Taking a day to shuttle the West Coast Freeride Guides way

We were on our annual 2 week bike holiday across BC and back and after hitting up Silverstar, Mount 7 Psychosis and the 'loops, we weren't sure how our trip could get much better. We had always talked about riding in Pemberton but had never made it, this time however we were hooking up with the West Coast Freeride Guides and I had a feeling it was gonna be sweet.

We left Kamloops around 10 p.m. and didn't quite make it, camping at a beautiful lake on the side of the highway in Tonto (the van). We awoke early and cruised down the crazy highway into Pemberton where we had just enough time to eat breakfast before meeting up with Michael, Brian and the rest of the crew that would be riding with us all day.
Our first shuttle was to Cream Puff, a great warm up with stunning views of Mount Currie and Pemberton. This trail featured a lot of slick rock and a few loose steep sections to wake us up. We made it back to the van in one piece and loaded up for shuttle number two. Next up was Hawaii, one of our favourites since it featured some really fun do-able stunts. The log rides claimed a couple of riders, but we all pulled through! Once we got to the bottom we had a very nutritious lunch which everyone eagerly scarfed down. Lunch even included Michael's Mom's homemade cookies, fuel for more riding!




Everyone was feeling good on their bikes at this point so it was time to hit up Jimmy Jam which is a "blue" trail but features a few "big" gaps in a row and a pretty large drop at the end. Brian rocked all the stunts to show us how it was done, there was lots of camera clicking going on for sure! Just when we thought that was it and we were done for the day we realized we were going up again! Talk about a full day of riding but we still had so much energy! PHD was the last run of the day, it was one of the flowiest trails we have ridden. If we could have gotten a chance to ride it a second time, you could rip through a lot of sections doubling up features and cruising the many smooth rock faces.


As always the trails are only half of what makes a ride great. Our guide for the day, Brian, spent years guiding in Whistler before teaming up with Micheal to create West Coast Freeride Guides. It's pretty obvious that Brian loves his job, he describes it as showing his new friends his favourite trails and that is definately the experience you will get with these guys - Brian flowing the terrain and making sure you know what is coming up around the corner so you can rip it too! Michael who trades off with Brian guiding was our shuttle guy for the day, making sure that we were well fed and comfortable from start to finish. We also had a fun group that was visiting from the UK and US that turned out to be a great mix of riders.


At the end of a long day there is nothing better than a great meal and comfy place to stay, and let me tell you after 2 weeks in the van we were soooo ready. Our hosts for the night were Mark and John owners of Bear Back Biking in Whistler BC. Bear Back offers a package that is really hard to beat, basically it costs about the same as staying in a hotel but you stay in a beautiful chalet with fellow riders and are fed homecooked meals, have a place to hang out and swap riding stories and an area to store and tune your bike.


So we got to the chalet and were shown to our private room with ensuite and then were fed an awesome meal cooked by Jo the gourmet cook! We hung out with the other guests and swapped a few riding stories before hitting the sack. The next morning the park was waiting, but not before a hearty breakfast and cup of coffee to get us started. What a great experience start to finish, a big thanks to Bear Back Riding and West Coast Freeride Guides, we will be back!

West Coast Freeride Guides is the only way to go. These guys know all the best biking on the west coast of BC and will show it off with style. No matter if your doing the full meal deal with an eight day package or just doing a day of shuttling it's well worth it. We spent one day in Pemberton shuttling and that's all it takes to know that West Coast Freeride Guides have a top notch operation and partnerships with the likes of Bear Back Biking let you know that they have everything worked out. There's no point trying to work all the details out yourself, let the experts put it all together for you and set out for the best mountain biking trip of your life.

See you on the trails....


Fiona & Simon