A wheel-ie good time

So as seen by my lack of writing last summer in 2019 you may have noticed my minimal hiking days . This was due to a combination of study, working all the time, bad weather (Alberta literally had no summer) and my interest in mountain biking. From the very beginning of living in the mountains I have dabbled in trail rides, mostly on my $200 Sport expert hardtail with ZERO suspension. Until last year.

Andrew dropping at Silverstar

Andrew has always been into biking, since the first summer we were together. I guess his dirt bike history has a large part to play in this. Always taking me out on trails in and around Banff, with no helmet and no regards, down black runs with bridges and over to the cliff edges overlooking the highway.

Over the past 2 summers our interest in biking has heightening (more Andrews) and then come Summer 2019, as we moved to Canmore, we began to really get into it. Canmore Nordic Centre is a Olympic training centre for cross-country skiing and biathletes, and in summer it transforms into a trail riding Mecca. Best part is from our front door you can BIKE there within 10-15 minutes. There are endless trails hidden in the trees around Canmore.

Andrew took awhile but finally bit the bullet and bought a enduro bike (Trek Remedy), and so did our friend Ty. So they're twins, and in turn I inherited Andrew's old bike. So this Scott Ransom has had 4+ owners and is a 2006 model. The shock was shoddy and chose when it was going to work, and Andrew has wrapped himself and the bike around the tree, so had welded back together the back bracket. So as you can guess the riding on it wasn't the greatest, but my interest had been peaked. Not only had I started to enjoy it more (mainly because of suspension) but I had made friends with girls who ripped.

So this past summer more of my days off have been filled with biking. Andrew also doesn't enjoy hiking as he'd rather ride down the hills, and also the weather hasn't been the most co-operative, that I'd rather be biking in the rain rather than on the top of a mountain with the potential of lightening.

So mostly after work or on our days off together we spent them biking around Canmore, up at the Nordic or over the valley at Horseshoe trails. He'd mostly go off with the boys and do the harder trial (which in all honesty I also wanted to do but apparently he didnt want me to join cos he "didn't want to see me get hurt", which is sweet but also no! I want to try!)

So my first resort riding was Revelstoke. After camping the weekend alongside Lake Revelstoke and meeting everyone out there after they went biking in Panorama, I made a last minute decision to join them on the ride. My bank account didn't agree and I only brought half of my biking gear, but I decided to join in. First off, I didn't bring my bike. So I had to hire. The choice was $90 for a regular Enduro bike or $100 for an e-bike with full suspension.... Easy choice. (Part of me thinks Andrew encouraged me more to get this as he would have to wait for me less).

Revelstoke. Deceiving but gorgeous mountain. Little did I realize, but yes you catch the gondola up, but you have to bike a further 7km UPHILL before getting to the starting point of the downhill. This is where I am glad I got the e-bike, as I had it on the lowest level of assistance and 4th gear the whole way up. Now these guys (and girl) are fit and regular bikers so seeing as they thought the uphill wasn't the greatest and a bit of a slog, I know I would have been miles back sucking back wind like there was no tomorrow. The only downside of my e-bike (which some would say upside), is I like the workout of a bike ride, I like to sweat and feel like I have done some work - hence the 4th gear.

Emma had told me that when we passed a group having a snack on the way up, one of them had said "Why the hell is she so happy and smiling", while the rest are sweating and puffing and not happy. Thank you e-bike. I defiantly got some dirty looks with this bike. I can only assume due to either jealousy as I was on the e-bike or because some assume that e-bikes are cheating and not a mountain bike. (Which I partly agree with, but on the downhill it makes no difference and to be honest they'll beat me down anyway). So I defiantly felt deflated from that and the feeling that I had "cheated".

The stopping point for us was short 100m from the "official" stop, but everyone else was here and to go down you had to go through here anyway so it just made sense. The views were amazing however. Looking over at Mt Begbie and all the glaciers scattered throughout the valley was breathtaking. The uphill was steep (but I can't complain as I did almost NO work what so ever) and the others didnt look the most excited by it. Andrew somehow got in his head that he refused to be beaten by an e-bike, so started to bike harder. (little did he know I had my bike off half of that time that he was in front so I could sweat).

The downhill was calculated and cruisey. The berms were nice and big, the jumps had multiple lines and the walls scattered with booters. The track itself was mostly smooth with short sections of roots and rocks -nothing too hard as even I was able to ride the entire thing. The berms linked into one another which was good as they are something I need to work on getting, so by the time I got to the bottom I had gotten the feel of them. It was good as Andrew and Emma would swap places and make sure I was okay, but I would prefer they do they’re own thing and that would force me to push myself to keep up. But they said they weren’t waiting long (I think it was more to make me feel better though). It took about 45-60 minutes down and I thought it was worth it but I know had I not ridden an e-bike, my mind would have thought otherwise.

Before Revelstoke and even more so afterwards, I was hooked. Thankfully I have some girlfriends who absolutely rip downhill (and also fly uphill), who I was able to join riding most days after work to help improve technique and get comfortable. The most surprising thing to them was even on that '06 Ransom I was able to keep up pretty well (Full Disclosure: I would be dying but kept up), so imagine how much more so I would be able to do with a bike that fit and had working gears and suspension. On that Ransom however I did go down that trail I mentioned earlier that Andrew didn't want me to do - Multiple times. Only walking the first two steep and tight corners at the top. One time my back tyre even fell off. So I feel as though my confidence in the bike was not high and my desire to try new things on it were even lower.

Towards the tail end of the season Andrew and I decided last minute to drive out to Kicking Horse for the day. Chloe gracefully let me borrow her bike ( thank god otherwise I would have hired. There was no chance I was riding my own bike). It was totally worth it. Kicking horse is so much fun (for me as a beginner probably more than someone like Andrew). You ride the Gondola up to the top of the mountains, passing over Boo the grizzly bear. At the top you have the choice of hiking along the ridge to the left or going downhill to the right. Obviously we chose the latter. Its scree, loose, fast and open with everyone watching you. The first ride down I managed to pick up speed but being the whimp I am rode the brakes more than I should have. After about a kilometre this wide lose scree road can continue to be taken or you can veer left onto the trails. These are thin Rooty, rocky and bumpy tracks, so for someone like myself when its level it takes a little more work on the legs to get my ass over those obstacles.

When the decline starts thats when I had the most fun. Winding through the small tracks around the teeny berms, over small bridges and features (Andrew flew, I more rolled). The tracks then meet back up with the road which you can follow down to any of the trails branching off. We chose to stick to blues as I wasn't sure I would feel comfortable on the blacks just yet). Flying down the dips, up along the cliff edges, over jumps (I felt like I was getting massive air but probably looked more like centimetres), up and around the large berms. This trip was the best I have done to this day and defiantly got me wanting more. We did a total of 4 runs before I needed a coffee and a water break. The whole downhill took almost 45- 60 minutes each time.

I was ecstatic after that day. Part of me does feel bad for Andrew as I knew he held back for me and wasn't able to do the more difficult terrain that I know he is capable of doing. But oh well, I had fun and I think his primary objective was to just get me to enjoy it more so I would go with him more often and in turn get better and keep up.

Fast forward to 2020. I have been talking about getting myself a bike (that functions) since before Kicking Horse and have been humming and harring, on whether I should do it. My Price point started at around $2000, as I could not justify buying anything more as my first bike. That did not last long. Looking online forever and scrolling through endless websites, watching countless youtube videos, I had a hard pill to swallow. That was that if I wanted a good enough bike to do what I wanted to do and not have to replace it in a year I would need to spend a bit more. Thankfully I am a budgeter and can weasel my way through tough financial times I schemed on how to make it work for me.

Now the bike itself. I had ridden both Julie and Chloes bikes which were Liv Pique SX's from 2018. One was a medium and the other small and both bright yellow ( my favourite colour). They had been so comfortable to ride and did everything I wanted it to do. Andrew however wanted me to get a bike with a bit more travel on it to help with the downhill sections we would go and do. Looking at women bikes the main competitors are Liv (made by giant), and Julianna (made by Santa Cruz). Other brands such as Norco do women bikes but the components on them within my price range were not what I was looking for. You don't have to get a women's bike though, a female could easily ride a mens bike but the dimensions would be different. It mainly comes down to the persons body type and whether they are the shorter torsos and legs (like me), which would suit the women frame which was made specifically for this.

I had gone into Bicycle Cafe at least 10 times since last summer questioning them on what I should get and what they would suggest (I am sure they got sick of me).I had a not so great experience before I had figured out my price range as had said most were about what I could afford and felt as though the gentleman helping me then had no interest and walked off. But since that they had been so helpful. There were two in particular who would talk to me about the pros, the cons about each bike as well as offering different price ranges. I was originally looking at a Liv Intrigue 3, 2020 bike. This is as it was in the lower range at $2799.00, and had a higher travel at 150mm/140mm. The guys at Bicycle Cafe had spoken about it being a great bike for the price as Giant makes their own frames and some other parts so it brings the price down substantially. They had also offered me a Julianna Rubion 2019 for $5300.00 (which was very tempting as it was down from $6000). But again too much.

This past winter our friends Chloe and George had also moved in with us and they are both bike nuts. George knows his stuff, so me being me pestered him and wanted his advice (cos I had no idea). Literally within minutes George had said the model above the Liv intrigue I had been looking at is best. For the price, the components and the travel all fit what I would like. Another 3 weeks pass of me tossing up if I should do it or not. (Those who know me, know that I will internalize any decision 50 times before I do it).

I am now the proud owner of a Liv intrigue 2 2020. I am so exciting for the coming summer (mostly as we're in Lockdown and I have a brand new bike I am itching to use). I was hoping to be able to use it by now but Canada's weather has decided to play a cruel joke and give us more snow than we've seen this time of year for a while.

Not only do I have a bike, I have a season pass to Panorama resort. So I will be able

to push myself and get better. (Hopefully not die too much)

Bring on the summer, and bring on the adventures on my new whip.

(p.s below is me doing my first real drop. EVER.)