Wade’s Wisdom – A Winter’s Ramblings

You ever blow off work to go riding? November in Vancouver is wet – the wettest month of the year, according to the stats, and usually not the best month to ride. But, as certain as the weather man can be wrong, we get those sweet un-announced windows that defy planning; and well, one must blow off work.

Vancouver weather stats courtesy of The Weather Network.

November…. great if you’re a duck!

On the North Shore, Nov 14 and 15th were the days to ride. Monday, the 14th: up at 6:30, feed wife and son, wife off to work and drop son at day care. Then, I return home at 8:30, fire up the computer to tackle days work – typical Monday really. Ring, ring… hello?

That’s how it usually starts. A flurry of phone calls and…. blam, 5 guys chompin’ at the bit by 9am! Big bikes were the tools, and Mount Seymour the job site. How does a couple of 2500ft descents to dig tires into sound to you? F%$#ing great! The days are short so lets get to work!

  Solid winter conditions. Photo ~ Sterling Lorence

Situations like this are commonplace in sports like skiing and surfing; 50cms and schools shut, big swell and I bet half of Hawaii is in the water. Mountain biking pretty much consits of ‘what you put in you get out – regardless of conditions.’ But weeks of rain make it easy for one to go crazy. So when the big ball shines for more than one day in a row in this temperate rain forest we call home, some make a sacrifice. Bosses who have read Yvon Chiounards “Let my people go surfing” may be merciful; or better yet, joining you. I realize that not everybody has an opportunity to be this carefree, or ‘care-less’, but I suspect you are making great money at a real job. Everybody has his or hers own priorities.

  Mid-trail the ground was perfectly tacky.

A funny story comes to mind for me related to this. Years ago, early 2000’s I think, the Digger, from the North Shore Extreme Series, called late one night super excited about a heli-trip coming together the next day = filming for his latest release. We were to fly up to Disney Land, a favourite local heli-drop on the way to Squamish. I was working at the Cove Bike Shop at the time and so was a young Thomas Vanderham. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but somehow Thomas ended up being on the flight the next day too; one of his first paid-for photo shoots. The day started early, as heli-film shoots do, and while city-folk were finishing their first coffee, we were assembled up high on a ridge overlooking the Georgia Straight with the early sun warming. Thomas looked at his watch, then glanced at me and politely asked to borrow my cell phone. A cell phone was a rare-commodity in this era. Apparently, he was scheduled that day at the shop, and had no time to phone anybody the night before. Needless to say, he was fired over the phone right there. It was a great ride. He knew how to follow his heart!

Frozen November single-track.
                                             
For the kickoff of this years ‘Wade’s Wisdom,’ I want to hear stories of rides that were too good to be missed, and the alibis dreamed up to participate. I want to hear about sacrifices that had to be made in the name of good honest shredding. Conditions so good that another day/week in the doghouse is starts to feel like home.

  2500ft of this………please!

Then, as usual, we’ll post the best 3-4 replies and pick a winner who will receive some sweet swag from my sponsors; landing right there, smack, on your doorstep free of charge. The only cost, a little cerebral sweat! We’ll be giving away product from RaceFace, Bell, Oakley, Lezyne  and a grand prize from Rocky Mountain. One column will run each month through to March.  After that, we will pick the Grand Prize winner who will receive something worthy of quitting your current job just to ride…stay tuned!

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Do you have a story of sacrifice that is too good not to be told? Story tell below and maybe you’ll win some swag! Or you can send it directly to [email protected]