Karate Monkey: 2011

Definitely been an interesting week.

My car died on the way to the Cove, last sat. Transmission planet housing gave out. The car, which I purchased from a friend upon returning home from Japan, lasted me 3+ years. Not bad considering what I paid. Truth be told, I wasn't surprised the transmission blew. From the first time I drove it 3 years ago I could tell something funny was going on with the way the automatic moved through its power settings. With no Overdrive, the car ate more gas than other cars the same age.

So long Subaru Loyale, I never liked you.

After getting the car towed off the road, I managed to hook up with Ian. He was nice enough to come grab me and the 29er I had signed out from Cove.

The new Kona Satori. Here are some pics from our 2 laps at SFU.

The second lap was better than the first. I was learning how to ride the bike. A 29er is a new experience if you have never used one before. Not a steep learning curve, but you need to manage your energy differently.

The new Kona is really good. A 5&5 bike with true AM geo, my large weighed in at around 31 lbs. Not bad for any AM bike, 29er or not.

The tag on the bike is $3300. Perhaps a bit high for a single pivot Kona, but it comes equipped with a RS Revelation, RP2 and Easton wheelset. The drive train felt a bit cheap, but the revelation really impressed me. It had nice bounce and I think this bike could handle the Shore fairly well.

Still, I won't be going here in the end. As interested as I am in a 29er, taking one to Fromme would be cheating. The big wheels would get you up the hill way ahead of your crew or gf, and then ride easily down pipeline or Crinkum. Too easy.

The 5&5 Kona encroaches on territory reserved for my G-spot. I would dread riding a 29er on the shore for 2 months then having to go back to my 26er wheels. I think this feeling may hint to why 29ers haven;t taken off around here the way they have taken off everywhere else.

If I do go 29er, and with my dead car now creating a money issue, it's likely going to be while before I do, I think a straight up XC bike is where I'll invest.

No one minds cheaters in the XC realm anyways.

Time for another road trip. This one for 7 days instead of a 4 day weekend. Once again we threw our bikes onto the back on Nics' nice new car and headed into the east. Relatively short notice on this one. Lee had mentioned that they were going to ride 7 Summits a few weeks ago. Having missed my chance last year due to snow, I was quick to invite myself along. I'm not sure what Nic was thinking when I asked her to drive.

Nic set us up with a place to stay in Vernon. A friend had a Condo out there. No bikes or ski gear allowed in building tho. Thankfully my training at the Ninja academy came in handy for sneaking bikes up the elevator and down to the far end of the hall.

Monday was bike park day. A cool one for sure, but no rain at least as the weather oracles at EC were promising.

Riding a skinny at Silverstar and fell off and gave my right floating rib quite a whack. Ouch, that stung.

All and all, it was Nics' best day of the trip. She stayed on her bike, mostly and had a good time. I didn't bother with many pics.

I did put my new helmet cam to good use tho. However the addition of video footage means that these blog entries are going to start taking longer to belt out. This one was 3 days in the making.

I'm adding music too.

Before you start laughing, I am riding the little bike on this whole trip. The G-spot held up pretty well at the Park, but it would pay the price eventually......

Tuesday we began the 6 hour drive to Nelson. Great drive along the 6A, included a ferry ride too.

After a quick picnic in Nakusp, we carried on.

We settled into out hotel room which had a huge Bathroom. Nice for storing bikes.

Lee, Tracy, Lubo and Sue hadn't arrived in Nelson yet when we got there. Tuesday night we went to the Twisted Tomato(YUM!) for dinner and started making plans for what to do while waiting for the rest of our entourage to arrive in town.

Everyone made it into town the next day. We'd head to Baba's Indian cuisine(double yum!).

Later we went to one of the bike shops in town. Gerricks. I young fellow by the name of Blair picked up the phone. After talking to him for a while, he said Thursday was an off day and would be happy to show us some easier trails.

Nic sucked up her painful bruise and came with us. We shuttled up the Giveout creek area and rode the bottom of PowerSlave, into Placenta Decenta, Iluminati and out Plunger. A much flatter (except powerslave) funner and flowier trail system. Blair had managed to save the Nelson part of our trip for us. I took lots of helmet cam footage, but its a bit choppy with the kind of riding it was. I did get myself on a nice little bail tho. But, maybe another time.

Nic and I drove to Rossland that night. The rest of the gang would follow the next day. Although, Bob would be waiting for me on the other end and ready to ride friday morning. When he suggested we do crown point, my favourite trail from last years trip, I had to come with.

Last time with Music, I promise:

It ended up being my favorite ride of the trip, and the evening of the trip for me.

The rest of the crew made it into town. We got settled into the Condo I had rented for us. A nice surprise was that we got upgraded when I picked up the keys. Instead of one level condo, we had ourselves a nice 3 level Chalet.

And one of the flukiest things I have ever seen, Lee's dad was staying right across the yard from us. He was in town competing in the BC Senior Olympics. He and his mates beat up on the Soccer team from Victoria to take Bronze!

Left to Right, Lubo, Sue, Mike(Lee's Dad), Me, Nic, Tracy and Lee. The trip itself was originally the idea of Lubo and Sue, aka Subo. Thanks much to Subo for letting us tag along. At the start, they hardly knew me and Nic.

We hung out and had a good time into the night. Tracy just kept bring up bottles of Red and pouring them out for everyone. No really. That night was as if we were at Hogwarts. Our wine glasses just kept getting filled. Im not sure what happens to me when I drink, but somehow I started thinking that riding 7 Summits the next day with a hangover would be a good idea.

Ugg, It's a good thing riding and fresh air can cure a hang over. 30 minutes into the ride, I was right as rain again. Not bad considering I could only take 2 bites of my breakfast sandwich. I think I saw Nic grinning at me sadistically at the breakfast table.

This is the shot of us before we started off. And already it looks like a survivor shot. 5 of us. There could have been 8. Bob decided to ride the local freeride trails that day. Sherri had hurt her back after our trip to the hotsprings in Ainsworth. And Nic, who was brave the whole trip, finally decided that she just couldn't ride anymore.

Pics from our ride on the IMBA rated, world known pride of Rossland, 7 Summits trail. Not all in order, either.

I started out to kill my hang over. 30 minutes in I started feeling pretty good, as I usually do when I ride my bike. The fresh air and exercise have a way of pushing toxins out of my pours as I quickly replace it with water and electrolytes.

At around this point I am feeling pretty darn good.

Turning around to look behind me and I see a lot of green. Rossland is full of beautiful vistas.

The first summit is the hardest. 7 summits is typically measured out into 3 major climbs. If you can get through the first one, then chances are you will be ok.

With out a doubt, this is a XC epic, full of awesome views. The pictures in the remainder of this blog post will support that fully.

But, lets take a moment to talk to a little turkey, shall we?

7 Summits is a very well documented trail. It's been storied about in many different magazines and blog posts just like the one you are seeing here. Why do I feel like the first person to ride this trail who didn't really enjoy it all the much?

Subo were enjoying their 2nd trip here. Lee, Tracy and myself were all virgins.

For myself, I had extra shit sauce on my day. After riding up past the first major climb, my bike started making on noises. The chain was doing a weird slapping thing against my cranks. On one short climb where I was really grinding it out, I heard a loud crunching sound. At first I thought I had cracked my frame.

After confirming that the frame was ok I pedaled on. But it was something else that had broken. My free hub had seized. I would not be able to do any coasting on my bike. Holy fucking shit!. All this way just to be screwed now? Unbelievable!

Lubos' first suggestion was that I take the next bailout trail, one that would lead me back safely to our condo. I pondered the idea in disbelief. My second attempt at 7 Summits had been confounded by a major mechanical.

I took a moment to do some accounting. Bailing now meant possibly wanting to come back a 3rd time.We had already pushed up much of what we had ridden. Everyone, even though just 1/3 of the way through the trail was looking a bit dogged.

I said, "I want to keep going. I need to finish this. Do you guys mind if I slow you down a bit?" The group consented.

Lubo squeezed of my chain link and removed the chain from my bike. Gravity would have it's way with me for the rest of the ride. For the rest of the day, all up and even flat land would require me to walk my bike.

We carried on, riding and pushing our bikes and enjoying the ride as best we could. But as the ride dragged into it's 6th and 7th and 8th hour, I could hear my friends expressing their frustration with the Pride of Rossland.

So what is wrong with 7 Summits you ask? Why did we walk away with such a sour taste in our mouths?

I feel, and feel strongly, that something was missing in all the trail reports and stories about this trail. I knew that this would be a long day. I knew how much vertical climbing was involved. I understood what I was investing into.

Where I may have been confused was in the return on that investment.

This is a nice pic of me, looking out over Rossland.

Let me start with the Climbing. I knew going into this ride that I would be looking at traversing 3 major climbs. Somehow, it turned into at least 5 major climbs. Lubo started mentioning that there were parts of the trail that he had never seen before. I cannot confirm, just that it seemed as if the trail had been extended.

Often times, a few feet of descending was cut short by a longish climb.

A few times, after we felt that our legs were done, we had another 45 minute climb in front of us. After thinking we had reached the top, to find we were still required to climb was demoralizing.

We also noticed fewer and fewer riders with us as we moved past the highest point on the trail. We were wondering if everyone was taking one of the bailout trails from the mid point.

Then there is the pay off. Indeed, you do get to descend on this trail, but it's just not what I had envisioned. For whatever reason, i had pictured long flowing descents along ridge lines with fantastic views over the Rossland Range.

No that was not it.

We had dry, dusty, rocky switch backs, that if not handled with care, could have caused injury. There was no chance to enjoy the views while descending, if there were any.

I had dragged myself along as best I could. At one point I had run out of fluids and tried to eat some trail mix. It was too try and almost choked. Lee let me 'borrow' some water and his last swig of powerade. It made all the difference.

Some footage of our descending. Beware, it doesn't capture what we went through that day. Please remember, I had no chain at this point either.

Mountain biking is a very Buyer Beware sport indeed. At the end of the day, we are all responsible for what we sign on for. Having done this trail I feel a few things need to be said. This trail is meant for XC riders on XC bikes. I also feel like my bread was buttered a bit. The Views are nice, but the enjoyment factor just wasn't what I was hoping for.

At the end of the ride, we fed out into a trail called Dewdney. Fast, fun, flowy for AM or FR bikes. So strange the trip to get us to a free ride trail.

My brakes sqwacked like crazy all the way down. But we all had wind in our sails. Downhill trails that are fun and flowy are familiar to shore riders. We all dug deep, finding our 3 and 4th winds to complete the ride and make it back to the shuttle vehicles.

Subo and Lee shared their beer with me and I asked for a ride back to the Condo. Lubo said I had to push my chainless bike back on my own! I broke out into hysterical laughter. I said thanks for letting me finish the ride, Lubo said thanks for not giving up.

I checked in with Nic at the trail exit. We were too tired for the pub. I asked her to order us Pizza. She even went in to town to pick it up for us. The true hero of our day who never let her attitude slip and had food for us shortly after we had returned to the Condo. She made the right call in not riding with us that day.

We ate, drank a bit and were all asleep before 9:30.

A year ago I lead a group here for 7 Summits. We ended up riding the local trails instead and having a blast. It left me wanting more. I finally got 7 Summits done this time. I cannot say that I am over Epic riding, but I think I am finally over Rossland.