Jer’s Continuing Adventures…

What’s up with that? Sounds crazy, I know, and it tastes damn good! When I invited Dave and asked for suggestions for cooking the venison, he came up with pine needles in the marinade. Sweet! Let’s do it! Dave came over early and we marinaded the steaks with fir needles (no pine trees nearby) and dried cranberries. After Dan and Tereza showed up we got the steaks cooking. So yum! I’m definitely doing that one again! And the lemon meringue pie for dessert was a killer. A few beers, some very engaging conversation and I’d call that a success. I’m liking this dinners with friends thing. Got to do more of it!

Looking forward to going for a ride with Steve tomorrow. We’ll ride the sections of trail I cleared today and see how they are. Stoked! I haven’t gone for a ride with Steve for over a month. We’ll see how the young feller holds up. Just kidding, he can ride the legs off me on a good day.

With a belly full of beer, good food and sweets, it’s time to say good night. Sweet dreams and bright days, y’all!

Ian and I went for a ride Monday for the express purpose of riding the new section of Slickrock. That being the section 12 volunteers on Sunday worked hard to make happen.

We started at the Fire Hall and took Beulah Creek Trail as I wanted to try the bridge I had built there. From there across Jesse’s Trail to Summit, up Summit to Inner Ridge and across to Four Dead Aliens. More up from there to Purgatory and down to Northwind. Damn, Purgatory is a fun ride! Anyhoo, down Bitchin’ Camero and to the new section of Slickrock. All good so far.

I came in on the new section a little too hot, forgetting that it is still soft. My front wheel washed out and I augured in. Oof! Somehow I bruised my ribs in the crash. Oh well, brush meself off and keep riding. Other than being soft, the new Slickrock is wicked fun! There flowing sections of singletrack, tight spots, smooth rock rolldowns, some optional hits and nice rock work. I’m looking forward to riding it again today!

Awesome crew came out on Sunday for the big push on Slickrock. We had a dozen all told, and Betty even made an appearance. With such stoked folks we finished the whole thing in 5 hours. Some of the lads were in for the heavy lifting, some were more about the finishing work, everybody had something to do. Even the kids, Arly and Ruby, helped by collecting pin flags. I was stoked to see so many people thought the trails are worth a few hours of their time, and I am looking forward to many more successful work days.

Parker puts on a great spread! Buffalo Chicken Wings, Chorizo Sausages and Bratwurst, French Fries and lots of Blender Drinks! What a feast! And I made $5 in a bet with Jethro! Better pay up, buddy..

I have to admit that a Super Bowl Party doesn’t sound appealing to me, but it’s such a good time the way it happens at the Fire Hall that I’m looking forward to the next one. This one started at about 1400 after I came out of the woods from marking the potential trail diversion on Slickrock with Yana, Doug and Steve. I invited Steve to come to the party and meet everybody. And while he was there we took his bubble hockey game out and loaded it in to his truck. He had bought it from the Fire Department. After that excitement we settled in for some earnest eating and drinking. The game was even exciting as the score seesawed back and forth up to the last 30 seconds with the underdogs, the New York Giants, taking the win. Woohoo!

And….. we’re back!

Up bright and squirrely this morning. Well, like a hungover squirrel. Feeling kinda rough around the edges we had a nice breakfast with Hans before he dropped us at the train stop. Mary unfortunately had a wicked migraine and stayed in bed. Kelly was missing school as well. So we didn’t get to say goodbye to them. Much thanks to them for a great party and a fleece sheet.

I had charged my batteries last night so I could take some pictures on the train. What do you think?

The train had to stop in the middle of nowhere to clear a downed tree on the tracks. The train just pushed it! That’s using the available resources! Afterward I was talking to the conductor and he said they’d totaled a Quad bike the day before. The rider had jumped clear, but the bike didn’t make it. Apparently only a week old, too. Bummer, dude. Of course it’s hard to sympathize,as the train is very large, makes a lot of noise and goes by the same spot at the same time every day. Expensive lesson.

We disembarked at Buckely Bay, Angel hopped in with her folks who were going to Courtenay and I caught the ferry. I had left the truck parked at Denman West, and that is such a nice way to travel. No hitchhiking this time.

Back on Hornby I called Yana and we headed up to Slickrock again to get another take on it. Even more water this time, though I was glad to see the places where Doug and I had kicked the creek off the trail were still holding. I think we’ll have a good trailbuilding session in April.

Wish me luck, I’m off to do my Firefighter Evaluation tonight.

Come Saturday evening I was thinking about the upcoming (April 13th) trail building workshop. I gave Doug a ring to see if he’d be into sussing out Slickrock Trail for the project. He agreed to Sunday morning at 0900 with bikes. On the hour I picked him up and we headed to the Fire hall with our rides. After a brief, and soggy, ride in we got to see how much the creek had taken over the trail. Basically the creek WAS the trail. While hiking around there we scoped out some new lines and a couple spots to cross the creek with bridges. The new section goes essentially from the start of Milo’s meadow to Colt’s Foot. I really appreciate Doug’s experience and perspective coming from years of North Shore trailbuilding and involvement. Good to have a new angle on things. We flagged the important spots to remember and headed back. Oh yeah, we found also this really deep, still pool near the trail. Beautiful!

That done, I had to get ready as Angel and I were heading to Shawnigan Lake on the train. Hans was having a birthday party and I wanted to be there. And that was going to be the first time on the train for me. $36.75 to get down to Shawnigan in comfort and style. No bar car though. The trip down was uneventful and I would have taken photos except both my camera batteries were dead. We got to Shawnigan and hitched a ride from a nice lady to the shop where the party was in full swing. Swedish candle burning, kids running around, minibike zipping by, a big hug from Kelly, Hans and Mary, hellos from Zeena and Lola. A good, Kumbruch/Noakes scene. After starting to catch up with Hans’ intoxication level (I had brought some home brew, and a flask) I gave Steve a call and he came over. Lots of great conversation and laughter. And drinks, and food, and bike talk. All in all a great night. Thanks to Hans and Mary for putting us up.