The days have been just flying by here in paradise. Saturday was hard as Matt was waiting for the hospital to call regarding his pending surgery. The call finally came and Sunday was to be the day! We woke up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 to drive into north van. We dropped Matt off at the Lions Gate Hospital and were told he would be ready to be picked around 3. Tyler and I planned to go and ride the famous trails located in north vancouver. We planned to ride Mt. Fromme since it is the most small bike friendly of the 3 north shore mountains. Upon arriving at the trailhead I noticed that I had forgotten my shoes at home. Tyler and I weren't that disappointed as we were both quite tired from back to back days of riding. We now had some time to kill... a few bike shops and a cheese burger picnic / nap at Mcdonalds brought us to 3 with still no call from the hospital. We called the hospital only to be told Matt would be ready by 7 at the earliest.



plate and 7 screws



We now had some more time to kill. Our goal was to find a way to ride. First we were off to Zellers to pick up some cheap new kicks. Then it was off to Cove bike shop for some cheap pedals. We arrived just as they closing but they were nice enough to sell me a beauty pair of $20 flats. No a side note this $30 shoes/pedals set up works almost as good as my $300 regular flat set up…. fancy bike gear is so over rated ha ha. Our ride was finally underway, for some unknown reason we hammered up the climb in under an hour and got ready for the ride down. The north shore is known for steep, rooty, and rocky terrain and this ride didn't disappoint. We rode 7th secret and expresso and managed to ride about 80% of the tails with only a few unplanned dismounts. Just as we were finishing our ride, we got the call Matt was ready and headed to pick him up. He was a little groggy but relieved to have the surgery behind him. We headed back to whistler for a much needed feast.





We awoke Monday morning to rain and decided to hit the park for some laps. To say it was sloppy was an understatement. Over the course of our ride we saw one guy get his arm splinted and 2 other ambulances taking some unlucky riders off the hill. We also got to experience some classic BC weather and in the upper mountain had to ride through fog… it was crazy and we could hardly see each other. The mud covering our googles wasn't helping either! All in all we had splendiferous ride!





We got home just in time to clean up the bikes before heading to Araxi for dinner. Araxi is one of Whistlers most famous restaurants. No better way to finnish off a great ride than with delicious cuisine…. although it may have dented the food budget.



The agenda for today called us back to Squamish to concur the trails that had weakened the woLf pack on our last visit. Before riding we decided to stop by and see the boys at the Tantalus bike shop. Andrew happened to be in the market for a new xc bike and the Tantalus had just the bike. We left Whistler with 3 giants and started the ride with 2 giants and a brand new Santa Cruz Blur LT carbon. One of the nicest ride going! We had a great ride with beautiful views and some amazing single track with a lung burning climb to keep things honest. Hoods in the woods is my new favourite trail. Steep enough to bring the fear, but with flow for days. A few more trips to Squamish are in the cards for sure!

"Fuck Squamish"...

I'm not gonna lie, I really do love that place, but that statement was being tossed around yesterday and for good reason as you will find out below.





So… good new or bad new first? Good news is that Whistler is awesome. We are on back to back days with xc and dh rides. We ventured into Squamish yesterday and were having a killer ride until…. the trail half nelson claimed the first victim of our trip! On a sketchy double our boy Matt cased the nuckle and went down hard! While tending to him the next rider off said jump did the same thing. After extracting Matt off the mountain we headed to the ER in Squamish. After a short wait it was determined that Matt had seriously fractured his collar bone. We are waiting to hear from the doctor to see if he needs surgery or not. This put a major dampener on our day, but Matt is a trooper and is keen to get rehab started and get back on the bike.





Upon getting back to whistler, Tyler and I decided to rip out some laps on the big bikes to clear our heads. Unloading from the lifts I noticed 2 black bears grassing just meters from the chairlift. It was cool to see as I have never seen a bear up close. They were just minding there own business completely ignoring us bikers. Saw another black bear last night, this time just 5 feet off the trail we were riding. Two black bear sightings in two rides, I hope that fills the quota for a little while.



(Alice you'll be glad to know that there is no shed... and we are becoming pros at bike dodging)

I got some more information regarding the 4 queens bike race I signed up for a few weeks back and I think I am way over my head! The race consists of 4 stages which range from pure XC to extreme DH but you are only aloud to ride one bike. To start the race it was also noted that you need a moustache (real or fake). You better believe I'm working on some handle bars.

88 in we-slur!

Well! the last few days have been a roller coaster ride to say the least. We left Charlottetown friday evening and arrived in Vancouver early monday morning after driving for 60 some odd hours. The drive was long and uneventful… which I guess is kind of a good thing. However, we did have two of the smoothest boarder crossings ever! The officer coming back in to Canada was even cracking jokes….

BG "do you have any alcohol or tobacco?"
WP "nope"
BG "your telling me your from PEI and you don't have any liquor with you"

I guess our Island reputation exceeds us haha.



So after arriving in Whistler late Monday afternoon we were homeless so we thought it would be a good idea to try to find somewhere to live. We got the local Pique paper and called every number we could find that had a place for rent, with no luck. Our focus at this point shifted from somewhere to live too a place to sleep for the night. Luckily Tyler checked his facebook and a friend he met in Aus was in whistler. After getting in touch with Linsey things started to work themselves out. First we dropped our bikes off at the Summit bike shop for safe keeping overnight. Big thanks to those guys for being super chill and hooking us up. Then it was off to Linseys staff party where booze, BBq, and an 80 themed dance party were the order of the evening.



(wolf knifes first use... woo)



After relocating Tyler and meeting up with Andrew and Amila tuesday morning we decided to go house hunting. We successfully found two spots that fit the bill and went to check them out. One was right in the village but it felt more like a hotel then an apartment. The other place is right beside the village and still only a 5 min walk to the chairlifts, woo! When we went to look at it there was a group of girls at the apartment also taking a look. We did a quick walk through and raced back to the rental office to snatch it up. After about an hour of getting the rental set up we headed back to the apartment and that group of girls was sitting in our living room. Conversation was something like this.

girls "Were just waiting for our friend, I think were gonna take it"
WP "oh… we just rented it"
…. long awkward pause"
girls "for how long?"
WP "september"
girls "you got to be shitting me!"

We later found out that 4 other groups had looked at the place that morning. All I can say is we are super stoked on it and check out the pictures to check it out!









After taking most of the day to get our place set up Andrew, Matt, Tyler, and I decided to go for a quick xc ride at the lost lake trails just a few minutes from our house. The trials were amazing, and a flat tire couldn't even whip the smiles off our faces!





I'm currently typing in my new comfy bed and will rap this up as I'm getting antsy to get the day started as we have a big day in the bike park ahead of us!

Tyler and I are heading out to whistler this summer and figured we might as well fire up the old blog again as we will be exploring trails up and down the sea to sky corridor for the next few months. We figured we would share our adventures with all our friends back home. As this is The No Trail Left Behind Act we figured our recent trip to Kingdom Trails was worthy of the first blog post for this blogging season.



What better way to start the summer than an MTB roadie. We loaded up JF's new Ford flex and headed down to Kingdom Trails in East Burke Vermont. We were trying to escape the rain we've been experiencing back home, but little did we know that the rain would follow us and the sun would find its way to the gentle island.



All in all this was an amazing road trip with lots of riding and beers with great friends! JF, Billy, Paul, Tyler, Robert, and Ben kept the laughs rolling and the techno pumping all weekend. JF kept the pain level high with multiple 5+ hour days in the saddle... my ass hates me as I type this by the way. The pace was always high with someone different blowing up at the end of each ride.



It was Tyler and Billys first time riding the Kingdom Trail network and the boys were all smiles after the first ride. Side winder, kitchle, moose ally, and tap and die were all trail favorites. The accommodations were great, we stayed in a condo located right on the mountain and the place was perfect. The washer and dryer came in very handy with the rainy weather and everyone got a laugh out of watching me starting fires in the fire place.



It seemed to be Islander week in East Burke as there was another group of Islanders in town for the weekend. Was great to meet up with those boys at night and share trail stories, always great to see people stoked on mountain biking. We were also impressed with the local restaurants who handled up to 20 Islanders with no notice.



Big thanks goes out to JF and Billy for the all the planning and logistics of this trip. Everything went to plan except for getting locked out of the condo... the boys took care of us all weekend and we can’t thank them enough. Can’t wait till next time Papa da pain and apolo 48.