Rilor Wilderness

Rilor Wilderness Spring Shred – Webvideo #3

   After a long winter it was time to get out on the trails for some spring cleaning. I invited Evan, Garett, and Mike to come chase me around a bunch of trails near the lodge.  My good friend Andre Nutini from Rossland came out as well. He and I have been working together since last year. We met through the film Lifecycles. Here Andre and Mike contemplate the weather high atop a hill near Silverton.

   We had some pretty severe rain but intervals of cloudy weather sporadically placed themselves throughout the day, allowing us to make the most of what we had. We were mostly able to avoid getting too wet. All this rain mixed with some decently warm days has caused a good bloom and the woods are glowing green, this spot was particularly lush and leafy. As we stormed through the greenery it was brushing against our ankles giving us wet shoes and socks, but the good part was the wet plants were also cleaning our drivetrains for us as we rode by!

  We seemed to ride lots of jumps over the 2 days we rode together, I guess we were all eager to pop into the riding season. It was a lot of fun to examine everyone’s riding styles, especially since Andre made us ride sections over and over to get the shots the way he wanted. Garett was getting seriously whippy, and must’ve done the backflip you see him do in the video about 20 times! It was an impressive backflip because the corner into it was quite soft and the jump was actually fairly difficult to make. It is so much fun riding with these guys, we are constantly yelling and screaming dumb stuff while shredding together. I’ve ridden with Evan more than anyone else, and Garett lots over the years as well. There is nothing much more fun than riding with your best buddies. This picture is from one of my very first jumps of the day and by my stiff style it looks like it.

    On the second day we had some really misty conditions that were too dark for shooting. However, we milked some really fun sections of the trail and it was cool to be waiting at the top and hearing Evan and Mike whooping and hollering in the mist. We were riding in teams of two at that point and Garett and I did some serious catching up. In this photo of Mike you can really see how misty it was. However, we got some really nice shots that turned out looking like cable cam shots…………how did we do that anyway?

   The whole idea behind Rilor Wilderness is to try and create a special zone for mountain bikers to come and experience insanely fun trails, great food, big views, and comraderie. I’ve lived in Nelson for 9 years and am constantly thankful for all the larger than life characters who make this small nook in the mountains what it is. There are years upon years of riders and trail builders who have come before my generation who deserve so much respect. Many of these people still ride and build just as hard today as they did 15 years ago, and we owe our scene to them. Rilor Wilderness is hoping to become an extension of that culture and would like to thank all the riders and builders in the West Kootenay for all they have done. I hope to contribute to that scene and add to the culture, and not step on anyone’s toes in the process. We are lucky to have so much access to our local mountains, largely due to the industries of mining and logging that have come before us. I propose that we begin looking at our trails as a resource just as important as mining and logging, and as a resource that if protected and developed will be something we can count on for years to come. I’d like to shout out a huge thanks and much respect to all the riders of the West Kootenay, especially the Sacred Ride Crew, The boys at NRG (the epic riding crew of all time), Sam Brown and Co. for the Monster in Kaslo, The Meadow Creek crew for keeping the old mining singletrack open, Dirt Tours and the Nelson Cycling Club for maintaining and developing the strength of our local riding scene, and a big shout out to Rob at Wilds of Canada Cycles in New Denver and the rest of the Slocan Lake crew for all their amazing upkeep and reopening of long lost mining trails.

    It was a really fun couple days with the boys shredding a couple of my personally built trails and others that have been there for years. We had one really nice evening out on the deck and were treated to an amazing dinner by the Rilor Wilderness chef……..home made bread, chicken parmesan, fresh salads and chocolate cake anyone?

I know it seems like we are doing lots of jumps in this webvideo, but the neat thing is that you can ride around them all. I think that is the future of trail building, trails that both all types of riders can enjoy. Check out the video, hope you like it, and look for another one coming out later in the summertime.