Day 52: Bike Like Crazy

Early morning we head to Valemount – hoping to beat the heat again. With the help of the AllTrails app – we found ourselves hiking an enjoyable and diverse trail at the town border. The Trail (called Swift Creek Lookout) is walking along a small creek, climbing to a good vista point, and continues back to the river (for a quick refreshment in the cold water), via a Cedar forest. We returned to the Trail base and realized we were in the middle of another mountain biking heaven with more than 30 trails at all difficulty levels. Shuttle service was taking the biker up to the top of their trial of choice, and all you needed to do was – glide down. As I have never really mountain biked, and as our bikes were on our truck – I have decided to give it a chance. Trails 23, which is called Trap-Line, started at the mid-point of the mountain and was described in the billboard guide as – “great for all skill levels”. The local Bikers told me that as long as I don’t go super fast, I should be doing great with my hybrid-all-day use bikes.. after we figured out how to buy tickets for the shuttle (hint: 3 rides punch-card is purchased online) – I traveled to the trailhead. That was the last time I smiled until I got back. This ride was the scariest thing I have ever done. It started ok, with some nice slopes, amazing snowcapped mountains, vies, and a rolling forest trail. Crazy!
Then, suddenly the trail dropped while doing a U-turn, and the track was at 45% degrees to the side. I found myself on the floor and the bike above me as slow as I wanted. The 2nd attempt on the next drop was not much better. Since – I biked only when it was super safe and walked the rest. For example, as I was riding, there was a wooden bridge. I just did not see the other side of that bridge. It was because the trial dropped and turned the other side. I was lucky to stop at the right moment. I made it safely to the bottom, but I wonder- what did they mean when they said all skill level? and if that was easy – how crazy are the extreme paths? I think I had enough of mountain-biking for a long period of time.

To relax, we wanted to stop at the local Brewery – but despite being Sunday – they did not open before 0300pm- and we went back to Mount Robson. To break the heat – we went hiking the Overlander Falls- another major step on the huge Fraser river. The cold water made it a great “air and water” conditioned day-closer.