2017 The Summer of George!

Posted on December 9, 2017

2017 was an amazing year. In August 2016 my wife Melanie and I had our second child. Fraser is a little boy who is turning into a crazy dude. For most of 2017 I was a stay at home Dad, but my wife was on maternity leave, it was like the “Summer of George!” However I didn’t sit around eating a block of cheese the size of a car battery.

Skiing.

The ski season was amazing! I’ve never seen so much snow in my yard, I measured 80cm right in my yard! When I was short for time I would just drive 5min and go for a tour up Vedder mt. If I had more time I would get a partner and we would drive for 20 min to a secret stash up the river valley. It was a crazy good ski year.

Coqtree — This is what my giant block of cheese looks like.

wayneelk — This is my buddy Wayne hucking his meat at the secret stash.

garyrickyfrosy — Summit of Mt Frosty with Gary Robbins. Gary was training for the Barkley Marathons, he almost finished it. But almost doesn’t count, so I guess we are going to have to ski more next year.

Bikes.

After winter was over Mt bike season got into full swing! After a winter of skiing and other secret training I was super fit and excited to race bikes. I was more fit on the bike then I had been since I stopped racing world cups 10 years ago. My plan was to do the Vedder Classic, the Sunshine Coaster, the Nimby 50 in Pemberton all in the month of May, and then Spwakus 50 in Squamish in the middle of June. Things did not go to plan however and my kids got some nasty flu along with ear infections- giving everything to me. I spent 10 days on antibiotics and felt like a bag of poo for most the month of May. I still earned a 4 at the Vedder Classic and another 4th at the Sunshine Coast, not bad. I had to pull the plug on doing the Nimby as I spent the entire day in bed. The Nimby is one of the most amazing races I’ve ever done and I cant wait to be back for 2018. The Spwakus 50 in Squamish went well. I had a super battle with race winner Craig Richey and finished 19sec down for second place. Craig and I would trade shots all day, he would step on my balls anytime it went up and I would reel him in on the down, it was an amazing day, I just wish the end result was the other way around. I’ll be back.
I’ve been riding for a company called Nobl Wheels for the past 3 or 4 years. They make the best Carbon wheels in the world. I’m super lucky to test them, give feedback and just ride them hard. This past year we did a little project video that turned out really well. I’m super proud of my past and what I accomplished. Here is the Video.
In August I also took part in the Terry Fox 360. Its a fundraising ride that goes from Sun Peaks resort in Kamloops all the way to Valemount in one day, its a total of 360km. 31 riders did the ride in about 11hrs. In total we all raised $55,000 for the Terry Fox foundation.

Image may contain: one or more people, people riding bicycles, bicycle, outdoor and nature — 360km is really far, but you still have time to ride like an idiot.

Trail Running.

After the competitive mountain bike season was over I started doing some running, with the goal of doing the Around the Lake Give’r Take 30 in October. I did the race last year and finished 2nd. This year I wanted more so I did a bit of running. For 2016 I did a total of 3 runs for training. The ATL race is 30km with 1500m of elevation and its really hard. After I finished in 2016 I said I would never run again. But my competitive nature got the best of me and I signed up again (my wife signed me up, the race sells out and I’m way to much of a gong show to register that early). Race day came and I smashed it! The course was a little different this year so I also hold the new course record! After finishing I couldn’t walk the 100m to the car, my legs were so cooked. Then Melanie goes and finishes 3rd overall in the women’s race! Amazing!

ATLfinish — Finish. It was really hard to pick my feet up at this point.

ATLstool — then I sat here for 35min while everyone made fun of me for not being able to walk

ATL3 — If you win the ATL you win this hand carved stick. Coolest race prize I have ever won! I needed it to walk back to the car.

Kids.

2017 was an awesome year! Besides just playing in the woods and doing dumb things I got to spend a ton of time with Melanie and the kids. Elbie and Fraser are growing so fast and its super fun to watch and be a part of.

Kids1 — Elbie going rock climbing, or taking a poo

10,000 Feet on Vedder Mountain

Posted on September 20, 2017

Four years ago the Vedder 10 grand was born. The original idea was to have this savage ride that few could finish. Every year the route changes but it will always maintain severe difficulty and some of the best dirt on the planet. This year there was 3 loops and each loop was worth about 3000feet of gain. 20 riders started it and only 9 finished. The ride was on Sept 10th.
Its hasn’t rained in Chilliwack forever, then the day before the ride it rained around 10mm. Conditions were so good. It was Velcro out there. Just insane!
Loop 1 – Up all the main stream Mt bike climbing trails. Descending multi purpose trails into Yarrow. Coffee stop at Chestnut Springs.
Loop 2 – Up the west side to do the first pitch of tower road. Then nin back to the ring road and up to Hanggliders view. Then Stairway all the way back to tower road. Up to hide and seek and down BHD all the way down to the lake, For pizza and beer.
Loop 3 – Up single track to TTT and Gas can. Up rocky road and then up the Den Climb. Den down and home.
Anytime you wear a chamois for 11hrs in a row its a big day. The entire day saw only 2 flat tires and no other major mechanical issues. Best day ever!

vedder10k20172 — Chestnut Springs Coffee shop

Ski Season is a wrap.

Posted on April 7, 2017

With some nice warm days starting to show up in the forecast its time for me to put away the skis and start riding my bike. This past ski season was one of the best I can remember, for many reasons. If you are a super keener there is still some great skiing to be had well into April, but I have pulled the plug and moved on to riding bikes. It is time to say good bye to the skis for this year, but I just wanted to remember some of the good times this past year, and what a year it was!

15875220_10154789723038162_6754208331225199387_o — First Long day.

I tried to made a point to do a bit more exploring this winter and ski some lesser known local terrain. These blisters were from a day my friend Gary and I skinned up Mt Cheam all the way from Chilliwack Bench road. It took us 2.5hrs of “going good” and my feet payed the price. We pulled the plug on the summit due to conditions in the alpine, but my feet won a wicked prize.

A very fun day for me was when a small group of us drove 12 min from my house and put on skis at the bottom of Bridal Falls FSR and we skinned right to the top of Mt Archibald. The views were amazing and the multiple hour skin up was well worth it. Conditions were not great on the North aspect we wanted to ski, but the views on the way up were just awesome and we didn’t see one other group.

The Coquihalla is normally an amazing place to ski. Getting fresh tracks on the easy stuff is much harder then it used to be. However around the Christmas holidays it was just going off! I had a good friend come up from California and we skied a ton with amazing conditions every time. It was full hero snow.

garycoq — Gary and I top of Needle trees

It was late winter of last year when my wife Melanie and I watched the documentary on Netflix called “Barkley Marathons, The Race That Eats its Young”. Then shortly after that the main stream media was telling the story of this hard man from North Vancouver who attempted the Barkley, his name is Gary Robbins. Melanie knew Gary from her previous life living in North Vancouver. Fast forward to late summer of 2016, we are shopping at the Coopers in Garrison and I come out of the bathroom and see this guy who looks just like Gary Robbins. That’s when things got funny.
I whisper to Melanie, “hey I think that’s the Barkley guy”
Mel says to Gary, “hey, are you Gary from North Vancouver?”
I say, “yeah you’re the Barkley guy!”
Gary’s wife, Linda rolls her eyes.
Turns out Gary was camping up at Cultus Lake with his wife Linda and their young son Reed. I then started my “you should move to Chillwack, its amazing” speech, and before you know it we had exchanged numbers and I was giving them a tour of the neighborhood. Over the winter we ended up skiing almost once a week and we had some amazing skis together. Gary was using skiing touring for training for this years Barkley. Once a week Gary and I would get together and crush each others balls while having the time our lives. If you haven’t heard what happened at this years Barkley you should check it out. Gary is a Boss, and its quite a story. Needless to say next winter we will be doing some longer days, more vert, and not getting lost. Well, maybe getting lost…

garyelkdeep — Gary getting deep at Elk View point

Most of the days we skied were amazing, but you don’t always win. On a very cold day in the middle of winter we did Mt Frosty in Manning Park. I was just getting over the flu and was suffering like a dog all day. It was -20 and windy at the top, I lost a ski on the way down and watched it get like 50 feet of air time before it landed in some rocks. Then on the ski out we got crazy lost and were very late getting home. Gary got stuck in traffic as well. That day I ate my feelings in the form of a Jim’s large specialty pizza.

My final memories of the winter was when we got a massive dump right in Chilliwack. We had 80cm on the ground right in my yard. I did a bunch of days up at Elk Mountain. It was a rather large approach but totally worth it. You could do 500m runs in the trees on some of the most amazing terrain ever. I had so many great days up there this year. It was so easy to rack up some serious vertical. Gary and I did a day just shy of 10,000 feet in very short order. Every ski season is not like this and I was very lucky to take advantage of it.

elkapproch — Elk approach you can just see Cultus Lake in the background

elkup — Higher up in the trees, still going up.

My Take on the Around the Lake.

Posted on November 5, 2016

The around the lake give’r take 30km trail running race has been a staple in Chilliwack as long as I can remember. This years race was on October 15th and like it says in the title its about 30km of trail running around the lake. Little did I know, its hard and is probably something you should train up for. I wanted to do the race for a while now, just never had the guts to sign up. I thought it would be cool to run the race for my 30th birthday but that never happened and now that I’m much older then 30 I may as well just do it.

atl303

I run, but I’m not a runner. In the months leading up to the race I did a total of 30km of solo trail running. I also ran a couple of times a week pushing a chariot stroller around with a heavy 2 year old. As I would find out it was enough, but I should have really done more running prior. The one thing I had going for me was that I’m a half decent bike rider and those pesky cyclists are really good at running up hill. The forecast for the day was for 100mm of rain. I had to google “tips for running in the rain” and so I ended up wearing a hat, putting band aids on my nipples and wiping a tub of Vaseline in my crotch/thunder thigh area. It didn’t rain one drop during the race. In true amateur fashion I also got a brand new pair of running shoes 5 days before. The staff at Mt Waddingtons made sure I had a proper fitting shoe and I had zero issues with my feet. My body on the other hand…
The race started out way faster then I wanted on the roads through the Cultus Lake community. I’m a stubborn bugger and there was no way I was letting anyone drop me before we hit the trails. Ben Schmidt put the hammer down so hard that I was breathing through my eyeballs and the rest of the field was blown apart. I remember thinking on the road, “oh this is so dumb, I should really run my own race, this is so unsustainable, you idiot, you’ll pay for this”.

30393566306_9aafb707d3_b — Ben and I hitting the first trail. Bring on the up hills!

However once we hit the trail and the race started going uphill I slowed down my pace and still dropped Ben. I kept putting time into him right up to the top. He was out of sight and out of mind. I thought to myself “wow, I got this, I just need to run my own race and not die before the end”. I ran my own race but Ben caught up to me right before we got to the Columbia Valley. I then suffered like a dog trying to go stride for stride with Ben. Ben is like 10 feet tall and for every step he takes, I end up taking 12. We hit watt creek aid station together after I had turned myself inside out trying to stay on Ben’s wheel on the pavement. I hit watt creek hill very hard and dropped Ben like a bad habit. However he closed the gap on the downs again before Edmeston hill. I attacked up Edmeston as hard as I could again and I lost sight of Ben, again.! Then I pinned the down with everything I had. I thought I had lost Ben for good. But he was like 100m behind at the bottom. I knew he would dispose of me on the beach like the dead man I was. We hit the beach together and Ben put 1.5mins into me before the finish line and I had to settle for 2nd place.
atl301

I crossed the finish line in just under 2hrs 24min. The second longest run I have ever done. The longest was a marathon in 2008(never again). I think if the race was 500m more I would have collapsed into the lake and drowned. Being the first time ever doing the Around the Lake Give’r Take I was blown away with how well it was organized. The registration was super easy, things ran on time, the course marking was so easy to follow and the cookie spread at the finish was world class. What an amazing event! Right after crossing the finish line I told myself I’m never doing this again. However after 5 days of not being able to sit on the toilet or walk down stairs I think I’ll be back for 2017.

atl30 — Clarence Wiens with the orange hat along with myself and 3rd place overall. Clarence is holding me up in the photo due to my legs being broken…

Nimby Fifty

Posted on June 5, 2016

The 2016 Nimby Fifty was just epic!
Every year its epic, but this year was a whole other level. The drive from Chilliwack to Pemberton is about 3hrs and on the drive up we were thinking its gotta stop raining soon. But it never did, it just got colder and wetter. The truck said 7c and it was raining like a boss. I used to love racing in the rain and mud, but I’m old now and I aint got time for dat. But the Nimby is super fun and it was sure to stop raining and warm up….
Nimby Fifty 2016 Riders on the Storm Edition

Nimby Fifty 2016 Riders on the Storm Edition

All lined up and ready to rumble.
This year’s Nimby had some heavy hitters. Quinn Moberg was on good form and I’m sure he was hungry to tear my legs off after last years race. Cory Wallace is just a beast of a bike racer and Canada’s best at Marathon XC. Then there’s Kris Sneddon who’s been racing just as long as me and might even have more chest hair than me. It was a true show down. I was thinking to myself at the start that I would be really happy to be top 5 today.
Photo by Grant Bruce - highshot.org

Kevin Calhoun turning the screws at the start.
The start of the race was just wild. I don’t think I’ve ever suffered so much up that start loop climb. I was wet, cold and I just wanted heated seats and dry sweat pants. The race stayed together with the top 15 guys until we hit the bottom of the big Nimby climb. Quinn went in first and being old and smart I know I didn’t want to let him get much time. I went in second and hung on for dear life. Quinn was strong and tore the race apart, I was about 1min 30sec down at the top with the rest of the dudes at 1min back from me.
Photo by Grant Bruce - highshot.org

Even riding like a hack I still had a ton of fun. My bike is really playful and loves to spend time on just the rear wheel.
The decent down overnight sensation is where things got good. I was riding like a true hack. Crashing all over and just being a big idiot. I over shot this one corner and went off trail, I landed hard on my face/wrist. Once I got up I thought to myself, this is not fun. I’m going to finish Overnight and go straight to the warm truck and put my sweat pants on. I hate bikes, I’m to old for this, I’m quitting, stupid Nimby. I got to the bottom of overnight and Quinn had broke a spoke in his wheel and he was changing out wheels. Well then, so much for quitting, I was winning the bike race. My wife would kill me if I dropped out while winning. Sorry honey, my hands got cold so I dropped out……
With about 5km to go Kris and Cory caught up to Quinn and I. It was going to be a battle to the end. I was going twice as fast as the others on the downs but they were going twice as fast as me on the way up. So the last little bit was a game of cat and mouse. I rode the last downhill like a champ and closed to within 5sec of Cory and had left Quinn and Kris to fight it out for 3rd. Cory is a beast and there is no way I’m pulling back 5 sec to Cory on a flat gravel road after racing for 2hrs 15min. I bet there is no one in Canada who could pull that back. So Cory won, I was second, and Quinn took Kris in a sprint for 3rd. What a day.
NIMBY Fifty 2016 Overall Winners Ricky Federau 2nd Cory Wallace 1st Quinn Moberg 3rd Photo by Brett Tippie.

NIMBY Fifty 2016 Overall Winners Ricky Federau 2nd Cory Wallace 1st Quinn Moberg 3rd Photo by Brett Tippie.

The top 3 right after the finish. Now I can go warm up.
The Nimby is one of the best races I’ve ever done. I’ll be back next year for sure.

Vedder Super Weekend

Posted on May 19, 2016

My hometown is amazing!
This past weekend Vedder Mountain played host to two amazing days of racing. The Vedder Mountain Classic cross country race on Saturday May 14, and a BC Enduro Series stop on Sunday May 15. I did both races and it was the BEST EVER!
The Vedder Classic is very special to me. The race started running in 1982 and ran for a long time before it was over and done with around 1999. The 1996 Vedder Classic was the first bike race I ever watched. I remember seeing Micheal Pruner, Mike Johnston, and Chris Sheppard do battle. This race inspired me to ride my bike and gave me my competitive nature. The course back then was just savage! The guys climbed up tower road three times during the race. Now days if you climb up tower road once a year you’re kind of a big deal. Back in the day, when men were men…..

1947626_3347727385262362_8989124890399248913_n — I was 10 years old in 1991

The Fraser Valley Mountain bike Association Brought back the Vedder Classic for 2016. The course that was decided on was about 30km and 1500m of climbing. It was hard, technical, flowy and just super fun. Riding here for the last 20 years I had the home rink advantage by a long shot. It was really my race to loose as far as I was concerned. However Rhys Verner and Sullivan Reed were not going to let me just have it.

p5pb13503705 — Start Loop through Clutus lake

The race started out going up the new single track trails on Vedder called Sunny Side-up and Kerry’d Away. With my jersey wide open and chest hair flowing in the wind I was at the front driving the pace as hard as possible. Rhys was right on my wheel, he was chit chatting with me about how great the trails were and about other things in life. I thought he was going to just walk away with it at that point. I was seeing cross eyed and breathing through my ears. Sully had a couple dabs on the way up and lost 20 meters to us but was also right in tow.

Vedder Mountain Classic 2016 — Old hat and young buck doing battle

The three of us came together on the long flat section before the Den climb. Being old and wise I knew the Den climb would be the deciding factor in the race. I also knew I needed to be first to the top cause there was a $50 king of the mounting prize and I gotta eat yo. So half way up the climb I attacked as hard as I could right to the den. It hurt, but I was now clear to ride my own race out front. No dust, no stress, out of sight out of mind. Being out in front you can really control the race. I felt I did a great job of dosing my effort right until the finish. I came in for the win and it was great. Rhys was around 1 min back and Sully about another 30 seconds later.

Sunday was the Enduro. I’ve never done a proper Enduro race before. Its nothing like xc but is still crazy hard. Its like doing an xc race but not timing the ups, then timing all your down times and totaling them up at the end of the day. Its a really cool format for racing bikes, you get to ride easy up with your buddies and trash talk each other between the stages.

For the race there were three stages and all of them ranged from 600-800m of elevation loss. Its a big day on a bike. I knew the trails very well and my pregnant wife has put me on a no crash policy for this year so I was able to stay clean and smooth. I ended up 8th overall, so I’m super happy with that. What I’m even more happy about was the fact that Vedder mt blew peoples minds. The loam out here is just off the charts and people were so excited.

2016 BC Enduro Series - Fraser Valley — Brendon Edgar wearing some of the Loam.

I’ve got a new bike this year the Ibis Ripley. The bike is really amazing. Its 120m of travel front and rear. Its a very playfull fun xc bike that kind of does everything really well. Its the only bike I have and its key it does everything well. I’ve always said that the secret to a good bike is in the wheels and I’ve been running the new 2016 NOBL wheel set with the NOBL hub with zero engagement. This whole zero engagement thing blew my mind, its just awesome. I used the TR28 wheel set with 2.25 racing ralph tires for the XC race. I ran 24psi front and rear. For the Enduro Race I used the TR36 with 2.35 HansDampf. I ran 20psi front and rear for that. I ran a ONEUP 34tooth front chain ring with a xtr 11-40cog set with a ONEUP 45 cog. This bike is so fun and fast.

Long Term Cheater Wheels.

Posted on January 18, 2016

Back in April of last year Nobl Wheels built me up a set of hoops to race the Nimby Fifty on. The goal was to create a set of wheels that would be on the XC side of things. Low weight was key and the 1444 gram “race” wheels were born. My short term test results can be found here. However I still have them on my bike to this day. It’s a semi-custom version of their Trail build – designed to provide a more race-oriented feel, but still able to shred. It has 28 hole TR28 rims front and back, full ceramic Industry Nine turquoise hubs, Competition Race rear/Aerolite front spokes, and DT Squorx alloy nipples, weighing in at 1444 grams.

IMG_0127(1) — Sideways into trees. So good.

I’ve had the wheels on my bike for the majority of that time. Spring, Summer, and Winter. My main concern at first was durability. At 1444 grams I was convinced this would be a temporary thing. These wheels have really surprised me, I haven’t done a thing to them. No spoke wrench, no broken spokes, and still straight as an arrow. The I9 hubs still sound like a swarm of bees are chasing me through the woods. The durability on these wheels is like nothing I’ve ever seen. In years past I’m more used to taking my wheels in for maintenance and repair every couple weeks. I don’t really have time for that, I would rather just ride

These wheels have been put through the ringer. Being a Nobl sponsored athlete my job is to test these wheels and provide feedback. I beat the snot out of these things. I like to spend as much time as possible sideways on the trail riding like an idiot. Or riding a 95mm xc race rocket like a downhill bike. Whatever it takes really.

The cheater wheels have made it on to two very different bikes. For the spring and summer I had them on a Rocky Mountain Instinct. More recently I have been riding a more full on XC rig, a Trek Superfly. Both awesome bikes but both serving a bit of a different purpose. The Superfly was built up as a winter beater bike, a mud machine. It never gets washed and gets hammered on Lennox Lewis by Mike Tyson.

Ski Season is off to a Bang

Posted on January 7, 2016

The only good thing about last years “winter” was being able to ride mt bikes in hero dirt every day and riding alpine in mid February. I would much rather have a proper winter with snow sports and leave the mt biking to its proper seasons. This year I dreamed would be different and not all doom and gloom for the skiers. I bought a 1986 4wd tercel, waxed up my skis and did the snow dance in hopes of the pow pow. Well my dreams came true this year and the Christmas holidays have been unreal! Back to old times, face shots for all! 2015/16 winter is delivering in a big way and its so great to see.

10169224_10153168305393162_777529365280524019_n — Snow in Chilliwack. All kids love the snow.

We don’t often get snow in Chilliwack but when we do the mountains get hammered. I have a rare disorder of “anti resort syndrome”, which causes me to get dizzy and puke anytime I ride the chair lift so I’m forced to earn my turns in the backcountry. Living in Chilliwack we are really blessed with options when it comes to the backcountry and for me the go to places are Manning Park (not the resort) and the Coquihalla summit rec area.

DSCN6474 — about to ski the first run of 2015/16

Manning Park was my first outing this year and early season skiing always has its problems, like alder bashing and core shots. But luckily I took Eric Clegg with me to test out the alder situation and clear the path. The skiing was really good but I knew it could get better.

Sure enough it got way better, best ever, some might say. Skiing in the needle area at the Coquihalla on a powder day in the middle of the week is the best thing you can do in your life. I took Wayne with me and we hit it hard. Just deep fresh snow with all the features poking out. You had to be a little careful not to snag a ski on debris below the surface but sure beats alder bashing.

The Christmas holidays were the best part of this year by far. It was crazy good! Best Ever! Huck your meat off everything possible! It was really as good as it gets. Deep stable fresh snow. I spent a bunch of days skiing out Nak peak. Got to ski with some new friends Hammish and Becca who are very happy Chilliwack residents. They both moved here from Scotland and can really ski. Just picture Sean Connery and Grounds Keeper Willie on skis.

My Tercel is just the best mountain car of all time. The thing is a beast in the snow. It only takes an hour to get to the Coq and the tercel just kills it. “don’t mind us, we’re just passing you in a pop can, slow down, Ricky slow down, uh the road is slippery, is it in 4wd?, just take it easy” my wife while she fills her pants in the passenger seat.

After all the storms Nate Dawg from Clearbrook Coffee company and I got out in the sun to poke around deeper into some new to us zones. This is up at the Coq and its super good. I won’t tell you where it is but rather that you should all get out and explore some new zones. Skiing is back and its amazing!

Stairway To Heaven

Posted on November 3, 2015

Now that fall has fully hit us with an onslaught of rain and colder weather its time to do two things. Think and dream about a proper ski season and then remember the best mountain bike rides you had this year. For me fall is maybe the best time to ride the moisture has returned to the dirt, the temperature is less then 35c, you should be really fit from a summer of riding and the fall colors are just awesome!

photo(11) — Just busting out onto the first view on Stairway to Heaven

Last week I might have had my best ride of the year. It was a solo mission on Vedder Mountain. One of my personal favorite trails has to be Stairway To Heaven. Stairway is a multi use trail that spans the entire high ridge route of the mountain. Total length is around 6km and its very advanced xc/all mountain riding. Rock faces, techy roots, view points, tacky hero dirt, gnarly steep climbs and descents, and its just so epic it makes you a little bit scared. Its an expert level trail that will change your life by riding it.

photo(12) — Mossy green, roots, rocks and hero dirt in the corners. SO GOOD!

The Stairway portion of the ride took me around 45min for the 6km section from Tower road to Hanggliders view point. It’s arguably the best 6km of real mountain biking on the planet. After the Stairway section I ended up piecing up some other unbelievable single track all the way to the top of the Den and then down and home. Total distance for my ride from my house was around 32km and most of that was single track. Chilliwack is so amazing, it blows my mind when I do this ride and I see zero other people out there. Just another awesome day living in the Wack.

photo(14) — Cultus Lake from the south end

photo(15) — The timeless view of hang gliders

Screen shot 2015-11-02 at 8.34.19 AM — GPS route

2015 Vedder 10 Grand

Posted on October 3, 2015

The 2nd annual Vedder Mountain 10 Grand ride took place last weekend in Chilliwack, BC. The Vedder Mountain 10 Grand ride was born out of necessity in 2014 when some manly men from Chilliwack decided they were getting soft and needed to man up. Plus we all like riding bikes so why not do a really good long hard one? With the steepest climbs you can imagine, but also with some of the best descending ever! This year we were able to drag 16 riders to the start. Only 11 would finish, truly an epic day!
The plan was to depart from Vedder bridge at 8am and head out for the first of our three loops.
Loop 1
Vedder Super Loop! 4200ft of elevation gain. Epic view at hang gliders. Classic xc trails to transfer to the top of the den. A den run with prime trail conditions! The start to the ride went off great! We had budgeted 4.5hrs to complete the loop and we had it done in 4hrs with a little bonus section for good measure. The group that turned up had some serious horse power with a ton of xpro xc racers. All 16 finished the first loop. We had 2 mechanicals with Andreas Hestler getting a flat tire descending hang gliders and Mike Levy breaking a rear axle going down the den.
Loop 2
Upper West Side and tower road via sunny side! 4300ft of elevation gain. Nice beginner climb that gradually turns into really really steep climbing. The newly named “Whistler” descent. Climb from the radio tower to upper view. 2600ft descent down to the lake. This has been my favorite loop on the mountain this year! It really has a little bit of everything and we hit the conditions spot on. The steep decent on “yeah whistler” made half our group poo their shorts a little and the climb up west tower road put people in the pain cave. This was by far my most favourite trip up west tower road this year as I cleaned the entire climb for the first time this season. However the highlight of the loop had to be when Scott Simpson crashed and went neck deep into a puddle at the top of tower road. Such an unreal loop!
Loop 3
Getter done! 1500ft of elevation gain. Climb up road to zest. Down single track. Ride home. The last lap of a big day is always a struggle. Our group of 11 just crawled up the ring road like a pack of turtles. But we got it done with plenty of daylight to spare. I hate bikes now. Never riding again. Maybe.
Congrats to all that finished. Scott Simpson, Simon Blythe, Derek Slykerman, Clint Ellis, Russ Wood, Andy Traslin, Ben Schmit, Marty Lazarski, Tobin Mccallum and Sullivan Reed. See you guys next year!