For many on the North Shore, we have the best trails in the world, right at our doorstep. For some of us though, there is an overwhelming urge to explore beyond the hanging fog of the Shore. I had heard mumblings of Oregon’s buff singletrack flows through the woods like a rhythmic gymnastics routine. There’s no doubt that you can drive down to Oregon, call into a local bike shop and go trail shopping, but I wanted the lifestyles of the rich and famous tour.

A couple of friends and I decided that the Oregon Enduro Series was the best way to test out the Oregon terrain, and get a good sampling of the trails in the Hood River area, as well as testing out our skills and fitness. Enduro seems to be the the format of interest for the average … Read More »

>The Chilcotins. That’s right, you’ve probably heard of the place. But have you been there? Well I hadn’t, and neither had Chris. However, we had two veterans to lead the rooks. What were we in for here? Well, we had a 4 hour drive to figure that out. First we had to jelly all our junk into the rear of the Steed van…We crept up on it at night, so not to cause a stir. We for sure stirred up some dust on the Hurley. I used most of the time to catch up on napping. Chris and I were practically penned in the back with duffel bags, sleep seemed like a good option considering the 6+ hour ride the following day.Once out of Pemberton we were cell phone free. Which to some may be terror, and others a blessing. … Read More »

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With such a beautiful day and such a tough job (testing the Santa Cruz’ Driver8) we rallied the troops in search of dirt. After a solid 40 mins of late March knee deep snow we threw a couple pedal stokes into a great ride down Roaches, Stupid Grouse, and a little golden nugget called “Tall Boy“. Scott Pelecki was behind the lens of his Canon SD550 churning out some nuggets even Derek Dix would approve of.

-Connor

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While the Driver 8 is hot like Bryant “Big Country” Reeves we took to the testing grounds on Cypress once again.  Unfortunaly we were missing our crash test dummie, rather Scott Pilecki. With the recession in full force and less tugboat and highliner action needed Dave has more time to ride his new V-10 – see reccessions are good, cheap LCD tv’s and more playtime. 

With 2 days behind the Driver 8 we stepped up the BPM to see how it handled the rough stuff at speed. I think it was putting on for its big brothers (V-10′s) in the group because the Driver refused to settle for 2nd.  Despite some pilot errors  it performed beautifully. 

Cmac trying to impress the kids……….feeling rusty

Dave showing us how you ride in a recession – often!

>You probably think I don’t ride anything but Fromme. Ha-ha! Actually it is most certainly one of my favorite ride spots around I won’t lie to ya! All jokes aside we ended up meeting up with one of my friends Dean Mason who I haven’t ridden with since 1989. Time flies. Regardless of the fact of time, 19 years, he still rips it up on the climb and was ready for a high speed tech descent when we went separate ways. We continued up on the lung burning climb to Upper Oil Can, as Dean hit up Lower Oil Can.

After last weekends heavy rain and complete saturation of my “Waterproof Breathable”, I was more prepared today. Gone are the days of plastic bag wrapped tool kits and extra clothing in my pack! I picked up a Camelbak H.O.S.S. and, OK, … Read More »

>As rain was coming down sideways, I hammered on my Nomad to the gate on Fromme to meet up with the six friends who were meeting for a Rememberance Day ride! Not surprisingly pretty much everyone bailed, for one reason or another. Honestly speaking the trails were in tremendous shape. Scott and Branden, the not just fair weather riders, were there to meet me and we went for a “Real” North Shore ride, in the rain!

We had planned an Upper Oil Can followed by Lower Oil, and some other lower trails, but had a sudden change of heart on the sixth switchback and spontaneously decided on Ladies, Skull, Ragdoll, a set of lower trails just above the fifth.This set of trails was as nestalgic as you can get for me, who hadn’t ridden them in succession since 1999. Aside from … Read More »

>If you are looking for dreamy conditions on the local mountains, now is the time. Scott, Steve, and I did a quick loop of Lower Oil Can on Fromme this morning and had a blast. My legs were sore after yesterday’s race but we still made it to the top in record time. I was super impressed with Scott who slammed down a rocketing climb up the fire road with his seat down, armour and helmet on his back and on his V-10 with 64 degree head angle…wow those bikes can climb too!The best part is the downhill which of course we all love. Even with all this dry weather you can find loam in all the corners of the trail. Thanks NSMBA!Yes we all have green bikes right now, here is Steve with his sweet green Santa Cruz Nomad … Read More »