40 degrees in the shade; record-breaking temperatures! Hmm.. must be time for a ride in one of the hottest places in the province. Off we go in the thick of things riding up Ivey Lake Road in Pemberton.
Stopping at just about lake and creek seems like a good idea today.
Ford grills don’t have any mercy on the bugs today. Too bad there’s plenty more where that came from.
Last bit of grinding climb in the heat towards the network of trails in Mosquito Lake South.
Our trail starts off the singletrack of Econoline.
Off we go into Grumpy Grouse. Trail signs are courtesy of the Pemberton Valley Trails Association. Help support them by buying one of their fine maps – available at many Whistler bike shops and of course, at the Whistler Bike Co in Pemberton
Grumpy Grouse is a fine technical xc trail. There’s the odd huck here and there – nice backdrops as Chris sends it.
There’s also the typical beautifully grippy Pemberton slickrock here ridden by Kris
The soil being so dry and dessicated, sometimes when it gets steep there’s nothing to do but surf the downhills.
Chris on another rock face.
Obligatory lookout with Mt Currie and the Pemberton valley in the background; Sean, Brew the dog, Kris, Sharon and Chris.
More beautifully grippy rock faces.
Never miss a chance to get the man train going.
Chris on this postcard shot.
Sean finding the narrow rib of rock you have to stick to avoid the cartwheel of a front tire sinking into a rut.
Sharon with another postcard shot.
Grumpy Grouse was over in about two hours. By now, its seriously hot. We had planned on riding K2 which would have been a ride up in the shade and ended with a dip into One Mile Lake but a dragon boat race was being held there! Oh well… off for Slurpees and the long hot climb to PHD.
I think we all suffered mightily on that climb. What usually takes us half an hour was more like an hour; luckily the creek on Lower PHD is still running cold and clear so we sought some shelter.
After more climbing into what felt like a pizza over we finally made it to the top and over for more choice Pemberton classic xc riding. Here goes Sean on the first rock face.
The fine coating of dust makes it hard to stop on the last bit where it gets a little steep – but somehow I manage to avoid running over Sharon.
Then Chris and Sean both are successfully taunted into riding a steep section of trail they had passed up the last time. I’ve ridden this successfully before so wanting to preserve past glories, decided to take pictures instead. Here goes Sean.
All looks well from the top
Little too much speed in the middle
Ooops – not going to make the berm
Here goes Chris. He makes the turn that Sean blew through but a dark jersey doesn’t make for good shots – get a nice bright pink jersey Chris!
PHD continues with the same choice rocky and loamy goodness. Kris and Brew enjoy it.
Lots of dust today. By now the heat is incredibly oppressive and all I want to do is find a nice river or lake.
Ahhh …. Wedge Creek; it might be freezing cold but that’s the right temperature for man and man’s best friend.
It was a short but exhausting day with 811m of elevation covered over 15 km with temperatures averaging 35 to 40 degrees the whole day.
