BC Part One - Squamish

We've been here in BC for a couple of days now and everything is just as it should be - big sky, big mountains and some real mountain biking. We're staying with our good friend Craig Bullen, who was the former UK Marketing Manager for Powerbar before he packed up and moved to Canada a couple of years ago. Craig is into his DH and that's pretty much the scene around here.

For the past two days Craig has gone out of his way to find the tamest, most flowing XC type trails for us. Most of it is stuff that, for me, is rideable but only on a good day with plenty of mojo. Lots of roots, a few drops and some really steep terrain, along the the signature BC boardwalks.

The trails here are built, but not in the same way as UK built trails. It's mostly done by locals armed with chainsaws and shovels, just heading out into the woods. It's also pretty clandestine - the trails are not designed to be permanent or weatherproof and the locals guard their favourite trails and keep them secret as much as possible. Today Craig took us to one of the secret gems, which required a 15 minute hike through rough scrub with bikes on shoulders in order to find the trailhead. Not quite the intended use for my white Mavic race shoes, but definitely worth the effort. We were rewarded with a full 20 minutes of fast, flowing dirt singletrack weaving through the woods and popping out here and there onto open cliff face with stunning views of the valley some 1,000 metres below.

This took us over to a different section of forest and some more established trails, including the Credit Line, which is marked up as a Black (expert only) trail. This always makes me a bit nervous, as "expert" in BC means serious mountain biking. For Craig, this counted as an XC trail, but for me it was on the very limit of my ability, and I'll be honest and admit I walked some parts. The parts I rode found the limits of my 80mm SID WC forks and 2.1 Panaracer Razer tyres pretty quickly. Squamish scene is hard core, and we didn't go near any of the 20 foot gap jumps or super-skinny plank rides that people associate with this place. The regular trails here are more than enough for us!

Tomorrow (Friday) is our last day here in Squamish before we head over to Kamloops to prepare for our race. We're told the trails in Kamloops will be something else again - not so rooty and technical, but fast and dusty. It's also looking like being hot. Temperatures here by the sea are comfortable enough (below 30 degrees C) but Kamloops will be 30+ each day. It's a proper adventure, and there's plenty still to come.