Summer Twenty22 B.C
As soon as the monsoons took over India’s weather charts, it was time to visit the sunny shores of B.C, Canada. Quite a swift plan, pack em bags and hop on the flight schedule of the trip made it pretty interesting. By the time I reached Vancouver, the Crankworx and a few other rad events were already through. Non the less, it’s B.C, the mountain biking mecca. September had a variety of more gatherings lined up!
Straight from a 12Hr flight I made my way to Gabriola Island, home to my photog pal, Malcolm McLaws. Malcolm is a world traveler, an ace photographer, a mountain biker and has been documenting mountain biking through its evolution for over two decades. Along with Malcolm, we got our bike wheels over to Bearclaw’s backyard in Parksville.
After visiting the Claw, we logged rides at the Jordie Lunn Bike Park in Langford, Mount Washington Bike Park and dropped a quick peek over the Stevie Smith Bike Park which is stacked with large dirt jumps, a pump track alongside a BMX Race Track.
Warmed up from the park trails, it was time to join my friends from Mountain Biking BC for the MTB Tourism Symposium in Vernon at the SilverStar Bike Park. A gathering of like-minded folks from the mountain bike industry sharing their knowledge on trail building, entrepreneurship, tourism promotion and growing mountain biking!
With a full day of indoor sessions, we got to hit the SilverStar park trails too on the final weekend of the park season.
Vernon stores more than the fast trails at SilverStar. Joining trail sculptor Mark Wood and my buddy Thomas Littlejohn, we dropped in on the Predators Ridge trails. For this evening I got to boost on Thomas’ E-Bike! Something I hadn’t ridden before, the E-Bike was a pleasant surprise. Cranking up climb trails was like a stroll in the forest, a forest which also had some fast descents! Predators Ridge sure got the suspension compressing through its varied sections.
A quick North Shore rip down Seymour followed through the week while in Vancouver. Riding a pedal friendly 29er of my friend Martin Littlejohn, the trail bike gave for some sketchy times!
Next up, a trip to Kamloops and Sun Peaks Bike Park for my buddy Andrew Baker’s 40th Birthday celebrations! Straight from the truck drive with Baker we landed on a hidden trail tucked away in the hills, a trail that goes by the name “Mind Games”. Steep, rooty, gnarly, something that’ll play with your mind for sure. A spill off a trail feature down Mind Games kept me off the bike for the weekend. Skipping Sun Peaks runs with the boys. Non the less, the evenings were lit with good food and good times.
With a few days in Vancouver city it was time to get back into the mountains north of Kamloops – Chu Chua for the 1st Allies MTB Festival by the Indigenous Youth Mountain Biking Program and friends from the Simpcw Nation. Joining my friend Martin Littlejohn and his son Thomas, we got the highway miles on to Barriere, B.C. A weekend of camping, riding, high fives, sharing tales of the land and above all, learning! Great times were had meeting my sport’s idols and making new friends.
Enroute to Vancouver, we made our way up to Naramata, near Penticton. Hot and sunny skies gave us company as we shuttled up some rad trails in Naramata. High speed, through the forest, the day of shredding was dusty and loose.
Next up, after landing into Vancouver again, a new friend I met in Chu Chua suggested we visit Abbotsford for some interesting riding. Oh and interesting it was! Our buddy, Randy ‘Krow’ Cunningham lead Martin and me to the Ledge view trails in Abbotsford. Jump lines with old school vibes, the Ledge view trails got me sending a sweet 40ft gap through the day. After a good kick off to things, we then headed up to Sumas Mountain which has the flowiest of the trails in the woods.
Back in Vancouver, time for some Seymor goodness. Steeps, roots and good times on the North Shore.
Squamish plan jumped up post lunch next. Martin and I drove up to the popular trails off the highway. Getting towed up the hill by an E-bike, we made our way to the mountain peak, followed by descending some of the SORCA maintained trails of Squamish. Young riders, old riders, tiny kids on dad’s handlebar! The trails were buzzing with stoked riders ripping down flowy trails.
Once in Vancouver, it was another spin down Mt.Seymour. This time around my buddy Thomas and I decided to ride one of the steep slab lines somewhere in the middle of the regular descent. After triggering cameras and high fives, the dry Seymour spin was a good warmup for the week’s Squamish plan!
Next up in the week, bikes in Martin’s truck and highway to Squamish. Thomas and his buddies who’d ridden some of the infamous slab trails of Squamish lead us through some rad trails and wild “Into the Gnar” lines! Grippy and groovy, that’s how these trails are. Riding ‘In and out Burger’ line was sweet, as I’d seen this one in numerous videos (made famous by Remy Metailler). Lucky to have caught the final few warm, dry days of this year’s unusual extended summer in B.C.
Before packing my bike up for the trip back home, we squeezed in a quick spin over at Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford.
Big shout out to Malcolm McLaws, Martin and Thomas Littlejohn, Andrew Baker and all my friends in B.C for making this mountain biking adventure smooth and memorable! High five to all my new wheel buddies, see you all on the trails soon!
As the winter gear gets pulled out of the closet in Canada, it is time to roll on some warm trails of India!
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