Ambush Mountain Biking
It's Not The Size Of Your Bike
It's How You Ride It!
Welcome to Ambush Mountain Biking
Ambush Crew L-R: Troy, Lee, Don, Charlie, Kyle, Dan
What is Ambush Mountain Biking you may ask?
Ambush was founded by a group of mountain bikers on a quest for
the very best trails to ride.
In 2008 they started this quest by packing up and heading to Williams
Lake. What follows
is a description of their travels. We hope you enjoy the write up,
pictures and video.
July 11th to 14th, 2008
Day1 Travel
| The drive from Quesnel was filled with
excitement, six grown men as giddy as a bunch of school girls.
It was the first major mountain bike trip for most of us. For
years we had talked about doing one but never really got our act
together. This year was different though. Dan took control in
the spring, did the research, and planned the trip. For most of
us all we had to do was pack a bag and show up. The first stop in our travels was Red Shreds in Williams Lake to see Mark Savard. Mark had graciously arranged with Dan to act as our guide on the first leg of our journey. Mark runs one of the best bike shops north of Vancouver and probably gives some of them a run for their money. He doesn’t appear to run the shop as a business but rather like his own personal playground. You feel this as soon as you walk through the door, his passion for cycling and the outdoors is thick in the air. It welcomes you in and invites you to take a good look around. After picking up some essentials and not so essential items we headed out with Mark for Farwell Canyon. |
Day1 The Fingers
| If you have never been to Farwell Canyon it
should be on your bucket list. It’s hard to believe that
situated in the middle of British Columbia sits a high desert
with BC’s largest sand dune. The Canyon itself is spectacular
and the home to Palmala Handerson’s fingers, our day one
destination. After setting up camp, if you can really call it camping in Don’s fully loaded 5th Wheel, we crammed into Mark’s van and headed to the top of the fingers. The ride across the mountain top to the ridge was filled with a sweeping view of the valleys ahead. It was hard to stay focused on the trail in front of you. We did wonder what we were in for seeing Mark carrying his body armor in his pack. When we reached the fingers we were treated to some of the sweetest downhill we’d ridden. This was all the more spectacular with Farwell Canyon in view below. One thing was for sure, you want to make sure your brakes are in good working order before descending, right Don? Back at camp around a nice fire the legend that became Ambush was born. OK, maybe not born so much as borrowed with Mark sharing with us the Ambush secret |
Day2 The Fingers Part II
| Morning came all too quickly but thanks to
Don’s obsession with espresso we were soon buzzing again looking
forward to the day ahead. It seamed silly at first but packing
along tools and a bike stand proved to be invaluable. A few
tweaks and some lube and we were off again. It was agreed that we just had to ride the fingers again. Thanks to Mark’s instructions from the night before we were able to ride up the road and find an alternate, shorter, trail to reach the fingers. This time Dan secured the helmet cam to his lid and away we went. Somehow we became separated from Lee and found him flying down a different finger. We’re still not sure if this was by accident or design but we had chosen the middle or stinky as it’s called, while Lee came down the index finger. It would have been easy to spend the day or more just riding the fingers but we had many more places to ride. It was time to pull stakes and move on. |
Day2 The Fingers Part II Pictures
Day2 The Big Horn Sheep Reserve
| Across the canyon and up the hill is a Big
Horn Sheep Reserve. Aren’t they only found in California?
Apparently not, our little corner of the world has them too, or
so they said. After a little lunch we set out for the long loop around the reserve. This was definitely a change of riding, going from some tough downhill to a long cross country trail. There wasn’t anything technically difficult about the reserve, except beating the heat and staying hydrated, but the views were out of this world. We couldn’t have asked for a better day, you could see for a hundred miles. As it turns out the name is what you get. We came across many Big Horned Sheep and the odd bear too. The ride was long and hot but we were rewarded at the end of the ride with a cold shower and even colder beer. We knew the next day we would be meeting in Williams Lake to hook up with another guide so we back tracked part way and pitched camp. We found a quiet spot along the river all to ourselves. At the time we didn’t know the salmon were running and we were right in the way of the locals dipping spot. Everything was fine until about 2:00am when the place turned into a parking lot. You live and learn as they say and we chalked it up to just one of many memories we’ll have of the trip. |
Day2 The Big Horn Sheep Reserve Pictures
Day3 Williams Lake
| An old riding buddy of ours had moved to
Williams Lake several years before and when he heard we were
coming he agreed to act as guide for a day around Williams Lake. With something like 600 members in their cycling club it soon became apparent that their trail system was extensive. Tony took us through some sweet single track that traversed the hillside over Williams Lake (the actual lake). Many signs went by with trail names, so many in fact that if it weren’t for Tony we could have been lost there riding for days. Without a guide we would have had fun but with one it was fantastic. Tony had the whole ride planned in his head finishing the first half of the day at a local pub just in time for lunch. As good as a cold beer sounded food sounded even better. We knew there was at least another three hours of riding left so nobody wanted to pound to many ale. With our tanks topped up we set out for another trail head called snakes and ladders. The name implies some stunts and that’s what we found. There were many attempts and just as many spills along the way, the worst of which was Charlie losing his front wheel off an elevation and drilling his upper body into the deck. The result as it turned out was one cracked finger to go with a broken rib. You have to give Charlie some props for finishing the ride but more on him later. Once again Red Shreds came into play. Ten minutes before closing time we finished our ride a couple blocks from the shop. On one of the last descents Troy lost control and took a little trip over the bars. The resulting damage, besides his pride, was a bent front rim that wouldn’t hold air. Oh, did I mention tubeless sucks? Sprinting to Mark’s shop Troy went straight to the repair door. If I didn’t mention it before Red Shred’s has some of the best staff around. They had his wheel off and in the stand before I was unclipped. If that wasn’t good enough service, ten minutes later when Troy tried to pay, we were asked “Aren’t you the Ambush guys from out of town?” and when we said yes we were told to have fun and enjoy the rest of our trip. Back at our vehicles we once again found a couple of cold ones and a watermelon to boot. We refueled, thanked Tony for the ride and moved on to our next camping spot at Desous Mountain. One of the best parts of our trip was food. While a 5th wheel may not be roughing it you do get the opportunity to eat well. On the dinner menu was steak and corn on the cob. The trip just kept getting better and better. |
Day4 DeSous Mountain
| By day four we were definitely moving a
little slower in the morning. We knew we were down a rider with
Charlie hobbling around the camp. Don’s espresso brought the
rest of us around while Charlie found the cooler. Now I’ve seen some tough guys in my day and I’m not sure if he’s one of them or the second pop of the morning kicked in but all of a sudden Charlie had his gear on and was preparing to ride. We shuttled to the top of Desous and paused only long enough for a quick picture before ripping down the mountain. Remember Charlie? He was in front the whole way down. What a wild ride. Back at camp the trip suddenly slowed. Four days of hard riding caught up to us. The sunny afternoon, the peaceful surroundings had us all slumped in our lawn chairs with contented smiles on our faces. Our little Zen moment was broken when Johnny Smoke arrived with a couple of riders from Europe and their big hit bikes. We chatted for a while and he asked if we wanted to tag along for their ride. Hiding the fact that we were well done for the week we said that our trail bikes wouldn’t keep up to their big hit rigs. His response was the exclamation point on a great trip. “It’s not the size of the bike but how you ride it.” Cheers, Ambush MTB |
Ambush The Movie
Design by |
Hosting by |