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!
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