It started years ago as a “Loonie Race Series”. Everyone would bring a dollar and put it in the pot and the winner would take all of the money. It was a bunch of the valley’s best riders getting together to have a fun night out while the fastest one on the night take the cash and buy the beers. As with anything cool, it grew and a lot more people would show up. At one point Chad Miles, local legend XC and all around ripper, was making a enough money to pay his rent from winning the race every thursday night.

Today with anywhere from 100 to 300 plus riders per week, the race is a bit of a big deal in Whistler. The top  20 or so people race their butts off to get a chance at the prize. Now that prize is only $50 for the winning man and $50 for the winning woman, while the rest of the cash goes to WORCA to prove a budget for to maintain build new trails. The 300 riders have their own little races within the pack or are just out for the ride and social aspect.

The race is always sponsored by a local business who decides the course. Some are really technical, some have savage climbs that are actually hike a bikes and others are more like a typical xc race. The consistencies the race time about 35 to 40 minutes for the winning time and just over an hour for the most recreational rider, the price (2 bucks), the great social with dinner and beers included and the challenging Whistler riding. When you look around the start area at the 300 plus people, you see all ages all types of bikes, DH, XC, old ones and strange ones. You can here accents from all over the worlds and best of all you get a real sense of our community.

I started doing these races 2 years ago and was instantly hooked. I was somewhere around the 30th places on my first race and was determined to make it into the top 10 at some point. Being a free rider and not an xc racer, that was a bit of a hefty goal for me. This season I have done 3 and been in the 10-15th spots and last night I cracked that top ten I was looking for with a 6th place finish. Now I can die. Haha. Matt Ryan, local import form Oz won as he often does.

If you haven’t been out to a Toonie or you are visiting Whistler and want to get a real sense of our community, come on out and give it your best shot. You won’t regret it and it is the cheapest meal and beer in town, just a Toonie.

Monday; Comfortably Numb for the first time. Whistler’s xc epic trail. Cool ride.

Tuesday chillin.

Wednesday; hangin with Willow and rode Lost Lake trail right after a quick thunder storm.

Thurday; Took Willow to the airport, rushed home and did the Loonie race (Whistler’s weekly XC race series) got 15th and was very tired. Lots of climboing.

Friday; Chromag ride in Squamish. Four and a half hours of sweet single track and good times. Even had a session at BRT’s new pump track on our all mountain bikes. Cool.

Saturday; Preroad the BC Bike Race Day 7 Whistler stage with Dre Hestler and gang 5 hours of heat and not so exciting trails. Too hot. Pretty much crushed from the week.

Sunday; worked on bikes all day with Lenn Hornige then had my first real pump track session in Alta Vista. So fun, but hard work and technical.

Hope this week will be just as fun as last. Riding is the best and we have so much variety here it is insane. This week I will ride the bike park and maybe even go dirt jumping.

Chromag ride; Gin, Matt, Chris, Ritz, Aussie, JJ, Julian, Dimwitty and James.

Chromag ride; Gin, Matt, Chris, Ritz, Aussie, JJ, Julian, Dimwitty and James.

Sean Dimwitty, rockin out with his boobs out.

Sean Dimwitty, rockin out with his boobs out.

Dre telling us how it is. That's something new.

Dre telling us how it is. That's something new.

I just returned from two weeks in Europe, in which I experienced only a few days of bad weather.  My time was filled with great riding, cool friends and perfect shooting locations.

My first stop was Gieskoff Bikpark.  It was super fun with some really gnarly DH style descents.  After visiting with some friends in Germany, I continued on to Winterburg.  Yes, it felt like winter there.  The sun comes out for a minute, then it rains without warning.  The riding is a miniature version of the Whistler Bikpark.  Needless to say, I loved it.

The festival put on by Mountain Bike Rider magazine has all the gravity events, which brings all the freaks and gravity-heads in Germany out for the weekend.

I am thinking this weekend in Whistler is going to be pretty sweet.  Descents in the bike park, xc rides,a garage sale, followed by a block party with a killer DJ and some liquid fun. . .. . come by if you want!  7295 Spruce Grove Lane.  We will be getting Groovy.

Just another fun chapter in the Schley Chronicles.

Thanks to the V.I.O Sport guys for making the cameras so easy to use.

My first trip to Europe every year usually starts with a long flight, some jet lag, a reunion with my bikes that live in Europe, several glasses of fine wine with my boss Peter from Rotwild and off to Italy for some riding and great food. This year wasn’t much different. I met up with my best buddy James and my bikes (Rotwild; R.E.D Two, E1, and a new R.E.D. Three, so sick to have the quiver) and off we went, in some lame strange van/car.

First stop adidas. It amazes me that some one can get lost even with a navigation system, but I am that person. Ha!

It was well worth it to catch up with the people that keep me clothed from head to toe in the sickest clothing around.

Axel Birkhartd and his right hand man Marc Grandmontages were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedule to meet with me and catch up on the happening of the mountain bike world.

After that, one of the coolest and most fun times of the year for me, shopping at Adidas.

My more feminine side, drives me to become crazy in this situation, with so many choices of the most awesome stuff to choose from. That is the way to start a road trip with some new threads.

Ten hours of driving, one sleep and a boat ride and we arrive in Elba, Italy to meet Wade Simpons, Turbo Lenzen and Moniolo(Marco Toniolo) as we call them. After a quick swim in the Mediterranean Sea, we are on the bikes.

Approaching the island of Elba, Italy.

Approaching the island of Elba, Italy.

Anywhere you ride on this island you can enjoy views of the sea and some history along the way. We stopped to take some shots at one of Napoleon’s hideouts. Cool!

After a week of Pizza, fish and some sweet riding, we loaded up the car and headed for Riva del Garda bike festival.

This is one of coolest places I have been in Europe. Beautiful lake with huge mountains shooting straight up out of the water and trails everywhere from past times of war.

The rain stopped as we arrived in the village and the sun came out just in time for the festivities to begin. This weekend is always a very busy time because everyone is trying to get some of my time, for one thing or another, but it is filled with riding with great people, photo shoots, partying and a lot of fantastic Italian food.

Some high lights from the weekend for me were the Shimano Saint rides with all of my riding buddies from home http://www.paul-lange.de/news/news/events_veranstaltungen/rivadelgarda2009/de,

Watching my teammate Marius Hoppinsack win the Saalbach/Hinterglem DJ event and the funny photo shoots with Freeride magazine.

I love Italy and this festival is the best of the year, so if you missed it, make sure you mark it on your calendar for next year.

An air from NWD film Ride the lightning, but covered in snow. richie schley richie schley skiing in whistler

An air from NWD film Ride the lightning, but covered in snow. richie schley richie schley skiing in whistler

Anyone who has ridden Garbonzo knows this air, it is the most famous Whistler Bike Park shot of all time. richie schley richie schley skiing in whistler

Victory is sweet no matter how big or small. They had to ask me to leave the podium because I was hangin there for so long.

Victory is sweet no matter how big or small. They had to ask me to leave the podium because I was hangin there for so long.

I wore that metal around for days afterwords. Not really.

I wore that metal around for days afterwords. Not really.

Although this is a fall shot, not a spring shot, I did ride this trail with Willow today and it was awesome. Fast and flowy with some jumps and just enough mud to make it exciting.

Although this is a fall shot, not a spring shot, I did ride this trail with Willow today and it was awesome. Fast and flowy with some jumps and just enough mud to make it exciting.

I have had a pretty cool winter with a bunch of riding a bit of skiing, but most of all a ton of fun with some super cool people and that is what it is all about. Get Outside and have some fun.

I love skiing powder more then almost anything, but this winter it just hasn’t shown up in my world.
So the next thing to do is go to Squamish or Vancouver for some bundled up riding with Wade or whoever else is dying for a ride. This year too much snow there too.

My buddies and I have been so jonesing for some outside activity that we have all gone out and bought some skate ski gear (a cooler version of cross country skiing that is not much cooler) and been trying to get our thrills that way. Dam scary on the down hills and super hard on the ups.

White Smoke

So I was forced to pack up my NEW bike (Rotwild R.E.D. Three and fly down to Laguna Beach to hang out with Willow, Hans Rey and Brian Lopes for some better weather and the chance to get some thrills and hopefully no spill.

Hans, Richie and Willow

Willow and I are staying a stones through from the beach and a couple blocks from the trails, which is really nice because riding from the house is the best thing ever. Just like home.

John Levy, Brian Lopes , Tony the Tiger and me

John Levy, Brian Lopes , Tony the Tiger and me. Willow is still climbing the almost 4000 vertical ft that we shuttled up. Ha.
I have only been here for a week and have already done a bunch of he classic rides. They have had some rain here so the trails are in awesome shape.
We have done 3 rides around Laguna here, the San Juan Tail and today the Joplin trail(almost 5000 ft, or 1500 meters of descending). It was awesome.

R.E.D.

I love my R.E.D. Three, it is the perfect all mountain bike for me.

Stay tuned as I haven’t given up on winter yet and I am expecting a new pair of Rossignal S7 powder skis and will get some face shots soon. I check the snow report everyday from here in Laguna. The white room is the best place on earth.