Training Log Archive: revy

Part two of the holiday meeting Mike, VJ, James and Wakana in Kaleden. Today we introduced Mike and VJ to paddleboarding. Since James had to work I paddled their two person SUP (16' long). It was a little heavier but otherwise manageable for me by myself. The first part of the paddle was a little boring as we cut across the open water but much more interesting once I could follow the shoreline. We saw a deer hanging out in the reeds at one point. A little tailwind gave us a boost towards the end.

Quick rip around Skaha lake with James. About 5 km on the busier highway and 4 km on the rail trail. Solid pace. Didn't feel that the wider tires slowed me down that much - probably notice it the most climbing steep hills.

Last day with Russ and Vikki - back to Merry Creek to ride one of our favorite trails from last year. The tough thing about high expectations is that it is hard to exceed them... I'd say that the trail has gotten a little more rugged since last season. Still very fun, good challenges and one of the better trails out there but not quite the wow factor it had last year. I also wasn't 100% confident in my rear tire repair which didn't help.

Both Russ and I were keen to check out Vallelujah - we were stymied last year due to bike trouble. Getting warmer today... we decided to stay on the logging road as the grade was more reasonable but it meant more time in the sun. Lots of great views from the logging road down to Nelson, the Bonnington range and downriver towards the Rossland range. The actual trail started off quite well with fun riding and nice views of the Valhalla's. It is a bit rough around the edges but nothing wrong with that. Different sub-alpine vegetation than near Revelstoke which was cool. Once we got into the forest unfortunately we had to deal with multiple (40+) trees down. I'd checked the updates last night and nothing major noted - when we got back an update from the day prior had been posted stating that the trail was unrideable. I wouldn't go that far as we obviously rode the trail but it was annoying and at times challenging to deal with the downed trees.

We were glad when we turned off onto Below the Gods as the tree issue disappeared. BTG was fun though it seemed to struggle deciding what sort of trail it wanted to be. Antler was just OK. Smallwood had a stiff climb but a better trail with nice rock, grassy vegetation and a nice view at the end. Unfortunately I got a puncture and slow leak that didn't seal. We used a plug but it also didn't seal well. I was able to ride down Bigwood carefully but was down to 10 psi by the bottom. Fun trail - upper section is Nelson blue.

Glad we did the trail but not sure we will be rushing back.

Orange bridge in Nelson back to our AirBnB. Wind was stronger than forecast which made the short crossing more interesting... once past the airport it felt like an exploratory paddle despite the hwy being just above us. The current through the narrows was much stronger than I expected. We did the paddle workout after a stop at the Taghum beach.

Mixed weather today so opted for a ride at Morning Mountain where we had some bailout options should the conditions change. Russ had some brake issues so we lapped Lefty once before meeting him at the bottom. Enjoyed the nice climbing trail - especially the middle sections. A short bit of Highballer reminded me that this is an old trail (it as been 14 years since I last rode Nelson). We started the descent on Mister Slave which was a really nice section of hard blue trail. After some discussion decided on Turnstyles for the next bit - a black machine built jump line. We all agreed that the upper half was excellent with fun corners and potentially achievable jumps. The lower half had some weirder lips and bigger jumps but overall a good choice. Finished on Lefty again which is what 5620 should have been... more fun, decent speed but not alot of braking and blue level jumps. It helped that both trails had seen some maintenance recently as there were few rough sections. As an added bonus to the good riding the weather held off (but pissed rain overnight).

Physio

Point to point paddle on the Slocan from above Winlaw to Crescent Valley. Water levels were down a bit from their highs last week but certainly still pretty high. The first 8km were gentle moving water then into a bigger rapid just below the WInlaw bridge which I portaged with Courtney (Russ and Vikki floated it). The next section had a number of small class 2 rapids and I managed all of them standing up. The other big rapid was just above the Slocan bridge - it was rather turbulent and lost the boat sideways at one point which led to a quick dunk. Pretty easy to jump back onto the boat as I floated down (one of the nice things about SUPs). Finished at the beach in Crescent Valley. A great day of paddling.

Day 1 of southern BC road trip (with Russ and Vikki for week one). We were planning a Wells Gray paddle trip but the unsettled weather with high amounts of rain forecast led to a plan B...

We stopped at Mt Abriel on the drive south - rain stopped just before we arrived and trails were surprisingly dry. The air was ridiculously humid though. We checked out some of the upper trails including the new climbing trail. Dusty Panther looks like a machine built berm trail. We ended up on Ride On (joining midway as the road climb up is rather unpleasant - will wait for the climbing trail to go higher). It was OK though not super exciting. The black trail was better though ended up back on Ride On (and the bottom was better).