Bixing Day! (Dec. 26, 2006)

Boxing day 2006. My wife had too many Christmas goodies and was not feeling upto riding and my old man had some suspension issues to deal with but the rest of the cousins were ready to ride this time.

Heavy with turkey uncle Jim, Jordan, Justin, Jared, Jesse and I opted to go as high up the mountain as the connector trail below Krazy Karpenter and ride upper and lower Toadstool down to Hoots and finish off with the usual race down Shotgun to the parking lot. I had tire valve difficulties and was forced to ride with a half flat rear tire with made for amazing traction but was a little sluggish. I led the charge down upper Toadstool with Jared and Jordan following close. Jared managed to pass me halfway down but I caught up to him and passed him on the drop near the bottom. Jesse was the only one of us to attempt the ancient logride (one of the original stunts on one the woodlots original trails) in the slimey conditions and conquered it.

We continued on with lower Toadstool, which is one of the flowiest natural trails on the mountain. Jared led the way again and again I passed him on a drop halfway down with Jordan buzzing my tire the whole way down.

We scooted up the service road to Hoots. Jared led the way with me, Jordan, Justin, Jesse and Jim in tow. We stopped for some photo ops on the big rockface (somehow Justin managed to elude the camera) before hitting the little gaps and jumps down the rest of the trail.

Jordan riding the rockface on the Sasquatch.

Uncle Jim preparing to bail out!

Uncle Jim riding the rockface on the ol Hammer.

Jesse crusin down the rockface on his Kona dirtjumper.

Jared flying down the rockface on the Giant AC

Finally we ended up at the top of Shotgun readdy to race down to the parking lot. Before I could stomp the pedals Jared was off. I gave Jared a few seconds lead before heading off in hot pursuit to catch him and again Jordan shadowed me the whole way off of every jump and every drop. I I built up a good lead on Jordan and managed to catch up to Jared by the halway mark but started to tire and thats when Jordan pounced and passed me. I dont know if he caught upto Jared but I was sure tired at the parking lot. Those Kamloops kids can really ride.

L-R: Jordan, Jesse, Jared, Jim, Justin and bikes strewn about the p-lot.

Christmas Eve Ride. (Dec. 24, 2006)

My Nelsonite and Kamloopian cousins are in town for Christmas and of brought their bikes to get their fix of coastal riding while they were here. My uncle Jim and youngest cousin Jesse and my dad and I decided to hit up the Woodlot. As we were getting our bikes and gear ready for the climb Andrew (an old riding buddy of mine from back in my highschool days) showed up with his girlfriend Daleth and his brother Kevin. They decided to join us for the ride.

It was decided that we would ride Tsuga followed by Snakes & Ladders and end with Shotgun. There had been word that the trailbuilders had been up the mountain with saws to clear these trails clear of all the fallen trees from the recent windstorms.

This time there was snow on the mountain (compared to the 8-10 inches of the stuff last ride) so the climb was pretty quick. As everyone was suiting up for the descent on Tsuga I decided to hike up The Gate with my bike to try a gap jump that I hadnt done in a while. The jump is a step down and the gap is between 12-15 feet. The landing is perfect on this jump but the approach is a little short and I could've used the next harder gear because I came up a little short and cased the landing! Fortunately I had cleared the gap just enough to ride it out without disaster. Note to self: use 7th gear!

On to Tsuga! I led the charge with Andrew followed by my dad then the rest closely after that. We cruised our way down Tsuga and most of us manage to slip on a nasty root section and uncle Jim managed to crash and send his water bottle rolling down the trail.

On to Snakes & Ladders! We cruised down the trail in a long train and stopped at the ladder/logride section to challenge each other. I coasted my way along the lengthy elevated ladder section while the others found the conditions too slippery and opted for the safer ladder section. Andrew was committed however to test his newly refined logriding skills and after a couple attempts at the roller coaster section he managed to clean the whole section in one try! He was pumped!

Me riding the roller on Snakes & Ladders

Andrew on his adrenaline pumping run of the elevated logride section

Dad going so fast he was a blur across the ladder sections

After exiting Snakes & Ladders we raced our way down Shotgun since it hads started to rain. I was in the lead with Dadman in hot pursuit followed by Andrew. Jesse had fun woking on his hucks on all the little root drops. A great ride followed by Christmas eve dinner at the parents. Cant beat that!

Snow Biking! (Nov. 28, 2006)

One of my alltime favorite riding times: Snow Riding! It is usually onlya small window in time that there is enough snow for the riding to really be considered snow biking! In this case we got a dump of about 2 feet of it in a few days. So my dad and I decided to head out to the Woodlot in search of untouched snow covered downhill single track.

Here's Bicyclese, my old man and his truck at the parking lot pre-ride.

There was about 6" of snow down in the p-lot, there were a couple cars there, no doubt others had the same idea as us. I guess with all the rain and wind storms preceding the snow storm the forest had been undergoin some stress. We could see and here the occasional tree cracking apart and crashing through the forest as we made our way up the mountain.

Here we stopped for a rest just below the exit of Goldmine.

As soon as we passed the exit of the Goldmine trail we could see that all the small trees and large bushes were drooped across the trail under the heavy snow, this would take us forever to navigate our way up the mountain pushing through all the branches so we decided head up Goldmine from the bottom then ride back down and continue with Snakes and Ladders.The power lines. Snows gettin deep.

We pushed our way up the trail just past the entrance to "Snakes and Ladders" to find ...untouched snow! Goldmine apparently been to far of a hike for most and was therefore unridden since the snow fall. The snow was particularly deep under the power lines, roughly 2 feet of the stuff. The the droopy snow covered branches made it hard to find where upper Goldmine came out onto the p-lines. After some bushwacking and stumbling through the snow we managed to find the trail again only to have to stop after a few hundred meters due to fallen trees all over the trail. There were too many fallen trees to make the hike worth it, so we decided to stop and suit up for the descent. The loud cracking of trees falling all around us was enough to suited up and get our helmets on as fast as we could when there was a huge cracking and crashing noise. We dropped everything and sprinted for our lives to a small clear area, having no idea where the falling tree was around us. The tree ended up falling right where we were standing. We decided right then and there to get the hell outta there.

Escaped by inches.

We pedalled our way down goldmine in the 8-10 inches of snow (not easy), till we got to Snakes and ladders.

Snakes and Ladders.

Closeup of the sign. Can you read that?

The ladder bridges were fun in the snow, I managed to hit a couple jumps in the snow: the launch off the stump, and the little step down. The bridges on the lower section were sweet, all covered with snow, still had decent traction. And lucky for me no one had attempted the elevated log rides and ladders yet so I had first dibs on them covered with fresh snow. Woohoo!

Dad on the first ladder bridge.

Dad on the lower bridge sections. Doesnt it look fun?

Unfortunately, the photographer's hand was too close to the cold camera and it fogged up, but you can kinda make out me riding down one of the elevated log sections covered in snow.

We ended up finishing the ride with Shotgun, it was a blast sprinting down that trail in the snow! I went a little too fast on the bridge in the clearcut and drifted right off and into the snow. A minute later I was down at the parking lot and loadin up the truck. What an adventure!

Gregor bikers reunite! (Oct. 22, 2006)

Another bicycle adventure update. Two weeks ago, the ol thanksgiving turkey ride, the little one (Manda) and I went for a bicycle adventure up at the ol woodlot unfortunately the camera batteries were dead and we didnt not get any pictures. :( Although the ride was great. Last week I had a camera ready but no one to help document the ride. This time I managed to convince the ol beardo himself to join me: my dad. Destination: the Woodlot...again.

We decided to make the long trek up to the power lines of Blue Mountain ,where the Woodlot resides, and start the descent on "Crazy Carpenter". Ironically, my dad is a crazy capenter so I think he is just naturally drawn to this trail whether he likes it or not. Well we huffed and puffed our way up to the top of the mountain pushing our near 50 pound rigs up the rocky forest road and began suiting up in our protective armor preparing for battle against the trail.

We begin riding along some elevated planks once we enter the forest before riding off a small drop and then onto a long sloped logride before coming to a combination of steep technical trail and amazingly handcrafted bridges all cut from fallen cedar on the forest floor.


Here is a picture of the obstacle that made the Woodlot famous. It is a large old growth stump that has a bridge spiralling down it from the top and then goes thru it! The stump has been hollowed out. It is an amazing feature. Here my dad is taking the route on the left, which bypasses the tricky section.

Here is a view of the same section from another angle, now I am actually standing on the ol stump.

After "Crazy Carpenter" we continued on with "Toad Stool" an oldie but thanks to the hard work of the trail builders is still a goodie. Once a the bottom of upper T.S. we had planned to move on to "Giant Killer" but we noticed some new trail work on lower "Toad Stool" and decided to check it out. A new line had been cut, bypassing a very erroded section, and a few little gaps and hip jumps thrown in for good measure. I got a little overzealous and over shot the gap jump but no harm done. Near the bottom of the trail we came a nice creek crossing that had been renovated just a couple years back.

Toad Stool manages to stay out of the way of major biking traffic and much of its features tend to stay great riding condition. Here's my ol man flyin across the bridge!

After blasting down T.S. we hit up "Heckle and Jeckle" a once killer trail that was shut down due to logging and was reborn just a year ago into probably the finest trail on the mountain. I hit the first little step up gap a couple times then we moved on to a wooden platform up in the trees that descended down a log ride and ending in a kicker into a banked turn. I had a little too much speed doen the log ride and launched the kicker into the corner! Luckily I stopped just short of flying over the bars and into the bushes however the sudden impact did do a number on my ankles, but not enough keep me from finishing the ride! The two of us raced on through huge smooth bank turn after bank turn, carving our way through the forest. What an unbelievable feeling to move like that through the trees.

Finally the two of us finished off the bicycle adventure with the lower half of "Shotgun" and popping out of the forest into the parking lot. Another great ride in my ol stompin grounds.

Solo ride (Oct. 15, 2006)

Today my little ridin partner (my wife) Manda was feelin under the weather and couldn't go biking. Considering the short notice to find others join in on a bicycle adventure I decided to go about the adventure on my own. Destination: the Woodlot.

Here's the Vibe and my bike "Bicyclese Mark II" (Bicyclese Mark I died unfortunately at Whistler on Dirt Merchant) ready to be unloaded.

I decided to hoof it up to "Blood Donor" and rip my way down to the parking lot. I decided to take some shots of the scenery of the hike up.

I thought the contrast of those bright red maple leaves looked amazing against the dark cedar forest in the background. If you look closely you can see Bicyclese posing against a stump in the center of the photo just below the red. "Bicyclese you are such a ham!"

Here is Bicyclese posing again at the ol' log resting spot. There is normally a small stream running across the road here but the long dry summer has drunk it all up. These quiet resting spots in the forest are one of the things I love the most about mountain biking. So peaceful!

Bicyclese and I at our final rest/water break before we head up the connector trail between "Crazy Carpenter" and "Blood Donor". As lazy as I may look at the moment it is no "stroll in the woods" making your way up the maountain at the pace that I go. The sooner I get up the mountain the sooner I can get to the good stuff: the downhill.

Here we are finally at the entrance to " Blood Donor". I didn't see a single other human being on my trek up the mountain, which is a rarity now that the Woodlot has become such a huge destination. Just above the yellow trail builders sign you can still see the remnants of a black and yellow birthday hat from nearly three years ago when my cousins, uncle Jim, dad and Manda and I came up here for my birthday ride.

I managed to catch up to some riders on "Blood Donor" who were visiting from the shore. They were very courteous riders and made way for me to attempt the 6-7 foot drop into the "dip" however I caught my shorts on my upper fork crown in mid pedal stroke while I was up on the elevated ladder bridge and nearly fell off. Lucky for me I reacted quickly and did not fall, so I took another run at it and landed smoothly and caught up to the "shoresies" near the ol canoe drop. The canoe drop is not very big, maybe 5 feet if you really launch it but it used to be made of a hollowed out log ,like a canoe, and if you werent careful you would catch your pedals on the sides of the canoe!

I proceded to "Giant killer" next, one of my all time favorite trails, I will have many more stories to tell of that trail, which I raced down and sped on to "Shotgun" a fun and flowy trail that takes you right back to the parking lot. Total E.T. from parking lot to top and back: 1 hour and 15 minutes. Phew! Pretty good time considering picture breaks and one crash on "shotgun" oops! Hopefully next time I can share a bike adventure with someone.