Everyday Adventures

Today's post comes to you via Matthew at Adventure-Some. It's all about finding the adventure in everyday experiences. It resonated with me - yesterday morning I was taking a shower and the morning sunlight was streaming in through the bathroom shutters. I looked up and the water vapour was dancing around in the light in the most amazing way. It was the coolest effect, and it made me pause to think. Remember that scene in American Beauty when the plastic bag is floating around in the air, caught by the wind?

It's so easy in our hectic lives to keep looking ahead to the next big 'adventure' or experience, and totally miss out on the small, quiet moments that take our breath away. Like when my 10-month-old daughter smiles at me.

What are your everyday adventures?

Thanks, Matthew. Live the adventure!

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Often when I tell someone that I am going on a trip, they comment “what a great adventure!” And they are right. However, I think that people often have the mistaken idea that adventure = travel, which is not the case. Traveling might get you to the adventure, it might even be an adventure in and of itself, but adventure can be found wherever you are.

I think that the biggest reason for this mis-belief is because people don’t realize what I said in my first post, that “an adventure is something that is exciting or new to you.” They think ‘adventure’ and picture some grand excursion. In reality, an adventure can take place in your back yard, at your local park, or in your home town.

It all depends on your mindset. When you are looking for adventure, you can find it in the most surprising, dare I say everyday, places. If all it takes is doing something new or something exciting, you can do that in your nearest grocery store. I can wander over to the cheese section and find some very interesting looking specimens. I have never tried any of them, and know nothing about them. For a quick culinary adventure, I could pick out one that looks interesting and ask someone behind the counter what they recommend that I try it with. Pick up their recommendation and go home to sample. I might feel safer to do a quick search online for recommendations [do search for cheese, side and wine combo]. I found this… in less than five minutes. If you’re already a cheese fan and have tried everything offered locally, check out the other aisles, I’m sure that you can find something new.

If you are short of inspiration, spend some time with a 5 year old. Any child will lead you on a constant stream of adventures, if you let them. You will explore with a prince or princess, discover exciting worlds and otherwise have an amazing time. All of these amazing adventures to be had in familiar, everyday settings. (Don’t have a 5 year old that you can borrow? I’m sure that if you ask your friends, family, and neighbors you will find someone who could use a babysitter, even if it is just for a few hours of peace during the day.)

As a blog about everyday adventure, I will be mentioning all different kinds of adventures that are available, not just the ones that involve travel. Don’t become discouraged because you don’t have the time or money to go somewhere for a week-long getaway, you can have adventures anytime, anywhere, as long as you are looking for them.

Feeling the love

It's not often I get a personal letter from a government minister, so I was a little surprised to get some correspondence from the Canadian Minister of Tourism Diane Ablonczy this morning. "What the hell," I thought. "What does the government want now?"

I was surprised and touched to open a personal letter from Diane, congratulating me on our recent selection as one of the "Best Adventure Companies on Earth" by National Geographic Adventure (#1 mountain bike tour company, actually!)

You love me, you really love me.

Thanks, Diane. It's not often I see eye to eye with the government of Canada (especially the current one) but this was pretty touching, and I really appreciate it.

Here's what she wrote.

"Dear Mr. Brcic,

I recently learned that Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Holidays Ltd. has been named one of the world's top adventure travel companies by National Geographic Adventure magazine. I would like to extend my personal congratulations to you and your staff on receiving this coveted endorsement.

Your efforts toward sustainable practices and infusing the spirit of adventure into Canada's tourism offerings are exemplary. it is individuals like you who inspire the industry and serve as role models for others.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, please accept my warmest congratulations and best wishes for continued success in your future endeavours.

Sincerely,

Diane Ablonczy"

My favourite MTB photos

I'm pretty blessed to have had the opportunity to host some of the world's top mountain bike and adventure photographers on my trips - people like Patrice Halley, Stephen Wilde and Paul Morrisson.

Not only do they get the shots, but they're all great people: fun to be with, humble and with lots to offer those who are willing to listen. As an amateur photography buff, it's amazing to see these guys in action and the lengths to which they will go to get the shot. I've seen Patrice fall out of trees in BC, Stephen running at top speed in Croatia to keep up with the shot, and Paul hanging from bushes over cliffs in Peru. Their dedication to their craft is admirable.

I was looking through my collection of photos yesterday and reminiscing about the great memories behind all of the photos in my library. Each has a special connection to a time and place, memories that will live on for a long time. They remind me why I do what I do and what I love about mountain biking.

I'm posting my 3 favourite photos below. If you've got the itch for mountain biking and are stuck in midwinter deep-freeze, check out our Flickr account with many more beautiful images from around the world to inspire you.

Thanks to all you shutterbugs out there for so beautifully capturing the essence of our sport. If you have a favourite photo to share, send it to me via Twitter, e-mail, or post it to our Facebook group and I'll get it up on the blog soon.

Mike

Peru lead guide Wayo showing off his freeride form on top of the Olleros trail, with about 10,000 feet of vertical to go. I love this shot for all the white space on the frame, bringing attention right on the rider. ©Stephen Wilde

Guatemala guide Matt Hartell dropping in to the Santa Catarina trail above Lake Atitlan. This photo captures the essence of Guatemala riding beautifully: the spectacular scenery, and sharing trails with locals going about their daily business. ©Patrice Halley

pro riders Richie Schley and Robbie Bourdon riding a crazy section of discovered trail in Peru. Although the line was pretty technical, this shot makes the line look totally insane! ©Paul Morrison

DeVinci and Sacred Rides: together at last

It's true. After a long courtship full of awkward, shy moments and playing hard-to-get, Sacred Rides Mountain Bike Holidays and DeVinci bikes are now dating.

We met at a party, somewhere in the vicinity of the chip table. I was reaching for the nacho chips while DV was reaching for the guacamole. Our hands touched, ever so briefly, but it was enough to send sparks flying throughout the room. I think at one point the curtains were on fire, but we were too enthralled with each other to notice.

DeVinci is now going to be our main sponsor, providing us with staff bikes, rental bikes, and some sweet jerseys and shorts. I'm especially excited because we get to work with a Canadian company, based not far from our Toronto offices (they're in Quebec). This fits in nicely with our local suppliers mandate (part of our Responsible Riding sustainability mandate).

DeVinci is one of the smaller bike companies out there, but they have a great reputation. I first rode a DeVinci at Fernie Alpine Resort a few years back and was immediately impressed. There's a lot of attention to detail on their bikes and you can tell that the builders are proud of their work.

We'll be sporting the Remix SL3 XC Trail bike and the Hectik 1 All-Mountain bike in our British Columbia and Utah rental fleet. I'm getting mine in a few weeks and hope to have some dirt to try it out on soon!

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Tweet Tweet, Twiddle Twiddle

..."there's only one candy with the hole in the middle."

Remember those old Lifesavers commercials from the 80s? That silly jingle is stuck in my head now. I hope it doesn't get stuck in yours.

Anyway, this post isn't about candy. It's about Twitter. If you haven't been paying attention, Twitter is the most explosive social networking tool on the internet. It's barely been around a year, and already there are over six million users worldwide.

At its heart, Twitter is a tool that lets you answer, in 140 characters or less, the question "what are you doing right now?" It's similar to the Facebook status bar, with two exceptions: 1) you only have 140 characters, so you have to be very succint and to the point 2) you can choose to 'follow' anyone's Twitter feed, without their permission (unlike Facebook, where you have to give permission for someone to be your 'friend').

What does this mean?

For one, it means you can waste even more time on the internet, reading about what people ate for breakfast and how many kilometres they cycled that morning. On the other hand, however, Twitter is also an amazing tool for sharing useful information fast and connecting people. By faciliating quick connections that aren't permission-based (you just choose interesting people to follow on the internet - as many as you want), users can quickly grow their network from just a few followers (and followed) to a few hundred or few thousand.

Witness Twestival. This is a worldwide festival on February 12 in over 100 cities around the world. The festival was not only a way to bring together Twitter users in a physical space, but also had a goal of raising money for a global water charity. The festival was organized entirely by volunteer Twitter users, and although the numbers aren't in yet, organizers expected to pull in over $1,000,000 for the charity. The amazing thing is how easy Twitter allows you to connect with large numbers of people all over the world.

Like Facebook or MySpace, it's all about how you use it. You can use it for wasting time reading extremely banal information about people, or you can use it as an incredible tool for engagement with the world. I'll be using it to promote a Canada-wide walk/bike festival our non-profit organization Bikes Without Borders is putting on for HIV/AIDS workers in Africa . Already, I've had Twitter users nationwide messaging me asking how they can help promote the event.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about Twitter? Boring? Beautiful? Bold? How do you use it? Or refuse it?

Mike
http://www.twitter.com/mtbikermike

Trail Tales: Olleros, Peru

I've only ridden it twice, but the Olleros trail near Lima, Peru has to rank as one of the best downhills in the world. With spectacular views of the Andes, 3,000 metres/10,500 vertical feet of downhill (that's not a misprint!), and some of the flowiest, most beautiful riding on the planet, I can't think of any downhill I've ever had more fun on.

The day starts with a 3-hour drive from Lima, up a crazy mountain road, with a steep drop on one side. Thankfully, our driver Pablo has driven this road "about 500 times," as he puts it, and inspires lots of confidence. The amazing part is that both times we drove this road we didn't encounter a single vehicle - we had the road to ourselves for 3 hours.

After climbing for what seems forever, you reach the remote village of Olleros, perched high on the Andean mountainside. After saying hello to a few curious kids, you pedal through town and then drop in on the trail.

The Olleros trail is fast, flowing singletrack, dusty in spots but not enough to affect your riding or the person behind you. This is freeriding at its free-est: at times the trail disappears and you can just follow the flow of the topography, hitting dozens of jumps and terrain features along the way. There are spots where the trail opens up onto wide ridges and you can really open it up; our guide Wayo hit 70 km/h on one of the ridges once... Amazingly enough, it's as smooth as can be and you don't feel unsafe at this speed!



The whole downhill is about 30 km (20 miles) in total. Near the bottom the trail starts to switchback frequently, providing for some slower, more challenging fun. Finally the trail spits you out into a wide, dry-river-bed valley. The river bed is hardpacked sand - very hardpacked, almost like concrete - and you can really fly on the gentle downhill grade, for the next 30 km or so.

Last time I was here, with Ride Guide TV and pro riders Richie Schley and Robbie Bourdon, we got back to the van just as the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean, our driver waiting for us with sandwiches and cold beers. I'll never forget the feeling of riding my bike in a remote valley in the Andes, as the sun went down and my tires whistled in the evening wind. Pretty freaking amazing.

Mike

if you want to join us in Peru, we still have a few spots left on our spring departures, and are taking bookings for our fall trips now. We have a deal with LAN airlines for 10% off posted rates, plus free bike shipping - enough to save you about $300-$400 off your flight costs.

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getting it right...

On our website, we have a 'Contact a Past Participant' feature, that allows you to send an e-mail to someone who has already done the trip you're interested in. It's a great way for our past clients (thank you!) to give people the inside, customer perspective on what our trips are like. It's also a great way for me to experience our trips as our clients see them

This is an e-mail that one of our past clients from Brazil sent to a fellow from the UK. It makes me extremely proud of our staff and the great job they do.

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Hey Julian,

Before my trip I was also full of doubts, like I was preparing for a space flight.

After, I found out that it's WAY MORE COOL.

Even when comparing with my homeland, it is a completely different world, where the only link to our realities is our bikes.

The mountains are the best, taking rider and gear to the limit every day, with changing climate, terrain and altitude, but ALWAYS WITH THE GUIDES TELLING YOU OF EVERY RISK, IN EACH SECTION OF THE TRAILS.

We had full time support on wrenching, eating and also hanging out. Cusqueña is the beer to have! Food is awesome, the homeland of every potato and corn in the world. Great steaks (lomos) of beef, pork, lamb and alpaca.

I don't know about what bike you plan to take, but here is some tips.

The Lima part is full-on DH. The Cusco part is All-Mountain. I think that a DH or freeride bike with front mech is ideal. I went with an AM 6" bike, with DH tires and brakes, but felt a little restraint for my taste.

It is a good idea to improve strength and fitness before the trip, to be able to squeeze the juice out of it. We had some guys that didn't enjoy as much because of getting too tired.

I didn't have to take any altitude medicine. All I did was follow the guide's orientations.

Man, go for it.

Best regards

Ricardo

The World Wide Ride Guide Poll

The results of our online mountain biking poll (at the World Wide Ride Guide blog) are in... We received 144 responses. Here are the final tallies numbers. Cross-Country	114 (79%)
Downhill	48 (33%)
Freeride	60 (41%)
Dirt Jump	22 (15%)
Racer	35 (24%)
Solo rider	75 (52%)
Ride with buddies	109 (75%)
Ride with clubs	29 (20%)
1-2x/month	16 (11%)
Weekend Warrior	50 (34%)
Every day if I can	62 (43%)

Trail Tales: Seven Summits, BC

I'll admit it. I'm going a little stir crazy. I haven't been on my mountain bike since mid-December's trip to Guatemala, and 6 weeks out of the saddle is always hard on me. So I'm already dreaming about the summer, and heading back to BC to ride one of my favourite trails, the incredible Seven Summits. I'm definitely not the only one to rate this a personal favourite - Bike magazine rated Seven Summits their trail of the year back in 2007.

I've ridden Seven Summits about a half a dozen times, on our Ultimate BC trip, and each time it inflicts new levels of suffering and ecstasy on me. It's an all-day epic, and you need to bring lots of water and lots of food. I've heard of people doing it in as little as 3 hours, but most people take 6-8 to do the entire trail.

The trail gets its name from the 7 peaks you ride either on top of or just underneath, traversing a number of ridges, saddles and summits over its course. For the most part you stay underneath the actual summits, but each of the 7 has a side trail leading up to its peak.

The ride is not for the faint of heart - or lungs. There are several punishing climbs, and only the strongest climbers will be able to tackle them all without walking. I've never managed to clean it myself, but I have watched in awe as über-guide Eddy spanked off one climb after another. The downhills are fun, fast and furious, with lots of technical sections to keep you on your toes.

The views of Rossland and the mountains of the southern Monashees are spectacular at every turn, and there are some spots that are just so picture-perfect you have to remember to breathe.

The best part? Ending off with 2,000 vertical feet of downhill on the Dewdney Trail, and having a cold one when you get back to the van. Unless, that is, you're one of the brave souls who ride the whole thing without benefit of shuttle vehicles - my everlasting respect to you.

Mike

Seven Summits is just one of dozens of trails we ride on our 13-day Ultimate BC trip. There are still spots available for this summer - check our schedule page and sign up today!