Saturday, November 14, 2015

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).