British Columbia's winter flavors

British Columbia is a fantastic place for mountain bike lovers, but also a paradise for powder fanatics during the winter! Olympics Games in 2010, mountains along the ocean, city close from the resorts, winter sports are also a kind of religion in the BC culture. Winter climate is pretty unique; because of the wind from the Pacific Ocean, temperature remains pleasant in the city while it’s dumping in the mountains. And when I say dumping, I speak about tons of powder, for example the cumulative snowfall of Whistler since the beginning of the winter is 4,15meters!! The elevation of Whistler’s peak is only 2,200m, if you compare with a resort in the same elevation in the Alps; I think it's a very different...

Figures are figures, now let’s speak about the action, about the shred!

I have the chance to have my roommate, and also a banch of Canadian friends working in the local familial resort: Grouse Mountain (aka the peak of Vancouver). Thanks to those guys I begian my first snowboarding adventures in a nice environment with a fantastic view of the city, boat and ferry in the ocean, big mountains all around, wooow. Everything is super easy for me, bus stop for the mountains in my patio, resort closing at 10pm, a very convenient way to have fun all the time.

My first ride was in the middle of November, and the snow quality was incredibly good: super fresh and light!! Since this time I had more than 10 sessions with friends, collegues, or by myself. Expect once a time, snow was always powder quality, that I enjoyed as much as I can: jumping cliffs, spining in the park, shreding in the backcountry or simply carving on the runs. 

 

I also went in Whistler with a hitch hiking rideshare in a hippie van! If you forget the price of the lift ticket ($100/day) Whistler is a beautiful paradise for backcountry riding. Pillows and large powdy runs are the local specialities. I had chance to have awesome conditions, the day was one of the best ever. So much snow, I was feeling like a surfer on the wave in every corner!

The best distance/price/quality I found is Cypress Mountain. The biggest ski resort of the North Shore, is a perfect place for your weekly riding, the view is awesome, the size is enough for to diversify your ride all the day. Ski resorts of the North Shore are illuminated at night; it means you can enjoy your riding between 8am and 10pm, perfect for people who prefer staying at bed the morning...

 

 

 I just switched my mountain bike for my snowboard in the middle of November, but people are still riding the bike trails around the city, life is hard in BC, there is no break in your athletic schedule, tons of powder during the winter and best mountain bike trails of the world all the year...

Come back in France should be difficult

 

Happy BChristmas!

Julien

 

 

BC Bike Race Christmas Party

Credit Photo: Danielle Baker - Andreas Hestler - Thomas Howard

special event BCBR beer glass

Last week, the BC Bike Race team was invited for the annual Christmas party, a great moment  to thanks friends & volunteers for the work accomplished in 2010, and think about 2011. Last year BCBR organized a cruising tandem ride around the city, this year it was a dinner at the sweet pub restaurant named the Brewing Company in the nice neighbourhood of Yaletown, Vancouver.

 

The word of the president                                                                       Funny Jeff 

 Mike Jacoby and me after a nice dinner

 Dean Payne, Thomas Howard and Dre

Party time by Danielle

After a nice speech of Dean Pean, President, we enjoyed a delicious meal, and had a few homemade beer in our sweet BC Bike Race Glass. As a great night, we finished late in the morning, I meet new people from the organization like the official designer Mike Jacoby, the base camp director John Crosby and lots of friendly people.

What a nice way to finish the year with BC Bike Race and celebrate life around the passion for Mountain Bike.

Merry Christmas

Julien

North Shore XC/All Mountain pilgrimage during the fall/winter season

Thanks to the Pacific Ocean the area of Vancouver has a unique temperate climate that permit people to ride Bikes almost all the year. It rains and snows like everywhere but the average temperature is the best of Canada. I am from the East of France, I know, the place where the rain is the more present in my country. To be honest I was positively surprised to ride my bike at the end of November in pretty good conditions. October and November were host of Mr Sun, perfect for me because I arrived just at the end of the summer. The only trouble I had to face is the time of the sunset for my sessions. Sometimes I had to finish my ride with my headlight

 

Every week end I used to ride with my buddy-rider and internship manager Andreas Hestler (when he is not travelling around the world). Andreas is an ex professional racer who rides bikes since 20 years around the world, I couldn’t find a better guide to discover the best of the north shore. I had the chance to ride with all the local friends of Dre and a big part of north shore bike family, like legendary freerider Wade Simmons, people from the Mountain Bike industry, Pete Vallance (Director of sponsorship/marketing @ Rocky Mountain Bikes) great photographer and pro road racer Chris Christie, I was also very glad to meet community legends, like Todd "digger" Fianger one of the most famous trail digger of BC.

During 3 months I have riding every day after work and every week ends a big part of the AM and XC trails around the North Shore and Squamish. Most of the time those rides were epic, 4 hours on the bike is a classic, I was very surprised to see that I can ride a long distance and enjoyed my ride from the beginning to the end. I think it’s the magic of BC trails. The strongest ride was definitely the Triple Crown for Thanksgiving Day. The figures speak well: 3 North Shore mountains, from Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay. 2500m of positive climbing, 63 km, 8h00 on the bike, crazy descents, 21 dudes who began the ride, only 7 who finished it! Certainly one of the best definitions of the word "Epic"! 

I also really appreciated the ride in the deep Cypress Mountain when Wade Simmons show us some amazing secret trails, I don’t think lots of European people tried that kind of experience.

Seeing black bears around the trails or deers crossing the trails are also the kind of shivering but wonderful memories.

This experience in British Columbia is for me like a mountain bike pilgrimage, ride with legends in legendary places. Every day I am impressed riding a new descent or thrilled seeing a new spectacular view in the middle of nowhere. I enjoy the friendly times shared with riders smiling around a great dinner, satisfied after a perfect session. 

Mountain biking is definitely the best way to discover a new country/region, learn about the culture, enjoy the nature and meet local people. My immersion in the West Canadian would not have been the same without Mountain Bike.

Now snow is in the forest of BC, white landscapes are beautiful, new adventures are coming in, snowboarding, biking in the snow, snowshoeing and more for the next months...

Stay tuned

Walking is for those who haven’t discovered the wheel.

Julien