Dee left to Victoria for three weeks to complete here on campus portion of her Master Degree in Master of Arts in Environmental Education and Communication. While she's out of town I'll certainly perish unless I can keep myself busy and distracted.
It was planned that I'd accompany Tess, Loïc, Jim and Joel to Rossland for a riding trip, however the week before our trip to Rossland I was out riding Smith Creek and broke my frame. I managed to shear a bolt off the linkage point and then torque the frame. Not good, especially so close to a major trip. I brought the bike into Fresh Air Experience who looked it over and said they’d get back to me. Apparently no one there was surprised that I could break the frame, as I have established a bit of a reputation for being a good gear tester. Fortunately, Marty was kind enough to loan me his personal bike, as the new frame components were not in store in time. I am still indebted to Marty, and am sure I will be for a long time to come.
On July 25th we headed to Rossland for an epic riding trip. Our plan of action included to ride 7 Summits, followed by two days of riding other local trails. 7 Summits was amazing once again. Panoramic views, amazing single track, challenging terrain, and most importantly a fantastic workout. I was all excited to take lots of pictures while riding and at the first viewpoint I pulled out my cmera, pointed and shot. However there was no response. I thought, what's going on here! As it turns out I was so excited to leave the house I remember to pack the camera, but not the battery that was charging beside it. DAMN! The 7 Summits Trail consitsed of a lot of downhill as we started at Nancy Green Pass and descended well below Rossland. I am not sure the exact elevation loss, but there was more than enough. We finished happy, tired and sore, a sentiment that resonated through most of the group.
The following day we rode Oasis. This time we brought Pico, as he was not a happy camper being left behind the day before. Oasis starts near Nancy Green Summit with some very technical downhill sections and ends in Trail with really fast double track. Pico ran like a champ and ecstatic to cool off in the creek at the end of the trail. That afternoon we rode my favorite trail in Rossland called Full Monty. By far one of the best cross country trails I have been on. It links up 5 or 6 trails into a beautiful cross country epic with stunts, skinnies, ladders, climbs, downhills, and good ol’ fashioned fun. We were spent by the end of it all.
Our last day was spent on a trail called Red Head which wound its way up Red Mountain through the old mine and then descended through the forest. Once again a great climb and fantastic decent, this time ending at the Base of Red Mountain Resort. It was a perfect trail for our last day as we were heading home that afternoon…or at least most of us were. Joel and Loïc decided to fit in one more quick trial while the rest of us went to Christina Lake for a swim. A lack of communication ended in us moving the car to the end of the trail we thought they were going on, and them finishing a different trail where the car was originally. Two hours after they finished the trail we finally communicated and the lost car was found. It meant that they had to do a ride down Doukhabor Draw.
Click here to see Loïc's photos from the trip
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