7 summits and rossland. year 4.

Labour day long weekend only means 1 thing to partick an I... 7 summits poker ride in Rossland. It was our 3rd year doing it together, and my 4th overall.

Things got off to a rough start Saturday morning when we had to switch rental cars. The Avenger was not big enough, so we got a mitsubishi rvr. Not a big deal, but it put us a little late starting. We hit the road like, ... well, like something determined to have a sweet time... whatever that might be.

Our first stop was our ritual pee stop at this crazy blue bridge. We couldn't stop our tradition now, so we stopped. and peed.

71 charger on polson bridge

the valley from the bridge

We got to our campsite and settled in pretty hard.  That evening was pretty chill, just getting set up, having some dinner and doing some shopping.  Getting ready for the next day.  I had to meet a dood to get to the volunteer station at 7:30.  I'd spend the morning there serving chocolate and checking riders in.  The plan was to take off once patrick got there, and we'd finish the ride together.

the fondu station

Once pat arrived, off we went.  It's a 45 minute climb from the station to record ridge, a sweet spot the relax, put on your shin guards and get ready for some fast dusty rocky down parts.

looking back at old glory

from record ridge

another from record ridge

After a short chill at record ridge, its 90% down from there.  fast flowy down.  the kind where you should wipe out a lot but don't, because you are just that awesome.

pat down the trail.  pretty dusty.

We got to the bottom, had the provided celebratory beer, then caught the shuttle back to the festivities at the campsite.  The rest of the evening was spent meeting people, eating and swapping stories.  Really sweet.

The next morning, we laughed at the guy who was puking from his mad hangover while we packed up our car.  Then off. 

the 71 charger was camped right next to us!!

We stopped at Midway at the Kettle Valley Railway Mile Zero museum.  A cool little spot.

KVR mile 0 museum

charlie and i at mile 0

And 1 more stop at the kettle river provincial park, to stretch and pee.

kettle river park

364 days until the next time next year.  We are trying to get more people to come with us, so consider this more than enough notice for you to get time off.

Rossland, year 3

Labour day weekend = rossland bike fest. this year was as sweet as any other, and sweeter than some. The crue was down from last year, from 5 to 2. Patrick and I represented as well as 5 though.

We didn't want to take the truck, or patrick's car, so we rented a car. I fully loaded ford something. It was even more fully loaded after we got all our stuffs in.



We left saturday at about 7, and got to rossland at 12ish. we got the exact same sweet campsite as last year and got settled in pretty quick.

The next day i had to meet up with some other guys and get a shuttle up to the mid-way station where i was volunteering. It was the same spot where we had to abandon the ride last year, so my plan of finishing the trail after volunteering was looking good. Volunteering was an absolute riot. I got to meet all the riders as they came through the station. riders like this guy...



After a few beers, and a lot of sun, I saw patrick making his way to my station. (i should probably mention it was also the chocolate fondu station). He chilled out for a bit, then i suited up and we began to rip the remainder to the trail. most of the climbing was done early on, and so the last 2.5 hours was a dusty rocky descent at max speed. The first 2 hours was along a sweet ridge with the whole valley blasted out below us.




red mountain in the background

The whole trail there are so many sweet places to stop, catch a snack and take some photos. because it wasn't a race, there was no pressure at all. This was one of those spots.



so is this...



Even the drive has some epic views. This shot is leaving rossland, and the first 2 summits.



and big blue. a random bridge over boundary creek, just east of christina lake. we stopped and threw some rocks off it. and peed.



so thats it for this year. stay tuned next year for the 4th installment of the 7 summits adventure.


riders on the ridge. yea.

seven summits, the return.

So we headed back to Rossland for the Rubberhead festival again this year. The weather was better than last year, and we didn't almost run out of gas again. The Rossland campground was primo. The riding was too. The flat tires were not. 7 of them collectively. Steve had the most, but i had the worst. As a result of catching the last shuttle in the morning, the backlog of people at each poker station (the 7 summits ride was a poker ride) and the 3 hours of climbing, we did not reach the 1/2 way station in time, and so rode down red mountain instead of finishing the trail the normal way. still a sweet ride. still had free beer and burgers after.


the trail is on the ridge behind me. good times.


looking east. thats the town of Trail i believe.


steve checking the map. kris and patrick in the background


The higherst point of the trail. Time 4 lunch.


Thanks again Rossland. We'll be back next year.

7 summits, oh yea, i forgot the best part

so, back to the rossland riding story for a second...

on the way back, after the rain had stopped and we had bbq'd once again, we were headed towards beaverdell, which has a population of about 200 or so and DOES have a sign for a gas station. this was important because the fuel guage was on "e" although the gas light wasn't on yet. We searched the town for said gas station, but found only what might be a gas station, but apparently wasn't. what could we do but drive and cross our fingers? just on the outskirts of this non-thriving non-metropolis, a big blue sign reminded us to check our fuel, next service 79 km. after checking it, it was still low. very low. unless "e" means enough, but i don't think it does. The gas light came on about 15km past the sign. i remembered watching a show about gas mileage testing, and they said they lancer had traveled 70km with the gas light on. i hoped my car was the one used in the test, but i don't remember anyone borrowing it. also, we were in the mountains, and figured that would change the result. if we could make it to big white turn off, it was 95%downhill from there. driving 90 for the next 45 minutes in the silent glow of the small orange light of the gas meter, we planned what we could do. i figured my caa membership might come in handy, until i realized that we were out of cell phone range. We didn't really want to have to ride our bikes away from an abandoned car, but that would have been our best option. it turns out... we made it. lots of coasting in neutral might have helped. sorry for the quick wrap up, but thats the end


our camp spot near rossland