My Mountain Biking Adventures

Well I didn’t get shortlisted.  Although I’m really not surprised since I don’t lead group rides (not lately anyway) and I haven’t formed some sort of club outside of my own group of friends.  However, I am surprised Colin wasn’t picked.  I get to see how much effort he puts into maintaining http://cvmtb.com and organizing things for the Island Cup Series (DH and XC races here on Vancouver Island) among others, plus he’s a HUGE Specialized Fan.  So now I’m REALLY curious to see who was picked.  I’ve been keeping a close eye on @iamspecialized on Twitter and I suspect this crew is all American.  I wonder if there’s liability issues for choosing people from other countries? (more…)

I checked my Twitter account this morning and saw this:

@iamspecialized Meeting in one hour to finalize Stumpjumper Trail Crew entries with the rest of the MTB team. Final announcement very soon.about 4 hours ago from TweetDeck

I can’t wait to see who they choose!  I’ve been watching the blogs come in and have my list of favourites (and of course Colin and I are on that list!) so it’ll be interesting to see who actually makes it…

Interested in reading some of the blogs?  You can find them here.

Every September, the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) is held here in Cumberland, BC and this year was their 10th anniversary.  I would like to congratulate my friend, Isabelle, and her race partner, Eddy B, for coming in 2nd in the Sport category!  Awesome job guys! (more…)

Well okay, the week isn’t over yet!  The weather here has been great so I’ve been taking advantage of it.  I didn’t ride Tuesday to recover from the Plunge on Monday (ankle was a bit sore afterwards) and then did an easy night ride with Colin last night.  He finally found the charger for his old BLT light and so we went to check them to make sure they were still working and the rechargeable battery still had lots of life.  We chose Moe’s Misery since it was an easy trail we both knew well and should his lights fail, an easy hike back to the car. Fortunately his lights worked, the battery held out, and now I have someone else to night ride with. (more…)

No, I’m definitely not suffering from it, that’s the name of my new favourite trail!  I was first introduced to Cabin Fever by Colin last fall but only got to ride it once before I left to spend a long, cold Winter in Regina, SK.  We’ve ridden it a couple of times in the past month and each time I swear the trail becomes a lot more fun. (more…)

Every year here in Cumberland we lose a trail or two to the logging industry.  The majority of our trails are built on privately owned land, and while the logging companies work with us to save some of the trails, sometimes it’s unavoidable.  This time we lost another of my favourite trails, Soggy Biscuit. Soggy was one of the original Cumberland trails and one of the most popular since it was also used by hikers and trail runners with it being so close to town.  I had only just discovered it myself this summer since I needed to find mellow, easy trails to ride after I fractured my ankle.  (I normally ride the trails higher up which are a lot steeper and far more technical.) (more…)

We got home from our Kootenay adventure last Saturday night and on the drive back I noticed that it’s starting to get dark a lot earlier in the evenings now and my first thought…  Time to start night riding!  So I fired off a text to my friend, Isabelle, who I knew also had a headlight to arrange a ride.  We managed to find a spare light for a third person, JF, and headed out on Tuesday night.  The trails here in Cumberland are well marked for night riding, bicycle flashers mark the way and they use different colours to help you figure out which direction you’re going so you don’t get disorientated. (more…)

Last night we decided to continue on to Castlegar in anticipation for a day in Rossland, BC.  Rossland is also known for its awesome mountain biking and is often featured in mountain biking films.  We stopped in at Revolution Cycles and Service and got a trail map for the area as well as more information on local trails.

We discovered that many trails in Rossland require shuttles as the trails here are longer in distance.  Shuttles can easily be arranged through Revolution and there are other shuttle companies in town.  Our timing was off so we weren’t able to get a ride in but we did get some excellent information on the Seven Summits Trail.  It is recognized as one of the Epic trails by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) which is an honour given to only a few trails worldwide.  We are planning on riding the trail next summer. (more…)

Mmmmmm…..  Beer…..

First place we hit today, the Columbia Brewery!  Every ride deserves a nice, cold beer as a reward at the end and the Columbia Brewery is where the official beer of Cumberland, BC comes from.  Yup, you guessed it, Lucky Lager!  However the brewery’s real claim to fame is being the birthplace of Kokanee beer. (more…)

Brrrrrr!!!!  It is cold in the mountains!  Sometime in the middle of the night I checked the temperature online with my Blackberry and it was a balmy 2 degrees Celcius.  I still froze under a sleeping bag rated to -7 degrees Celcius, a down duvet and merino wool thermal underwear.  We were originally thinking of staying at the campsite an extra night since it was a beautiful spot, but the nights are just too cold.  I think summer just might be over… (more…)