I haven’t posted much mountain biking stuff lately, so I thought I’d do a roundup. First, I’m headed off to Canada for a two-week bike trip…the longest I’ve ever done. Hopefully it’ll be one of the best as well, as I’m headed to British Columbia, which is well-known as a mountain biking Mecca. Much as Moab epitomized mountain biking in the ’90s, the North Shore in British Columbia redefined it in the early ’00s. Starting with a so-called “movement” dubbed freeriding. Modern bikes started getting longer-travel suspension, slacker angles and beefier builds.
I’ll be headed to the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, which is essentially a ski park that caters to mountain bikers in the off-season. This one’s particularly famous for really supporting the sport, and is well-known for its challenging terrain. I’ll be taking a freeriding class, since I’m pretty solidly a cross-country rider even though I really enjoy technical riding.
I’m taking the RV up and staying in an RV park at Whistler with Dave and Becky and their Airstream (and a variety of other folks you don’t know). It’ll be the longest trip I’ve ever taken the Minnie on, so it should be interesting. Post-Whistler, I’ll be moving around to some other spots in BC before heading home.
Val will be flying in for a portion of the vacation (in the Whistler part). Two weeks of bike riding with a bunch of guys was a little too much for her. ;) She’s going to take a two-day womens’ only bike clinic, focusing on improving her technical skills.
Speaking of those modern bikes, I bought a new bike that fits that description a couple of months ago. It’s a Turner RFX which, while technically not a freeride bike (it’s considered “all-mountain”), is the beefiest bike I’ve ever owned. It’s got 6.3" of front and rear suspension and a heavier frame capable of taking more abuse. It’s also got slacker angles, making it more stable at higher speeds.
I’ve been changing the parts on it recently, and have stabilized the spec after some issues with the earlier parts choices. It’s laden with the latest 2008 suspension (Fox Van 36 fork and RP23 rear shock), new 8" front and 6" rear Shimano Saint brakes, along with a GripShift/SRAM transmission, assorted Chris King bits and the Gravity Dropper seatpost. It’s a positively awesome bike. I still have the 5-Spot, and will make a winter project of rebuilding it as a lighter XC bike to make it different enough from the RFX. It should be nice having 2 bikes to choose from for different applications, not to mention having a backup for when one’s out-of-service for some reason.
To be safer on the BC trip, I’ve invested in a full-face bike helmet (although it doesn’t look like a stormtrooper ;)) and shorts with padded hips to go with my arm and leg pads. I figure that since I’m going to be taking a class and pushing my limits in unfamiliar territory, I’d better try and offset that risk with some armor.
As if that’s not enough, the weekend after I come back is this year’s iteration of the annual Downieville trip. I’ve done this two years now, and it’s a blast. Alex and Val have gone in previous years, but Val will be in Nebraska this time around and Alex never did commit to going. So, instead of taking the RV up just for me, I’m going to give the Minnie a break and stay in the hotel with the rest of the group (our group rents the whole hotel for the weekend). If anyone reading this gets interested in going, shoot me a line. ;)