Secret trails....

Armed with some sketchy directions, Bill, Ken and I set off to find "Aftertaste", one of the not-so-secret secret trails on Seymour. A bit like "Hidden Valley" back home - a lot of people know about it and ride it but for every one of those there's a dozen that cant find it!

Well, we found it and if I was allowed to, I'd recommend it! It was pretty gnarly but with very nice rocky bits and some quality woodwork.

This is Bill on a rough steep bit that looks flat in the photo!







but the real fun was saved for the end.... obviously you cannot get any idea of this from the photos (so why am I posting them I hear you ask, well...) but its better than just trying to describe it right?

So, basic layout: 15ft near vertical rock face, 2 bike lengths and then another 15ft rockface - although not quite as vert.

I guess if you're fond of 15ft hucks you could just fly off the second but personally I'm a little more conservative!










here's Bill checking out the line...

















over you go mate! Sweet - and on a hardtail too!

Then it was my turn, I rolled in, dropped like a stone to the flat(ish) middle bit and hit the brakes - unfortunately my front wheel skidded across the dusty rock and jammed into a root, sending me straight over the bars - fortunately I managed to stop myself before going headfirst over the second drop - Phew! Everyone breathe out!

It was fun though and I'll definately clean it next time, the Aftertaste was pretty sweet.......

The Sunshine Coast

I did wonder if the John Henry bike club, Pedals and Pints, would be a poor relation to The Cove Club. Well, I couldnt have been more wrong. Not only do they ride in vast numbers (at least twice the people compared to my old club, "WASPS" back in Blighty but they also go on very cool Saturday rides from time to time. This was my first one with them and I only just find out about it the night before so I called the shop to clarify what kind of bike - "there's no shuttling" they told me so cross-country bike it is then!

The ride itself was on The Sunshine Coast - only a little further up the coast but requiring a veeeery looooooooooooong drive round Horseshoe Bay or a 30min ferry ride.

Click here for a nice view from the boat

...and the other way

We met up at the Gumboot Cafe in Roberts Creek. Like much of BC, it's a dump - just look at the boring views






I wouldnt want to live there....





...I'd never want to leave!


So, after a bit of organising, we split into 3 groups and shuttled up to the top of the trails



...yes, that's right - there WAS shuttling! Stupid people at the shop had made me bring the wrong bike! Ah well, I thought, c'est la vie. Better get on with it.

We did do a little climb (20mins) so the first downhill was "Red Barron"


It was much as the rest of the trails here, lots of trees, roots and loamy soil so not at all bad for the Hummer (that's my cross country bike in case you're not familiar with such things)


It was a beautiful forest, much like The Shore, but generally flatter and not as rocky

here's Megan on one of the wider ladder bridges





We did so many trails I can't remember them all but I know this jump was at the beginning of "Janet's Jungle".

That's Megan catching some air - no not THAT Megan, this is the other one, Doctor Megan - if you spam yourself at Whistler there's a good chance she'll be the one trying to put you back together!





All the trails here are really fun, nothing too silly in the stunt dept but still plenty to keep it interesting

Here's John - he couldn't manage the last lap as his pedal fell off!








Monica













Sven













One of my favourite trails here was "Cunning Stunts" it had loads and loads of, err, stunts and some of them were really, err, cunning!










Here's Dorothy on the rope bridge - yes - really - a rope bridge - it was very cool. Graham (the trailbuilder) also had enless skinnies, roller-coasters, teeters, steppy-bumpy-things, a swivel-teeter and my personal favourite, a reverse teeter-totter - you ride onto what looks like a huge flat timber - little do you realize that once you get your weight on it, it falls down, leaving you to ride up i, past the pivot to make it go down flat again - really odd but great fun










y'know, I really look up to the women that ride over here

here's Monica again - this time on the rope bridge









Here's Dr Megan on the DH course. This jump was pretty tricky - it was on quite a steep slope, in the middle of an S-bend, with a few feet gap from the take off to the log - oh, and a nice big tree if you didnt make the bend!
















Our intrepid leader, Ken going for the gap a bit further on

Unfortuantely, I didn't get any photos of the best trail - DNA - best for me cos it had five gap jumps all in a row. At first I was a bit nervous of doing them on my XC bike but after a couple runs I was flying across the lot. Big thanks to Derek for having a mechanical at just the right moment!



Before long, it was time to go for the 'pints' bit of the day. We headed back to Gibson for a slap up binge at Mrs Miggins pie shoppe.


Well, the Black Shark pub anyways....they had ENORMOUS burgers - all pub burgers in Canada are huge but these were ridiculous! And that was it, we caught the last ferry home and lived happily ever after.

The End.

Whistler Bike Park: Bear attack part II

We thought it'd be cooler in the mountains.....wrong!













Lots of bears around though - this cub was about 200 metres from the village - it was only about 15-20ft below us (on the chair lift) so we got a good (safe) close look










Last time we came, only the bottom lift was open but today both were going so off we went to try out the black runs at the top of the park

This view is about half way down - thats the village in the photo - a looooooong way down :-)









being on the top half I could actually recognise some places - from the chair we could see the peak in front with loads of snow on it still - one of my favourite playgrounds in the winter










Click here for a wider view from about a quarter of the way down



Another bear - this was in the same place as the two we saw last time but we were on the lift above it this time











I had a great time today - my bike is working great and I'm starting to get some flow through the gnarliness that is the Whistler Bike Park

I'm still a little aprehensive about racing up here but I've signed on now for the Garbanzo Enduro Downhill so there's no turning back now!

The lads rode brilliantly all day but unfortunately Trung got a bolt jammed in his rear disc brake which not only ripped the wheel off the bike but threw him off onto his head (again) so he had to walk back to the top and phone for help - walking down would have meant hiking at night on a strange mountain WITH lots of bears! He made it down safely on the Gondola a little while after Jason and I rolled into the village.

Oh - and the lads did A-Line too! Sweet!

We'll be back!

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st is Canada Day

I went downtown with a load of people from the Uni to celebrate

First we went to Granville Island

I knew lots of photos would be taken today but I didnt count on quite how many






Granville has lots of tourist/craft shops as well as a fanstastic market - paradise for the hungry!

They also have some sculptures....


photo op #5






photo op #9

every one of these people took a photo!











of the rainbow in the fountain....awww pretty


















Then we checked out the Vancouver 2006 Jazz Festival - there were three guys in a tent! No really what we'd expected but better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick!


photo op #14





Photo op #19

(not forgetting that every person had a camera so this particular pose took about 15 mins to complete!









Click here for the view from Granville Island and check out the "sea bus" on the far left of the picture




which we then used to cross to sunset beach (right next to Trung's place)












photo op #39













Sunset Beach













Photo op #71

This one took about 30mins with the added extreme factor of the taking-off-the-shoes!











We walked round Sunset beach and across town to Canada Place - not surprisingly the focal point for celebrations










Even here, only metres from the city there's beautiful green spaces - Jason lives round here somewhere - technically this is Coal Harbour



photo op #210









photo op # 591
















complete with paddle steamer...





photo op #877








and somewhere to wash the kids.....






photo op #1091






And finally we make it to Canada Place.

As you can see, this is where the big boats park. This is the same cruise line that I went on a few years back.....mmm good times! And the food - mann, no wonder the ship is so big - everyone on board doubles in weight during the voyage!

Unfortunately, I had to get back so did see much of Canada Place but I had a good day and a lot of fun - oh and a bit of sunburn too

Photo op #8,769,153

Boogie Man

Thursday nights are club rides. Its cool, dozens of people 5-6 groups and some of the shuttled (ie all downhill).

Today was scorching hot - 30deg yet again but that didnt stop the massive turn out (I'd guess about 60-70)

Norco were there too as club sponsors to provide loads of demo bikes and give our bikes a lift up the mountain in there MASSIVE trailer (left)




Norco also brought along some of their team riders including the legendary Kris Holm (left) who can ride anything we can and a whole lot more!

I wanted to get his autograph for Miss Sol, my uni-cycling mate back home but unfortunately it would have to have been written in blood on some in-animate object that would be expensive to post to England so I gave up! (Sorry Alix)












The ride itself was fantastic, being the "advanced" group we set off down CBC, Corkscrew and Salvation on our way to Boogie Man I love Salvation although there is a bit (see below) that gives me the willies!

Its got a longish skinny, drops, jumps, a wall ride (see February) Here's "the other brit" - John on the Teeter-Totter (thats a see-saw to you mum) with not one but TWO corners on it!

Its a lot of fun!










It's always a bad sign when someone turns up with jeans, t-shirt, no armour - you know they're going to kick butt! This one was no different - I missed the X-up and whips that he did over this gap.

This is the one I havent tried - you have to sprint down a foot-wide log to make the gap - Respect to Stophe who did it last year but its changed since then making the sprint even harder :-(




Here's one of the team riders, Dylan

We saw him a couple days later doing 360's over the huge dirt jumps in the BoneYard at Whistler.

(he's pretty good)









So, on to Boogieman. Double-Black and rightly so.



















Apologies for the poor photos - dusk is a ridiculous time to try and take photos in the rain forest!


Here's a typical rock face - there were loads of them and this one gave you about a bike length of gravel to stop in before the next one.

Makes you feel alive doesnt it!












Not just rock faces though, this hollowed out log was fun - you cant really see in the photo but it was like riding along a gutter - just enough room for pedals

















....and possibly the worst photo yet, this is Tim riding the big log - its about 10-15ft up but made more interesting by a couple of trees that have necessitated some outrigger ladders. You may recognize this one from the old Saint advert - that is the bike components - not the TV series!

Burnaby Mountain

Trung and Jason were heading up to Burnaby Mountain (which is in Eastern "Greater Vancouver") the other night. I hadn't been before so off I went to discover new trails and boldly go where Newman hadnt been before!

It started badly, after realizing I'd left my armour at home we had a half hour ride in stifling heat to get to the top


It was only then that I realised there is a road all the way to the top because Simon Fraser Uni is on top of the mountain!


Ah well, I was on the XC bike so it was pretty easy - the biggest problem was swotting the mosquitos without crashing - I couldn't outrun them in first gear!

The trails were fun, T & J ride here all the time so they knew where they were going, I just kept my eyes peeling for stupid stuff - of which there was very little


As usual in these parts, photos are a challenge due to the dim light in the thick trees - that is lots of trees close together - not 'dumb' trees!




oh, and not forgetting the problem of cutting peoples heads off in the photos.....


It was fun though, and I'll certainly go back for a quick cross country ride now and again - well, a 30 min climb then a 30min decent anywho!

Thanks for the ride lads.