Ticket to ride, white line highway Tell all your friends, they can go my way...

This never made it up either from Feb / March. Better late than never.

Hooked on Phonix...

Ramble on.....

South Mountain Preserve

See the theme ? Hot and dry and rocky.  Checked out South Mtn today this shot was from the Desert Classic trail if my memory is right.  Decided not to do the National trail...yet.  These rocks are not forgiving and when you get up close it changes your invincibility factor.  This place was packed for a Friday afternoon.  Would not want to hit this on the weekend.

Can't get this theme song out of my head while I'm out there.  Could not find the heli pad climb ?

Views for Days...

GoPro Day

My Local....

Depending on who you talk to there is anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of trails to ride in the Don Valley.  Taylor Creek, The Ridge, Dirt Jumps and all the usual suspects only account for about 2 and those 2 are also the most traveled.  Having done a few recon rides with Thorben I think I have a good idea on the network now and still finding new stuff...

2013 Ride For Karen ~ 12th Edition

What a great day Sunday Sept. 8th turned out to be. This after spending Saturday slogging around in the rain with Kris and Co. setting up the ride / start finish, marking the course, and generally getting geared up for the ride the sun gods delivered big time  I think there was 300+ riders on the road and countless people behind the scenes making this ride go off with much success, including surpassing the $2 million dollar milestone over the past 12 editions.

This year marks a new course which from all accounts people loved. Weston Rd. is one hilly mo~fo. The section after the 50 km water stop was top notch.  The groups rode well together and this ride brings out a great group of riders and bike friends.  Congrats Kris, Kirk and kudos to Derek ( wow man your tireless... )

Hardwood Hills - Coffee Run / Joyride

Summer Solstice 2013

First Day of Summer = First Palgrave Point to Point

What a killer day to kick of the official start of Summer.  Kris and I went out to Palgrave to do the first portion of the Hockley Epic.  The route is a long time coming and has taken several re-con rides to link it all together but you could not have gotten a better day for this. Stay tuned for the video...

Taking in the rolling vista from atop Glenn Haffey

April 1st was no joke. Killer ride.

Another perfect day, trails dry temps again were warm enough for full summer kit and being a Monday meant empty forests.  Bent Creek again for this ride with more of a find and seek kind of day.  Ribbons of primo singletrack  snake all over the area with long long long climbs ending in nice dh's

How do you get tired looking at this.  It doesn't get better than this in my opinion.  LIFE BEHIND BARS

Ravenshoe

Headed out for a late afternoon rip around Ravenshoe to clear my head up a bit. Trailbuilders have been busy. Kris and I met up and had a good rip

Ravenshoe from Philip Hudson on Vimeo.

Mono Center

Decided to stop in at Mono for a few laps on the way back from Collingwood. Another stellar day weather wise and a almost empty Provincial Park.

3 Days at 3 Stages

Vacation Withdrawal Syndrome

One of the downsides when you get back from a good riding road trip is you ( at least I do  ) suffer from mountain epic exploration withdrawal syndrome.  Being from Ontario our terrain is not even close to the grand mountain & mesa destination trails but we do have our share of classic Canadian single track and you might not have to climb 2 or 3 thousand feet to the trailhead but you can certainly hit that number spread out over the ride.

Last week it was the Gatineau Hydro Cut trail from Scarborough to the Rouge and then Seaton return.  Today was a completely new spot in the Hockley area and it was perfect.  Something to be said about getting away from the traditional loop rides.  More of these to come faux sho....

Monarch Crest Trail

14'ers Abound

The Upper Arkansas Valley has the most 14 k peaks in the State and the ride today was the highest I have been at on a bike.  Topping out at 12 k on the Garmin started out to do the Monarch Crest trail from Monarch Mountain with no shuttle.  The plan was a out back on this world famous trail to see what all the hype was about.  First point to note is the trail itself boasts some of the smoothest, flowing dirt ribbons I have ridden.  The climbing with the exception of the start was not as taxing as I would have imagined given the altitude.  Views for days and we only saw 4 other riders.

Monarch itself is a 38 mile point to point with over 4000' of descending and several options and shuttles to chose from.  Classic above tree line route.  Had to put the camera away......

Salida CO

This is the last stop on the trip.  Salida is about 1hr 40 min away from Crested Butte and sits about a thousand feet lower at 7k and change BUT the surrounding Mountains are huge.  After some trail beta from the 3 shops in town headed over to the Arkansas trail system which is right downtown across the river ( same name ).

It seems they have a local Monarch Crest ride on July 4th that sees locals heading out for this " fun group ride " at 4 a.m. and hitting 90 some miles of classic Colorado singletrack.  Tomorrow's out back on the Crest will have to do.

A few more CB rides - Next stop Salida