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.