I don’t know what it is about the years, but as I get older they seem to get faster. January went by so quickly and with all the pedaling I have been doing this month anyone would think that I should be training for the XC race team! Then I point my bike DH and I remember the first reason I love biking!
Day 17: Ride log
Today we started at Berkley/Hyannis and headed across the Bridle Path, (incorporating Sticks & Stones) and then climbed the Old Buck and BP till we hit the snowline but then we kept going! Once we hit Ned’s it was time for the decent to begin.
The more I ride my Endorphin the more in-tuned I feel with the bike and riding down Ned’s today felt fantastic! I felt fast and smooth on the shorter travel bike and I would almost go so far as to say it was the best ride I’ve ever had down Ned’s. I find with the lighter bike I can pick it up and put it where I want it. When we finished Ned’s we took the new connector trail over to the Bottletop climb, then opted to head down the lesser used Ridge-Runner trail
Made it, who knew that climbing to Ned's could be so much fun!
Ridgerunner, a fun alternative to Bottletop.
Day 18: Ride log
Today was a friend’s birthday ride. A couple of us started out at the corner of Dempsey Braemar and proceeded to climb to the Baden Powell then along to Mountain highway; this is my new favourite way of getting to the yellow gate on Fromme! I climbed up for a quick rip on Bobsled before meeting up with friends and we rode more Bobsled, followed by Floppy Bunnie and then ending on the Griffin trails. Â As all birthdays go, the day was not complete without a trip to the pub for food and beer!
The Bobsled drop, such a great picture opportunity
Taking the road less travelled, we opted on a lap down Floppy Bunny
I remember when those bridges used to scare me!
Day 21: Ride log
Sunday again and where did the week go? Back to Sunday being a boy’s ride! This week I headed out to Burke Mountain in Port Moody to join what I was told was a ‘boys ride’ but they were going to make an exception for me… not sure if that was a compliment, but wanted to ride Burke so went with it. Â Doesn’t matter how many times I climb up Burke, there are sections of that road that are down right brutal, though I was happy to say I cleaned the climb all the way to the trailhead!
Our Downhill started on Vic’s trail, which in my opinion it’s the gnarliest trail on the mountain.  After todays ride my opinion has not changed, the fact that every root and rock had the potential of black ice did not help the matter, that being said we all survived the ride down, and what an exhilarating ride it was.  Seeming as we hadn’t enough gnar, we opted to follow an old skidder road so we could getting into another ‘old school’ trail, Nescafè. When I say old school that’s exactly what I mean, natural rooty rocky trail, very little forgivness and by the time I got to the bottom of the trail I was humbled.
Being humbled is different to being tired though, so after a short discussion we headed back up the road so we could finish our ride on Dawg & Hustler! Hello fast and flowy! I was able to finish the day feeling like I knew how to ride my bike again!
One of the guys playing on my bike while we wait for the rest of the group.
treacherous iced over rocks made the crossing interesting. Especially when you have your slick soled clipless shoes on!
Post ride Addendum:
So there I was sitting around with a couple of mates having a beer when we hear a loud “POP” followed by “Psssss”, one of my friends turns to me and laughs, “hahaha sounds like you just got yourself another flat tyre”. On closer inspection we discovered that the seal on my fork had actually blown out! Â Unfortunately, this was not the first time this has happened, (last time it went in for a full warrantee rebuild). Â As much as I enjoy riding this fork I am starting to wonder if the dual air system and myself are compatible.
I think my bike is trying to tell me something! Good thing I have a spare fork
Day 21: Ride log
So after a quick fork change it was time to hit the trails; it was nice to get some sunny weather too. Â Starting at Dempsey Braemer, (yeah probably gonna hear that trail mentioned a lot this year) we climbed to the BP and across to Mountain Highway, from there we made a straight shot up the road till we got to the sixth switchback. Â We headed into Executioner, at which point I realised two things:
1. My spare fork just doesn’t feel as nice as my usual fork.
2. It’s been a long time since I rode Executioner, the trail has definetly seen some erosion since I first started riding it but it’s still fun.
We then headed over to Dreamweaver to finish off the ride, (and the month). It’s great to see the work that the DNV put into repairing/replacing the bridges on the trail. I don’t do so well with heights so having a nice secure bridge over the creeks was definitely nice for me.
Frozen ground = tacky ground
