A Line in the Snow

I could have named this entry a lot of things , like "WTF was I thinking?" or "Why do I ever listen to Ian?" or maybe "I'm definately buying a snowboard". Not going to state the obvious about taking one for the team. Instead, here is my Fromme trail report for Sunday November 22, 2009.

This was the first of the snow we saw at the third switchback. I thought "yeah thats not bad, we won't see much more of that."


Thats Ian on the 5th. Still not too bad.

I love the ambiance of winter riding. Out in the elements. Poor visibility. I'd like to do this post again with some Zombies Photoshopped in.
Ok down to the details. This is the entrance to Pipeline. Not bad. Later on we would hook up with Alanb and ride down. Pipeline is muddy in places but accessible and ridable.
This is looking forward from the entrance to Pipeline.
Expresso wasn't looking too bad either. Ready to start the trip down? Nope, not us.
Well, Ian and I could have bailed, but our bikes would have gone on without us. Around the end of the 5th and all the 6th was a little depressing. Upper oil can is not long for this season. 7th, well as much as I love her, just ain't worth it. The snow varied between 1 and 1.5 feet after around the Expresso Entrance.If you really really want to, the entrance to Upper Oil Can still looks doable.
Finally we hit our destination.

Here is the entrance, not too bad looking but you'll still be doing a lot of walking in the snow if you start here. Our trail combo for the day was a classic. 7th into Pipeline. Pipeline like mentioned earlier was pretty clear. 7th was an on again off again mess for the first 60%. If you do ride in this, please take rations, a friend and respect the trails. We all depend on our builders and they would prolly rather we not make craters with our tires.
Other than that, feel free to poach our line.

By the prick of my thumb.....

...something wicked this way comes.

Winter is on its way. We sure felt it on Friday.

Drew first into'd us to Pure Gynt.

Some of Drew's inner posse.
Executioner into Dream weaver is a great combo. Something for everyone on that trail.

But that wasn't for me.

Shots

I never was much for taking pictures. But I was never much into the arts either. Thats my bike. I love her dearly. I love my other one dearly too. Bikes don't get jealous. I do.
Aaron got a lucky shot off on the weekend. One good pic next to my zillion shitty ones.


It was a trip down UOC, Expresso and Skull. Dave likes Skull for some reason.
Like I said, I love my bikes. But what if I had waited a year? I might have been in a monogamous relationship. LOL.
I think the new Gspot will compete against the Delerium , Nomad and maybe Fuild LT and Pitch pro. Looks like a good shore bike to me.

Back in the Saddle

These are images from my 3rd ride this past weekend. Arguably the most enjoyable. Ian would argue that with me, but Im pretty sure I didn't wreck my legs here. That honour would go to a full days ride at Whistler on Saturday. Ian and I pulled a little Old School No Variety, which is a nice way of saying we whored 'No Joke' all day. The night before was our first night ride of the season, here at SFU.

What made this ride so much fun was the casual pace set by Dave and Ilana. Dave has been MIA, busy with Family trips, and Ilana is getting in some progression rides with me and my crew. She's moving right along.
And she show's good spirit here smiling through an ouchie. I didn't see her tumble. I left her in Dave's charge and rode on ahead. Hmm, come to think of it, most of my wipe outs in the early days came with Dave looking on......and laughing. Sorry Ilana, won't do that again.
Dave likes to stop every 100ft or so to tell a different story.
Below is Ilana and Dave finishing up the trail.

In the Picture

My Island ride buddy, Sarah, has a blog of her own. She is one hell of a good photographer. She can even make me look kinda good, which ain't easy to do.

She's a Creaking Lemon.

Welcome to the Gong Show

There's probably a Seinfeld joke in here somewhere about Elaine's new friends.

I don't know why it is I never learn. Crankworx was on again in Whistler. Time for the park to be taken over by spectators. Kiosks for showing off the latest gear, which somehow always looks like last years gear. Except at the Specialized Kiosk but who cares about a mega brand anyways?

There's Ryan Leach. He's a trials dude.
This is what Crankworx is all about. Crowds. Whistler never does a very good job of managing this event. The park is always so crowded that it's impossible for the riders to get into the lines ups.
Everyone gathers in mass to see the slopestyle event. IMHO, an event that has peaked. No one is out there right now advancing the discipline. I think people just gather to watch people wipe out and hurt themselves.
Oooh. Come on!
Uh oh!


Ahh that's too bad. He landed safely. Ah well, maybe the next guy.

I had the choice of 2 scenarios. 1 stay down in the lower half of the park and endure the crowds, or 2, go up the Garbonzo lift to the top where is was really slippery and hard to ride safely. It was as tho the mountain was telling us that we could ride up there if we wanted to but it would cost us.On No Joke, I wiped out pretty hard and torqued my ankle, ripped a hole in the back of my right riding shoe, tore up a brand new pair of socks and left limping and sore.

Maybe Whislter is telling me to change my attitude.

Karate goes on. I however do not. I am resting a nagging ankle issue(yeah, thanks No Joke). Sensei Sharp was in T town last week. He's way on the right there. Y'all should know who he is by now.

My grueling school schedule has come to a temporary end. And without Karate and even tho I continue to work as normal, I feel like Im on vacation. I haven't been this relaxed in months it seems.

Nice to have some me time. I think I'll grocery shop. Clean. Buy a shelf. Be human again.

Matt Good posted Last Parade on his website. Nice to have some theme music for the weekend.

Congrats Sarah!

The only thing a mountain biker likes to do more than ride bikes is shop for them. A distance issue kept me away from being there for the arrival of the new addition to the family after a labored ride back to town.
(EDIT: Ian, don't those XT brakes look nice on that bike?)

I think she made exactly the right call on this one. A nice, light versatile bike I think is a perfect fit for her. An awesome bike for the area where she lives and one she can bring to the shore. I'd definitely be more relaxed taking this bike to a bike park than some of the other options she was looking at.

Looking forward to Prevost sometime soon, Sarah. Good Job!

I know one of these dogs. (cryptic, I know, but I just wanted to post the pic.)