Coastal Crew Ep4. – Pre-season with Mike Hopkins from The Coastal Crew on Vimeo.Catch Ep 3 Dunes and Loam before it disappears! ( Kidding! It’s not really going anywhere)

The post Coastal Crew Ep 4 – Pre-Season with Mike Hopkins first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The Season Episode 11 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.Didn’t see the last one? Take a peak at Episode 10 Jonaven Gets After It

The post The Season Ep 11 Half Way Through first appeared on Pack & Trail.

A whole bunch more deadly videos by The Coastal Crew

Previous Episodes

Coastal Crew Ep. 1 – Saturday

Coastal Crew Ep.2 – Semenuk & Norbraten Get The Shot

The post Coastal Crew Ep.3 – Dunes & Loam first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Coastal Crew Ep.2 – Semenuk & Norbraten Get The Shot from The Coastal Crew.

Also check out the blog at http://coastalcrew.blogspot.com/

This video is part of a series. Don’t miss the next episodes:

Coastal Crew Ep. 1 – Saturday

Coastal Crew Ep. 3 – Dunes & Loam

The post Coastal Crew Ep.2 – Semenuk & Norbraten Get The Shot first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Coastal Crew Ep.1 – Saturday from The Coastal Crew on Vimeo.

Also check out the blog at http://coastalcrew.blogspot.com/

This is video is part of a series.

Don’t miss the next episodes.

Coastal Crew Ep.2 – Semenuk & Norbraten Get The Shot

Coastal Crew Ep. 3 – Dunes & Loam

The post Coastal Crew Ep.1 – Saturday first appeared on Pack & Trail.

For me Hornby holds a special appeal, partially because of the many memories I have of my time there but mostly because of the potential for adventure it holds. Even with a well planned itinerary Hornby always finds a way to surprise and delight. You never know who you’re going to meet or what’s going on on the island.

Several weeks ago I was thrilled when a good friend invited me to her cabin there for the weekend. Even though I was in the middle of renovating my kitchen, I knew my girlfriend and I needed a break and we packed up and left our kitchen in ruins – no drywall, flooring or anything, really. Everything that used to be in the kitchen had been unceremoniously dumped anywhere there was free space.  

Nevertheless, the adventuremobile made it’s way north with three bikes balanced on top and the back seat and trunk packed with food, clothing and gear. We got over to the island after dark and slowly made our way to the cabin then climbed straight into bed to rest before a day of riding.I got up the next morning rested and excited; Hornby’s Mt. Geoffrey is home to my all time favourite bike trail – No Horses. I decided to go for a hard solo ride in the morning and then for a more leisurely group ride after lunch and a beach trip. Both rides were stellar, 3 hours in the morning, slightly less in the afternoon. Both included a lot of climbing, a characteristic I’m trying to introduce into all my sessions; the training effect is undeniably positive but the pain is immediate and frequently brutal. Anyone wanna go for a ride?

No Horses was of course the standout trail; it flows down along an old creek bed, sending you swooping down one side then spitting you back up to the top – over and over. It mimics a mutant halfpipe, only steeper and more aggressive in its mission to throw you out over the buffed berms. The ever present imaginary soundtrack in my head was loudly playing ‘Two Shoes,’ by The Cat Empire; my mind transferred up into the trees above and I could see myself there, smoothly streaming around the high corners then violently accelerating back down towards the old creek before once again soaring up and around. Over and over, faster and faster until..

It’s flat all over and the trail is finished with you. Bummer.

Thoroughly used up, we enjoyed a fresh salmon dinner surrounded by more friends who had made their way over for the rest of weekend. The drinks and the stories continued past a characteristically beautiful Hornby Island sunset and late into the night.

Trying to keep the bicycling theme of the weekend alive, I brought my road bike to ride home on, assuming it would only be 60km or so.  After feeling slightly tired from riding across Hornby and Denman Island I was shocked when the first road sign indicated I was still more than 80km from Nanaimo.  Uh oh.   I stopped at several gas stations along the way home to fill up on electrolytes and arrived home about 3 hours later, ready to fight the kitchen.

The post Hornby Island first appeared on Pack & Trail.

We started the ride off going past the yellow gate and up the road to the trails in that area. The first thing we ran across was a small dual slalom course. This course starts up the road a ways and then ends down near where we parked.

All the trails by the yellow gate are fairly tame and don’t require a lot of technical experience. There are a few features that can be ridden by the more experienced to make the trail very enjoyable.

Heading across the metal pedestrian bridge on the bikes we hit a whole other area with more trails. We took a left after the bridge and continued on this trail that parallelled the river. There were a few sections on this trail that were quite difficult. It was very ridable in the downstream direction but much more work going the other way.

The favorite trail that day was Gay Bar. It was in the area by the yellow gate and was much longer than all the other trails in that section. There wasn’t a lot of downhill but not a lot of uphill either. It was a bit strange to see the person riding in front of you ride by and then finally end up in that spot 5 minutes later. One look at the map will show you all the switchbacks in the trail. The downside is the trail seems to go nowhere but the upside the trail goes on for a long time in every little space.

Try out these trails when you have a chance. They offer a great ride if you are looking for some fun single track to play around on but also expand in a huge array of trails for longer rides!

The post Mountain Biking Top Bridge Trails in Parksville first appeared on Pack & Trail.