Monthly Archives: August 2011

Chicken or Fish?

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Dean| 1 Comment

Recently I have started looking around a lot more when I ride and stopping when something catches my eye to take a photo. Whether it is bright flowers or fungus in the forest, I’ll stop to have a look. I seem to want to catch the little things that many people are too busy to notice.  I really have no idea why they are catching my eye but for now I’ll stop to take artsy pictures and post them up.

Orange Agoseris: (Agoseris aurantiaca)

I had a couple of hours to get out for a ride so I boarded my Trance and pedaled up to Golden Ears Park.  I had my chest-cam on at the Alouette River crossing so I filmed what I get to cross when ever I go for this ride.   A little later at a small stream crossing I noticed what appear to be trout fry so I dipped my waterproof camera in the water to see what its like to be a fish.

My ride was pretty good and I actually kept a decent pace to the Mike Lake turn off and back home crossing the Alouette River again on the return.

The Chicken of the Woods:(Laetiporus sulphureus)

I noticed this glowing orange mass on a cedar in the forest, so I snapped a photo and looked up its name.  Turns out its an edible fungus/mushroom that some people think tastes like chicken; hence the name Chicken of the Woods.

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Summer Sunrise

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Dean| 2 Comments

This morning I had a wicked sunrise ride. I arrived at dawn and started the climb to the top aboard my Rune.

On the way I snapped a picture of a blooming flower on edge of the road gleaming in the morning sun.

A flower on the edge of the trail - Hardhack - Spiraea douglasii

Once I hit the top I donned my helmet and began my descent down Krazy Karpenter, Blood Donor, Stovetop, Snakes and Ladders and finally Shotgun.  The conditions we simply amazing and for the most part the trails are in great shape.

When the light shines through the trees lighting up the trail I just have to stop at take a picture.

Riding in the morning light

I’ve been experimenting with my camera lately and I made up a chest mount for my ContourHD.  This first version seemed to work alright but needs a few little modifications to be more to my liking.  This is a little edit of my ride through the eye on my chest.

 

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Multi angle filming of the Woodlot

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Dean| 2 Comments

I decided late this afternoon to go for a spin. I was at the parking lot at 5pm and on my way up. Recently there have been some culvert installations as well as a little logging at the bottom of The Gate and the top of Tsuga.

I brought my follow cam, helmet cam and seat tube mounts with me to see what angles I could film to get some different perspectives.

The video below shows what I was able to capture with my ContourHD and a few custom camera mounts.

The route I took was Tsuga, Snakes and Ladders, Bloggy Style and Shotgun.

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ContourHD Test Run

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Dean| Leave a comment

This morning Craig and I met at The Woodlot to do some recon work.  Craig had a big effing saw with him and all the gear needed to run it like a pro.  He walked and I pedaled up to the spot that had been looked at, but after walking it with him and talking about what would be involved, we both came to the conclusion that we just shouldn’t start this endeavor.

I decided to ride down (B-Line, Bloggy, Shotgun) and he hiked down the back to our cars.  I did however bring my ContourHD with me and decided to test out a custom mount I made to firmly attach the camera to my helmet.  It didn’t budge at all and for the most part I’d say it worked well.  A few tiny tweaks and this thing is dialed.

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Blast to the woods

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Dean| 1 Comment

After working at home all day I decided that I needed a little break, so I put on my riding shorts, grabbed my helmet and took off for a ride.

I rode up to Alco park and then crossed Alouette River into Golden Ears Park.  I then headed back along some trails and crossed the river again at 24oth and home.

This ride took all of an hour with a pause for a quick photo.

Sweet double-track

Summer weather makes river crossings oh so refreshing.

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Seymour Shuttle

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Dean| Leave a comment

I honestly cannot remember the last time I shuttled so when I was invited to shuttle Seymour today it took me no more than a nanosecond to say YES!

Curtis and I set off from home around 4:30 and headed to the shore with our bikes loaded in the back of his truck and arrived at Superstore by 5:15 and waited for the rest of our crew to show up.

Once the second truck and retrieval car arrived (Shaun, Greg, Jeff and J.P.) we loaded up a truck and blasted up to the top.  6 grown men in the cab of a Dodge 1500 is rather tight but doable.

The bikes in the shuttle truck

Seeing as Curtis was a CBC virgin, we decided we would ride CBC and then Lola / Cambodia.  Below is a simple helmet-cam I took of CBC.  The riders were Curtis, Shaun, Jeff, Greg, J.P. and me (Dean).


CBC seemed to have left it’s mark on my e.13 bash ring.  The impact took a gash out of the bash ring, crumpled it and sheered the head off of one of the chainring bolts (far left).

Mutilated E.13 bash ring

After CBC we hit a somewhat less traveled trail: Lola which leads into Cambodia. Below is a video compilation of Lola. Lots of Old School Shore.


After the ride we all shared a few beers and laughs/war stories at the trucks and headed home after retrieving the shuttle truck.  I now remember why shuttling is so damn appealing.

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Gwendoline Peak

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Dean| 1 Comment

I did another outback adventure into the UBC research forest.  With my GPS in hand and a study of  the maps of the area I made my way along a series of logging roads to Gwedoline Peak.  On the way I passed a few lakes and took in the views that the area offers.

Placid Lake

Placid Lake

Looking south to Maple Ridge

When I reached the peak I was a little let down due to the fact that there were some clouds obscuring the view and some trees in the way of what should have been a spectacular view of the Fraser Valley.  Regardless, I enjoyed the long ride out and back but would not recommend this ride unless you simply want a 15Km climb followed by a quick blast back home.

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

I snapped a few photos of the area and took in a view of the Golden Ears I have never seen before.  If there weren’t any clouds, the photo below would have been much better.

The Golden Ears in the clouds

Maybe I’ll just have to head there on another sunny day.

A 180 degree panorama taken atop Gwendoline Peak

Looking north up Pitt Lake

Looking down on Widgeon Creek


View route to Gwendoline Peak in a larger map

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Two Morning Laps

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Dean| 3 Comments

This morning I was the first person to ride at The Woodlot.  I was on my Legend and had a new camera with me to catch and share my ride.

I climbed/pushed to Cabin Trail with my ContourHD 1080 helmet camera attached to the goggle mount.  I’ve tried many different camera and set-ups over the years and I figured I’d pick up the ContourHD given its current super low price.

ContourHD 1080 on Goggle mount

On the first section of trail, I had the camera filming at 1280×960 @30fps.  The picture was okay but I doubt that I’ll use this setting again.  I have uploaded the raw file to Vimeo with no editing at all.  The results are below. (the rattling sound is the camera tether hitting the camera body)

I then rode a somewhat secret trail that I named Blue Ribbon and then made my way back up for my second lap of the day.  Off to the side of the road, I saw a stump with something bright yellow on it so I stopped to see what it was. It turned out to be some sort of yellow fungus so I took an artsy type picture to add to this post.

Yellow Slime Mold (myxomycetes) on a stump

For the second lap, I decided to ride Lower Toadstool because its been quite some time since I last enjoyed this trail.  I once again turn on the camera and filmed at 1280×960 @30fps.

I then switched the camera to a higher resolution and full width.  I think I much prefer this camera setting for filming trail riding.  Here is Bloggy Style followed by Shotgun unedited.  Filmed at  1280×720 @60fps.

I was bagged after two laps in the muggy heat.  I had a great ride and can’t wait to get out again soon.

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Hot summer day at The Woodlot

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Dean| Leave a comment

My bike of choice today was my Rune and the location yet again was The Woodlot. Recently I received information about the logging that is going to take place and I wanted to see if any progress had been made.

At the bottom of the climb there was a sign posted on the side of the trail to inform the area users that logging and trail closures are on their way.

Trail Closure Notice

Trail Closure Notice

Further up the climb I took another picture of wall of rock.  It keeps growing every week I ride.  Unfortunately it’s going to get knocked down when the logging takes place in a month or so.

Stacked wall of rock

Stacked wall of rock

Not too far past the wall of rock there are a number of piles of gravel that are going to be used as the road base for the logging roads.  This material is going to make the climb even easier than it is now up the main logging road.  Another new thing I have noticed are road markers that mark the distances along the woodlot main road.

Piles of Gravel

At the powerlines I turned left to climb to the top and gain access to Krazy Karpenter.  Karpenter is in decent shape given the amount of traffic it sees and the nasty wet year we have had.  It never seems there is enough time to work on all the trails that I’d like to, but there is one stunt that Tim and I would like to finish some time soon and it involves a lot of ladders.  Maybe by the end of the summer.

I then hit Upper Toadstool which is always a blast and then over to Giant Killer.  Ryan has been hard at work dialing in the trail and recently he has put a lot of work into a slight re-route of a corner on beside the long log section.  We had talked about his re-route since Christmas time of last year and I’d say it is one more work day away from completion.

Giant Killer ground re-route

Giant Killer ground re-route

I then hit Snakes and Ladders and then Shotgun to finish off my ride ride for the day.  It was SMOKIN hot today and it felt great to ride in the summer heat.

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