RaceFace Explores the Coast

Very few times do we notice the history and culture of the places we choose to ride. What makes these places so incredible? What makes them different? What kind of community does it take to make things run? How do we make connections? With hands being held in a circle, we move through this life with pride and purpose. To make this happen, it usually takes a collaboration of efforts and people.

The Sunshine Coast is a very important place to me. It is not only my home town, but also my happy place. The area of the Coast that Katie, Connor and I explored making this video was an area hardly anyone knows about in the biking world. I have spent endless years exploring my backyard, and this area is a very important part of who I am. I chose to highlight this area not only because the trails are unreal, but also because the history and culture of the spots are rich and have their own stories to tell.

In Halfmoon Bay the trails lead into covered coves that look tropical, and mossy rocks that look so pristine, it’s hard to believe anyone has ever been there. We are lucky to live in a world with places still to explore and discover. We think we know everything, but as we look closer, beautiful parts of our circle begin to surface.

A huge part of the culture on the Sunshine Coast begins with the native people to the area. The Sechelt Nation is one of the oldest Nations in Canada because of the forever offering resources year round. With Sechelt’s milder temperatures and the rich resources of the ocean and the soil, it made it easy to settle. Kids on the Coast grew up with a very integrated appreciation for the Nation.

At celebrations, or ceremonies during our school years, we would have the band perform songs for us. It gave us an understanding at a very young age of what their culture looks like and why Sechelt is as amazing as it is. It was extremely important to me to have the Nation recognized in this piece because in my mind, they started our circle.

The landscape of the Sunshine Coast is one of the most unique in BC in my opinion. It is required that you take a ferry from Vancouver to get to the Coast, not because it is an island, but because it is a peninsula attached at Squamish down the inlet, and at this point, there is still no road between. In order to really appreciate what the Coast looked like, I wanted to hire a floatplane to show from the air. Actually being allowed the opportunity to get aerial shots of the Coast was above and beyond any expectation I had.

The pilot who took us around the area was absolutely amazing. He showed us the unique landscape of Sechelt– “the land between two waters” – gave us the full view around the infamous Thormanby Islands and a view into the depths of our trail systems. Katie and I both agreed we could have spent the entire day flying around looking at the coast from up and above. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of flying.

I hope everyone enjoys this wonderful piece we have put together. The project has brought so much joy to the three of us making it and I hope to pass that along in the circle.

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Katherine and Katie’s Sunshine Coast adventure is a good reminder that there’s lots of riding to be done even on the shortest days of the year… would you go for more of that?