Well, Happy Spring 2011! It's going to be a good one!
My good friend Renee who I rode with almost every time I got out last season was back in town this weekend after her recent move to Princeton, BC. She called Friday night asking if she should pack all of her biking gear and the answer was obviously an emphatic Yes! We decided we'd have a shot at Cypress on Saturday since this week I had already gotten out on Fromme twice and was itching to try some of the other local trails which are more conducive to shuttling.
I got to Cypress a bit early and since the snow line was quite low I decided to drive up to the trail head and check out the situation. It ended up that there was about two inches of fresh snow on open ground but that which had tree cover had a lot less making it easily ridable.
I quickly turned around and when I got to our meeting spot Martin and Renee were waiting and ready to go. Stu unfortunately had pulled the plug assuming there would be two feet of fresh on the trails.
Our first lap we went down Slippery Canoe and then followed someone else's tracks down a different connector trail into the top of Right of Roach. We blasted down Right of Roach hooting the whole way down. At the bottom we hiked up the road to where Roach Hit and Roach Clip intersect because I was keen to ride Tall Cans which was a new trail for us. After a little hunting around and thinking we had missed it, we got on our way and coincidentally we were actually riding said trail! It turned out to be a really cool little trail with a great log ride into a little gap jump and then a nice natural rock drop; both of which I took a rain cheque on.
Hopefully after a few more weeks I'll feel confident to go back and hit them.
After that we ran one more lap before Renee had to get going to visit some more people before heading back to Princeton. All in all an awesome day; got to ride again with a good friend, Martin was riding awesome and we found the trail I was hoping to check out.
Looking forward to more mid-week riding during the official first week of Spring!
Ciao!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Inaugural Ride
So I got out for my first MTB ride of 2011 on my new DH pony with Martin last night. We pedalled up Fromme (not entirely true as we spent a decent amount of time walking - har har) and hit a few laps of Bobsled, which didn't entirely suit the new ride, and a couple trips down 4-2 which most definitely did cater to the new pony. You can tell that thing just wants to ride...fast. Hopefully I can step up my skills to pilot it...
The snowline was high though, and I think after the forecast 5 days of sun and 11 deg temps, we're going to be ripping the 5th switch back trails next week. Bring on the summer Vancouver!
Peace love
The snowline was high though, and I think after the forecast 5 days of sun and 11 deg temps, we're going to be ripping the 5th switch back trails next week. Bring on the summer Vancouver!
Peace love
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Mid-week Rides
I was supposed to get out tonight for my first ride of the season and my first ride on my new pony. Unfortunately a few things conspired to keep the event from going forward as planned. Martin and I hastily rescheduled though and we're going to try again for tomorrow night. Hopefully there is a little less moisture in the air and the snow line is high!
One of my goals for this year was to try out at least one DH race so I definitely need to get back on the bike and start riding again.
I'll post up tomorrow to let you know the trail conditions and how the new bike is! Until then, here's a short clip from Pinkbike of Testrider X having fun on my bike...
Ciao!
One of my goals for this year was to try out at least one DH race so I definitely need to get back on the bike and start riding again.
I'll post up tomorrow to let you know the trail conditions and how the new bike is! Until then, here's a short clip from Pinkbike of Testrider X having fun on my bike...
Ciao!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
First Post of 2011
Hey folks, after a long hiatus I'm back...maybe I had writer's block, maybe I went into hibernation over the winter, or maybe I was too busy being too lazy to write. But who cares, that's the past and we're looking forward to an awesome season of riding!
I'll give a brief synopsis of what I've been up to since last fall. I rode my DH bike well into the season, only putting her back in the stable for R&R in early November. After that I got restless and purchased a climbing membership at the Edge 2 months earlier than I normally would. On one hand it was good since I had something to do right away, but on the other hand, I now haven't climbed in almost a month and a half and am stupendously weak as a result! But, when I think about it, that doesn't really matter because this year is going to be my year of MTB!
I've recently replaced my 2008 SX Trail that I was using as my DH bike with a 2010 Rocky Mountain Flatline World Cup that is absolutely deadly. Funny thing is, I spent about 3 hrs chatting last night with the genius that designed the Flatline...pretty cool opportunity. The goal is to really progress my riding skills this year and in doing so, take part in a few DH races for the fun of it.
I'm also hoping to be able to replace my XC bike that I sold last season with a 5" trail bike so I can do some big, epic trail rides this year and possibly try some Super-D races too.
Along with my riding goals, I'd really like to put in some effort to designing and building a trail somewhere locally. I'll have to look into the particulars that go along with it but I think it should be a great experience.
So here we are, a week and a half out from the first day of Spring, two days out from Daylight Savings Time starting up again and three days out from mid-week rips on the Northshore commencing again. I love Vancouver.
I'll give a brief synopsis of what I've been up to since last fall. I rode my DH bike well into the season, only putting her back in the stable for R&R in early November. After that I got restless and purchased a climbing membership at the Edge 2 months earlier than I normally would. On one hand it was good since I had something to do right away, but on the other hand, I now haven't climbed in almost a month and a half and am stupendously weak as a result! But, when I think about it, that doesn't really matter because this year is going to be my year of MTB!
I've recently replaced my 2008 SX Trail that I was using as my DH bike with a 2010 Rocky Mountain Flatline World Cup that is absolutely deadly. Funny thing is, I spent about 3 hrs chatting last night with the genius that designed the Flatline...pretty cool opportunity. The goal is to really progress my riding skills this year and in doing so, take part in a few DH races for the fun of it.
I'm also hoping to be able to replace my XC bike that I sold last season with a 5" trail bike so I can do some big, epic trail rides this year and possibly try some Super-D races too.
Along with my riding goals, I'd really like to put in some effort to designing and building a trail somewhere locally. I'll have to look into the particulars that go along with it but I think it should be a great experience.
So here we are, a week and a half out from the first day of Spring, two days out from Daylight Savings Time starting up again and three days out from mid-week rips on the Northshore commencing again. I love Vancouver.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Ibeezy Fo Sheezy
Just got back from trying Ibiza, my new project. It's a 5 star 13a up at Chek at the Pleasure Dome crag and it is AWESOME! I kind of got spanked by it first time up but then after not too much rest I got back on on top rope and essentially two-hanged it. I say essentially because I kind of gave up on the last move to the anchors which isn't that hard but I was kind of tired today after 5 hrs of MTB riding in Squamish yesterday, so I just kind of quit there - har har har. I would say it's a short and hard power endurance route and basically feels like 3 boulder problems, with each separated by a decent hold that you end up wishing were just a bit bigger so you could rest on them. Alas, instead I'll just need to up my fitness...
Anyways, I'm happy with how it went and now that I know the moves I can start putting my back into it and try to get'er done. While there I ran up to the Sport Lounge and checked out Happy Hour, 13a and Special Forces Club, 13b. Both look rad and if I can find someone that is into trying them I think I'll try them after I finish up with Ibiza.
Supposed to rain tomorrow in Van and Squamish but I may go and check out a trail on Seymour that I was told about but have never ridden...sounds pretty cool though, lots of small to medium jumps; I like.
Ciao
Anyways, I'm happy with how it went and now that I know the moves I can start putting my back into it and try to get'er done. While there I ran up to the Sport Lounge and checked out Happy Hour, 13a and Special Forces Club, 13b. Both look rad and if I can find someone that is into trying them I think I'll try them after I finish up with Ibiza.
Supposed to rain tomorrow in Van and Squamish but I may go and check out a trail on Seymour that I was told about but have never ridden...sounds pretty cool though, lots of small to medium jumps; I like.
Ciao
Squamish Days
Yesterday morning I went in to work for 4 hours and then, since the weather was looking so good, I decided I had better take advantage of it. I rode home, loaded my SX Trail onto the car and headed up to the land of milk and honey. My good friend Scott Tasaka was going climbing up at Chek and I almost cracked and joined him but I could tell in my heart of hearts that the day should be spent exploring established DH trails I had never seen before.
The long and the short of it is that I rode for 4 hours, kind of bonked and got a dehydration headache, packed up and went to Subway to eat something, then drove back out to another area and rode for another hour. It was totally awesome! What I'll do here is list the trails I rode and then give a brief description and how I thought they were.
Half Nelson - I guess this a new machine-built trail that has been established in a effort to create a new trail that has lots of flow to it. I was a bit stale on it...not to say it's bad but a) I heard it cost ~ $50,000 to put in; b) For being a really smooth trail, every time I heard someone exiting out to where I had parked my car I thought they were crashing for all the racket their bikes were making; and c) maybe I just suck at these sort of jumpy trails and prefer more technical trails. Anyways, it's definitely worth checking out but I doubt I would take it down again if I pedaled up there...I'd probably go for Angry Midget instead.
Cortez Planks - Awesome. I think this is an older trail, the bottom of which someone had fixed up a year or two ago and now they've given the top a face lift too. It is super fun! You drop in, hit a small gap, roll over too A-frames and then launch a 4 ft drop before getting into a series of ladder bridges which are really well built and super fun. A short blast but well worth it...highly recommended!
Lowdown - This trail was only pretty good I would say. It's more of an XC trail so on a DH bike it isn't too exciting. It would be a lot more fun on a trail bike like a Trance or a Stumpy I think. There are some big stunts remaining at the bottom of the top section but it doesn't look like anyone rides them much anymore.
Home Brew - This trail is sick! It has also been updated I believe and I didn't have the guts to ride the first three big features but it's my goal by the end of the season to hit it. First you hit a 6 ft wooden step down gap, which shoots you into a crazy kicker gap, which sends you flying off a drop gap that you really have to be cooking for. After that you hit two log rides with drops off the ends which aren't too tough and pretty fun. The second one sends you booking into...
Expecting to Fly - Another awesome trail on which I bypassed the three big gappers. First you hit a small drop gap, then get onto a bridge system that lets you ride above the slash (it's in a logging cut block), and then you hit three step-down gaps all in the 6 to 10 ft range I think. I also want to try and tick this one off by the end of the season this year.
Ditch Pig - I rode all the way up past Angry Midget looking for the entrance to this one. I think I found it based on the 17ft step-down gap I was standing on top of but it sure doesn't look to me like anyone rides it anymore so I gave it a pass. Of note also, the lower section of Ditch Pig (below the Ring Creek FSR) is out of commission also, but it looks like people are still riding out the bottom of the upper section still so there must be some other access point other than the original start to the trail that I need to go check out.
One Man's Garbage - I ended up taking this one down since Ditch Pig looked so unridden. The top section wasn't too bad...nothing special I didn't think, and then the two lower sections are waaay overgrown. There was a trail coming into the top of OMG that wasn't shown on the map so I think people ride the top section of OMG as the exit to that upper trail and then take the double track back down to the Ring Creek FSR and forgo riding the lower parts of OMG.
This is where I broke for some grub. After this I headed back over to park at the top of Perth Drive in the Cul de Sac. I rode up and checked out a few trails...
Highway to Hell - Doesn't look like anyone rides this one anymore either...and it is truly insane; huge step ups, drops, gaps...you name it it's got and they're all bigger and sketchier than you want. This was basically a hike for me and no, I don't mean it was easy...like literally, I walked my bike down the whole thing - ha ha.
Gouranga - This one was pretty fun...steeper, technical upper section that spits you into a faster lower section. A very short ride also though.
A few interesting things I learned was that new school Squamish trails are rated very differently than old school ones. A newer double black diamond usually means that there are some stunts and jumps on it but it can be very doable. The single blacks are usually just harder XC trails. For the older trails, single blacks are actually tough DH trails that I find challenging, and the older double blacks are totally insane with huge rickety old stunts and technically challenging jumps that have tough run-ups, run-outs or both. Also, I learned that just because it's on the new map, it doesn't mean that people still ride it and it will be in good repair.
Alrighty, going to try to get out climbing today. Oh yeah, I also just sent my project about a week ago, called Heifer Down. It's a good 12d on the Circus Wall up at Chek Canyon...a short route but pretty full on the whole way to the chains.
Ciao
The long and the short of it is that I rode for 4 hours, kind of bonked and got a dehydration headache, packed up and went to Subway to eat something, then drove back out to another area and rode for another hour. It was totally awesome! What I'll do here is list the trails I rode and then give a brief description and how I thought they were.
Half Nelson - I guess this a new machine-built trail that has been established in a effort to create a new trail that has lots of flow to it. I was a bit stale on it...not to say it's bad but a) I heard it cost ~ $50,000 to put in; b) For being a really smooth trail, every time I heard someone exiting out to where I had parked my car I thought they were crashing for all the racket their bikes were making; and c) maybe I just suck at these sort of jumpy trails and prefer more technical trails. Anyways, it's definitely worth checking out but I doubt I would take it down again if I pedaled up there...I'd probably go for Angry Midget instead.
Cortez Planks - Awesome. I think this is an older trail, the bottom of which someone had fixed up a year or two ago and now they've given the top a face lift too. It is super fun! You drop in, hit a small gap, roll over too A-frames and then launch a 4 ft drop before getting into a series of ladder bridges which are really well built and super fun. A short blast but well worth it...highly recommended!
Lowdown - This trail was only pretty good I would say. It's more of an XC trail so on a DH bike it isn't too exciting. It would be a lot more fun on a trail bike like a Trance or a Stumpy I think. There are some big stunts remaining at the bottom of the top section but it doesn't look like anyone rides them much anymore.
Home Brew - This trail is sick! It has also been updated I believe and I didn't have the guts to ride the first three big features but it's my goal by the end of the season to hit it. First you hit a 6 ft wooden step down gap, which shoots you into a crazy kicker gap, which sends you flying off a drop gap that you really have to be cooking for. After that you hit two log rides with drops off the ends which aren't too tough and pretty fun. The second one sends you booking into...
Expecting to Fly - Another awesome trail on which I bypassed the three big gappers. First you hit a small drop gap, then get onto a bridge system that lets you ride above the slash (it's in a logging cut block), and then you hit three step-down gaps all in the 6 to 10 ft range I think. I also want to try and tick this one off by the end of the season this year.
Ditch Pig - I rode all the way up past Angry Midget looking for the entrance to this one. I think I found it based on the 17ft step-down gap I was standing on top of but it sure doesn't look to me like anyone rides it anymore so I gave it a pass. Of note also, the lower section of Ditch Pig (below the Ring Creek FSR) is out of commission also, but it looks like people are still riding out the bottom of the upper section still so there must be some other access point other than the original start to the trail that I need to go check out.
One Man's Garbage - I ended up taking this one down since Ditch Pig looked so unridden. The top section wasn't too bad...nothing special I didn't think, and then the two lower sections are waaay overgrown. There was a trail coming into the top of OMG that wasn't shown on the map so I think people ride the top section of OMG as the exit to that upper trail and then take the double track back down to the Ring Creek FSR and forgo riding the lower parts of OMG.
This is where I broke for some grub. After this I headed back over to park at the top of Perth Drive in the Cul de Sac. I rode up and checked out a few trails...
Highway to Hell - Doesn't look like anyone rides this one anymore either...and it is truly insane; huge step ups, drops, gaps...you name it it's got and they're all bigger and sketchier than you want. This was basically a hike for me and no, I don't mean it was easy...like literally, I walked my bike down the whole thing - ha ha.
Gouranga - This one was pretty fun...steeper, technical upper section that spits you into a faster lower section. A very short ride also though.
A few interesting things I learned was that new school Squamish trails are rated very differently than old school ones. A newer double black diamond usually means that there are some stunts and jumps on it but it can be very doable. The single blacks are usually just harder XC trails. For the older trails, single blacks are actually tough DH trails that I find challenging, and the older double blacks are totally insane with huge rickety old stunts and technically challenging jumps that have tough run-ups, run-outs or both. Also, I learned that just because it's on the new map, it doesn't mean that people still ride it and it will be in good repair.
Alrighty, going to try to get out climbing today. Oh yeah, I also just sent my project about a week ago, called Heifer Down. It's a good 12d on the Circus Wall up at Chek Canyon...a short route but pretty full on the whole way to the chains.
Ciao
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Roberts Creek Bonanza!
This past weekend we went over to the sunshine coast for a nice getaway with our good friend Deb and her husband John who now live in Australia, and our good friends Tammy and Stu and another great couple, Marisha and Mike. We rented a nice little rancher style house to stay in for a few days while enjoying the slow pace of life outside of hectic Vancouver (not).
Stu and I ahd been tuning up our riding skills recently with a flurry of descents down some of Cypress Mountain's better known classics like Roach Hit, Roach Clip, 5th Horseman and Sexboy. Feeling primed, we launched into the weekend with a whole crew of awesome riders and friends comprising the Bergers (Matty, AJ and Tyrone), the lovely Samantha, Booky, myself and Deb's hubby John (who had never really ridden a downhill bike, but you would never have known by the way the attacked the trails grimacing to stay glued on our wheels...Nice work Gibo!).
AJ and Matty were absolutely slaying the trails with AJ lofting a solid 15 footer off a skinny on the trail Janet's Jungle and Matty taking the left line for only a slightly smaller 8 foot drop. Nice work you two! This was Tyrone's first day back in the saddle after a nasty ski accident ended with a broken clavicle this past winter and he surprised us all with his eagerness to get back up to speed by hitting some of the drops by the end of the day. I drew my inspiration for the day from Booky whose ability seems to be a great match for my own and just following him off some of the jumps and drops got my heart pumping a few beats faster.
Thanks to AJ, we were able to use his new 1980's Ford F250 monster to shuttle and we managed to get in a solid 6 runs before retiring back to the seaside hamlet for some evening relaxation.
Here are a few pics from the festivities and we're pretty psyched to go back again with the crew and run a few more laps!
Ciao!
Wishing I hadn't forgotten my knee pads on Mach Chicken
Stu blending in with the scenery on Mach Chicken
Carefully stepping over the log gap on lower Mach Chicken
Stu dropping bombs on Janet's Jungle
On the edge on Janet's Jungle
Off the edge on Janet's Jungle
Hitting the DNA gaps with Stu
Stu and I ahd been tuning up our riding skills recently with a flurry of descents down some of Cypress Mountain's better known classics like Roach Hit, Roach Clip, 5th Horseman and Sexboy. Feeling primed, we launched into the weekend with a whole crew of awesome riders and friends comprising the Bergers (Matty, AJ and Tyrone), the lovely Samantha, Booky, myself and Deb's hubby John (who had never really ridden a downhill bike, but you would never have known by the way the attacked the trails grimacing to stay glued on our wheels...Nice work Gibo!).
AJ and Matty were absolutely slaying the trails with AJ lofting a solid 15 footer off a skinny on the trail Janet's Jungle and Matty taking the left line for only a slightly smaller 8 foot drop. Nice work you two! This was Tyrone's first day back in the saddle after a nasty ski accident ended with a broken clavicle this past winter and he surprised us all with his eagerness to get back up to speed by hitting some of the drops by the end of the day. I drew my inspiration for the day from Booky whose ability seems to be a great match for my own and just following him off some of the jumps and drops got my heart pumping a few beats faster.
Thanks to AJ, we were able to use his new 1980's Ford F250 monster to shuttle and we managed to get in a solid 6 runs before retiring back to the seaside hamlet for some evening relaxation.
Here are a few pics from the festivities and we're pretty psyched to go back again with the crew and run a few more laps!
Ciao!
Wishing I hadn't forgotten my knee pads on Mach Chicken
Stu blending in with the scenery on Mach Chicken
Carefully stepping over the log gap on lower Mach Chicken
Stu dropping bombs on Janet's Jungle
On the edge on Janet's Jungle
Off the edge on Janet's JungleHitting the DNA gaps with Stu
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