B-Team Does the West Coast: Thanksgiving our way!

While most folks would be sitting in the comfort of their own homes in front of a warm fire or enjoying a monster turkey and drinking themselves silly, we chose to do yet another B-Team road trip and drag out what little is left of the Canadian riding season. Being the middle of October, it’s always a gamble with the weather when planning a road trip this late in the year. We tracked the weather in the weeks before the thanksgiving long weekend and reports were really up and down. The plan was to spend a few days in Lillooet, then head off to Whistler to ride the park, maybe spend a day in Vancouver and ride in Kamloops to end the trip. It seems that for once we actually sort of stuck to our plan. Wednesday night and we loaded up. Steve (The Count), Gord, Robb, Nick (Batman) and myself all packed into our newest of the B-team vehicles, The Count’s white Ford F150 which seats five like a dream, or sardines, however you like to think of it.



We camped the first night in Kamloops on top of Rose hill only to wake up to a frosty layer of snow. The sky was cloudy and the beginning of the trip did not look promising. The last time we were on Rose Hill with these conditions one of us lost his leg! So needless to say we high tailed it out of Kamloops and headed off to Lillooet. The drive was awesome, skinny windy roads, however the weather was threatening. The whole way there we were hit with rain and snow in the higher elevations. Once in the Lillooet valley things began to clear and we were treated to what became a beautiful sunny day. Not knowing where to ride we had to do some detective work. There are no bike shops in Lillooet so if you do end up riding there make sure you’ve got a good box of parts for any unforeseen mechanicals. We did a little detective work and after asking the right questions we were pointed towards a guy named Kevin who worked at the Building Supplies hardware store in town. He seemed eager to ride with outsiders and without any suggestion from us he took the rest of the day off, grabbed his bike and spent the afternoon slumming with the B-team. Now whenever we have locals with us we’re never quite sure how they will react to our troublesome ways. We tend to have a very odd sense of humour while away from the nest. Kevin took everything incredibly well and was not overwhelmed by our antics. I even caught a laugh or two at one of our many a$$ jokes. We spent the day scoping lines and hitting whatever was near. Kevin took us way out of town to a spot he scoped once or twice. It was a HUGE valley that had been blown up by the Chinese in a mining expedition in the early 20th century. Unfortunately there was nothing rideable, unless you’ve got Bender size balls, although even he would have had trouble picking a line down. We drove down the road and found a spot with some hucking potential. We all felt a little apprehensive as nothing seemed to speak to us. Gord decided on a line which we all thought was a little off the wall having not ridden at all yet. Leave it to Gord to show us up! He nailed it like a pro! After we all had a few good bails and learned that soft sand really sucks, we headed out to find another spot. We ended the day in a gravel pit sessioning some loose drops. Lots of fun but we decided that one day would be enough.


Friday we awoke to beautiful BC sunshine that would last us until the end of the trip. We decided to head south to Squamish, as the Whistler bike park was closed on Friday. We ended up ripping some awesome trails there. We started out on a trail called the 19th hole. Super rooty, steep and techy sums up this trail! This took us to a trail called High and Dry that was full of flowy skinny stunts. For me this was a blast as it was my first time back on skinnies since my knee injury, thanks to a loaner brace from The Sports Medicine Store. Next up we rode a few short trails called Another Roadside Attraction followed by Another Man’s Gold. These were some older stunt trails that were incredibly challenging. Great over-under stunt on Another Roadside Attraction. The last run of the day was the 19th hole again. One bent link plate, a broken shock spring, a busted derailleur and a fuming Cro-Mag later, we called it a day as the sun set. We headed for food and to find a bike shop that would be open late on a Friday night so I could fix my bike. As luck would have it, a small shop Corsa Cycles was open and helped me out immensely by staying open late and giving me a killer deal on a derailleur and shifter.


Saturday we awoke in the dark. It was early, way too early! We drove off to Whistler to make the first chair at 9am. Upon our arrival, we were informed that they did not open until 10am. This would give me time to get all my mechanicals sorted from the day before. Into the “disorientation matrix”, as Mimo would put it. I went looking for a shop with housing, not an easy thing to find closing weekend in Whistler. Finally I found some after getting lost in the maze they call Whistler Village. Off to the hill I went to meet up with the rest of the crew who had already had a run down A-line. Turns out they saw a momma bear and her 2 cubs enjoying the sunshine and berries right under their chair…YIKES! The hill began to get busy and man I mean busy! It was to the point where if you went down on a trail like A-line, then get out of the way cause someone’s coming right behind you! We sessioned the hill until about 3:30 and called it quits. We were beat and we had to get Robb off to the Tsawwassen ferry at the south end of Vancouver, he was off to watch his girlfriend run in the Victoria Marathon on Sunday. After we parted ways with Robb (so he could get some real lovin’), the four of us were left to figure out where to stay and what to do in the big city. I called a buddy of mine who was luckily home and had room for four stinky dudes. Ryan had one swanky pad just off Robson ST downtown. So what else was there to do but hit the streets and start drinking! We polished off a few pitchers and a bazooka beer bong that let us coast through the remainder of the evening. We ended up chatting up some locals in front of a bar on Robson Street. We even got a ride in a 1920’s antique Ford pickup!


Sunday morning came around all too quickly and we were treated to quite the morning view in the adjacent building. Thank you to the beautiful blonde across the street for her blatant disregard for curtains. Needless to say she made the five of us extremely happy!



Time to ride and wear off the beer rotting guts. Off to Seymour (butts) we went. Batman had a blown master cylinder so we had our shuttler picked. We went all the way up to CBC and hooked up with Ned’s. CBC was rad, such well built stunts, although we had heard so much hype about the trail being more wood then dirt we were expecting more stuntage, but very fun non-the-less. Ned’s was a super fast rough downhill ripper. We made it down with only a minor mechanical after Ryan pasted on a drop. The next run up we hit Corkscrew, which has some fun stunts, linked it to Pingu, which was a short, but a ripin trail that ended up on bogeyman. We’d all been itching to hit bogeyman, as it’s a shore classic. Now it’s an old school trail with lots of pedalling but its got one of the wildest log rides I’ve ever seen! Lots of fun flowy stunts and a great rock slab section at the bottom, which ends with a sweet drop to one of the few trannies on shore. At the bottom we met up with Batman and the Count who had been to and from the Deep Cove bike shop already to pick up a master cylinder. Now if you’ve never changed one of these before it’s not the easiest thing in the world to figure out especially when the shop gives you the wrong part! Off to On-Top we went, where Dan Sedlacek was great to us. Thanks again!! He hooked Batman up with the right piece and they got it installed in no time. Thanks to the Cove for letting Nick return the part, despite his bill clearly saying “no refunds”. We were ready to ride again! Back to Seymour (butts) we went and finished up the day with another CBC to Bogeyman.

We picked up Robb and decided that we’d camp out near Maple Ridge in the Golden Ears camp ground and ride the Woodlot in the morning.



We awoke to another unbelievably sunny day. This seemed unheard of in the land of cloud and rain. Who were we to argue though? We did what any other redneck mountain biker would have done and rode till we couldn’t ride any more! The push up to the woodlot is a fairly gruelling hour and a half shove fest. Not bad when you’re with your bro’s and have the lowest blood alcohol level we’ve ever had on a road trip. Up we went as the Count led the way. We took a quick rest at the top only to be joined by a bunch of mad-max, iron maiden listening, hardcore old school looking dudes who were just out having a ball! It was funny to watch. We waited for them while we worked some MacGyver magic on Gord’s derailleur. We started out on The Gate, which is a very short trail that is littered with skinny stunts. Very flowy trail with really fun log rides all linked together ending in a high skinny with a teeter totter to down ramp – you can see this stunt from the helmet cam of Wade Simmons in Kranked 4. We hiked back up to the top to run “Woodlot Gold” and it was a parking lot! Just like Whistler all over again but not on a ski hill. I’ve never, in all my years of riding, seen so many people riding the trails. It was packed. There were line-ups to get on stunts, people not moving out of the way after falling off a stunt, it was pure mayhem! The frustration level grew and everyone out on the trail was grumpy about the backlog. I said to myself that if this is what’s to come I honestly don’t think I could keep mountain biking, but had to remember that it was a beautiful Thanks Giving day Monday. The trail itself was sweet. Great stunts that were incredibly solid and obviously built by people with great carpentry skills. We tried to hang back as much as we could, in order to be the last ones on the trail. After quite sometime, things quieted down and the frustration levels dropped and flow began to creep back into our world. Having not spent much time on skinnies this year I forgot how fun they are to flow. The rush and exhilaration you get after cleaning a stunt with a teeter-totter on it that’s 6ft off the ground is immeasurable. At the end of gold, you link up with a completely different type of trail, it’s a fast dh section with little hits all over the place. We all ripped it right to the bottom feeling the need for speed after the slow tight techy stunts previously. All in all a great day on the trails, we all accomplished something and only one crash worth noting was Robb’s attempt at a completely ridiculous line down a super slick and rooty rock face. It was near vertical in spots and very mean looking. Needless to say he didn’t clean it and was lucky to escape with only a few bruises and some injured pride. Good work though Robb, none of us even attempted the line.



Back on the road again, seems like we spent more time in the car than on bikes this trip. We headed for Kamloops to stay with Robb’s girlfriends’ parents. Huge thanks again Rod and Carol. We got a good night sleep and woke up to the sixth sunny day in a row. After tossing back some Starbucks we headed over to the Juniper dirt jumps. I was on a mission this day. There were two big hits that had been plaguing me all year. I hit the first (the juniper step-up) cold. I needed to get it off my chest and decided just to go for it! What a relief. Gord followed and hit it with style. Robb’s turn next and he dialed it. Nick hit it up HUGE. He ended up winning our little distance contest by five feet! We played around on the jumps for a few hours (you could really spend a whole day here, there’s so many lines and a rad dual course that I still haven’t ridden) and then headed off to Rose Hill for a quick burn before heading home. We stopped at the top of the hill to pay homage to the “cabbage patch”(the site where Steve busted his leg in two May long weekend). This turned into an incredible day. Batman, Gord, Robb and myself all went off! Unfortunately the Count was sore from all the riding all weekend and decided it would be best to take it easy at the scene of the crash. Fortunately he came along for the ride anyway sans armour and camera in hand (what a “good sport”!) I had one thing on my mind the whole way down….. ROAD GAP!


It’s all I could think of. We sessioned the step down a bit but I knew that around the corner was redemption. So over we went. I took two run ins and had some drive-train issues. Gord hit it up first with skill and style. Now it was my turn again. I was so worked up. I thought “well if my gear doesn’t skip I’m goin for it….” Off I went! It was the best feeling in the world. You’re going so fast and are in the air for quite some time. It was rad! Robbie having hit it up last season hit it up like an old pro and landed a good way down tranny. Nick was next, after snapping photo’s of us, he hiked up and gave it a whirl. We all stayed and sessioned while the Count caught it all on film. I can’t remember a ride quite like this one where we all felt “on” at the same time. I think we would have hit anything put in front of us that day. I’ll remember this one as one of those magical days where everything clicks. Well it was time to go and the road trip came to an end with a gross seven-hour drive home. We buzzed the whole way home about what an awesome day we just had, what a great way to end on what could turn out to be our last road trip of the season. We’ve got one more planned in a few weeks time as long as the snow holds in the interior. Look for more B-Team pics and write-ups to come…we’ll keep ridin and telling our tales!



Here’s a link to the rest of our trips pics

Questions Comments [email protected]