I’m going to visit my brother this year, around June time I hope, and I really would like to cram in a bike ride or two.

Can anyone recommend any groups that organise rides over there? My brother isn’t into it you see and I don’t fancy going it alone!

He lives near Edmonton but I’m sure he won’t mind driving me somewhere so he can have a laugh at my expense no doubt 😆

Head west my friend.

About 200 miles (4 hours then) to Jasper National Park.

Valley of the Five lakes is a great ride.

Excellent, thank you! I shall look into that.

Oh, and from memory, there are bike rental places in Jasper too.

And a good brewpub, hence the hazy memory.

Hehe…..I’m just having a look now.

I’m going to convince my brother to join his big sis on an adventure, I for one know he’s missing out on some really good fun over there!

Valley of the Five Lakes is indeed a superb ride. We did it on 11.09.2001, what a surreal day! We were camping so hadn’t heard about events in the US until we returned to civilisation at the end of the ride.

Jasper is a great place. Very chilled. I have very pleasant memories of strolling around town for a pre-rede coffee on chilly september mornings. Back then it had 2 shops with hire fleets of Santa Cruz bikes.

A long way further south is Banff/Canmore, also with excellent riding and Kananaskis County which seemed good from the guidebook but was closed due to forest fires when we were there so can’t say.

I am definitely going to go there, it looks great and an opportunity not to be missed! I went to Tenerife recently and really wished I’d ridden there so I won’t be making the same mistake twice.

Jasper is a long way from Edmonton though. At least 4 hours. If you can’t make it that far (it’s totally worth it though), there’s some good riding in Rocky Mtn House and another spot called Nordegg. Nordegg is some kind of under the radar RedBull training ground. I hear stories about guys dropping sequences of 20-30′ drops in there.

Kananaskis is great, though a fair schlepp from Edmonton. Talk your brother into a few days in the mountains

(not my pic)
…..keep you away from that bl00dy shopping mall in Edmonton

You lucky devil. Your about 3 hours away from Golden too, have you seen the Mount Seven psychosis section in Seasons? Theres the olympic park in Calgary which has a bike park, Panorama is an excellent mountain resort too within stopover distance from Edmonton. Oh and visit the mall, where else can you drink beer shoot guns and buy pants under one roof?

Whyte ave is the spot to party in Edmonton, The Black Dog, Shanky’s, Fuzzy’s, Doyle’s …you get the idea.

Can I come too? Then you’ll have someone to keep you company!

And I can protect you from bears and wolves and mongooses.

and mountain lions

COUGARS!

Canada is amazing, Jasper is my 2nd favourite place in the world (Lake Louise 1st) the riding is immense, purely immense!

word of warning there are bears all around Jasper, but dont overlook elk too, they are HUGE and crazy as hell in rutting season!

(jealous)Matt

Second the comment about the elk. We were in Jasper in the rutting season and they were all over the campsite. Saw one idiot try to get a close up photo of a group of them. The bull charged, the guy fled but tripped and landed flat on his face. Luckily for him the bull immediately lost interest and returned to his females.

Never mind the bears, cougars and elk…..the f***in crows in jasper are the size of small aircraft and will literally land on your car, pull the door off, give you a kicking and eat your sandwiches!

my sister lives in Peace River & is getting married (in Calgary) in August. I’m already on the plane 😉
Probably staying in Canmore – Banff is only a short drive away from Canmore but waaaay more expensive, allegedly

A crow near Jasper:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15493433@N02/1645928985/in/set-72157602614393625/

It was the size of a small horse…

keep you away from that bl00dy shopping mall in Edmonton

you know me too well!

rudeboy, yeah you can come but as long as you behave on the plane 😆

my brother’s prepared to pick me up from calgary so if i can fly into edmonton he should be willing to take me to the mountains etc! i’ll work on him for an overnight stay somewhere 😀

Yay!

Ooh! I’m going to Barbados!

if you’re flying to Calgary, then it’s as simple as heading North for an hour or so and ride CANMORE.
probably the best network of trails in Alberta, singletrack supremity

walleater? are they not ravens or is that just the name for a big fat crow?

Here’s one in the rockies, was sitting on one of the cars before taking an interest in ours.

RudeBoy, surely you’d be more be protecting Aleigh in a sacrificial bait kinda way rather than fighting off big bad hungry animals?

canada? rubbish. nothing to see here, move along

Any knowledge of Nova Scotia for quality MTBing?

canada? rubbish. nothing to see here, move along

lol 😆 ……somehow I don’t believe you!

What’s/where’s Nova Scotia? 😯

I’ve figured that flying into Calgary isn’t an option if I want my brother to drive me somewhere mountain biking!

Well I’ve convinced my brother to take me so it’s all good! 😆

Apart from camping has anyone got any recommendations for where to stay near Jasper?

Can’t help with accommodation, we hired a camper van for 2 weeks. But I can highly recommend the Miette hot springs after a few days hard riding. They are located up in the mountains about half an hour or so drive from Jasper. Soaking in a 39degree or thereabouts pool whilst it gently snowed on us was a special experience. Make sure you jump in the plunge pool!

Sounds amazing Paul!

I think parts of Nova scotia are actually closer to London than to Whistler. It’s sort of flat there, with lots of donut shops and fat people that drink bad coffee and moan about the poor fishing.

The biking is OK.

Check out http://www.ecmtb.com for the lowdown.

my sister lives in Peace River & is getting married (in Calgary) in August. I’m already on the plane [;-)]
Probably staying in Canmore – Banff is only a short drive away from Canmore but waaaay more expensive, allegedly

Say Hi to the Drake for me ( http://www.thedrakepub.com ). Spent so many days off getting pissed up in Banff and Canmore. Second best place in the world only to Wales.

Wow wish I was coming with you! Should be the trip of a life-time!

We should be out riding more!

Catch up soon
Rich

Next time I go I’m sure my brother won’t mind more people coming along 😉

I’m always around Rich, just get in touch 🙂

aleigh – We stayed here Bear Hill Lodgewhen we went to Jasper. We didn’t get chance to ride there so I can’t say what the riding is like. I will get chance this time though, just booked to fly into Calgary in August and out of Vancouver in September. I am so lucky, it will be our third time there.

hi domino, thanks for the link. the rates look reasonable 🙂

have a great time!

Smoke – thanks for that link.
I can see why you’d think the riding in NS is just “OK” when what you work in is so vast and varied.
If I ever cross that ocean again, and have access to a bike, I’ll try to get to one or the other.

It’s a dilemma though.
East coast is closer and has donuts. West coast has quality bush (in all senses) and proper altitude.
Hmmmm.