back home......to Whistler ;-)

Only a couple of days after riding around Broxbourne singletrack I found myself back home in Vancouver. There'd been a fair bit of snow since I'd left but spread over the who 2 weeks. Conditions at Whis were a bit unknown - basically, like a lot of 'locals' I dont go unless there's fresh power to play in. Today there wasnt any fresh but there was still some around and it snowed pretty much all day too




















There was even some intermittent sunshine today which I have to say I dont think I saw once last season - didnt stop it from being brass monkey weather - the wind chill was cruel on the lifts








Poor ol' Rich was ill so it was Jon, Michele and I. Unfortunately (for me) Michele loves to feel the burn and when combined with her passion for powder this led to a her and Jon doing the hike up around the ridge off the far edge of Whistler's ski area - I stayed in the lift-accessed luxury of Symphony Bowl and met them an hour later - they had such a good time they managed to persuade me to go with them for a second lap


(above is Jon and Michele looking across at the ridge they're about to tackle)

This is the ridge - the chair lift goes to the top of the peak on the far right, then you ski down the valley to begin the hike up and along - takes about 35mins to get up to the drop off point




Here we are just about to drop in :-)

It was sooooo nice dropping into a foot or so of powder - still plenty of untouchedlines if you looked for them - well worth the hike - thank you to J&M for talking me into it!

Christmas in Blighty

It was great to be back on home turf - after a whole year away some things never change, then again, some things do.

Chips do not change. They are still great soaked in vinegar and are still no good for your health but that doesnt stop me missing them in Canada where all you can get is 'fries'






Another thing that doesnt change is good people. It was great to be back amongst old friends again. Friends that know me well - perhaps a little too well. I was lucky enough so spend quite a bit of time with my favourite people while I was back and Ed even lent me his favourite bike to play on. I only did a couple rides but they were both really good - sub-zero temperatures may have had Sara's toes frozen solid both times but it also meant the ground (and more importantly the mud) was frozen solid - sweet!! This photo is just down the road from "Skippy's Garden" at Woolmer Green - Sara, Jackie, Brian and I did the whole Mardley thing and I had a great time tearing around some of my old favourite trails. Thanks peeps.







Another couple of my best friends are Adrian and Esther. I saw them quite a bit too fortunately - and enjoyed my other culinary weakness - and the thing that makes no2 on the "things I miss most" - Curry! Chicken Tikka Balti - mmmmmmm, curry :-)

One time I dropped round to see Ade he was down the garden playing with his chopper! I didnt know it before but he's a bit of a model helicopter pilot - and quite a good one too. Once I talked him inside into the warm he confessed to having just bought a new micro heli which of course I insisted he assemble and demonstrate - which he was only too happy to do. Its an amazing little toy - erherr - model - the only problem being its incredibly difficult to fly - even for an old pro like Ade. Click on the video to see this amazing little gadget go




Another of my good friends, Alix also had a new toy, courtesy of her boyfriend Happy Jon. He knows her penchant for such things so bought her some poi for Christmas. Her poi have coloured lights inside so you can see them more clearly - within half an hour Alix was pretty comfortable with them - I think she should join a circus - she always takes to this kind of stuff - and she's proficient on a unicycle too!
The photos cam out pretty well I think!




Here's Jon showing how it should be done (I give it about a day before Alix puts him to shame!)

It was good to see Alix, Gill and Derek again - and taste a good home-cooked spag-bol mmmmmmmm














click on the video to see Alix in action



Back again to riding - I met up with a load of people at Sara's one frosty morning for a session in Broxbourne - my old favourite stomping ground.

The pic is of Sara's Ostriches - well oh, yes, I know they're actually Rheas but I think everyone knows what I mean if I say Ostriches!





It was a great ride - most of the old favourite singletracks - they havent changed either - just the occasional extra log to hop. Ed made it to this ride which was brilliant as he was injured last year when I came over - 2 years since we'd ridden together - thats crazy! We had a giggle flying down some of our favourite old tracks - they might not be exactly 'extreme' but they're still loads of fun

Here's Sara coming out of the mist at Hertford Heath- i always thought this old bridleway looked pretty :-)

And another misty shot - this time Ed, Sara and Simon? I think - not bad this one as I took it over my shoulder whilst riding along over pot holes














more mistiness. Thanks to everyone for another great ride today - and especially to Ed and Sara - two of the best people you could ever ride with - and also to Sara for the egg and bacon sarnies apres-ride mmmmmmmm e & B sarnies!













Christmas Eve and back round at Adrian and Esther's Ade got some FIRE poi for Christmas! It says in the instructions not to light them until you become expert at using them but the baying crowd wouldnt let him get away without a live fire demo. Adrian bravely set light to them and actually did very well - and survived with only a couple of scorch marks!






Again, they made for great pictures











click the videos for the drunken hilarity!




Christmas Day saw me at Dads with Janet's family (that'd be my Step Auntie, Uncle and cousins. We had a few laughs over various silly games although I was fighting the onset of man-flu

Boxing Day it was home with mum, sis and my brand new (well 8 month old) Nephew, Finlay. He's a happy little fella - rarely crying and always smiling. It was good to finally see my sis as a mum - with Mark and Fin they make a very happy family. Awww :-)






















Fin seemed to enjoy the wrapping paper more than his presents!











So some things never change: Good people, good trails, good times. On the other hand some things do change: My sis is now a mum and has a family, practically everyone seems to have moved house, and of course, this is no longer home for me. Home now is Vancouver but somehow Hertfordshire still feels like home.

Thanks to everyone for your hospitality - especially mum and Tim for putting me up, feeding me and lending me wheels for my stay :-)
It was very sad to leave you all again, but it just makes me look forward to my next visit even more.....then again, you could always visit me......

The first snowboard sesh of the season

I was hoping to get back up to Whistler before heading off for Christmas but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. But just when I'd given up hope there was a dump of snow on Cypress overnight :-)


I'm not the best snowboarder but I did impress myself that I didnt fall over off the lift at all today :-D despite the downramp being pretty steep - I did however make up for it on the way down the mountain!

I think I also had quite a jarring fall at some point because as I write this on Saturday morning (I leave for the airport at midday) I cannot move my head more than half an inch in any direction for fear of searing pain in my neck - not the greatest way to spend 10 hours in a plane - bring on the ibuprofen!!!

Well, this will be my last blog until I get back home to Vancouver after Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Not so long ago in a shed far far away.....

We went 4X racing!! :-D

Down in Abbotsford they're too far from The Shore to have any fun so they ride little bikes with no gears and tiny wheels (BMX). In the winter in rains a lot. Ergo they build an indoor track to play on and sometimes they let real bikes on it. Wednesday night was one such time.






Here's me smokin' Rich and Derek :-)

This was a rare sight - most of the time I had a least one person in front of me. The track was good this time though - 4 or 5 jumpable jumps leaving only 3 or 4 to pump over - this was also my first time on a hardtail there and let me tell you it ROCKED!





Derek 'exploding' out of the gate



Mucho fun. We'll be back.

Cypress pt2: The Big I

T'was a cold cold day on the North Shore. The wind was(nt) howling and the rain was(nt) coming in sideways - well it was cold.

Fresh from my Business Diploma earlier this year I was happy to apply the 80-20 rule to today's ride - I knew 80% of people, I rode 80% of the way up, Jon moaned 80% of the time - well actually is was probably only 20% but it seemed like 80!! (just kidding Big J) and 80% of the track was clear of snow! :-)

I had been wanting to ride this trail for a while - a couple of years in fact as I'd heard it was fun. Even though 20% was covered in snow it was certainly fun, the remaining 80% was 80% pumpy swoopy trail and only 20% icy rooty death.

80% of the big trees were logged over a hundred years ago - the other 20% were discarded and 80% fell down but 20% still remain as stumps and 20% of those as gigantic 100ft high stumps like this one















The air is 80% cleaner up here which means 20% of the mushrooms on the trees grow 8 million per cent bigger! These were over 2 feet across - 80% of our group didnt notice.










another of the super-stumps with Dave (I can ride anything AND on a hardtail) Kishi for scale


















Nicole's British other half - Alan the Brummy. An interesting anecdote: he moved to Canada the same day I did - although I beat him by 6 hours.

He's just ridden a challenging little section involving a steep rock roll in (naturally today it was not only moss covered by icy too) to some evil rooty steps - Nicole nailed it second time - the first attempt saw he catapulted over the bars and over a nearby log!




See look, even crazy Derek Timmermmermmermmerman is fully compressing his bike
















Speaking of crazy - you remember the video of Rich riding the snowy log the other day - well seeing as this one was only icy and not snowy, Rich seemed to think it was fair game. Fair game, nicely done Mr Jarman.










Ken contemplating his line














Mr T again

Big I was fun - I'm looking forward to riding it without the ice! Thanks guys.

Cypress Triple

With a slightly warmer few days this week, the trails were free of snow and unusually dry just in time for a bunch of the usual suspects plus some local celebs to squeeze in some sociable laps on Cypress :-)


I kept the camera holstered for the first three laps as we had a world class camera jockey with us but here's some snaps from the last lap.

We rode Wild Cherry to Roaches to S&M - probably my favourite way down Cypress. This is (I think) Noel of Knolly Bikes fame on the Cherry Bomb - really steep with an awkward roll in.












Elsewhere (actually nearer the top) is the Widow-Maker - a nasty steep line that has an odd run in and choice of narrow run outs between trees but the main issue is that you have to ride round the outside of some craggy bits on the off-camber - anyway - its tricky. Here we see Nicole conquering it very smoothly indeed - she doesnt ride like a lawyer!?












....and crazy Derek Timmermmermmermmerman in one of my better photos

















....and of course, no ride would be complete without Derek trying to blow up his fork. Again. This is supposed to be a big steep roll but unconvinced by this Derek insisted on jumping all 8-10ft of it to (almost) flat. Nice job Del! And what was even more impressive is that his fork (a 55 ATA) appeared to be fine - impressive stuff from the Italians as usual.

With the sun dipping towards the horizon, and all of us relatively unscathed from our fun, we headed to the pub for a beer and Ostrich burger. Mmmmmm, Ostrich.

Oh btw, our other celebs were Crankworx nutters Ross and some block called Ben

I always did like climbing trees.....

Jon, the fair-weather gimp light-weight that he is has recently taken up indoor climbing. Its something I've always wanted to try so he took me along the other night for a test drive. We went to this place hidden round the back of the industrial area - it wasnt very big side to side or front to back but it seemed to go up a long way! 40ft to be more precise. After getting over my my initial reaction of "bugger that, I'm not going up there!" I gave it a go and before I knew it I was dangling from overhangs 40ft in the air!
It was fun, I might just make it a regular thing on these rainy nights. Thanks mate. :-)


Oh, and for Ade who never reads this - I did a 5.7 then a 5.6 then a 5.8 then sat on the floor waiting for the feeling to come back to my forearms!!

Club ride in the snow #2

Today was the NSRIDE club ride at The Woodlot. The weather in December is never going to be great but we keep our fingers crossed for no rain. When I got up it had started snowing - better than rain, but too much and its a problem...









by the time we got to the Woodlot, there was a fair bit of the white stuff to play in. Despite the weather there was a good turn out of more than a dozen people - enough for two groups










this is the last bit of the "climb" - its up a steep creek bed and had six inches of untouched snow
on just to make it more interesting - this is the point that I strongly considered not wearing shorts the next time!









A rare photo of Euan - more usually found on the other side of the camera












Despite the long hard climb and the weather Brian thought this would be a great day for full-on DH setup












we kept away from most of the woodwork but the snow doesnt stop the drops being fun - the only problem is trying to stop after landing!










This bridge was very icy and much higher than it looks but everyone rode it.....












....except Euan! The best defense is survival!














Down lower, the snow was thinner so rocky rooty lines like this one were just about in play - easy on the brakes!
















And finally for your amusement, here's Rich riding the Icy Log of Death! - it was very slightly downhill - just enough that you'd need to brake - I got ten feet then decided against it but Rich being Rich wasnt perturbed by the conditions.... Click the play button > to play the video

Club (night) ride in the snow

We knew it had been snowing but as Tom would say, that's not unusual - up top it'll be puking snow and down below raining cats and dogs. We figured we could ride up to the snow at least

....only problem was, the snow was down to the gate! OK, plan B, ride until we couldnt...








it wasnt too bad most of the way as we could stay in the vehicle tracks - although on the switchbacks that all turned to mush... or slush I suppose...










Rich and I were leading tonight which was a littel embarrassing as we turned up together, late. Meg had taken the group up to Expresso and by the time we got there, they'd only just dropped in









This is the first ladder on Expresso - its not "steep" but it certainly isnt flat - it made for a fun run out in the snow thats for sure!











....skinnies were kind of a waste of time - this one got the better of me but a conversation a couple days later seems to shed some light on why my front wheel fell off it so easy:

Me: "I tried that skinny by the creek thats this big, but I lost my front wheel off the side for no reason"

Euan: "Dude, its only that big - thats why you lost your wheel!"

Oh, that explains it then - I was riding along snow supported by air - Doh!


It was a good ride though - fell off loads but had fun and no major injuries

:-)