Trail Stories

Welcome to our Trail Stories Page

Do you have a favourite story from the trails. We all have stories of riding, some humorous, some scary. If you would like to share one with us write it up and send it along (use our Contact Us page). You can even make your story anonymous if you like just let us know when you send it in.

First Ride of 2008

The first ride of the year took place Friday April 4th. While spring is late in arriving this year it was great to get out on the trails. Everyone enjoyed the ride and there were no casualties, unless you count Bruce’s derailleur. That always hurts.

The group met across from the bus depot for our usual 5:30pm start. Eight riders showed up eager for the first ride. Mike Maibauer stopped by but didn’t have his ridding gear, what was he thinking? At least he made an appearance though, that’s more than can be said for Lee Crowe and Dan Kaleta. Where were you guys?

After the usual pre-season what have you been up to’s the group headed for the trails. We started out up plywood hill in search of single track. The first trail we hit was the Weldwood side hill. Southern exposure helped this trail, as it was mostly clear with only intermittent snow patches. As the trail swung deeper into the woods however the snow was a little more abundant.

The trail emptied out near the plywood plant where we took Richbar Road in search of the Weldwood Ridge. As we climbed the ridge it soon became apparent that this trail is still a couple weeks away from being ready to ride. However the snow did have its advantages.

Exiting the ridge for dry pavement we ended the ride 2 hours later blasting back down plywood hill. While the conditions may have not been optimal what else would you rather be doing on a Friday night?

Ride On!

{Be sure to check out our Events Calendar for all our club rides and events.}

Crocodile Tears

So my youngest son is a biking enthusiast (he's 8 years old). We bought him a small mountain bike last year and we hit the trails whenever we can. Recently he has pulled out of the shed a classic, "Whitey", as it was named years ago. Whitey is a small BMX style bike that has gone through two of my nephews and my oldest son as well. Part of his renewed interest in Whitey is because over the winter he and I would watch Ride Guides BMX to get a biking fix. He has spent countless hours in the back yard on Whitey building ramps and jumps and trying to do tricks he has seen on TV. My father showed up the other day with a pair of BMX pegs for Whitey. My son's eyes lit up! We quickly put them on the rear wheel and off he went. He was in heaven. After watching for a while my dad left but said he would be back with a set for the front. Last night the front pegs showed up so I asked my son to put Whitey in the bike room and I would put them on. I had noticed when I put the rear ones on that there was some play in the rear hub so I thought I would check it out.

On the repair stand I noticed that the front axle was the wrong size for the pegs. The rear hub was in need of service, the headset was loose and my son pointed out that it had been hard to pedal (the bottom bracket was toast). Standing back eyeing the bike my son added that maybe we could put a new seat on, as this one was broken. Whitey had seen better days. The task seemed insurmountable so I said to my son that the pegs would not go on and there were too many things wrong with Whitey and maybe he was done for. I suggested that we put the pegs on one of the other bikes in the shed. His chin dropped and I couldn't see his face because of his ball cap. I reached down and pulled his chin up to see his face red, his lip quivering and big crocodile tears welling up in his eyes. It was the death of a friend to him and it broke my heart.

I put my son to bed and went back to the bike room and started pulling pieces off. When I did get to the bottom bracket it fell apart in my hands. The bearings were dust. Every bearing on the bike either had no or little grease left. Before long I had nothing but frame in hand. I polished it up and slowly started the re-assembly process. Amazingly in my collection of old parts I found everything I needed, including the bottom bracket parts. Well into the night I worked and when I was done everything was back together and working. I even replaced the seat with one of my old ones. I also found a pair of flats in a box and added them too. The only thing still left to do is the front pegs. A trip to my LBS today for a new axle and I think I can solve that problem too.

So this morning I'm working on about 4 hours sleep but I think it was worth it. Whitey will live on!

The First Ride

It was about five years ago when a friend first suggested that I give mountain biking a try. I hadn't really ridden a bike in years but I caved in and decided to give it a try.

The first trail we went on was the pinnacles. Now this trail is not particularly difficult, but remember then I hadn't ridden in a very long time and I was way out of shape.

The ride was full of all sorts of mishaps and disasters but I did manage to make it to the amphitheatre and back. On one of the last climbs coming back to the park I was totally whipped. My body was covered in scrapes. My legs were like jelly. My heart had spent the last hour in my throat and I felt like I could not go on any further. Half way up the climb I hit the wall. I had zero strength left, I couldn't even get my feet out of the pedals. So casually I reached out and grabbed a hold of a branch on a tree. The branch snapped and over I went tumbling bike over body some fifteen to twenty feet down the bank.

Lying there I waited for the first pains of a broken bone. Luckily I couldn't feel anything and took the opportunity to rest. It took two of us to get me and my bike back up to the trail. We continued on and finally made it to our truck in the parking lot.

I took my helmet and sunglasses off and looked at my riding partner. He was laughing hysterically at me. When he caught his breath enough he told me to look in the mirror. Above my eye was a leaking gash. My hole eye, under where my glasses were, was covered in blood. I hadn't felt a thing and it did look funny.

When I got home my wife came outside to meet us. The first thing she said after seeing the mess I was in was 'I guess you won't be trying that again'. I just smiled and said 'you bet I am'. It was awesome and I was hooked!

Name withheld to protect the clumsy.