Mini Marathon Monday's

First " proper " MTB ride of the year.  As always the trails in Uxbridge were in mint condition.  It seems that people really payed attention and did not give into temptation before the trails thawed out properly.  DMBA gave the go ahead for all the tracts on the 14th so after a few hard days on the road bike a nice jaunt through the woods was just the ticket.  50 km and 3600' of climbing later and the inaugural ride was over.

Dagnar MTB Trails 

Canadian Slickrock

Don Days of Spring..

Mowtown Trail Heading North in the Don Valley

Shimano XT 1x11

Decided to go the 1 x 11 route that I have set up on the Santa Cruz without dropping the coin on the SRAM group.

Enter Shimano and the workhorse group in their line up.  The trusted XT.  They have since released pricing on the XT Di2 but honestly can't see the need for electronic shifting on any of my bikes so far.

The parts I put on are the XT crank with a 32 ring, the 11/46 cassette, XT rear der and shifter and the e13 xcx chain guide.

I was concerned about the chainline and rubbing as this seems to be the complaint for people running guides.  e13's mounts between the frame and bb and comes with spacers to shim if needed.  Mine went on with the 3 mm spacer and on either end of the cassette there is more than enough clearance.

Have about 6 rides on it so far and I am liking it a lot.  The only place I think I will miss the rings is on the road  or on long downhills as you will spin out but the flip side of that is getting up the hills and I was fine on any trail so far.   One thing to note if your running bar lockout or levers the shifter has a gear indicator window that is quite big and there is a replacement dummy plate that will be released in a few weeks by Shimano for a few bucks.  I guess people realized bar real estate is key.

Wheelie Wendnesdayz in the Gatineau Parc

They do a really good job not making public the singletrack outside of the Camp Fortune end of the park.  So much so that you almost get the feeling they don't want you to find it.  They don't know how determined we are when it comes to finding the good stuff.  Gatineau has km after km of mapped and marked double track and the stuff on the north end ( Wakefield QC ) where we just were but if you step off the beaten path, commit to bushwack, you find gems like this.  This was probably one of the most scenic singletrack stretches that was well hidden and obviously ridden and we really enjoyed these..

Don Days of Summer

Roller Flowster Trail - Don Valley

Copeland Forest Canada Day

Dual (ly) Personalities...

Don Valley Views

Copeland Forest October Colours...

Got a break in the weather and cold temps this past long weekend so we ventured up to Copeland to get some non retro rides in on a couple of ti soft tail's ( Silk ti 29 & Moots Ybb )

Copeland is a pretty tough spot to ride both in route finding and elevation gains and when you add the leaf carpet plus a GoPro you are inviting that highlight reel crash.  We never got to test this formula out but a few wheel stoppers made you pay attention.

Don Days of Summer

Carbon Fiber Footprint

Santa Cruz Tallboy 2 - Durham Forest

Dog Days of......June

Spent the last few weeks riding up at Durham and Walker Woods.  The trail gnomes have been busy with a few nice new sections of trail and the conditions and weather has been nothing short of amazing ( minus the mosquito's and poison ivy ).

I wish DMBA / IMBA or others would take a few minutes and offer up some rider etiquette lessons for new riders.  While this idea is nice to float around I realize the logistics and access would be difficult to capture the right audience ( keep in mind even seasoned riders could benefit from a refresher ).

Maybe the onus sits with riders in general to pass on some knowledge ?  I'm not sure but when you see hikers literally jump off the trail to avoid bikers and downhill riders making zero attempt at yielding to uphill riders you gotta wonder if people are even aware ?

Places like Durham are heavily used by many different groups on non directional trails and while this won't address all the issues it sure as heck would be a good start.  This is part of the reason we have been going there at different times hoping to avoid the morning mad house that the weekends seem to turning into.

Kris is starting up some night riding in Durham so if this sounds good to you reach out to me and I can get you the nights and times we are meeting up.  

Perfection...

 " the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects....."

Brilliant May Weekend at Horseshoe Valley

Still have snow on the hills at the resort but the trails at Copeland were in mint shape.  There is so much stuff to ride up here that even after years and years of exploring you still find new options.  Events like the old Hardwood Raid & Substance Enduro's don't happen but they showed us ways to link so much of the tracts together the combo's are endless. 

i9 bling in the woods of Copeland Forest

Perfect Day - 1 Flat Tyre = Perfect Day

Glen Major

Santa Cruz Tallboy on the Rocks...

A little late to post this pic but one of my favorite from AZ 2014

Spring time in the GTA

Durham Forest

Durham Forest - Check

Dufferin  Forest - Check

Don Valley - Check

Walker / 3 Rox - Wet down low so skip.

Rouge Valley - Not so check.....

April is always hit and miss with weather.  The trails are  thawing so lots of time spent on the roads north of the GTA and itching to get back on the MTB.

Durham on Sunday morning was great.  3 cars in the lot at 9 and at 12 the lot was packed.  Easy to stay off the trails that are still too wet as they have signs up but the rest of the forest was mint and a easy couple of hours to be had.  The trails were getting the leaf blower treatment which is always nice so make sure you stop and thank the volunteers that buff the singletrack for us to ride.  The Don is fantastic.  Again not much to say other than really enjoying perfect conditions.

Motown heading north

This is a far better weather report than what took place this past weekend in Prescott at the Whiskey Race. Yes Arizona, and yes snow, sleet and hail. It seems we are not the only ones...

It's a Wrap...

The sun sets on a killer winter weather swap.  Traded in one of the hardest and longest Canadian seasons for Arizona.

Was able to check out new areas new trails, terrain, bikes, skillsets and now that it's over heading back to the rollers as the tail end of winter hangs on to the bitter end.

Arizona has so much to offer it makes this destination so appealing.  The riding is as tough as you want it to be and the rocks will test you but in the end it's time on the bike and that's the point.

I am still putting Sedona on the top of the list but there are so many other areas to check out like Tuscon, Flagstaff, Prescott it makes the possibilities endless.  Unlike Toronto you can drive 90 min out of Phoenix in any direction and hit completely new topography and trails.