Sywash Ridge Ride ~ A Mashup of a Single Track and a Trail in Upper Lantzville

It was Wednesday after work, the sun was out and I was getting dirtbike withdrawal, so I decided to take a detour on the way home and play on the Berg.  After warming the clutch up on some single track trails near a gravel pit at Doumont, I headed off to see if could get to the Eagle's nest cabin a different way.  And afterwards, if time permitted, I would try to find that cabin in Lantzville that Andy had found via John's trails.  Well I was skunked on both counts.  My inadequate riding ability was unable to conquer the trail-come river rock strewn creek-bed hill climb which we saw a truck get up the other day.  Perhaps when it's dry, I'll give it another go.  Then I took a bum turn when looking for the Lantzville cabin and hit upon a little gem of a single track ride in Lantzville: The Sywash Ridge Ride. There are a bunch of hand carved signs in the woods around Upper Lantzville.  I'm not sure if they're for mountain bikes, hikers or quadders.  Certainly, some of the trails (Fire Bucket and Sweet Melissa in particular) present quite a challenge with logs and cutouts, and seem to be hiking trails, so it's best to stay off these.  But Sywash Ridge is a fabulous ride down from the foothills to Sywash Road via the power lines.  I can't imagine how I've missed these trails for so long...Maps Below

Trail uploaded to Wikilocks Here...

Video of the trail to follow...

Green Mountain, Except It Was White

Nearly 4000ft: Green Mountain aint so Green...

Ultimately, the best ride on Remembrance Day would have been up to pay our respects at one of the many WW2 era crash sites around here, perhaps visiting the Lockheed Ventura on Mt. Bolduc would have been more appropo.  But with the shorter days and our later start, we decided Green Mountain from Doumont Road would be a better plan ~130km round trip.  

Click to Enlarge.

1. Doumont Road Tank Traps

2. Left on to 142 and pass Boomerang L.

3. Right at Cottle L.

4. Right and follow Hydro Lines

5. Left after bridge.  Left at Hickup Trail

6. Right onto NEW Escalator Trail (Easy).  Turn Right as you pop out of the Escalator onto Decosmos/Deadhorse Creek Main (a major logging road).

7. Right at 2nd Lake onto Nanaimo Lakes Road

8. Left onto Branch K (Major Junction)

9. Left onto Green Mountain access road

10. Left

11. Beginning of Green Mountain Meadows and the Marmot Reserve.

Click to enlarge

Elevation Track (m)

                                         

                               Google Earth "Flyover" of the Route (Full Screen to View Text)

It was a great ride, offering a little of everything: some logging roads, technical single track, hill climbs and burms at Green Mountain, not to mention snow.  The total distance was approximately 127km from Superstore Gas bar to Green Mountain and back to the Black Bear Pub.   I've got to say the rear Mountain Motoz at 10psi was awesome everywhere, particularly up some serious grades in the snow.  I didn't air it down to the 4 psi I usually roll on as we were hitting some potentially rim denting speeds on crush, and didn't fancy a pinch flat.  Can't wait for a set of Tubliss...

White Trails Near Green Mt. Ski Hill

Maybe the last picture of Andy with the trusty KLX250S.  It's been an excellent ride for Andy, but the lack of torque and soft suspension are leaving him looking at Beta 300X Italian Princess.  His money is down, and the beast should be here before too long.  Can't wait to see it.  Anyway, needless to say, we ended up at the Black Bear for a coupla delicious barley sandwiches.  What a great way to finish a ride!  

Checkout the short vid below for some trail condition samples...(Don't forget to change the settings to 1080P for the best resolution.  - First shots with the Go Pro 4 Black.  The quality looks much better...Pity about the music!)

Click here for a track from Wikiloc.

(Big "thank you" to Ross Collicutt, who provided the track we used to find our way up Green Mountain). 

Mud-Pluggin': Testing the DIY Camera Swivel Mount

After riding a friend's trials bike last weekend, I took the Berg out for a slow and steady mud-pluggin' ride around the local trails at the end of Doumont Road, Nanaimo.  I tested the lowered pegs (excellent!), the boots (excellent!) and the prototype cheap and easy DIY "whirlitzer cam"...  It was fun putting it together and not quite as challenging to use as I thought, although it can be cumbersome, and a little destabilizing as it whirls around ya helmet!...Any way, here's the vid...

More Bergy Bits: DIY Lowered Footpegs on the Husaberg FE390

Lowered by 1.5 inches...screw 7mm!

One of the interesting things that all bike owners get to do is modify and customize their ride to suit themselves.  I had a DR650 which I resprung, de-weighted and lowered the footpegs on (with the help of a friend who could weld).  While re-springing the big Suzuki was amazing, lowering the pegs was the best and cheapest mod I did.  It boosted my riding ability more than any other mod has ever done before or since. It transformed my confidence on slower more technical sections and, together with bar risers, made it much more comfortable to stand on the pegs.  Of course lowering the centre of gravity didn't hurt either; in fact, it was amazing how much easier the big bike was to navigate through quite technical areas at walking speed.

The original steel pegs (ktm footpeg 590.03.041.250)

The Husaberg has much more ground clearance than the old DR, and being a very compact bike, it can be cramped in the cockpit for a 6 footer wanting to stand on the pegs for long periods of time and ride dual-sport.  Not only that, but standing on the pegs gives the impression of being in helicopter. Not that the bike notices at all; it's my neurosis.  So, after riding for a year, I decided, rather than buy some risers, a high bar, and re-thread all the cables and hydraulics, it would be simpler to buy some lower pegs.
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But, on looking around there are only a few aftermarket products out there.  They are slick, look nice, come in anodized blue or orange aluminum (depending on your cool-aid of choice), but they only offer a whopping 7mm of adjustment down by using a "collar".  7mm?  That won't even defer the height gain from my new boots.  For this you pay in $189 US before shipping, duty and taxes. Call it $250 CDN, or if you like $35 per mm.

Ouch.

So there was only one thing for it, a pegoplasty or peg-reduction if you like.  The exact opposite of those pecker augmentation emails Andy keeps getting.  [edit:  Hey, don't knock it--those augmentation devices worked for me! ~Andy]  First, I thought about making an extension bracket that would slot into the original bodywork and hang lower, but that would be very hard to stabilize as the peg is held with a large-bore clevis pin with only split-pin securing it.  The pegs would waggle.  Not the thing when slopping through mud or balancing on that log.   Then I happened across a guy who has done the same thing on his KTM 990.  Oh yeah, they use the same pegs as all the other KTM/Husa/Husky products out there - ktm footpeg 590.03.041.250.  Actually it's stamped right on the peg.  So I looked that up...$60 per peg. That was my insurance.  I would cut the pegs themselves, get a plate welded in, and weld the peg back together.  If I didn't like it, then I could always buy original (or aftermarket - $35 per mm...ouch) pegs again without having screwed up the bracket.  

Despite what Andy's mum told him, that is what 1.5 inches looks like.  When I got the pegs back, because of where I had directed them to cut, they had these serrations on the bracket.  They would not be nice on my boots, so I ground them off.

Grinding the serrations off...Something I wouldn't have had to do if I had them cut the bracket off the peg, rather than the peg off the bracket...but what fun would that have been?  Now I can look at these in the knowledge, that in some small way, I helped fabricate them...I could over time, even exaggerate and take all the credit...No, only the Welsh would stoop.

Then I sat on the bike, pondered, measured some more and fabricated some wooden "pegs" at approximately the what felt like the right height and measured.  1.5 inches lower would do it.  My legs would be somewhat straighter, I would not feel like I was lurching over the bars when standing. Not only that, my centre of gravity would be lower.

Wish I could weld like that.  Heck, I wish could weld!

But there are other, more serious considerations to worry about: the pegs must be no lower than the bash plate, the rear brake pedal must be able to be adjusted low enough, and the side stand must clear the port peg...I turns out that lowering the pegs by 1.5 inches is the absolute maximum that you can manage while meeting all of those criteria.

A 1.5 inch plate welded in place.  Top serrations removed.

So after that long-winded ramble, here are the shots of the finished product.  Thank you Nanaimo Sheet Metal - precision cut, plate inserted and, critically, welded back together at exactly the right angle (no not 90 degrees!).  I furnished them with the link above and they did the rest.  $100 for both. Money well spent?  Only time will tell.

Grinding finished.

Above and below.  Mounted on the bike.

Above and Below: brake pedal adjusted fully low with specified 5mm play.

I haven't ridden with it yet, but I am very pleased with the results so far.  I'll mount my new rear (ouch that sounds awkward) and let you know how it goes...  Maybe some more finagling with shifter and brake, but that can be fun too!

Lantzville Loop II

Old man winter is getting closer, the sun is getting lower, and, worst of all, my insurance runs out in early December, so today Mother Nature provided us with a respite between systems and me with a bonus ride, albeit a short one.  Andy was locked inside in a self-induced purgatorial work-binge and Ryan had no oil in the KTM's sightglass,  Ouch.  So it was a lone ride today.  I like solo rides, and thought I'd stay local (Lantzville Foothills to Nanoose) and look for some new trails.  Found some good'uns!

Sundew Main: having a slash when I see three dirt bikes heading north-east, way below.  They take a curious trail that I've never seen before.  The elevation lets my eye follow them, and I listen to the throttle blips.  It sounds good. I follow.

Their tracks and lead to this gate, after passing several looking juicy looking trail junctions on the way.  Curious as to where I am, I get the trusty iPhone out.  Sywash Ridge Road it tells me.  Never heard of it.  But handy if you need another route into the foothills/Sundew main...Below, the gap is adequate...

Backtracking from the gate for 80 metres or so, and taking a partially hidden single track path to the right you hit some hydro-lines.  I turned left (north-east) and came out to Lorenzen Lane in Lantzville (I know, never heard of it either, but it's off Superior Road).  Could've gone right, but it had a more "civilized , dog walking look" , so I decided to leave that for another day.

Turning back, and taking some alternative routes into the woods on the west side of the hydrolines, you get into some great trails with some very tasty side routes...This is FAR steeper than it looks from the wide-angle elevation-flattening iPhone cam....

And another.

Above...Ingrid peeks over the ravine trail...You can see the memorial off to the right. Below, Ingrid-eye view from the top down.  There's a slight right hand descending trail across a creek and up the other side.  It's a great ride (vid at end of this drivel).  

There's a little footbridge across the creek.

Footbridge with trail down from the memorial

Above: Overview of the route; Below: Close up of the Lorenzen Lane and Sywash Ridge Road access routes

GPX File Here...

Side note.  I have to mention the memorial for a young man that I came across.  It's a moving tribute to newly married man (August, 2011) called Garrett Paquette who passed away 6 months after his marriage, on November 11th, 2011.  He left a grieving wife and an obviously loving family.  If you take this route, you will see the moving memorial to Garrett.  The memorial was erected for two reasons: one to remember Mr. Paquette, and to "safeguard others not to fall into the ravine below". The ravine is the one I rode down, pictured above.

The fenced entrance, maple tree, and bench serve not only as a tribute to Garret Paquette, but it was also designed to shepherd others across the ravine safely.  You can see that without it, it might be tempting ride straight on towards the gently rising and curving trail on the other side of the ravine.  This is what Garett did.  It cost him his life.  

Be safe out there.  Ride on the right, and slow down.  See you next season.

Down Baker Street to Moriarty's Lair

Our recent rides have been centered around using the excellent new roads created off 155 main by our friendly outdoors-sharing logging company.  Paul and I took a round-about trip out that way today to see if we could navigate our newly-discovered trail that leads to Moriarty Lake, aptly named Baker Street, without running into TimberPest's gargantuan road blockage.  We walked it during our previous ride in that area and decided that it was quite do-able if the weather remained dry.  So we picked a nice soggy Sunday with lots of running water to attempt riding it.  :)  It was a terrific ride and a great success!

Here's the shape o' the day:

1.  Entered the logging roads at Weigles Road/Doumont
2.  Turned back at the "alternative tank traps" due to wind fall tree across the trail.  We need a quader in here with a chainsaw!
3.  Through the old tank traps, which is nicely cleared, and left turn on branch 142 towards Boomerang Lake.
4.  Turned right and joined the power line trail.
5.  Intended route towards the "hellevator" trail has turned into a pretty rapidly running river.  We decided to head towards 155 main and blast up our recently more regular route.
6.  Rode up Okay Mountain Valley, past the Rhododendron turning and turned left onto 155 main.
7.  Uphill left turn onto signposted 155-160
8.  Left onto connector trail to "Baker Street" (wikilocs track)
9.  Through the connector and right down Baker Street to the logging roads surrounding Moriarty Lake.  Took a quick visit to the Moriarty cabin where Paul was kind enough to share his British Rail type sandwich.  Actually it was very good! (Yes it was - judging by the way you inhaled it! - P)  Thanks mate.
10. Retraced route towards home.  Dumped the bike up Baker Street.  Darn you Moriarty!  Followed 155 main up to a right turn onto branch 142
11.  Back through the old tank traps.
12.  Black Bear Pub for a pint o' IPA and ESB!  Cheers!

Wind Fall timber across the trail through the alternative tank traps (2 on map above)

Colour Coded Altitude Track

New burned out (stolen?) truck appears on route to the Tank Traps on the Doumont side (shortly before 2 on map)

Washed out!  River running down the route towards the HeLLeVaToR (5 on map)

Approaching Moriarty Lake Cabin on foot

Moriarty Lake Cabin at 9

Moriarty Lake Cabin at 9

Moriarty Lake Cabin at 9

Moriarty Lake Cabin at 9 Pack your garbage out...please

Above: Real Time Vid of the "Highlights" of the route to Moriarty Lake.

Time Lapse: Turning off 155-160 onto connector leading to Moriarty Lake ("Baker Street")

 Time Lapse: Back up Baker Street connector trail towards 155-160

Time Lapse: Return trip from 155

 

Track Flyover on Google Earth

GPS Track Playback at 100x Speed

Here's a direct track from doumont to Lake Moriarty.  Use it in conjunction with this track of the connector (Baker St) to get right down to the lake.  The track for the entire route, exactly as it appears on this blog page, can be found here.

  

155 Through to Moriarty: Baker Street

"Baker Street" is a way into Moriarty Lake from 155

Andy and I found a trail into Moriarty Lake from 155.  "Baker Street"  is perfectly doable for a bike in drier weather, and much more palatable, IMHO, than the old key trail.  The blocked access to 155-160 is for reference.  To get to Nanaimo Lakes Main, turn left (east) at "Moriarty's Key". ATVers that we met later told us the access route to it (green trail below) is easy.  More maps and a video below.

While it looks overgrown on GE, it is not.  The single track quad trail is clearly defined and obviously well used.

The unexplored green trail is accessed easily from 155-160.  

The video is not very exciting, but does let you take a gander at the trail surface and terrain.  It goes from "Sherlock's Trick" to "Moriarty's Key" From there, 4th Lake, "The Great Divide", Nitinat Main etc. are all accessible.  Vancouver Island's backroads are your oyster...Again, apologies for the music...but it fits...;)   [Apology NOT accepted ~Andy]

Google Earth flyover from 155 to the lake shore.   (This is the track of the connector trail that can be downloaded right below this movie.  Use it with the track "Doumont to Moriarty Lake" to find 155).

Here's a track of the connector trail which is a left turn off of 155N when heading SW, (the "unexplored green trail" shown in the photo above).  The track shows the route to the lake shore, bypassing the nasty road block encountered when approaching the lake using just the major logging route.

Couldn't resist a shot of the beast.  Handsome Devil, aint she!