Cycle the Sunshine Coast, BC

Yesterday - I rode a good 2 hours in West Sechelt - it was fairly good, but I couldn't get a good rhythm going.  It actually hailed at the end of the ride.  Cut short by Mother Nature.  Still any ride is a good ride. So I had this plan today. It was a beautiful day and I was going to put a 3-4 hour road ride. It started great and I was developing the so-called "Zen-state" (or maybe it was the Black Eye Peas music?). Around Beach Ave, I feel a sharp bump from the road and looked down and it was a flat. If you follow my blog, you'll know that I ride tubulars. I get out my Vitoria Pit-stop and "hiss" into the tire I spray the sealant. Still leaking....Great...back home I go, plan ruined and zen lost....the good news is the sealant semi-ass worked as I got home (I pumped the tire up again, and after half a day, its still fully inflated. Go figure). So, I jumped onto my G-Spot and off I went for a 2.5 hour ride. The ride was interesting as I...

So Pinkbike is doing "Video of the Year" competition and I've just been viewing and voting for my favorite video.  Most videos are of riding down fast, or of flips and shit.  I AM in awe of these riders and of their stunning video photography.  The efforts that riders and their photographers do are amazing.  I came across one video that really almost defines "Epic" - "Into Thin Air" posted on Pinkbike.com -  http://www.pinkbike.com/video/228500/ Reading the comments one reader posted this definition of Epic -  " I read in a magazine "The word ""epic"" is defined as a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation. In the mountain bike dictionary, the word steals ""the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures"" and adds ""while on a 30 - 50 mile mountain bike ride"...

So I had this great idea.  This weekend I started to film myself riding a trail that I particularly like. I'll film different sections during the year and my thought is that you'll see a change in seasons and probably clothing.  Hopefully it will work out.  Below is my first little bit of filming of the trail crossing over Langdale Creek - The Lunge. I rode with a great group of people today and I seem to be a bit of an historian having come to Mountain Biking from being away for 15 years.  I would say in 1997 there were maybe 25% of the trails that they have today...and the trails now are so much nicer.  I went on about these new trails.  I think that we are definitely blessed with some of the great mountain bike trails in Canada.  Thanks to all those trail builders out there! Caution - Explicit wording in the music - You've been warned. ---WAB1234---

Two weekends in a row I've been sidelined by malfunctioning equipment.  Last week was a broken derailleur hanger and this weekend was a broken hose for my dropper post (RC Reverb).  The derailleur was more my fault as the chain link broken and wedged in the cage...ting the hanger broke off.  Luckily I had more spares (the shop threw a couple in the box; hey wait a minute!!!!!).  Yesterday, the hose barb from my dropper post broke off, leaked fluid everywhere and I haven't a clue how it happened.  I was hiking my bike across 100m of forest lands, through creeks and steep slopes and....ummm...maybe.... Aren't these bikes built for that??? March 26, 2012 - Update - Broke another....fail.  This time the branch had to be cut cause it was really stuck.  The derailleur is still all good! ---WAB1234---

I don't know why I didn't start mountain biking sooner than a couple of months ago.  The fun and the satisfaction of each ride is such an awesome relief that I can't wait to ride again.  The trails on the Sunshine Coast are so diverse and numerous that you could ride all day and not ride on one single trail twice.  However, there are trails that I exclaim "Let do that again!". I have to pause sometimes during my rides to ask the question, who were the harden few to build these trails?  We know of the modern trailbuilders like Brad Proctor, Glen Ellingsworth, Cap University guys, Rod Camposano, and Guy Bullen.  Also the numerous others that built a couple of trails and add those to chain of trails that we call "Sunshine Coast trail riding".  We're they the first? No I say.  A lot of these trails were old pioneer trails, oxen roads, and skid trails of logging of yester-year.  A lot of the trails of Roberts Creeks were because of historic logging a...

The title of this post might mislead you into thinking that I re-entered father-hood.  Nope! A new girlfriend? Close!  I got a new bike - the Cove G-spot.  I have been looking for a bike for while but was not prepared to buy it as I swore that I wouldn't (couldn't) afford two passions.  Road riding and Mountain bike riding. It started out with small ride with friends when I rode a Cove Hummer.  I was immediately hooked and bought a Brodie Awl for my son.  The brodie is a big free-ride/all mountain 5in travel bike, but is 35-36lb.  It was all I could do to ride up the hills.  The downhilling of the Brodie was like riding a lazy-boy and very good.  So I wanted a bike that could climb and had the plush travel downhilling.  Enter the G-Spot - its a better climber than Cove's Hummer (XC bike) and has 6in of travel for the big downs.    Click this link to see G-Spot riding in Spain  http://www.basquemtb.com/cove-g-spot-re...

It was a bit of a letdown packing up and leaving Healdsburg.  We just finished 375km in 3 1/2 days including the King Ridge Granfondo 160km and we were tired.  On the first ride, it was 34 plus deg and it seemed like a dry sauna to me (before you throw the water on).  Within no time, my head felt on fire, I went through 2 water bottles of Gatorade and my buddy dumped some of his water on me which felt like a hot shower.  We stopped at a Shell and I dumped a litre of cold bottle water on my head and back that did enough to cool me down.  We stayed in the valley (dubbed Dry Creek Valley) which was shaded and few degrees cooler and rode for another 3 hours.  We visited Sonoma Lake, rode along the Russian River and rode through Healdsburg.  I had a blast!  and whew, that ride was hot! The next day was an "easy" ride before the big race and we rode on the Mill Creek Road.  This road is along a creek and amongst huge redwood trees.    T...