Ride of the Supers

It was one of those days : flying along the trail, hucking everything in sight, attempting every obstacle, never getting tired.

I'd been waiting for a long ride for 3 weeks. Two weekends ago, Jennifer was away, the babysitter cancelled, and I was stuck around the house all weekend. I managed to get some exercise with the Shevlin Ridge baby stroller Criterium, which involved hooking up Rowan in the stroller behind my road bike, and doing laps around the neighbourhood while Carmyn waited in front of the house. Got in 5 or 6 high intensity laps before Rowan demanded release. Last weekend, I caught some nasty bug. Felt crappy Saturday, but decided an easy ride might make me feel better. Went off for a couple of hours with a buddy, exploring some trails at a very easy pace, but then had a major relapse later : fever, chills and sweating, and I was down for the count. Sunday had to flake out around the house doing absolutely nothing in order to recover.


Which brings us to today. Feeling good, and left the house around 10 am to hit the Edison to Lava trail, a 3-hour mini-epic that toasted me last year in the mid-summer heat. That was the first time I'd done it, and I remember two 'note to self's' after that ride : bring more water (remorseless heat beating down through the sparse tree canopy), and bring a full-suspension bike. So armed with 60 oz of Accelerade-infused Camelbak, and the Giant VT, with a plushy 5.75" rear, I was ready to attack the trail with gusto.


The drive there took barely 35 minutes, due to the eagerness with which I plied the Subaru's transmission. Upon arrival, I was minorly disappointed to note half the SnowPark had been taken over by construction vehicles (they're 'redoing' the road that leads up past there from SunRiver), and the other half by RV's that were associated with ATV type people. Edison SnowPark is a major hangout for snowmobiles in the winter. And oh yeah Snowshoers with Dogs also show up, wrecking the nice XC loop that can also be found there.


I decided on a good Tempo pace, which is a steady fast solo pace, way below race speed, but still gets you places fast. The trail starts off with nice winding singletrack through old growth, with several sections of burly lava thrown in. The tires were biting nicely (Schwalbe Tubeless Racing Ralph in the rear and a Knobby Nic in the front), and I was feeling the Flow. Mostly slightly uphill all the way to half-way point, where a trail leads up to Kowl Butte. Before this, the ATV trail blends into the singletrack, causing it to be double-track, but not too badly chewed up. Hit a major 4-foot diameter downed tree at one point, which no doubt was helping keep the ATV's out, as I saw nary a one. After the half-way point, the singletrack resumes and motorized transport is verbotten. And thence commences the downhill to Lava Lake - never really steep - but sustained and rendering you capable of some rather high speeds. Interspersed are many technical lava sections, and some beautiful launchers to huck off of. I recall having a good time down this last year on the DosNiner (no rear suspension to speak of), but now I was freaking flying down it (or so it seemed) at a much higher velocity. And spending much more time with both tires contacting nothing but air. As you descend, however, never far from consciousness is the fact that you will have to climb up all this stuff on the way back - and that is somewhat sobering. I remembered significant struggles from last year, as I laboured up steep loose sections, pushing the bike often, and cursing the folly of he who would so ignorantly descend in glee, so irresponsibly forgetful of the need to Return.


I reached Little Lava lake, stoked on the giddy descent. The previous year I took my snack and respite on the shores of this jewel-like lake. This year I continued instead to the right towards Big Lava Lake, and had my break there. Motors allowed on this lake, not as picturesque.

Now time for the grind back up to the half-way point. While barely twenty minutes to descend, I figured it could be up to an hour climbing back up. I went along happily enough, and stopped a few times for some photo shoots. I waited for the steep, loose, energy-sapping sections with some trepidation, hoping perhaps foolishly that the full-suspension bike would supply extra traction and allow me to sprightly scale those areas that had troubled me last year. The clock kept ticking, and I still had hit nothing steep. Oh, a few very short technical pieces had appeared, but they were easily attacked and thrown. As time wore on, I felt a swell of hope, thinking perhaps that I had passed all the steep sections ! But I'd been down this road before, only to have my hopes dashed as a wall of climbing suddenly appeared.
But this time... holy freaking time warp, I never hit the steeps ! All of a sudden I was at the half-way point, and I had easily climbed everything that had been thrown at me, and all the while barely breaking a sweat doing it ! It was then that I realized I was having one of those SuperHero days. I came upon a technical trail feature, one that was meant to be taken in the other direction, and involved riding a skinny up to a downed log, traversing the log for 20 feet or so while several feet in the air, and dropping off the end. I had dismissed it as too risky when passing it this year and last, but now with the Super-thing going on, I figured I'd better take a second look. Yup, doesn't look too bad - I can do it. Hit it with speed and confidence, and nailed it. Continued, remembering that there was a another one of these on the way back, and which was probably easier. Had another great downhill run on the other side back towards the starting point, wondering how I could generate so much speed here, when ascending it had seemed so gradual and easy. Saw the skinny to log transition, and as I flew onto it, I realized - oops - this is a little harder, longer, and skinnier than the other one, but enhanced mind-over-matter scoffed and swallowed it whole.

Back at the car I was hardly tired, and must remember this day, when others may not be so easy. Oh yeah, so my loop time was a few minutes faster this year, on a heavier bike, with a longer break on the Lake side, and with several photo-ops on the way back. And one more thing : Zero Hikers, Zero Bikers, Zero Dogs, and Zero Motos were encountered along the entire trail.