So, what's your excuse?........

What exactly is my excuse today? Ya I'm gonna pick on myself here, as well, I'm good at making fun of myself and in the end hopefully I strike a few chords with others out there and they go out for a spin after reading this. I love to ride downhill, so shuttling and chair lifts have become some of my favorites means of ascending, but what happened to the pedalling up or pedalling in general on an XC ride?

Most days I can say that time is why I choose to drive up, because I want to do more runs downhill. Actually I rarely think other wise when it comes time to ride-a means of going up is part of a DHers lifestyle. Well recently I started riding a trail that requires a simple 15 minute walk in from a gate to the trail head. One of the regulars (Todd) that I ride with pedalled up and I think more or less got the rest of us bums pedalling too. Hmm we were at the trail head faster and thus ready to ride sooner-would this mean a third lap if we rode that short stint each time? Maybe?!

Now why hadn't I pedalled before? Hmm time wasn't the issue, nope I'll go with plain old lazy on this one. It was simply easier to walk with my bike up the hill. Funny how a lot of us started out with XC bikes and for those of us that crossed over to the shuttle lifestyle, well the gears they kinda are just there. But really its funny that I'm relearning the value of my gears for more than just descending again after all these years.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I went home for 6 days and I knew that there would be no shuttling in the mix. So I looked at my sweet XC bike and said, "Ok you're up! Let's go find some trails!" As luck would have it a few other friends were also looking to spin their two wheelers around and graciously invited me along. The pace was great and instantly I remembered all the good times from years gone by. Last time I rode my old home trails was pre-Pinkbike and with my friends Mical and Nathan. Nathan was there again this weekend, because he never misses a pedal. Yep I have never got an excuse from him to not go riding his bike-ok when he was living in NewZealand it was tough to meet up, but I'll let that one slide. We rode all around in the hills above Brule Alberta and you know what? It was great! Things are visually nice, you can stop and smell the roses so to speak.

That little ride sparked me to want to do a little more pedalling this fall. I'm not talking about punishing myself with my DH bike, but rather going for a few nice XC rides. On my way through Jasper National Park I pulled over and decided to go on a nice solo ride on the Overlander Trail. This was an all time favorite that I can remember hitting up one Rememberance Day with a large group of keeners. The snow hit the next day, but it was a great ride that allowed winter to roll in without regrets. So there I was gearing up in the parking lot and not another bike in site. Hmm well maybe folks are on the trail and I won't be on a solo mission.


What a beauty day, over cast and in the mid teens on the temperature side. The trail is a skinny ribbon that runs for miles along the Athabasca River, up into the rocky clearings, down into the old burnt out forest, it's simply a beauty. I know that I could have pushed on and done the whole trail in and out, but really I had an excuse-I was kinda tired and still wanted to drive 5 hours to Kamloops after dinner. But I had made the effort and I was stoked by that effort. So at the one hour mark I decided to turn around (now I know some off you probably do the whole trail in an hour, but hey I'm not you) and head back to the vehicle. That trail had familiarity in it and it had brought back memories of great times. Just what the doctor ordered.


Ya downhills were involved, but I had to earned each one-some by pedalling and others by a grunt push up. But either way I was out pedalling my bike again. Back at the parking lot I realized that I hadn't seen another biker and only 9 hikers in the course of 2 hours out there. I wonder what all the other bikers were up to? Did they have a valid excuse today? I had an excuse, but it wasn't of the normal variety. I had an excuse to stop driving, pull over and go for a ride. I know that I was about 3 hours behind "schedule" now, but really who's gonna judge you for showing up with a big old smile on your face and excitement in your voice-hell maybe next time I'll take someone else for a pedal too.

Next time you're out of "time" or you have too much work or maybe its dark out, just stop and think about it-this could be your best ride/pedal ever. Now walk over to your trusty steed, take it outside and go for a pedal-even if it's just to get the mail after dinner.

Happy Trails,