El Nino is Spanish for......The Nino!!!

Ok seriously!?!!?!?!? The trees in my garden are beginning to sprout leaves and the tulips outside my house are starting to come out the ground!!! The weather is not going to change anytime soon according to our friend El nino. That's what I hear is causing all the warm temperatures.  I rallied RobE a good friend out to do a lap yesterday in Kal park. The lack of snow had Rob stokin to get out and ride. We rode the same lap I did a week or so ago. The snow cover was minimal but the mud was very slimy and made climbing "The Wall" very difficult. I managed to clear the whole trail but it was a grunt. Rob had to put down a few times but it was his first ride of the year. It isn't an easy climb in the dry either.  Rob brought along his camera and we snapped off a bunch of pics on the way down the Lookout trail which is a super fun downhill.

With spring coming sooner than I think it was time to go and clean up my bike room in the basement. I dug up all the old smashed parts and salvaged what was left from the 2009 season. I also got pretty ambitious and drove my truck up some forest access roads to see if the local downhill trails were good to ride.  The shuttle roads are still covered in snow and ice and the trail heads are still under a good foot of snow. But it's melting fast! I hope to be riding downhill again by March. Time to get a move on getting my new bike!

Cold and wet. Lovin it!

 Mud. A lot of mud is the best way to describe the conditions. Not to mention its cold. The temperatures have been hovering just above zero with intermittent fog and rain.  It stays this way until June where I'm from so I'm still down with riding. I think the conditions are pretty good considering its February.  Saturday I headed out for another ride in Kal park. I headed down to a trail called Sidewinder, its low in the valley so its been nice and dry for the most part. It's only a few K's long but on the way back to the truck it's a highlight of the ride, it's a small grade single track ripper that weaves through small pine trees above Kal lake. A personal fave for me. After I hit the end of sidewinder I climbed up a few hundred meters on a trail called crosstown traffic. Its a nice challenging single track, and I managed to clean the whole climb despite a few patches of snow and low tire pressure. From there I headed through another short trail called Serendipity it's another climb but you end up traversing across a pertty big ridge at the end and the view is sick. I branched off and hit a black trail called Agoraphobia, it was hairy in the few cm's of snow but I had a blast. The snow got deep so I doubled back but hit a trail called No Boats on the way back to the truck. I was covered in mud but I still felt the ride was great.

So I have more news from Terrance! We have a new team Sponsor and are stoked to be rockin Race Face components and apparel for 2010!!!! Thanks to Julian at Race Face for the support! I can't wait to get my hands on those red Atlas cranks and bars. Not to mention the Atlas shifting guide for my AM assault bike. Check out my links to see Race Face products!

First Tracks!

I've never ridden in January, or February as a matter of fact. It's been warm here in the Okonagan and real wet for over a month. No better time than now to start riding! A lot of people won't be on the bike until the snow is all gone but I have decided to take advantage of shredable dirt. I put a few fenders on my AM bike got and got out the wet weather gear that's been sitting in my closet since I moved here. I headed out to Kal park in the rain the past few days and pounded out some vert both up and down. The snow that fell during the early winter has been packed into ice on most of the walking trails in the park but still offered up enough traction if I remained in the saddle. It's like your riding on a uber long wet root and if you stand up you'll start to spin so you have to stay low on the bike and keep the weight centered over the wheels to keep you from spinning out. On any sun baked terrain it was semi dry to soaking wet. At 300 to 600 meters the trails were much more exposed and there was very little snow. Today I was running a lower tire pressure than normal so climbing in the mud with low PSI was a bit of a slug but I managed. the lower PSI increases your traction on the slippery ice. A granny gear would have been nice!!
I did a trail called Coming around the mountain first which has a relative low grade and was easy enough considering I have been off the bike for a while. I then did a trail called the wall, it climbs from around 300M up to 700M it's pretty steep and not too much of a problem in the dry. In snow its a different story. I had to push a few times but nothing serious. As I got closer to 700M it got more and more slippery. Once I got to the top the plateau over the top was exposed again by the sun. There were no other tracks up there so I call freshies!!!!!
The first 150M of the decent were soooooo sketchy....I have never ever had such little control on my bike.... but it was awesome!!!! Riding on such instable terrain are great for balance and learning to keep the bike upright in the wet slick stuff. A couple of times I found myself in a 2 wheel lock up with one foot out to counter the drift...it was so loose!!!! Once I got through that the trail was primo!! I ripped down to the truck and called it a day. I was pretty bagged as I was skiing all morning..... life is rough. Can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!!!!!