The Tour Of Duty

Today was an early morning ride up at the Woodlot with Tim, Dave and a guy I had never met before, Frank.

We decided that we would hit the following trails in this order. Krazy Karpenter, Blood Donor, Giant Killer, Platinum, Snakes and Ladders then finally Shotgun.

This turned out to be a long day, but a very good ride.

It was raining on this day, so it was quite slippery on the wood of Karpenter. This trail needs a lot of work from top to bottom to match the quality of trails on the rest of the hill. From Karpenter we walked up the hill to hit Blood Donor which has in the past few months seen a tremendous amount of work and is a sweet trial to ride now. In the past Blood Donor in the wet was like risking your life, now it is a sweet ride and in the dry it is an absolute rip. I actually hit both of the gap jumps on the trail. The first which it seems everyone cases is not really a problem, but the 2nd one is a real eye opener. I will admit that I do not jump I am what I have termed Aeronautically Challenged. But seeing as all the other guys just flew over the gap I thought what the hell, I will give it a try. I made 2 key errors for a perfect jump. I brake checked (not needed on this jump) and I was way too far left (I was on the hairy edge of the trail upon landing). After a holy shit did you see that and what the hell were you thinking going so wide conversation we went down Giant Killer.

From previous conversations with some of the other builders up there, we knew that there would be some new stuff on the trial towards the bottom, so we ripped our way down and to our pleasant surprise we found a pretty big and buff gap jump. Tim, Frank and Dave all hit it. I did not see Frank hit it, but I from what I can remember he did it flawlessly, Tim I believe did it the same. When Dave hit I hear a bit of a scream, it was him after landing it and yelling Holy Crap or something to that extent. He landed a little nose heavy and did a nose wheelie until the berm below and then smoothly rolled out. In other words a really nice save. Tim was the only one that went back up to try it again. As he flew by in the air all you could hear was the hiss of a disk brake and his freewheel. As for me, I just rode by it saying not today, maybe in a few months. I need to PROGRESS to a gap that size. I know my limits and right now that is way beyond them.

So then we hit Platinum, but in order to save time, we hiked up from the bottom. Now we had started our ride today at 7:30am so we were still the first guys on the hill so there was a small chance that we would meet someone coming down the trail. So we huffed our way up the trail and all I can say is that those guys that say riding Freeride/DH style trails is for lazy guys have never packed a 40-50lb bike straight up a hill. It was hard work but we made it to the top without seeing anyone until the very top. At the first jump we saw Rich and Taylor that were just starting their ride. So we all geared back up and hit the trail. Now Frank was the only one to hit the first gap and man that guy can sail. Sweet is all I can say. The rest of the guys can hit everything on the trail so I just cruised the trail hitting all the logs and skinnies and being Luke Stuntwalker on the rest of the stuff. At the final 6 pack, Frank was running into problems, he was either too hot or too cold going into the second gap. Tim hit them with big air and style and Dave after a few tries finally hit them in succession and totally flew on the last one, landing about 20 feet down the transition. HUGE AIR. We then hit the last part of the trail and rode out to the bottom of Giant Killer.

Tim had to leave a little early but Franks and Dave wanted to ride a little more, so we said farewell to Tim and continued back up the hill to Snakes and Ladders. Dave had not ridden the trail in a while and was looking forward to the new work we had done. It has mostly been bridges and one jump but nice work so far nonetheless. After Snakes we hit Shotgun and out to the cars. That is when the heavens opened up and it started to rain as hard as I have ever seen it rain. We ducked into Franks car, had a beer and called it a day.

2 Years

Today has a great amount of significance to me and anyone that knows me well. It is the anniversary of the death of my youngest brother, Nick. Today I went on a long XC type ride to do some thinking and get back to what I really love….riding. I went to the Woodlot and equipped my bike for some XC style riding by putting on XC tires and clipless pedals. So upwards I went up past Goldmine all way up and over the mountain.

At a large junction in the road I went right and I had a good idea of where the road came out and I was correct in my guess that it came out at Stave Lake. So I then had to turn around and climb all the way back up the hill. The ride was quite a workout, and there was a fair amount of snow on the road, but I had a good time riding and it allowed me to really clear my mind and think about life in general. I then rode down Goldmine then Snakes and Ladders then out on Shotgun. Not a bad ride overall.

I Found Martin's

I went for another ride from my house to find some trials but this time I was armed with a satellite photo of the area and I made my way to where it looked like there was a trail and behold, there it was right before my eyes, an old horse trail that looked like it had not been used in years. So I followed it along the back yards of some peoples house and along the edge of a rock quarry. From the rock quarry it was up a switch backed horse trail and suddenly you are plopped in the back yard of some rather high end house with some very nice views of the whole Fraser Valley.

I had another look at my map and found a very well established trail that I had no idea existed. Martin Trail, is a smooth flat trail that heads into the forest and has the coolest mossy covering all over the trees that I have ever seen. I had a blast ripping on the trail until I realized it was getting pretty dark and I had to make it home soon. So I turned around with the intention of coming back as soon as I can to see where the trail goes. A quick ride home and my day was done.

Scoping My Turf

I got home from work at a reasonable hour and decided that I would go for a quick spin on my bike to try and find some trails near my house. So I headed East. Once I made it to the abandoned PVI building , I noticed a few horse trails that I need to have a look at in the future but I just continued east to 256th and then found a small trail that follows the road and then goes up into one of the local rock quarries. On the way home I had a really good look around to see where some older trails were that I used to ride. So I just went home and had a look on the internet and found some interesting satellite photos of the area.

Our Log Ride Begins

Well today we (Rob and Tim and I) decided that we would start the big log ride that we have had our eyes on for some time now. It is a cool set of logs that cross a creek twice and then drops back in on the trail where we have built another bridge that crosses the creek one more time. It is kind of cool the way it all links together so that you go back and forth across the creek on either bridges or an elevated log. We started the day with a ride down the trail to where we were going to be building for the day and then we went for a walk in the woods to find some good wood for rung.

So it was my job to split the rung and Rob and Tim were back at the log ride framing in the approach, exit and the turn where the logs meet. It was a hard day of building and we were able to get quite a bit of the log done. But there is still tones to complete. As it turns out, one of the logs is too rotten to ride on and we cannot nail into it, so we will likely be putting a teeter totter on it to get the rider up and over the trouble section or something to that effect.

While I was splitting rung, this kid (maybe 17yrs old) walks out of the woods with a shovel and a rain jacket on. Now I am in the middle of the bush with an axe, and a hammer and some dude just walks up on me, so I am thinking WTF is he doing here. As it turns out, he came up to the Woodlot today to build a road gap, but he heard us building and just followed the sound. I was glad he found us because the last thing we need is a road gap built up here. I set him straight on the building issues and he offered to help us for the remainder of the day. I must say, he worked his ass off and his effort was very much welcomed.

I took off home a little before Rob and Tim and just jetted down the hill to Shotgun and then home. It was a pretty good day as it was nice to finally get this log ride started.

Woodwork And New Lines

Today was a work day up at the Woodlot with Tim. We did a ladder that went just above the ground so that we were above a very wet ledge on the trial. However we started the day by trimming the previous section that we could not complete last week.

Today we had a visitor or two. Taylor showed up and we exchanged some ‘ideas’ about the trail. In the end he left in a bit of a huff and I was left there shaking my head. Then Cory came by and we discussed the line for some of the rock sections on the trail. When he rode down the 2nd rock section, he had a bit of contact with a tree and actually broke it, so Tim had to completely remove it with the saw.

Tim and I finished the ladder and rode out to the ladder roll down near the end of the trial. We decided to scope out the rest of the hill to decide where we are going to extend the rest of the trail (We found the Cellar Door). Some very, very interesting possible lines were found and we cannot wait until we are in the position to punch through the extension of the trial.

We then rode down the rest of the Snakes and Ladders and then Shotgun. Tim was riding in front of me on Shotgun and I was all over his back wheel (him on a full squish and me on my hardtail). It was very gratifying knowing that you can keep up to a FS on a hardtail. In the parking area, Tim and I had a beer and watched others depart on their rides. I swear I have never talked to so many people at the Woodlot before. It seemed I knew everyone that was there that day.

Murphy's Law

Today I was up at the Woodlot with Tim. We rode from the top of Snakes and Ladders down to where we are working on the trail. Today was my first ride on my hardtail in quite a while. (I fixed my ovalized headtube with JB Weld with a little help from my friends). I had a very minor spill to start the ride down, and put a nice cut in my shin. It sure is different to be on the hardtail as compared to the full squish. Today we did the longer turning bridge that went across the last creek. Now I must say that there was something in the air today beacuse if there was something that could go wrong, it did go wrong.

Firstly we has a really hard time cutting trees for the stringers. Everything was getting hung up when we were falling the stringers. Then we had a hard time getting enough rung to do the whole bridge, then we broke a Froe that we use to split rung and finally we ran out of gas for the chainsaw so we weren’t able to finish cutting the edge of the of the bridge or trim wood properly. After we finished nailing the rung in place we just decided to ride out before something else went wrong. So we blasted down the rest of Snakes and ripped up Shotgun.

Riding on the hardtail sure forces you to be a much smoother rider.

A Lovely Day

Today was a day of riding and a bit of building / maintenance. Rob and I hit the Woodlot early, 7:00am. In fact we arrived just as the sun was rising and on the way up, I was questioning whether we would have enough light to ride once we were at the top. So on the way up to the top (Gold) we dropped into Snakes and Ladders to drop of my big back pack so that my hike up and ride would not be so laborious.

So onward and upward we went to Gold, which was an okay ride. We cleared allot of logs that had fallen across the trial. Gold had allot of small mud holes at the top part of the trail, but it was still an okay ride. So we then made our way to Blood Donor, which has recently seen allot of trail building loving. There was lots of new wood work and 2 new gap jumps.

We then made our way down the road to Snakes and Ladders to fill in a BIG HOLE that has been around for a while. It was basically a big pit of mud and water. In the last week or so, someone had put rocks in the hole but had only done half the job that was needed. We started by draining the hole and digging a drainage ditch and then we piled a TONNE of big rock in the hole to elevate the whole section and ensure we never have a problem there again. It was topped with some good dirt and we were basically done.

We then rode the rest of Snakes and Ladders and then Shotgun and we were at our cars by 12:30pm (Seeing as it was Valentines day, we hauled ass to get home to the Wives). Overall, a productive day with a good ride thrown in.

The Perfect Crossing

Today I was back up at the Woodlot with Tim to do some building on Snakes and Ladders. We decided to do the next bridge on the trail that covered a really swampy area. Basically I did the framing and nailing of the rung and Tim spilt the rung and did the approach. Once all the rung was in place Tim went to work on the edges of the bridge and made it really look like a snake. It was a really nice day out but because there was only the two of us, at times things took allot longer than expected to get done.

Tim left a little earlier than me so I went back up the trail to fill a bad little hole. I had to jump in the nearby creek to get most of the big rocks needed to fill up the hole. So once I had all the rocks, I dug out the crap in the hole, arranged the rocks and topped it off with some nice gold dirt.

I then rode out the rest of the trail and made my way out Shotgun. I had another stupid spill on Shotgun, this time my pedal clipped a log on the side of the trail which then sent me into a spin and a launch over the bars.

Apart from my little spill, I had a decent day of building and a okay ride out to the car.

Solo Serene Ride

So today was strictly a riding day. I headed to the Woodlot early and made my way up to Krazy Karpenter to start my ride. On my way up, I ran into Cory and a friend of his that had already done a run down the hill and were on their way up again to hit Snakes and then home. We talked for a bit and I continued my way up the hill.

There had just been a light dusting of snow at the top of the mountain so it was really quiet and serene. I geared up and started riding Karpenter, but the very first drop off the plank was not rideable at all. There was snow and ice all over it but worst of all, there was a big fallen tree across the stunt. I made my way down the trail, but there was so many freshly fallen trees that it was almost not even worth trying to ride the trail.

Once I got to the bottom of the trail I headed back up and hit Tsuga. It was in really good shape and was flowing really well. I then hooked up with Snakes and Ladders which was an absolute blast especially the berm to bridge to jump……sweet!! The Boa Bridge was really neat to ride across as the curves mess with your eyes but it is dead straight. I then hit Quick Hit and it is in pretty good shape considering I have not touched it for more than 6 months. And then it was Shotgun and home. A good ride overall.