Digital profile

Rode Train-Wreck/Run-Away Train / Trash / Riverside / Highline / toward what I was really looking forward to -- "Its Business Time" a couple of weekends ago. I.B.T. will blow your mind, and push your climbing/descending skills… back-to- back-to-back through it's length… In other words, You'll Love it!"

Andrew
sweetsingletrack.ca

Run N.S.B dropouts on my Blur LT II - The OEM sh$t that SantaCruz ships is softer than butter - every little thing snaps them off!

Andrew

Can anyone please help me ID this stolen (and spray-painted) bike?  Mfg. / model and year if at all possible.  Much appreciated.

Andrew Drouin

http://www.cdnav.com/bike/bike.jpg

Hey "Winnipeg" - its been a while man!

Ya, we've put crazy amounts of work and materials into the trails since you've been out this way. Ya' gotta' make the trip back to BC man! Some of the new trails that have opened since your visit, as well as those currently being built - will blow your mind!

Bring armor; the first place that I'm taking you the next time I see you is called G-Spot/Six-Stitches :-)

Remember these nuggets of wisdom; "Work Sucks! The Trails Await…"

Andrew

Yup', that lil' bridge is one of four that we've put in this year. The Three Blind Mice is an excellent riding area, a favorite for hundreds of local riders.

If you've ridden the "Lookout Loop" trail already, and loved it, you are ready for the balance of what the riding area has to offer.

Get a shuttle up to the Reservoir, then descend Rainbow Trail/Bronco/Mosquito/Southern Dancer/roller-coaster, through TsweetTsu etc. The trail is fairly technical in places - enough that you should bring light armor, and the views / look-offs - are amazing!

Andrew
www.sweetsingletrack.ca
www.SouthOkanaganTrailAlliance.com

Hi guys

I'm Andrew Drouin, the guy who posted up the Lookout Loop signs and created the SweetSingletrack.ca guidebook. I've read your posts above and am glad that you are keen on the new Loop' signage and the guidebook.

Regarding the SweetSingletrack companion website; it was written with iPhones in mind (as BlackBerry and Android devices seem to have a hella' time loading / displaying Google Earth and raw data GPS tracks in real-time off a website - and its what I own).

I hope that you folks return and check out the massive variety of riding that we have in the valley. I recommend that you check out the G-Spot, Mt.Keogan, Campbell Mt. and Mt.Conkle for a buzz the next time that you are in the valley. Just getting set to publish another section off / of G-Spot in this month's newsletter: "6-Stitches" (the website is updated with one new trail (almost) every month)

I'm off and running this fine Saturday to replace a bridge in the Mice - using your SweetSingletrack.ca book and website access fees!

Andrew Drouin
www.sweetsingletrack.ca
www.SouthOkanaganTrailAlliance.com

:fro:

Wow - tough crowd :S

I do a lot of [trail] building and maintenance here in the South Okanagan, but just ground-trails, few structures. That said, I'm currently building a bridge with raw 1X4 cedar planking (actual 1X4 dimensions) laid across pressure treated 8X8's/16ft. This is a gig on BC Parks property (with permission), so I have access roads fairly close by, and two of us are teaming up to hike the wood in.

The thing is pretty straight-forward. Lay crush rock for pads/platforms to encourage drainage beneath all four points where the 8X8's bear on soil

Lay the 8X8 PT stringers across and level em' both ways

Spike the stringers in place at four points with 3' rebar; pour canola oil down with the bars in order to 'seal' the vertical faces of the bore holes that I pound the rebar down into

Deck the thing with the cedar 1X4 decking using 4" galvanized ardox nails

Will post a few pic

I would really dig links to (all three) of the papers mentioned here… but I see that the links, if they once existed, don't seem to be there / active any longer. Any chance of having something sent to andrewdrouin 'at' gmail 'dot' com?

Appreciate your time

A.

I gave up on wooden structures; earth and rock all the way!

A.

(how do you like that, a 7 year old discussion raises it's serpentine head…)

Dude,

We have MAJOR riding here! This place is a two-wheel paradise! You are dropping in during our annual Bike Festival, maybe you wanna' ride the CycloCross or a taste of XC Poker Ride fun? We have a live band Friday night and shiploads of riding all weekend in general.

As for bikes; bring both! You can check out the new Pancho's Revenge trail in the Bog on the DH rig, and then ride the Three Blind Mice on the XC bike. If you are into big singletrack climbs, there is also the Mt.Keogan area just south of Okanagan Falls (close by). If you dig shuttle drops with an 'All Mountain' rig, the area offers drops from Rd.201 down through Derenzy Lake / Jamie's Extension / WARD1 by way of Gillies Cr., or the hoot known as the Naramata Beer Run… Hell man, that's the tip of the iceberg; the list of riding here is HUGE!

Andrew D.
www.bikepenticton.com

Here in Penticton we are just starting up a cycling club and trails are, obviously, a huge concern to everyone involved. We too have recently witnessed the government trails consultation process pass through town; and as with the fellows in Nanaimo, we saw a huge turnout from the motorized trail users. As expected [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; it turned out to be a simmering pot of contempt between the two user groups[HTML_REMOVED]#8230; I secretly thought it was interesting to finally see a situation where the mountain bikers were the [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;good guys[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;, and the evil eye of Sauron was cast upon some other user group :-)

In Penticton we have three hiking associations [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; and to my amazement; they are all bike-friendly, helpful in mapping trails, offering helpful hints on new trail locations, trail flagging and maintenance. As a side note; I[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;m writing the valley[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s first trails book and the hiking clubs have been one of my greatest allays. So too have the dirt-bike clubs (!). The only thing that they are worried about is that mountain bikers and hiker will [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;happen upon[HTML_REMOVED]#8217; their established trails, claim them as hiking / biking trails and attempt to kick dirt-bike riders off their own trails (what transpired on "The Stupid Trail" between Summerland [HTML_REMOVED] Peachland).

Fact of the matter is that a good number of local trails in this area were built by dirt-bike riders [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; especially dirt-riders who are also mountain-bikers; and there are a lot of them in these parts, some of them are friends of mine and great guys, dedicated to trail building and maintenance. We often use their handiwork for mountain biking and I appreciate their efforts. Keep in mind that we[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ve only been trail riding for the past 25 years; they[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ve been at it for at least 40; equestrians [HTML_REMOVED] hikers - a lot longer than that. Just this evening I had a long sit-down with a couple of leading members of the Southern Okanagan Dirt Bike Club and heard once again how they have no problem with other trail user groups; with the exception of quad riders; who I suspect we[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ll all agree are not to be allowed on single-track trails simply because they need dual-tracks to run on.

I kinda' enjoy dirt-bikes; I don't have one, but have ridden on occation in the past - they are one of the coolest toys under the sun; it[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s just that they have to be used respectfully [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; and there are a few boneheads in every crowd who give the rest a bad rep[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;, and it[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s those motor bike riders who stand out in our minds as we curse dirt-bikers. In our group however, we have dudes who drag skidding rear tires around every bloody corner, build ill-conceived, un-armored, nearly vertical trail sections that are sure as shit stinks, going to erode in a year or less, meatheads who go screaming past hikers and equestrians like Satan is on their asses, not to mention folks who wouldn[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;t lift a finger to do any trail maintenance if it were the last option on earth (lots of em[HTML_REMOVED]#8217; out there!). So it[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s not like mountain bikers, collectively speaking, are innocent angels of the forest either[HTML_REMOVED]#8230;

With regards to the document under consideration; I read it quite differently. I saw it as a crack in the dam that, if slightly manipulated via serious feedback from us and other user groups, would give mountain bike riders a lot more freedom from concern with regards to being kicked off of the lands we enjoy riding / building on. Hell, I[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ve read it top to bottom more than once and I personally think it[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s a good thing, just in need of slight modification here and there [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; like any DRAFT document.

We might want to bitch and moan about the fact that we have, in a roundabout way, had a lot of responsibility foisted upon us, but that[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s life; it aint easy. I do know however, that I[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;d much prefer to volunteer my time doing something that I absolutely love than hate. I dig [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;digging[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;, if I could find some way to pay the bills without working my [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;real job[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;, hell, I[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;d be out in the bush 16 hours a day clearing trails. So what if the government wants us to do a little bit of paperwork now and again; I run a business where I wade through mounds of the stuff every day anyway. Again, that[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;s life [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; no one said it was going to be easy [HTML_REMOVED]#8211; but if it means that I work for myself and not answer to a boss every day; I[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ll continue to do it. The side-effect is that it allows me to hike, ride and be a trail-clearing bush-rat a lot more than if I had to punch the clock for [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;the man' :-)

Finally; I think that we should collectively throw our support behind dirt-bike and quad groups who seek to secure land-tenure agreements on areas for [HTML_REMOVED]#8216;motorized parks[HTML_REMOVED]#8217; usage. Ya[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;, I did say that[HTML_REMOVED]#8230; we should support them because if we can assist in any way, in securing them a place to call their own, it[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;ll take some of the dirt-bike usage (not all, but some), off our hike / bike trail systems. The concept has worked well in Kelowna for the Bear Creek / Blue-Grouse Mt. area, and I believe that it can work well just about anywhere in the continent where land is available; and in these parts, Crown land is available in spades! As much as we[HTML_REMOVED]#8217;d like to have every bit of crown Land for ourselves, that just aint the way the world works; we have to keep an open, fair-minded outlook on fellow trail user-groups.

Andrew D.
www.bikepenticton.com

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