Burke Classics

I was prepared for a long ride today. Extra food, water and a good riding jacket just in case it rained. I used everything I brought with me.

Today my bike took me to Burke Mountain. I parked well off the mountain along the Coquitlam River because my route today would bring me down along the Coquitlam River Trail. My climb started on the road and then it became a gravel road then a skidder road and then single track. I rode down Bean and then up to Sawblade. There is something special about Burke because these trails have been around almost since the beginning of mountain bikes and still survive today in their raw rooty original form.


The Sawblade is a hidden gem in these parts. It's off the beaten path so not everyone rides it because you need to be shown where it is. It's steep and tight and really a lot of fun to ride on nearly any bike.

After Sawblade I made my way down and over to the Coquitlam River Connector trail. This is likely the most under-rated trail I have ever ridden. It's such a sweet twisty lush trail. It certainly needs a little trail work (lots of deadfall) but it flows well and uses the terrain so well.

At the bottom of the Coquitlam River Connector trail is Crystal Falls that can be rather tricky to cross when the waters on the creek and river are high.

Crystal Falls

By the time I was at the bottom of the connector trail the skies had opened up and it was pissing down rain. So the pedal back on the river trail sucked. Apart from the rain, I had a really good ride and can't wait to explore some more of the somewhat hidden trails in the area.

Randon Woodlot Meeting

Recently I was given a few items to 'test out' and provide my honest opinion about them. So on this ride I had a new set of grips, a new set of knee pads and a new helmet camera.

I figured I would try out these new parts on my shakedown trails: Goldmine. So with a pair of cameras rolling, I rode down on my Rune on this cold rainy overcast day.



Once at the powerlines I traversed over to Snakes and Ladders and ripped down the my most familiar of trails. Near the end of Snakes I caught up to a guy who stopped to let me pass. Then at the end of the trail I ran into two very familiar faces: Dave and Bryan. It turns out the guy I passed was a riding partner of theirs.

We all decided to ride up again and hit a few trails together. Bryan, Dave and I are bike obsessed so all we talked about during the climb was bikes and biking politics. Once at Toad Stool I decided to put a camera on Bryan so that I could get a different view from the camera with him both leading me and chasing me. Bloggy Style was the next trail and finally Shotgun.




Running into and riding with Dave, Bryan and their friend was a pleasant surprise and even though it was pissing down rain, we all had a great ride.

Google Earth Epic #1: Epic Rides = Epic Views

I went on what many people would call an epic ride today. I looked on a few maps of where I wanted to go and then plotted the route in Google Earth, printed the map and started pedaling. It's been a while since I went on one of these view finding epic wandering rides. I always go prepared with the necessary gear (GPS, maps, compass, tools, camera, phone, food and clothing) so extending my ride a few hours past my normal time isn't too much of a worry.

The views today were quite simply amazing.

I the photo above you can see Mt. Baker and even Mt. Rainer that is 300km away in the distance. Visibility like this is rare in the summer but today the air was crisp, clean but chilled you to the bone in the shade.

I had ridden in this area a few years back but recently there has been a few new cutblocks of logging and a couple new logging road spurs cut in. I remember a few weeks back hearing heavy machinery in the area and I can see why.

My climb ended when I ran into a fresh cutblock where there were loggers still hauling logs off the slope of the hill. I managed to snap a few photos for this panoramic photo before I departed down the hill.

An amazing view looking east across Stave Lake.

For the most part my ride was on logging roads to get around from peak to peak but to finish today's ride I was on the more familiar trails of The Woodlot (Goldmine, Snakes and Ladders, Shotgun). All I can say is that without a bike under me, I would never get to experience such breathtaking views.

Frozen waterfall

Vedder by moonlight

Today I was invited by Tyler from Pinkbike.com to hit up a night time shuttle of Vedder. Seeing as I have never ridden Vedder and I was itching for a night ride, it was an opportunity hard to pass up.

So with my lights all charged up and directions in hand I set out from Maple Ridge to Chilliwack and met up with Tyler, Gerald and Spencer at the base of Vedder Mtn. Tyler had a bit of a chuckle when I got out of my little family sport wagon when the three of them were driving lifted 4x4 trucks. It was soon apparent to me that the shuttle up Vedder was a little more that gravel road.

Once the bikes were loaded on the trucks and the lights all checked, we headed up to the top of Vedder. Gerald and Spencer rode up in Spencer's Jeep Cherokee and I drove up with Tyler in his highly modified Chevy powered '95 Toyota pick-up. I'll be the first to admit that my 4x4 experience is somewhat limited so the drive up to the top of Vedder gave Tyler a bit of a laugh when he said this isn't really 4x4ing because we aren't in 4 low or needing winches while I was bug eyed whispering holy crap on some sections near the top.

Once at the top we unloaded and powered up the lights, then pushed up the hill a bit to get to The Den. Lately the weather has been dry and quite cold so traction was abundant on the dirt and the air was icy cold on this clear moonlit night. The video below shows clips from my helmet camera that I had on for the duration of the ride. The trails we rode included: The Den, Two Cents, Skidder, Turd Ferg, Ditch Chicken, Electric Lettuce and Femur. I really enjoyed getting the tour of Vedder by these guys as they really knew their way around and showed me a variety of different trails. For me a few standout sections were a gully where you carve up and down the two sides like a half pipe and Ditch Chicken (Gerald's trail). The trails on Vedder have a lot of fun natural flow that is distinctive all to itself when compared to most other areas of the Fraser Valley. I hope I'll be back some time soon to sample the trails in the daylight.

Karpenter on Film

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.

Trail Buffing with Zach

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.

Belated Remembrance Day Ride

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.

Nothing quite like fresh tracks in the snow.

Logging Soon

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.

Burke in the DARK

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.

I'm Spoiled

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.