Sacred Rides

Fernie Co-ed Skills Camp – 2

Posted on by Smoke

Ahhhh….day 2 of the skills camp.   This is where it all comes together.  You see, with a 2 day format, you feel like such a chump after the 1st day.  Day one, we take you apart.  Day 2, we put you back together.

Awesome session in the morning.  With lots of dynamic skills on the menu, it was lots of effort but really fun.  Everyone learned to get the wheels off the ground with flat pedals, so right there it was a success.  As I like to say, everyone has developed "Superpowers."

Of course, it rained on us for the trail session, but no big deal. 

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2

We went up to a local favourite, Project 9.  A nice enough trail, but as is the theme in Fernie, a hard climb for a short descent.  We spent a bunch of time on this little log practicing various strategies for getting over.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2

Jill in the last shot there has been riding for less than a week.  Crazy, eh? Well, when it works, it works.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2

Most of the group was done after one run.  With all the hard work we’d done, it was natural to be tired out.  A few riders were game for more, and it turned out to be the best part of the clinic.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2

Hedonism once again proved itself as one of the best trails in the area.  Lots of different terrain and great natural flow, plus a few low consequence features made for a great finishing session.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2
Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 2

An awesome clinic, with fantastic results.  Thanks to Kat for all her help coaching, and congratulations to all the participants on their newly developed Superpowers!

Oh, and Happy Canada Day!

Fernie Co-ed Skills Camp

Posted on by Smoke

Oh wait…the Fernie adventure is not over yet.  There’s also a weekend skills camp to go yet.  I was going to say, “The usual thing, yadda yaddaa…,” but then I heard this excited and amplified voice coming from the race event area a block over from the skills park.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

Yup, Tippie is in town and someone gave him a microphone.  The annual Furious 3 mountain bike stage race was on, and boy did I feel sorry for those guys having to compete in these conditions.

It was pretty good for us though.  Plenty of challenge dealing with wet roots and mod.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

Day one is always a bit slow, but we did find time to ride some bridges.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

Or in some cases, ride off some bridges.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

Ahhh…they all got it once.  

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

It’s only day one, we’ll get everyone dialled in tomorrow.

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

First, we gotta have a water fight!

Sacred Co-ed Skills Fernie Day 1

RMS – 7

Posted on by Smoke

Hey, it’s the last day!  And we survived!  Well, almost.  There’s still the little matter of this ride in the Kananaskis to settle.

So, see if you can tell which one is Canadian and which one is British?

RMS 7

Thanks to Reg Mullet for coming out and showing us the way.

The trail that runs over Jumping Pound Ridge and Cox Hill has been on my to do list for ten years.   It was worth the wait.  Quite an epic adventure, this one.

RMS 7

That was the top of Jumping Pound, at around 7300’.  It’s an old horse trail that’s become more of a bike ride, and it’s an awesome climb to this point. 

RMS 7

This high point is only the first summit however, and although we did the majority of the climbing to get here, the hard climbing is still ahead.  Just trying to warn you guys…

RMS 7

But first, we get some awesome cruising and a fast little descent.

RMS 7

It’s a scenic little shred, too.

RMS 7
RMS 7

Cox Hill is not as long, but it’s a real brute of a climb.  Here’s Richard in the pain cave, going for the last part of the ascent.

RMS 7

You can see the crux of this climb in the distance.  I got within a few meters of cleaning this, but it was just a bit too steep and loose.  Reg tells me he’s only cleaned this climb twice in all the years he’s been riding it, so I’m pretty happy to have gotten this close.

RMS 7

The amazing Carmel really broke through today.  She rode well, but also rode smart and was less than ten minutes behind at the summit of Cox. Dance, Carmel.  Do the Dance of Life!

RMS 7

Another tradition, the high elevation urination.

RMS 7

Reg, the only guy with DH tires, had multiple flats.  Huh?

RMS 7

Lookout!  Squirrel!  Well…actually it’s a chipmunk.  Still don’t trust ‘em.

RMS 7

As usual, almost no shots of the final descent.  It’s very fast, and wide open.  Having Reg along made it all the better, as he could telegraph all the major moves to us at speed.  The signature of this trail was rough rocky outcrops that you could either navigate around, or (better), just lift up and air across.  A great, great ride.  This is still in the alpine, but you can see that Richard is having a great time, even with his separated shoulder.

RMS 7

A final shot, which of course is another bathroom break.

RMS 7

Great trip, weather and all.  Oh, and of course no day at this location would be complete without the traditional yell at the end..

“I love riding Cox!”