Time to get away....for the day!

There I was, sitting in the house building a new bike and thinking way too much about life’s trials and tribulations when I realize that it was time to load up and hit the road. I finished building up and tuning bikes just after 1 AM, packed my gear and hit the sheets for a quick 2.5 hour sleep and on the road by 4:30 AM. Destination: Vancouver Island and I better be on my bike before noon!
I made it into Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal at 15 mins to 6 AM, only to be told that I may have to wait until the 8:30 AM sailing-Holy Crap, what is everyone doing up at this time! Luckily I made it on the boat and reclined my seat for the next hour and a half floating time to Nanaimo. The brief rain in Nanaimo had me thinking this was a bad idea, but that pushing on up Island may offer a better result. Hmm what’s this? Mt. Washington ahead- Exit 130. Sounded more than alright to me!

Mt. Washington was just what the doctor ordered! Lift access mountain biking, so no need to co-ordinate shuttles or pedal/push today and really today was about me and what I needed-to ride! I pulled into the parking lot some time before 10 and began to unload my gear, but wait the lift wasn’t rolling-maybe I should get some more details before I get all geared up. The details I got at the Tread Shed were that the lift starts turning at 11, well that left me plenty of time to gear up and check things out.


While I was gearing up, I noticed some really nice older cars pulling into the parking lot-must be a group that does trips to places for lunches or something. But either way Marty Mc Fly and the Doc were there in the De Lorean-SWEET! The cloud cover was low, but still no rain so I handed the lady at the ticket window $35 for a ticket and I pocketed my change for lunch later in the day. Ah I love lift tickets that I can afford still, it feels like going to ski resorts 10 years ago to snowboard.


Being a Mt. Washington virgin, I decided to head up the Eagle chair and give the Monster Mile a lap for my first run there. Well the top of the mountain was fogged in, so plans changed as I rolled in into the MM, and saw Scratch and Sniff. Since Scratch and Sniff looked like single track and I know that the MM had been punished this year from all the racing, I opted for single track. This is how to start your riding day after 6 hours on the road-single track with roots, a few rocks and some wood work for good measure. I finished that run on Monster Mile and all I can say is that track is beat! Time to shut that one down and build a new race course as the traffic over the past few years has beat the terrain up-super challenging to race on for beginners now with the erosion. But I’m no there to talk trails, I’m here to ride them!

On my way back to the base, I rolled past the slope style area where they held the Bearclaw Invitational a few weeks back and wow it looks so good. They have made safeties now so that the area can remain open to the public. From standing there at the roll in ramp (used to be a big old drop), I can now picture why folks said this was the best course in recent history. Folks, if you are planning an event take note and follow suit. Make it fun to ride and safe to a point and the riders will do the rest and put on a great show-good work Darren and crew!


Mt. Washington runs 2 chairs to service their bike park and the second one was the Hawk chair. At the Hawk chair I ran into what I thought was a local and asked if I could tag along for a few laps. Turns out that the guy was from Calgary and was on the Island for a few weeks’ holidays and yep I could tag along. He may not have been local, but it was great riding with someone that knows the trails and can help you eliminate the risk of crappy runs during your learning curve. Every hill has a run or two that you want to avoid and thankfully I don’t know what they are now. I got a guided tour of Big Brother, Wizard, Evil Eye, Hustler, Magical Mystery Tour and a few more, so that got me stoked for the afternoon laps where I’d be riding solo again, unless I found more folks to rip with.

A quick lunch and hydration stop turned into about an hour break as the clouds that were lingering decided to unleash some moisture on the mountain. Oh well I’ll just sit back and wait it out, after all it’s Saturday and I am having a good time. Once the rain let up I headed back over to the Hawk chair, where about the time I was half way up the rain decided that it wasn’t done just yet. Yep I spent the next few runs in a good old down pour-good times, good times! Even have a nice bruise to prove that the wood gets slicker once its wetter-haha!


I packed it in before the lifts were done for the day as I was pooped. Time the dry off and find my friends in Courtenay. It’s about 30 minutes from Mt.Washington back to Courtenay, so those of you looking for affordable accommodations while on your bike trips, my find something in town too. I rolled into my friend Lee’s place around dinner time to use his hose and rinse all my gear off. From there I ended up at Sly and FGT’s place where the couch was all ready for my body to inhibit for the night.

Looking back on the day, it was AWESOME! Sometimes you just need a little bit of adversity in your day to make you get off your ass and go do something that will make you happy. I thank my friends for always having open doors and my bikes for always wanting to be ridden. Now if you are having a bad day, week or year, maybe you just need to go for a little ride or disappear for a few days. Either way do something for yourself and hopefully it’s on two wheels!

Happy Trails,