Slide Show ..... Better Late Than Never

Hey y'all. Finally got a version of the slide show done that I could load onto vimeo. Hope you enjoy.

2009 Summer Road Trip from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

A Fond Farewell

After hundreds of kilometers on the bikes, thousands of kilometers on the truck, and millions of sunflower seeds later, it is really happening, we are done! We are now somewhere in Quebec, we have been driving straight ever since we left Rossland some 48ish hours ago.



At the beginning of the last post we asked how many summits? Well 7 wasn’t enough, Andrew Hamilton happened to be in town so we decided to do the 7 summits trail again with him on Monday. Just two days later the ride was quite different with zero fog, colder temps, and climbs that felt much harder. We also did a fun ride Sunday evening, from camp we rode to the trailhead and did a 2 hour loop. The trails we awesome, full monty was technical and had some fun drops and bridges throughout. But, we also learned some lessons on the ride. I learned that if everyone looks at a rock and decides it can’t be rolled (including myself) I shouldn’t try to roll it. We also learned that double black diamond trials are labeled that for a reason, way too steep for some east coasters on the left coast.



I have been starting to put together a slideshow (will post it when it gets done, may be a week or two) of some of our favorite pictures from over the trip, and it just really hit home how much we have done over the last couple of months. All the different places that have such amazing but diverse terrain or all the amazing people we have met, some friends for life and others never to be seen from again. A special thanks to everyone who helped us out during our travels, especially Tiny, Lois, Penny and Family, Mark, and Domique.



We are all looking forward to getting home and seeing all our family and friends. It will also be nice to put the bikes away for few days and try to ease our way back into a regular existence. Also it won’t be bad to not see each other for at least 24 hours. I have to say that I am mostly excited about regular access to a fridge. To everyone out there in cyberspace I hope you enjoyed following along on our adventure and until next time… happy trails.

Ben, Steve, and Tyler.





Ps – life at home hasn’t been too bad yet, a little wake boarding/surfing got done today.

Too Many Summits?

Today we rode the 7 Summits trail in Rossland BC. It was a good ride but I think our bodies know the trip is coming to the end and are acting accordingly. Sore hands, backs, and shoulders were the name of the game today. It was also crazy misty, although I wouldn't want to ride in those conditions all the time it was cool to experience it once. Here are some pictures from the ride.









We also wanted to congratulate the newlyweds Andrew and Katherine, and today's ride was dedicated to them... the helmet cam isn't the best for recording messages but if you crank up the volume at the end, I hope that you get the idea.

7 Summits - Rossland, BC from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

The Final Countdown...

The general consensus yesterday as we packed up camp and left Squamish/Whistler was that the trip is truly starting to wind down. Although we still have a few rides left in and around Rossland, reality is starting to set in that journey can actually end. Although sad to think of the end, it is hard to be sad when you are truly 100 percent content with your current situation.



Our last few days in the Sea to Sky corridor (Squamish, Whistler, ect.) were great. On Monday night we meet up with Andrew in Whistler. After a few beers and a little catching up we decided on a good Squamish ride to do in the morning. I have to hand it to him, he ripped it up on one of the best loops we got to ride in Squamish. We all had a great ride, and finished off the day with a refreshing swim at the lake.



On Wednesday we decided to rent some big bikes and hit the famous Whistler bike park. After having a ridiculously hard time finding bikes and renting all the necessary gear, we hit the lifts. This type of riding isn’t even fair, I would have to compare it to shooting fish in a barrel. With zero climbing you have access to thousands of feet of supper flowy pump track style trails or super technical natural and man-made descents. The conditions were supposedly poor and it was still AMAZING, can’t wait to hit it when it’s in prime shape. It was also neat to see Whistler getting all ready for Crankworks which is a huge mountain bike festival held every summer.



Jared finally arrived in Whistler so after returning our rental gear it was off to meet up with him. He was in town for the unveiling of Giant Bicycles 2010 bike line (the bikes looked great, if you liked the 09s then next year’s bikes won’t disappoint). After Giants giant BBQ we decided to hit the town, we eventually meet up with some of the boys from the Tantalus bike shop and with some local guidance we had an amazing night in the village. Huge thanks to Peanut, Scott and all the boys at the shop for hooking us up and for just being super good guys, if you are ever in the Squamish area and need anything bike related hit up the Tantalus bike shop and you won’t be disappointed (the owner who unfortunately was away, is also from Montague).



All in all, the last week was awesome. We got to meet up with good friends and make some new ones; I hope Jared and Andrew had as good a time as we did. Thanks again to everyone who made our stay in the area unforgettable, especially Penny, John, Lauren, and Heather.

Chilcotin Adventure

As I type this we are drive back from the Chilcotins, a little bit earlier than planned, forest fires are burning on three sides and the road back to civilization closes in an hour (there are only 2 and the other has been closed for a few days). The country here is AMAZING, bigger and remoter than anywhere I have ever been. The plan for today had been to get on a float plan at 9 am take a 20 minute ride to a remote lake in the backcountry, then use the next 10 hours to ride out… needless to say were supper bummed out, but we definitely made the sensible decisions.





… SO up until this point in my life forest fires never really affected me, although I have always seen the carnage on TV, but being so close to them has left a lasting impression. At the general store we overheard a helicopter pilot saying the fire in Lillooet was climbing the hill faster than he was, not something I would want to be near. Huge respect for all the fire fighters and forest workers working around the clock on limited resources to get these fires put out. Two helicopters loaded with buckets just flew overhead, and plane just sprayed fire retardant a few hundred feet away from the road. Can’t see that road being open for long, glad we made it out.





Although one could truly say that “the shit has hit the fan”, the trip was worth it. We camped at Tyax Resort, a world class heli ski outfit (packages in the tens of thousands of dollars) in the winter and luxury relaxation in the summer. The lodge, which had a nice rustic beauty to it is entirely built of logs and defiantly fits in with its surroundings (note the main entranceway). The lodge offered a great twist to our lake swims… a nice hot tub after a cold dip!





The ride yesterday was as good as it gets; huge climbs, beautiful views, big vertical descents, and a little hike-a-bike thrown in to keep things honest. Those views shouldn’t come without some blood, sweat, and tears (a little, too much, and none that I saw…). After reaching the top of one of the passes we noticed a helicopter flying vary low and carrying what appeared to be a net. Upon further investigation we learned that it was removing camping gear for a large group of campers that had been staying in a remote cabin (for those you who have seen the bike movie “the collective” it’s the one that appears in the second segment of the movie… yeah those are the trails we rode yesterday suckers). I’ll let the pictures and video say the rest for the ride. Again, a big thanks to Penny and Duncan for taking us on another sweet adventure.

Chilcotins from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

Tomorrow it’s off to Whistler to meet up with Pickard and Jared. Can’t wait to see the boys and hope to get some good riding in as well. Won’t hurt to get to see/ride the 2010 Giant bikes line up either!

Chilcotins here we come...

Nothing much new, lots of riding, lost of forest fires, and still lots of heat. We are heading up north for a few days of riding and should have some goodies to post about early next week. Here are a few pics and video of us riding in Washington. And to Dom... we shower with soap when we can.

Riding in Washington from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

Tour de Lakes

Yesterday was a great day, the heat wave continued with another day in the upper 30’s. We had learned our lesson the other day and planned on riding in the evening when the heat died down. We had been drawn a map of various lakes in the area and decided to find them. With the map in hand we set off on the bikes. Towels were not needed, as after a few minutes on the bike you were completely dry, and then a few minutes later you were soaked with sweat again and hoping for the next lake to appear…







After our refreshing afternoon, it was off to meet Penny and Duncan in Squamish. Although it was a little cooler out, we kept to trails that were hidden in the shade. A huge thanks goes out to Penny and Duncan who were excellent guides. There is something about a ride when you don’t have to use a map and not get worried about getting lost that I had been missing. The trails were nice with a good variety of terrain ranging from supper steep and tight descents to supper steep and tight climbs mixed in with some fast flowy single track trails. The trails were covered with cool bridges and rock slabs. On a sour note, Tyler suffered a twisted ankle near the end of the ride so send all your healing vibes his way. We are going to take the day off riding and take a ride on Whistlers new peak to peak chairlift.







We are getting excited by the prospect of seeing some fellow Islanders this coming week. It sounds like we will be meeting up with both Mr. Stretch and Andrew P, safe travels guys and look forward to seeing you both.

We blame the lack of posting on the lack of riding. Although, great times have been had! We spent the last few days in and around Vancouver. We have been living the good life ever since we have hit our home land. After five and half weeks of sleeping in a tent, we were treated to nice beds, delicious food, and hot showers. A HUGE thanks for Aunt Tiny for all she did for us, we had a wonderful time and can’t wait till we can visit again. Also a thanks to Mark for letting us crash for the night, and last but certainly not least, thanks to Aunt Lois for a great evening and the opportunity to see the amazing fireworks/light show (sunset wasn’t bad either).



We headed for Squamish Sunday morning and our home coming welcome continued. We meet up with Penny (whom we meet in Oakridge) and she has been more than welcoming, we were invited to an amazing BBQ on the lake near her house. We cannot thank her and her family enough for opening up there house to us and showing us all the best trails Squamish has to offer.



We went for great ride today. We got our first taste of BC riding… steep and technical, the cross country trails here would put a maritime downhill course to shame. Although the trails were perfect the 36 degree heat was not. I have never seen 3 people sweat some much… not even in Moab. After a few bouts of nausea, cause by/combination of heat stroke or expired milk residue in a water bottle a great ride was had by all. The post ride lake swim was the perfect way to finish off the ride. And as a matter of fact I have to go now to explore a new lake for the second dip of the day…

Homeward Bound

Ever the busy bees! The last few days have taken us to a wide variety of locations. Since our last post we have been in Hood River, Mount. St. Helens, Portland, and few in between. Pulling into Hood River on Sunday night was very neat, all you could see on the horizon was kites. We went down near the water and it was just buzzing with kite boarders and wind surfers. Upon puling into our campsite we could tell Hood River was a little different than some of the other places we have been. When we usually arrive at a campsite it is us who are loaded down with all the gear for life on the road. It quickly became apparent in the little campground parking lot that we were the armatures! A friendly middle aged woman in a prius pulled up with a kayak on roof, when she popped the trunk we realized she wasn’t fooling around. Not only did she have all her camping gear and paddling gear….she had 3 wind surf boards and sails? Then there were the two guys at the end of the parking lot who had outfitted an old U Haul van with wooden bunk beds and gear storage compartments. Not to mention the other 15 passenger vans loaded with gear and people. Hood River was defiantly a cool little town that caters to the outdoor crowd. We picked up a 6 pack from a local microbrewery to enjoy over a game of horse shoes and the label on the box summed it up pretty good (can click on the pictures to enlarge them).





Our ride in Hood had been recommended to us and it had the potential to be great, but I think we were a little too early in the season for it to be in its prime. The ride did offer spectacular views of Mt. Hood on the grueling climb up. Once at the top it was supposed to be a sweet downhill all the way down to the car. It wasn’t in the cards, although there was no blow down (downed trees) on the way up, we probably climbed over 30 to 40 trees on the way down. The sections that were clear were great, so I guess we will just have to go back some day to experience the full downhill. Although, a little excitement was had on the ride, I had my worst crash of the trip so far although it didn’t involve my bike. We were moving some of the smaller blow down on the trail as we came upon it. There was a tree that was lying parallel to the trail with just a large branch hanging across the trail, me trying to be hero though I could break it no problem, not to be. With all my weight and a huge bow in the branch it finally snapped sending me flying into a tree, some roots, and then finally coming to a rest on my back, with the only comfort being Tyler’s uncontrollable laughter. Although unhurt, I still have a few cuts and scrapes to remind me of my fall.







I feel like I’m writing a novel so I will try to wrap it up. After Hood River we went in search of Mount St. Helen's. With a great deal of difficulty, no thanks to tom tom (gps system) we finally found it. We set up camp near the trail we were going to ride and took some picture of the sun setting on the giant peak. Ape canyon was to be the ride and climbs into the foot hills below the active volcano and then across the base. I’ll let the picture do the rest of the talking. On a side note the flies were insane! Having 100’s of flies landing on you at one time was something I could have done without experiencing.



After the ride we packed up and headed to Portland to visit Powell’s city of books, one massif book store. It is a whole city block, four stories tall, and claims to have over a million books. It sure felt strange being in Portland when we first arrived, it felt as if it had been weeks not hours that we had just been up in mountain as the base of St. Helens. Just two every different environments, but the book store was cool and we had more Thai food. Now we make our way north.

Did we mention Oregon was Beautiful!

Yesterday was great day filled with a good ride on one of the most beautiful trails I have ever been on. Today was filled with quite the opposite. After hitting snooze on our 7 am wake up call for 2 hours we finally made our way to wallmart to get some new tires put on the truck. I can truly say that 3 hours inside of wallmart’s customer service area has nothing on crystal blue pools, waterfalls, and lush green vegetation. The McKenzie River Trail is a short drive outside of Bend. It follows the McKenzie River for 26 miles over a variety of terrain which kept things interesting. It would switch between super fast smooth single track or having to pick your way through super technical lava rock fields.





The trail also marked some firsts: the lava rocks caused Mr. Roosh his first flat of the trip. Although he is still leagues behind us in running flat tally, Tyler and I gladly welcome him to the club. Secondly, this ride required a shuttle back to the car along the main road, we sent our most experienced hitch hiker out on a mission to get our truck. A short time later the truck appeared to pick us and our gear up. This saved us $200 (that’s what we were quoted to shuttle the 3 of us). We celebrated with some Thai food, hun-yeah!







We noticed in the guest book a request was made to elaborate on the pixie cross and river jump competitions held during the Downieville Classic. I found some footage that lully had shot during the weekend and edited a little video together. It has the start of the race (mountain bike race starts don’t look like this in the Maritimes…), the first and second place river jumpers, and a heat of the pixie cross race.

2009 Downieville Classic Festivities from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

We have been busy and also have a video of our riding in Oarkridge done.

Oakridge, Oregon from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.