(Warning: Looong)
I just spent two weeks on a roadtrip British Columbia, and this is how it went...
Flew into Vancouver, seven of us with seven bikes so hired a van and a saloon.
Then spent the afternoon drinking in Gas Town and dossing around the waterfront.
Next day, drove up to Horseshoe bay to get a ferry across to Vancouver island. You'd think by the name it'd be a small place but it's about half the size of Ireland.
Arrived at the 'Riding Fool' hostel, amazing place we'd be staying the next few days. Even had a bike shop downstairs.
Went out for a ride soon after arriving, I was expecting the trails here to be a warm-up for the mainland stuff but never been so wrong. They were absolutely awesome, all local-built and went on for miles after miles. Mega-tech too, the roots here are absolutely huge and it's full of them.
Within an hour Chris taco'd his front wheel, had to carry his bike back.
Shop built him a new wheel the next morning. Then an epic all-day ride with people stacking all over the place, very fun.
Next day a local guide persuaded us to go out with him to Hornby Island, billed as the Hawaii of Canada. Another two ferries to get there so it was quite remote, but again full of built trails you could ride all day, which we did. Martin, the guide, was starting out a guiding company so had along a pro-photographer mate to take pics for his site. (www.islandmountainrides.com)
Staying in the hostel was like stepping inside 'The Collective', went to the village pub later for burger night and the place was packed with mtb'ers, almost everyone in the village rides in the summer and builds in the winter.
Locals were very friendly aswell, managed to get invited along to a post-pub skinny dipping sesh in the lake. Took us a while to find it but hot naked Canadian girls FTW. Warmed up with a fire and illicit smoking session. Luckily I had an emergency Cuban in the glovebox and some beers.
Left the next day to goto Vancouver for a night out, but it was a bit low-key with everyone being tired, few pitchers and shots and most were out for the count.
Next day back on the road to Squamish. Cougars were the main theme here, they were having shitloads of aggressive cougar sitings and authorities were warning people not to go alone on the trails. Picked up a couple bear sprays for later, I wanted to tool up with some sort of hunting knife for the cougars but didn't get chance to pick one up.
The trails here were super-steep, down and up. We were riding mostly black grade but even the few blue grade trails around were made hard because of the lack of rain and loose ground. Copped a heavy crash-landing on my arse when the front folded on a steep sandy switchback.
The rock gardens were awesome, some of them went on for what seemed like forever.
Spent another day here shuttling around the best trails in the van then headed up to Whistler for an uplift day.
Hired out a full-face lid and blasted the Dawg down the intermediate trails all day, good speed fix, fair bit easier than the XC we'd ridden so far but depended on how fast you rode it really. Was nailing guys on DH bikes towards the end, but didn't fancy the A-line just yet!
Stayed in a cabin just North of the village, then early the next morning took a 5 hour drive up to the Chilcotins. There was a forest fire going but luckily the other side of the mountains to where we were going.
Had a cabin booked up at Spruce Lake and pack horses carrying our gear and food. Five hour ride, mostly straight up, it was brutal.
It was worth it when we got there, middle of nowhere, huge lake, big campfires and snow-capped mountains over-looking us - beautiful.
Couple days later did a ride up Windy Pass, watching out for the Wolverine that had a cave up there!
Big hike-a-bike climb up but lovely half-hour descent heading back. The trails here weren't uber-tech but they did tend to be a foot wide and have half the recommended number of sides. Gotta be a bit careful as there's no safety net to get you out - you're at best about 8 hours travel away from a mobile signal.
After another slack day doing an easy ride out the cabin we took on the mighty Deer Pass. This was the real epic of the trip, only 22 miles in length but the climbing was massive. You really notice the lack of air up here, I find myself running out of breath quicker than a Weight Watchers attendee.
Good few miles out on tricky terrain then what I can only describe as a monsterous 800-metre, mostly hike-a-bike climb up a super-steep loose trail all the way to the top, sitting at 2700 metres altitude (9000 foot).
Up there was like being on another planet, being blasted about by high speed winds, tackling snow fields where one slip would have you sledging down a precipe, real mountain biking.
Once over that and back under the tree-line were gifted with a beautiful half-hour descent down the other side. We thought the rest was going to be easy but couldn't have been more wrong, seven river crossings to deal with.
The first was pretty easy, second stronger but still fun, third bloody strong then the fourth, fifth, and sixth were lethal white-water death traps. One of the guys stumbled and lost his bike in the river. Had to run a couple hundred metres down the river and over banks before he managed to catch it.
Eventually got back to the cabin at half-eight, full 12 hours out on the trail and absolutely drained. Quick swim in the lake to wash off then made a metric ton of tomato pasta for everybody.
Next day finished the trip off with a 2 hour downhill ride back to our car & van.
I just spent two weeks on a roadtrip British Columbia, and this is how it went...
Flew into Vancouver, seven of us with seven bikes so hired a van and a saloon.
Then spent the afternoon drinking in Gas Town and dossing around the waterfront.
Next day, drove up to Horseshoe bay to get a ferry across to Vancouver island. You'd think by the name it'd be a small place but it's about half the size of Ireland.
Arrived at the 'Riding Fool' hostel, amazing place we'd be staying the next few days. Even had a bike shop downstairs.
Went out for a ride soon after arriving, I was expecting the trails here to be a warm-up for the mainland stuff but never been so wrong. They were absolutely awesome, all local-built and went on for miles after miles. Mega-tech too, the roots here are absolutely huge and it's full of them.
Within an hour Chris taco'd his front wheel, had to carry his bike back.
Shop built him a new wheel the next morning. Then an epic all-day ride with people stacking all over the place, very fun.
Next day a local guide persuaded us to go out with him to Hornby Island, billed as the Hawaii of Canada. Another two ferries to get there so it was quite remote, but again full of built trails you could ride all day, which we did. Martin, the guide, was starting out a guiding company so had along a pro-photographer mate to take pics for his site. (www.islandmountainrides.com)
Staying in the hostel was like stepping inside 'The Collective', went to the village pub later for burger night and the place was packed with mtb'ers, almost everyone in the village rides in the summer and builds in the winter.
Locals were very friendly aswell, managed to get invited along to a post-pub skinny dipping sesh in the lake. Took us a while to find it but hot naked Canadian girls FTW. Warmed up with a fire and illicit smoking session. Luckily I had an emergency Cuban in the glovebox and some beers.
Left the next day to goto Vancouver for a night out, but it was a bit low-key with everyone being tired, few pitchers and shots and most were out for the count.
Next day back on the road to Squamish. Cougars were the main theme here, they were having shitloads of aggressive cougar sitings and authorities were warning people not to go alone on the trails. Picked up a couple bear sprays for later, I wanted to tool up with some sort of hunting knife for the cougars but didn't get chance to pick one up.
The trails here were super-steep, down and up. We were riding mostly black grade but even the few blue grade trails around were made hard because of the lack of rain and loose ground. Copped a heavy crash-landing on my arse when the front folded on a steep sandy switchback.
The rock gardens were awesome, some of them went on for what seemed like forever.
Spent another day here shuttling around the best trails in the van then headed up to Whistler for an uplift day.
Hired out a full-face lid and blasted the Dawg down the intermediate trails all day, good speed fix, fair bit easier than the XC we'd ridden so far but depended on how fast you rode it really. Was nailing guys on DH bikes towards the end, but didn't fancy the A-line just yet!
Stayed in a cabin just North of the village, then early the next morning took a 5 hour drive up to the Chilcotins. There was a forest fire going but luckily the other side of the mountains to where we were going.
Had a cabin booked up at Spruce Lake and pack horses carrying our gear and food. Five hour ride, mostly straight up, it was brutal.
It was worth it when we got there, middle of nowhere, huge lake, big campfires and snow-capped mountains over-looking us - beautiful.
Couple days later did a ride up Windy Pass, watching out for the Wolverine that had a cave up there!
Big hike-a-bike climb up but lovely half-hour descent heading back. The trails here weren't uber-tech but they did tend to be a foot wide and have half the recommended number of sides. Gotta be a bit careful as there's no safety net to get you out - you're at best about 8 hours travel away from a mobile signal.
After another slack day doing an easy ride out the cabin we took on the mighty Deer Pass. This was the real epic of the trip, only 22 miles in length but the climbing was massive. You really notice the lack of air up here, I find myself running out of breath quicker than a Weight Watchers attendee.
Good few miles out on tricky terrain then what I can only describe as a monsterous 800-metre, mostly hike-a-bike climb up a super-steep loose trail all the way to the top, sitting at 2700 metres altitude (9000 foot).
Up there was like being on another planet, being blasted about by high speed winds, tackling snow fields where one slip would have you sledging down a precipe, real mountain biking.
Once over that and back under the tree-line were gifted with a beautiful half-hour descent down the other side. We thought the rest was going to be easy but couldn't have been more wrong, seven river crossings to deal with.
The first was pretty easy, second stronger but still fun, third bloody strong then the fourth, fifth, and sixth were lethal white-water death traps. One of the guys stumbled and lost his bike in the river. Had to run a couple hundred metres down the river and over banks before he managed to catch it.
Eventually got back to the cabin at half-eight, full 12 hours out on the trail and absolutely drained. Quick swim in the lake to wash off then made a metric ton of tomato pasta for everybody.
Next day finished the trip off with a 2 hour downhill ride back to our car & van.
