End of the Season

Well it seems that we have finally run out of sunshine here in the Pacific North West. Fortunately for me I managed to bag a whole whack of last minute epics, though not quit as many as I wanted.

My goals were large and perhaps a bit lofty. Once one begins to cast about, one sees that there is a big epic or a triple crown around every corner and the question then begs, what do we do annually and what do we simply add to the completed bucket list (more on the bucket list coming).

Seasonly we are going into ski season and I love cross training, running, yoga, snowshoeing and swimming, but it's hard to focus on that when I haven't spent all my summer smiles.

A few weeks ago we shot some great photo's in the Squamish area, and it was truly the last time the alpine will be open until May or June next year. It's like hunting season, you go when the time is right, or for all you powder hounds "no friends on powder days, eh"!

So it is with a final farewell wave that we put our summer shorts away and dig out our speedo's, skis and yoga mats. This doesn't mean the riding is over, but the 'hero dirt' the warm summer weather and the post ride hang out in sweaty gear, that's over.

I hope you got all your hurrah's in and are looking forward to a well structured build to your next season; whether it be ski, board, mtb or road bike, make a plan and enjoy the changing of the seasons.

I myself have overbooked my winter with a Ride Guide episode in Chile, a training camp with Ryder H in Maui and the Trans Andes in January. No rest for the wicked, and likely not too many turns on the ski's but all that remains to be seen. For now the rain is forcing me to cross-train, think about the summer past and plan for the summer future, change up the muscles, rest the mind and spend some well deserved time with the family.

Training Camp - http://www.mauicyclingcamps.com

Ride Guide - http://www.rideguide.ca/

Trans Andes - http://www.transandeschallenge.com/

Get er done

The Triple Crown

Thanksgiving Triple Crown - Coast to Coast

You may query what is a triple crown? Well every town has one, it's just that the N.Shore exemplifies it. A triple crown is the King of Epics in your own backyard, a triple mountain doozy or a big circumnavigation of your valley, the full meal deal etc etc, you get it, right?

Here is a video of last years event -2009 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yACDNLyTf7Q

Here on the N. Shore we link up all three mountains, from Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay - we go all the way. 8100 feet of climbing 63 km's, just another day at the office. Now some people will debate what the official route is, but I don't give a rat's ass, if anyone wants to even put their bike on three mountains, great. If they can even ride the lowest trails on three mountains and dip their toes into the water, great.

and if like our intern in the picture above, you come from France and love to Mountain Bike then this silly ride is gonna put a big grin on your silly face.

We always start early for this neveaux annual event (stay tuned for next years date) 8 am in the Cove. With a good showing this year of 21 starters, Greg Hayes, Wade Simmons, Bob Faulkner, Keith Stark, Luke and Mark Kazmirski, the 'French' Intern, Andrew Clark, Johnny Rockall, Paul Kalish, Alex, Mark, Arthur, the Traslin Brothers, Sam from Victoria, Richard, Doug Horn, a bunch of others and Clark forgot his helmet in the car, so this was the crew for the 2010 Triple Crown.

We cruised quickly up to Park Gate and began our Old Buck ascent. As usual things spread out pretty quickly, but this is a tour not a race and there were many stops planned, in fact there is a store after each mountain.

Our route took us low over Mt Seymour up the Buck and over to the Severed D. My thoughts on this were to entice all the maybe's; once they had two mountains in the bag they would be suckered into the third, well I think my plan worked, I got an extra 2 peeps for sure.

Up we climbed and down the Dick, no problems, great crew, no flats, over Bottle Top and up twin bridges to the 'end of the line'. It's nice to have a coffee on thanksgiving at 10 am in your biking gear, mid-ride, don't you think?

Then it was onto Fromme, where we picked up Bruce Spicer, took a spin down the new Bobsled (nice work gang) and onward to the peak of Grouse. It's a long climb and there were many other groups out there with a questioning look as we purposefuly drove onward to the top - "see yeah next year suckers."

I guess it would seem that the Village Chair or Jet Boy trail gets it's action only once a year, the bang for the buck is debatable, big ass climb, yes a sweet descent, but really I think we can and do do better over on Fromme. Non the less, it's a sweet, loamy steep ass trail, good for a little pucker. We had a quick stop at the engine, and without casualties descended to Skyline.

Here was a major parting of the ways, 21 dudes quickly became 11 as we headed to the Mount Royal store to refuel. And wouldn't you know it Doug Horn was there waiting for us. 11 became 8 as we headed into what was now looking like a grey Cypress Mt, with guaranteed precip.

Yeah it was a bit chilly and I was thinking about my supplies as we headed out, but when you have a purpose there is no thwarting it. Up through the BP's onto the Millstream connector and up to the 2nd switchback and up and up some more. There were plenty of tired legs as we approached the summit and some near aborts, but our little group cajoled and supported itself all the way to the Port o John trailhead. Then and only then are you truly looking down on the finish, it's an awesome feeling to know you are so close and the rest is literally all downhill.

When we came out at Cypress Park estates it was a good cast of characters, Doug Horn and Arthur Gaillot headed home on their bikes, Clark went for a long night shift up the sea to sky somewhere and Richard, Sam, Dre and the Traslin brothers went all the way to Horseshoe Bay for some well deserved Fish n Chips.

and this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home to the couch. Again 8000 feet patiently climbed with a wicked awesome crew, 63 km's from Coast to Coast and don't forget, see you next year for the Thanksgiving Triple Crown.

Get out there and push yourself just a little, each day.

Dre

'OuterBike' - Moab

Well enough about Interbike, here's --- OuterBike; it's a brand new show happening one week after InterBike, but aimed at the Consumer. Unlike InterBike's dealer focus, Outerbike is all about Consumer awareness, enjoyment and er uh riding bikes.

Put on by the good people from Western Spirits guiding company and based in the Mountain Bike Mecca of Moab the recipe is simple; $160 dollars, a shuttle or 2 each day to a different location in Moab, lunch provided (wicked sandwiches-Dagwoods), guides provided and 4 days of demo bikes, that works out to 40 bucks a day plus tax and you get to Demo cool bikes like the Rocky Mountain Element and Slayer (or some other brand if you want).

This is the first year for Outerbike and me a Moab newby made it the perfect chance to get out and explore this amazing area. Day one we arrived set up and liaised with our Colorado Rep and US sales manager, Ephram and John respectively. Changed some pedals, talked to some peeps about the bikes and generally got the fleet ready. By the afternoon it was time to ride, first shuttle was headed to the Sovereign Area, "ok, sounds good" I said. The heat was climbing as we got out of the Van, about 35 degrees and it was 2pm, ouch. Feeling like a sauna we headed into the trails, fortunately we had two guides with us and they knew exactly which way to flow the trails-if you don't get the flow right it feels like uphill all the way, we got it right!

The Sovereign trail system is a newly developed area that will eventually link with the Outerbike zone creating a whole new venue for Moab.

Temperatures during the week were hot, but only between 11am and 2pm after which things cooled to about perfect. This years temps were unusually hot by about 10 degrees, so expect normal but warm temps next year.

Day 2 saw the crowds pick up as the consumers rolled into town. It was friday and though it got busy we really didn't expect to see the rush until Sat. Fridays shuttle/ride took us over to the LPS, or Lower Porcupine Singletrack. This was again my first time and wow, I will have to add this as one of my all time favorites; down-ish, pedally-ish, technical and fast, but it's so much about the crew we were with and I had a freight train of talent to hang with. It was perfect terrain for the Slayer or Altitude.

At noon on Friday they also commenced a Super D race coming down from the La Sal mountains directly above us. They would race down through Burro pass and onto the LPS. This made for some fun entertainment, but some confusion for those who didn't understand the nature of the racer - Agro! Perhaps as a whole having 2-300 shuttle consumers on the flight path of some 30 nut bar DH racers wasn't the brightest idea? Win time was about 1h .35min and something like 7500 feet of descending - I'm doing it for sure next year.

Sat and Sun came like a fog; altitude, sun and beer soaked into all aspects of our life. The crowds thickened and the rides (for us) shortened but the parties lasted longer into the night (check out Woodie's if you are ever in Moab).

Saturday was a shuttle/ride to the infamous Slickrock, and Sunday was the Amasa Back trail while the entire weekend had a sweet loop right in front of the venue. I finally ventured out to the local trails in front of our demo set up on Sun, what a great place to demo your new bike before buying it.

As you can see after 4 days of shuttles, demoing different bikes and exploring the trails of Moab, that the whole Outerbike experience is something not to be missed. I have barely touched on the cool aspects of Moab, the local restaurants or the swimming in the Colorado river, but suffice it to say, this is a great event and it's here to stay.

Get on down to the Outerbike and find your Outer-Limits..?

Cheers

Dre