Max Plaxton
Career Highlights:
2006 Bronze Medal U-23 World Championships
2 X Pan-American Champion
2 X World Relay Champion
5 X National Champion
8 X Norba Pro Podium including 1 win
TransRockies
August 11, 2010Man I had a pretty good time out in the Canadian Rockies the last 3-4 days, it's awesome when things go according to plan.
I arrived in Fernie Friday evening and met up with the Kona boys Kris and Barry, and went out for a killer meal at this place called Picnic. If you are ever in Fernie, I highly recommend it. We got out Saturday for an awesome DRY pre-ride of the time trial course, which took about 2.5 hours at a steady pace. It was some killer, and I mean killer single track, almost too much.
Day 1 - 31 km Time Trial Fernie, 1,300 meters climbing
I woke up to pouring rain and cold temps. I had not raced in mud or the cold all year! I did a nice little warm up and went off at 1:31 pm, 1 minute behind Adam Craig. My goal was to catch Adam on the big climb and stick with him on the technical single-track since he has a few skills. I didn't catch him where I had planned, but I did manage to find his wheel with about 10 km's of muddy slick ripper trail, Fernie is a awesome place. I was happy with the outcome taking the leaders jersey, putting a minute on Adam and over 5 minutes on Cory Wallace in third.
Day 2 - 72 km Fernie-Sparwood, 1,900 meters climbing
I had a horrible sleep for some reason, maybe since I went super hard, but I really didn't get any deep sleep, which sucked. At least it was not raining when I woke up, but the start was at 9 am. The stage started off with a huge climb up to the top of a pass. The first 20 km or so was dirt road, but the last 10 were rolling double-track then some really steep moist trail. I was not feeling great so I just did my best to stay with Adam and Cory. The downhill off the top of the mountain was insane, we lost about 5500 feet in about 4-5 km's. Luckily there was about 30 km of fast tail wind fire road up to the finish, so the 3 of us worked together with Cory sneaking away at the end to take a very deserving win. I was happy with the overall stage and felt better towards the end, which normally for me the next day should be a good one.
Day 3 - 65 km Elkford-Ethertington Creek, 2,000 meters climbing
First of all I had a great sleep, which is so important during a stage race. With clear skies we rolled out at 9 am for a big day in the saddle. The first 40 km's where rolling fire road, but pretty muddy so it was key to be at the front. I got my Canadian teammate Matt Hadley to set and nice high tempo. I felt really good, and managed to get a little gap with Cory leading into the single-track climb/hike-a-bike/mountain pass expedition. We made it over the top together, and started the long sketchy downhill down to the finish. There wasn't really a trail down the mountain so it was up to you to decide, and make your line was seriously rad. I lost Cory at some point so with a good cushion, I just cruised safely into the finish, taking the stage win and the overall along with some nice UCI points, which should come in handy. The Specialized Epic was absolutely flawless and thanks to Arran my mechanic each day.
I was pretty happy I decided to only do the 3 days of the race, because 7 days of that is HARD! I did it in 2008, and I remember what a painful experience it was. 3 days was the perfect number. I’m pretty excited to get home today to Victoria, and sharpen the knife up a little over the next weeks. The body feels great....
Thanks for your support,
The Mountie
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Tasmania
January 26, 2012 -
Training in Tasmania
January 25, 2012 -
Bermuda/off season.
November 30, 2011 -
Durango/Pan American Games
October 17, 2011 -
World champs and now Vegas.
September 12, 2011 -
Made it to Champery.
August 30, 2011 -
Time off and Trans Rockies
August 18, 2011 -
Pro XCT Finals Missoula-Montana.
July 26, 2011 -
Canadian Nationals
July 19, 2011 -
Wow time flies at home
July 5, 2011 -
Wisconsin Pro XCT: 1st place XC, 3rd place ST, 1st overall.
June 27, 2011 -
Heading to Wisconsin.
June 22, 2011 -
You win some, you lose some
May 31, 2011 -
Hanging in the mother land A.K.A, England.
May 19, 2011 -
Getting ready for Europe.
May 16, 2011 -
Mellow Johnny's Pro XCT, 1st place, 1st overall in the Pro XCT series
May 3, 2011 -
Vancouver for Easter and Squamish single-track.
April 26, 2011 -
Sea Otter/ back home.
April 22, 2011 -
Fontana Pro XCT
March 31, 2011 -
Bonelli Pro XCT
March 17, 2011 -
October in California
October 12, 2010 -
Off-Season
September 29, 2010 -
2010 MTB season is in the books...
September 13, 2010 -
So I’ve decided to skip the world cup in Windham
August 25, 2010 -
Great week post TransRockies
August 20, 2010 -
TransRockies
August 11, 2010 -
Solid week
August 5, 2010 -
Been a while, things are good
July 29, 2010 -
Durango
July 6, 2010 -
Wisconsin Pro XCT
June 29, 2010 -
Home is good
June 10, 2010 -
Mellow Johnny's Classic & birthday weekend.
June 1, 2010 -
Had a great week at my families farm
May 26, 2010 -
Canada Cup 1, Baie St Paul Quebec
May 19, 2010 -
Vancouver
May 12, 2010 -
I had a good week at home
May 4, 2010 -
Well I am happy to report....
April 28, 2010 -
Wow being sick really sucks!
April 22, 2010 -
Pan Am Champs.
April 14, 2010 -
Time flies
April 6, 2010 -
Another great Fontana....thanks Team Sho-Air
March 30, 2010 -
Heading to Socal
March 25, 2010 -
Round one of the H2O Overdrive Triple Crown.....
March 16, 2010 -
Nice week at home
March 2, 2010 -
Tucson......Check
February 22, 2010 -
It’s been almost a week here in sunny Tucson
February 17, 2010 -
It's great to be.....
February 10, 2010 -
On the Up
February 5, 2010 -
Been a tough week so far....
January 28, 2010 -
Had a great weekend,
January 21, 2010 -
Had a good ol' time at Mt. Baker
January 15, 2010 -
Happy New Year
January 5, 2010 -
Happy to say I am on a Ski Hill at the moment
December 29, 2009 -
Just a nice short holiday note.
December 22, 2009 -
Turn Up the Good, Turn Down the Suck
December 14, 2009 -
Bloody Cold.
December 9, 2009 -
What a busy week!
November 30, 2009 -
More of the same!
November 24, 2009 -
Hello!
November 19, 2009 -
Great Weekend
November 10, 2009 -
It's been an interesting week.
November 6, 2009 -
Rainy days.
November 5, 2009 -
Socal.
October 27, 2009 -
It was a great Thanksgiving weekend!
October 14, 2009 -
Levi Leipheimer’s Kings ridge 103 mile Gran Fondo
October 9, 2009 -
I heart California!
October 5, 2009 -
Off to Vegas!
October 5, 2009 -
Wow it seems like the Australia trip went super fast!
September 10, 2009 -
It was great to have a solid 10 days at home
August 31, 2009 -
Being on the road for longer then 2 weeks can be rough
August 17, 2009 -
Close but no cigar
July 16, 2009 -
Summer is great!
July 8, 2009 -
Colorado Cruising
June 23, 2009 -
Diverse Weather, Good Times!
June 3, 2009 -
Well the Canucks are out of the playoffs
May 20, 2009 -
Home for 2 weeks now
May 11, 2009 -
It’s been a great start to the year for me.....
April 28, 2009

