Extremely Easy 'Mountain Biking' above Squamish?

Tbox, how long ago was your kid four?

Tbox, how long ago was your kid four?

3 years ago. Is wonderland xxxxtreme now or something?

I am curious as to what people think are better options are out there for less then $750 to learn on.

We are in a similar spot/budget here. Wife is showing a vailed interest in MTB and wants to be able to ride beginner Whistler (Lost Lake, Riverside etc) trails.

Not to thread jack but it sounds like you are sorted.

Something like this would be a whole lot better than a hardtail for a beginner
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1550939/?directtofirstphoto

Just go to PB buy/sell and set a max price in XC/AM bikes and see what comes up. There's 61 pages worth.

If you have a nice bike that will fit her, you should ride the old one and let her ride the newer one. Or rent one so she can try it out first on something decent. If you like the idea of having your wife fall in love with riding, you're going to have to get something that you would enjoy riding yourself. Otherwise it will probably be a big fat fail. And put some good tires on it, not pinner lightweight tires. She'll have more fun if she's comfortable and confident and actually on her bike when it points downhill, much moreso than if she's 15% more efficient going uphill.

For what it's worth I've known walleater for some time and he is pretty dialled into getting people and their wives on bikes. He'll know if/when his lady is ready and wanting to get a bit crazier….he's also likely to be sporting some rebuilt old relic while they are out 'walking the dog'. I've also met Mrs. Walleater, and she's likely to tear him a new one if he hasn't provided her with adequate equipment…

I put my vote in for the dump trails, and any number of the fireroads up there. If you want a warmup ride on the shore to see what she thinks, fisherman's trail on seymour is a great start. Once you hit the bridge over the river you can cross the river and take a fireroad all the way to the dam. A great intro ride on anything short of a road bike. I recently took my lady up there on a cyclocross ride for her first go, and she loved it. One thing to note is that there are no dogs allowed past the homestead trail.

Thanks K. Yep, I'll be riding my rigid '92 RMB Vertex and leaving the 29er at home. My missus could hardly even straddle that thing!

Hijack away re. advice.

I've just done the same as Kram but just for local bikes $500-800 as you'd be insane to buy a alu full suspension bike without checking it out, and there's maybe two suitable bikes. If you are not mechanically inclined, you'd have to factor in potentially getting the bike tuned up, brakes bled, suspension pivots replaced, suspension serviced blah blah blah. If you don't stick a chain checker on the chain you might end up with another $150 for a new drivetrain. That Blur is highly likely to have seized VPP bearings which could lead to frame failure. Even if the bike is perfect (with Avid Juicy brakes heh heh…) then you'd need to spend more money on the set up for example.

It's nowhere near as straight forward as some people might let on. You might of course get lucky. But don't buy a 10yr full suspension bike for $700 and not expect to sink a ton of money into it. I manage a workshop so see this scenario every week, which why I'm finding it mildly amusing watching the drilling I'm getting. If the Sov doesn't work out, I can sell it and probably nearly double my money. I'd probably have to chuck most of the other options out there in the recycling bin.

If nothing else, if you are buying an old coke can full floater, check for cracks!!!!!

3 years ago. Is wonderland xxxxtreme now or something?

I dunno, but three years of riders and rain will add a lot of roots goodness and erosion to some trails.

Mind you, I'm picturing Cheshire Cat. Don't know wonderland.

cheshire is an easy black, certainly not beginner terrain.
wonderland is rough on a hardtail, you need some skillz to avoid getting pounded.

start at brackendale bean, climb the smooth dump trails, cross the hwy and climb up alice lake road, take a break at alice lake, descend jacks then brackentrail, cross the overpass back to the cafe. coffee and food before and after. mellow ride, she'll love it and you'll get laid.

to avoid the hwy when climbing up to cat lake, you can take a series of somewhat overgrown old logging roads on the west side of the hwy which hook into the brohm lake trails - stiff climb up bridge trail, and you eventually end up crossing the bridge at the south end of brohm lake, follow the hwy south about 200m, then zip across to the cat lake road. you have to cross the hwy twice (west at alice lake, then back again at brohm) but no hwy slog, much better.

If you want to go from the Uni to Alice Lake via the roads, you can. You can ride up Mamquam to the FSR that leads to Half Nelson but instead of going right at the first fork, you go left. Keep riding and you will pass the bottom of Pseudo - keep climbing past on the road (it will go uphill for awhile). Eventually there will be another split, you can then go left (right heads you up towards the bottom of Skookum) towards Alice Lake. You will end up behind Made in the Shade - close to where Scheizzen ends.

This route was hard going when I did it in the other direction around 10 days ago, muddy and churned up by logging trucks.

cheshire is an easy black, certainly not beginner terrain.
wonderland is rough on a hardtail, you need some skillz to avoid getting pounded.

start at brackendale bean, climb the smooth dump trails, cross the hwy and climb up alice lake road, take a break at alice lake, descend jacks then brackentrail, cross the overpass back to the cafe. coffee and food before and after. mellow ride, she'll love it and you'll get laid.

to avoid the hwy when climbing up to cat lake, you can take a series of somewhat overgrown old logging roads on the west side of the hwy which hook into the brohm lake trails - stiff climb up bridge trail, and you eventually end up crossing the bridge at the south end of brohm lake, follow the hwy south about 200m, then zip across to the cat lake road. you have to cross the hwy twice (west at alice lake, then back again at brohm) but no hwy slog, much better.

This is a damn fine option. a couple spots may have her walking going down Brackentrail but the rest is doable. Dump trails are good too as they are generally flat. Wonderland would not be on my list for a person's first ride on a mountain bike, but every persons is different. It is tempting because it is right there. As long as you enter at the bottom/lower entrance.

Thanks for the route to avoid the highway. I have never been able to link it together or never even gave it an honest try.

not sure if its too late in the year (they're closed to bikers in the summer) but the trails around alice lake are easy and scenic

edit: this kind of stuff

guess it's called the four lakes trail

4 Lakes is open to bikes up to May 1. Closed May 1 - Sept 15.

Re: the Ray Peters Trail/Dump trail…you can even get a preview for the missus on Google Maps Street View right down some of the trails!

Having introduced my wife to biking 2 yrs ago, I went the pains of trying to find suitable "beginnermediate" trails for a hardtail rider. Ray Peters/Dump trails definitely fit the bill. We've started there then rode to the FSR in Alice Lakes (past the parks office) up to New Rock n' Roll, down Cliffs/Robs Corners and then down Mashiter to Rollercoaster (which you could skip), follow the doubletrack back to Jack's and then back to Alice Lake. You could also double back and head up the Northside Connector and then down to the Uni via the Connector (which was mentioned previously).

I would not recommend Wonderland or Cheshire either unless you enjoy mid-trail yelling matches…

My kid rode wonderland when he was four. It's an easy,fun trail with some cool things to see along the way. Just use the lower entrance and let the good times roll.

Im speaking from experience here, taking a new mountain biker on Wonderland resulted in her turning around and leaving for the day. Not to say this will happen with everyone, just my .02. Your 4 year old probably has a lot more guts and reckless abandon than adults trying something new.

I can say with authority that Wonderland was a bad idea last spring for my timid beginner gf. We turned around fairly quickly. It's quite rooty and hard to get going if you don't have the skills.

Our go-to when she first started was a loop involving Cliff's/Rob's Corners and Jack's Trail.

Seeing as the OP's wife used to race bmx at some point,she probably has more bike handling skill in her back pocket than most here would expect. Riding a bike is like riding a bike.