We pulled it off on Sunday. Rolled into ParkGate with Vinnie and Mike from Whistler, to discover a crowd 40 deep for the ride. Awesome! Was not expecting THAT kind of turnout. We obviously had Spicer, but also local tough guys Andrew Shandro, Andreas Hestler and Dave Norona. Joining us were a bunch of vets who tore our legs off all day and led the charge on hardtails, and crushed the racer-boi types. Unreal. We also had industry hacks such as Andrew from Brodie Bikes, Andrew and Johnny from Orange Sport, Ron from The Cove and yours truly.
After a little coffee and good cheer, we rolled out at 9 am sharp at a, shall we say, "aggressive" pace, up Old Buck. While the big engines were pulling hard at the front, the rest of us tried to settle into a comfortable pace and hang on. It was amazing to get the testosterone going, and wound up riding Seymour twice and fast as usual: we were all railing each others lines, trying to stay ahead of the next guy, and were done before we knew on, and on our way to Grouse.
We regrouped at the Lynn Valley general store, and picked up a few stragglers (Steve from NRG, etc) and grabbed some refreshments. From their, headed up King of the Shore trails where we suffered our first mechanicals: 1 sheared derailleur hanger, and Vinnie blew up his freehub body.
Lynn Valley Store + Bike Dorks
Out of options, I rode down to Bruce's with Vinnie, in an attempt to pick up a spare wheel and keep riding, but no dice. We called him a cab back to Seymour, and hoped he could catch us later. Now I had to get back to the pack...
I charged up Fromme as best I could, and wound up burying myself. Each pack I passed, I would gasp through chapped lips:
"Gaaahhh.... huuhhh... anyone see.... uuurrrggg... a group of xc dorks???"
Inevitably, the answer would always come back:
"Ohh yeeaahhh. They're WAY up there."
View from Grouse
So up I went, past 7th Switchback, praying I would catch them around ever corner, and finally found Billy with a flat near the very top of the climb. Success. Now if I could only stop shaking, things would be ok. Get some food. Drink something. High point: 1200m.
We regrouped and had a bit of lunch (which I almost barfed up when I hiccupped...) and headed down the most sustained fall line trail on the Shore: Jet Boy / Jet Girl. It just goes and goes and goes. Holy arm pump.
Story behind the Jet Engine
After we worked our way down, we regrouped once again with all the fast guys, grabbed some fresh drinks and Vinnie, and wound our way up through the British Properties, to the Brothers Creek climb, the last serious challenge of the day. And man, was it rough. 35 mins of chicken heads and baby heads, plus skidder roads. Did I mention we were punched at this point? We picked up Leslie Tomlinson and Elladee Brown in the woods, and they joined us for the final push. We eventually hit snow, and I think it was a blessing in disguise, since we had to get off and hike-a-bike the last little bit, giving chapped butts a break.
Vinnie in the snow
Down we went, ripping Big Eye and The Fleshy Wound, to the "last" trail of the day, and caught up with what was left of the group. From 40, down to about 15.
For whatever reason, Spicer and Flex thought it would be a good idea to add one more little trail to the mix, so a vote went out, and everyone headed for the bar except the two mentioned above, Vinnie and Mike the Whistlerites, and myself. We had another 35 mins of riding... A 15 min traverse along Cypress to the access road, down a few trails, then Urban Assault to Park Royal. That's it. No more. Finished. Burgers and beers all around.
Thanks to Dave Norona for this video of the event...
Some stats:
-54km
-7.5 hrs
-2800m climbing (that's 9240 feet for the Yanks)
-More shore singletrack than you could ever know what to do with
-3 flats
-1 hanger
-1 freehub body
-6 liters of water
-2 Gatorades
