Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 6, 2012 - 06:00pm PT
This thread is dedicated to Hamish, Luke, Relic & any other squamish bikers who want to spray down about mountain biking In the sea to sky area or anywhere for that matter, this way they don't have to keep posing as climbers on a very wonderful climbing thread. We know u guys have a dirty fetish & hopefully this will be a good place for u guys to indulge in it. Pictures, stories and outrageous claims are welcome, as well as debates concerning whose shock has the most inches of travel. No one will judge you here-Cheers!!
Ps being a recovering biker I am hoping to be inspired here to the point where I may actually consider biking again! Show us why biking in the Squamish area is so awesome??!
Can you post a URL I can look at for some of those rides in the area? We'll be in Whistler and Pemberton in the last week of August with our bikes. Thx.
and one for the mtn bikers -can't say where it is as certain ST posters want to ban mtn biking in ALL provincial parks -sort of like in an islamic republic -as in "no fun allowed"
http://www.innate-gear.com/blog/pure-necessity
Heres' an interview with Kris
-Also of interest he just published a book on Muni -a fellow poster to S Torpor, Largo gives it a plug on his site.
that's actually a really cool article GF, thanks for the link. KH is a serious pioneer. I really like his design philosophy:
Ultimately, the driving force behind my designs is riding, not the equipment itself. It’s a subtle distinction, but an important one: the measure of a design’s success is whether the gear becomes part of your experience such that you forget about it. If your equipment keeps reminding you that it’s there, there’s something wrong with it.
I have been waiting for you to show up here so i could show off my new mountain bike. The guy at Garibaldi said it would be the perfect all rounder for this area. I won't be surprised if you are more than a little jealous after your recent purchase to see how much better value you could have gotten if you would have just waited for the newest technology.
'
Credit: RyanD
apparently this new fender technology is designed specifically for the area as it helps keep mud outta your buttcrack. The rat-trap on the back works well for your lap top so you can post about your biking adventures to the climbing threads from just about anywhere!!! the only real modification i will probably have to make will be to just turn the handlebars upwards to help with the centre of gravity on those long descents from the top of the gondola :-)
Bike Alert!
Big Jim (Brennan) was spotted in fine form on his new Satori with 29" wheels in the Seymour watershed today. When asked what happened to climbing, he allegedly retorted "oh i just picked this up for rainy days"
Dink holding half bike riders are strange. I don't get it. I don't know how they stay up on those damn things. I don't know why they touch dink the whole ride. But it is fun to watch those freaks.
Dink holding half bike riders are strange. I don't get it.
Isn't it obvious? I mean it seems pretty clear that ridiing a bike with one wheel is only half as hard as riding a bike with two wheels, so you gotta do something to make the ride interesting.
I think they probably cut the money shot from that video so it would get past the SuperToprope censors.
"Ridiing" is "riding" with two i's which means you haven't yet had one poked out by a stick.
Jim there are not gender specific unicycles.
As for Rhino balls, you learn to sit on the seat in such a way that it duzzn't squash yer sac. You'd have to ask my son - who has done quite a few kms in a day ( on a 29" wheel ) . My daughter declines to ride her unicycle because "it's slow and uncomfortable". Go figger. I'll say it again, I can't yet ride a unicycle free of needing a wall for support. It's crazy hard to ride one of those things.
And, as for the Ultimate Wheel ( UW ) pictured above, the things that get wrecked are the insides of your lower legs. I only know of one girl, a 15 year old, Claire, who can ride that thing. She can ride it in a circle and bunnyhop on it but she only rides it indoors.
The UW is ridiculously difficult to ride. A sorta 5.13d unicycle.....
So how hard is regular unicycle Tami, like 12b? It looks 12+ for me. I'd be a teetering tower of badly stacked jenga on one of those I think. Squashing your sack doesn't sound too appealing either.
I wonder if anyone has rode a pogo-stick down mountain bike trails. Hmm. It could be the new school cutting edge x-games televised sport-a-thon.
I think this kid is on to something. He does some almost sick tricks: jumping onto chairs, puddle jumps, spineramas. Don't miss the angry mom at the end.
I think there are lots of examples of 5.12 bike trails, like the ones Kris Holm is leaping around on in that video. Fortunately for us old and frailies, we can arrive at difficulty a different way. Personally I like to link together a few trails, complete with the uphill approach, and see how quickly I can pin it through the real-life video game, touching the ground as little as possible.
The climbing analogy might be along the lines of the Crimson Cringe in the Valley, every move is pretty easy but it's quite tough to string it all together and not hang on any gear. The right side of the split pillar is another shining example.
One of the most outstanding features of mtn. biking is the ease in which a fairly easy trail can be made tougher, or at least a lot more exciting; just crank up the speed and the thrill meter rises accordingly.
I have faith we'll see Special Kay on this site, he just needs to peruse the local bike store with credit card in hand. Or buy my Rocky Mtn. with the little wheels. Special deal for the funniest guy on the gondola thread, although Anders was a close second.
What can I say? I accused Hamish of being a wuss for riding a bicycle with springs and stuff. Well, it's true he's a wuss for doing that, but now I'm just another pot calling a kettle black.
Forgive me father, for I have sinned, too.
I spent the weekend in Squamish, and after doing some climbs, I accepted an invitation to borrow a bicycle with springs and sh#t, and go for a ride.
Linked a bunch of trails, just like Hamish. Despite being ancient, and not having ridden anything other than flat roads for 25 years, I was awesome.
I'd be willing to bet that if you can walk a long slackline, you can ride a uni.
Nope. Totally different process of balance. One is mostly side-to-side motion with feet for support; the other mostly fwd/back motion with butt & feet for support.
David has gone to the dark side? I hope no trailside pumpkin awaits.....
Three cheers for Casper. Next step involves your visa card. Jim has been living the dark life for a couple of weeks and loving it.
Relic seems pretty happy with his purchase too.
See, I told you so. Makes you feel like a champ, hauling around those trails. I've only ever done one bike race and for some reason I'm going to try number two on the weekend. Just shoot me. 45 klicks of climbing and choice singletrack.
There will be a couple hundred riders so I'm hoping and praying I won't be the very last one across the line. I promise to put in a good effort for the old rock climbers with sore boddies group.
It only hurts when I take really deep breaths; other than that I'm g.t.g. Geeze you know you're old when you have to scroll way down the page to find your age category. Hilarious.
Oh man, those bike racers are FIT. This old climber with a nasty rib got 3:14; not too bad, not too good. I was really missing my deep breaths. It was great to have a humbling experience and I found it enjoyable to be the rookie. Definitely makes me thankful for the style of biking we usually partake in, what with stopping a bunch to rest.
I'm having so much fun since I got a bike that fits me. Thanks Ghost for the video!
It will take some leg work and dues paying but WOW, the bike is a cool way of slowing down from car speed as a way of perceiving the world more effectively.
It's nice to say hi to others when stopped at a light.
lick creek shot of hamish fraser taken on an earlier outing -part of a recent 97Km day.
Credit: gf
Ok, this one is just too good not to post up.
One time climber and now avid mtn biker Hamish Fraser just cranked a pretty amazing 10.5 hr day stacking two classic chilcotan rides -Lick Creek and then Windy Pass -both done as car to car loops with no shuttling involving lots of gruelling climbing over 97km of wonderful country.
For a guy that was nearly fully bed riden for close to 2 years until about a year ago due to undiagnosed and debilitating joint ailments from what might have been an infection of his joints following surgery,this is a doubly remarkable achievement!
Long live the enchainment whether its climbing or riding and well done Hamish!
+1 for enchainments. Seriously awesome guys, 97k on trails in a day is amazing! I may have done half that BITD when I used to downhill, but that was all downhill & I took the chair up after each 4km. I don't even think I had a chain on my bike :-)
On another note a bike was forced upon me by my boss so it looks like I might be part of the "something to do when it rains" club. Its a specialized enduro & i picked it up for a song. We'll see how much use it gets, the temps are pretty prime at Pet wall these days.
I rode .97 km on my mountain bike today. 0.485 down the hill to the gym. Then almost couldn't make the 0.485 back up after wasting myself trying to push lumps of metal up and down.
i should have put SOLO in caps -sorry if i gave impression i was chest beating as opposed to being a sycophant trumpeting a friends' accomplishments -it was just too cool not share....
Just in case anyone out there is looking for a chilcotin length ride without driving over the hurly, the more people that ride this one, the better.
Park in Pemberton, ride up bathtub trail, happy trail, nimby, middle earth, onto owl lakes via the Skelu'la 7 trail, and then up to chain lakes. Cruise along the 3 chain lakes and drop into the chain link descent. Primo! Then ride back along the birken road to pemberton. This car to car loop took me 7 hours my first time and I suggest it for all keeners. I was pinning it quite a bit to beat the sunset so maybe allow a little extra time.
The bike shop in Pemby sells a great map and those guys are a wealth of information.
Well Hamish had laid down the killer circuit over the past few weeks thanks to a family that dragged a toboggan around the 4 lakes trail -gave compact snow and ice sections but fully rideable albeit at a slower pace for yours truly. Good there are lots of recreation opportunities at present.
gf
Let us know!