2009 Kettle Crest Advocacy Fest

August 31st, 2009 by adam

Written by: Tim Banning

Over 40 mountain bikers gathered for 5 days of singletrack goodness on the Kettle Crest trail system in Eastern Washington for the 2009 Kettle Crest Advocacy Fest. The Kettle Crest trail system is rugged, vast and mountainous, where the quality of riding is only surpassed by the variety of sub-alpine ecosystems and epic sweeping views. It is a premier trail system in that it is a non-motorized area chock full of singletrack goodness set in an epic backcountry setting. Unfortunately, mountain bikers may lose the area because it is under review for possible Wilderness Designation, which would eliminate mountain bikes from trails the area.

First few days of riding brought fun descents on the Midnight Ridge Trail, with big pine, open field with colorful wildflower and frolicking badger. Challenging climbs through cedar grove and rock outcrop on Hoodoo Canyon Trail. The weather was unusually iffy, as rain randomly rolled through, but nothing dampened the spirits of our group congregation as riders settled in at the Jungle Hill Campground.

Friday came, and volunteers rolled up their sleeves for a work party on Old Stage Coach Trail #1. Washingtons first state highway, Old Stage Coach #1 was originally intended for wagons to ferry goods, but was too steep and ardous. The wide trail suffers from springs seeping onto the trail and creating long saturated sections of mucky goopiness. The combined effort of 26 mt. bikers from Seattle, Washington to Boise, Idaho resulted in a sustainable trail segment which minimized water erosion by applying established IMBA and Forest Service trail building practices. Forest Service Recreation Specialist Dave Lent commented that our group had “brought the thunder”. Little did Dave know, we brought the bbq as well, as the trail crew was provided with food provided by the Evergreen MTB Alliance from Seattle, beverages provided New Belgium Brewery and schwag from Niner Bikes, New Belgium Brewery, MSC Bikes, Joyride Cycles of Boise, Idaho, and MTBR. com.

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Lift-served biking on the Warm Springs Trail - Sun Valley/ Ketchum, Idaho

August 12th, 2009 by leel


Lift-served biking on the Warm Springs Trail - Sun Valley/ Ketchum, Idaho

August 1, 2009

Words and photos by Lee Lau unless otherwise noted.


BALD MOUNTAIN - the Sun Valley ski hill

On a one week road-trip through Idaho and Montana, Sharon, Tyler and I took advantage of an offer to sample some lift-served biking off Bald Mountain in Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho. We are no strangers to lift-served mountain-biking. Sharon patrols at the Whistler Bike Park. I rode those same trails before there was even a bike park and Tyler’s been riding downhill, freeride and XC most of his adult life.

First some clarification. I had always thought of this entire area as “Sun Valley” - such is the power of marketing. There’s actually a resort village known as Sun Valley. Adjacent to the resort is the town of Ketchum. There are actually two ski hills. One is Bald Mountain (operated by the Sun Valley resort and branded as “Sun Valley”) which has more terrain and vertical then the sister operation of Dollar Mountain , which has more beginner friendly terrain. Suffice it to say that if you’re going to bike the lifts or ski at Sun Valley it’s likely that you’ll be using the lift system at Bald Mountain. More details on the history of Sun Valley is documented here.

Lift-served biking at Sun Valley is no adrenaline junkie thrill-craft type of ride. Rather it’s a rather pleasant ramble down super-buff trails that are not overly technical, are approachable by people of all different skill levels and indeed, can be (and often are) ridden down hill and uphill. That this is lift-serviced is more a pleasant convenience then an implication that you will find big technical features on these trails. Instead of jumps, skinnies, step-ups or step-downs or big berms you will find flowy, fast singletrack that winds through the woods. This is not to say that you can’t push yourself or have a lot of fun on Warm Springs railing downhill at speed - which we did whenever we had clear sightlines


Main office building at the Bald Mountain base


Secondary office building. From the lack of crowd you can get the picture that lift-serviced biking isn’t a big draw … yet


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2009 Downieville Classic Mountain Bike Race Results- Adam Craig and Katerina Nash All Mountain World Champions!

July 14th, 2009 by Gregg

The Downieville Classic was held this past weekend JULY 10 - 12, 2009 in Downieville, CA. The Downieville Classic featured races in Cross Country and Downhill disciplines, with an overall All Mountain World Champion determined by combining results from the two. The event is so popular that spots to race sell out every year and are much coveted.

Below are the pro race results. Adam Craig and Katerina Nash were crowned the All Mountain World Champions. Noticeably absent this year, was local pro and multi time Downieville Classic winner Mark Weir. Mark had a pretty good reason for missing the race though, since he had his hands full with the recent birth of his first child. So, we still get to say, “Congrats Mark!”

Also shown are a couple of pix from the ever popular River Jump!

(Shown below is the Pro Men’s All Mountain podium. That is Adam Craig on top, Jason Moeschler in second, and Sid Taberlay in third.)

The men’s cross country was won by Adam Craig, with Sid Taberlay in second and Jason Moeschler in third. The women’s cross country was won by Katerina Nash, with Willow Koerber in second and Kelli Emmett in third.

XC Top 20 Results:

The men’s downhill was again won by Adam Craig, with Jason Moeschler second and Ross Schnell in third. The women’s downhill was won by Katerina Nash, with Rachel Lloyd second and Kelli Emmett in third.

DH Top 20 Results:

The All Mountain World Championship winners by lowest combined time were:
Pro Men:
1.) Adam Craig
2.) Jason Moeschler
3.) Sid Taberlay
4.) Chris Sheppard
5.) Sam Koerber

Pro Women:
1.) Katerina Nash
2.) Rachel Lloyd
3.) Kelli Emmett
4.) Willow Koerber
5.) Lizzy English

In the ever popular One Speed class, the top five were:
1.) Chris Schulze
2.) Matthias Behrends
3.) Randy Sooter
4.) Jordan Kestler
5.) Nat Ross

AM Top 20 Results:

For full results, check out the official Downieville Classic website: www.downievilleclassic.com/

There are many interesting photos and some great discussion in this forum thread from our Norcal forum: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=536568

Here on this page are some photos by Forrest@mtbr.com:

River Jump Contest! This is Andrew Taylor, who got first place.

River Jump runner up - Olivier Guincetre

Joe Lawill killing it:

Featured in the following pages are photos and race reports from the Mtbr community.

Thanks to Zen_Turtle and NoBalance for the pix. Thanks to merlin, Menso and novato kid for the reports.

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Posted in Race Coverage, Ride Reports |Tags:, , , , |5620 visits| 7 Comments »


Bikes and Horses in the South Chilcotin - a four day alpine adventure

May 20th, 2009 by leel

Chilcotin September 2008

Day 1 - Little Paradise - Manson - Tyoax - September 4, 2008

Words by Lee Lau. Photos by, Sharon Bader and Rob McLachlan unless otherwise noted. (Hyperlinks in the titles lead to the full story with large pictures)



|| Day 1 - Little Paradise - Manson - Tyoax || Day 2 - Graveyard - Elbow Pass || Day 3 - Graveyard - Elbow - Lorna - Tyax - Deer Pass - Spruce Lake || Day 4 - Spruce Lake - Windy Pass - LS Bluffs - Lick Creek - Gun Creek ||

Useful links:


Cribbed shamelessly from a previous article, here is an introduction to an area that’s getting more well-known by mountain-bikers located just four hours north of Vancouver. Within an area about the size of Belgium lives about 800 people full-time and perhaps as many grizzlies - the South Chilcotin. It’s attraction for mountain bikers is its easy access to alpine terrain and views that have to be seen to be believed. It’s honeycombed with access mining and logging roads that are linked by a network of (mostly horse) and game trails.

The Southern Chilcotin has been getting some play in the mtb media. A segment in The Collective showing riders ripping along velvety singletrack had adrenaline racing and many people saying “Where is that? And how do I get there?” I’ve had the good fortune of knowing the Chilcotin from the days of rigid forks, long stems and cantilever brakes - having embarked on my first expedition there some 12 years ago.

Mountain-bikers are latecomers to this area. While I’ve documented many trips to the Chilcotin with photos and words on my private site (and left just as many trips unrecorded), I’ve always felt protective about the area. Call it elitism, call it secret-trail-society syndrome, the southern Chilcotin has always been my little slice of paradise shared only with a few other adventurous souls interested in venturing off the beaten path.

Things change, the word gets out and as the sport of mountain-biking has grown in popularity the number of people who are interested in venturing away from the safe confines of the Lower Mainland around Vancouver have increased. Resources like the first decent map of the area, and guided tours have made some trails “crowded”. Having said that, crowded is a relative term. I now see other people on the Gun Creek grasslands milk-run where I never used to see other tracks. Fortunately it really isn’t that hard to ride for hours and not see another person if you take the time to explore.

The area where most people bike, hike and ride horses is known as the Southern Chilcotin-Spruce Lake Wilderness Area, designated as such by the British Columbia government in 2001 after almost 70 years of lobbying by environmental and preservation groups. A step of protection below provincial park designation, a wilderness area permits mechanized and self-propelled transport but prohibits resource exploitation (ie mining and logging).


Our bikes wait patiently at the hitching posts then get loaded in the horse truck for transportation 30km down the road to the end of the non 4×4 part of the Relay Creek FSR


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Hans Rey: Trials & Trails with Kenny Belaey

March 24th, 2009 by Gregg

March 14th 2009 Maui, Hawaii
By Hans Rey

I just finished a fantastic week in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with the current UCI #1 ranked Trials rider in the world, Kenny Belaey from Belgium.

We were actually filming a 30 Min. TV show for Kenny’s TV series on the Extreme Sports Channel. Kenny had asked me to take him on some epic mountain bike rides - adventure style; while he planned on taking me trials riding and blowing my mind with some incredible moves. Well, let me just say, ‘he succeeded’.

Its amazing how trials has developed and evolved over the past two decades, not only the bikes, but the techniques and levels of difficulty are unbelievable, levels I would have never dreamt off, even 10 years ago. The level is so incredible that many of the lines and moves, cannot be done on foot, without a bike!!!!

Kenny used one of my GT Force bikes for the adventure rides, while he rode his Monty trials bike the rest of the time. I brought my GT Sanction freeride bike and my signature ‘Zaskar Trials’ bike.

The locals were stoked we visited their turf, the guys from Crater Cycles and Maui Cyclery were cool and very helpful in showing us the best spots. It was also good to visit suspension guru Paul Turner in his island home.

All the stills were taken by Erik Aeder, a renown Hawaiian surf and underwater photographer, while Stijn Lammertyn captured some sweet HD footage.

The Skyline trail starts at the very top of Haleakala Volcano at over 10,000ft/ 3000m elevation!!!!! It looks like you are on the moon, actually NASA astronauts prepare themselves there for moon trips. The clouds just added to the mystique, as we hammered through them. The top part is on super sharp volcanic rock, it feels like riding with flat tires. After 100 feet of riding I already had a bloody leg from a big rock that hit me: “Ahh, that’s why the locals wear sheen pads”. Half way down the mountain, it starts to get green and you leave the old 4×4 road for some sweet singletrail. We had lots of fun and
Kenny proved that he could hold his own on a proper mountain bike.

Another highlight was riding the ancient “Kings Highway” through the lava fields along the coast on the south side of Maui, that was the day when I accidently ruined the lens of the video camera by spaying it with the sharp lava rocks.

Personally I was super stoked to ride to Jaws beach, the legendary spot where tow-in surfers like Laird Hamilton have surfed some of the biggest waves ever, when the conditions are right waves get up to 70feet tall. By the way, for all the light weight cry babies out there; Laird trains with 50 pound weights on his mountain bike.

Other typical Hawaiian rides included jungle trails by exotic waterfalls and through lush forests, especially when one finds a vendor that sells fresh pressed sugar cane juice at the trail head.

Friday the 13th or Big Friday was a day I won’t forget soon and maybe one of the best locations I have ever shot at? We were heading to the “Blowhole” for some natural waterworks, but didn’t know that it was trials paradise, endless sections with rocks and a fun technical trail leading down to the water. From sunny skies to big waves, we found everything we could have wished for, with the exception of a Hula girl. As the day went on the waves got bigger and bigger, at one point huge ones were breaking on the cliffs and splashing water 25 feet high through the air, we were trenched wet and my bike wasn’t too fond about the salt water, but our cameramen were. It all seemed pretty safe, until you stand there enclosed by a curtain of white wash and the sea’s roaring at you. Well, let just say I’m glad none of us got swept into the water and shredded to pieces on the sharp volcanic rocks.

Kenny pulled some mind blowing moves on his trials bike, it is amazing how he combines pure power with finesse and precision. Many of his moves would have serious consequences and he makes it look like the easiest thing in the world.

Over the years many people have asked me who would or could be the next ‘Hans’, I never knew what to reply, well, let me just say, this kid is not just a 8 time World Champion, at the age of 26, but his talents go beyond his bike handling skills.

Aloha

Hans

www.hansrey.com
www.belaey-trials.be

All photos copyright by Erik Aeder (erik@erikaeder.com)

more photos>>

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Welcome to the open! … A myth by General Motors Exposed?

October 26th, 2008 by Francois

By: mtb_Canuck

Date: 10-24-2008

For the last few weeks the October issue of National Geographic Magazine has been tormenting me. On the very first three pages, is an advertisement for the new Hummer H3T. In the ad is a picture of some dude riding a Specialized Enduro in the some of most incredibly scenery I had ever seen? The main caption says ‘Welcome to the open’. The smaller print said:
BENTON, CA
Riding along the crags of Banner Ridge Loop grants views of the White Mountains, the surrounding high desert, and the forests of pinyon pines.

Then it lists some very ambiguous directions to get to the crags. Banner Ridge Loop I thought? I had never heard of such a trail… and my research on Google led me to believe that no such place existed. Yet there it was every time I opened that magazine. Curiosity eventually got the better of me and I decided that I must investigate for myself. If there was some epic unknown trail out in the Eastern Sierras waiting to be discovered I wanted to be the first to ride it…

The Hummer Advertisement

The scenery on the way to Benton.

In search of fall colors.

Silver Lake

A duck ruins the reflection.

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Team Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense at the World Cup Finals - Schladming

September 16th, 2008 by adam

Well the long season came to a climax this past weekend in Schladming, Austria with possibly the best track of the year according to most of the riders. There was some upsets and great rides and unfortunately we didn’t have the best of weekends.

First off in qualifying Matt Simmonds had a horrific crash at the top of the course on a high speed section when he was in the air over a big jump and a spectator with a camera stepped out too much into the track. Matt hit the guy while he was still in the air and had a huge crash knocking himself out for about 5 minutes and having to spend the night in hospital with concussion. The spectator was injured worse than Matt and we all hope he is recovering OK.

For the rest of the guys qualifying went pretty good Chris had a mediocre run according to himself to place 9th, Ruaridh had a blinding run for 10th which was his best of the year and what we all know he is capable of and Julien placed 16th with a small crash so all 3 where looking for a top 10 in the final and a podium if not 2.

Anyway lady luck wasn’t with the team this weekend Julien had a bad run and just couldn’t find his flow but ended up 14th and 10th Overall for the season which was amazing really as he didn’t get any points from 2 rounds and was injured at a 3rd.

Ruaridh was on great run and set for his first top 10 finish but just clipped his back wheel on a large root and spat him off and his bike hit him in the head. He got back on and gave the crowd an amazing show on the flat out grass piste section at the bottom of the course with some huge feet up drifts and still finished 37th less than 7 seconds off the top 10.

Chris was fired up at the top of the course and set off looking faster than we have seen him all year as he descended on the big screen but just before the split time which we eagerly awaited to see his time he caught his pedal on a big root and went over the bars and landed hard with his stomach on a big root winding himself really badly and ending his race and his battle for the 5th place overall.

Needless to say we were all a bit disappointed to end the season like that as we had huge goals for our first year and we were very close to achieving them.

To finish off the season with 6th place in the overall team standings and 2 riders in the Worlds top 10 Chris Kovarik 9th and Julien Camellini 10th and the team well and truly established as being one of the major factory teams in just one year I think we have had a pretty successful first year.

We would like to congratulate Sam Blenkinsop for winning his first World Cup race with an amazing ride at the weekend winning qualifying and the Final and also to Greg Minnaar for taking the Men’s Downhill overall World Cup for the 3rd time in his career.

We are already looking forward to next season and with a little more preparation and training we will be back bigger and better next season.

On behalf of the whole team I would like to thank all our sponsors for being amazing and providing us with enough of the best available products to get us through the year. I hope you have all been happy with what we have done in our first year as a team and feel free to ask me any questions about next year or if you want any images of the team for advertising and marketing.

Take a look at our website www.crcintense.com for images from Schladming provided by Victor Lucas and Dave from Burgtec.

Mens DH results from the  Nissan World Cup finals at Schladming, Austria:

1         BLENKINSOP Samuel         4:10.16
2         HILL Samuel                       4:11.80
3         ATHERTON Gee                 4:12.36
4         PEAT Steve                        4:13.20
5         MINNAAR Greg                   4:17.56
6         LEOV Justin                        4:18.33
7         BAREL Fabien                     4:18.49
8         GWIN Aaron Holmes            4:21.44
9         DELFS Mitchell                    4:21.60
10        NEETHLING Andrew            4:21.87
11        DONOGHUE Neil                 4:22.12
12        RANKIN Nathan                   4:22.16
13        SAIZ CASTANE Oscar         4:22.29
14        CAMELLINI Julien                4:22.39     Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense
15        PASCAL Mickael                 4:22.41
37        RUARIDH CUNNINGHAM     4.28.42     Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense
80        CHRIS KOVARIK                 9.52.64 Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense

source: nigel page

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The Mighty Chilcotins - 3 day rides for you to choose from!

August 27th, 2008 by brodiegrrl

Three Day Trips in the Chilcotins - Aug 2 - 4 2008

Photos by Sharon Bader, Lee Lau or Chris Kelly. Words by Sharon Bader. All Rights Reserved


Well. We’re back. Despite me wanting to take a break from the Chilcotins it tends to keep drawing you back. This time we’ve come with more people who have become addicted to the alpine - Dave and Trevor. Two of our skiing buddies from Lillooet (Kevin and Chris) joined us as well! Initially we were going to camp at Spruce Lake Wilderness Adventure’s guest ranch but since there was a bear in the area ripping apart their fridges we figured it would be better to camp in a more populated area. Fortunately there was still space in the Freiburg Forest Service Campground which was free and right by the lake! So that is were we camped for these three rides. After about a 30 minute drive from the campground we park at the access to Taylor Basin and start to climb. If you are unsure where this area is in BC click here. More information and links are at the bottom of this report if you want more information.

 

Chilcotin Riding
Park here to access Taylor Cabin

Read the rest of this entry »

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The Ultimate Road Trip 2008 – Eastern Leg

August 15th, 2008 by adam

image0128.jpg

The Ultimate Road Trip has once again set sail. This year’s first leg has the crew touring to Panorama, Kicking Horse and Silver Star located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. With a mixed bag of light rain and sunshine in the forecast, it looks like our lucky winners will get to experience the Bike Parks of BC in all their finest glory. The Ultimate Road Trips aims to showcase BC’s best lift access trails and the natural beauty of the province.

Day One: Intro’s and Invermere

World Masters Champ Shaums March of Mad March Racing picked up the crew at the Kelowna airport. First to arrive was Jeff who flew in from Calgary and met his good buddy and contest winner Dave. Both currently live and teach in Whitehorse. Next to arrive were the other winners Wendy and her riding partner Brenda, who both live on Vancouver Island. After some quick intros and one lost bag we loaded the official road trip van and headed for Panorama just outside Invermere, BC.

A few hours into the drive, we all felt pretty good about the crew. By the sounds of the conversations, we had a down to earth and competent group of riders. Most importantly the crew was ready to ride. But today was just a travel day so we decided to let some energy out at the Enchanted Forest near 3 Valley Gap along side Highway 1.

The Enchanted Forest is one of those places you drive by but never take the time stop and see what its all about. Today was a perfect opportunity to check it out. We had a great time exploring the childhood nursery rhyme characters and tales. Bonds were already beginning between the crew as we all shared some laughs at each other’s expense.

After a few more hours of driving we arrived in Panorama. It was already dark and everyone was spent from a long day of travel. The winners headed off to bed while Shaums, coach Jonathon and photographer Ian Millar unloaded the van in preparation for the next day.

Day 2: New Skills, New Mountain - Panorama

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After a night of lightening and rain, the skies cleared. The crisp mountain air was fresh and cool. From a riders point of view conditions were perfect. After some breakfast, we started off with a lap on ‘Look Out’ (a Blue run) followed by some riding fundamentals. Coach Shaums went through some basic bike control techniques, demonstrating how to get the most of the Hayes Stroker brakes as well as feeling out the Marin Quakes suspension. The entire crew is riding Quakes and the folks are loving them, already offering to buy them after the trip! It wasn’t long before they began to apply the new techniques to the trails.

We caught up with Haley Wilson from the resort and enjoyed a few laps with her. She even pushed her own limits riding runs she had yet to shred. Panorama offers a good range of terrain to all levels of riders. The key here was ‘all levels’. The resort has a strong focus on family. Not only do they have beginner trails but they also have waters slides, hiking and whole bunch of other stuff to keep the entire family entertained.

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Once the crew got there legs going it was not long before the Black Diamond runs were being called out. Brenda demanded flow with every lap, it was obvious to everyone from the start that she was here to ride. Her excitement got the best of her as she attempted to board a wooden bridge, unfortunately she missed judged her speed and lost her balance. When she couldn’t unclip, she proceeded with a comical dive into the bush.

After a hard day riding we met up with the Ride Guide television crew, who would also be following us on the journey. We met up for a post game brew at the T-Bar and later ventured on to Chopper’s Landing for dinner. The team cut loose over some delicious foods, drinks and amusing conversation. Chopper’s is a Heli-Ski operation in the winter and has the best grub in the valley as well one of the best places to watch the weather travel across the mountains.

Day 3 - 5: Kicking the Horse

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After another delicious view and breakfast at Picnic Deli, (breakfast wraps highly recommended) we packed the Mad March Racing Van and set our sights and minds on Golden, BC. It’s close to a 2hour drive to the breath taking Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. If you not familiar with Kicking Horse you need to know that the Horse is some serious mountain biking. 4000 feet of vertical every run with some of the best true downhill action you can get from lift access riding.

In a total fluke, lightening had hit the gondola the previous night. When we showed up the lift was shut down for the day. They had to check every fuse before they could open the chair up again. So the Horse’s PR rep Jordan Petrovics came up big and put the Ultimate- in the Ultimate Road Trip. He granted us access to the mountain roads so we could just drive up Shaums’ van and shuttle the runs. Two runs later we were cracking beers and heading for a sunset hot tub.

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Brenda and Wendy really got into a groove the next day. After a quick visit to Boo the Grizzly (Boo is a real grizzly who lives on Kicking Horse) the two-island girl’s technical DH styles surfaced again. Jeff and Dave were over heard on more than few occasions saying, “best runs ever”. It was echoed through the entire group from Shaums to the photographer to the guests. Kicking Horse filled a need that you just can’t get anywhere else. After everyone over extended their endurance the hot tubs were calling again, a few brews later a wild night broke out at the pub.

Must mentions for Kicking Horse include the accommodations, feather mattresses in both the Vagabond Lodge and Copper Horse. TSN former broadcaster Ken Chilibeck is the pension owner at the Vagabond. Ken and his wife Lori have decorated this place in a fun and furry way. If you’re heading to the Horse, drop in to the Vagabond. Another must mention is the Pork Ribs at Local Hero Pub. If you’re a carnivore YOU MUST ORDER THEM.

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The next day our gracious new riding friend Brady took us for a hot lap on Mount Seven, the riding once again blew the group away. A huge thanks to Steve, Brady, Mike, Jordan, The Eagle Eye restaurant and everyone else who made the Horse and Golden so memorable.

Day 5: Next Stop Silver Star

After the Mount Seven ride and a 6hour road tour, we pulled into the charismatic ski resort- Silver Star. Silver Star is located in Vernon BC and has a very unique style. Resembling a colorful western styled mining town, the town stands out on its own. Everyone checked in and to all our surprise the resort had season passes waiting for everyone. That was a great surprise! It was getting late so we all headed to our rooms prepping for an early start.

Day 6: Life’s Good – Hello Silver Star!

Today was the first day on the bikes at Silver Star. The girls were ready before most of us were even out of bed. We all met at everyone’s new favorite breakfast bakery Bugaboos. Where our Netherlands hosts served us freshly baked pastries of all varieties. The town of Silver Star is located midway down the mountain, so after breakfast we got a warm up lap down to the chairlift.

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Wow! what a surprise. Blown away doesn’t even do this ‘warm up’ trail justice. ‘Blast Off’ is a perfectly sculpted berm run where weightlessness occurs between every corner. It was truly an eye opening experience. I’ve ridden most of the BC Park trails now and there is nothing like this one anywhere. As luck would have it, this was just the beginning and more of the same style trails followed.

Shazaam, Pipe Dream, Rockstar are all berm-jump-berm style trails and all will blow your mind. After a few runs, questions in regards to real estate began to surface. The crew was stoked and already wanted to move here! After a morning of going as fast as possible down the trails, the crew craved something a little more technical. Downtown, World Cup and Double Dog quickly became favorites. The variety at Silver Star was warm welcome and filled every desire the group had.

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After an over extending day of riding the exhausted crew headed for Paint Ball. 6 days of relationship building climaxed. Two teams were divided and an all war broke loose. Better times with guns have never been had. Shoot up conversations over beers continued for hours after, as everyone showed off their paint ball welts. That was until the video games broke out on the big screen at the Saloon and game faces were back in check.

Day 7: The Good Life … continues

Today was the last day for the crew to ride. To be honest, as good a time as we were having, we were all spent. We took a mellower pace today and stopped to session a few of the stunts. After numerous tries Jeff managed to link the 4 connecting teeter-totters. He was pumped and little bruised from his effort. The day continued with more DH styled trails and a great lunch at Bull Dog. After a few more hot laps and some of the fastest riding we all have experienced, we all in agreement that as riders, we had improved tremendously. All the on slope coaching had paid off huge.

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It was evident in everyone’s technique; the confidence in corners and technical riding had our group riding strong. After catching the final chair, again we enjoyed some après Kokanee’s and headed for… Paint Ball! A final round of paint pellets was released on each other and contentment was painted across the faces of all.

The trip was winding down to its last evening, a little tired; the team went out for one last dinner. Tonight’s dinner was a spectacular fine dining experience at Marty’s Silver Star Grill. Marty’s is a fine dining experience you should enjoy if you’re in the town. The team was in awe at the experience and the men were smitten with the service.

I think it is safe to say Silver Star could possibly be the best bike park in the Canada. The people, terrain and level of commitment on behalf of staff and trail crew is amazing. To be fair, good trails are all about the dirt. The mountain has amazing dirt to work with and the trail network benefits from it. It was perfect ending to a perfect trip.

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After 7 days of riding the Marin bikes held there own, minimal maintenance and no injuries for the riders occurred. The winners were shwagged out from all the sponsors and everyone left with a new group of friends. It really was The Ultimate Road Trip.

Thanks to everyone!

Written by Shaums March / Ian Millar

Photos by Ian Millar

For more information on Bike Parks BC visit www.bikeparksbc.com

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