Author: jasonmytail_11ehe7

After yesterday’s rainy ride, today was looking a lot more dry and I had a new personal challenge in mind. I had noticed on Strava’s global heatmap, when turned to ‘All Sports’, had an image of a small shelter that was constructed on the north side of Burnaby Mountain in a rather random area. There was zero heatmap activity for bikes, and very little for hiking/running as well. I was very intrigued. I knew the area well enough to know these trails would barely exist, if at all, but it also wasn’t too far off-trail to go – maybe a few hundred metres?

How bad could it be?

Well I know better than to ask that question, but I did it anyway. The ride out to this area is nice as well – a series of easy trails which become quite lumpy once I reach Burnaby Mountain. The area I’m headed to is on the far side, just before Port Moody’s neighbourhood developments.

I also decided to take the optional side trail, which is lower traffic and a little more technical, but the Evasion was great in here. It’s a bit much on the Bombadil. These spots look fine, but some of it is pretty rooty and rocky.

Then I reached where I was headed – a staircase up from the main road with a familiar trail, but I was cutting across a clearing by the trail and heading into an area of the woods I’d never considered exploring previously. On the far side of the clearing I saw a small trail head up what looked like an old logging skidder road perhaps, so I followed it.

What started as an already small trail quickly dissipated into nearly nothing. Soon after crossing a creek and scrambling up a steep embankment, I was basically just bushwhacking with no clear path.

I pushed on for a bit, but it became clear that a) I was not going in the direction I meant to be and b) to get to where I needed to go, every step was going to be hard fought. I turned around and headed back… well, I tried to. I ended up somewhere different, a testament to how utterly lacking any sort of trail was.

So that was a complete failure, but I also was pretty off-track from what I expected, so I looked around down lower for a trail in. It was easy to miss but I found a path on the other side of the creek so attempt number two began.

The first bit was steep and slick, but then I was on a plateau with a trail that was easier to see and also somewhat rideable. Things were looking up! Just as I was getting excited at my progress though I came across a very janky pile of logs in the vague form of a bridge. It doesn’t look so steep and deep in photos, but there wasn’t really a viable way across without taking this bridge, so I carefully shuffled across with my bike.

The trail became a little more technical but still easily walked. I hoped to see the shelter around every corner at this point. However, instead I reached a steep and long descent into a ravine. Sigh.

I slipped and slid my way down (not really exaggerating) the muddy trail down to a small creek crossing. The trail then followed the creek at the bottom of this ravine and a few minutes later, success! There it was!

I was impressed by the quality of construction as much as I was impressed by how completely random this location is. Truly a hidden gem.

Along the trail were various trinkets as well. This is, or was, someone’s pride and joy trail for sure. I would love to know if they still use the trail.

I made my way back out and continued around the mountain, now sticking to established trails that I knew and trusted. Green and blue MTB trails are a lot of fun on the Evasion – with the saddle dropped it tracks over roots and rocks with ease. I do have to be mindful that it’s still gravel bike geometry, as I nearly went over the bars on a slightly steeper rooty section.

Around the other side of the mountain is Dageraad Brewing, it just so happens. I was able to refuel with a burger and beer… okay two beers.

Looking now at Strava heatmaps, here is the global map (blue) and now with my ride (red).. needless to say probably the first and logically the last bike to go this route! I do not recommend bringing a bike, but I do recommend checking it out!

Late November around here means rain and cold, and getting out for a ride in these conditions can be motivationally challenging. After getting thoroughly soaked on a long dog walk first thing in the morning, I figured I’d spend the rest of the day inside in sweats – but then I remembered a trip to Rice Lake I’d taken a couple years prior during a cool, drizzly day and how beautiful it was. That was the motivation I needed.

I packed up the Evasion with hot coffee in an insulated mug, my new-but-trusty Blue Lug sit pad, and an umbrella and headed out of town and over the bridge. Rice Lake is located at essentially the mouth of the Seymour valley, about 12km from my door.

As I got onto the trail that paralleled the river, I noticed how high the water level was so I decided to detour to a river bend spot to have the first half of my coffee.

That was nice for about ten minutes, but the roar of the river started to infringe on the tranquility I was looking for, so I packed up my partially drank coffee and headed towards the lake.

I arrived at the lake and it was just like I was imagining from my previous experience – there was a haze of clouds mixed in with the trees, rain drops across the still water, and a rather profound silence. I had the place to myself.

I set up my pad and coffee and tucked under the umbrella, amongst the trees at the edge of the lake. I had identified this spot a while ago when poking my head in to see the lake – it’s away from the more popular wharf, and I really like the vantage. I ended up sitting and taking it in for about 40 minutes, I think – I wasn’t really paying attention to the time. It was starting to get dark though, so I figured it was time to head home. What especially prompted me to leave was the rainfall warning i received on my phone!

Instead of taking the road descent, which would be a lot faster but would be chilly due to the wind, I decided to take the trails that weave through the adjacent forest. It was pretty dark, but my Edelux lamp did a good job of illuminating the way. The forest was very moody and wonderful with the fading twilight and the foggy haze.

This is the second ride on my newly built up Crust Evasion, and the first one with freshly installed fenders. The weather was looking drizzly but not overly rainy, and cool but not too cold – about 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. I had noticed a trail on heatmaps months ago that piqued my curiosity, as it descended quite a significant hill next to a road climb/descent I was quite familiar with. Knowing the terrain, I knew it wouldn’t be a lot of fun on one of my Rivs, but riding out that far on my Stooge wasn’t super attractive, either.

As soon as I’d committed to buying the Evasion, I knew I’d have the right bike for finally checking this one out. I had no intel on how rideable it was though.

I roped my good buddy Rob into checking this one out with me, and we had a stretch goal of heading around the inlet to some trails in Port Moody if we felt up to it. Rob’s always up for some hike-a-bike if it takes us somewhere interesting or links up a route in a nice way.

Here is the be-fendered Evasion as I waited in the meetup spot for Rob. What a chunkster!

The ride out was pleasant and not too noteworthy, mostly consisting of a mix of gravel paths and quiet streets. I routed us through a couple parks which added some stairs and very slippery wooden structures.

The image above right is near the top of the mystery trail we went to see. It was deeply rutted but generally rideable. Furthermore, the forest was beautiful! The trail traced along a ridge, so the forest floor fell sharply to either side of the trail for sections.

Feeling energized by a very successful recon mission, we decided to continue around Burrard Inlet over to the trail network on the other side. It was just a few kilometres of paved pathways which were not too busy thanks to the weather.

Below, left: the Gatensbury hill trail descent
Below, center: exploring an adjacent trail
Below, right: the start of the climb up on the other side of the inlet

I had already explored once before in this zone, Bert Flinn park, so I knew it was a tough climb to start. We opted for a very direct route on a little-used hiking trail, which was efficient, though some tough hike-a-bike over a lot of coarse river rock. I suspect this “trail” regularly becomes a creek bed during the rainy season.

Some sections were pleasant while others were less so, but it was almost exclusively a walk up – which was totally fine by us. It eventually levelled off, and we were in the mountain bike trail network. Unlike the fabled north shore, the trails here are decidedly more XC style and mostly green and blue difficulty – lending themselves to gravel type bikes, as long as you don’t mind some under-biking.

This area of forest is beautiful, and the lightly foggy weather was making it even moreso.

We found a traversing trail that was perfect, though not straightforward to link up in any meaningful way. This is what I love about these rides though; if you’re open to dragging your bike through trails that most couldn’t be bothered, you’ll often be rewarded with the most special trails. Below are a couple views of one of my favourite stretches, which rode beautifully if you don’t mind hopping over the odd root.

It tends to come with a price though, and this case it was a steep bushwhack down to a parallel trail in order to get out the way we needed to go. Thankfully it was pretty short, and I didn’t fall.

There was also one creek crossing that I knew to expect from my previous trip in this area – it was fine, though it might become quite difficult if the waters rise much more.

We were spat out back onto the side roads by the seaside path, and from there it was a rather ordinary ~22 km ride home on the road.

I felt like my quiver was really settled, and there was basically nothing on my bike wishlist anymore. But then a friend who’d just purchased a Crust Evasion frame set had some unexpected financial and health challenges come up that necessitated selling it, and I got to thinking. I had never considered an Evasion despite being long familiar with the bike, but the more I considered it, the more I realized how well-suited it was to my type of riding: a little bit of everything from pavement to intermediate MTB trails. Disc brakes are something I’ve denied myself on all but my dedicated MTB, which is a bit silly.

Also by purchasing it I was helping out a friend in need which made it a lot easier to justify. I promptly put in some orders for a nice build, helped by a raise I’d just received at work.

My original intent was to build it up 27.5″ with some 2.2″ tires, but several Evasion owners or ex-owners convinced me that the bike works best with the 26+ tires it was originally designed for. While these are overkill for my needs, I went with it.

Sure, 2.8″ tires are overkill, but gosh they are pretty fun too. In larger wheel sizes they feel quite immense, but in 26″ the bike remains nimble as the outside diameter is pretty close to the 27.5 x 2.2 I originally planned.

The dropper post, actuated by an Easton lever that can be actuated both in the hoods and in the drops, is a very welcome addition when the trail gets a little spicy. The limitation for me becomes being able to grip the brake hoods and also operate the brakes while going over bumpy or technical terrain. But it’s not a mountain bike – it can just fool you into thinking it is sometimes!

This inaugural ride was about 36 km and a good test – mostly paved, but there were some trail connections that were at or beyond the limit of what I could ride on my Bombadil, and the Evasion felt great in these spots. The WTB Rangers are remarkably quick on pavement given their size and knobby profile, though obviously they’re not exactly fast. As long as I’m not trying to keep up with speedy friends, it’s fast enough for me.

On this particular Sunday, I set off on a mission to see some salmon at the hatchery at Cleveland Dam, which is located at one of the two watershed lakes in North Vancouver. I didn’t take a lot of photos of the ride up except the one below left after hoofing my bike up a particularly strenuous set of stairs – I’m a sucker for an efficient way up elevation! First I rode to the dam itself, below right, which was not flowing – the first time I’ve seen this in my 15 or 20 times to the dam!

I then had to backtrack downhill a bit to get to the hatchery. I’d never been, and wasn’t entirely sure where it was at first. I have to say, it’s a pretty interested and fun architectural building with a mid-century feel to it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of salmon, but the tanks were packed with ’em! Feeling accomplished, I traversed over to Murdo Frazer park, home of the cabins featured in old Kokanee commercials among other things – it’s a very tranquil spot with a small pond that is home to a beaver, several turtles, and no doubt plenty of other wildlife.

This links up quite conveniently to another lovely stretch of trail along McKay Creek. In fact, McKay also hosts salmon during this time of year, but it’s a bit too late now to find any here. Maybe next year I’ll time a visit successfully!

McKay Creek trail dropped me off along the sea side bike path which I took home (with a beer stop to enjoy the moment a little longer) over the bridge from North Vancouver back to Vancouver.

As I approached the bridge I started to notice the formation of asperitas clouds (I think?), which got better as I got closer to home. Apparently these are quite rare, but perhaps it’s a similar but less rare type of cloud since I seem to notice them a few times every autumn and spring.

I’ve titled this the ‘Mushroom Ride’ but that wasn’t what it was planned to be. I hadn’t been up the Seymour valley for about a month, and I’ve made it a soft goal that I get up there once a month so I prioritized the valley for my route selection on this ride.

I actually set off to ride to mid-valley, but ended up riding all the way up to Seymour lake because the mid-valley connector was temporarily closed and I didn’t want to just turn around and go home.

I stopped where I had taken a foliage photo last time I was up here – the big leaf maples at that time were just newly yellow – and now they’d dropped all their leaves and looked entirely different. Below is Nov 2 vs Oct 7.

It was just a normal ride until I rode past a few folks who seemed to be inspecting stuff near the forest floor along Fisherman’s trail. I started to look around the forest floor once I passed them and realized there were a lot of mushrooms. I stopped to admire and photograph a couple of them, and just like that, my ride had a newfound purpose: to see how many different mushrooms I could spot.

I became quite obsessive from here on out scoping the forest floor either side of the trail for mushrooms. I was quite successful, seeing quite a few types that I’d never seen before. Mostly, I was appreciating the excuse to slow down and pay close attention to my surroundings, which is a very meditative experience that fills me with contentedness.

I kind of felt like I was birding in the sense that I was quantifying the different species I could spot, but unlike birding, the subject matter stays perfectly still – making photography a heck of a lot easier.

While I’m no mushroom expert – heck, not even a mushroom novice – there was one type of mushroom I had found up in the valley two years’ prior which captivated me named the violet webcap. Apparently it is quite rare, and I had just happened upon them deep in the valley previously. I really wanted to find one today.

It took quite a lot of trudging around in the mossy understory to find one, but I did! See below, center. It was alone in this case.

Having pre-rode the course the day before, this was the event! While people were welcome to roll out as early or late as they wish, I encouraged a 9:30 – 10am rollout for two reasons: I could commit to being there to see them off, and they’d likely be racing daylight at the end, which for me at least has become part of the fun.

A few folks rolled through earlier, but I was happy to see a bunch of friends and acquaintances roll up and set off on the course.

As a fairly solitary creature, I felt both out of my zone but oddly in my element playing event organizer. I definitely didn’t know what I was doing for the most part and learned a lot over the course of the day.

I stuck around the start line until just before 11am, when the last of the folks set off. I had no set plans for what I’d get up to prior, but decided to zip across town to Dageraad, pick up some beers, and catch folks along the old Interurban rail trail near New West. I figure since they’ve got the whole north loop before that point, I’d have plenty of time.

On the way to Dageraad I grabbed a sandwich and caught up with one buddy, Lukas, who had rolled out ahead of most others on their fixed gear Surly 1×1. I was set up along a cheeky little connector trail as noted below, left.

There were three early bird riders whom I wasn’t able to catch on-course, but I was in place in a perfectly unexpected spot for the remainder of the riders. It was a last minute plan but I couldn’t have planned better.

I was set up here for a couple hours, and the vast majority of that time was spent alone. I quite enjoyed it though, the setting was ideal. The cadence with which riders came through was quite perfect, too – I rarely went more than 20 or 30 minutes over those couple hours without another group, and each group/rider was happy to stop in for a bit – and many had a beer as well. Next time I’ll have better non-alc options, though it wasn’t an issue this time around.

I spent so long there in fact, I got bored enough to clear a path to my “aid station” and did some scoping of the surrounding forest.

The final group had lost some time due to taking some route liberties that went predictably poorly, so by the time they’d rolled through I knew I had to book it to the finish gate if I wanted to catch the first folks through this aid station. But first, I had to pose my bike with the beauty that is the Interurban rail trail:

Okay, time to roll.

I swung by the brewery again to re-stock as well as grab a smash burger for early dinner. The weather had been behaving remarkably well all day – the forecast looked wet, but I didn’t get rained on until now and it was pretty light.

I didn’t quite catch Lukas, but I managed to arrive 5 mins before Graham rolled down the hill to the gate. Before we finished a beer together, the two Sams and Bjorn rolled in as well. Then, while we were all hanging out, the fixie crew also rolled up! I was surprised and elated by how many chose to complete the course right up until the end. I never indicated I’d be there, and it’s generally not on anyone’s way home.

After everyone rolled out I stayed for a bit to see if the last big group would finish. It got dark, and with it, the rain got heavier. I texted one or two of the riders, and eventually I got back a message that everyone had kind of split up or peeled off. Unsure that anyone would come to the gate, and having lurked in the dark rain for an hour by myself at this point, I headed home.

I later learned that a lone rider from that group, Yannick, did in fact finish – and he arrived a mere 10 minutes after I’d left. What a bummer! It would have been so unexpected for me to be there when he arrived. Oh well.

While the route was created in 2023, this is the first year I’ve organized some form of event around the Burnabop XL. I knew I wanted it to be around the peak of autumn foliage, and I knew I didn’t want it to be too big of a group. This latter point created quite a challenge with trying to organize a sort of ‘grand depart’ event. The main reason to avoid a large group is that the trails that make up this route are often hidden gems that are enjoyed by locals to take their dog or kid along, and I didn’t want a train of bikes to harsh the vibe.

So I set it up as an open window to depart at one’s leisure, whether with friends or solo. More on that later though, as this is about the pre-ride which I completed the day before the event.

It’s a good idea to pre-ride as close to the date as possible to provide the most accurate conditions for event day, but the literal day before doesn’t give a lot of time for any adjustments that may be needed. I didn’t expect anything major, so I didn’t worry about it too much. More on THAT soon as well.

I started the route just before 10am. Foliage was good. It was not raining to start, but rain was forecasted. Winds were a little blustery, adding some risk in the trees – but thankfully they petered off and became a non-issue.

The vine maples were illuminating the otherwise grey day as noted above.

The north loop is challenging and almost entirely off road, while the south loop is longer but flatter.

While the south loop might be overall flatter and with more pavement, it’s also home to the highlights of the whole course.

So far other than a small detour due to construction that probably ran better than the original anyway, things were going great. The foliage was certainly delivering, the trails were running smooth.

Another small detour, no big deal. A hearse was parked in the bike lane, but they were actively carrying a coffin from the funeral service to it, so I let that one slide. Then when I reached Fraser Foreshore Park, a beautiful and expansive sanctuary, I found out it was closed right up the middle with no way through. Bummer.

So a last-minute re-route onto the adjacent road was necessary. Soon enough it reconnected with the trail network, along a creek and then up into Byrne ravine.

I climbed up and over the Edmonds area and down to Deer Lake, connecting over to Beecher Creek as the sun was setting. Beecher is a fun and unexpected little ravine trail that many end up skipping since it’s late in the route.

Being dark by the time I was passing through the North Burnaby neighbourhood towards the start/finish gate, I was able to enjoy some pretty epic Halloween displays:

All said and done: 77 km and ~1300m according to my GPS unit.

For four years now I’ve hosted a small group ride with the same friends on the Saturday of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, which lands around my birthday. This year it happened to land on the day.

The weather this time of year is far from reliable, but we’ve been lucky in previous years. However this time we got rain – lots of rain – for the first couple hours.

First order of business was to stash the 5L keg of Paulaner lager that Rob graciously provided and lugged. He stashed it down by the river to keep cool, which was somewhat laughable since the air temp was only about 8C anyway.

It was so rainy that even our stubborn selves were recalculating the planned route to reduce the time we’d be out in the elements. We rode out to Cypress Bowl Rd via Rob’s infamous fence line, but bailed on the plans to ride all the way out to horseshoe bay and check out a variety of little connector trails in west van.

Well, we did carry on a bit further from Cypress, up and over a particularly brutal service road climb that dropped us into the Cypress Falls trail network.

After Cypress Falls it was a twisty road descent down to McKechnie park, a beautiful park in West Van that I hadn’t visited in a couple years.

Leaving McKechnie we anticipated the remaining twisty road descent down to the ocean, but noticed a trail off the road shortly after the park – which ended up being a straight-down gravel descent down to the rail tracks, the down a set of stairs and connected right up to the quiet seaside bike route without touching the main road – magic! It was only two blocks long, but it was a great find that I’ll definitely use as a link in the future.

We stopped for sandwiches (and a Märzen) en route to retrieving our mini keg – successfully!

Once we had the keg in hand, we started to scope for a good restful place to enjoy it. After our river-front spot wasn’t quite right, we decided to bring it over the bridge to enjoy in Stanley Park.

However Graham’s derailleur had other plans, exploding as we climbed up to the bridge deck. It even ripped a spoke out of the rim, so instead of trying to rig up a single speed setup we just opened the keg right there on the bridge deck and afterwards, Graham loaded the helpless bike onto the front of a bus.

Not a particularly interesting ride, but a couple nice photos came from it so I’ve decided to upload. This was an after-work trip to Dageraad brewing, taking a noodley string of quiet residential streets out and the parkway back.

I thought I’d beat the weather, but I rode right into it – which provided some pretty dramatic skyline, at least.