An Eagle Mountain Epic

We met at Starbucks on Ioco Rd. at 10am, and immediately I was in for some ridicule about my jersey (a '94 Norco team Jersey) I always wear it even though I have others because it's comfortable and I consider it to be good luck, unfortunately it offends the more *ahem* fashion conscious amongst us! We started the climb and right away they were on my case about my back wheel; I tacoed it on the maiden voyage of my VPS back in May, but I have tightened the spokes and while it doesn't run true (doesn't need to with discs) it has held through much abuse. I had to put up with two and a half hours of this as we climbed up the singletrack to the Lungbuster road, after that noone had energy to speak until we got to the top and had a break looking at the view and the car that someone had pushed off the cliff (I don't know how they got it up there!).

Here is the group at the top of the trail we think is called massage therapy. From left to right is Paul, Dimitri, Bruce, Darren, Neil (AKA Hurricane, going light with no leg pads) and Arno, I'm taking the shot, but I make up for my absence later. It's a really long, very hard climb up to this point and unfortunately the picture doesn't show the absolutely amazing view of Vancouver and downtown. I think being able to see all of that from Coquitlam is quite a novelty.

Into the trail we are immediately greeted by a pair of 4' drops, Dimitri launches one of them, I launch the other, we both realise that the ground is very soft and forgiving (useful thing to know :o)). The first stunt worthy of a picture is a large open rock face accessed from a small ladder bridge, it wasn't too tricky except you had to turn slightly to the right on the face and the transition at the bottom was a bit heavy.

Dimitri rides the rock, no problem.

Not to be outdone, I give it a shot, no worries, everyone else passes.

Past this section, there are a few steeps, all of which are made tricky by the softness of the ground. The next man made stunt is a downhill log ride with a steep ramp exit, Dimitri and I give it a shot and after a couple of fumbles we make it, the next stunt was a raised rock which you have to ride up and down a ramp on the other side. It sounds easy, but the ramp is about 10' high, steeper that 45 degrees and you have to turn sharply to get onto it. The photo doesn't show how steep the ramp is, but you get an idea by looking at where my weight is on the bike, I noticed when Dimitri rode the ramp, his back wheel left the ground and landed half way down! Bruce gave the ramp a go, but he rode it from on top of the rock, avoiding the turn you have to make.

The last section of the trail was steeper and looser, but we all rode it and felt good. The warm-up was over so we headed down to The 4 Lost Souls hoping to find the trail called Fat Bastard. We reached the trail head without any luck, riding 4 lost souls would still be a good blast, it is a very well built trail and lots of fun, but thoughts of new unexplored territory still ran through our minds. As we entered the Lost Souls, we noticed a new stunt, a 9' rock drop, very smooth, very rideable, most of us gave it a shot, all of us were smiling! It was at this point that we noticed a sign hanging on a tree of to the left of the trail, we had accidentally discovered the new trail. The entrance to the trail was a downhill log ride with ladder rungs nailed onto the top surface, it looked intimidating but you could probably brake on this thing if it was covered in snow! We started on the ride and were disappointed to see that a lot of the man made stuff was not finished and the detours were so soft we were losing control and wrecking the trail, morale was slipping, but not for long. we hit some stunts, lots of a-frames, balance lines and so on, the first was a thin ramp up to a platform as wide as a freeway! it gave us a false sense of security because as we rounded the corner we realised that the platform ends with a big drop, the landing was soft but slightly off camber so I had a fairly heavy landing, Dimitri, as always, made it look smooth. We got some great photos of the jump though.

Dimitri, going large, smooth and in control as always.

Me chucking off the platform, Dimitri is watching me, giving a decent idea of the size of the drop.

We were feeling good, we were all riding well, and this trail was getting better by the minute. A few drops, balance lines and really steep switchbacks later, we came to the feature stunt. Dimitri was dancing round like a kid on Christmas morning, can't blame him really, the stunt is a massive balance line that ends in a platform 10' off the ground with a drop onto a transition ramp at the end. For the faint of heart, there was a more earthbound exit at the end of the log. I must commend the trail builder, this is a colid piece of construction. I'll just stop talking and show you what I mean:

The log (nice and wide) transitions on to the platform which Dimitri is standing under, at the end of the platform you can just see the ramp gently leading back to Earth.

Here is Bruce riding along the log, you can almost tell that he is 10' off the ground. Dimitri was the first to launch it, he loved it so much he went back to do it again (this time I could get a shot).

Darren is up next, he has a hesitant start, but picks up speed rides to the end and does a serious nose-dive bouncing off his head. Fortunately the landing is soft and he isn't hurt too badly, just a bit stiff and sore. I was at the start of the ramp and already a little nervous, this didn't help.

What the heck, I went for it anyway, I landed it halfway down the ramp making it about a 7' drop with the softest landing ever, I was ecstatic.

Dimitri was up next and we decided to take a different approach to photographing him. Confused? Well this is what I meant.We stood under the ramp looking through the gap, very original and very cool if you ask me.

After this drop there were some of the most original and cool balance lines around, followed by more drops and a-frames like this: Dimitri making it look easy again. I had a good spill on a smallish drop, my wheels caught in the soft mulch and I endoed, no pain, no damage, just a lot of pine needles in my shorts!

At the end of the trail Darren opted to go home and relax his neck, Arno followed him down, the rest of us decided to take Lung Buster back up to The Dentist, it was the most painful climb I have endured in a long time, Bruce is right, once you come down, there should be no more up!

We rode the dentist and I was out voted on what to do next, I wanted Randy's and B&A, everyone else was too tired, We went down the lower trails and I snapped my chain. I did most of the DH chainless, and finally caught up to everyone to make them wait while I fixed the link. We were passed by some XCers, who look odd to me now with their skinny tires and excessive spandex. The trail that exits B&A and the trail we were on is fun, it's fast and there are some good jumps, I unfortunately missed the opportunity as I was stuck behind the cross country riders who stopped to look at each jump obstructing it :o(. We finished a quick bomb down the hill and decided to go for a bite to eat at the Frog and Nightgown Pub. I also decided to splurge on a new wheel and I now have a shiny new Mavic 321 Disc. Big, dark and evil looking thing. It makes me happy.

A grand day out!

-Steve Sheldon