Categorized | Bike, Blog, NB/PE, NS, SnowSports

I don’t often feel ready to say goodbye to winter.

Was it that I skied or boarded over 100 days and was now sick of it?

Or was I was excited about bike and other sport seasons?

About ten years earlier I was hoping cool winter conditions would persist as long as possible so that I could ski in June in Nova Scotia. Not a common possibility. I got the task done in the pouring rain on June first on a small 5 turn patch of snow. It sucked.

Having just purchased my first new bike in over 8 eight years I was keener than most previous years to say ciao to snow.

I picked up a Norco Range 2 recently from my friends at Hub Cycle in my hometown Truro, NS.

Coincidently, if you happen to be in central Nova Scotia, Hub Cycle and Red Bull are hosting Strength in Numbers on Thursday, May 31st.

Previous years in North Vancouver the line between ski and bike season was very blurred due to the big elevation differences. Snow-free trails down low, alpine skiing up high. It was a gruelling climb and we got weathered out without skiing. It also sucked.

This type of approach in the east would get you stuck in a lot of mud.

Besides one road ride and some laps around my house I was itching to hit some trails. Conditions were wet and muddy around home so I made a trip to the granite trails of Whopper Drop near Halifax, NS.

Whopper has been a long-time mountain bike classic in Halifax. The granite of the area makes for great all-season riding. I hadn’t ridden Whopper in over ten years and a friend agreed to show me a great loop with a number of fun features before they are destroyed by a developer’s dozer for retail shopping.

A perfect first ride of the season. It did not suck.

Warning: Bike trail builders have stopped maintaining the wooden structures in Whopper since the area is going to be developed.
Inspect before riding wooden features.

I owed a childhood friend in Vermont a visit. Fortunately he lived near a wonderful 300 acre mountain bike trail network in Rutland, Vermont called Pine Hill Park.

I picked up his brother in Camden, Maine then we hit the buff trails of Pine Hill.

We enjoyed two days riding the most fun, buff and condensed network of trails that I have ridden. It definitely did not suck.

I had to make my way north again.

On my way back home I was passing central NB and I knew my friend Jason was almost at his final ski day total tally. I really didn’t want to ski anymore. I didn’t have my ski gear with me.
The inspiration to ski was 100% gone.

…But I knew Jason would likely appreciate some company and perhaps a photo of his 153rd and final ski day. So off we went into a misty drizzle and had a couple of laps on a patch of snow smaller than a putting green.

Yes, it sucked. But we chuckled the entire time at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Fortunately all the snow had finally melted by the time I returned home so I couldn’t be tempted again.

A week later I re-connected with an old ski friend but this time was to show him some local bike trails. Our huge grins but the end of the ride seemed like obvious proof that the day did not suck.

After one last lapse back into skiing I now welcome the dusty trails and summer. I am already making plans for some other classic trails on the east coast. Fight trail, Keppoch, the Annapolis Valley,….. From what I hear, these trails do not suck.

Seems to be a trend here. Biking in May does not suck. Trying to ski low elevations in May sucks.

Mental note to self.

Tags | bike blog