My wife and I will be driving through BC for a week or so in July. I am hoping to get a couple of days on bikes in that time but am a bit bewildered by the number of options. I had intended to do at least a day at Whistler, but don't want to be there during Crankworx, so that may be out. That said, we'll be going from east to west across the province and can set down for a day or two pretty much anywhere we want. Our needs will be:
bike rentals- I'm easy, but the wife is tough as she is 5' tall and has short legs, needs a standover height of around 27", so we'll need a pretty sizeable selection of rides
trails- we are New England riders, pretty intermediate. Fine with rocky, rooty, baby-heady rides. Prefer buff, don't mind reasonable climbing, not crazy about stunts/drops. I know BC is a VERY different animal, so lets call ourselves novices by your standards. We are capable riders, but pretty conservative in the 'freeride' sense. Fitness level is decent- looking for 3-5 hour rides.
Guides- sure. Willing to pay for this if it makes more sense than riding a trail network on our own where we could easily get in over our heads.
Lift-served- love to, but again, not big into high ladders, mandatory drops, giant roll-overs, etc. Love berms, love light tech, love fast buff and the general aesthetic of gravity biking. I occasionally ride Highland in NH (maybe you've heard/seen what that place is about?), but pretty much stick to the green circles there. Wife is certainly willing to ride lifts as long as there is some easy, flowy dirt (she ate up the mellow stuff at Big Mountain, MT last summer- but won't like any crazy stunting)- also a kids size downhill bike suits her fine and there are usually plenty of those available for rent at bike parks, I've found.
In the end, I think some valley xc rides on some 5" AM bikes would be ideal- but I just don't know how readily available such rides are in BC for someone without a pretty sick skillset. A cursory look through TGR, NSMB and Pinkbike threads makes everything seem epic and ultra-gnar, thus this post to inquire.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Lastly- if anyone has any dog friendly accommodations recs I'd love that too.
Rock on- bigginz
bike rentals- I'm easy, but the wife is tough as she is 5' tall and has short legs, needs a standover height of around 27", so we'll need a pretty sizeable selection of rides
trails- we are New England riders, pretty intermediate. Fine with rocky, rooty, baby-heady rides. Prefer buff, don't mind reasonable climbing, not crazy about stunts/drops. I know BC is a VERY different animal, so lets call ourselves novices by your standards. We are capable riders, but pretty conservative in the 'freeride' sense. Fitness level is decent- looking for 3-5 hour rides.
Guides- sure. Willing to pay for this if it makes more sense than riding a trail network on our own where we could easily get in over our heads.
Lift-served- love to, but again, not big into high ladders, mandatory drops, giant roll-overs, etc. Love berms, love light tech, love fast buff and the general aesthetic of gravity biking. I occasionally ride Highland in NH (maybe you've heard/seen what that place is about?), but pretty much stick to the green circles there. Wife is certainly willing to ride lifts as long as there is some easy, flowy dirt (she ate up the mellow stuff at Big Mountain, MT last summer- but won't like any crazy stunting)- also a kids size downhill bike suits her fine and there are usually plenty of those available for rent at bike parks, I've found.
In the end, I think some valley xc rides on some 5" AM bikes would be ideal- but I just don't know how readily available such rides are in BC for someone without a pretty sick skillset. A cursory look through TGR, NSMB and Pinkbike threads makes everything seem epic and ultra-gnar, thus this post to inquire.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Lastly- if anyone has any dog friendly accommodations recs I'd love that too.
Rock on- bigginz
I might be able to help you out with some shore directions as I am off the next two weeks and will probably be riding pretty much every day. Most bike parks and shops here in town will have small bikes and even xs so the wife will be happy.
