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.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
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
Monday, May 3, 2010
Out with winter and in with Spring
Two weekends ago myself, Cam and Markez ushered out Old Man Winter and had one last hurrah by doing the coveted Spearhead Traverse in a day. Cam is a far better writer than myself and clearly has a better memory so if you're interested in reading a trip report, check out his blog The Adventures of Cameron Charles. Thanks for the great and extensive write up Shaft!
When you give winter the boot out the backdoor, you better have something to replace him with. Unfortunately what showed up in Vancouver as the next act has born only a fleeting resemblance to our beloved Mrs. Springtime for the past few weeks. The weather has been less than optimal so far this spring but the days that have been nice have allowed a few great sessions of bouldering and sport climbing. The weekend before doing the Spearhead Traverse, I was lucky to get out to a new (for me) area up in Squamish known as The Hatchery with a good friend who has since returned to the motherland after a sojourn to Ontario where we met. His name is Scott Tasaka and he is a crusher of rocks...don't let him near your project as he'll likely rip off all the holds in unbridled passion. Scott is likely the best technical climber I've known personally and has the deepest bucket of psyche you'll ever dip into so needless to say I jump at the opportunity to get out on rock with him. We also met up with guidebook author extraordinaire, Marc Bourdon and his wife Pam; two more amazing climbers and very genuine people.
Marc spent most of the day shooting photos for his new edition of the Squamish Bouldering guidebook to be released, as I understand, in June of this year, while Scott, Pam and I spent most of the day wrestling pebbles. Marc was kind enough to send along a few cool photos he snapped of me and also let me post them here. Check out Marc's website Quickdraw Publications for the release of the new guidebook and to see what other exciting things he has coming out.
Fighting gravity on G-Force Accelerator, V8 - The Hatchery, Squamish
When you give winter the boot out the backdoor, you better have something to replace him with. Unfortunately what showed up in Vancouver as the next act has born only a fleeting resemblance to our beloved Mrs. Springtime for the past few weeks. The weather has been less than optimal so far this spring but the days that have been nice have allowed a few great sessions of bouldering and sport climbing. The weekend before doing the Spearhead Traverse, I was lucky to get out to a new (for me) area up in Squamish known as The Hatchery with a good friend who has since returned to the motherland after a sojourn to Ontario where we met. His name is Scott Tasaka and he is a crusher of rocks...don't let him near your project as he'll likely rip off all the holds in unbridled passion. Scott is likely the best technical climber I've known personally and has the deepest bucket of psyche you'll ever dip into so needless to say I jump at the opportunity to get out on rock with him. We also met up with guidebook author extraordinaire, Marc Bourdon and his wife Pam; two more amazing climbers and very genuine people.
Marc spent most of the day shooting photos for his new edition of the Squamish Bouldering guidebook to be released, as I understand, in June of this year, while Scott, Pam and I spent most of the day wrestling pebbles. Marc was kind enough to send along a few cool photos he snapped of me and also let me post them here. Check out Marc's website Quickdraw Publications for the release of the new guidebook and to see what other exciting things he has coming out.
Fighting gravity on G-Force Accelerator, V8 - The Hatchery, Squamish
Flashing the beautiful Phantom Menace, V6 - The Hatchery, Squamish
Ciao for now!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Good news bad news good news...
The Good News...
The weather has been stellar in Vancouver recently which has been welcome change from the crap weather we've been having nearly the whole spring so far. Last year I had been out climbing in Squamish more times by the end of the first weekend in March than I have in total so far this year...AHHH!!?! But, not to worry since this trend is rapidly changing for the better. Last week I was climbing for 4 of the 5 weeknights...ahhhhh, that's better!
So on Wednesday the 14th I made my first midweek trip up to Squamish with my good friend Scott Tasaka who has recently moved back to the Promised Land, where he grew up. We went up with a penchant for an evening of bouldering and since Scott's itinerary was wide open void of any active projects, he graciously let me drive the program. After a speedy and efficient warm-up, we hit my current project Defender of the Faith with the hopes that we would find a few extra pads under the Gibb's Cave boulder. Unfortunately the trusty Squamish locals that seem to store their pads there in teh spring weren't so trustworthy that day as there were no pads in sight. Bummer! I wasn't comfortable really going for it with only 2 pads so we quickly went with the back-up plan of going to try Velcro, V10 since it was another problem I was interested in trying some more as I had spent a few tries on it previously and thought it both looked awesome, and would climb awesome if I could ever unlock the moves.
Long story short, we posted up and the holds felt considerably worse than the previous time I had tried it; prognosis, bad. However, we both kept trying and we warmed up and eventually the holds felt a bit better and we were coming close to pulling onto the problem (har har, I know that sounds funny but it's probably the 2nd most difficult part). After another while of resting and revising foot beta, I completely surprised myself by actually touching the 2nd hold?! I yelped with delight and told Scott who got super excited and promptly announced the I was going to send it tonight and we weren't leaving until I did. Well apparently Scott can tell the future because after a short rest, I yarded on the starting holds and connected with the crimp in a fashion that said "what's the big deal?". It felt soooo good I couldn't believe it! After sketching a little on the topout, I managed to pull over the top with Scott's encouragement ringing loud in my head. Awesome!!! First project of 2010 down and by grade supposedly the hardest one on my list, however I know that Defender is (at least feels) much harder for me.
The Bad News...
Friday April 16th sometime between 7pm and 9:45pm my SX Trail got stolen off of our 3rd floor balcony. I think the most disconcerting thing about it for me is that it was definitely premeditated and the wanker had watched to see that my bike was out there, and then watched for us to leave for dinner. I really really wish we had come home and caught him stealing it...he would have been back on the ground floor very quickly, minus my bike.
The Good News...
The next day I went for an XC ride in Squamish with Martin and afterward we stopped by Corsa Cycles where my friend Adam works. I know Adam from back in Ontario where he distinguished himself as one the stronger climbers in Ontario at the time by putting up and repeating some of the hardest problems at the Niagara Glen. Anyways, I recited my tale to Adam and he was apologetic as any good bike enthusiast would be; however, he shared an interesting bit of information with me. Apparently about an hour before I had walked into the shop, another fellow had traded in his '08 SX TRail 2 for a road bike and Corsa was going to sell the SX as a used bike at a reasonable price. After checking with our insurance company, I called Adam tonight to tell him I'll bring up a deposit to hold the bike until the insurance money comes in. Nothing's set in stone but as of now it looks hopeful that I'll have my beloved SX Trail back very soon! Not the one that I rode with so much excitement as it introduced me to the legendary trails on the Northshore and the Whistler Bike Park, but an SX Trail nonetheless and with good fortune it will take me on many more adventures. The SX Trail saga continues!
So that makes twice as much good news as bad news...I can handle that. This was also a good test for me to not sweat the small stuff in life and I think I passed with flying colours.
Ciao amicos!
The weather has been stellar in Vancouver recently which has been welcome change from the crap weather we've been having nearly the whole spring so far. Last year I had been out climbing in Squamish more times by the end of the first weekend in March than I have in total so far this year...AHHH!!?! But, not to worry since this trend is rapidly changing for the better. Last week I was climbing for 4 of the 5 weeknights...ahhhhh, that's better!
So on Wednesday the 14th I made my first midweek trip up to Squamish with my good friend Scott Tasaka who has recently moved back to the Promised Land, where he grew up. We went up with a penchant for an evening of bouldering and since Scott's itinerary was wide open void of any active projects, he graciously let me drive the program. After a speedy and efficient warm-up, we hit my current project Defender of the Faith with the hopes that we would find a few extra pads under the Gibb's Cave boulder. Unfortunately the trusty Squamish locals that seem to store their pads there in teh spring weren't so trustworthy that day as there were no pads in sight. Bummer! I wasn't comfortable really going for it with only 2 pads so we quickly went with the back-up plan of going to try Velcro, V10 since it was another problem I was interested in trying some more as I had spent a few tries on it previously and thought it both looked awesome, and would climb awesome if I could ever unlock the moves.
Long story short, we posted up and the holds felt considerably worse than the previous time I had tried it; prognosis, bad. However, we both kept trying and we warmed up and eventually the holds felt a bit better and we were coming close to pulling onto the problem (har har, I know that sounds funny but it's probably the 2nd most difficult part). After another while of resting and revising foot beta, I completely surprised myself by actually touching the 2nd hold?! I yelped with delight and told Scott who got super excited and promptly announced the I was going to send it tonight and we weren't leaving until I did. Well apparently Scott can tell the future because after a short rest, I yarded on the starting holds and connected with the crimp in a fashion that said "what's the big deal?". It felt soooo good I couldn't believe it! After sketching a little on the topout, I managed to pull over the top with Scott's encouragement ringing loud in my head. Awesome!!! First project of 2010 down and by grade supposedly the hardest one on my list, however I know that Defender is (at least feels) much harder for me.
The Bad News...
Friday April 16th sometime between 7pm and 9:45pm my SX Trail got stolen off of our 3rd floor balcony. I think the most disconcerting thing about it for me is that it was definitely premeditated and the wanker had watched to see that my bike was out there, and then watched for us to leave for dinner. I really really wish we had come home and caught him stealing it...he would have been back on the ground floor very quickly, minus my bike.
The Good News...
The next day I went for an XC ride in Squamish with Martin and afterward we stopped by Corsa Cycles where my friend Adam works. I know Adam from back in Ontario where he distinguished himself as one the stronger climbers in Ontario at the time by putting up and repeating some of the hardest problems at the Niagara Glen. Anyways, I recited my tale to Adam and he was apologetic as any good bike enthusiast would be; however, he shared an interesting bit of information with me. Apparently about an hour before I had walked into the shop, another fellow had traded in his '08 SX TRail 2 for a road bike and Corsa was going to sell the SX as a used bike at a reasonable price. After checking with our insurance company, I called Adam tonight to tell him I'll bring up a deposit to hold the bike until the insurance money comes in. Nothing's set in stone but as of now it looks hopeful that I'll have my beloved SX Trail back very soon! Not the one that I rode with so much excitement as it introduced me to the legendary trails on the Northshore and the Whistler Bike Park, but an SX Trail nonetheless and with good fortune it will take me on many more adventures. The SX Trail saga continues!
So that makes twice as much good news as bad news...I can handle that. This was also a good test for me to not sweat the small stuff in life and I think I passed with flying colours.
Ciao amicos!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Fromme Fever!!
I got out last Thursday and Friday on Mt. Fromme for some good DH riding and it was awesome! I've only been out a handful of times but I already feel as good as when I left off last year I think. I rode Ladies Only which has seen a ton of work done on it (thanks to Digger I heard) and then posted some laps on Bobsled, Floppy Bunny and Natural High as well as a new trail I found which is awesome! It's quite simple but in stark contrast to the more worn in trails it's all dirt and very flowy. It was pretty wet but when things dry out a bit it's going be a sweet-ass speed run to rip down and practice keeping speed through corners...FUN!!! It also has a rad looking drop on it that I'm trying to work up the courage to hit...it's about 6 ft down and you need to clear at least 6 ft of flat to make the tranny; not huge by any means but big enough for this youngster to think twice...ha ha.
Last Saturday I did an epic 5 hr XC ride up in Squamish that ranks among the best I've ever done with Martin. It was so amazing...we rode all new trails (for us) and our cheshire cat grins were still showing clear by the time we hit the car again in the late afternoon. Amazing day!
Sunday I wanted more so I arranged with my friend Scott Tasaka to hook up and do some climbing together since we haven't gotten together since he's moved back to Vancouver after a hiatus from living out here and being in Ontario where we originally met. It was amazing. The conditions, the problems and the atmosphere at the Hatchery were second to none and we thoroughly enjoyed a great day of climbing. I ended up doing a few classics which included Tai-Fighter V4, Phantom Menace V6 and G-Force Accelerator V8...all incredible problems that I would highly recommend!
Last night I got out to so some sport climbing in Lynn Valley wiht Markezzy and it was super fun...we only managed to get 3 routes in each before we had to beat the closing gate that would lock us in but still a great evening pulling on fun routes.
Tomorrow night is SQUAMISH with Scott again and I'm hoping to put in another effort on Defender of the Faith...not too sure what to expect but if everything lines up...I think you know what I'm thinking!
Will post an update Thursday about tomorrow's sesh.
Ciao for now!
Last Saturday I did an epic 5 hr XC ride up in Squamish that ranks among the best I've ever done with Martin. It was so amazing...we rode all new trails (for us) and our cheshire cat grins were still showing clear by the time we hit the car again in the late afternoon. Amazing day!
Sunday I wanted more so I arranged with my friend Scott Tasaka to hook up and do some climbing together since we haven't gotten together since he's moved back to Vancouver after a hiatus from living out here and being in Ontario where we originally met. It was amazing. The conditions, the problems and the atmosphere at the Hatchery were second to none and we thoroughly enjoyed a great day of climbing. I ended up doing a few classics which included Tai-Fighter V4, Phantom Menace V6 and G-Force Accelerator V8...all incredible problems that I would highly recommend!
Last night I got out to so some sport climbing in Lynn Valley wiht Markezzy and it was super fun...we only managed to get 3 routes in each before we had to beat the closing gate that would lock us in but still a great evening pulling on fun routes.
Tomorrow night is SQUAMISH with Scott again and I'm hoping to put in another effort on Defender of the Faith...not too sure what to expect but if everything lines up...I think you know what I'm thinking!
Will post an update Thursday about tomorrow's sesh.
Ciao for now!
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