Never satisfied with sucking at many things, I’m always eager to add to the suckage. I am a mediocre cyclist and snowboarder, and really lame at running, climbing and skiing. Fortunately enough at 43, I’m just happy to have fun doing these things with no ego requirements to be good at any of them.

This year, I’m adding mountain biking to the list. Where to start? Find a lesson. Last year I ascertained the Trek Dirt Series too late, but this year, I had it diarised for Feb 1st when registration opened. I signed up for the clinic on May 14-15 in North Vancouver and returned my smouldering credit card to my wallet.

Well hello? How can you take a clinic without a bike? So off to the bike shops I went. Bike shop A showed maine a beautiful Giant Cypher in white with pretty blue designs. The nice man talked about components and shocks and travel.. blah blah blah.. but I was enamoured with the pretty blue designs. Sanity prevailed when I saw the $2,200 price tag, and off I went to bike shop B.