HW TRAIL RIDE: SMD a.k.a. SUPER MEGA DUNK

Thursday seems to be the day to ride this summer. After many days of torrential rain, Thursday dawned bright and clear. It warmed up nicely during the day and promised to provide good tacky trail conditions. A perfect night for a shuttle drop on the south slopes. SMD it will be. SUPER MEGA DEATH is a relatively new trail that has really entertained us in the past, so our expectations were high.

The ride for the Holy Wow Gang starts with the climb up Malde Creek Road.  It seems that we are the only ones who believe in paying the gravity gods. All the other mountain bikers we saw (at least on this Thursday) were riding in trucks on the way up Malde. The traffic was pretty intense, but we did not see another rider on SMD. Good old Rossland trail system just has a way of eating them up.

Malde is alot of up and the trail head is up a little further still.  We knocked it off in short order. Now for the fun part. This trail is chock full of bermed corners and little booters that just encourage speed. Sections of the trail are like a video game with trees coming at you and the trail corkscrewing it's way through the forest. Then just for sport it throws in an obstacle to raise your adrenalin level. Just a real blast.

So, the Prez had warned me about one of these obstacles. He said, "watch out for this big deep puddle, it will grab you and slam dunk you". Now, with that warning I was expecting this large deep puddle, so I took little heed of a smallish looking puddle. Well that thing just reached out and grabbed my front wheel and slam dunked me into a one foot deep mud bog. I emerged soaking wet. My bike landed up side down stuck in the mud like I was about to change a flat. Good thing it was a warm evening because I was so wet that I left puddles behind when I stood still. One for you SMD. I heard that someone behind me experienced the same thing. Misery loves company.

The rest of the trail was a real blast. We corkscrewed our way down to King George Park. Such a cool ride.  Beers and BS after the ride were as good as ever. Thanks Thursday. Thanks SMD.

HW TRAIL RIDE: DOUBLE DOWNHILL

It's that time of the riding season again, the longest daylight of the year.  The Holy Wow Gang has a long standing tradition of celebrating this day by riding two downhill routes and then retiring to Greener's deck for a sausage BBQ and a campfire.  We did it AGAIN this year and it turned out to be possibly the best DoubleD that the gang has ever experienced.

All the familiar faces came out for the occasion.  The Nelson boys were there in full force, great to have them out.  The Folger youngsters always add an extra spark to the festivities. The old guard was well represented starting with the Prez and working our way down through the main core that have been riding together for 20 years.

The rain let up for Thursday and the trails had actually dried up just a little so that the riding was absolutely perfect. The rides of choice were, KC to Pale Ale to Milky Way to Warfield followed by a shuttle to Neptune Creek and a ride up the road to Larch and the completion of a fine night's riding with a zip down Monte Cola. Monte Cola was perfect. Nice job KCTS and crew. Monte Cola was so good, that we found ourselves taking a second POP at it and running the bottom part again. It was kind of like having that second rum and cola because the first one was just soooooo good.

Cold beers at the trail head capped off the riding portion of the night and transitioned into a few more refreshments and a feed of sausages on the Green Man's deck. The evening was one of the first warm ones of the year. Perfect for sitting around the fire until the wee hours of the morning and reminiscing about the many years of riding that we have done together. The food disappeared along with the bevies and life in mountain bike land remains VERY GOOD.

Another Double D in the books.

HW TRAIL RIDE: RAINBOW RED TOP

Desperate to ride, the Holy Wow Gang gathered on a Thursday evening for a little battle with Mother Nature. Getting rained out in our last three attempts to ride, we  were very resolved to ride this night no matter what the weather. Just as we started to pedal there was a flash and a rumble and the wave of hail and rain was visible up on Red Mt. That's where we are headed, should we bail, ahh... just sprint to the highway tunnel and wait it out. Old guy sprint we did and then waited  in the shelter of the underpass for it to turn from a deluge to a downpour.

OK you won't melt, let's get going, you know your going to get wet anyway, are the thoughts going through your wet head. Up Mo's to Larry's to Miner's to the climbing road to Red Head ...rain rain rain...... Damp but warm from the exertion we arrive at Dale's Trail. That is enough up. The twelve year old in us is calling, time to get dirty.

Wet and DIRTY, and riding your bike, just doesn't get much better.  The trail down was very nice as long as you could stop yourself from sliding off of it. Don't brake in the corners because you'll slide, don't go too fast cause you'll slide. OK go fast(seemed fast) and slide.

By the time we reached Red Mt road we were 5 pounds of mud heavier and smiling. Is it still raining? Sure, but you can hardly feel it. We headed up Larry's and over to Curly's for some more low traction, high flow single track. Like a totally different trail with the lake crossings and mud bogs.

By the time we got out of the mudforest the sun was trying to come out and that same Mother Nature was painting the sky with multiple rainbows.

They say there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but we were sure that the end of the rainbow was in MurDog's garage, and the pot of gold was of the liquid variety. Sure enough that was the case. Perfect ending to a ride that started in a desperate search for the pot of gold that is a bike ride .

 

HW TRAIL RIDE:WHISKEY REROUTE

Three riders from the gang were like mailmen on Tuesday night. Neither rain, snow, thunder or soggy shoes were going to stop them from riding the Whiskey Trail. This ride had been cancelled twice already due to the SLOPPY weather we have been having in Junuary. Heard that they car dropped it to avoid the lightening. Apparently the trail was fun but I am not sure just what they experienced. Waiting for further information. Think the beer was cold afterward.

HW TRAIL RIDE: DEWDNEY TRAIL

RAIN, RAIn, RAin, Rain, rain........ It rained hard for a good part of the day Thursday May 31, and the regular ride was a touch and go thing right up to departure time.. But, the weather cleared and 12 guys showed up for the first Dewdney Trail ride of the season.

The ride up the Cascade Highway (a gravel road that is smoother than most roads in Rossland) was its usual long self. On arrival at the top, we were greeted by the resident mosquitoes looking for a taste of  Holy Wow Gang blood. Little did they know that our blood was well depleted of anything useful by this time.

Thoughts of downhill are always a good boost to energy levels, so we gathered ourselves and prepared for the descent. Lighter due to the blood removed by the bug population, we floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee down the recently logged and rejuvenated Dewdney.

The Dewdney Trail is intact but the logging now touches the edge of the trail in many places. This does not eliminate the fun factor, and a good time was had by all. The new switch backs, added last year, were well settled in and a ton of fun. Most of the trail was in superb shape. Only one section could be classed as rough.

Another fantastic ride. Over a refreshment, the discussion turned to Double Downhill and the Double Dewdney rose to the top as a prime candidate for the summer riding classic.