Kootenay Bike

Garett Buehlers Homeland

Smitty — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:40:07 +0000

Check out today’s VOD on PinkBike of local shredder Garett Buehler. Sweet vid with lots of action near the end from Shitaker..

Callout for contributors

Smitty — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:03:59 +0000

Looking for local writers, photographers, film-makers, content producers – anyone interested in joining the cause of promoting the local Kootenay mountain biking scene please let us know. Consider the site a blank canvas. Promote yourself, your events, you friends to scene, your adventures.. as long as it’s about biking, friends and good times in the Kootenays – it should be on this site.

By the way, there is little to no perks/pay.. but there are opportunities for deals from some of our site sponsors.

If your interested, please let us know here

Portions of Stanley-Silverking Loop Closed – Grizzly Bears

Smitty — Thu, 12 May 2011 15:52:03 +0000

Portions of the Stanley-Silverking loop (Mountain Station Burlington Northern Trail South) and the cemetery trails over the Uphill neighbourhood in Nelson are closed after a momma grizzly bear with cub charging a couple of hikers and joggers over the weekend. Hikers and joggers weren’t hurt but the momma bear was being quite protective of the cub and charging with little to no warning. Be smart and steer clear of these areas.

Read the whole story here: http://bit.ly/kYq0zQ

Spring is here.. well sort of..

Smitty — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:51:03 +0000

Spring has been here for a few weeks and the riding in parts of Kootenay’s is starting to open up. Last weekend Kokanee was just packed.. it was sunny and warm and pretty much the only place to ride with most of it having a southern exposure. Snow-level all week was hovering around 1500m and some accounts pegged new snow high up at close to 80cm, so with that I wouldn’t expect some of the higher access points opening up anytime soon. But that said, the long range forecast does have quite a bit of sun in the forecast so fingers crossed. Although, a friend down in Rossland said the local joke is that the Seven Summits Trail might be covered with snow into July.. he said this as he was heading out the door for a cross-country ski.

Anyways, trails are open.. if you know what’s up – let us know. Early season precautions are in place.. watch out for fallen trees and try to tread lightly on any really wet spots.

Trails current open and riding well.. Slabalanche, Shitaker, Hitman, Doz Slabs.. pretty much everything over in Kokanee.

Ride on..
Smitty

Spring’s coming! Bike Swap April 16th

Smitty — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:55:03 +0000

Spring is in the air around here.. and if your not getting in the last season powder days you might be dusting off your trusty steed or looking for a new ride for the coming season. Cue the annual Nelson Cycling Club Bike Swap – Saturday April 16th. Each year this event gets bigger and bigger. I’ve sold bikes there, picked up some parts.. normally there is a pretty good selection, not just shops flogging last seasons bikes. All the proceeds go to the Nelson Cycling Club for trail maintenance/building, the Rosemont Bike Park and other NCC bike events.

The event is at the Rod & Gun club.. no details on timing but it’s usually drop your gear off at 9am and the sale start around lunch.

Don’t miss it!

Mountain Station Trails Reopen

Smitty — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:13:03 +0000

The Mountain Station trails have reopened this week! The Nelson Cycling Club (NCC) reports that several trails have been checked and cleared of debris. Honey, Buddha, Rez, and the lower 3/4 of Eli Sim are all open. Tiger Beef is closed due to logging slash on the bottom section. Kut Korners is open, and has a new finish which avoids the slash.

Riders should beware of blowdown on other trails until the NCC trail crews get to them. According to the NCC the recent logging has been selectively done and had a low impact on the trails. There has been some road work, which follows the old road from the bottom of Espresso, past Legalize-It and 9-Point and the Rez trail. It is super muddy and they don’t recommend riding it.

The NCC thanks all riders for respecting the recent closure.

Mike Kinrade’s Summer of Contour

Smitty — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:44:13 +0000

Just saw this quick little edit on PinkBike this morning. Kinrade shows off some good times from this summer with some epic shots of some quality Kootenay riding.

For the whole post on PinkBike go here

The KootenayBike Top 3 DH Bikes for 2011

Smitty — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:04:28 +0000

It’s that time of year that we start to think about putting away the bikes for another winter. The snowline creeps lower and lower every day, and your thinking about scraping the rust off the edges and maybe doing some stretches to prepare for the winter shredding season. That’s Fall in the Kootenays, but in the bike industry Fall is the launching point for the next years gear.. Eurobike, Interbike, whateverbike.. These shows give a chance for the industry to show what’s new and improved.. We’ve waded through the noise and are making a slightly biased call on a few bikes that you might want to start saving your penny’s for in the spring.

Intense 951

Refreshed for 2011 comes the Intense Cycles 951. A popular bike last year, I know a few people who have last years rig and rave about it, but this year Intense decided to bring the price point down a bit into the realm of other DH bike offerings. Hand-made in the U.S. the new 951 looses the adjustability it had in last years model with the G3 dropout being swapped out for a fixed dropout that pretty much was the middle setting on the old G3 dropout. The down tube changes ever so slightly but the bottom line is a more sticker friendly bike. Other than the lower price, the bike uses the 2nd generation VPP suspension system that peddles pretty well and has a predicable progressive suspension curve and handling characteristics that make it pretty versatile being able to handle flowy jump lines to steep, technical terrain, and being adept at both aggressive and maybe less aggressive lines. The versatility of this bike alone is why it’s high on our list of bikes for next year.

Transition TR450

Not much changes on the Transition TR450 from last year to this year, other than some colour changes.. I’ve heard it’s coming in a Kawi green for next year which will undoubtly look pretty sweet. The TR rocks a single-pivot suspension design, that’s solid and dependable. It’s low down attitude helps it rail corners and handle the burly sections. It’s fairly slack and low which is nice for the steeps but if your looking for a slightly more nimble ride, look towards a Transition Blindside or even the new TR250 which is a smaller tighter handling version of the TR450.

Devinci Wilson

The newest bike in this bunch is the Canadian made Devinci Wilson. Boasting the new split-pivot system which is supposed to separate the brake and suspension forces is getting loads of good initial feedback out there on the web. The bikes low down weight, balanced riding characteristics and bottom-less feel are why we love it. Throw in a solid component kit at all three model levels and you’ve got a pretty sweet complete ride.. this is not easily said about some bikes that come heavily loaded with in-house brand components. One thing we’d like to see is an Elka option for the rear shock.. that would put this ride near the 100% mark.

Why these bikes made our list

There are plenty of solid bikes out there that will no doubt provide an awesome base for some Kootenay shredding. These bikes simply caught our eye whether it be pure clean line design, nice build kits, and being from somewhat local companies. The Intense bikes are hand built in the U.S.A. – I can support that, same with the Devinci bikes coming straight from Quebec. Transition is practically Canadian being situated in Ferndale, Washington – that’s about 10 minutes south of the border. These aren’t climbers, and there are other bikes out there better suited for finding your way to the top of a run under your own power – but for those looking to keep it pointed downhill… these are a solid bet.

Agree or Disagree? Leave us a comment to let us know!

End of Season Twoonie Ride and Party – Sunday

Smitty — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:50:27 +0000

This Sunday (Oct. 31st) is the Nelson Cycling club End of Season Twoonie and End of season party. Beginning around Noon at Ed’s House (across hwy from Lakeview Furniture on your way towards Whitewater), ride up 3k double track road and ride down Waldorfian and back to Ed’s for a year end party.

Be creative it is Halloween so dress up prizes for best costumes. Feel free to tag team the ride or do it solo. Downhill tag team members will get a shuttle to the top of Waldorfian.

For more information go to Gericks or Sacred Ride.

Life Cycles Premiere – Saturday at the Capitol

Smitty — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:47:24 +0000

The much anticipated Life Cycles film is premiering in Nelson this Saturday October 16th at the Capitol Theatre. There are two showtimes – 7:00pm and 9:00pm, and tickets are $10 a piece. Tickets are probably available around town, at the Capitol Theatre or online at the Capitols website: http://capitoltheatre.com

The buzz around this film is that it’s a game changer merging “Planet Earth” style cinematography with mountain bike action. I’m not going to miss it.. but if you can’t make it DVD and BluRay pre-orders are available from the Life Cycles site.