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Biketrip through BC

March 9, 2009, 7:23 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Hey guys

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself a little bit. I'm a Swiss guy studying English here in Van since 2 months. So I hope you're able to figure out my n1 grammer structures and spelling mistakes =P

So yeah saturday is my final exam (wuuaaah I'd love to go for the GGGS) and as soon as my bike is here, I want to check out the trails around Van.
From June to August, I'll go for a trip around BC (stuff like Whistler, Kamloops, Banff, Fernie, Kelowna). So I need some advice for good trails and so on…

My riding skills are pretty….what should I say…baad?!! =) Mainly, I'm looking for smooth and flowy tracks so no huge stunts…or not now =) I just want to improve my riding skills but everything step by step.

Yeah that's it for a start…hope you guys can work with that and help me a little bit.

cheers

Edit: Some additional infos…I'll be on the road from around start of June to end of August. I thought about doing the trip clockwise, as I'd like to be in Whistler for Crankworx but riding there in a less busy time.

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/show.php?file=5h5uqHnI5vikiuc.jpg

March 16, 2009, 11:58 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Nobody who likes to help me a little bit with my organisation? I'd really appreciate that…

If you need more informations just tell me what you need to know. It just don't want to waste time with shitty trails or looking for the good stuff all the time. Just organsie as much as I can befor the trip starts.

March 17, 2009, 1:02 a.m.
Posts: 8
Joined: Nov. 15, 2008

im from new zealand a me and a mate are coming over the same time going to stay in the bc area for 4 weeks a list of must do trails would be great we and fairly advanced riders sweet on gaps and tech stuff

March 17, 2009, 9:36 a.m.
Posts: 6662
Joined: Nov. 20, 2002

HEAVILY EDITED Sorry just saw this map

I'm going to throw a lot of information at you. You should do a google search or NSMB or MTBR search for information and articles. I'm not very patient with people who can't search; think they are retarded and blow them off as dumbfucks so please be warned. Search terms are in quotations etc. "Seven Summits"

June to August. You should start in the warmer areas then work your way to areas that lose snow later in the year. Leave the Kootenays to last

I would go through this order. I'm not going to suggest specific trails. If you want rainforest, semi-technical BC riding then some trail suggestions are in brackets. Otherwise do the search listed above. Here are search hints. In the Nelson area Danksi knows his stuff. In Sea to Sky, Revelstoke, Salmon Arm, Panorama look for my suggestions. In Kelowna, Penticton, Oliver etc look for Smokes. I don't know who covers Kamloops, Fernie, Golden. For South island look for stuff from kperras or strahan. For Hornby Island look for thebigchin.

Start with this loop

- Merritt
- Kamloops
- Kelowna/Westbank
- Pentiction
- Oliver

The above should take about 2 weeks or so. You can find camp spots at most areas. Buy a "Backroads Mapbook" Okanagan edition for these areas.

Then I would head back to the Coast. I would hit these areas.

- Sunshine Coast (Gibsons, Sechelt)
- Powell River (I don't know the trails but here they are fun)
- Nanaimo
- Duncan
- Sooke

Then back to the North island

- Comox
- Campbell River

That will take you another 2 weeks or so. Backroads Mapbooks for the Island would cover this.

I see you put in a Kootenay loop

- Nelson
- Rossland
- Fernie
- Revelstoke
- Golden
- Panorama
- Salmon Arm

Leave these as a separate loop. Leave them for good weather and for later in the year so snow can melt. That should take 3 weeks. Backroads Mapbook for Kootenay will cover you

You want to hit up Sea to Sky which you can do anytime as its close to Vancouver. Again lots of camping and lots of things to see and cheap if you do it right. Personally I find the Whistler bike park overrated, full of gaping tourons, and over-testosteroned tattooed freetards and Brits with poor bikehandling skills and bad teeth bwdik.

- Whistler
- Squamish
- Pemberton

This whole area should take 2 weeks to do properly. Whistler Mountain Bike Guidebook and various maps sold in bike shops for these areas should do the trick

I haven't covered local areas close to Vancouver properly but you should obviously hit up

- North Shore
- Burke
- Eagle
- Vedder
- Sumas/Abbotsford
- Mission

Maps from gutsploder might help here. You'd be best off with locals to show you around

I've ignored areas that are further such as Lilloett, Chilcotins, Williams Lk/Cariboo etc. That might be outside your scope

March 17, 2009, 10:49 a.m.
Posts: 1186
Joined: Oct. 21, 2008

If you want to ride some easier stuff around town you should check out SFU. The trails there are easy but fun… Riding up the road a few times will get you into shape as well (I think the Trans Canada trail still has snow on it).

March 17, 2009, 11:29 a.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Thx for the infos…I think I can work with that for a beginning.

I'm not very patient with people who can't search; think they are retarded and blow them off as dumbfucks so please be warned.

I know exactly what you mean as I'm very active in a Swiss forum and lazy people are just annoying…but yeah when your new in an area, it's sometimes difficult to find a start. Especially when there as a whole bunch of stuff, you lose the overview pretty fast.

March 17, 2009, 11:35 a.m.
Posts: 19088
Joined: Oct. 28, 2003

if it's smooth, fast and flowy you want, you need to go to the interior (Kelowna, Kamloops, Westbank).

if you don't want to waste time searching for trails and pedalling up mountains, give Johnny Smoke a call. www.bushpilotbiking.com. He's the best tourguide the Okanagan has. He's usually pretty busy with Brits in the summer, but might be able to slot you in between breastfeedings.

March 17, 2009, 12:36 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Ehm yeah don't missunderstand me…I don't want to ride only easy singeltracks.=) I just heard that there is no comparison between the stuff in Switzerland and the things here in Canada…that's why I think my riding skills are, in your eyes, pretty bad. =)

I should be able to handle all the intermediate trails and also some of the difficult ones (blue and black…double daimond seems to be to hard). As long as there are no huge gaps, drops or very steep and technical terrain, I'm fine =)

I think after 3 weeks of whistler, I should get a huge boost on my riding skills. That's why I thought about spending the first time of my trip there to improve my general skills and then go travelling around BC and hit some of the local trails instead of hanging out in bikeparks all the time.

March 17, 2009, 12:39 p.m.
Posts: 16
Joined: March 11, 2007

Im going to be in Europe this summer and I'm gonna be looking for some biking. What swiss forum do you use for bike related stuff?

March 17, 2009, 12:52 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Im going to be in Europe this summer and I'm gonna be looking for some biking. What swiss forum do you use for bike related stuff?

Main page of the community

http://www.traildevils.ch/index.php

Forum

http://www.traildevils.ch/forum/

Most of the guys there ride freeride/downhill. There is also a little trailmap on the main page. You'll find the most favourite trails there.

Check out:
- Port du soleil
- Bellwald
- Crans Montana
- Lac Blance
- Gurten
- Biel
- Livigno

March 17, 2009, 12:54 p.m.
Posts: 0
Joined: Aug. 12, 2007

Ehm yeah don't missunderstand me…I don't want to ride only easy singeltracks.=) I just heard that there is no comparison between the stuff in Switzerland and the things here in Canada…that's why I think my riding skills are, in your eyes, pretty bad. =)

A lot if this is hype. Some of the stuff I've ridden above Verbier in Switzerland is as hard as most trails in BC….with the added 'bonus' being that if you fall off on a switchback in Verbier you are going to be rolling a long way down….
The only real difference is BC builders like to stick wooden structures everywhere but if you don't want to ride them you can normally go around.

treezz
wow you are a ass

March 17, 2009, 12:58 p.m.
Posts: 1186
Joined: Oct. 21, 2008

Hey Squidy - I'm serious about checking out Burnaby Mtn @ SFU… It's low enough to not be totally snowed in still and the trails are really really fun… It's also a good way to convert your Swiss difficulty rating to a North Shore dificulty rating… Burnaby Mtn's black diamond trails are probably equal to black diamond trails found just about everywhere on the planet that uses the trail rating system - except the North Shore.

A Burnaby Mtn. black diamond trail = North Shore blue square trail

March 17, 2009, 1:08 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

That was my worrie…I'm just not familiar with wooden constructions as there is a lack of them in Switzerland. It's not like I don't want to ride them…I just feel a little uncomfortable on skinnies and shores 3 meters above the ground =)

I haven't been to Bellwald or Verbier yet but I think I should be able to ride most of the tracks there. So my skills are maybe (upper) intermediate…but not on wooden constructions, drops and gap jumps =)

Anyway…if the trails aren't much more difficult than tha ones in the Swiss alpes, I should be fine…hopefully =)

@DarylMac:

Thx for the hint. I'll check these trails out as soon as my bike is here. If you like to show me the stuff…even better =)

March 17, 2009, 1:33 p.m.
Posts: 6662
Joined: Nov. 20, 2002

Thx for the infos…I think I can work with that for a beginning.

I know exactly what you mean as I'm very active in a Swiss forum and lazy people are just annoying…but yeah when your new in an area, it's sometimes difficult to find a start. Especially when there as a whole bunch of stuff, you lose the overview pretty fast.

yah. To be clear your first post was very good otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered responding. There's a forum on MTBR called Western Canada where half the people are asking for advice on where to ride to go but without giving any background information on their skill level etc. Half the time I ignore them and half the time I'll tell them to do laps on Severed Dick

EDIT: Some of the swiss guys I've ridden with are exceptional riders so I actually expect some competence out of you. SO my suggestions will be for intermediate - difficult trails. \\The Swiss guys I knew owned a freeride bike shop http://www.trailrider.ch/ (Rene and GUido)

No smooth singletrack for you unless you really want it.

ALso do you want big alpine rides? You live in CH so you are surrounded by that so I'm thinking it just duplicates what you have

March 17, 2009, 1:56 p.m.
Posts: 84
Joined: March 9, 2009

Okai yeah I think for me it's just important to go step by step. First some easy tracks to get into the riding again. (I haven't been riding for like 4 or 5 months now).

I just don't want to push to hard at the beginning and end up with injuries, you know. Everything step by step as I have a bad knee (ACL…I think) too. So no stupid risks =)

About the high alpine stuff…you are pretty good with your intention. I mainly like to ride trails in the rainforest, some n1 berms, roots, rocks. Maybe check out this to get an idea what I like:

http://knollybikes.com/media/video

Ross Measures - Video 1
May 5, 2008

Knolly team rider Ross rips it up in the legendary coastal BC rainforest!

This is exactly what I like to ride. I already got in touch with Ross but unfortunately, the trail is a secret one. He told me that I should spend some time in Squamish as the trails there are similar to the one in the video…

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