Lindsay Trimble

Lindsay Trimble, known as LT to many of her friends, is an elite DH mountain bike racer. Riding mainly on the North Shore of Vancouver, she lives and works in Burnaby, BC and is on her bike any chance she gets. This season she will be competing in Canada Cups, BC Cups, Canadian National Championships, and the Oregon Enduro Series with the support of Rocky Mountain Bikes and the Bryson Racing Clan. Check in for updates on rides, races and results throughout the season!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Hood River Oregon Enduro #3

Coming off  a somewhat disappointing result at MSA I was looking forward to a fun weekend of riding on the famed trails of Hood River, Oregon.

I've realized in the last couple of months that I actually quite like enduro.  It's different.  It's not downhilling.  It's got some downhill in it, but it's long.  There's no memorizing 50 minutes of trail.  It's not XC either.  It's got some uphill and it's got some pedalling, but being the guy with shaved legs in full spandex is only going to win you maybe one or two stages out of 5 or 6.  Each stage is a different length, maybe it will be 2 minutes of hairpin turns and gap jumps, or maybe it will be a 10 minute traverse across an exposed cutblock, you never know.  It often seems that every stage requires a slightly different game plan, and lends itself to the particular skill set of a different type of rider.

I think one of the things that really appeals to me about enduro is that one or two mistakes in 40-50 minutes of riding isn't going to lose you the race, since everyone is bound to make a couple in that amount of time.  But by shaving a millisecond off every corner, or putting in an extra pedal stroke whenever you can, those all add up.  When I think about ways that I can start to improve my results at enduro races it seems simple, just keep becoming a better rider.  In many ways enduro races are a true showcase of a rider's abilities, and the all-around best rider will almost always come out on top.

Practice laps, so fun.

D'Arcy hanging a leg, getting loose.

D'Arcy and I had an interesting debate over the weekend on what was the fastest/best way to corner, hang a leg? keep your feet on the pedals? get loose? brake, then pedal hard out?  We asked around to a few of our pro rider friends, turns out they all gave us different answers.  Hmph.  I tried a little bit of everything this weekend and the jury is still out for me, but I did learn that cornering at a speed where you are still in control is always the best option.


Shuttles in Hood River: sitting in the back of a flat bed truck with your bike between your legs.  Thrilling, especially during the freak thunderstorm Saturday morning.

Me and my Element 999.  I love my bike.


Sometimes it seems strange to people that D'Arcy and I travel so much to get to races.  They have trouble understanding how each weekend we travel a few hundred kilometers just for a bike race and then all the way back.   But the only way I can explain it  to them is that this IS vacation to us.  It's most certainly the most fun thing I can imagine doing with my time off.  I guess I'm pretty lucky to have a boyfriend that shares such a bizarre point of view.

Post race lake bath at Kingsley Resivoir.
D'Arcy begged me to let him buy this sandwich.  It was actually pretty yummy, but definitely excessive.

So I ended up finishing 5th in Pro women, and D'Arcy came 15th in Cat 1 men's with a crash in stage 5.  A few other BC riders have been attending the series and it was great to see Chris Johnston and Dylan Wolsky of the Nomads racing team finish 3rd and 7th respectively in a stacked pro mens field.

I have truly enjoyed meeting so many rad american rider ladies, and they have been a blast to hang out with at every race so far. Congrats to all the ladies on the podium and thanks for the motivation to keep getting faster!

Pro Women at Hood River

Canadian DH Nationals

On July 5th the Clan arrived in Quebec City to compete at the Canadian DH Nationals at Mont Sainte Anne.  We were lucky to have some awesome hosts in Quebec City that housed us, fed us and helped us practice our butchering of the french language.  Here are a few photos from our travels.


The rental place was out of mini-vans, so we got stuck with an SUV.  Fitting the gear of 3 racers, plus 3 bikes was no easy task.  Good thing Jeff is the "tetris king".


Thursday, course walk.

Bottom of the course, from the last step up looking back.


The best part about Quebec is definitely some getting my hands on some fresh curd.

I had a crash on my second run on the first day of practice.

The aftermath of bottoming out on a rock.  I didn't know that could happen to a chain guide.  My chain ring was split in two.

My knee hurts.  1 hr post crash... 

My knee on Sunday, still sore, but able to ride.

Clan rider Cody Ratte on his race run.

Clan rider Jeff.  Is that a dirty sock in your chamois or are you just happy to see me?



Dinner post race.  People like these are the reason I race.  The best.

In case you're not sure how to do it.






Clan team photo.