Kicking horse

Last week was taken up with odd jobs, mountain biking, running, visiting Begbie falls, moving out of the basement, visiting the historic ski jump in Revelstoke ( it is high - those guys must have had some decent cohonies) and waiting for the weekend.

After getting pretty happy around the fire on Friday night we were all a bit slow moving around the house Saturday morning. Managed to get on the road at about ten in the morning on our way to golden and kicking horse mountain bike park. the road between \Revelstoke and Golden had some impressive views and we stopped for a few photo opportunities. Passed through a time zone so lost an hour. After getting supplies we headed straight to the park, kitted up, and set of for the lifts. bit of a line for the gondola up to the top of the mountain, it is a 1100 vertical climb from top to bottom. Amazing views from the gondola and really started to enjoy the scenery. did a couple of runs down the mountain. first section is a long road (snow still covers some of the single track) which gets the body warmed up for single track further down the mountain. then form there on it's all sweet single track. did a couple of runs, got my first puncture, started to hit a few jumps. bike are awesome and soak up a lot of the lack of skill.

Camped the night at Cedar lake, lake is not fed by any rivers so quite warm but very muddy. Cooked a nice feed of pasta and bacon, tops and enjoyed a camp fire. the leaves of the dried trees we were burning must have a very flammable chemical in them cause they would go up like anything. can see way bear grills could make it in Canada, not to hard to start a fire at all. We were entertained by a pair of drunk teenagers in the next door campsite. Campsite is only ten minutes from the ski field so perfect base for mountain biking. quite a few mountain bikers using it two.

Next day woke to the sound of wolves howling in the distance. continued on and off for about an hour, mint! up the mountain for opening at 10.30. explored more trails, another flat, a few falls but started to get more confidence. Lunch at the restaurant at the top of the hill. Beautiful views. more trails after lunch, more jumps. Boys did a double black course, not my cup of tea but maybe in the future. multiple runs takes it out of the body and muscles were starting to feel it by the end of the day, one more short run and it was off home. Stopped in to dairy queen for legendary blizzard ice cream. a little sun burnt at this stage with nice patterns from the body armour.

most people have full one downhill bikes at the parks. but it is great to go up there and be able to do everything every one else is on our all mountain bikes, a lot of fun, just a bit harder on the body. have purchased some goggles to deal with the dust but loving the mountain biking so far. need to work on berms. resorts are good because you can do multiple runs and improve over the space of a day. Awesome. Aim is to make it to ten runs in a day - will be sore after that day

Camping and more mountain biking planned for later on in this week.

Saw a bear and some mountain goats on the way back from golden, squrils are awesome

Boom

Andy