On top of all that I have two dear friends that have moved there, Jess and Bobby. At this point I have nothing holding me back from making this an annual road trip. I also am incredibly blessed to visit dear long distance friends along the way.....and to have a buddy Mel, (who was supposed to be our wedding photographer), who had the flexibility to make an 11 day trip with me which made it even more memorable!
Day one: we left Steamboat on Sunday, July 14th to make our way to our first stop, Park City!! Not a far drive, but the perfect way to kick off our trip by seeing family I love and of course quickly Mel fell in love as well (how can you fall in love with Ruby and Owen around).
And honestly, the riding right out of Chip and Audrey's door is pretty phenomenal. Towards the end of the trip I asked Mel what her highlights were and the first thing she said was the ride we did at your sister's house was one of my favorite rides of the trip!! Pretty cool considering we drove all over the northwest and to Canada riding cross country and downhill bikes!! This statement supports Chip's suggestion to me of taking a week in Park City for my next trip - world class biking!
The next morning we had breakfast with the kids and took off for Sun Valley, Idaho; our next stop on the itinerary. Another pretty short drive which allowed for a bit of an unplanned epic ride on Green horn/Maloney trail once we arrived in the picturesque town of Sun Valley.
The planned 3 hour ride accidentally turned into a 5 hour ride after a slight misleading on my part and a little desire to explore....but we ended up on an amazing downhill with ear to ear smiles and made it town just in time to hit up the local "Lefties" bar for the best tasting greasy burger and a tallboy PBR!
After a good nights rest at a random camping spot that we found at 11p.m. we hit the road the next morning for our longest stretch of the trip; 12 hours to Bellingham, WA. We did our best to entertain ourselves playing 20 questions, the shuffle songs game on the iPod, and of course talking about boys. We arrived in Bellingham around 9 (still light out which is awesome) and caught up with our good friends Jessie and Blake who moved a year ago from Colorado to Bellingham for the outstanding riding that the northwest offers.
Huge tree canopies, technical root and rock riding, and only clear lenses are needed because you are in the forest the whole time. Jessie and Blake are one of the most fun couples I know and we always end up with aching abs from laughing so hard and catching up!
We all rode Gailbrath in the morning and then it was off to Whistler for Mel and I. Little did we know that the border crossing would be one of the funniest experiences of the trip. Mel is not a U.S. citizen and has a visa. We promptly were asked to go inside to show our I.D.'s - I thought that would be it...oh no, we had to sit down and uncomfortably wait just long enough to consider something was wrong. After an awkward amount of time and some periodic questioning about where we were staying and who we were going to see, we each were told that we would be brought into a room individually for questioning. Mel went first - it's a breeze for her, she has done this before as a visa card holder. Not me. I swear I start to feel guilty for no reason, they have me convinced that I should be nervous and sweating at this point. I get taken into the room second and immediately begin answering with long explanations and eventually I am telling him what people on drugs look like and confirming I am not one of them! It was pure comedy on both ends and it was a great story to share along the way. To say the least after about 30 minutes of delay we made it over the border and to our final destination...Whistler!
Jess promptly took me on a great ride right out her front door called "trash", let me assure you it was not trash, it was more of a treasure in my eyes. The next morning Mel and I woke up like kids on Christmas day because we were looking forward to a full day of downhilling at the world class bike park that Whistler has to offer. One of the best parts of the day was when Jess joined us for her first downhilling experience and we rode until last chair & did sweep! She killed it!
Our favorite Whistler brewed grapefruit beer..mmmmmm.
The 3 days continued with downhilling and cross country riding every day to fully explore as much as we could of the epic trails that area has to offer. We swam in the lake, ate sushi, and had many laughs with our generous and outstanding hosts/friends Jess and Bobby.
Rides we did included the bike park at Whistler, Danimal, A River Runs Through It, and a Squamash section of trails; entrails and others.
As we left Canada with some sad faces we also carried with us some incredible memories and had no problem turning our frowns upside down as we spent the night with Jessie and Blake again and road the Chuckonauts the next morning (maybe one of my favorite rides of the entire trip). After riding in Bellingham we headed to Missoula to see the Frickes!!! A friend highlight for me as I have not seen them in a couple years and their family has grown - love them! After a quick stop in Missoula we hit Jackson for the classic; Lithium trail over the pass.
We got to connect with some gear testing friends in Jackson and of course celebrate the culmination of a trip of a lifetime with a beer at the Snake River Brewery. Thirteen rides in 10 days, seven states on one Canadian province, and six friend stops with way too many incredible people to count!!! Until next year.....
