Coen Skrypnek

Well, it is DAY ELEVEN of the longest road trip of the year. A beautiful morning with lots of excitement as Madison and Coen prepare for their very first ever Dual Slalom competition. This format and the course has been quite a learning experience. The format is simply an elimination bracket. You race twice (in each lane) against another rider and the total time difference decides your fate. Seeding also decides for you somewhat. Madison seeded low and thus started out racing

DAY TEN started as nicely as the previous day and the day before. The kids were up early and ready to race. We were all out of camp by 8:30am. Madison met up with her mentor in the Ride Like A Girl program, KAtie Holden. Katie is an ex-pro and world cup DH rider. she is wonderful person and besides simple introductions, she hung out with Madison through training and then at the start of her race. Doing some warm-up exercise with her as well. Madison had a good race and for he

DAY NINE was an amazing day! The wind was still and the sun shone brightly. It was going to be a hot one. Starting with a 6am wake up call the kids ate breakfast and were off to DH practice sessions by 8am. Rhys Ellis, of ZEP Techniques Racing joined us in Monterey to do some marketing work for ZEP as well as some coaching for Coen and Madison. The three of them left camp early today. After the DH practice was over, the kids switched bikes and headed for the Dual Slalom track

DAY EIGHT started with Coen and me driving to SFO to pick up Sherri and Madison and bring them to the coast. Another sunny day in "Cali" and the girls were happy to be out of YYC and the snow. Happy to see us, but more pleased with the nice weather. We hurried back to Monterey and got the kids ready for their first practice day on the DH course. they got some great laps in, we got some pics and saw some familiar faces and a ton of other high quality riders. There were sooo m

DAY SEVEN: Woke up to a beautiful California day. Finally out of the clouds and rain and most of all the long driving. Coen and I woke up with a goal to explore and ride around Santa Cruz. On our way to some XC riding, we stopped at Harvey West Park and trode a few laps on their awesome dirt jump track. Next we headed to the XC trails near the UC Santa Cruz campus. Beautiful trails, but Coen, saddled on his DH bike was not happy as the first hour was basically all climbing. G

DAY SIX: started early in Eureka, and got turned back down the 101 due to a land slide. Bad = added another 2 hours of driving time. GOOD = drove through amazing Shasta National Park! Incredible views and winding roads. Our destination was Santa Cruz, CA, but we took a detour to drive through San Francisco, CA. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, headed for a stop in the Marina District, took a tour of Ghiradelli, the trolley cars, and Fisherman's Wharf. Spent some time in

DAY FIVE: We took a bit more time getting moving today. After breakfast, we did a brief tour of downtown Portland and then headed south to the Meldrum Bar Dirt Jump Park to get some riding in before we headed back on the road to Eureka, CA. At the park, Coen met up with some biking groms there and showed them a few things. He also helped them master their table top jumps. Nice to meet the guys, Gavin, Dylana and dad Jake. Click this link or the picture below for some videos o

NW CUP DAY FOUR: What an incedible race day! Racing in the CAT 2 0-14 race with the strongest U14 riders, Coen had a great opening weekend finishing 6th. There were a lot of familiar face among the 20 young racers in the age group today - and with 4 riders within 2 seconds of each other between 3rd and 6th place this season is going to be awesome fun! Next Stop: Monterey, CA - Sea Otter Classic! Coen's first weekend withe ZEP Racing team was great too. Getting to know the tea

DAY THREE: We were up at a dawn having our breakfast and looking out at the Straigh of Juan de Fuca...hoping the rain would hold off. Well, the rain did hold off and the day was beautiful. The sun should help dry up the course just enough to make for a super fast race tomorrow morning. Coen spent the morning riding with coach Rhys Ellis, from ZEP Racing and teammate CAT 2 rider, #SamHowe from Jasper. A few laps dialing in the trail...then Coen did a final lap on his sister's

DAY TWO: We were up at the crack of dawn. Said our good byes to the realtives in Cloverdale, hit the border and made the 10:15 ferry at Coupeville, WA. It was Coen's first ever ferrry ride. He loved it! It was pretty cool. A nice short ride across the sound on our way to the first race weekend of the season. Once we got to Port Angeles, WA, it wastime to ride. Coen was united with his team mates on the @ZepRacingTeam. They did practice laps in the afternoon and got to know th