09 November, 2009

Wet ride - Mt Fromme, North Shore.

Since late September I have been recovering from a serious ankle sprain obtained on the "last ride of the season" in Whistler. I have been dying to get over to the mountains on the north shore and get a good taste of the famed north shore trails. At last weeks Halloween festivities I made some arrangements with Keith to try and get out over there before the weather made it totally impossible. Boy am i glad we did.


Watching the weather all week it appeared it could be touch and go, but after plenty of early morning rain on saturday, it died off, so we agreed to go for it. Parked up off mountain hway and started pedaling from the dirt road. Seven grinding switch backs later we finally made it to the trail head for "Seventh Secret". I managed to pedal the entire way. The only time I actually stopped was to take a photo (turned out to be 2 mins from the trail head anyway). This may be nothing for some people, but a milestone for me. It snowed on us briefly on the ride up and by the time we had gotten most of the way to the top, the trees and the road were covered in an inch or two of fairly fresh snow. It looked stunning, I was very excited!!






So we dropped into the trail and I realised at that moment that at no point prior to now, had i even given thought to the fact that I was about to ride in rain and heavily wet conditions, a stark contrast to my hot, dry, dusty summer of riding. That was smart! My rotors howled like a banshee as i braked down the first few declines, a sound that faded as they built up some heat. The trails were well built with many stones bedded into to give it definition and no doubt stop it eroding away, the amount of water flowing down the trail in parts ranged from a trickle to a gushing creek! I was already wet but within minutes i was soaked. I couldnt have cared less!!

I was concerned about grip levels and it took me some time to trust my tires in the wet on rocks and wooden features. Fear of falling and re-injuring my still unstable ankle was hampering my confidence pretty badly, but all the same, I was having fun dashing down the more open sections, splashing my way though huge puddles and trying not to fall off elevated ladder bridges. There were some cool features on "Pipeline" the next trail we connected with, Its all new to me but Keith was commenting on some new woodwork that he hadnt seen before.


Some of the steeper descents had so much water going down them it was liking riding down a waterfall, I have ridden in wet weather before, all the time as a kid, but I have never experienced anything like what I discovered on Saturday. I nearly fell into a creek as i crossed a narrow bridge, and decided it would be fun to scare the shit out of myself riding along the very edge of a ladder bridge about 4-5 feet off the ground for some distance before straightening up, its remarkable what you can do when you have no choice.

We took a lower section of the Baden-Powell trail and connected back up with mountain hwy, buzzing down the steep bitumen road back to the car. As i jumped off my bike, both front and rear rotors were steaming away, but dissipated to fast for a photo. 

I would love to have a go at the trails here in drier conditions, but as I said, the water and mud really made for a fun experience, and seeing snow like we did at the top had me stoked for whats to come :)


02 November, 2009

Halloween parties

So the end of October comes and with it the arrival greater darkness and a Halloween frenzy. I knew it was a bigger deal here than other places I have lived, but the extent some people went to was mindblowing. The same way we see people go to town on their houses and front yards with all sorts of xmas decorations and lights, you will see skeletons, eviscerated zombies, pumpkins and spider webs adorning front yards and houses everywhere.

I saw some really cool carved pumpkins on one house, one on every step on the way up to the front door, each with a different face, some of which looked very evil and uninviting. As i stepped out my front door dressed like an old codger in a last minute effort to come up with something. I heard the sounds of children along my street knocking on doors "trick or treat!" I had never seen or heard that before.

On the way to Matt's place I saw a guy dressed as beetlejuice, I swear he had just come from the make up artist or something, his attention to detail was outstanding and the standard of outfit was fit for the screen. We had a beer or two at Matts while we got organised and then headed out. We walked past a house at the end of his street where an old lady was laying in wait at her front door. We had walked past when she swung the door open shouting "you want trick or treat?" she unload bags of chips and assorted lollies and chocolates into our bags and pockets and we went on our way, bewildered that she actually stopped us on the street! She must have been trying to get rid of all the left overs she had, it was getting kinda late for the kiddies by this stage.

Fireworks are going off everywhere and mist is settling lower on all the streets, or is it all the smoke from the hundreds of fireworks going off, I dont know. We get some beers even though we are heading to a party with free beer and then wait for the bus next to a cemetary, fitting.

The party was awesome, free booze (home brew, it was reported to be ordinary before we got there, but i thought it was alright!), cool people and some funny costumes. There was a mexican, 2 hulks, a flasher (yes in a beige trenchcoat!!) zombie lady gaga, ricky from trailer park boys, pimp, hookers, plenty of sluty whatever the hell they are sposed to be's, darlec, dr who, beer keg, cowboy, wheres wally, bat bitch, a clockwork orange characters, fairies, yada yada. We chugged the free beerand shot the shit with everyone, and even got out on to the balcony for some fireworks. One dude shot one and hit a bus that went past, right on the windsheld!! Sadly we had to leave to head back to another party back our way before the last bus left. I walked out the door of the place as the rolling stones "I cant get no....... satisfaction" was blaring on the stereo, and the place was jumping. i had a gut feeling i shouldnt be leaving, which turned out later to be justified...

We took a long bus ride back to our neck of the woods, we had been out near UBC which is a fair hike west of town. I was chatting to a butler and a maid on the bus, about kiwi and ozzy accents, travel experiences etc, the butler was drunk and his maid girlfriend seemed to be very publicly insistant she was going to take him home and have her way with him. Hmmm. There was also a guy on the bus who I feel was the character of the night, he was dressed as Raoul Duke, the Hunter S Thompson character from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Not only was the costume well done, including the cigarette in the cigarette holder, but he held character for the entire time, he had the speach and manerisms down, even had the suit case full of drugs, minus the acid, ketamine, blow and ether...

Arriving at the next party, the tunes where loud and the house was full. But the sad thing was that the police came and shut it down within about 20 mins of us arriving. Dang. There was another party happening but it was back in the direction we had just come. On top of this, Matt was wasted and Marissa wanted to take him home, so it was pretty much the end of it. I was tempted to go check out this other party, but considering the amount of time i had spent traveling around town already, i didnt want to go halfway back again to a party that was ending or worse gets the finger from the cops. So i thought back to the moment where I walked out of the first gig and felt like i shouldnt be leaving, should have listened to my instinct!

At least this place was on my street, so it wasnt far to get home! It was a memorable Halloween experience thats for sure. My costume started out being Bill Cosby but morphed into Biff (the grandpa biff) from Back to the Future because i couldnt get an afro wig or a grandpa hat to top off ol Bill. Most Canadians though i was "Mr Rogers" who of course i had never heard of, but rather than try and explain, I just went with that, and most people wet themselves. Too easy.

Another birthday party this friday night down with the Ladner gang, should be sweet!