Lost In The Forest

Today we went for an easy ride that ended up not being quite as simple as we thought. We parked here https://www.trailforks.com/poi/81213/

The Park website is here https://www.trailforks.com/region/firemen-s-park-40369/

The other mountain bike trails off the Bruce heading towards the falls are here https://www.trailforks.com/region/firemen-s-park-40369/

We talk about the route finding on the Bruce, discuss the lack of wild edibles on the Bruce, find a shoe tree and discover what we know already, don't underestimate any rides on the Bruce Trail https://brucetrail.org

Grand Canyon 6 2022 Review I ride a Deviate Highlander 140 with a We Are One Wheelset, I run Sram Breaks that work better than the breaks in my car, have run AXS but am back on cable shifting, the charging when I ride so often is quite annoying even with two batteries and with radio mics, cameras and recorders, plus phones and bike computers I need a break from batteries. This high pivot full suspension beast of a bike makes up for every mistake I make though and I do ride anything else and feel lazy, scared and more of a pilot than a passenger. For the first time in a long time I decided to try and run one bike, I mean I have a fat bike and a city bike but my 4 rides a week on my mountain bike were taking its toll on my bank account. Out of curiosity and because I follow Sam Pilgrim on Youtube I took a look at Canyon.I went for the Grand Canyon 6 it arrived and in truth, I had tried to cancel it, I was not excited and felt a bit fed up, I unpacked it and noticed the bike had a bent hanger, not Canyon's fault more likely the carrier leaving the box in the rain so it soaked through and the bottom fell out. Canyon no questions UPS’ed me a hanger. Back to the bike, I was sad it is so basic, not even cable routing for the spare dropper post I had…..So I managed to fix the dropper post, I changed the Bars and Saddle to some spare parts I have hanging around I made it Tubeless even though the tires on it stock didn’t mention tubeless, I feel after converting our Fat Bikes and a dirt jumper I can make anything with a tire Tubeless especially if its Stans No Tubes. The stock wheels seated the tire super quick I did both wheels in 20 minutes. Pumped up and held air overnight.So, I took it out on my local trails in the woods expecting to hate it and I didn’t, I thought the 5mm quick release from a decade ago, I missed this on the spec, would be an issue, it wasn’t and has not been, even though I keep grabbing the wheel expecting some play, there is none. This continues to be the case five rides in. As for the Suntour Fork I just wanted an axel, the Suntor system worked loose on my trails, not a lot but enough feel, I messaged Suntour and the contact sent me a link to a video, it has helped maybe not eliminated the issue completely but I am a 6ft 3 14.5 stone human who is hard on bikes. I also upped the pressure in the fork so it is only every so often using the full 100mm of travel. Now when you fly off anything I can feel it drop, I think I just need to slow the rebound down. The ride on this fork is plush though and I have ridden much worse for more money. So far it confirms my thought if you are looking to purchase a new fork give Suntour a look.I took the Canyon for a ride in my local woods, nice blue and green trails, and lots of roots, sand and rocks, I know this place well so don’t mess around on any of the descending sections. The wheelset is so impressive for this price, I have put them through it already and they are still running true. The handling has been good so far, even on the limestone slabs of the Bruce, I did put wider bars as mentioned, but most of that is down to my riding style I find the narrow bars quite odd to deal with.Well done Canyon on an epic bike for the price, I am not easy on bikes and have had it out every day I have ridden since it came home. It proves that you can have as much fun on a cheaper bike as on a top-end full suspension and you might even be faster on the cheap one.www.canyon.comwww.srsuntour.comwww.notubes.com

I wish we had some artwork of a Raven in shoes. Ravenshoe also known as Brown Hill Tract is an hour North of the city, one side is flat and rooty and the other has small rolling hills, it is easy to spend a few hours here. It is one of the best places to Fatbike. We found oyster mushrooms here today, we cooked and ate them when we got home.https://www.trailforks.com/region/york-regional-forest-brown-hill-tract/?activitytype=1&z=14.3&lat=44.20949&lon=-79.36868 Also, we went to https://www.facebook.com/thecoolestlittleicecreamshop/ Please like if you get a chance it helps.

Today we did a bit of the Gord Harry Trail but found a cool quarry to ride around, rock slabs and loads of potential, We then found a way into Port Colborne, use it or lose it and you know what it might go anyway.We recorded this in the car in the rain so you may hear some noises.https://npca.ca/parks-recreation/conservation-areas/gord-harry-trailhttps://www.trailforks.com/region/limestone-hill-35801/

When everyone else is shopping at the mall we head to the woods, it was so quiet we had it to ourselves on a Saturday sunny afternoon. We talk about the wild edibles, and what is in season to collect and end up having a cone. This is a place we have ridden for a year including all winter on Fat Bikes. Sorry for the sound quality, we will do better.

Link to Hodgson here. https://www.trailforks.com/region/simcoe-county-forest-hodgson-tract/?activitytype=1&z=13.3&lat=44.15618&lon=-79.64346

3 Scoops 11 Barrie St, Bradford West Gwillimbury, ON

Phone: (289) 231-1193

A cool spot near Toronto with some interesting trails and wildlife, it also often has film crews there. https://www.trailforks.com/region/claireville-conservation-area-16835/

Managed to ride three times this weekend, Rock slabs, sand and mud. It was a win as no Ticks got me despite trying and the midges are not biting yet. This recording is in the car on the way back from my last weekend trail ride. We were here: https://www.trailforks.com/region/centennial-park-8694/https://www.trailforks.com/trails/bruce-trail-victoria-avenue-to-mountainview-road/Best place we found to park to access these trails.

This is a podcast that covers in high-level terms our riding at Short Hills, St Catharines, Port Colborne and Beamsville. The links are below in the description.This is our opinion of the trails we like to ride often in bad weather.

• Port Colborne where we parked https://www.trailforks.com/poi/6585/

• Short Hills I think the best parking place https://www.trailforks.com/poi/3755/

• Beamsville we parked where the trail crosses the roadhttps://www.trailforks.com/trails/main-bridge-connector/

• St Catharineshttps://www.trailforks.com/poi/2445/