♪ Yup, yup, yup ♪
♪ Oh no ♪
(upbeat electronic music)
♪ Yo ♪
(electric buzz)
- In southwest Canada, 60 kilometres north of Vancouver,
halfway up the 99th, the mountain bike Mecca of Whistler
lies the town of Squamish.
To the South you've got the sea fjord called The Howe Sound,
and then to the West, North and East,
you're surrounded by forest and coastal mountains.
Squamish is a small town with about 20,000 population.
It's got a really thriving mountain bike scene.
Spread over five different areas around town,
there's plenty of different riding.
For a machine-built flow trails,
to super steep gnarly rock slabs.
The Squamish people are indigenous people,
they've lived in this area for thousands of years,
the town's popular with adventure tourists.
You can climb the Stawamus Chief,
one of the largest granite monolith rocks on the planet.
There's kite-surfing, white water rafting, hiking,
trail-running, and even bald eagle spotting.
It's a town I've always driven through
on the way to Whistler, so I'm excited to actually be here
and try the trails out, but there's so many,
the network is massive,
and I need to find the best ones to ride.
So I'm going over to the GM on Instagram
to ask for your advice.
(transcendent music) (talking all at once)
Well I've had loads of good recommendations, thanks!
You've all been here by the signs of it.
Right, so the Diamond Head Zones
to begin with we are.
We're going to ride 19th Hole,
followed by Angry Midget, to Half Nelson,
up this fire road, to Fred, Tinder, and Your Mom.
I've been riding here for a couple of days
so my legs are a bit tired,
so I'm stoked at getting to shuttle up with Shred Shuttle.
(techno music)
(rock guitar music)
Yep, alright, first trail, 19th Hole.
♪ 19th Hole ♪
(rock music)
(rocks crumble)
(rock music)
That was 19th Hole, which was great.
It's super steep, rooty, and wet.
She's very hard, to be fair.
It's been wet for the last week here I think.
Nice and sunny today, after in here, you have to pedal up,
there's no ski runs, eh, ski lifts should I say.
Of course we got our lift off the Shred Shuttle, but
after now we need to pedal.
So we got about a 10 minute pedal up
to the top for the next trail.
(electric guitar music)
♪ Angry Midget ♪
(rocks crumble)
(upbeat techno music)
♪ Half Nelson ♪
(upbeat techno music)
Second time in the Shred Shuttle done,
we're up by 900 metres of ascent so far,
probably about 10 of it pedal,
so pretty good.
There's people from Japan, Mexico,
and Germany, and more Brits.
So this is Upper Power Smart
♪ Power Smart ♪
(upbeat techno music)
(bike skids)
(upbeat techno music)
♪ Fred ♪
(mellow electronic music)
♪ Tinder ♪
(upbeat techno music)
(air whooshes)
♪ Your Mom ♪
(upbeat techno music)
We've made our way over to the Alice Lake riding area now,
sort of working our way up the hill to ride Treasure Trail.
I've just seen the bottom of it, looks good,
looks gnarly, rooty, plenty of jumps and obstacles I think.
Let's get up there.
(bike squeaks)
The trails here are maintained by SORCA,
it's a volunteer driven organisation, over 1700 members,
and they are the primary advocates
and maintainers of these trails.
Look at the state of this climbing trails,
amazingly well kept.
You've probably seen these woods
in loads of Man by Metre and films over the years,
and Hill Films are based here.
So pink bike, a few mountain bike companies as well,
I've got Seven Mesh, Warner, Components,
Commencal Canada are based here.
(chill techno music)
♪ Treasure Trail ♪
(chill techno music)
(bike rattles)
(wheels whoosh)
(bike squeaks)
(chill techno music)
(bike whooshes)
(chill techno music)
(pathway rattles)
(breaks skid)
(pathway rattles)
I think I'm eligible for a Canadian Passport now,
nope!
Nope!
Ah!
Literally my least favourite thing in the world,
okay!
(chill techno music)
(blows raspberry)
That was pretty mental.
One of the most technical trails I think I've ever done.
I think you only recommended that
because you know I hate Skinnies.
Just gnarly, especially after a couple days of rain,
something marred inbetween the granite is gnarly.
Think I want to ride something a bit more mellow
to finish off. (exhales)
♪ Boney Elbows ♪
Whoa!
(bike squeaks)
(chill techno music)
(wind whooshes)
(rocks crumble)
♪ In and Out Burger ♪
(chill techno music)
(breaks skid)
Well that was certainly an epic ride,
some of the best trails I've ridden,
some of the best beers I've drunk as well.
Click on the Backcountry Brewing logo to subscribe,
thumps up, over there for an epic ride and fall with it.