Sunday Sue and I went mountain biking. She hadn’t been offroad in quite a while, so this was just an easy ride to try and get her back into it. I didn’t want to kill herself on her first time back 😉

We started off with Shock Treatment which is a nice rolly trail with the odd challenge to keep you honest. After that it was an old school loop that went far over to the firehall side of the dump. Sue kept up to me very well. It definitely wasn’t her fitness that kept her back.

Of course Yoshi was there too. He had lots of fun as always.

On one section, Sue went back to try it over. Yoshi started to follow, then stopped right in the middle of us looking between Sue and I. You could see in his mind he was trying to figure out who he should stay with. It was quite funny.

I am so proud of Sue though. On the last trail of the day, Skull Trail, there was one particular corner that I wanted Sue to give a try to. While I spotted her, she tried it several times before getting it. I can remember how tough it can be to go back and try a drop after just crashing on it, or not making it. Sue kept on it until she made it. Way to go Sue!

I had a good ride too. It was good to get out and sweat a little. Riding is always so much fun.

It’s not all cherry blossoms and sunshine here in Victoria.

Yesterday some friends and I did a road trip to Nanaimo to ride the Ultimate Abyss. I have ridden the trail many times, but yesterday was still a lot of fun. Unfortunately yesterday was also very, very wet out. It rained the whole drive up there, and didn’t stop once while we rode. Even though the trail has numerous rock faces (both up and down), the traction was excellent. The Abyss has something I call grippy rock. It is some kind of sedimentary rock that has lots of tiny embedded rocks that give it amazing traction. The rock had better traction than the mud and wet roots.

The trail has a bit of climbing, but nothing severe. Once the climbing is done, the trail is kind of swoopy with a lot of undulations. Unfortunately for Darryll, the climb was not nice to his bike, and his freehub mostly gave up the ghost half way up the climb. It kind of worked, but any time he put pressure onto the pedals, it would slip and make a nasty sound. Saying our goodbyes he headed back to his car, and home again.

The rest of us had a blast! A very wet blast. Some of the puddles were more than hub deep. With each pedal stroke I could feel water sloshing around in my shoes. Once in a while I stopped and by clenching my fists I could wring water out of my gloves.

There was one rock face that I eyed up for a while. I really wanted to hit it, but I just couldn’t work up the nerve. In the dry I would have been all over it, but today was a little different. The line down the face is very off camber. Even though the face was made of grippy rock, I just couldn’t do it. There was lots of green moss on it that just looked a little treacherous. I really, really, really wanted to drop in, but wisely I decided to hold off and ride it another day.

We came across this one rock formation that some people had constructed. There were lots of little plastic toys strewn about in decoration. Things like green army men, and dinosaurs. Bosley (Shawn’s dog), took a liking to the Pteradactyl, and ate it. Someone had even taken the time to construct a maze out of rocks that is meant to be ridden trials style. I tried, and managed to mess up the second corner.

At the end of the Abyss we made our way over to the return trail called Humility. Recent logging meant we had to climb up a logging road. Well, I say recent, when really the logging could have taken place a year ago, and I wouldn’t know the difference. The Abyss/Humility is a trail combination that I used to ride back in my XC days, but it lost its fun during my FR phase. Now, in my riding phase, I am just into having fun while riding again. Yesterday was one of those days.

Grinding up the road in the rain really was not very much fun, but it was a necessary evil. While climbing we took many breaks and rest stops. During one climbing phase I felt like I was hallucinating when I looked down and saw a plastic newt on the side of the road. Shaking my head I realized that it was actually a newt, and wasn’t plastic at all. I stopped and showed the group my find. Very cool. Someday I would love to have a terrarium with a newt in it, but this newt I placed back in a safe place (away from Bosley).

Humility was lots of fun too. Riding it brought back lots of memories of rides gone by. I distinctly remember certain sections of trail, or particular trail features. There is one area where there is a large rock overhang. There is lots of ferns and moss on the rock face above the overhang. When it rains there is almost a sheet of water dripping off the overhang from the plants. Too cool.

Back at the trucks everyone managed to strip down, and put on some cleanish dry clothes. Bosley got a wipe down, then everyone jumped in and we took off.

Somewhere along the way back to Victoria the rain stopped, and the sun came out. Isn’t that always the way? Still it was one of those rides where I felt “on”. I felt like I could ride up or down anything on that trail (even the rock face I didn’t hit, I felt like I could do). I love rides like that.

My plan to go biking in the snow last weekend fell through. I decided that I really wanted to go, so I managed to convince a few other guys to go this weekend instead.

I had thought that the trail conditions would be alright considering how much ot had warmed the previous week, and how much snow had melted. My house had no snow whatsoever, so I figured that there would only be a few inches out at the trails.

I was wrong on how much snow was remaining. As soon as I got to the parking lot, I could see the ride wasn’t going to be as I expected. The trail reports from people just finishing didn’t sound good either. Hmm. I was still set on riding though.

We pushed up to C-Section, then I figured we should hike the road up, and hit Snakes and Ladders, a very fun downhill trail. Off we went, hiking up the road. We were the first people with bikes to go up the road. Hmm, not necessarily a good sign. At times the snow got so deep there was no point in pushing, so on the back the bike went. Ouch! Slogging up the hill was quite a chore. We decided to take a shorter route to Snakes and Ladders. This involved a steepish trail that went downhill. Again, we had first tracks, but no matter how steep it was, there was too much snow to get any good momentum going. When we reached the turnoff to Snakes and Ladders, we could see that there were no tracks heading up there, so we packed it in. We took the straightest, steepest trail down to the lower half, but even that invloved lifting bikes over and under blow downs. When you could get on the bike and pedal, we usually only got a few feet before sliding out, or just falling over.

Finally we got back to C-Section, and there had been a lot of riders on the lower half ot the trails. We took the fireroad back down to Skull trail, and that was a blast! Getting up some speed finally felt awesome, and you really just need to let the back end of the bike dance around instead of trying to control it. Zipping down Skull was awesome too. The snow had been packed down a lot, and some ice sections were encountered, but overall there was a lot of traction. Back in the parking lot we made plans to hit a local pub for some food to help warm us up. I had brought a change of clothes, but forgot socks. Doh!

Even though it was mostly hiking while pushing, pulling, or carrying our bike, I had fun. Yoshi had a great romp in the snow too. Would I do that ride again? Nope. Next time I will stick to the lower section of trails. Live and learn. I am very sore today though. It was a tremendous workout.

Jam packed weekend! Yesterday morning I met up with a couple friends for a ride a the dump. It was my first ride on my Bullit since I hurt my back during my last visit to Whistler in July. I was pretty apprehensive about getting back on that machine, and I really wanted to make sure I was feeling fit before I did. In preparation for my return I have been riding my road bike on the trainer.

I can say that the trainer has paid off. Yesterdays ride was great. Although, when I went to load the bike in the truck I got a little scare. Both tires were flat. My first reaction was “Oh crap, I don’t have any tubes”. Then I realized it had been 4 months since that bike has been moved. The air had simply leaked out, and some quick work with the pump had things back in order.

After meeting Sean and Darryll, we mounted up and headed out. I flet pretty good, but I was paying a lot of attention to how my back was feeling. The loop we did was pretty short, but lots of fun. We took some of the main trails up to the switchbacks, then played on the log a bit. I have noticed lately that sometimes Yoshi will start to act really weird when we stop for too long. A couple times on Lumpy Pants he has taken off on me, and it seemed like he was scared of the area. See, when Yoshi is scared, he tends to run off and hide. While we were playing on the log, I noticed Yoshi was hanging out a ways down the trail, and in the bush. Maybe he doesn’t like it when we stop for too long, or maybe he smells something he doesn’t like. Either way, I took off with Yoshi while Sean and Darryll played on the log a little more.

We met up near Snakes and Ladders, a classic trail at Hartland. During the rip don S&L I was very conscious of how my back handled the drops. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I was a little nervous.

Basically from there we headed down to Skull, then out. It was a quick jaunt, but I loved it. The fall air was nice and crisp, the trails had oodles of traction, the trees had shed most of their leaves which turned roads into singletrack after several passes by mountain bikers, the streams burbled, and the park felt empty. I love riding this time of year!

Well, I didn’t ride this weekend, so I guess I better write something about last weeks ride 🙂 A few of us did a road trip to Nanaimo to ride the Doumont Road trails, and I had a blast. It was a stinky blast, but fun none the less. When we entered the trails, we noticed a very bad odour, and that something had been sprayed on the foliage right near the fire roads. It was quite odd, but further in the trails we found a sign that said their was an experiment in progress, and that they had applied a bio-solid from the Nanaimo Waste Water treatment plant. OK! The sign also warned not to eat above ground plant material, and to not eat below ground plant material. Again, common sense. When there is a blackish substance on a plant, and it smells like poo, I am not going to eat anything!

Once we got into the trails, and away from the fire roads the smell disappaited, and we were able to enjoy the ride. The trails were pretty damp, but in very good shape. The rain the night before had really increased the traction, knocked down the dust, kicked up the stink (see above), and made a few nice puddles to ride through.

We did ots of climbing, and the descent was well worth it. I had ridden at Doumont before, but we managed to find a few trails to ride that I had never been on. I actually had a great ride, and climbed more that I have climbed in a long time. Perhaps I need to get back into XC riding to rekindle my lost passion for riding? We also passed/rode a bunch of new stunts. Some were pretty rickety, and not worth riding, but some were incredible masterpieces! I would love to be there when someone challenges them.

Anyway I look at it, that day was good. The road trip was fun, the coffee was excellent, the trails great, the pub afterwards (the Black Bear) yummy, and the drive home uneventful. I had intended to take more pictures, but I had more fun riding.

Bike to work week – Day 1 part Deux

cross posted to the Moron Control Board

As I was going home, the morons decided to come out of the woodwork. It was crazy downtown, and with the construction going on, drivers were getting frazzled.

I got through the tough part just fine, but when I was close to home, I came across him: Driverus Moronus.

I was riding along a 4 lane road, and this person passes me in the left lane. They signal, then move over to the right lane. They leave the signal on, and start slowing down. I start to slow because I can tell doofus in front of me wants to turn.

Suddenly I realize that he isn’t slowing, he is stopping! I slam on my brakes, and come to a stop right behind him. And he stays there waiting. I stare at the guy through the rear window, and he is watching me waiting for me to pass him on the right?!?!!

That is correct folks. This Driverus Moronus passes me, pulls in front of me wanting to turn right then wants me to pass him on the right. I don’t think so. In not so kind hand gestures I tell him to go ahead.

Why would someone do that to a cyclist? They wouldn’t think of doing that to a tractor trailer. They wouldn’t think of doing that to a pickup. They wouldn’t think of doing that to a tractor car, and they wouldn’t think of doing that to a motorcycle. Or would they …

Bike to work week – Day 1

Ugh.

I felt horrible when I woke up this morning. I feel like I am coming down with a cold, I was supremely tired (the result of a reall bad sleep), and today is Monday (I hate Monday’s).

I dragged my sorry butt out of bed, showered, got ready, then as I was about to leave, I noticed it was raining. :grr:

I got changed, jumped on the bike and headed to work. Nothing too eventful on the ride, except I almost schmucked a pedestrian, and it would have been my fault. I was on the sidewalk when the road dipped under a train overpass. The road is a little sketchy when cars are zipping by, hence why I was on the sidewalk. I jumped off in time though.

Time to work: 14:30

Today was another spectacular day of riding out at the dump. Myself, Darryll, Sean, Shane, Art, Yoshi, and Abby hit the trails for an awesome tour of the dump.

Yoshi was revved to get out there, so that was great. We hit up Inventive, then up to C-Section, up the Switchbacks, played on the log for a bit, then continued on up to Twister. After twisting around a bit, a few of us hit the Dirt Falls, then we zipped over to Lumpy Pants.

Shaners was going to do the drop on the trail, so I pulled out the camera to get an action shot. While I was waiting for Shane to get setup again, I noticed Yoshi was acting very strange again. If you remember from last time Yoshi took off on me, and got lost.

There is something about that section of trail that he doesn’t like. Maybe it smells funny to him, maybe there it is haunted, I don’t know. I told the guys to take as long as they wanted, and I took Yoshi to the end of the trail, and waited for them. Yoshi was fine there, so I am still not sure what he doesn’t like there.

We then headed down to Who’s Yer Daddy, then zipped down to Skull and back to the cars.

Wicked ride. The trails were very tacky, and there wasn’t any dust yet. I am sure that in a few weeks it will be a horrible dust bowl, so I will enjoy now while I can!

Also, there weren’t any recreations of last weeks crash, and that made me happy. 😉

We stopped off for coffee afterwards, which for me was very enjoyable. I have one more post to do, then I am off to play Downhill Domination.