Back from Freeride Heaven!
Click here
for the video from the trip (use
IE) (Windows Media)
I just came back from a week long trip through B.C. guiding the first North Shore Freeride tour. The first day started at the Canada Olympic Park (COP) where upon arrival we speculated what it would be like to launch one of the Olympic ski jumps. From a distance they look like they have a perfect downramp, takeoff and a huge steep runout. When we were on the chair it was another story: 6 feet between each cross brace on the ramp, about 50 to 60 feet of gap and about 30 - 40 feet of jump height; we chose the 5, 6 and 8 footers in the trials park.
Once again Alberta proved to be a friendly experience. The PINKBIKE.com guys ruled with trail guiding, mechanical help, medical help, peer pressure (getting me to launch a diving board gap that required more motivation than I had) all around good vibes...and T-shirts for everyone-thanx Radek. C.O.P. is a fun place with the trials park, a downhill course, dual slalom course, singletrack with a "North Shore" section and a few other trails. One of the North Shore mountains should get this set up going.
We hit the road after they closed the chairlift due to lightning - I thought Albertans were supposed to be tough? Halfway to Fernie the van blew a hose. Some guy stopped to help. He claimed to be an avalanche skiing, glass making, web designing kind of guy. After the career presentation he cut the hose, inserted a spark plug socket, jimmied some clamps from a sink he had in the van(everything including the kitchen...) and problem solved. We kept the hose on for the rest of the trip across B.C. - thanx MacGyver.
Fernie was going to be a shuttle tour until our van got stuck in a 3 foot deep mudhole on one of the logging roads. Serge, our local with the goods, figured it would be best to ride the lifts at Fernie's ski resort rather than dealing with the slick back roads. The trails were fun but the stunts were kinda hokey - no flow, awkward entrances and exits and poor construction. We decided that with all the other hot spots in the province, Fernie would be a miss on the next trips. So it was off to my favourite riding place: the Nelson area.
I was just in the Kootenays in early July scouting new and old trails. There are so many sweet trails in the 3 cities area(Nelson, Slocan,Kaslo). After assessing the abilities and interests of the riders on the trip we decided to skip the Slocan trails(see New World Disorder/Hidden Pleasures) and focus on Nelson and Kaslo. We rode a 2000 vertical feet flow fest, rolled into a fun stunt trail and rock face downhill, lounged by the beach then rode what I think is Nelson's best: Burl Ives. This was a greatest hits package/best of ...downhill, rock faces, launches, skinnies, well built stunts and plenty of flow. Exhausted from the ride we camped out in Kokanee Creek Provincial Park, by far the best campsite in the Kootenays. It was a much needed rest stop for our broken bike parts and beat up bodies (Brian's teeter-totter head drop to break dance quiver move left him worn out real good). On Tuesday we drove 20 minutes to Kaslo to ride my favourite trail of all time: The Monster (see Trail Tales - Nelson...). A few weeks ago NSMB.Cam, Eamonn, No dab Jay, Murdog Manson and I sessioned the Monster 5 times - all in bone dry conditions. We rode it this time in the rain. The trail is so well built that the rain didn't hamper our fun factor and this ride proved to be the highlight for most of the riders on the trip.
From Kaslo we loaded up with the best pizza I've ever had at Meteor Pizza (the owner sponsored the building of the Monster - smart guy), yapped with Sam, one of the Monster builders then hit the road for Frorider territory: Kamloops. We hooked up with guides from Java Cycles who gave us a warm-up on Rosehill. What a cool trail. It had banked slalom like halfpipe type sections, gappers, chutes, speed, step rollers that launch real nice and that sandy stuff you see in the Kranked videos. Yummy. After lunch at the beach our guides Mike and Nathan took us up to ride Full Boar bike shop owner Trevor's downhill deluxe outside of Kamloops. We got to see Bender's New World Disorder crash drop - it's bigger looking than I thought it would be and the landing didn't seem as steep as I would have expected. Since Chris "Krazy" Glew had a sore ankle, we didn't stop to watch him launch it. Maybe next trip with Danger? Following our high speed Full Boar downhill run we headed out to Lilloet for our heli-biking extravaganza.
The guys in Lilloet have groomed a beautiful 7000 vertical foot winding downhill that starts in alpine meadows, drops down into lush forest then finishes in desert like steeps down into Lilloet. We got going so fast for such long periods of time that we had to stop to rest our forearms. After 5 minutes we would get them back for the next 20 minute downhill section and on and on it went getting faster and faster as we learned to handle more and more speed (maybe too much for Mellow Jake who trashed a few plants on his body rolls). There's nothing quite like the feeling of blasting through the trees trying to push yourself to go a little bit faster. This was a definite ability boost. Tom from Maine pumped his confidence level way up on this ride, so much so that he wanted revenge on the Monster - maybe next year.
We rode Squamish on Friday hitting the fun fest from Powersmart's speedy corners, to High and Dry's log rides, back up for some launching and log riding on Home Brew then a little stuntage on Roadside Attraction finishing off on"Gold". The rains came down and I was not sad to head to Vancouver for dry sleeping while the rest of the boys camped out in Porteau Cove prepping for the grand finale: The North Shore with Dangerous Dan.
The plans were changed so that the riders could watch Dan being filmed by Digger on some new secret stunts. After the show the guys got a taste of Fromme with rides on Upper Oilcan, Air Supply, Starfish and Lower Ladies. Quite a big day for the eighth day of riding in a row but everyone held up and had a great time.
While traveling the province I kept thinking about all the other spots to ride (Golden, Williams Lake, Smithers, Kelowna, Penticton, Sechelt, Vancouver Island, etc.,etc.,) and all the good times we were having on this trip. Everyone bolstered their skill and confidence levels to new heights by being exposed to such varied terrain on a continuos basis. What we need now is a two month tour of B.C., I just need a bunch of guys to sign up for it so I can go. Barring that hopefully we'll see some of you on the third tour starting August 18
