Dougie Fresh (AKA- Doug Litt) ripping Squamish

 

Marisa Flowing Bobsled, one of the newer style North Shore trails that is  a fun lap for all abilities n Mt. Fromme.

Plenty of ferns in the forest.

Marisa Dirk riding some woodwork.

Blurrrrrred action.

Vancouver Shadows and lights

Bridle path trail on Mt. Seymor

Over head shots on sticks and stones.

Dougie all smiles after a ride on Half Nelson.

A few more pedal strokes never hurts on Half Nelson.

 

 

Cant wit till the next visit out west.

Having missed the annual May long weekend boys biking trip the last few years i made it a point to make it out  with the gang.

We headed out to Kamloops to set up camp at Mount Harper for a weekend of DH

Aiden sending a gap at Savona.

 

Ned had his best outfit on to get red for the weekend.

Kanu came out to hang for the weekend.

Keith hitting a nice little jump on Harper. Harper is full of loads of jumps and features littered around.

Matt Monod  steezin out one of the new jumps that replaced some of the old wooden features that are being removed from the area.

Ned launching over a wood it at Savona on our rainy day ride. it down poured on us. which made for loads of off camber cow pooey goodness. the first trail we ripped lead us right down a gully that a farmer had apparently led a large number of cows up recently….. We found out after…Doah

Me(Paul) stepping down.

Alasdair whipping out his PInk 951

Timmmmmyyy!!!!!!!!!!!1

Dave finishing off the trail in style.

Trail side carnage sitting at the base of a jump. not an uncommon sight in and around Kamloops. the land of big jumps will claim people and their rides as well.

Curtis warming up.

Alasdair showing Curtis the speed for a nice dirt double.

Tim working on his rhythm on this triple set. Perfect setup on the first one lead to a sick shot.

We got lucky with the majority of the first day being dry. But decided to push our luck with one last run……our luck ran out and we got soaked . Luckily a few of the gang skipped out on the final run to set up a sweet tent village and fire.

The boys firing up some meat sticks for their mouths.

Beers, Dogs and fire….. the perfect ingredients for a good time.

Dave and Al enjoying a nice wet ride up the road at Savona for some laps. 10 bikes and 10 peops loaded up in Curtis’ truck

Next lap….. much more enjoyable ride up.

Aiden taking a break to see how comfy the dirt is in Kamloops.

Al checking out the flowers.

The flowers checking Suz out.

Ned showing us how to clear the gaps.

Tim following Neds lead

Alasdair leading the gang down a fun tech section.

MMMMMMM SCRUBBB

Calvert cammo sessioning.

Aiden upright.

In Kamloops if you loose the trail, you can just get your free ride on and make your own!

The Canmore spring tease was getting old quickly. What better way to feed the biking fire than to pack up and head west. Where the trails are plentiful and the roots and rocks are ready to be ridden.

We set off for a 4 day trip to the coast to see what we could find and man, we were not let down. Squamish and Pemberton have some of the best trail networks I have ever seen! If you want to get tested on the bike early season, head into the forest of the west coast and see what you can find. You will not be disappointed. You may never come back!

The long road to Whistler.. Savona sunset

Derrrrp??!!!!

 

Ah DERRPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you get tired on the road, there is always a place to stay….if you have too.

Intense Racing

Rocky  Mountain Cycles

Kona Bikes

A walk through the village our first night. Whistler seemed a good place to base ourselves for the weekend, close to both riding locations and plenty of stuff to drink..do! I mean.

Apparently they had some sports here a couple years ago.

Morning prep for our first day in Squamish

And we woke to this…Not unusual for this time of year. We were hoping the weather 60km away was better. It was,

Our Squamish host Frasers’ man cave…..impressive

An assortment of bike frames, bits and what not,

 

Fully custom Redline. Note the Nokon brake line. The nicest v-brake I have ever felt

Im not sure whats happening here….but I like it

This was the story of our trip. Squamish anyway. Lots of mud at the end of each ride

Pemberton Bike Co

Handsome devil

Our host Pete @BikePirate took us on a great morning rip , Lumpys Epic. A loop trail that starts with a decent climb to the summit.

Here is Tim having a time getting up over the roots and rocks that peppered the trail.

Soon to follow, a handful of switchbacks to sweat up. This is where the lack of early season fitness really shines!

A sneaky hike a bike rock line that cuts off from the main trail…Lots o fun!

Mr Mike Beale testing out his new Kona Process. No better place to do it I think. All reports point to an awesome trail bike!

Our afternoon shuttle/ride put us onto Cream Puff. A Pemby classic! Endless rock slab, tech descents and amazing views what more could you want!

Back in Squamish riding some of the Garibaldi trails.. Again, outstanding! More rain today made it a definite test of the abilities.

Looks like Tim is having a pretty good time though.

Ghost rider

 

John with the river salute!

Familiar?

Woweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

 

Muddy bits

Muddy Tim

 

Muddy Bikes

As I made my yearly trip down to Arizona this year, I decided that I wouldn’t repeat last years mistake of erasing all the shots.

Having a had some experience in the area, I was a bit more focused on checking out a few new trails and avoiding the ones I found to be a bit less entertaining.

Phoenix as a city has a ton of riding in the city and surrounding areas. There is quite a variety of riding in the area. The majority of the trails are for the pedal heads out there who enjoy fast single track that doesn’t have a ton of technical areas but a bunch of vert and long distances with great flow.

Simon loving the fast paced single track.

This is a great training ground for cross country and endurance racers that are looking for a spring training ground. They will have a blast on the fast flowey single track.

Although the Phoenix area has a lot of flow trails with big climbs there are areas that have some great fun tech areas from long to short.

I like to start my season off with the F.I.N.S are single track zone in the south west corner of the Phoenix area. This is a great area that is a spiderweb of trails that has a bit of everything, something for everyone. There are great tech climbs, fast flow, a short flow downhill section, some techy descents and more. You can do laps from 1.5km to exploring the whole area in roughly 26km. Its a great intro to desert riding that is great for the whole family.

I went over to the McDowell Regional park to go check out the Pemberton loop with a few buddies from Canmore, John Firth and Simon Donato after their recommendation of this fast flowey single track zone they checked out the day before. This is a super speedy zone that is best suited for a 29er hardtail.

Though there are some good little sections that shoot off the main loop that offer a bit more rugged terrain and some good vert to get the legs and lungs going. Though this isn’t my typical style of trail i had a blast with the flow and a great way to get some km under my belt to start the season.

An over view of  Pemberton trail.

Next mission was off to Sedona, My style of riding, tech, rough and wicked views and descents.

A local dude l’iI ran into that was out for an afternoon rip on Highline with his pup.

The first objective was Slim Shady-Highline-baldwin-templeton-easybreezy, This is a sick loop that is a great mix of tech and flow with great sections of redrock.

Epic views in Sedona from Templeton trail, watch out for hoards of hikers if you hit this trail at prime hours.

The redrock sections of this trail can be interpreted any way your eyes can see it! There are endless options in this area to ride the slabs  to create your own versions of the trail over and over.

With some of the most impressive views that Arizona has to offer.

One of the only shots I have on Hangover due o the lack of good places to perch my camera, though it gives you an idea of the exposure.. it gets nasty and more fun from here.

Next on the docket was Cowpies-Hangover-Munds wagon trail. A good warm up pedal of roughly 5 km to the trail head up the jeep road to get the legs going. Once onto  Cowpies you start ascending some redrock and get in the groove for Hangover….

Hangover is Undoubtably one of the most exposed rides that there is out there. the whole trail has a risk of serious injury  to bike and yourself. Super tech and full of fun, a trail that to be fully ridden and enjoyed to the fullest would have to be done twice. Though the first time will blow your mind.. I don’t recommend this trail to anyone but advanced riders that are of scared of heights. If those don’t describe you… Check this trail out, it ranks as one of the best trails I’ve ever ridden!!! To finish off the ride you hit munds wagon trail for a fun flowy descent to the parking lot.

I wanted to catch a bit more of Sedona before i had to take off so I checked out High on the Hog-Hogs heaven-Hogwash-broken arrow.

A bit more of a chill section that still offers some of classic Sedona but a bit less consequence and loads of flow. A must do if you come down this way.

A nice little climb section on High on the hog.

 

 

A bit of AZ wildlife.