Cypress After Fromme

Whooie, what a day! As you can see from the previous post, I rode a pretty killer lap on Fromme with the Brodie Boys, Andrew & Bruce, and then headed to Cypress for some laps with Alex & Lindsay.

We first hit up Sex Girl which is a killer stunt trail, with a few steeps on it, and a wicked hard switchback section, ending out with some fun flow corners. I love that trail.

Then we went back up and did a marathon ride down Sterl's Trail which is always good times. Unfortunately for Alex, he did not have his best ride ever. Lots of bike attacks, and skinny bail-outs causing his first experience on the trail to not be his best. Thankfully he does see the potential in the trail through his clouded hatred of the ride.

Greatest thing about today of all; no flats! I am hopeful that my bike is back in love with me, and is going to be good to me the rest of the season.

The Brodie Boys

Just finished some rips with Spicer and Summers up on Fromme. The ride up was a hammerfest. Spicer is an ex-Canadian National mountain bike champion, so he just doesn't know how to go slow. My god I've never been to the top that fast; under an hour!

They took me up to a secret trail that has no name. It's short, but totally fun. Nice an loamy, natural and fun. It pops you out at 6th switchback, so we headed back up again. Past 7th Secret; to drop into Bookwis;, which is another loamfest of a trail. A super fun morning!! Now off to Cypress for an afternoon rip with Lindsay and Alex!

Welcome to Cambodia

Tonight Andrew took Alex, Terry, Dave (Alex's neighbor) and I to a secret trail on Seymour called Cambodia. It was a heck of a hike in to get to it, but was pretty worth it due to it's super loaminess. Below are some photos from the riding on it I took with my iPhone, hence the super blur.

I got another flat this night, I'm beginning to think my bike hates me. Maybe it can sense that it's for sale?

A Ride Down Ned's

Below are some photos I took from our ride on Ned's tonight. What a gong show for me; a flat and a broken chain. Before those things happened, the ride was rocking good fun! It was just Alex, Lindsay & I ripping it, so we were of course cruising quick.

Crankworx 2009

This was yet another great long weekend. This time a big crew (Lisa, Don, Alex, Lindsay, Scott, Katherine, Gina, Iz, Terry & I) spent time in Whistler.

We had a great place rented in the Blueberry Hill area before the Village that slept us all comfortably.

The majority of us arrived Thursday night, and had a good night of catching up.

Friday was a day spent in the park. Wow it was busy! We knew from the get go that this weekend would not be a weekend dedicated to tons of runs, as it is insane during the Crankworx weekend. We did a few runs though, and it was a good day, just a bit overcast.

Saturday Iz, Terry & I took advantage of the demonstration tents and hit up an XC ride on 'Kill Me Thrill Me'. It was super fun! Iz & I both demoed top-of-the-line Specialized dual suspension XC bikes (mine a Stumpjumper, hers a Saphire) that weighed around 25lbs! Terry rode a Giant bike, and Lindsay rode her own bike. The trail was epic! So fun, super flowy, and the climbs were actually enjoyable, challenging but fun! The trail was only about 5kms long, so the total ride was around an hour.

We spent the afternoon watching the craziness that is the 'Slopestyle' event. Guys launching themselves off of crazy stunts, doing ridiculous tricks. Very cool to watch indeed.

The night was debauchery as expected, starting at Merlin's with burgers and beers, and ending late back in the Chalet.

Sunday was a few more laps in the park for Terry, Lindsay & I while Isabelle did an 'all-mountain' ride with a group of her MuddBunnies firends.. Terry took out a Giant Reign SX for a spin, as that's the bike he's leaning heavily towards purchasing next year. I'm looking at the Giant Faith 0.



After our laps on the course, Scott, Terry & I went up and watched the Pro. Men race the DH course. They were CRAZY fast; very impressive stuff.

Click here to see all the photos Iz & I took.

Crankworx '09 DH Race Photos

3rd Annual Road Ride to Halfmoon Bay

For the third straight year, Terry & I rode our road bikes to the Sunshine Coast. This time our party increased by 2 more, and we had a peloton of 5 with Alex rejoining the ride, long with Lindsay and Isabelle coming along as first timers.

Saturday the weather was a bit overcast, but that was alright as it kept the heat down. The ride to Terry's aunt Patti's is a bit more uphill there than home, which is good in my opinion as you're pretty tired after riding around 80kms no matter how you cut it.

When we arrived Patti treated us to a welcome home as always, with some beers and relaxing while we all took turns showering. Dinner was amazing again (she's not giving us any reason to stop this tradition) with pork tenderloin in a blackberry sauce along with yummy potatoes, a couple of different salads, spinach and grilled vegetables. Dessert was ice cream, and some wafer cookies, which you can not go wrong with!

We all turned in pretty early (I am sure I was asleep by 9) as we were tired to say the least.

Sunday we were put to work before our delicious breakfast as Terry's parents had some split wood delivered. The five of us made short work of stacking a bit over a chord of wood, then devoured blackberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon on the side.

The ride home was a bit nicer weather as even the sun made an appearance.

All in all, a ride I enjoy doing, and look forward to annually!

Check out all of the photos by clicking on the one below.


Team Rebec & Kroes (aka: team awesome!)

Floatplane Biking from Warner Lake

What an amazing gift Isabelle gave me for my birthday (back in March) this weekend. Terry, she & I left early Friday afternoon in Phil's truck (thanks Phil, wish you could have come!!) headed for Tyax Resort on Tyaughton Lake. The reason being that Isabelle booked a floatplane mountain bike trip for us from Warner Lake back down to Tyax Resort.

We got to Pemberton on good time, had a great meal there and then headed for the Hurley Forest Service Road to get through the pass to the resort. It was a heck of a trek, as you can see by the video below.



The photos (link below) show the forest fires that were occurring at the same time too.

We arrived around 9ish and set up camp, then hit the sack as we had an early morning Saturday.


We woke up on good time, about 7a, so that we could eat and get our things together for the plane. We loaded up our bikes into the plane, and off we went into the sky! The plane was a 1961 De Havilland Beaver built in Toronto we were told, and it was so loud! The take off was smooth as butter, as was the flight and the landing. Two others and our guide had gone up on an earlier flight and we met them at the trail head.

Note: The Sopranos' theme by Alabama 3 called 'Woke Up This Morning' is used as the theme tunes for this as that is what the pilot had playing in our headsets!
The ride itself was epic. Such amazing singletrack, the photos and videos don't do it justice!! I can see why The Collective boys filmed some of 'Seasons' there. Simply awesome! It was a 6.5 hour ride, my goodness that was the longest ride I've done in a long time, and in fact ever.






Sunday was a lazy day. We spent it on the lake, paddling around and exploring the shore. Dinner was great; imported Vij's Indian curry, mmmmm.

Monday we had to book it back through the pass as the main highway through Lillooet (the way we planned to return, even though it added time) had been closed due to forest fires. Even the pass was only being kept open for a short time due to the fires on the Valley side. Check out these shots to see how close we were coming back, craziness!!!



A Little Video of the Fires


We made it unscathed, and stopped in Whistler for a quick valley ride on 'A River Runs Through It', both my and Terry's first time on them. It was capped off with a dip in Alta Lake at Rainbow Beach. Perfect day, perfect weekend, all perfect!

Click here to see all the photos from the trip.

Click here to see all of my videos on YouTube, and thus all of the other video from the trip.

Click here to see all of Terry's photos from the trip.

Click to see the photos taken by our guide, Claire

2 Laps on Mt. Seymour

Last night the crew (Adam, Sam, Terry, Lindsay, Alex, Jeff) & I hit up Mt. Seymour. we ran two laps, it was killer!!

Lap ¹took us down CBC to Pingu to Team Pangor. I was super happy as I hit the two drops at the split between Ping and Salvation that I'd never done before. Photos will be taken next time!

Lap 2 was CBC to Pingu to Boogie Man. It was appropriate to ride Boogie when we did, as it was getting dark!! Good riding down that trail, but still lots to conquer for me as it's gnar!!

All in all 2 wicked laps with a great bunch of folks. no serious injuries, and only a flat tire by Alex, and a broken chain by Jeff slowed us down.

Can't wait until next time!!

The Boys Scoping Out The Big Boogie Man Drop

Trail Day on Seymour

Today was an IMBA trail day up on Mt. Seymour, dedicated to CBC trail. It started at 8:30a, but there was NO way in heck that Iz & I were going to get up that early after such a long a(and fun) day on the Big W.

So we joined up at about 11a, and got right in to it. I think us coming late was good, as we had fresh energy! Found some rocks here, dug some dirt for others there. Felt nice doing something on the trail that we ride so much. I think that the other 100+ people agreed!

It was fun, saw some familiar faces, and even got some free schwag as there was a pretty good dosage of sponsors out supporting the efforts.

The day ended at about 4p. Iz & I dawned our gear, and ripped down the trail we'd just finished working on, with goals of hitting up Ping and Team Pangor. Well, Iz got to complete the plan, but I got a flat at the end of CBC so I hitched a ride down with a fellow rider in his truck, and met her there. Iz tells me she had a great ride, no falls, and only walked a couple of sections!


Click for All Photos

Extended Day of Play

Alex, Iz, Lindsay, Phil & I headed up to Whistler today. The weather finally has cooled down, but it was still a gorgeous sunny day.

We rode from about noon to 6:30p, and it was amazing.

No one got hurt, we hit up some super tech trails, and conquered some fears.

For me, I finally let go of the brakes on the lower part of A-Line and hit the transitions on the last 3 big jumps. In fact, the last jump I landed half way down! It felt so great, finally am getting comfortable on the new bike.

For Iz, she hit some super gnarly sections on Joy Ride that even Phil & I found pretty sketchy, and made it look easy! It is so fun watching her progression; she's rocking!! She also hit the creek gap at the end of Dirt Merchant which is awesome!!

After the day on the hill, we hit up the local Irish pub for some beers and grub, and to catch the end of the hockey game. Poor Pittsburgh, hope they can rally the troops for the next two games!!

We got home at about 10p, and hit the sack for a well deserved sleep.


Click for All Photos

A Small Whistler Group

Gina, Alex, Lindsay, Iz & I all rode today up on the Big W. Yet another gorgeous day, with highs around 26, and not a cloud in the sky.

It wasn't too crazy busy which is good, but we did see a lot of friendly faces. Landon from Williams Lake is now living there, and we ran into him at the end of the day.

Aimee of MudBunnies fame (the club Iz has joined to get out with more girl riders) was there with her crew. Her fiance is pals with Brett Tippie, The Grandfather of Freeriding, so we got to do a lap with him. That was fun.

Only two small mechanicals today; Gina a flat tire, and me too. Mine was worse, as the puncture ruined the tire too.

All in all, I'm glad I was out here, rather than back in Ontario where I understand it snowed and hailed! What a way to welcome June in!?


Click to See All Photos

Carnage on Cypress

Tonight Sam, Terry, Phil, Alex, Lindsay & I hit up Cypress for some fun. We had all intentions of ripping two runs, but bicycle carnage slowed us down.

We headed up to the head of Mystery Downhill to get us going, with intentions of continuing on Fire Hose. We accomplished the first part of the trip, but not with Terry ripping his rear derailleur (or mech as Sam calls it) off, and Sam himself destroying his rear shifter. Before the run even started, I found that my left pedal was broken too, so it was a challenging run for me.

We all still had a blast, but with the added wait time of Terry needing to pull his chain off, by the time we popped out on the road to head up to Fire Hose it was evident that the sun would not permit a second run.

Ah well, we still climbed the road back up and hit Fire Hose for some last fun before heading down to the parking lot to meet Terry and his broken bike.

We all then went to the local "Earl's" for some food and beers.


Click to See all Photos

First Whistler Day of 2009

Today was our (Terry, Iz, Gina & I) first day up on Whistler, and it rocked!

Danged near every lower trail was open, the weather was spectacular, and no one got hurt. What else could you ask for? Oh, how about seeing a momma bear and her 3 cubs WAY up close... might even say too close. Check out the photos below.

It's awesome to see Isabelle getting so much faster and more confident. This should be a good season I think!


Click to see all photos

Kelowna May Long 2009

I'd say the title says it all, but for some more details, photos and some videos too, read on!!

We (Terry, Iz, Phil, Nic & I) headed off to Kelowna Thursday night for a long weekend of fun at Scott & Katherine's. We arrived close to midnight, and went straight to bed.

Friday we got up late in the morning, and just got settled, unpacking, working on our bikes etc. Scott and Katherine both got home around 4p, so we then got out on our bikes!

The ladies hit the pavement, while the boys hooked up with Johnny Smoke for a quick lap over on Westbank (aka West Kelowna) down a trail called 2.5.

The trail was awesome, lots of fun stunts on it, and super fun flow riding to it. There was a big road gap on the trail called 'Shenanigans' that Phil hit up. He didn't land it quite right though, and clipped a tree with his left pedal causing his pedal to break, along with his toe!



Phil landing the gap; take 1

I came down with a wicked cold Friday that I just couldn't shake, so it was an early night for me, which was fine as Saturday was to be a good day of riding once again!

We hooked up with Johnny and his group (of nearly 30 riders!) at around 10a and headed over to Smith Creek for a pedal UP! Something we were not prepared for really, but it was worth it. The decent had so much flow, little hits, and berms, it was worth the over hour climb.


Some guy rolling down the trail

Our second lap was shuttled, again to one of the trails in West Kelowna, this time we hit up Builders Only, a trail Terry, Iz & I rode last year. It's really fun, lost of stunts (hence the name) and an fun drops too.


Phil rides one of the skinnies on Builders

Sunday we headed up to West Kelowna on our own as Johnny's group was heading to Oliver for a big trip, but it would have eaten up our whole day. Oliver is about an hour from Kelowna!

Our first run down was on 3.5 which has the 'Big Money' stunt on it. Both Phil & I hit it, as it was pretty cool. A big long steep to a gap to another gap. The first part wasn't hard at all, but the second gap had something wrong with the take off as both Phil & I bailed on it!


Phil hits the Big Money stunt


I hit the Big Money stunt

3.5 runs in to 2.5 so we railed that trail back to the finish.


I ride some skinny on 2.5

Second run was a tame ride, as we took up Nicole on Iz's bike, and Katherine came up too on her new bike. We hit 2.5 as it was the 'easiest' of the trails, and it still took us almost 2 hours to get down! Ah well, everyone was smiles, so that's what matters. The best part of it all was that Phil hit the 'Shenanigans' drop again, and made it look like it was nothing!


Phil makes the Shenangians gap look easy

We went up for a third run so that Iz could have some fun too. It was a ripper, just under 40 minutes down Builders by Iz, Terry, Scott & I.

Both 2.5 and 'Builders' drop in to the Mouse Trap stunt. Phil nailed it the first time down, but Terry & I didn't conquer it until Sunday. We're OK with that!!


Terry conquers the Mouse Trap

Monday was a travel day. We got up around 10a and all headed for breakfast. Then it was on the road time. I was hacking up a lung all the way home, dang chest cold!

See more photos here.

An Adventure

Terry, Iz & I headed up to Mt. Seymour today with the intentions of exploring, and that we did.

Our first run was pretty uneventful, as we headed over to a very well maintained and mapped trail called Boogie Man. It's a pretty crazy trail, with some steep sections, and wicked huge stunts. We rode around pretty much everything, but it is still a fun trail to ride even without doing the stunts.


One of the long log rides... Terry & Iz opted not to ride it... I did!

Run number two we headed to 'The Dark Side' (named as it's technically 'illegal' to ride) and hit up a trail called Three Chop. A very old trail, soft and loose, and super fun. It pops you out on a road that we should have taken that takes you back to the parking lot... but we decided to cross the road to the other trail we saw. Bad move, as we were thus dumped out in Deep Cove. OOPS!

So Terry & I hitch hiked back up to the parking lot, and then hitched another ride up to the top to fetch the vehicles.

A funny little side note: when we were getting the ride up the mountain, we rode up with Johnny Smoke of Bush Pilot Biking, as he was in town and hitting up Seymour for a few laps. We're riding with him this coming weekend, and it should be epic!!

Old School Trails with Tourists

This morning we (Terry, Phil, Sam & I) met up with a friend of ours from Kelowna who was in town, Marcus, and his brother in law Colin.

We headed up to Mt. Seymour and got to the trail head by about 11.

Our first run was down the classic favourite Pingu to Salvation to Pangor.

Unfortunately for Sam he had a little bail on a very easy section that cost him $60. There was no bet on the section, it was due to his tacoing his front brake rotor, and thus needing to buy a new one.


Sam Installs New Rotor

We headed back up for a second lap, and decided to explore a classic trail called Cunt Buster (hey, I didn't name it!) thought on the maps on the government run signage it's only called C Buster I think for obvious reasons.


Sam After Rolling The Steep Stunt In Background

The trail was super fun, having a good mix of stunts, drops and steeps. It is definitely on the list of trails to include in rides at Mt. Seymour now!


Terry Walking Along A Skinny... He Was Tired

Sadly Marcus & Colin got split from us at one point, and didn't end up riding the trail with us, instead taking a gingerly pedal down the Baden Powel trail.

Sex Girl on Cypress

Now, not to be confused with the oldest profession, the title is referring to the name of the trail we (Terry, Phil, Adam, Sam, Simon & I) rode tonight called Sex Girl. This was a trail I'd never ridden, and will now want to ride again and again!!



So many stunts (gap jumps, step down gaps, drops), sweet berms and natural rock faces combined with tight, steep & loose switchbacks, it's a trail that gets you smiling ear to ear!



The best part of it all was that we all rode nearly all of the stunts. That's SUPER gratifying!!

Super Deception

Terry, John, Iz & I headed to the hills over in Belcarra for a race today called the John Henry West Coast Super D. We were fully expecting there to be SOME climbing, but this was basically a one rune XC race!! The climbs were killer.

Ah well, we all had fun, and all got free swag too. For a $15 race, it was well organized, and the weather was great, so being out on the bike made us smile!

Iz did her run in about 19 minutes
Terry at about 17:40
John at 17:30
I turned around a 17:10

Full results here.

Terry & I were in the largest category of 30+, and came 28th and 26th respectively.

Iz was top 5 for her group, though there were only 5.... I'm still super proud of her, and am glad she partook.

Johnny P. came second last in his class, but he was competing against yahoos that are like 21 and ride every single day... oh, and his bike was at least 10lbs heavier than all of theirs!!

We all then headed over to a pub in Newport Village to have some beers and food as it was a long morning->afternoon!

All 709 photos!!!

Photos of John
Photos of Iz
Photos of Terry
Photos of me
another shot of me

2 Rips on Woodlot

Today was a great day, slept in, had a good breakfast of bacon and eggs, then headed to Maple Ridge with Iz, Phil, John, Terry, Nick & his pal Alex.

The destination was The Woodlot.

We started out with a hike up to Tsuga as we'd ridden it before and knew it was tame enough for a warm-up run, as well as the fact that Iz, Nick & Alex are still getting comfy on the bikes. We then hit Snakes & Ladders to finish off the first run. Fun time, even though Nick blew up his rear wheel. Nick, Alex & Iz finished off the day from there hitting Shotgun.


Here's Phil dropping in on a sweet rock face while I was fixing Nick's wheel

Nick & Alex had to run, and Iz was feeling tired, so it was just Terry, Phil, John & I who hiked back up, this time higher, in order to hit up Crazy Carpenter. Once we dropped in, we could see why - lots of wood stunts, and lots of work cutting logs. A really cool trail for sure, and the nicest thing was that every 'crazy' stunt had a nice round-a-bout for losers like me, err, people not comfortable with the stunts. We then hooked up with Toad Stools that hooked up with some unnamed trail, or at least unmapped trail, the dumped us out on to Shotgun to finish off the day.

We then all headed back to our place for a BBQ and some beers. What a blast!!

Fromme Take 2

Tonight we (Sam, Isabelle, Terry, Alex & I) rode up Fromme together for the second time this season.

The trail we came down was Espresso and it was my first time down it. I've not ridden Fromme a lot since living out here, as you have to pedal up. Something that I'm finding pleasure in doing again, now that I'm 30... odd?



Anyway, the trail was fun, very old school, and not ridden a lot. ('Yet' I bet is the operative word to add here)

When we got to the bottom, we all climbed in to the car, and I drove them back up for a quick jaunt down Natural High and then met them at the bottom of the trail. It was a bit trick, since we had 5 people, and our car can only carry 3 bikes. Sam hung on to the window frame, Terry sat in the back 'trailering' his bike, while Iz, Alex & I rode inside like normal passengers, our bikes on the roof.



We rode Natural High last week too, so I know what I missed, and it super fun. Lots of wood/built up stunts on it, that are a blast. I wasn't feeling too super well today though, and my energy level was low, so that's why I opted out.

Iz treated us to some DQ Blizzards at the end of the ride to cap things off!

"Team Pangor" on Mount Seymour

Dan Webster riding "Team Pangor" on Mount Seymour
Originally uploaded by orbital-vancouver

This was the first run on the new bike on Seymour. Andrew caught a pretty good shot of me rolling down the rock roll on Pangor.

First Ride of 2009

It was a bit cool, but sunny, and the plan was already set in stone to get out and get dirty. So we (Isabelle, Phil, Terry & I) did!



The rides got started about 1:30p with us all loading in to Phil's truck, and heading up to the top of Burnaby mountain - aka SFU.

The first run down, I sat out while the rest headed down 'Gear Jammer'. I knew it was going to be messy for at the top there was snow, and at the bottom it was dry. So somewhere in between, the snow HAD to be melting! And it was, have a look at Phil.



The next run down it was Terry's turn to sit out, and so Les Deguise et moi headed down 'Mel's Trail', and I got to experience first hand what the conditions were like. Though there was some snow, it was bearable, and super fun!!



Isabelle sat out the next run so that Terry, Phil & I could hit up 'Nicole's Trail', then Phil sat out for another run down 'Gear Jammer'. I sat out one more run, and the other 3 hit up 'Gear Jammer' one last time.

Iz took a photo of her dirty bike while she waited for us

After the ride, we had to clean up all of our crap, which wasn't much fun, as that included our clothes - and the water was cold!!! Terry dropped his pants before washing them. Smart in that he didn't get as cold as us, but dumb as it allowed me to snap the following photo! All in all, a super fun time!!