Mountain Biking in BC
One of the highlights of my recent family vacation to Canada was taking a day to go downhill mountain biking at the Sun Peaks resort in BC. The place is only about 6 miles from my aunt's ranch where we were staying, so it was a must do. I went with my brother Kevin, my brother in law Kyle, and some-family-relation-that-I-don't-care-to-figure-out Rylee (we'll say cousinephew).
This was serious downhill, unlike anything I've done before. It's a groomed, sculpted set of trails for bikes; curves are built up to make them faster, etc. They also had a terrain park with lots of jumps. The biggest of them looked like this:
In case you can't see it, the sign pretty much says "you can die if you're stupid enough to go down here!". That wooden jump would take you up about 10-12 feet off the ground, followed by several other large jumps behind it. Needless to say, I went the other way.
The day I took these pictures (during the cattle drive) was warm and sunny. Very nice. The day we went riding was cold and very, very wet. The trails became very muddy throughout the day, and we got about as dirty as I've been in many years. My new socks will never be the same. By the end of the day, the mud on our backsides was inches thick.
But we made it down the 1800' vertical hill 7 times, and it was WAY FUN! Full suspension bikes are the best. You should get one. Come to think of it, I should get one!!!! For now, I just rent them and covet.
We had to wear full face helmets and armor. This was a serious hill. The mud made things quite a bit slower, but it was still a great day, and I had a wonderful time. In fact, I can only think of one thing more fun than biking...
Most everyone took a spill or two, most of them without injury. Sadly, Kevin went over the handlebars just once, but landed on his shoulder, and it's still very much messed up a couple weeks later. He even used the S word (surgery) this week. Let's all pray that he recovers quickly!
This was serious downhill, unlike anything I've done before. It's a groomed, sculpted set of trails for bikes; curves are built up to make them faster, etc. They also had a terrain park with lots of jumps. The biggest of them looked like this:
In case you can't see it, the sign pretty much says "you can die if you're stupid enough to go down here!". That wooden jump would take you up about 10-12 feet off the ground, followed by several other large jumps behind it. Needless to say, I went the other way.
The day I took these pictures (during the cattle drive) was warm and sunny. Very nice. The day we went riding was cold and very, very wet. The trails became very muddy throughout the day, and we got about as dirty as I've been in many years. My new socks will never be the same. By the end of the day, the mud on our backsides was inches thick.
But we made it down the 1800' vertical hill 7 times, and it was WAY FUN! Full suspension bikes are the best. You should get one. Come to think of it, I should get one!!!! For now, I just rent them and covet.
We had to wear full face helmets and armor. This was a serious hill. The mud made things quite a bit slower, but it was still a great day, and I had a wonderful time. In fact, I can only think of one thing more fun than biking...
Most everyone took a spill or two, most of them without injury. Sadly, Kevin went over the handlebars just once, but landed on his shoulder, and it's still very much messed up a couple weeks later. He even used the S word (surgery) this week. Let's all pray that he recovers quickly!
Comments