. You will still have to fill out a waiver (and pay) at the site. Many people found the Karelo online registration too confusing.

CPTA 1

After a few years of guranteed horrible weather for the CPTA events we have been quite lucky the last few years. Saturday was the perfect day for a comp!

After fueling up at the Goodwin Bar and Grille the Poussin, Femina and Sport riders ventured out to the sections. Every category in the morning was extremely competitive.

Danielito and Felix battled it out all morning in the 10 and under Poussin Category with Danielito winning by a single point. Nicholas Long rode strong all morning but could not quite keep up with the other two. All three have a couple of years left in Poussin and I think I will have to up the skill level on the sections very soon!

In Femina Chantal Laurie was also very strong in beating Haley Martin. We definitely need more girls out competing!!!!!

The Sport Categoy was the most competitive. All 4 riders (Mitchell Long, John Goodwin, Kevin Minato and Jesse Ellingson) all rode in a group together and were very close the entire tme. Kevin ended up breakin his fork after riding extremely well for 7 sections. Tough break for Kevin but I think now he sees his competition riding has improved quite a bit and he can compete with the others. Next comp should be interesting!!!! John Goodwin just did not make any mistakes though and used his Japan experience to eventually pull away from his competitors. John's dad Craig also used his Japan experience except that was at the party afterwards at our house. Jesse was also there until the end and Mitchell, being quite a few years younger hung in there until the end as well.

In the afternoon there were 2 Master riders (over 30). Both Ian Johansen and Chris Jenkins rode very well but were hampered by their home-care workers constantly getting in their way, and Chris's cane got stuck in his spokes a few times......all kidding aside these two are still very competitive even at their "advanced" age. Actually Ian would have been on the podium in Expert!

In the Expert Category Jason Baia took the win with Chris Hii 2nd and Tinker Pete Hellenbrand 3rd. Rob Adams was just out of the medals.

Now to the Elite......which was surprisingly the largest category! Steve Baia had a bit of a tough day and his mind was definitely elsewhere....his graduation was the same day and he had to be there by about 2:00. He started early and went thru the sections very quickly which showed. Even though these guys only ride for 2 minutes each section it is VERY tiring and extremely difficult to do one after the other. As usual John Webster took the win, making everything look easy except for the "section from hell" otherwise known as Jeff's section. John did get further into the section than anyone including making an incredible "up" from a very difficult base and a very cool gap landing flat on a huge angled boulder. With 2 5's on the one section and a brake failure 5 on another he only had one other dab the entire competition. Definitely in China form! Jeff and Steve were battling it out for 2nd with Jeff squeaking by with 26 compared to Steve's 28. Right on their heels was the Islands Russell Phillips with 35, then Brit rider Aaron Cook with 36. Steve, Alex Li and first time Elite Aaron Dobler rounded out the field.

Thanks to Peter and Jason for checking all morning long, Peter and Jeff for setting a few sections, Chris Jenkins for supplying some prizing, Kylie and Lauren for their awesome concession.

The party afterwards at our house was a blast. We ordered a bunch of pizzas, sat by the fire, the kids played on the speed trials course and played "The Disc Game" which John Goodwin and I absolutely dominated....there should be medals for that too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures are here

Clinic and CPTA 1 info

Well the first clinic/social of the year was a great success. The weather was spectacular which is odd for a CPTA event. Lots of Island guys came over and a bunch of kids including Felix and Jackson (7 and 5 years old) who tore it up pretty good! These 2 definitely have some huge trials skills at an early age and could be the Elite 2019 riders! There were probably 20-25 riders and that many again of family members. I figured just at this little fun clinic/social we had most of the top riders in North America attending! Check here for some pictures of the event.

CPTA 1 (click for info)

The first competition of the year is Saturday June 13th. We will have all the regular categories as well as a "beginner category" which will be $10 for a one day waiver and riders will ride the Novice lines but they will not be eligible for medals or prizes (if we get any...)

I encourage everyone to sign up with the CPTA Biketrials Club online here which costs $30 and this goes directly to Cycling BC to insure you for the year. This also saves me much time and effort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you sign up ahead of time it only costs $15 for the event. If you don't sign up it costs $30. You cannot sign up the day of the event!

As always there will be a great concession with coffee and McGoodwin sandwiches in the morning and their "always spectacular" burgers and dogs later. Bring some money and help support Kylie thru University!

Clinic!

Hi from The Baia's

We will be holding our annual free Bike trials teaching clinic Sunday May 31st at The Burrard Thermal Plant.( next to Belcarra park). The classes start at 10:00AM. We teach kids of all ages as well as any adults wanting to practice the basic moves of trials and what to expect during a competition. After learning the basics moves its all about practice.

We organize 2 to 3 competitions a year at the Burrard Thermal plant as well as our largest competition in Whistler during the Crankworx Bike Festival. All our competitions have a beginners category for kids as well as adults. During our Whistler competition we also offer a free kids competition for children under 9. Check out our website at www.baiabros.com. For more competition and clinic details click on CPTA.

Jason, Sean and Steven will be our main instructors as well as other professional riders. There will be a free hot dog barbeque as well as refreshments so come and enjoy the fun. After the clinic local kids are more then welcome to contact us or come by for more pointers.

Bike trials is an extreme sport that challenges the need for excitement but is relatively safe due to lack of speed.. The sport is all about balance and control of a bike which is the basics to all bike sports. Helmets are mandatory, shin and elbow guards recommended and please have your bikes checked out. Secret cycle has an excellent bike mechanic. Any bike will do. There is no bike specific in the beginners, just lower those seats and come out for some fun. Any other questions you can either phone or email at mbaia@shaw.ca

Whistler weekend

We were up in Whistler for the long weekend doing shows for the official Bike Park opening. The weather was spectacular and so were the crowds. Also scoped out some of the areas for the upcoming North American Biketrials Championships in August during Crankworx.

Jason, Steve, John Goodwin and Mitchell Long came up as well as Justin Kohse on his unicycle. The kids all had a riot! The adults had a little fun as well! We had a few rooms right on the pool at the Whistler Village Inn and Suites so after the days shows were over we came back and cooked up a feast every night. Click here for some pics....

The first clinic/social is approaching rapidly. Looks like quite a turnout! Should be lots of kids and most of the top trials riders in North America will be out to lend a hand. We will bbq up some food and have at least 4-5 sections for kids to try out. EVERYONE is welcome!

Looks like a good turnout for China as well. So far Jeff Anderson, Steve Dicken, John Webster, John Goodwin, Mitchell Long, Dave Herr and possibly Steve B. will be going. Anyone else interested let me know asap.

Upcoming clinic

May 31st is the first social/clinic of the year. We will have 4-5 sections set, lots of dogs, drinks and pro riders out to help out the beginners! It will start about 10:00 and end whenever! Let your cross country and downhill friends know and have them come out and try their hands at trials!

Check out this link for a look at one of our Master riders, Ian Johansen on CTV!

We will be up at Whistler this weekend doing shows in the village.

Updates....

Just got an email from Hiroshi (BIU Pres) and it looks like he will be bringing his daughter Yuna, (BIU world Elite), Yasutaka Shibata, as well as Yuga Ujikawa (2008 WBC Poussin #2). They will be competing in both the CPTA event August 8th as well as the NABC/Trialsworx event in Whistler August 14,15. As I get new confirmation on entries I will announce them!

Master rider Ian Johansen was filmed by CTV and it will be shown on Wednesday at 6:45 during the Sports telecast. Be sure to check it out!

The Biketrials Park at Rocky Point just received a great donation from the Rotary Club. There will be an extensive renovation soon...I am sure some volunteer help will be needed!!!!!!

2009 Competition Info

First off....anyone interested in competing in China this year for the World Championships should really let me know asap. As this is the only round for the year I am sure it will fill up quickly. As always the only cost will be airfare (about $1800?). The organizers will pick up riders at the airport, transfer them to competition site and provide accomodation and meals for a nominal fee.
Click here for info on the competition.

The Vancouver/Whistler International Biketrial Classic should be very well attended. It looks like Hiroshi will be coming out again and bringing his daughter Yuna who is a very good rider! We hope to get a few other Japanese riders (Kazuki????) as well as lots of interest from the English riders. If you do plan on coming let me know so I can put out a list of riders who will attend. I believe Jeff Lenosky will be coming as well....if you haven't seen the "Time Warp" episode with Jeff and Mike Steidley google it and watch it immediately!!!!!!

We are doing shows in Whistler on May 16,17 for the bike park opening. We will be in Mountain Square both Saturday and Sunday all day. Here is a clip of Jason and Steve from last year at Whistler...it is a Global TV interview.

The costs for this years competition are as follows.....to become a member of CPTA just follow the link. It costs $30, which goes to Cycling BC and insures you for all the competitions including any Island competitions that MAY happen.

CPTA Biketrials Club registration

CPTA 1, 2 and 4

Members $15 Non Members $30

CPTA 3 / Trialsworx

Novice, Sport, Femina, Poussin

Members $25 Non Members $40

Master, Expert, Elite

Members $35 Non Members $50

At all the competitions first timers can try out the "Beginner" category for a flat fee of $10. They will run the same lines as Novice but not be eligible for prizing, medals or trophies.

2009 Schedule

Merry Christmas!!!!

Went for the first snow ride of the year today...absolutely spectacular!!! Went up Eagle to the lookout, back down the road to the Eagle Trail entrance. The entrance was virgin snow...about 6 inches of it! Ripped all the way down non-stop. Took 4 dogs and they had a little fun too....

We have finalized the CPTA schedule for next year.

We will start with 1 clinic/competition/social on May 31. What we will do is set 4 sections for the first timers/kids/beginners and some easy sport sections. As the kids run thru the sections they will learn about competition and the basics of trials riding while being instructed by some of the top riders in North America. Its a great chance for someone who has never tried it before to come out and socialize with other riders. Maybe we will have a skills type thing in the afternoon for the expert/pro riders who come out to help. Free food and drink.

The first comp will be June 13th. To make it more of a "full event" I was thinking of having a fun dual trials event back at our place after the comp. Maybe a little bbq, pizza and of course FIRE.....hmm maybe we can incorporate the fire into the dual trials event?

The next will be August 8th which will be at the CPTA area as well. This will tie in to the next comp which is Trialsworx in Whistler the next weekend (August 14,15). This will also be the North American Biketrials Championship. Having them close together will allow riders from Europe, Asia and the US a chance to come out and do 2 World Class competitions within a 9 day period, as well as experience everything Vancouver has to offer like the "North Shore", great urban riding and of course Whistler.

The final event will be Sept 27th.

Once everything is official we will put out more info.