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!