Woodlot night ride

Tim and I hit The Woodlot tonight.

We rode Krazy Karpenter, Mandatory Caution,Snakes and Ladders and Shotgun.

Our ride started at 6:30 in light and we descend in dark. My Dinotte lights proved to be a good choice for this ride.

Golden Ears Park - Lush Single Track

I went for an afternoon rip today. Nothing special, nothing technical, nothing but a nice ride in the woods.

I drove into Golden Ears Park and did a helmet cam run of the most lush trail I've ever ridden. In the spring the ferns glow even more than they did today.

A short section of the West Canyon Trail



After a rip on the West Canyon Trail I drove to the park entrance and hopped onto a random trail. Then for fun at each junction I picked up a stick and spun it in the air and let random luck decide where I would ride depending on where the sharp end pointed.

I finally ended up at Mike Lake down a decommissioned road. The ride back to the car was a blast on a double track horse trail. Random spins in the woods are a great way to ride somewhere new and keep it fun.

Burke Mountain Flow

Several months ago I was approached after a ride at The Woodlot by someone who recognized me as the guy that rides a Banshee and does a lot of helmet cam filming. The person that approach me was a builder on Burke who has over the last few years built several trails on Burke that he wanted to show to others in the form of videos. Pete (the builder) drew me a map of his trails and described to me how they link up. Today's ride was for Pete and his request for some video footage of his hard work.

The really cool thing about his trails is that they are all natural with no drops, jumps or woodwork needed. EVERYTHING is flowing and pumpy and each of these four trails leads into the next. The second cool thing is that the trails are named after his bikes (Six, Slayer, Dawg and Hustler). The bikes used for the names of the trails are all the perfect genre of bikes for these trails; small to mid travel enduro / AM bikes. Therefore my weapon of choice for this ride was my Rune.

I arrived early ~6:30am and pedaled all the way to the top. The descent started with Triple Crown which is basically the highest trail on the hill and then hit Six, Slayer, Dawg and Hustler in succession.

The videos below speak for themselves. In fact even video cannot portray how much pure pump and natural flow these trails have. A friend of mine describes the trails as a series of downhill pump tracks. I could not agree more.

Evening Rip

After dinner I loaded my Rune on my car took my helmet and pack with me and headed to The Woodlot. It's been a while since I hit up the Woodlot. In the summer I just seem to ride elsewhere. Upon arrival I unloaded my bike, raised my seat and pedaled my way up. Lately I haven't been doing much pedaling and it showed on the climb. I just didn't have the legs to get up the hill with speed and ease I've had in the past. I guess late summer is good time to start some carido.

I decided to try a different route mid way up hill and began my descent after a half hour climb to Upper Toadstool. Upper Toad was fun and given the super dry conditions, the long logride was really fast to ride down. I then traversed back over to the skidder road and climbed back up to Mandatory Caution/Fluffy Kitten. It has been a long time since I've been down that trail and it is still for the most part abandoned an rotting in the forest. I rode the ground line of the trail the whole way down to Snakes and Ladders. To be honest, Caution could be a fun rip if there was a traversing reroute part way down to better used the terrain and elevation. It could easily be a nice alternate line mid way down the hill.

At Snakes I dropped in on the trail and just let it flow. Apart from a crappy lip on one jump and a few bomb hole landings, it is in damn good shape. I'll likely be heading up to fix the few trouble spots in the near future and maybe rake the trail for that extra buffed effect.

I then rode over to Shotgun which is riding well and out to my car. Overall it was a good ride. Given the small amount of time it takes to get in a ride like this, I can even see myself doing this ride in the morning before work.

Quick rips are tons of fun.

Seymour Shore Ride

I knew that today was going to be a cooker so I arrived at Old Buck on Seymour early in the morning for my ride today.

I pedaled my Rune all the way up to CBC in the hot morning sun only getting passed my one group of two shuttlers that I caught up to later on the descent.

At one of the look-outs I paused to take a photo of the view.


Once at the top I donned my gear and made my way down CBC, Corkscrew, Pingu and Pangor where I caught the two shuttlers and helped them with a bike issue (flat tire), then finally Slash and Empress.

Below is a full helmet cam run of CBC that I did on this ride.


By the time I was at the bottom it was 8:30am and I was hot and tired so I loaded up and drove home.

Summer dawn patrol on Seymour is a great way for me to get in a good climb as well as a wicked descent without missing out on family life with the kids.

Bear Mountain Downhill 2009 - Day 2, RACE DAY

Race Day. So far, I have very few pre race rituals but two that I never skip are the twice over check on the bike the night before and I watch the course on video (helmet camera) several times to memorize lines. With my rituals complete, I was ready for the race.

I arrived early enough to get on the first shuttle up the hill. In fact, I was the first person down the course today so that I could help with the race set-up. In the photo below I was sporting my FVMBA jersey showing support for the race organizers during my one practice run of the day.

The course conditions were damp but not wet. It had rained the night before, but there was little to no standing water on the course so come race time, the conditions could not have been better.


After my practice run I helped set up the finish line station for the officials and I flagged a trail for spectators of the race. During all this I managed to step on a wasp nest and got stung on my leg while running away. Wasps are tenacious little bastards.

Once the race was ready to be run, I put on my race jersey from Maple Ridge Cycle and rode up the hill on the shuttle truck. There was one delay before my start time due to a junior racer going down hard on his head and neck [released from hospital the next day]. When the time for my race came up I was surprisingly calm and focused. I knew my abilities and what I was capable of and had complete trust in the capabilities of my bike. Overall I'd say I had a descent run. One near miss on the big double at the bottom (slipped/rotated a pedal) but all went well. My bike performed flawlessly. On the right course, setting up a light DH bike (mine was at 34.9lbs) is the way to go, it makes the bike so maneuverable and the way it picks up speed is simply amazing.

In my class I came in third. Three races this year and I was on the podium twice. Without any hesitation I can say that I am very happy with these kind of results.

This is a shot of the big double that I almost messed up on. If you look carefully my right foot has started to slip/rotate off the pedal.

Me on the third rung.

Another year of racing Bear Mountain and another podium for me. I love this race and the vibe it has. Hopefully next year I can repeat my effort and the result.

Bear Mountain Downhill 2009 - Day 1

I arrived nice a early at the race in order to get one of the first shuttles up the hill. Once I parked I met up with some of the race organizers and then proceeded to gear up to get in some mandatory runs of the course before the mayhem of 200+ riders begins.

At the top of the trail, the moods was calm and relaxed and people were here to have a good time racing on a sweet DH track.

I know this course well so my runs were just to see if there were any course changes and determine if I can stick to my known lines.

Me during a practice run

My run up top went well and the course was sweet. Unfortunately though, there were riders going down all over the place. In a fast technical rocky section, a younger guy had gone down and smacked his head (6 stitches, scuffed up leg and belly). Apart from that, my run was clear top to bottom. The dry conditions were awesome and made for some good speed on the course.

My second run was much the same but again I saw a rider down on course. This time it was a young guy that had BADLY dislocated his knee. First Aid and course workers took charge of the situation and stopped the riders on course. I feel for the kid because it looked freaking PAINFUL.

After my two runs, the lines were getting HUGE for shuttles and I didn't need to see the course any more. I then locked up my bike and headed over to see what my task was today for volunteering. I briefly helped in the parking shuttle area but then was asked to marshal a corner on the course. I donned my pack and headed up course. Marshaling a section on track really helps you gain insight into the BEST lines for certain corners. In my particular section B9, there were 4 very tricky corners that for most people scrubbed tons of speed, but in watching the elite and faster riders, there were specific spots to hit and others to avoid. I learned a lot during the time I was watching my section.

Greg surveying an 'issue' with his rear wheel.

Tim looking unhappy with his pooched front wheel........ an Alex Supra D rim

A few more course closures were necessary due to rider injuries and then pro practice. After my couple laps and then volunteering I was done for the day and took off home to clean my bike and memorize my lines for the next day's race.

Whistler - 2009

I arrived in Whistler in the late morning with my wife and checked into our our hotel and then geared up for a half day of riding on my big bike: Banshee Legend Mk1

The weather was simply amazing. Sunny with a few clouds to take the edge off the summer heat.

The lines for the lifts were surprisingly small and I only had a few minute wait to get up the lift.

As a warm up, I always ride Crank It Up as a warm-up and it didn't let me down today. Killer flow and super buffed fun rip into Heart of Darkness.

One little adjustment to soften up my suspension and my the Legend was dialed. Fully pinning it at times was a blast and the only thing slowing me at times was fear itself.

My second ride up the lifts took me all the way to the to in the Garbanzo Zone. Original Sin into Freight Train then over to Dirt Merchant and Lower A-Line. The rest of the day was simply a blur of wicked trails and lots of riding time. I managed to get a lot of helmet camera footage that I present below.

Dirt Merchant


A-Line


Freight Train


Goat's Gully


Too Tight


In Deep


Original Sin


Fatcrobat


No Joke/New Joke/Freight Train Compilaton

Bear Mountain DH Trail Buffing

I took the day off work today to do a little grooming.

Next weekend is the Bear Mountain Challenge and I figured I would do my part and put in a little time and effort to help with the DH course.

At around 9:30am I arrived with some tools and hiked to the top.

I then proceeded to rake the trail from the start gate to the finish line removing all the loose rocks, marbles, sticks and fallen tree needles that were on course.

To say I was tired when I was done is an understatement, but the trail is 95% dialed and SUPER BUFF after this rake job.

I can't wait to race next week.

Finding Flow

So this morning I was up with the chirping birds....again. Doing a Han ride. You know....Han Solo.

I drove out to Bear Mountain again to get in a little more DH track time and see where I am time wise on a top to bottom run.

It is amazing the lines you discover while walking up a trail. I now understand why walking a track is so important to racing. Once I was at the top I geared up, started the watch and rode the trail top to bottom. I had a reasonably clean run, was a little tired at the end but flowed the sections sections I had been practicing last week really well. My time was a little slower than I had really expected, but it was faster than my race run last year, I had just completed the climb, and was wearing my water pack with tools and gear.

I then pushed back up 2/3rds of the trail to get another couple turns dialed in. On my initial walk up I saw a sweet outside line on a turn that let me stay off the brakes and I just had to give it another go. You just gotta love flow.

So by this time it was only 8am but I had my fill of Bear, so I headed to The Woodlot.

Once there I immediately started my climb up. I ran into some trail runners that were running on some of the lower trails. Funny thing is, I was pushing my bike up a nasty trail with my water pack and full gear as fast as they were running up (I guess I am actually in okay shape for a mid 30's guy).

I pushed up to John's new trail and put on my helmet for the ride down. Even though it is a fall line trail that eats up precious vert really quickly, I really like the trail.

I then rode over to Snakes and Ladders which ripped quite well and then over to Bloggy Style. Riding the Legend on these trails is a touch overkill, but it really shows that the bike is versatile as a DH bike and can be ridden on the skinnies. PLUS it gets me used to pedaling in rocks an roots with a low BB height.

Bloggy has seen better days, but it is still rideable and it actually makes you use your bike's suspension and skills to ride fast. Straight into Shotgun for a rip down to my car and I was on my way home around 10am.

Overall I had a great ride and had some good training for racing.

It all comes down to flow.