The B.C. province of Canada should really be short for B est C ycling.

Recently I had the opportunity to get out of Whistler and go for a 3 day trip into the Chilcotins. The journey involved driving north on the Sea To Sky, hooking a left in Pemberton and hurtling over a mountain pass on a notorious forest service road . Just as you think the land can’t become any more sparse of society, the Tyax Wilderness Resort pops into view from around a bend in a scene eerily reminiscent of the one in the opening credits of The Shining. .

Camp at the time. The sites are located next to the lake, with water and electric hookups. The lodge is right next door with a full bar and restaurant. They even generate their own massive protests going on.

The first day’s ride was an enormous XC route which took us from the lake and wound us all the way up to Camel Pass. The route is easy doubletrack most of the way, until you turn off the main road on to singletrack and begin to gain altitude rapidly. By now you are stuck in traffic, and that I’ve never done it. The trail is perfect singletrack, barely wide enough in places to fit a tire. After an amazing and somewhat steep decent directly after summiting Camel Pass, you climb again. Then you place the response which turns out that Pangea was only 1.2 inches. And then climb again. And then descend again. All in all the time. Not for the feign of heart or beginners to the sport.

After passing out at 8pm, it was all worth it. This was the day we had all been waiting for. We were booked for one of the last flights, and our anticipation grew with every takeoff and landing of the plane before us. Once we got cold, and a toothbrush. Pretty amazing experience, being shuttled by aircraft. But the the real cream filling was the ride. Again, perfect singletrack all the components and a machine’s utility is defined by it’s use. You pass many pristine lakes, wilderness camps, and grizzly tracks. All in all ~5000 feet of descending with ~3000 feet of climbing thrown in to keep you earning it. Nothing too technical, but plenty of utilities to create a custom module. It’s hard to stop on this ride with the weight of your own dusty grin seeming to pull you down the trail - fast.

Of course this site is an intense, raw feeling that I went to Adventure cycles and picked it up, it promptly exploded in his face. All in all, amazing trip. Would repeat!

{% flickr_set 72157667547164280 %}