Mount Seymour Bridal Path (Updated)

2:55pm

Information & Map: LINK

After a month and a bit of massive stress, the last couple of weeks had been pretty easy-going. So it’s great to end my weekend to my last week at work with some nice beginner hard core downhill crossed with mountainous terrain bike riding. There’s another oxymoron there eh? It’s a beginner’s ride comparative to how most/all other North Shore mountain biking is.

As we drove up the Mt. Seymour road, we passed by riders with full suspension bikes – real full suspension – none of that cheap shit you get at Sport Mart or Sportchek for $300 and less. I’m talking about bikes that cost from $1500 and up from Kona, Rocky Mountain, Brodie, etc. I remember Pat saying, “I feel so inadequet.” Mhm…

We parked, unloaded, geared up and met some guy tuning up his FS bike. He gave us some tips and suggestions on riding. Don’t know his name, but he had a mustache, top body armour under his bike jersey, and a redish bike. His jersey as Pat pointed out might be from Cove Bikes… [bows]

So we started on our ride, and I took some pictures along the way, but I couldn’t take many considering of the 5 kilometres plus approximately 2 more kilometres of riding, most of it was damn hard to ride and better to concentrate on safety than anything else! Right so what’s up with the +2 km? Well, as usual, we got lost again… Not really lost, just probably off trail a bit. Instead of ending back at the parking lot, we ended up at the golf course nearby. Wow, our second golf course! NICE! 8] So that last 2 km’s were all road – Mt. Seymour Hwy.

I have to add that after riding through about 15% to 20% of Bridle Path, the 10 to 15 degree climb on the Hwy was NOTHING! It was like silk compared to friggin rock-paper!

So I set my alarm to 7:12am, got up, etc, etc, went to McD’s for breakfast, arrived at Seymour just before 10am, rode the trail, got lost a bit, and went to the parking lot by 12pm. Mhm. 8]

3:49pm

11:19pm

After I got back home, I thought about going to the gym, since I haven’t gone for four days already. So I went out for a 15 minute bike ride, and ended up not going to the gym afterwards. Just way too tired, and my quads were already aching. Just as I was cooling off and chilling in my room, Albert called me and asked if I would like to go to Pacific Spirit with him. I laughed and said, “Yeah sure I can go, but only for 2 hours. This morning…” And so on.

Since traffic was bad from Van to Richmond, we ended up riding the East Richmond country roads. Mind you, the bike his dad gave him was lun and well, deja vu – on the way back, I told Albert to meet me at the tree passed #6 road. I sprinted home, got the van, and went back to pick Albert and Jenny up.

Geez was it damn cold!

So for today, between 10am and 7:30pm, I’ve ridden about 3.5 hours, 4 kilometres of hard core narrow terrain – downhill, boulders, roots, drops, bridges, and small creeks, then about 2 kilometres on a highway back to the parking lot, then about 4 kilometres of road terrain – my usual exercise bike route, and finally about 8 to 9 kilometres in the farming areas of Ditchmond. Oh and did I say I only had about 4 to 4.5 hours of sleep this morning?

Anyway, the entire Bridle Path was fun, even though Pat was a bit disappointed that it was way too difficult for us, it was still a good experience. In the first bit of our BP ride, my bike slipped and I landed sideways and scraped my right elbow. Fortunately, I had a cotton band around there, so it only scraped the surface of my skin and bruised it.

Well, as I was taking my 4pm to 5pm nap before Albert and Jenny came by, I pondered whether to invest into a road race bike or a full suspension cross-country mountain bike. With a RRB, I can only do very light trails and road. Where as a FSCC Mtn bike will allow me to ride pretty much everything. My target RRB is $4300 cdn, and my target FSCCB is $2000. Please note that these are heart-wrenching prices, but knowing how I treat everything I own, whatever bike I get will last me for years, unless I fall off a 100m drop…

A realistic goal would be a $900 RRB and/or a $1200 FSCCB, which is still a killer to my savings, considering I have to go HK in October 21st this year – so less than a month from now, and that will cost me a bit. [ponders] A FSCCB would be too heavy to ride road for time and distance, which a RRB bike is made for. Then again, I’m limited on the type of terrain with a RRB. Of course, I will still have my Sonic 02 Hardtail, but that would mainly be reserved as a secondary bike or for commuting casually.

PS/To Sam: I think you should take up mountain biking. It’ll definitely train you mentally and physically. You’ll be able to meet a lot of people with similar tastes – I heard Alberta has some wicked trails. 8]

11:44pm

Photo credit: Ashika Morasiewicz