So last week I embarked on another trip to Vancity, scoring another 3 days of riding out of my poor body. On arrival we headed out to Fromme for some monsoon drenched fun. As well as being very wet, it was also pretty cold and windy, but the pedal up did well to warm us up. We rode pipeline, a rocky blue trail 5 switchbacks up Fromme that was pretty much underwater. There wasn’t much mud as most of it had washed away, so the traction remained pretty decent. The ride wasn’t too long, but it was a nice North Shore warm up to get dialed in for what lay ahead. We ended up getting completely soaked and pretty much chilled to the bone, so the apre ride coffee was probably the most enjoyable in memory.
Wednesday we rode Seymour with a large crew of Banshee riders and other locals. We had a U-haul moving van from helping a friend move in the morning, so we packed it full and shredded a bunch of epic runs. The first run we hit a pingu-pangor and it was SUPER FUN to get to ride with a pack of racers pushing local lines and pinning the trails as hard as we could. We started in snow and a majority of the trails below remained under water but I was starting to get the hang of Van waterbiking so it didn’t bother me too much. I was feeling on and super focused, and with some adjustments to body position my increasing comfort level allowed me to pick it up quite a bit. The second run we hit pingu to severed dick and I had an epic time following Mr. Bryson. Had some interesting moments with a severely fading rear brake forcing me into commitment moves, but in the end it was all good and smiles were held all round. After the second run Jen McMillan and I decided to trust Bryson and go searching for an old trail he thought he had figured out the location on. We took a wrong turn somewhere along the way and ended up following some old overgrown skidder trail through the rainforest, spending as much time cyclocrossing over fallen logs as actually riding. It was all good though, I was just happy to be riding.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Techy Goodness
At one point I rode fast onto a green rock slab and realized too late that green means stop in rainforest, not go. Another lesson for the desert invader, green means not only beware but be very, very slippery. After we made it back down to Ned’s we decided to ride out to Bryson’s instead of back to the car. Another mistake. By that point in the evening it was getting very cold, and over the long trek back up through the slush from the bottom of Seymour to the other side of Fromme all our heat was given away to the damp night and my back decided that it was going to start rejecting all the punishment. We made it back in varying stages of hypothermia yet holding high spirits, and when we got back to the coffee shop after retrieving it was love once again. No hard feelings Mr. Bryson, all in the spirit of adventure.
Thursday the trio of myself, Jen and Bryson met up again for some Cypress laps and I was excited. So far in my North Shore adventures Cypress had offered up the steepest, gnarliest and most tech runs, and Mother Cypress was not keen to disappoint. I was also in for a surprise. The first run we hit Chery Bomb to Pilsener. They were right what I was looking for, serving up Cypress’ grittiest offerings. I was hot on Bryson’s tail and despite some trail diversions the wrong way around trees and scary blind root complications I remained in tact. Our fearless leader again had to pioneer some lines for me to understand how to they were possible to ride, but this time I was up to the challenge. I had a ton of fun and learned a lot by watching and pushing my limits. My body began to protest again, especially when we hit a lower trail with lots of NS style roll drops to short flattish landings. Further down I came off one a bit awkwardly, jarring my already stiff back, and it was the beginning of the end for me. For the second run we hit Mystery DH, and it was bloody good. The first half was like a sped up version of what we had been riding earlier in the morning and the bottom part was, dare I say, Kamloops-esque? The trail became super high speed with constantly flowing drifty turns, but by that point I had to take in the reigns as my seizing back decided enough was enough.
My trip was a ton of fun. I got to explore a bunch of new trails, dial in my riding, increase my confidence, learn a lot and get to see a ton of friends. I most likely won’t get to go back for a good while, but whenever that happens I am sure it will be good. All the best.
J
Thursday the trio of myself, Jen and Bryson met up again for some Cypress laps and I was excited. So far in my North Shore adventures Cypress had offered up the steepest, gnarliest and most tech runs, and Mother Cypress was not keen to disappoint. I was also in for a surprise. The first run we hit Chery Bomb to Pilsener. They were right what I was looking for, serving up Cypress’ grittiest offerings. I was hot on Bryson’s tail and despite some trail diversions the wrong way around trees and scary blind root complications I remained in tact. Our fearless leader again had to pioneer some lines for me to understand how to they were possible to ride, but this time I was up to the challenge. I had a ton of fun and learned a lot by watching and pushing my limits. My body began to protest again, especially when we hit a lower trail with lots of NS style roll drops to short flattish landings. Further down I came off one a bit awkwardly, jarring my already stiff back, and it was the beginning of the end for me. For the second run we hit Mystery DH, and it was bloody good. The first half was like a sped up version of what we had been riding earlier in the morning and the bottom part was, dare I say, Kamloops-esque? The trail became super high speed with constantly flowing drifty turns, but by that point I had to take in the reigns as my seizing back decided enough was enough.
My trip was a ton of fun. I got to explore a bunch of new trails, dial in my riding, increase my confidence, learn a lot and get to see a ton of friends. I most likely won’t get to go back for a good while, but whenever that happens I am sure it will be good. All the best.
J
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Budget Stretchin' Love
So lately we have been making the absolute most of the skinny piggy bank, stretching every last half-penny to the max and loving every section of trail I can find. Last week I had a couple shreds down Rio that were mindblowing. With all the rain the dirt was moist but had dried up just enough to be superman tacky. That trail puts a grin on your face in the moon dust, but on tacky soil it is euphoric. Gets a little scary how fast you can go actually.
Last weekend I spent down in Van and got to ride a bunch of Mt. Seymour, which was muddy and delightful. Coming from the desert, it is hard to fathom how much the trails are shaped by water, and just how gnarly they can get once the majority of the dirt is gone leaving just rock and crazy roots. My speed arrived with me before my full focus did, and being that I was on new trails the results involved three pretty heavy crashes. On one I was leading, putting down a solid pace, and just after I thought to myself that I was pushing pretty hard I came around a corner and there was a downed tree sticking off the side of the trail on my line at ankle height. I cut hard to avoid the tree but my pedal caught it and I was sent over hard. These sorts of things just don’t seem to happen in Kamloops where you can look further ahead and be fairly confident that there aren’t going to be rogue dead heads unheeded around the next bend. Or maybe I should just slow the pace until my I have my full focus on new trails…
Last weekend I spent down in Van and got to ride a bunch of Mt. Seymour, which was muddy and delightful. Coming from the desert, it is hard to fathom how much the trails are shaped by water, and just how gnarly they can get once the majority of the dirt is gone leaving just rock and crazy roots. My speed arrived with me before my full focus did, and being that I was on new trails the results involved three pretty heavy crashes. On one I was leading, putting down a solid pace, and just after I thought to myself that I was pushing pretty hard I came around a corner and there was a downed tree sticking off the side of the trail on my line at ankle height. I cut hard to avoid the tree but my pedal caught it and I was sent over hard. These sorts of things just don’t seem to happen in Kamloops where you can look further ahead and be fairly confident that there aren’t going to be rogue dead heads unheeded around the next bend. Or maybe I should just slow the pace until my I have my full focus on new trails…
Seymour Gnardeath
Did a few lesser known trails that seriously pushed my idea of what was rideable on a bike. Like trying corner on wet offcamber rock with cliffs below you to wallride across steep waterfalls around trees and over their wet roots to hip drop into a gnarly creekbed runout. Unreal. When your mind isn't used to percieving something as rideable, even in the absense of fear it is interesting trying to figure out what to do. And riding everything blind at speed doesn't help either. A few lines I had to stop to try and comprehend how I was going to proceed, and luckily on one of them that I actually thought wasn't rideable I was out with Mr. Bryson who showed me how they do it in North Van. There is so much rock and so many roots down there, everything is at some stage of creekbed, and there are no off-trail runout options anywhere if you screw up. Despite how un-Kamloops it may sound the trails were super fun. I love challenge, variety and having the opportunity to learn, so with those things in mind North Van served up the perfect new kind of meal. I am back now and trying to let the poor body recover, but for next week I am planning another trip down, so hopefully there will be plenty more trails and a bit less carnage, coming soon.
Much love.
J
Much love.
J
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