Turkey, friends and mountain biking Lake Minnewanka, Banff

   

  

It was an awesome blue bird day in the Bow Valley; cool, but sunny, making for a great riding day. We headed out to Lake Minnewanka to ride the scenic singletrack trail which takes you along the Lake out towards the warden patrol cabin (32km return ride); just past Aylmer Pass (16km return ride). The trail is in great shape and the scenery is just stunning. One of my favourite rides to do in the fall; it’s quiet, tranquil and tourist free this time of year.

Trailhead: Lake Minnewanka Picnic Area (far end)

Trail Map: Click here

Parks Canada Trail Description: This rough, and somewhat exposed sidehill singletrack, leads east to the park boundary at Devil’s Gap. Popular day trip destinations include the Aylmer Pass hiking trail junction (16 km return) and the warden patrol cabin (32 km return). This trail is popular with hikers and can be quite congested for the first four km.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Star Wars Update

I’m happy to say that Star Wars has been getting some great publicity of late. A recent article by the Calgary Sun (written October 6) and a wicked You Tube Video is just some of the recent publicity this fun flowy blue trail has received. Check out the video above and click on the link to read the article.

Happy Trails!

Let the adventure begin …Star Wars complete!

   

I got an email over the weekend from the Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance (BVMBA) crew letting me know that they’ve completed Star Wars and that there are a few new features that I have to check out. I was pretty stocked to hear the news and got out right away to do a few laps on what is quickly becoming one of my favourite trails in the Bow Valley . The two new features, photographed above, are just past the wicked wall ride. They’re fun rollers, or if you’re moving you can get some descent air. The trail overall is in awesome condition. It looks like the word has been getting out and the trail is seeing quite a bit of traffic. It’s nicely worked in; the berms are super smooth and nicely packed down.

The BVMBA crew has also made some great progress on the loop backup from the finish of Star Wars. It’s not quite complete, but once you get to the end of Star Wars – fork in road – take a left and follow the newly built singletrack backup. It’s almost complete and could use a few riders on it to pack it down and wear it in.

Trail Head: Trail is located on Tunnel Mountain. Look for it on your left hand side past the Douglas Fir.
PDF Map: Click here  

Happy Trails!

Star Wars in Banff, all kinds of fun!

    

   

Great ride on the new trail in Banff; Star Wars. It’s a super fun flowy freeride trail with a few wood features, great bermed corners and a big wall ride. The Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance (BVMBA) has worked hard with Parks Canada to get this trail approved and made history by building the first freeride trail in the Park (at least the first legal freeride trail in the Park to my knowledge). They still have some work to do and plan to extend the trail back up the mountain to make this a full loop. Also planned are additional wooden features.  

I ran into Louis-Charles (BVMBA member) on the trail and spoke with him about future plans for more trails in the area. He was nice enough to take us down the trail and show us future planned features and pointed out the trail they plan on using to loop the whole section of trail. He also advised me that the BVMBA has received approval to start work on a black and double black run early next year. If you want to get involved with trail building, check out the BVMBA website at www.bvmba.org. I’m super stoked that BVBMA has made great headway fostering a relationship with Parks Canada, who, with its new mandate, is supportive of their efforts. Look for more trails next year.  

Trail Head: trail is located on Tunnel Mountain. Look for it on your left hand side past Douglas Fir.
PDF Map: Click here  

Happy Trails!

Rundle Riverside Trail to Banff!

    

  

Awesome ride on the Rundle Riverside Trail today. The temperature was a nice 18 degrees with the sun shining bright. The trail was in great shape, only a few mud bogs here and there. It was calm out there today and we enjoyed the quiet while peddling up and down some pretty sweet singletrack.

The trail begins at the Nordic Centre in Canmore – this is one option – and ends at the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course. The other option is taking Goat Creek Trail to ride the back side of Mount Rundle; the Rundle Riverside Trail takes the frontal approach. Both trails can be linked for a return loop. Depending on your speed, the full loop takes about 4 – 5 hours to complete. The Riverside Trail is a rough, rooty ride which does not let up until you reach Banff. Loads of fun, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves to ride singletrack.

For the return trip, we decided to ride back on the new Legacy trail – a paved path that runs from Banff to Canmore.

Happy Trails!

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Lower Stoney, dry and good to flow!

Rode Lower Stoney after work today and had a blast as always. We were trying to get in the upper part as well, but just didn’t have the time. The trail was dry and in great shape. The rocks got me tonight and I blew my tire – so off to the shop tomorrow to buy a new DH tire to throw on my Nomad. All and all, a great night was had by all.

Happy Trails!

Stoney Squaw

Great ride down Stoney this afternoon. A few of us were nursing our hang overs from the fabulous wedding reception held the night before, which made the ride that much more exciting.

After all the rain we’ve gotten the last few days the trail was quite slick, but not too muddy. Just a few mud puddles on the lower parts of the trail. I’m sure that if the weather continues to be warm and sunny, Stoney should be dry by Monday.

Happy Trails!