Ride Reports

7/16/06 cAnAdiA...

copied from an earlier report...

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cAnAdiA, you might ask ?
It is every little bit of mountain biking heaven you might enjoy while in the hospitable land of hosers and huckers...
Do you have any slices of cAnAdiA you'd like to share here ? please do...

Here's a quick report on the sampler we had this past weekend... for this I took my DareDH.

We finally got our way and squeezed-in rides in all the spots we had intended...
It's hard to put your foot down and not get a fix of the Whistler Bike Park all weekend when it's in this rare good condition, but we stuck to the plan and had a great time.
I know, a picture speaks a thousand words, but unfortunately, no camera was brought, so you will just have to open up a bike magazine for visuals this time.

Day 1 -
OH CANADA
The drive up was uneventful until the minute we began driving up Mountain Highway to reach Mt.Fromme up at the Shore. It began pissing like crazy but since it had been dry most of the week until this moment, I refused to let that deter our plan, so we just hopped on the bikes and pedalled to the top.
We pulled-in a quick loop and decided to ride a trail I'd never hit before, Espresso. Man, that is a fun little trail. Needless to say, the wood was wet, therefore, some of the structures were super sketchy. But the trails in general were in beautiful shape even in the hard rain. After that ride, we hopped in the Jeep, made a quick stop and jetted straight to Whistler but unfortunately not in time to make get any quality time on the park.

Day 2 -
IT'S RIDETIME ! ! !
We had the usual FTF (french toast feast) and got on the lift. On the way up our first run on Garbo, it was evident that it had been raining pretty good up there. We found enough mud on the trails to make everything slippery as ice. Man, GoatsGully was S-KETCHY but fun. By mid-afternoon, most everything was tacky and beautiful with the exception of one particular small greasyAss rock that took me out twice. By now, I had 1 crash and 2 ugly dismounts on GoatsG. I knew that I just wasn't ON that day, cos I was slow and sketchy. So I just took it easy.
After 9hrs of lift assisted heaven, we said goodnight to the hill at 8pm and headed to kick back and enjoy an evening with muchos Mojitos and bbq ribs.

Day 3 -
UGHHHHH, GOT FREIGHT TRAIN ON MY MIND - AND CERTAINLY OVER MY BODY... GET IT OFF ME ! ! !
I served up some simple chilaquiles breakfast for the crew before getting bikes ready. Slow to go but high to ride, we hop on the lift. It takes no genius to know that the park is in immaculate conditions right now. Are you freeeking kidding me, it's mid July !Absolutely no sight of mud and certainly no dust, the trails are tacky and lippy.
I'd have to say that my favourite run was NoJoke/Freight Train/No Duff/A-line. I guess those Mojitos really got me straight, cos man, that is one railing run, holy smokes... we were sizzlin' down the mountain.
In similar fashion, we smoked a few top to bottom runs from 11-3pm.
Then, we reluctantly loaded the bikes and drove down to Squamish where we committed to pedal 38-40 tooth rings up nearly 2,000ft of gain so we could pull off one of our favourite AggroXC rides. Yes, that last 1000ft / mile-long lung-busting grind up with the few steep baby head switchback section thrown-in near the top for good measure was tough, but we just took our time and crested the trail at exactly 7pm for some amazing views before diving down a sweet trail.
Most of the entire ride has rolling technical singletrack, at times exposed, with interspersed tech sections to climb and alternating with steeeep rocky/rooty chutes a la Goats Gully which require skilled manoeuvring once you let go of the brakes. But it is such a peaceful ride too, with stops at three lakes if you wish to swim, plus many nice vistas and no one else in sight.
The last section is a rippin' fast singletrack descent along a verdant, shaded and cool creek that spits you out on the road. It goes without saying that trail conditons were mint.
The drive down the Sea2Sky as the sun goes down never gets old... but getting 3hrs of sleep and having to be at work 7am always sucks... Awesome weekend

7/23/06 Boulder Creek- DeRoux -Paris Creek loop...

copied from today's report to my crew...

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Yesterday, I took the DareLT out for an opportunity to meet up with some XC guys for a ride out near the Esmeralda Peaks by Teanaway.
Ride stats:
- Length: ~20miles
- Cumulative gain: just over 6,000ft
- Elapsed time: 7hrs
- Water/Food consumption: 120oz and a powerbar

Don't have a camera now and not sure if anyone took pics... maybe later?...

I glanced at the map and figured I better wear a CamelBak and actually stock it well if I were to survive this, my first longer ride this season.
I met Pinchflat in Eastgate at around 6am and we could tell it was going to be a very hot day.
We arrived at the end of the CleElum river and began riding up the loose, rocky and steep Boulder Creek singletrack at 9am while temperature was already in the high 80's.
The ride went up/down/up/down/up/down and all the climbs would alternate between rideable and hikeAbike sections where the trail was so steep and loose with rock and dirt that even scrambling up was taxing on body and mind, mostly due to the extreme heat. My entire body glistened and dripped constantly in sweat. My eyes burned from the salt as I struggled to keep a slow and steady spin up the loose climbing switchbacks. Every drop of sweat I'd see would remind me that I needed to force fluids in or I'd pay dearly with dehydration, and I could see the relentless heat with dry dust choking the will out of riders at times. We crossed many creeks along the ride and the group had to re-fill their CamelBaks thx to Monte's water filter.
A stop for a naked swim in the cool water of Gallagher Head Lake felt like everything an oasis should be, soothing and replenishing. A perfect way to ready up for the next 1,000ft of relentless yet rideable climbing in one mile.
The descents were mostly steep and loose with overgrown brush that hid unsuspecting pedal-grabbers, like boulders and cut blowdowns just waiting to pull you off your bike while at high speed. Some switchbacks were so steep, eroded and loose that one would have to almost pull a trackstand and pivot as the front wheel drifted towards the edge. Once, during my only crash, I came mach'ing down a switchback but as I prepared for the hairpin turn, the bike couldn't slow down on the loose trail and I ended up laying the bike into a powerslide which slowed me down enough that when I went over the edge I was able to hold the handlebar with one hand as I grabbed on from a small tree with the other to keep from tumbling down the jagged slope. Those 42lbs on that Dare felt heavier than they had ever before. I gather myself and was able to pull myself back onto the singletrack and allow one rider to pass, only to catch and ride his rear wheel until I passed him 2 switchbacks later when he ate it on the loose trail.
The last descent was reaaaaally long and technical. It reminded me of an overgrown and tight version of Squamish with a little Shore action where the trail alternated between steep rocky and dry creekbed chutes with large rooted sections of overgrown singletrack that flowed from left to right to left, back and forth. Having the Dare on that ride down was suuuper plush and comfortable, and all the aches of the pushing and climbing had quickly disappeared and I was laffin' at everything on the way down.
At the bottom, we jumped into the CleElum river and drove back in time to jump in the pool while my lovely matrioshka had burgers and margaritas ready.
Awesome day 4sure :thumbsup:

Wanted to try these...(finally figured out my Mac!) from Steamboat Springs a couple of weeks ago. I didn't get a lot of time to ride, so I went up the main ski hill to Zig Zag and rode it to Creekside, a nice, fast downhill along a creek - Creekside - clever, eh? :thumbsup: It was very hot that weekend. Tubing on the Yampa river was what we really wanted to do, but all the tubes were sold out. NAPA auto sold over 500 truck tubes in one day! There was a soccer tournament in town which meant lots of teenaged and pre-adolescent kids on the river.

On the way home, we finally got to see our first moose in CO.

Our next trip will probably be down to Santa Fe for the Ellsworth gathering in August. We may try to make it out to Moab as well at the end of October. Who needs a reason to go to Moab? Greatest place on Earth!