Quick trip to the island

Took a little break from riding over the weekend and ended up going to Victoria. But before I get into that adventure I have some great news. Green peace green (my car) has been fixed! One of the rear springs blew up on the drive out, although not surprising as we had the car loaded to over double the weight capacity. What made the $400 dent in my wallet a little easier to swallow was the bike ride I took while waiting for it to get fixed.

After arriving at canadian tire friday morning for my car appointment, the kind folks at the Tantalas bike shop let me stash my non-riding gear while I hit the trails. The sun was out and I meet lots of folks climbing up the fire road to access the beautiful single track that Squamish has to offers. I hadn't been on the xc bike for close to a week so the legs were fresh as daisies as I hammered out a solid 3 hour ride. I got the helmet cam on the go the other day as I have been slacking on making some riding videos but the footage I have gotten so far isn't the greatest. The trails are so rough around here the camera just gets shaken all over the place. I'll go through the footage and try to piece something together and get it up over the next day or so.



I spotted some lupines and I know how much Alice loves her lupines



Once back in Whistler Tyler and I hit up the bike for a few laps before meeting up with A friend of Tylers who was visiting the area. Sabrina and her friend Lyndsey are driving across the country. They were planning on heading to victoria sunday and we made the last minute decision to join them. On a side note I will never complain about paying the pei ferry toll again. The ferry to vancouver island not only charges a flat rate for the car it also charges an additional fee per person, and they also charge you going both ways! All in all it cost $230 just in ferry charges...no good. The only plus from the ferry ride was the marine wildlife we got to see. On the ride over we spotted some orcas and seals. So very cool to see out in the wild. We spent the day wondering around Victoria until we found a nice little beach to cool off from the heat. Then we began the trek back home. I have to say there is something that just feels right about driving back to Whistler, watching the silhouettes of the mountains rising up from the ocean is so peaceful.

Living that slow life

Things have slowed down a little over the last few days. Tyler and I were out for a ride on saturday and my body was not having it. So after taking a few days off to let the body to recover we headed out for a fun little ride. This was after Tyler finished playing doctor and pulled 9 stitches out of his leg. Then it was off to the mountain, it was raining a little which was nice as the mountain was getting very dusty. Here are a few shots from our ride.







Think I'm gonna try out the weekly DH race series this evening. It seems like a cool series, you pay $2 and get to race plus two beer tickets. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Good Bye Queens, Hello Chilcotins!

Been lazy the last few days so much to tell. The four queens finished up Sunday with probably the hardest ride of my life! We climbed in single track for hours only to ride down the steepest trail I have ever seen. It was craziness. Here is a brief exert from the blog mentioned below.

"Gravitron is a near mystical beast of a trail. Renown throughout the Sea-To-Sky Corridor as one of the most awesomely obnoxious creations of a diseased mind. Starting somewhere near the Sun it plummets like a broken elevator straight to the basement of hell. Imagine a f-ing steep ski line in the trees, but instead of soft fluffy powder snow, imagine dust, rock, roots, and a one way ticket to a soiled pair of underpants." - Seb Kemp

Overall, Tyler and I were very happy with how we did. We finished 31 and 15 respectively in the GC. We hadn’t rode most of the trails before so it was all new to us as we raced which adds and extra element of difficulty. Here is a link another racers blog for anyone interested in reading more about the stages, he has a great description of each days rides. Another link with some 4 queens pics and info.

That’s all old news now…. The current news is that I had an amazing adventure yesterday! I got a call from Penny asking if I wanted to join a group for a day trip into the Chilcotins. For those who don’t know of the chilcotins, it is a mountain range about 2 hours north of whistler in the middle of nowhere with the nicest alpine singletrack ever! Anywho, after a much to early 5:30 am wake up call we were on our way. Upon arriving we were told that our originally planned route still had snow covering all the mountain passes. Our only option was to take a float plane and get dropped off on the south facing side of the mountains. Riding in the float plane was really cool… landing was also scary as, but oh so smooth. All in all, it was an amazing day with great friends, unreal riding, float planes, and an icy cold lake swim and beer after the ride. I’ll let the pictures due the rest of the talking.











Ps – Matt is on the road to recovery and has rented an electric guitar, he has been sarinading us with sweet riffs since the minute he got it. Here is a shot of his new zipper!

Too many Queens on the dance floor...

Hello all in cyber space. Things around here have been quite the last few days. Some rest was in order as Tyler and I signed up for the Four Queens bike race that started last night. I know I have mentioned a bit about the race so here is a link if anyone wants to find out more about it. On a side note we built the worlds ghettoest bike stand. $11 dollars and few recycled pallets later this is the finished product. By the way it actually works!





Before the race Tyler and I were trying to figure out when the last time either of us were in a MTB race. Well let just say its been a while (I had santa cruz at the time)… I have to admit that I had a blast last night. There is something about racing that just makes you push it that much harder. This and downieville classic are the only races that have gotten me excited since longer than I can remember. I thinks its more the personal/mental challenge of a race like this vs. the standard one day competition. Anyway, last nights race was a 10km point-to-point time trail. Tyler and I were both happy with our rides (results can be found here), Tyler may have won this battle but the war is far from over. Oh yeah… last nights stage was the dedicated to Feddie Murcury so in order to start the race you had to have a mustache. In reality it seemed more like a mustache convention than a bike race.





Tonight’s race is the downhill section so the xc bikes are going to take a beating today. We pre rode the course on Monday with DH bikes and it was wet as, but the heat wave has hit so here is to hoping it as somewhat dried up.



todays elevation profile.

Happy Canada Day!

Haven't been up to much other than riding the last few days. A trip to Squamish and some Whistler rides. Pickard and Amila have left and our place is feeling empty. It was great having them and hope they have a great and safe drive home. Here are some pics from a beautiful trail we found in Whistler.









Hope everyone at home had wonderful Canada Day. I have to admit that I was a little home sick as quite the crew was assembled on PEI for the festivities. Can't wait to hear the stories.