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!?
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
