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As Tobster says, he and I met at Bruce's early Sunday morning for a ride and I promised to post a trip report for it.
Alex was nice enough to show up well before the regulary scheduled breaky to say hello, to pass out a couple of DSBC stickers and to offer some suggestions about where best to ride in the area. I was thinking that we might explore up Norrish Creek FSR a bit but given that we were both a bit short on time we took Alex's advice and started at the top of Sylvester Road east of Stave Lake there.
It wasn't long before we happened upon a washed out bridge. There was a clear path around it, however, and the creek crossing looked passable if a little tricky with my KLR and his DR650. And sure enough, with a little bit of muscle and care we were past. Though not before busting my silly plastic skid plate on a rock mid-stream.
The road changed dramatically after the bridge. It seemed to become narrower right away, but that might have just been the encroaching trees and bushes, the branches of which frequently stretched all the way across the road. Most of these were easily brushed aside but I found that having to pay attention to them made navigating the loose rock more challenging. The grade was shallow, though, and I only dumped my bike once.
Our destination proved to be a fabulous little spot on the East edge of Stave Lake. It's amazing that only an hour and half out of vancouver that you can come across a place so beautiful and deserted. We poked around a little bit on the shore, threw some rocks into the water and let the scenery sink in. Of course, we were there to ride and the day was getting longer, so it wasn't long before we made our way back to the bikes.
On the way, though, we discovered a bucket and an old cooler, both full of beer bottles and cans. Probably left by some idiots who'd pulled up in a motorboat or something. I frigging hate that. Yay, come out to a nice little secluded spot with some buddies and some beers and then leave it a mess. Who do they think is going to clean up after them?
Well I guess it was going to be us. We threw all the beer cans that we could find into the cooler and then strapped it onto the back of my bike. It didn't end up being too tough to secure and my KLR, already a bit of a pig, didn't seem to handle much differently with a cooler full of empties on the rack. Though all the cans and bottles jouncing around was kind of noisy. All our stuff then went into the bucket, which then went onto the back of Tobster's bike and we made our way back.
The creek crossing proved more difficult on the way back, mostly because the slope on the opposite side had been constructed largely with wood and our wet tires had difficulty gripping it. It's always the tough parts that you want the pictures of, but nobody has the time or the hands to take them. Anyway, a fair amount of grunting, pushing, repositioning, spinning of tires, pushing and lifting we managed to get both bikes up the bank.
And then it was almost time to head back. We explored another couple of spurs looking for the washed out bridge that Tobster had run across last week but time ran out before we found it and we had to hit the highway again.
It was a great ride and I'm looking forward to doing it all over again. Thanks, Tobster!
imported post
As Tobster says, he and I met at Bruce's early Sunday morning for a ride and I promised to post a trip report for it.
Alex was nice enough to show up well before the regulary scheduled breaky to say hello, to pass out a couple of DSBC stickers and to offer some suggestions about where best to ride in the area. I was thinking that we might explore up Norrish Creek FSR a bit but given that we were both a bit short on time we took Alex's advice and started at the top of Sylvester Road east of Stave Lake there.
It wasn't long before we happened upon a washed out bridge. There was a clear path around it, however, and the creek crossing looked passable if a little tricky with my KLR and his DR650. And sure enough, with a little bit of muscle and care we were past. Though not before busting my silly plastic skid plate on a rock mid-stream.
The road changed dramatically after the bridge. It seemed to become narrower right away, but that might have just been the encroaching trees and bushes, the branches of which frequently stretched all the way across the road. Most of these were easily brushed aside but I found that having to pay attention to them made navigating the loose rock more challenging. The grade was shallow, though, and I only dumped my bike once.
Our destination proved to be a fabulous little spot on the East edge of Stave Lake. It's amazing that only an hour and half out of vancouver that you can come across a place so beautiful and deserted. We poked around a little bit on the shore, threw some rocks into the water and let the scenery sink in. Of course, we were there to ride and the day was getting longer, so it wasn't long before we made our way back to the bikes.
On the way, though, we discovered a bucket and an old cooler, both full of beer bottles and cans. Probably left by some idiots who'd pulled up in a motorboat or something. I frigging hate that. Yay, come out to a nice little secluded spot with some buddies and some beers and then leave it a mess. Who do they think is going to clean up after them?
Well I guess it was going to be us. We threw all the beer cans that we could find into the cooler and then strapped it onto the back of my bike. It didn't end up being too tough to secure and my KLR, already a bit of a pig, didn't seem to handle much differently with a cooler full of empties on the rack. Though all the cans and bottles jouncing around was kind of noisy. All our stuff then went into the bucket, which then went onto the back of Tobster's bike and we made our way back.
The creek crossing proved more difficult on the way back, mostly because the slope on the opposite side had been constructed largely with wood and our wet tires had difficulty gripping it. It's always the tough parts that you want the pictures of, but nobody has the time or the hands to take them.
Anyway, a fair amount of grunting, pushing, repositioning, spinning of tires, pushing and lifting we managed to get both bikes up the bank.
And then it was almost time to head back. We explored another couple of spurs looking for the washed out bridge that Tobster had run across last week but time ran out before we found it and we had to hit the highway again.
It was a great ride and I'm looking forward to doing it all over again. Thanks, Tobster!
