Friday Oct. 23, 2009- Taster's Choice and 49er (Blewett, BC

Friday Oct. 23, 2009- Taster's Choice and 49er (Blewett, BC)

Taking another leisurely morning to get going here in Nelson, BC.  We had an impromptu dinner party last night w/ Leslie and Stephanie showing up after the girls yoga practice ended.  Vince and I whipped up a bomber veggie lasagna w/ some unwieldy noodles that did not want to cook.  Al dente!!  Yesterday Vince was gracious enough to shuttle me up the Blewett area.  I got 2 laps on Taster's Choice (once from the top top), and 1 lap on 49er.  Both were fun and pedaly in sections.  Taster's had a really smooth FSR to drive up on (bonus!!).  We went up 11k and then I pushed my bike through a short road section that had a TON of fallen logs on it.  I angled towards the edge of the clearing and sure enough, there was a sign on the tree....."Taster's Choice."  I'll be damned!!  BIking is crazy like that......where else do you wander aimlessly up FSR's in search of a little parting of the bushes on the side of the road?!!  It started out fun w/ some pedaly sections.  Once it got ripping I had the funniest thing happen.....Kinda......2 snarling good sized dogs came leaping out of a blind corner!!  They scared the shit out of me!!  And they weren't going away easily!!  I was screaming at the top of my lungs..."GET BACK!!" over and over.  The gray one was taking some snaps at me!!  I'm trying to ride my bike AND fend off these dogs!!  Then I heard a silent whistle blow and they abated for a moment before resuming their snarling chase of me.  After a few more snaps I heard the whistle again and they circled back.  My adrenaline was pumping HARD!!  For a moment I was disoriented and thought I had passed my intended trail.  Then I kept riding and found the next spur.  There were some wide open jumps made of wood (shooters) that were pretty fun (I was surprised to see built stuff this far up in the mountains!!).  After a multitude of false summit climbing I crested out and began descending for a LONG time!!  There were a few hairy sections and one zone that I had to go around completely!!  It looked like a rock drop into some loose crappy runout that I almost onsighted.  Then I got off the bike and went over and actually looked at it.  It was an easy 10+' drop into some roots and loose rocks.  I didn't want it that bad (especially by myself!!).  I did hit everything else on the trail onsight.  Then it got steeper and rockier and crossed the road a few times.  I thought it was done.  Nope!!  Keep going.....taking a L or R when you hit a road, then back into the trail- sometimes very nondescript.  THEN I went back up again- this time only to the 8k marker for the "all down" ride.  I rode the second lap a lot faster and more confidently- and still didn't do the rock drop move!!  3rd move here that I haven't done (The crack on Paperbag, Kinrade's carazy hip jump on Pulmonary, and this).  It was still light out and I talked Vince into taking a drive up Copper Mountain to check out 49er.  The road wound through some old farms and then onto a road w/ a TON of No Trespassing signs.  It had to be the right road so we kept going.  An older man and a dog were walking and we came to a stop.  The man turned out to be friendly and told us "don't cut any firewood!!".  No worries!!  

About half of a mile later the road turned nasty.  Waterbars, huge puddles, rocks, washed out veins in the road, etc.  You know what?  The 'yota rallied to the occasion and we were able to make it all the way up!!  There was substantial damage to the bumper in the way of a flapper of metal (it's pretty rusty) that was pointing out ruthlessly....watch those shins!!  What a beast!!  

The trail was really fun w/ a bunch of log ride stunts that were pretty well built.  I was pretty amazed that there were that many stunts out in the middle of frickin nowhere!!  The run was divided into 3 sections and ended at a spur road that I climbed up and met Vince.  That trail was really well maintained and had a BUNCH of trees cut out (lots of downfall!!).  It was a lot of side-hilling, but had a good flow.  Then there were the obligatory steepies that define the Kootenay riding!!  We ended the day by the above mentioned dinner party!!  Life is good!!