I met Tim and his brother up on Karpenter today. He had bucked up a bunch of wood for the next part of the tune-up he is doing on the trail so I helped with splitting the rung. It was DAMN COLD today with ice on the trail on the way up but by the time I was at the top it had warmed up to melt most of the ice and frost.
Once the rung was split we talked about the next sections that will be worked on and then Tim and his bro took off for home.
I made my way to the top and decided to do a helmet camera run of Krazy Karpenter. It's hard to believe that I've never once done a helmet cam run of this trail.
After Karpenter I made my way up to Tusga then Snakes and Ladders and finally Shotgun. I managed to clear a few fallen trees on the trails so everything is clear and safe to ride.
I had a great ride on this dry cold December day and I can't wait to see what is going to develop on Karpenter in the near future.
Today I met up with Zach who contacted me to see if he could help out with some maintenance at The Woodlot. His timing could not have been better. Recently all the trees have lost their summer and fall coats and the trails are littered with needles and leaves plugging drains and blanketing the trails. With rakes and shovels in hand we started at the bottom of Snakes and Ladders and cleared all the drains and raked the trail from top to bottom.
Zach was an absolute trooper with the rake and for about 5 hours he raked his way up the trail cleaning up the line and buffing it up for the winter season.
At this point because of the over the top effort that Zach put in with me, I don't think I will need to touch this trail again for months to come.
After finishing the buffing we enjoyed the buff fruits of our labor and rode down Snakes and then over to Shotgun.
Thanks Zach for the help and I hope you continue to help with the trails.
This year I had to delay my annual Remembrance Day ride by a few days. I always pay my respect to veterans and on Remembrance Day I go for a spin on my bike to honor their sacrifices. It had recently snowed a little on the mountains but for the most part it didn't stop my progress and very few trees needed to be removed off the trails.
I rode up to Goldmine/Cabin Trail and then ripped down to Snakes and Ladders and finally out to my car along Shotgun.
It was a little wet and chilly today but with the right clothes and a few pairs of dry gloves the ride was very enjoyable.
It rained today. Non stop. From the time I woke up until this very moment I am typing this it has rained. Earlier in the day I went for a walk in the rain with my whole family and watched my daughters and nieces jump in puddles up to the tops of their gum boots. So to say it was wet today is an understatement. Anyways....I arrived at The Woodlot at 1:30pm today and made my way up with some pruning loppers in hand. With the wet weather and snow coming our way I figure it is time to trim back some of the brush that causes issues when it snows. I pedaled up and when there were low branches over the trail they were clipped back.
The timing of my doing some trimming could not have been more ironic. As I was riding up past Quick Hit, there was a piece of heavy machinery with the biggest weed whacker attachment you could imagine. It was there prepping the road for the upcoming logging. This machine was nuking everything on the edge of the road and sheared off Dogwood saplings that were 4" in diameter. I wish I had that to cut my grass at times.
I made my way up to John's new trail. This new line is handling traffic really well and there was very little standing water on the trail given the amount of rain we've had. A new hip after the big drop was a little unexpected for me, but it was a fun hit nonetheless.
After that I went back up and rode Mandatory Caution and then made my way over to Snakes and Ladders. I stopped to have a look at something that didn't really look right with the ladder that leads to the Teeter Totter and I had to shut down the stunt. I'll be up there soon enough to fix the rotten log that has given away.
I then rode over to Shotgun and then out to my car in the fading light. I was soaked to the bone and tired from the ride, but I managed to get in a few good climbs and practiced keeping my momentum going on certain parts of the climb. Speed and momentum are your friends on bumpy technical climbs.
In the past Tim would be the guide when we rode Burke, but tonight I gave him the tour of a few newer trails up on Burke.
The view 3/4 the way up at 6:30pm in the fading light.
We met around 6 pm and made out way up the hill via the back side. Once at the trail head we donned our lights and helmets then started the descent down Six, Slayer, Hustler and Dawg.
We then went back up to hit another trail and stopped to take a couple night shots with a few blinkers.
Tim blinking past
Me blinking by
The final trail of the night was Bullet Dodger. Having only riding this trail once before it was an interesting trail to ride at night. Ripping this trail in the dark was a hoot and made for a sweet backdrop to some photos. We then retrieved my car and called it a night. The weather and trail conditions were simply amazing. My knee is feeling a little better but I am no where near 100% but with amazing rides like the one tonight I see my recovery to 100% in a month or so.
This morning my kids woke me up right around sunrise so I got them their morning cup of milk and made my way out the house for a quick spin at The Woodlot on my Rune. I wanted to keep this ride short so a pedal to the top and a simple ride down was my plan.
The view this morning was one to make you stop and appreciate. Blue skies and miles of visibility were well worth a pause for a photo.
The Woodlot is just that, BC Timber 0007 Woodlot and rom time to time there is some harvesting of trees that takes place. Currently there are two areas slated for harvesting and I happened to ride past one of the cut blocks as they were actively harvesting this morning. I hiked through the forest and watched the action from a safe distance. In the photo below you can see a track feller buncher in the lower center of the photo with a tree in mid fall. It is truly impressive to see the action in person.
After my stop to watch some heavy machinery at work, I pedaled up to the top via Stove Top and the skidder road. I geared up at the power lines and made my way down to The Gate. Over the past year The Gate has seen some much needed work from Lou and some friends of his. They started at the top and the greasy sketch that was The Gate is no longer. The original line was awesome, but due to the lack of traffic it sees the skinnies became green and down right dangerous. Now the grease is lined with perfect grippy rung. They've made some good progress on the trail and I can see this being added to my regular riding list when the work is complete.
From The Gate I went over to Tsuga and straight into Snakes and Ladders. I stopped mid trail to check out the work I did the other day in the rain. The rocks looked to be solid and I doubt I'll have issues with this tranny ever again. The trail needs a once over to clear the drains, but I will wait to do that after the leaves and needles fallen to the forest floor in a few weeks.
At this time of year it is nice to ride familiar trails with the forest in its transition to the winter and damp ground to ride on. I will never deny that I am spoiled with my accessibility to such amazing trails and friends to ride with and build on them.
Tonight there was a Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association meeting at the base of Ledgeview at Trevor's place, what better thing to do afterwords than to go for a night ride after the meeting.
Tom, Trevor and I were all that took part in the ride but we had a good ride nonetheless. The weather tonight was perfect where all that was needed was a light sweater.
I honestly had no idea what trails I was riding at all during this foray in the night, but I had fun sliding around on the clay dirt that lined the trails. [Edit- the trails were Little Buttafuoco, Paper Route and LeBite Me]
Another great night ride with good people that share a passion for mountain biking and the trails we ride on.
It's been a while since I did some real building where there are a pile of tools used and where rock, dirt and wood form the final product.
I've had my eye on the transition for the small trail gap on Snakes & Ladders for some time. Today I donned my building pack overflowing with tools with the goal of building a sweet tranny for the gap. One thing I never really took notice of before was the size and weight of my building pack when loaded with tools. My wife commented as I was about to load it in my car so for giggles I weighed it.........41lbs. I always up the pressure in the rear shock on my bike to compensate for the additional weight, but I never really thought my pack weighed that much. Climbing with it isn't too comfortable, but as many have said: what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.
The 41lb pack
Once I climbed to the trail I went straight to work getting the cedar stringers needed and cut them to size. One really good thing I took away from a building course IMBA Canada put on at The Woodlot a while back was to peel the bark off the logs you use. It took a little extra time to do this and in the end the final result was well worth the effort.
Once the logs were peeled, sized, notched and nailed in place, I filled the structure with several HUGE rocks and then filled in the rest with rocks that were piled by other trail users in a spot near the tranny.
Rain water on the lens made the after shots a little sub par, but end result in person is quite nice.
I spent a few more hours than I had planned on this, but doing things right takes time and I am very proud of this bit of trail work. The weather today was what many call 'typical BC weather', wet and rainy with a few rumbles of thunder and lighting thrown in for fun. I hit the jump a couple times to make sure it was all lined up and then packed up to go home.
I had a nice mellow ride down to the car soaked to the bone from the rain but oh so satisfied with my effort.
Once again I had a bit of time to kill so I went for another ride up to Thornhill from my place but this time on the hard tail. A slightly different route got me into some nice double track and into a newer subdivision development where I ran into a friend of mine from soccer. After a brief stop to say hi I was on my way.
15km of riding with a door to door time of 50 minutes with a stop to talk. Not bad and the legs felt good on this ride. Next week hopefully I have more time to explore.
