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Callout for contributors

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

Posted by Smitty on May 12, 2011   | (0) Comments   |  

Portions of Stanley-Silverking Loop Closed – Grizzly Bears

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

Posted by Smitty on May 12, 2011   | (0) Comments   |  

Spring is here.. well sort of..

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

Posted by Smitty on Apr 27, 2011   | (0) Comments   |  

Spring’s coming! Bike Swap April 16th

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!

Posted by Smitty on Mar 16, 2011   | (0) Comments   |  

Mountain Station Trails Reopen

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.

Posted by Smitty on Nov 12, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

The KootenayBike Top 3 DH Bikes for 2011


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!

Posted by Smitty on Oct 29, 2010   | (2) Comments   |  

End of Season Twoonie Ride and Party – Sunday

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.

Posted by Smitty on Oct 29, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Life Cycles Premiere – Saturday at the Capitol

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.

Posted by Smitty on Oct 13, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Mountain Station Trails Closed – Active Logging in the area

The Mountain Station riding area with be closed for a month beginning October 4th. The landowners, Anderson Creek Timber Co. Ltd., will be working in the area as they complete some road building and selective harvesting over the month. The closure will affect all Mountain Station trails and recreation areas. Signs will be posted at all access points and the area will be patrolled at all hours.

Please respect the closure as all of the trails in the Mountain Station area are on private land and the Anderson Creek Timber Company works with the Nelson Cycling club to ensure access to these great trails. Do yourself and the rest of the riding community a favor and stay out of area.

For more information regarding the trail closures visit: The Nelson Star: Article – Mountain Station trails set to close

Posted by Smitty on Oct 06, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Mike Kinrade gets prepped for Rampage – PinkBike

Check out this cool article about local shredder – Mike Kinrade – getting ready for the Red Bull Rampage on PinkBike.. Lots of cool photos and a look at Mike’s bike for the RedBull Rampage.
Good Luck at the contest Mike!

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/mike-kinrade-red-bull-rampage-2010.html

Posted by Smitty on Sep 27, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Svoboda Road Trail Closures

Just in from the Nelson Cycling Club – The Svoboda traverse trail will be closed Monday, Sept. 13th and possibly Tuesday to complete snag falling. Thank you for your cooperation.

Posted by Smitty on Sep 13, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

2010 Fat Tire Festival Winners

Better late than never.. here’s the winners from the 2010 Nelson Cycling Clubs Fat Tire Festival. Evan Schwartz took the men’s DH race, with Jessica Wastl taking the women’s DH – both in the 18-44 categories respectively, and Francis Maika taking the Cam Slam Award – Awarded to the athlete who participates in all events and shows great spirit and sportsmanship.

The Nelson Cycling Club says “The Fat Tire Festival was a great success, thanks to our many volunteers & local sponsors. We can’t make it happen without either of you!”

Congrats to everyone involved… read on for the rest of the results.

Cross Country – Saturday August 21, 2010

Male Sane 18-44
1. #122 Geoff Langford 1.20.26

Male Sane 45+
1. #28 Pierce Sharelove 1.32.55
2. #100 Brent Watkinson 1.43.50
3. #99 Rob Marsland 2.08.10

Male Insane 18-44
1. #37 Ron Ellis 1.38.03
2. #5 Scott Legere 1.44.44
3. #5.0 Trevor Lumley 2.03.38

Male Insane 45+
1. #6 Sandy Mitchell 2.02.06
2. # 98 Randy Richmond 2.04.13
3. #93 John Boulanger 2.06.47

Female Sane 45+
1. Rose Watkinson

Female Insane 18-44
1. #23 Jeannie Dwyer 2.11.37
2. #15 Jessica Demars 2.25.25
3. #10 Jennifer Skands-Weise 2.31.36

Kids 9-12
1. #98 Tosh Sherkat 10.37.00
2. #44 Harper Henderson 10.45
3. #99 Kipp Geber 12.20

Criterium Race

Age 2-3
1. #51 Lachlan Bibby-Fox
2. #88 Atlyn Proctor
3. #350 Evan Ouchi

Age 4-5
1. #357 Drake Proctor
2. #58 Dylan Moynes
3. #Mason Ouchi

Age 6-8
1. #10 Yael Oosthuizen
2. #65 Otis Nyitis
3. #316 Kiya Miller

Age 9-12
1. #82 Jessi Underwood
2. #98 Tosh Sherkat
3. #316 Kiya Miller (true age – 8)

Male 18-44
1. #37 Ron Ellis
2. #Paper Plate – Travis Hauck
3. #7 Ronnie Haws

Male 45+
1. #107 John Devries
2. #3 Con Diamond

Female 18-44
1. #15 Jessica DeMars
2. #29 Frances Maika
3. #23 Jeannie Dwyer

Sunday August 22, 2010


Cross Country Age 6
1. #100 Noah Malen Font
2. #300 Nate Atkins
3. #8 Noah Ens

Cross Country Age 7-8
1. #10 Yael Oosthuizen
2. #84 Kiya Miller
3. #53 Milton McConnville

Downhill Results

Male 9-12
1. #60 Harper Henderson
2. #65 Teja Legare
3. #84 Kiya Miller

Male 13-17
1. #91 Josh Jones
2. #44 Sojourn Anise Soleil
3. #11 Sky Dunn-Sarvis

Male 18-44
1. #74 Evan Schwarz
2. #27 Nick Cima
3. #40 Sean Marechal

Male 45
1. #83 Todd Weber

Female 18-44
1. #131 Jessica Wastl
2. #22 Jenna Renwick
3. #29 Frances Maika

Posted by Smitty on Aug 31, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Rossland Rubberhead Festival – Sept. 4th-5th


Fresh off the heals of last weekends Fat Tire Festival in Nelson is the newly re-named Rossland Rubberhead Festival. The festival is being held on Labour Day long-weekend (September 4th and 5th) in Rossland.

The festival weekend will include the Dreadhead All-Mountain Challenge, Huck-en Berry Bike Jam and annual Seven Summits Poker Ride.

Registration is limited in some events so get in touch with Revolution Cycles 250-362-5688 or email info[at]rosslandrubberhead[dot]com

For full list of Rossland Rubberhead event information visit rosslandrubberhead.com

Posted by Smitty on Aug 24, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

2010 Triple Crown – Aug 29th – Presented by NRG

Back after a little hiatus is the NRG Triple Crown. An all-day 67km epic – the poker run is a Kootenay singletrack extravaganza. This years three stage course includes hitting up some of the epic rides in the three main areas around town – Giveout Creek, Mountain Station and Svoboba Road. The first stage is Powerslave, Highballer, Placenta, Illuminati, Wake & Bake to Pulmanary. The second stage is The Vein. The third stage is Paper Bag. And.. it’s a poker run! Those completing all three stages will have a chance to a grand prize with the best hand.

Registration is available through the www.nrgenterprises.com and costs $25. You must be a Nelson Cycling Club member to take part in the event.

View the 2010 Triple Crown Poster

Posted by Smitty on Aug 06, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Kootenay Fat Tire Fest 2010: Call for Volunteers


Do you want to get involved in your community? Do you love fresh air, lots of activity and mountain biking? If you said yes to any of these questions, the Kootenay Fat Tire Fest 2010 needs you! The Nelson Cycling Club’s 16th annual event promises to be a fun-filled festival for competitors and spectators alike, but it can’t be done without a roster of dedicated volunteers.

Trail and course workers are needed NOW to get this year’s trails in shape. During the event we will need a course marshals, first aid attendants, trail crews for set up/tear down, shuttle drivers, new activities, as well as people to help with registration and miscellaneous jobs.

The festival occurs Saturday August 21 and Sunday August 22, 2010 with events in Nelson and at the old Blewett Ski Hill – Morning Mountain. There will be a parade, Criterium Race, “Kootenay Krawl” (slow race), Cross Country and Downhill events for kids from age 3 to 93.

If you would like to get involved please email Kathryn at kdgimages[at]telus[dot]net and state your name, phone number, email, availability and job(s) you are interested in.

Posted by Smitty on Jul 20, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Smallwood XC Trail Network Update & Maintenance Day

Anyone looking to take a break from the local DH/freeride tracks will want to check out the new trail work undertaken in the Smallwood XC area. A new descent from the lookout is officially open. Watch for the sign “Bigwood” on the way down. It is a beautiful XC descent with fun, flow’y corners. Please keep in mind this is a brand new trail and riding when it is too wet or too dry will damage any trail. Currently there is 4km of single track XC trail in the sub-alpine and that will be extended to link to existing trails to become a 30km loop of XC riding like no where else in Nelson and the Kootenays. Thank you to Pat Wray, John Krebs and all the trail builders for all the great work done up at Smallwood.

Trail Maintenance Day – Smallwood XC Area – July 25th
There will be a trail maintenance day in the Smallwood Creek area on Sunday, July 25th. Please let contact Paula Owen if you are interested in helping out.

Posted by Smitty on Jul 20, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

KootenayBike T-Shirts Now Available

After a few weeks of trying to get things in order… the KootenayBike T-Shirts are now available for sale! Purchase through the site and the shirts are $20 + $2 shipping, or at SacredRide for $25. If you want one straight away – email us at hello[at]kootenaybike.com and we’ll get in touch to complete the deal through Paypal. Otherwise, head done to SacredRide and gear yourself up.

The T-shirts are available in S, M, L and XL. Colours are grey or green.

Posted by Smitty on Jul 12, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

July Long Weekend – Update

What’s up long weekend. The weekend is shaping up to be filled with some epic riding. Even the rain yesterday will probably help the trails in some spots. It was starting to get a little dusty in those last few days of heat… Either way conditions are great to be out there. Powerslave is drying out nicely and has some optimal levels of grip. Placenta, Illuminati and the DH course are all running nice as well. Stay tuned in the next few days for some photos and trail reviews for these Giveout Creek area trails.

Other trail news
The Vein has been bucked out and is ready to go. There are a few new logging road crossings so keep your eyes open when ripping it for the first time this year.

Site news
Facebook Connect is now active on the site. Avid Facebookers can add the KootenayBike app to their facebook accounts and be automatically logged into KootenayBike. This simplifies the comments flow on the site and allows for some extra conversations to take place.

KootenayBike T-Shirts are available
The KootenayBike T-Shirts are available and for sale at Sacred Ride in Nelson for $25. They come in either grey or green and will be available on the site this coming week for $20 plus $2 shipping. Photos of these little hot commodities will be posted in the next few days as well.

KootenayBike Stickers
KootenayBike stickers are available. The initial run was quite small and are better suited for vehicles or helmets rather than bikes. This initial run is available for who ever wants them so if your interested follow us on twitter @kootenaybike or send us a comment using the new KootenayBike facebook app and we’ll get you sorted.

Get out there and enjoy the moderate temps.. mid 30’s coming next week!

Posted by Smitty on Jul 03, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Two Nelson Shredders selected to 2010 NSMB AIRprentice


This coming long weekend two local shred-dogs will be competing in this year’s AIRprentice presented by NSMB.com and Specialized. Russ Fountain, and Nick Cima made the top-9 and invited to compete at Silverstar this coming weekend (July 3-4). Both Nick and Russ’s videos are filled with some awesome riding check out their videos below and go talk some smack on the NSMB boards. Here’s the post on NSMB to check out their competition http://nsmb.com/3779-airprentice-2010

Good Luck boys.. bring home the crown! (Vids after this link)

Russ’s Video:

Nick’s Video:

airprentice from Nick on Vimeo.

Posted by Smitty on Jun 29, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

T-Shirts are in.. stickers coming today

Been a busy week at KootenayBike, the T-Shirts have been printed and arrived this morning. The first run of stickers is coming in today too. We have been working hard on the back-end of the site and will be launching a tighter integration with Facebook. Facebook users be will able to login to kootenaybike with their Facebook logins. The comments will then populate on the users Facebook status feed and hopefully encourage more conversation between KootenayBike users. Also, with the arrival of the T-shirts, the store function will be added this weekend and people can start rocking the KootenayBike gear! So stay tuned..

Posted by Smitty on Jun 25, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Chinese Downhill Twoonie Race – June 26th

Mark it in your calendar – Saturday, June 26th, in lieu of the Dirt Tours Saturday night shuttle will be the Chinese Downhill mass-start race presented by Sacred Ride and Dirt Tours. If you are interested in competing, you must be a Nelson Cycling Club member, in possession of a twoonie and be at Sacred Ride by 5pm. There will be rides to the top but if you have a nice padded truck, you are welcome to help shuttle.

The course is going to be Bears Den to Midballer to lowballer and back up the road to Placenta to Illuminati and to Oil Can.

Volunteers are needed too. Contact Sacred Ride if you can help out: 250.354.3831

As always, BBQ & Bevies to follow…

Posted by Smitty on Jun 14, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Tag Team Twoonie Race – Sunday

This Sunday, June 6th is the Tag Team Twoonie! Meet at the Mtn Station parking lot at 1:30pm. Teams of two compete in a tag team format, first rider up Shasta to Fat Chance, second rider down Fat Chance, Espresso, to Nine Point down to the parking lot.

Get out there and enjoy the fun race format!

Posted by Smitty on Jun 05, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Rosemont Bike Park in Nelson Opens!

Nelson Mountain Bike Park Opens

The new Rosemont Bike Park in Nelson had it’s grand opening party last Saturday. Local shredders of all ages came out to enjoy the new legit bike park, dirt jump jam and check out all the action. It was cool to see riders of all ages and skill levels all using the park together. A pretty good size crowd was on the sidelines taking in the music and bbq while the park session was on. This park will be a mainstay for the Nelson riding scene and the kids in town will only benefit from the quality of this park. Several different jump lines are in place, as well as a couple of different pump track lines.

Check out the slideshow below for more images of the party, and when it stops raining and the park dries out.. get out there and enjoy the park!

Slideshow:

Put your mouse over the image to view controls..

This SlideShowPro photo gallery requires the Flash Player plugin and a web browser with JavaScript enabled.

Want to add more? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Posted by Smitty on Jun 02, 2010   | (2) Comments   |  

Rosemont Bike Park – Grand Opening May 29th

Rosemont Bike Park in Nelson
This Saturday, May 29th, is the grand opening of the Rosemont Bike Park. Festivities are between 3pm – 6pm and there will be a Dirt Jump Jam, hot dogs, kids trail ride, and music. Also, a Kona Shonky (DJ/Slopestyle bike) will be raffled off! Tickets available at Gerricks on Baker St. The bike park is located at the top of West Beasley St, and if you are interested in volunteering please contact the Nelson Cycling Club.

Posted by Smitty on May 26, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

Long Weekend Kootenay Shred

The long weekend is here and the trails are in wicked condition. Everything is nice and tacky, and the temps are just about right for an some all day rides. Mtn Station is all good, but I think the cooler temps and even the low snow line last few days will keep most off of the higher trails in the Giveout Creek area. 49er is all cleared and running nice, as is Taster’s Choice for those looking for some gnar DH (watch out for a few trees down on Taster’s). Kokanee should be wicked with this recent rain too. Anyways, get out there this weekend, respect the trails and ride!

Posted by Smitty on May 22, 2010   | (0) Comments   |  

KootenayBike gets launched!

Kootenay Bike - Showcasing the best Kootenay Mountain Biking Trails, Personalities and scenes!
A little bit late, but better late than never.. it’s been a hectic last few weeks getting through the long list of bugs.. but we are through most of them and it’s time to get this site off the ground. There are bound to be a few bugs still lurking, if you happen to see any please let us know what you were doing and what browser/platform you are running – that way we can try to replicate it and figure it out. Also, this is more of a “soft-launch” rather than a big hurray launch because of the apparent lack of content. This is currently being addressed, we are out shooting photos and vids of the trails and will be posting them through out the season. The main idea is to have the catalog in good shape at the end of this season.

You also might notice that not all of the pages/links work.. they will start working as content is added. We do apologize but it’s a small group running behind the scenes here and we do have day jobs… but we do appreciate your patience.

So.. if you are interested in shooting photos of the trails, writing trail descriptions and reviews or just generally getting involved please send us an email at hello[at]kootenaybike.com and we’ll get things sorted so you can start posting.

Posted by Smitty on May 02, 2010   | (4) Comments   |