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.

Leasoned Learnd "never underestimate a ride"

Howdy from Bend, hope all is well on the gentle island. We finished up our time in Oakridge, with quite the adventure. We planned to do a ride called middle fork/moon pt. and though it would be a few miles of mellow single track following a river followed by a decent climb with a killer decent, 2 or 3 hours tops. We had been told this was a straight forward ride at the shop and decided not to get a map (the only ones they had were huge and were on plain paper). The locale visitor’s map also showed it as a strait forward fire road climb with no branch offs, so off we went… We happened to meet up two fellow Canadians who I will accredit for saving our ride! Lesley and Penny were also doing the ride for the first time, but they had a map! On a side note they got there map of Oakridge in Bend, made of regular plastic and size… take note Oakridge, take note. Anyway we had a great ride with them, and even with the map got lost a few time on the 9 MILE climb, not what we were expecting, 2 to 3 hours of climbing later we were at the top. We all rejoiced, and headed for the downhill, which as we expected was killer. Thanks again to Lesley and Penny who are ripper riders and were kind enough to offer to guide us around Squamish and Pemberton when we make our way up north.





It was then onto Bend, we had a great ride today. Crazy fast, buttery smooth single track, but the dust was killing us. Some crazy dust tan lines were had. Then it was off lake, which happens to be a block from main st. (this town is very cool) , we planned on swimming but put our leaky air mattresses to use and floated around with the locales for a while. Tubing seems to be a big past time around here, there was a shuttle bus doing laps of the lake.





Tomorrow is our last ride around Bend. Then we are supposed to be heading to Washington, but the name Hood River keeps popping up around here so we may have to check that out as well… And some pictures to prove that we have been riding in Oregon.

Why would you have a speed limit of 55... get better Oregon!

Oakridge, Oregon is where we have decided to hang our hats and subsequently our towels out to dry for the next couple days. Yes I know we had originally told you of heading to the promise land, that being Bend, Oregon where we would fulfill our destiny of riding the Mackenzie River Trail that has managed to become one of the top rides in North America. We took a slight detour and headed left at the fork instead of right, and yes it was planned. With a couple days off the bike we were really getting antsy to ride and ride we did in Oakridge. We hoped on a shuttle this morning around 9:30 that took us up a mountain. We got dropped off right before a washout had taken out part of the road making it impassable for a vehicle; bikes of course were able to squeeze by. After mile or so of climbing we hit single track that reminded us of home with some tree cover and roots thrown into the mix. I’m just going to go ahead and say it, this was one of the best trails we have ridden so far this trip. It had a nice cross country feel to it with lots of fun windy downhill’s that ribboned though old grown forests, oh and the views were nothing short of breathtaking, don’t worry though all three of us managed to forget our cameras, woo go team. Luckily we had the helmet cam but it too was limited with only so much battery remaining.

Don’t you worry though Benny did manage to pull together a nice little video from sections of the Downieville trail.

Downieville, CA from Ben Crook-Hanna on Vimeo.

On a side note. Benny had written the last couple posts and forgot to mention the dancing him and Lully took part in on Saturday night at the bike festival. As previously mentioned beer was flowing at an alarming rate and those two boys just got caught up in the rapids. I seen Lully riverdance, breakdance, mosh, swing dance, grind, and even do a little hustle all to the beats of Saddle tramp. Benny was not to be outdone though, at one defining moment Benny turned to me with a sparkle in his eye and said”I have to do this, hold my beer” The rest was a blur.

"Have'n A Time" at the Downieville Classic

Time keeps passing, and times keep being had! Our time in Downieville is winding down, and then it is on to Oregon. The race/festival was quite amazing to take in, to quote Miles Rockwell (ex-worldcup pro) “This race is awesome; it’s super fun but only serious when it needs to be”. The pixie cross and river jump were quite entertaining, while the highlight for sure was the evening’s entertainment. Saddle Tramp was their name and to tell you the truth I have never heard anything quite like it. Hillbilly rock at its finest, it was racist, sexist, and crud to say the least But, it rocked and everyone was have a great time, dancing and mosh’n the night away.






As for the race, Adam Craig took both stages of the all mountain category to win the pro men’s division. As for ourselves it was great to have a few days off to let the legs rest and the bumps and bruises heal up. We are itching to get back on the bikes thou, as many people we have been talking too have had great things to say about the riding Oregon, it’s also a place that none of us have ever ridden so it adds to the adventure a little not knowing what to expect.





On a side note, hurray for New Belgium breweries for their love of Canadians. We were treated to free beer and new friends. Not to mention its great beer!

This ones for MacLainer...

Although it was stated that not too much happens in Downieville, we were mistaken…this weekend for sure. It so happens that the Downieville Classic mountain bike race is this weekend aka the all mountain world championships. There are two races: the cross country which is a 27 mile point to point which climbs 4500 ft and descends about 6000 ft (mostly on the downhill course), and the all mountain category in which racers must race the cross country on Saturday and the 20 mile downhill course, Sunday, with the combined time being the winner. The catch is that in order to compete in the all mountain category one must use the same bike in both races (tires, wheels, everything must be identical…should make things interesting). The all mountain category sold out online in 3 minutes, while the cross country took about a day. A total of 800 racers will take the trails in a town whose population is around 500. Tyler and I were talking this afternoon and were both saying that this is the first race in a long time that we would be really keen to try, as it is a true test of fitness and of mountain bike handling skill.





This town is alive with bikers we ran into our second world champion this afternoon, Brian Lopes on the trail yesterday and had lunch next to 15 year world cup veteran and Swiss mountain bike legend Tomas Frischknecht. There are team trailers from Sram, Scott, and Santa Cruz just to name a few. This weekend sound like it will be quite the “time”, the party starts Friday night with the xc, river jump (massif jump into the river), pixie cross (an obstacle course around town on 12” kids bikes), and steet party on Saturday with the downhill on Sunday to cap things off. We should have tons of pictures to show you all the happenings.





Anyway, you are all probably wondering how we are doing? Moral is high with between 20 to 40 miles, 90% downhill, being covered a day. A few flats and crashes (no injuries, just a few scrapes all around), and very sore wrists! Although out wallets are being hit equally hard with multiple shuttle runs and deli sandwiches (Maclainer you know what I’m talking about). Here are some pictures to show and a video should appear over the next few days.

Lake Tahoe, 4th of July Weekend....not so much!

Well it has come time for us to pack up and head onto our next stop, Downieville, Which is only about 100k from Tahoe so it will be a nice short drive. We have been slacking a little bit on the posting but it is for good reason. We definitely picked the wrong weekend to roll into Lake Tahoe. The place was just jammed packed with people all looking to party at the lake for the weekend. After a short search we managed to snag what was probably the last campsite in town at a place about 10 mins from the lake. The camping was primitive but nothing that were not used to by now, with that said we tried to avoid the heaps of people and traffic as much as possible.








On Friday we rode a trail that was suggested by a guy at one of the local bike shops and it turned out to be a pretty decent ride. The main ride we were looking forward to doing well in Tahoe was Mr Toads. (Macleaner you failed to mention the two and a half hour climb that was involved with this ride when you talked about its fun factor , im holding you personally responsible for the pain my legs are feeling today) none the less after a large grinding climb we reached the top and subsequently snow. I made a snow angle while Benny built a snowman. The downhill was fairly tech for the first part but as we descended the rock slowly started to disappear and was replaced by smooth windy single track.





Just as fast as we rolled in though, we are set to roll out, but not without a small photo shoot for Bens biggest fan Charlote. We haven’t heard from you lately and Benny was starting to get worried you had moved on. He hopes this picture will help to rekindle the fire that burns deep down inside you for him.

Ps, It may be a few days before we can post again, as anyone who has been to Downieville can attest it's not a hub of internet activity or much else for that matter (other than the mountain biking of course).