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View Full Version : Coming to Van. Aug 20, 2006 Looking for input and another great vacation!




crashac1
07-06-2006, 11:28 PM
Hello and greetings from Iowa, US.,

I'm a 39yr old guy that lives for bikes living in the US, in Davenport, Iowa. It's just about the flattest state in the country. I manage a local bike shop and am a very active member of our local mtn bike club FORC, sounds like (FORK)

Last year i was fortunate enough to get a free round trip ticket to Van from my boss, it turned out to be the best vacation of my life.
Two of my buds had 3 weeks of vacation time they drove to whistler from Iowa with my bike and all my gear, while i took the perimiter van from the airport, we met at whistler village. They had a pop up camper we stayed just down the road at a campground just north of town.
We rode the bike park for 3 days, i left unscathed, although i cant say that for the both of them. One broke his knuckles on the rock face to 90 on lower A line, the other one blew his rear FOX shock on his bullit.
I went on an incredible canoe trip with another friend i haven't seen in 20yrs, We canoed in the Howe sound at Squamish on a rainy day for 8hrs, but it was still a great day.

This year i have the round trip ticket again, thanks to the kick ass boss. But this year i will coming up alone. I'm set to arrive in Van on Sunday Aug 20th. with my bike in a case and all the gear i can bring on the plane including my video equipment. leaving the following saturday the 26th.

I really dont have a plan after that, not sure exactly what i want to do or the logistics of doing it. I've had two trips in my head all summer long, here they are.

1> Fly to Van take the city bus to the greyhound station then take the greyhound to whistler, stay in a hostel or staff housing, ride the park and do some filming for a few days

or

2> Fly to Van take a city bus to a hostel or possibly meet up with some cool locals or a club who would like to share some hospitality and maybe a little of their space with me for a few days, and do some riding and filming on the shore.

Is it possible to get a boxed bike on a city bus?

I would appreciate any help you guys can give a fellow rider.




heckler
07-07-2006, 12:54 AM
Holy crap, does Iowa ever have a lot of cycling organizations!

http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/links/Links.asp?Link_Type=8

heckler
07-07-2006, 12:55 AM
Trail days in the winter? I guess you gotta do something when there's too much snow to ride.


http://www.qcforc.org/Portals/13/sylvan01.jpg

crashac1
07-07-2006, 08:18 AM
Cutting back the bushes and dead fall in the winter means we dont have much trail prep to do foro our race in early arpril. And who says we cant ride in the snow eh? Our snowfall is nothing like you get up there at all, maybe a foot or two all winter.

heckler
07-07-2006, 09:19 AM
got news for you.

Vancouver (i.e. the city - not Whistler)- Doesn't get snow in the lower elevations and only for a few weeks are the upper trails covered with a few inches up to a foot. :)

Lady Gravity
07-07-2006, 09:41 AM
Our snowfall is nothing like you get up there at all, maybe a foot or two all winter.

uh, maybe you're thinking of eastern canada. snowfall on the local trails here isn't that bad. we can pretty much ride year round.

LeeLau
07-07-2006, 10:14 AM
Would be happy to show another trailbuilder around. Make sure you post up closer to the time you're here

heckler
07-07-2006, 12:53 PM
Would be happy to show another trailbuilder around. Make sure you post up closer to the time you're here


Same here.

crashac1
07-07-2006, 09:11 PM
That's cool I thought you got more snow than that.

I will definately keep in touch.:woot:

heckler
07-07-2006, 11:35 PM
Just for interest, check out some of our trail days... scroll down and click on the red links.

A spare room might be available too, depending on when my family visits.

http://www.nsmba.bc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=26&Itemid=39

crashac1
07-08-2006, 06:10 PM
Sounds good, I cant wait, this trip is gearing up to be quite the adventure.

I raced a DH race today in Wisconsin at a place called Blue Mound State park, I came in 5th. Only 16 peeps showed to race at the event but it was a close competition, I was only 3 sec from first place. Sweet course with lots of rocks, roots & drops!

crashac1
07-24-2006, 08:11 AM
28 days to go till i'm there. The anticipation is killing me! Not knowing exactly where i'm going to stay is part of it. Any thoughts on that?