If you look back through my blog you will see a post that occurred just over 2 years ago. Specialized Bikes was starting up a crew of regular mountain bikers who would all ride the upcoming 2010 S-Works Stumpjumper FSR.

The entries came fast and furious, and both Teresa (aka mtnbikinggirl) and I posted up respective blogs and entered the contest.

Moonraker Trails - Golden BC - Sept 2009

A couple of months later a final eight were chosen to become the first “Specialized Trail Crew.”

While both of us were a bit disappointed with not being called up for this amazing adventure. I think it was Matt Hardinge’s unboxing video that was hardest to watch, although I was happy to see another rider so stoked on his new bike!

August 2010 in Sun Valley Idaho

It was fun to read the stories by the members of the Trail Crew, and probably spurred us to enjoy our own road trips, exploring new trails.

Knowing it was a year long process, people started asking in the fall if there would be a new Trail Crew for 2011? We didn’t have to wait long. While not surprised on who stayed and who went, the new riders and different bikes meshed with our feelings on what the crew was all about.

This year the Trail Crew meetup rides in Moab and Fruita haven’t occurred, instead the riders have become more involved in their local community, participated in more events and connected with more riders.

That’s really what the Trail Crew was meant to be. Connecting at a social level with the riding community.

So this brings us back to the Canadian Trail Crew for 2012.

I think I fit the bill of your average rider. I like to ride everything on the hill, enjoy the ride and try to share with friends. I love to organize races, offer my time to various events, create trail maps and maintain our local mountain bike info site. Most of all I look forward to my annual week of mayhem that is working on the BC Bike Race medical team.

Just another day at the BC Bike Race

Specialized has offered up two positions for the Canadian Trail Crew in 2012 and this is where I find myself torn. Teresa joins me in most of these endeavours, and she is my best riding partner, she’s a great rider and empowers both girls and guys to experience mountain biking for the first time.

If either of us would be chosen, we’d be more than stoked, but we would love to see three positions, one Eastern member and two Western members in Teresa and myself. Our ride reports and road trips would be more engaging with both a male and female perspective of the great bikes that Specialized produces. We can extend your bicycle budget by riding Enduro and Stumpjumper EVO’s instead of the S-Works carbon models. These bikes are very fitting with the style and adjustments common on bikes in British Columbia.

The perfect BC all mountain trail bike!

Had a fun fall ride last night on Gecko, Green Dome, Cabin Fever, Transmission, Catnip. Great trails and getting better all the time. Transmission has had some serious loving lately with moved stumps, cut out logs and rock work. A nice revival for an old classic Forbidden Trail.

Along the way I took a quick vid of Teresa with my iPod Nano. It really is that dark in there!

Quick Fall Ride, Forbidden Plateau, BC from Kookjai Media on Vimeo.

Some great old school Comox Valley Mountain Bike trails. Harder to find and a bit far from town, but you will be richly rewarded by loamy goodness and great fun trails.

Kahona Cruncher

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If you want epic loops on Vancouver Island, look no further than the 2009 Day 3 BC Bike Race course. Big climbs, great decents, lots of singletrack and a few rivers to cool of in. Logging in the fall of 2009 will affect some of the trails, but new trails will soon emerge.

BC Bike Race 2009 Day 3

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The many views of The kootenays

As resource industries fade and regions need to find other forms of economic stimulus, tourism has become a strong component of revitalization. From historic tours to recreation sites, rails to trails, summer chairlift operations and bike parks, many communities are diversifying.

Our recent trip to the Kootenays showed these changes in spades. We often saw views of quiet sawmills, mining sites, equipment and empty buildings. We also saw many tourists, people enjoying outdoor recreation and great heritage and tourism related sites.

The Kootenays have been so enthralled by the opportunity for mountain biking that they have created a great guide and websites for your travel planning.

Read the rest of this entry »

“They copied our idea!”

Well not really, but upon our arrival home we checked out the interweb to find that the Pinkbike Crew had embarked on a trip called “Hurtin’ for Vert”

They honestly had way more mileage on the bikes and some awesome photographers along with them. So I thought I’d hook up some links to their articles so you can see just how great mountain biking in the Kootenay’s of BC really is! Read the rest of this entry »

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