05/16/2008

Day 3 - The day that we rode the forbidden trail and chilled

Day 3 marked our final day of riding in Fernie, and as before, we headed up the Gorby climb. This time, there was the promise of more technical, challenging terrain in the offing for those who wanted it. That got my attention.

The group hoofed it up the hill, in good spirits. We rode up and out into the clearing below the ski hill, and from there we split up. Those who wanted to keep things manageable stayed with Val and did a lap lower on the hill, while Jansen, Blair, Eddy, and I struck out for a more challenging trail called Verboten. Verboten is on the outside boundary of the ski resort, and was built on what was (and may still be) private land. It's a little steeper, a little loamier, and snakes among the big cedar trees. My first thought when we rolled up to it was, "Welcome to Fromme." Minus the rain, of course.

On the way up to Verboten, Eddy and I were talking to Jansen about bikes. It was clear that he was suffering on his aluminum hardtail with the 100mm fork, narrow bars, and Magura rim brakes. I asked him if he wanted to try my Nomad and it was as though someone had given him one of Willy Wonka's gold tickets. At first, he was worried about breaking it, but after a very little bit of convincing, he decided to give it a try.

We traded bikes after the initial drop-in on the trail, and it didn't take long for Jansen to figure out that the Nomad was more fun to ride than his hardtail. Being the nice Canadian kid that I am, I had agreed to ride his hardtail while he was on the Nomad. I thought I'd died and gone to hell. It was a great reminder of what riding was like 'back in the day'. And how much I used to crash.

I grabbed the Nomad out of Jansen's hot little hands as soon as they stopped for a break - it was the only way I could catch up to them - and we headed down the hill. I was greatly relieved, and Jansen looked like some kid who'd just found out the truth about Santa. Welcome back to the real world, kid. Hardtails with that set-up may be great on the dykes in Holland, but they come up short in B.C.

We carried on down the trail until the four of us reached a small a-frame, the first real stunt of the trip. Eddy led the charge, showing Blair and Jansen what was involved in getting over. Neither of them had done anything like this before, but they were both game - with a little bit of coaching and Eddy standing there to catch them if anything went really wrong. And I'd be on hand to record the moment for posterity.

Blair got a little sideways on the way over the top, but he hung on and rode it out.

Blair was the second over the a-frame, and in spite of a small wobble at the top, made it down the back side without any problem. Then it was Jansen's turn. We slammed the seatpost on the Nomad, walked him through the process of riding the stunt, and sent him back up the hill to give it a go.

Jansen made it to the top without any problems, and came down the back side looking like he'd been doing it for years.

Jansen's first attempt at the stunt came up short. He didn't have enough speed, and stalled at the top. Thankfully, the seat was down and he was able to put his feet down. Disaster averted. After a stern talking to from Eddy and I, and a warning to stay off the brakes on the roll in, Jansen hit it. And hit it he did. The bike did its thing and so did Jansen, and the photo to the right shows what he thought of the whole experience.

"Ooooo, that was fun. I'm not giving this bike back."

Finally, it was my turn. I'd strained my rotator cuff the week before the trip and it was still sore, so I decide to roll the a-frame rather than launch. That went well, and the four adventurers headed down the hill to meet up with the rest of the crew. The only bad thing about the whole experience was that we'd created a monster - Jansen couldn't think about much else for the rest of the trip other than ways to get me or Eddy off our bikes so he could ride them. We were witness to the birth of a Dutch freeriding phenom, and it was a slightly frightening sight.

The author, pleased to get back on his own bike after being tortured on a Spanish hardtail. || Photo: Eddy Plant

Terrain on Verboten varied from fast rips that linked soft and loamy sections, with some steep, off-camber lines that were a challenge if you weren't used to riding that type of trail. Towards the bottom, things got rooty and twisty through the trees. All in all, it was a very nice way to end our time in Fernie and definitely worth the extended climb.

The group met up at the bottom of the hill, and headed back to the condo to pack, perform a quick service on the bikes, collect our thoughts, catch a nap, and prepare for our first travel day. We were breaking camp and heading out to Rossland.

Day 4 - The day that we travelled and shuttled

Day 4 marked the first travel day for the crew. We were loading up and left the comfort of our condos in Fernie for Rossland. The 325km drive was uneventful, but it did take several hours. Thankfully, it included a lunch stop beside a lake at the summit of the Salmo-Creston pass. Once that was done, we headed down the hill and through the pass towards the mining town of Trail and on to Rossland.

A very scenic lunch spot, as long as you didn't mind the semi-trucks cruising by while you were eating.

Rossland is the home of Red Mountain and some wicked backcountry skiing, as well as some amazing riding. We landed at Angela's Bed and Breakfast in Rossland. Angela moved over from England more than two decades ago and has done whatever she needed to since then so she could ski her brains out every winter. These days, she runs two B&Bs in Rossland. We had the good fortune to take over one of the houses.

After unloading our gear from the van and a quick change, we headed out for a couple of shuttle runs. I was looking forward to the shuttles - as a Vancouver resident, this was my thing. It also meant that I didn't have to do any climbing, on this day at least. We met up with Blair from Adrenaline Adventures, and he shuttled us up to the top of Oasis, a trail on the way up the hill to Red Mountain. Everyone unloaded their bikes, and chased each other down the 6km logging road to the trailhead. It was great feeling the wind roaring through my helmet after sitting in the van for so long.

You tend to pick up hitchhikers when your bike's on the roofrack.

Why am I breathing hard? We're just going downhill...

Shuttling is a great idea. In principle. It sounds like a lot of fun - get ride to the top of the trail, coast down, and repeat. That can't be much work, can it? Oh, it is. Especially when the trail is undulating, long, and include longer flat sections mixed in with short uphill stretches. The fact that we'd been in the van for several hours likely also killed the fire in some people's legs.

As we came out of the forest, the trails turned sandy and steep, with some exposure and an amazing view of the river below. We'd actually covered so much terrain that we were back in Trail, after starting in the hills above Rossland.

The author pays attention to the trail as it skirts the bluffs overlooking the Columbia River
and the city of Trail. || Photo: Eddy Plant

The last section of the Oasis trails was very sandy and some steep, off-camber switchbacks made things challenging for a number of people in the crew who weren't used to tight turns. Having a photographer standing in the apex of the turn also proved to be a distraction for one or two riders.

Amanda rocked it old school-style on her tank of a Heckler, but she (almost) never stopped smiling.

The crew regroup at the bottom of the trail, and hopped back in the Adrenaline van for another lap before dinner. Some technical problems with my bike and Eddy's delayed us at the top, and we sent the rest of the group ahead down the road. We figured that it wouldn't be a problem to catch them. Neither of really minded that we were going to have to play catch-up - it gave us a chance to open things up and really fly down the hill. That was all well and good until yours truly flatted. A borrowed tube and a quick change later, and we were off and running again. Eddy asked if I was up for a little sightseeing, and I said I was so we jumped off the main road and onto a less-travelled trail called PR. PR was definitely steeper and more technical than our first lap, and there were a number of sketchy stunts that merited a look. None of them had seen a nail or hammer for a long time, and they were definitely suspect. So I let Eddy go first.

The author, touching down after launching off the kicker up the hill || Photo: Eddy Plant

Eddy launched this drop with a lot of style and confidence.

Eddy didn't seem to mind, though, and found a sweet little launch onto what looked like a well-worn pallet that last saw use in the 1960s. He was all over hitting it, as long as I got the shot. Since the landing only had one hit left in it, I took my time getting set up. The run-in was fine, and Eddy rolled off the rock like it was nothing. The landing held, thankfully, and I got my shot. We were out of there, hauling ass down the trail and trying to catch up with the rest of the group, but the photo op had slowed us down. We were making good time for nearly 10 minutes, and were hauling down sections of the trail, drifting corners and launching long, low airs off the rollers. The serious high-speed ripping came to an abrupt halt when Eddy flatted, and he had to pull off his thru-axle rear wheel. By now, we were seriously far behind Amanda and the boys, so I made sure Eddy had what he needed and took off to tell the rest of the crew that we hadn't died on the trail.

Apparently, Eddy and I were further off the back than we thought. I rode out the rest of the trail on my own, only catching up with the group back on the road. Nobody really minded, though, because they'd enjoyed their own second run just as much as we had. We loaded back into the van and went to Angela's for a quick shower and got ready for dinner. It had been a very long day, and we were starving.

The first four days of the trip were a good eye-opener to what we would be facing over the next week, and they gave people a chance to get to know their fellow travellers. Everyone was starting to relax, and we were seeing the strengths and weaknesses in each other. That was going to be an important thing, because the next day, we were heading out to do the Seven Summits trail, an eight-hour, 40+ km romp over a number of mountain peaks in the hills behind Rossland.

And that was only the first of the big adventures we were going to have on this trip. Another shuttle run, a couple of long drives, some XC excursions under the trees, and the epic high alpine Keystone-Standard Basin ride in Revelstoke were on tap over the next four days.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of my trip with Sacred Rides. There are tons more pictures to see, and lots more stories to tell.

And if the first four days of this trip have already got you stoked for your own Kootenay adventure, Sacred Rides is already taking bookings for the 2008 season. Ultimate B.C. Tours are scheduled for May 31-June 11, July 18-30, August 8-20, and September 5-17. If you're looking for the same type of riding but can only commit to eight days, the Rocky Mountain Singletrack trip runs on June 27-July 4, July 11-18, August 1-8 (women's), August 22-29, and September 12-19.

- Stuart Kernaghan

Want to talk about the first four days of this trip? Discuss back-country riding in B.C.? Here's the place to do it.

The who, what, and why of Sacred Rides - Mike Brcic and Responsible Riding

Sacred Rides originally started life as Fernie Fat Tire Adventures back in 1996. Since then, the company has grown under president and founder Mike Brcic's leadership and direction from a small operation that did day trips around the region to an international mountain bike adventure company with multi-day XC and DH trips and skills camps in B.C., Chile and Peru. The company differentiates itself from a lot of its competition not just in the types of trips that it runs, or the fact that it has been in business for more than a decade, but also be because of its Responsible Riding sustainable tourism mandate.

Responsible Riding is Sacred Rides' driving philosophy, and it governs the way the company does business. It's based on the concept that mountain biking, environmental stewardship, and respect for the communities that the trips go to are all mutually compatible. There are a number of key components to the Responsible Riding mantra, but they boil down to the notion of using local guides and supporting local businesses, giving a portion of the proceeds back to local sustainability initiatives, being involved in trail building in B.C., closely adhering to IMBA trail use guidelines to minimize impact, and implementing a carbon-offset program to offset the amount of carbon produced during the season by planting trees and getting involved in renewable energy projects like wind farms.

The other really amazing thing that Mike has done under the Responsible Riding umbrella is launch a non-profit organization called Bikes Without Borders, that donates bikes to families in need in developing countries. Mike and his staff work with private and corporate donors to get new and used bicycles and bike parts, and then partner with government and non-government aid organizations to ensure the bikes get to the people who need them most. Last year, bikes went to people in Guyana, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

So in addition to a great trip, I was also heading out with a company that had more than the bottom line in mind and that gave me a really good feeling about the experience I was about to have.