At the risk of sounding cliche - where has summer gone? It’s almost September and I was just getting warmed up. School supplies are in the grocery stores causing people to impulse buy pens and notebooks, and the days are getting noticeably shorter. I was a victim to the school supplies the other day and bought my first notebook for my master’s degree - a beautifully decorated recycled 3 subject notebook printed with soy ink. $10 well spent.

I really can’t complain about the seasons changing though because I’ve had a great summer. I spent 2 full weeks at home during a heat-wave and spent every day swimming, kayaking, fishing, cooking, and painting outside. It was too hot to ride, so I got to do a lot of things that I normally would be too “busy” for. I didn’t feel bad about taking some time off though because Harookz came over one day (peak heat wave) and we shot a great Gravity ad. It was a tree ride that I built a landing for and I had to ride up the tree, bunny hop off, and transfer 6 feet to the left to land on the step-down landing. It was buttery smooth, but riding in that heat took me out for the next day. I’ve never sweat so much in my entire life. Even in a sauna!

A few days ago I got home from a successful/painful Crankworx in Whistler. I was enrolled to ride in Womenworx and this year there happened to be a lot of bitching around the event from the riders. I seemed to be the sounding board for a lot of them and the day before the event I decided to not get involved in the debates and just go ride by myself for a while in the rain. There is nothing more cleansing and humbling than being outside in the rain because you have absolutely no control. Anyways, I was blasting down A-line and felt completely at ease until I hit a greasy patch at full speed and flew into the side bank of the trail in a weird position. One trip to emergency and one torn rotator cuff later, my week was over. The riding side of the week anyways. The reason it was successful was that I got to cut my teeth in the world of MCing. Sure, I’ve hosted a lot of television, but speaking to thousands of people, live, is a whole other world.

I was originally hired to host the “Block Party” and to MC the Shimano Deep Summer photo challenge, but after my injury I ended up announcing the event I was supposed to compete in myself as well. Working with Brad J (announcer from the X-games) was a huge learning experience and he made it so easy for me. Thanks Brad! You are a really really talented guy. Talking on a microphone isn’t as easy at he makes it look.

The biggest adrenaline rush of the week was MCing the Shimano photo challenge alongside ski legend Mike Douglas. Mike has been hosting the winter version of the comp for years and he was also a pleasure to work with. We were able to banter back and forth as if we had known each other for years and all went well (except for when I naively said I would do anything for Harookz in front of a camera...no sexual connotation was supposed to come out of that comment but it sure got a good laugh!). Before the event though, I was so nervous I didn’t eat all day. Walking into the auditorium gave me a mini panic attack because it was HUGE! By huge I mean massive. More chairs than I’ve ever seen. Ever. 4 huge screens spanning the space and a little stage for us right in the middle. It was intimidating, especially since we hadn’t rehearsed anything and agreed to do almost everything off the cuff. Long story short, it was just another learning experience that went amazingly well and the rush I had after speaking to so many people for such a long time had me awake and partying until 4am! Huge congrats to Mattias Fredrikkson for his win at the event and to all the photographers who were in the event - you guys put on a great show and your work was stunning. Oh, and thanks Mattias for sharing your winnings in the form of Dom Perignon.

Another exciting event for me at Crankworx was finding out I was on the cover of BIKE magazine!!!!! It is my second cover this year, but by far the highlight of my cycling career. Being on the cover of BIKE is like being on the cover of Rolling Stone (and they unfortunately never gave me a cover. I wonder why?). One of the editors leaked the news to me as I was getting out of the hospital with my shoulder injury and it made all the pain go away! I knew I was going to be featured inside, but had no idea that I’d be on the cover. Thanks BIKE mag, you made my year.

In totally non-bike related news, my friend Bryan hooked me up with 2 gigs of new music and it has been keeping me sane with all the driving I’ve been doing lately. I am finding it weird how bands that begin in the letter “L” are on average, better than bands that begin in any other letter. For example, the Love Grenades, Lykke Li, Lo-Fi-Fnk, Lights On, Ladyhawke, and Lady Gaga (oops, did I say that one?), are all my favourite bands right now. The letter “M” is also doing good work. Metric, Matt and Kim, and Mates of State - nice work. It must be some mid-alphabet super power. So kids, remember, if you want a successful career in music, name your band starting with a mid-alphabet letter. Let’s just take that a step further and say that naming your kid with mid-letters might be a good idea. Best to be safe right?

All my mid-letter music and I will be spending a lot of time together in the next little while. On Monday I am off to Whistler to shoot photos with Mattias, then down to Vancouver for a gourmet zero-energy fundraiser dinner (check it out HERE! It will be a whole lot of amazing and you are invited!), followed by a drive to Seattle to catch a plane to Grande Junction Colorado for the Slope Sistair slopestyle event that I will attempt to compete in with a messed up shoulder. Shortly after that it’s off to Vegas for Interbike, then Moab for a press trip, then LA for fun fun fun! Can’t wait.

Alright, off to clean and box my bike up for Colorado. Go check out this month’s BIKE mag, as well as Dirt Rag (I have a feature article in there), and if you speak German, a huge article about me is in this month’s issue of “Freeride”. I have no idea what it says but the pictures look great!

Bye!