Glens Ferry, ID

Check out a great little road ride while passing through this part of the world. Start from the west side of town and travel east through town ending up on Pasadina Basin road. Follow that road until you drop into what I can only imagine being Pasadina Basin. Loop around the small valley and return to town yielding a nice ride just under 20 miles with a little bit of climbing to keep you honest.

I really couldn't take a picture that did the little valley justice. The road from town drops into this valley that is approximately 1 mile in circumference, surrounded by hills to keep it hidden. I believe there are two ways in and out of the valley, one from the north where I came from and one road heading east. This is a nicely secluded area and the prettiest country ride I have taken in a long time.

Whistler

Absolutely. You have likely read or heard this before: If you ride a mountain bike go to Whistler!

The cross country trails are awesome, weaving all over a bunch of forest, ups and downs, and some man-made bridges to help out when a trail just isn't feasible. As awesome as the cross country trails are, the vibe is all about downhill riding. Two rental outfits wouldn't let me take their XC bike up on the chairlift at Whislter. Let me quantify this: I could have rented a Trek Fuel EX 5.5 but not taken it up the chairlift. I rented a Specialized HardRock and they wouldn't let me take it up, telling me the bike would return destroyed.

Anyways I wasn't interested in killer downhill terrain as much as cross country. We rode Cut yer bars in the morning and I rode all over the Lost Lake area in the afternoon including a few miles up and down Confortably Numb...which started out great but turned too rough to enjoy while riding it backwards on a hardtail rental bike. My favorite ride may just be Pinocchio's furniture. Hours of pure therapy!

Whistler village is gorgeous as expected, similar to the other resort towns we've visited. We splurged by dining at Araxi and were treated to a live show on the concourse. Excellent dining experience.

Oh, and did you know there are a few Olympic venues in and near Whistler?

North of Vancouver

Cypress Mountain

We left Burnaby Caribou RV on our way to Whistler, thinking we could partake into some sweet mountain biking at Cypress Mountain. I had read that Cypress hosted a bunch of great trails. I was wrong.

On the way to the ski resort parking lot we spotted up to 100 roadies enjoying the climb, and we did notice some mountain bikers parked at the top, but there were definitely no trail maps, no bike rentals, and no chairlifts running for the summer. We walked around the Olympic venue parking lot then Vanessa took advantage of the nice few miles of downhill while I drove back down with Yukon. I took a 3-5 minute wrong turn and Vanessa had caught up with us at the bottom. Fast downhill.

Squamish

We drove into Squamish for a break. What can I say? If you are a rock climber this is a place you need to visit. The town didn't feel like much of a rock climbing place though; it seemed like a just another little town. We could have spent days here enjoying all the outdoor options available but as usual I was too focused on the final destination of Whistler.

Vancouver - Stanley park

First let me inform you that Stanley Park was named after Lord Stanley, the same Lord Stanley as the Stanley cup. If you don't know about the Stanley cup you need to go away now.


Stanley Park houses the Vancouver Aquarium, which we visited, which was a good time. I learned a bunch of interesting things and saw some of nature's wonders such as a 3 week old beluga whale playing with a one year old. Of other significant note is that Vancouver, BC is home to quite the array of tropical creatures. It was surprising to learn the vegetation and sea life of British Columbia is similar to the Amazon or other rain forests.

After concluding our time at the aquarium we took the road bikes around Stanley park which is a 9-ish mile peninsula. This was a fun, relaxing time on the bikes just cruising along taking in the sea air and more sights.


And to add to our Seattle parking nightmare we got slapped with a $105 fine for having 1/4 of the truck's rear tire in another parking stall. Ridiculous. How can a $105 fine exist for a $10 all day parking spot?

Vancouver - Mass transit on Canada day

Today we spent $9.00 each on an all day pass to all the mass transit available in Vancouver. This allowed us to jump on the SkyTrain and SeaBus to travel from Burnaby to North Vancouver for five hours of tourism with thousands of our best buddies celebrating Canada day. Here are some of the cool sights.

City from Science World




Go Canucks!




Canada day in North Vancouver




Gastown

Vancouver - my first road ride

Went for a little ride east of our RV park although I planned on doing the Burnaby Mountain ride I found on Motionbased. This ride was mostly urban riding with a gem or two in the Port Coquitlam area, but it was entertaining to discover new places such as the bridge pictured here. I did not get any real training in, just loosening up the legs and getting rid of some energy.