My Mountain Biking Adventures

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…)

Time to head south…  Today we made our way down to Kimberley, BC which is a quaint Bavarian town 30 mins north of Cranbrook, BC.  It was a pretty uneventful drive, no one tried to kill us or run us off the road so not much to write about today.  Tomorrow we’ll hit the local bike shops to see where the trails are and figure things out from there.

Incredible…  It stopped raining!

We decided to take Jon from Derailed’s advice and headed for the Canyon Creek trail, which is part of the Moonraker Trails on the way to the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.  After getting the 4-hour estimate from him the day before, we gave ourselves plenty of time to complete the ride in daylight should something go wrong.  Stocked with plenty of food and water (no Boston Cream for me today, I’m still burning the calories from the one in Revelstoke) we parked at the Sander Lake Campground and began the ascent up the 2% incline on an old railway bed.  The first thing we came across was a sign from the Golden Cycling Club which welcomed bikers, hikers, horses, and cross country skiers on a gate meant to block out all motorized traffic.  Luckily I was on my Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert and Colin was on his custom built Specialized Rockhopper so we knew we were welcome to pass the iron gate. (more…)

After such a sweet day in Revelstoke we woke to the sound of rain bouncing off the tent.  We had hoped for a nicer day for our drive to Golden which would take us through Rogers Pass with stunning mountain views.  The rain never did let up so we missed out on the more spectacular views but we still took our time and enjoyed what we did see.  We made a quick stop at the summit to take pictures of the arch and then stopped in a the Glacier Park Lodge.  I remembered this place from years ago by its legendary lounge.  I’m not sure exactly how to describe the lounge except to say they have every type of road kill imaginable displayed…  I kid you not!  It’s worth stopping by for the heck of it.  And of course they have a great souvenir shop for the kids (don’t worry, the road kill is not for sale!). (more…)

After a long drive last night, with a few stops along the way and almost being killed on the Coquihalla by a blue Toyota Camry, we finally arrived in Revelstoke at 12:30am and put our new tent to the test by setting it up in the dark…  It passed!  Not bad considering we bought the tent sight unseen and had Colin’s dad pick it up for us earlier that day.  A few minutes later we were ready to sleep and anticipating riding the next day.  Or so we thought…  A group of teens in the site next to ours kept us awake with drunken conversation until 3:30am.  Fortunately it started to rain which forced them back into their tents.  Unfortunately they started back up at 6:00am with fresca and whiskey?!  Not my choice of beverage, but anyhoo…. (more…)

Woohoo!  Road trip!

Tomorrow morning we leave for the Kootenay Region of BC and I am stoked!  Our first ride starts off in Revelstoke on Saturday and from there we head to Golden.  Eventually we will hit up Cranbrook, Creston, and Nelson, with a few stops inbetween. (more…)