welcome to our new website
Tinker Creek Cycle is a small bike shop located in Tinker Creek Manitoba, just a few miles south of Morden. We service bicycles and sell Rocky Mountain Bikes in the local community, but really we're more about getting out and enjoying the incredible mountain bike trails right out our own back door.
Take care, James
TransRockies 2010
Yeah, Jonny and I finished stage 1…Fernie to Fernie time trial. We had to seed ourselves based on where we thought we would finish so we started at 10:10 and 10:23 respectively. Jonny is in the big Open Men’s category and I’m in the Master Men’s 40 plus (distinct disadvantage being 54). It basically rained all night and at the start which meant we were in for a mudbath and we weren’t disappointed! Fernie has fairly organic soil so the mud was epic. First part of the stage was all climbing, roots rocks…you get the picture and all on singletrack. Some amazing views when the clouds cleared and the mist subsided. After the first 1/3 we got some fun descending and then more climbing and rolling terrain. I managed to reel in about a dozen guys and got passed by about 4. The field is huge this year with I think over 400 riders. The 30 second staging meant they were going from about 9 am till 2 pm. I was riding alone a lot of the time without the hassle of other riders constantly passing or waiting to pass someone else so I guess I seeded well. I crashed once hard on the first descent…too much fun so going too fast “for conditions”. Long and short, I’m fine but I’m down to granny gear alone up front which means making time on the downhills a little challenging. At the 2nd checkpoint I poured some water and gatoraide over my drivetrain to clean it enough to see what was going on. My cable had slipped up, thus the single gear. On the last third of the ride I had 2nd chainring only. Fun and games. Finally rolled in something like 3 hours 20 minutes. I have yet to check the postings which we’ll do when we go to dinner at 6:30 for the awards ceremony. Jonny did great but again too early to tell where he placed. We’ll keep you posted. Feels good to have the hot shower which was done with all biking clothes on to rinse of the 1/2 inch thick layer of mud first before we got the full benefit of the shower. The mechanics were back from last year and it was good to see them again. See ya later with some pics hopefully…
Got back from the big feed and awards ceremony that went of forever, like they always do. In terms of placing on the first Stage, Jonny is 13th in the Open Men’s (behind the National Champion) in a field of 87. I’m sitting 27th in the Master’s Mens in a field of 80. We”re happy enough.
So off to bed and 71 kms of riding awaits us tomorrow…something like 2100 meters of climbing….blah blah blah.
Beach Babe!
OK, now that I have your attention, the gang at Olympia CC are having their marathon race with weekend, all the details are here. 33km, 66km or 100km options.
If you like long rides, this will do it.
EDIT – YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN MCA MEMBER TO RACE – ANYONE CAN RACE! Cool!
Falcon Photos
I will let Tim provide a comprehensive Falcon Ridge 24 hour race report. I did take a few pics, just to document that we were actually there.
I will keep my report brief – I had fun.
Tim, contemplating a early race pit stop to make sure the bike is actually ready.
Tim finally getting around to making sure the bike is ready, all of 30 seconds into the race, while the entire field is heading out for lap 1.
You'd be smiling too if you were the 2010 Butter Belt Champion.
Single Track Attack Race Report
So Jane and I both had the opportunity to race on Sunday, July 18th at the Hillside, Single Track Attack race in Elk River, Minnesota. The pre-ride on Saturday was awesome and I was really excited to do this race.
They do things a little different in Minnesota. They have a lot more racers (339 at this race), so they have Citizens race first around 9:30 or so, then Sport went off at 11 am. Jane did the Sport Women’s race, so I could race in the afternoon. She did well, came in second place in her age category and I think 8th Woman in Sport. Pretty good for a Mom who just rides when she can. It was probably really nice for her to have a large group of women to race with fro a change, I think there was 15 or 16 women in her start group. By having different categories go at different times, this also allows them to use specific sections for the different categories (take out the really technical stuff for Citizen & Sport).
Jane started and finished with a smile at this race. (That one chick in the red sleeleless sure looks butch...)
Jane was only a "day racer" and did not get a call up to the front, so she had to start at the back.
Jane & I shared a bike and both used the 29er in the sweet flowing single track. Good times.
I hung out with the kids while Jane raced and obviously took some photos. Once she was done, I had about 10 minutes to change and get warmed up for the Comp Category race. (They don’t have Expert, just Elite/Pro above Comp).
The PRO & Elite Men sent first, the PRO & Elite Women, then Comp Men. Just like Jane, I had to be in the back portion of about 40 men (30-39 men). They had the course set up with a Prologue, down a gravel road (passed a few dudes there), hard right up a hill under some power lines, (picked off about 3 or 4 more up the climb), then down the hill and a hard right to go a few hundred meters more down the road (picked off another 5 or 6 there). Then you entered the single track, at this stage we are probably only about 90 seconds into the race. The rest of the race was in really beautiful, flowing single track, mostly rolling terrain. Lots of small valley features were you go up and down the sides. I managed to just continue to pass guys throughout the race, only got passed by the Comp Single Speed winner. The trails are pretty tight, so you had to take advantage of small opportunities to pass and do it quickly.
Cranking it up at the start, only about 40 guys in my way...
The night before we there were really bad storms and the course had 2 inches of rain (even tornadoes in the area), but the sandy soil made for perfect, high traction and fast conditions. The course had about 1000 feet of climbing per lap, the climbs were mostly side hill, with switch backs and really fun, it was tough when racing, but all middle ring fast and rideable. There were about half dozen rock garden and a few surprise rock ledges etc around some uphill corners, but mostly, just FAST flowing and fun. They manage to fit about 7 miles of single-track into 80 acres.
The organizers did an amazing job. They had a crew of a dozen guys on the trail at 5am cutting out the trees that fell onto the course during the storm the night before. All starts were on time (to the minute). They had a couple of water stations on the course, tunes (cranking out from a RedBull truck with Video Games on the back). Results are posted pretty much as they happen, so within 5 minutes of finishing, you can go see how you did… They just kept on adding results sheets as racers finished. Then, when it came time for prizes, they give out draw prizes specific to each category. For Comp they must have called at least 25 names and probably gave away over $1000 worth of prizes, JUST FOR THE COMP CATEGORY. They did the same for the other categories and for the kids (every kid got something, mostly MP3 players). Incredible!
Anyway, in the end, I came in 4th for my age group, 12th out of 75 in Comp and only 39 seconds back from the win (for my age group). Guess I should have used the brakes a little less…
It was an awesome time & awesome event. It’s no Tinker and it was no Back 40, but a close second for cool races.
Thanks from Penny
Got this email from Penny.
Thank you Dr. Gorden Z (Tinker Creek) for the grand guided tour through the most spectacular xc single track trail riding in Manitoba! Seeing the beauty of the Morden Valley on a mountain bike is an awesome experience, the added stops to-yes wait for me gave everyone an opportunity to enjoy the scenic views. Thanks to the many hands it took to make these trails so perfect.
Penny & Paul Seier
P & P Automotive Repair
Tornadic activity
So, we are down in Minneapolis for a few days of family holiday. Jane and I are planning on doing a Minnesota State XC race tomorrow NW of the twin cities. I preroad the course this afternoon, Jane got about 1/4 way through the lap this evening when the Tornado sirens went off. The kids and I scrambled back to the van from our hike, Jane showed up back to the van within the minute too. Got back to our hotel and about 2 minutes later we got the knock at the door to get into the stair well with 80 other people. Not sure why they don’t have AC in the stair wells? But that is the easisily the longest I have sat in a sauna. The storm blew threw, we survived, for now.
So, did the Weather Network invent the “Tornadic Activity” term or what?
Anyway, the race course is amazing fun. Incredible flow, probably the most flowing, tight twisty trails I have even ridden. Think the best parts of BHP, but with short climbs (actually very little flat). Very few flow killers, sandy soil for lots of traction in most weather conditions. Basically 100% single track. Plenty of technical too, if all races courses were this fun, XC racing would be be a huge sport. Jane races at 11 am, I race at 1:15 – can’t wait.
Kevin
24 Hours of Falcon?
Is anyone planning to race at the 24 hour race at Falcon Lake next weekend? Either solo or in a team?
Since I’m kinda out of the loop I was just curious to see what the general consensus is.
Unfortunately I can’t make it. I was going to take a few days off to come out for it but when I decided to go to Whistler for a few days that kinda took up any free days I could get this summer.
Cheers!
Jeff
Take the time… Check Your Bike!
Hey guys, I hope you all had fun at the Back 40 race! Since I’m stuck out in Lethbridge these days and couldn’t make it to the race, I figured I would do the next best thing and head out to Whistler Mountain Bike Park and do some fun riding there!
David Janzen, Kevin Neufeld, Rodney Neufeld, Jeffrey Elias (I went a little early!). William Janzen took the picture.
The Janzen brothers along with the Neufeld brothers were heading that direction so I went out to join them for a few days of riding the “best bike destination in the world.” And I must say, I don’t think whoever came up with that title is over exaggerating! I rented an amazing 2010 Rocky Mountain Flatline Pro from one of the local shops and ripped up the infamous A-Line (along with many other trails) repeatedly over the next 3 days. I won’t give you guys a super long story about it…but just know that sometime in your life, you should give yourself a chance to ride there! It’s so much fun and worth every penny of the outrageous hotel prices, rental prices, food prices, lift ticket prices…I think you get the idea..haha!
Rocky Mountain Flatline Pro!! (yes, I bottomed the Boxxer fork a few times!...I'm a sloppy jumper, ok?!)
But, back to my original topic…I actually didn’t want to talk about biking in Whistler…
Recently, I guess I’ve been a little sloppy with keeping my bike properly tightened and in check. A few weeks ago I thought I had bent my large chainring because everytime I shifted on to it, the chain would skip off and back on to the middle ring. I was kinda worried because I didn’t want to replace my chainrings, but upon further inspection I noticed that it was just loose. The little bolts/nuts weren’t even finger tight anymore, so I tightened them all up and kept riding. Then, a few days after coming back from Whistler, I had only lightly threaded my pedals back into my cranks (I rode clipped in at Whistler) and I had yet to tighten my pedals properly…Of course I forgot this, and after jumping off a curb I heard a loud cracking noise and one of my shoes had a pedal attached to it but not to the bike. Now I was really scared…I didn’t want to replace the whole crank arm! But somehow I got lucky and only the first ring of thread broke off cleanly so I was able to re-thread my pedal tightly without any problems. Then yesterday, I went for another ride and while riding I shifted into the granny ring and I heard a loud popping noise, I immediately stopped and saw that 3 out of the 4 bolts/nuts for my granny ring were missing! So i tightened the 1 bolt I had left and shifted manually into the middle ring and resumed riding.
Not my cranks, thankfully.
Before a ride I always do the usual things like check tire pressure, lube the chain, check the fork and shock “squishy-ness” but I often overlook some of the things I just presume to be tight. Maybe I’m the only one that doesn’t check the “other stuff” on his bike often enough, but I figured I would just remind you guys to double check your bike just to make sure. It’ll only take a few minutes and it could save you a few hundred bucks on a stripped crank arm!
I figured I would make a small list of stuff that should be checked (I’ll probably forget something, so feel free to add it into the comments)
- tire pressure
- spoke tension
- side-to-side play in your hubs (wiggle the rim sideways)
- brake pad thickness
- rotor bolts still all there and tight?
- brake caliper tightened properly to frame (rear) and fork (front), centered properly
- headset play
- fork and shock pressures
- cockpit components tight and centered (headset, handlebar, stem, grips, shifters, brakes, bike computer, etc)
- seat tightened and centered properly, not past the max extension?
- do shift cables pull hard? does the bike shift when and where you want it to?
- lube the chain regularly (preferably after each ride)
- jockey wheels on derailleur clean? rear cassette clean?
- suspension pivots tight?
- derailleurs and derailleur hanger tight?
- chainrings tight?
- cranks tight?
- pedals tight?
- front and rear quick release skewers tightened properly?
That’s as many as I can think of right now. I really hope you can run through this checklist without finding anything out of place.
Love and share the ride whenever possible!
-Jeff
Horn tooting
Congrats to Linc, putting in a solid effort at the final MB Cup race of 2010 in Swan River. Looks like he wasn’t too far behind the overall Comp winner Adam Gregory. I know he is far too modest to brag about the result, so I’ll do it for him. Good job Linc. Looks like the the kids were racing too, good job Wiebe clan. Swan River is a very nice course, a bit of everything, really fun, but also a great test of MTB skill and climbing ability. Maybe I’ll make it out there again next year…
| Adam | Gregory | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:22:45 | 1 |
| Lincoln | Wiebe | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:24:13 | 2 |
| James | Benson | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:26:43 | 3 |
| Paul | Seier | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:29:54 | 4 |
| Bob | Guenther | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:31:34 | 5 |
| Ian | Alford | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:38:43 | 6 |
| John | Ferg | Comp (19+) | Male | 1:57:19 | 7 |
2010 Back 40 Photos
There are also some photos of the kids events over on Lincoln’s blog
