SOURCE: Brigit (your island bunnie)
I recently had the opportunity to ride Mt. Washington for the first time this year. Mt Washington is located on Vancouver Island just over an hour north of Nanaimo (an easy trip for you mainlanders!) I met up with my early with my buddy Birdie and we headed off up the Eagle quad, which has been nicely equipped with new bike racks every couple of chairs, very much appreciated as their old system putting the bike on a chair a lot of riders a little sketched out for their $6k beasts! The ride up the chair offers a great view of the Comox Valley, definitely worth the price of admission. Mt. Washington has had a few problems with the weather so some of the trails on this upper lift still have a bit of snow (or mud left over from the snow) but the conditions overall are very good. We started on the trail Scratch and Sniff, which was quite entertaining. Mt. Washington offers a variety of terrain and you never know what you are going to get around the next corner. The trail start with a shale road, leads to some dirt switchbacks, roots, rocks, jumps, berms and bridges, definitely enough to keep you on your toes every second. We followed this ride up with a trip down Monster Mile, the trail recently used for the Tim Horton’s National DH Championship. This is a technical downhill trail that is a favourite among many racers. I honestly used to hate this trail due to its rough nature but the more your ride it the more you find its flow and it really improves your riding ability and makes you want to ride it over and over again.
Brigit sportin’ her new jersey. Ooooh. Some think it’s made her a faster rider!
We then headed over to the Hawk Six Pack chair which has chairs that hold 4 bikes and seats for 6 (nice and roomy so you can stay away from other stinky bike gear). This chair boasts a variety of different to suit ever rider’s needs. We started on Wizard for some speed, followed by a cruise down Evil-eye for our stunt-fill, and down Helter-skelter to get a little tech in. My personal fave of this chair is Magical Mystery Tour for cranking out the speed! The Bearclaw Invitational saw a huge slopestyle course build, which has been modified so some mere mortals can try out the stunts. There are also some more xc-type trails, such as the longer Finger trail for those all-mountain riders. So much riding, so little time!
Mt. Washington is a great mountain for improving your skill and does not have the crowds of Whistler. It is open until September 23rd, 2007.
Check it out!-http://bike.mountwashington.ca/
Check out Norco’s VPS Fest at Mt. Washington September 15-16th!
