North Shore Triple Crown MTB

Distance: 73km

Elevation: 2543m

Time: 10:01

I love it when friends get excited about a challenge. Last winter, we watched the "North Shore Triple Crown" video posted by Mahalo My Dude. The two part video was ridiculous. They started too late, wasted time, and suffered their way up and down all 3 north shore mountains to finish in the dark completely destroyed. It looked horrible and made me want to do it so badly. Rob was also inspired, Kyle was skeptical. All spring Rob and I talked about the route, getting ourselves stoked for the challenge on our upcoming trip to Whistler. We dragged other friends into the plan too. "Sounds like a terrible idea, lets do it!" seemed to be the general consensus. At one point, we had a group of 10 ready to ride the 70km link up of Seymour, Fromme and Cypress! Sadly, the forecast was calling for a scorching hot day and cooler heads prevailed as we opted to shuttle and wait for better weather to attempt the already difficult ride.

That day came a few days later with cool temperatures and the classic North Shore drizzle in the forecast. Back to just me and Rob, it was actually going to happen. We left Whistler at 5am to park the truck at Glen Eagles near Horseshoe Bay. To avoid a long vehicle recovery at the end of the ride, we took a taxi to Deep Cove to start the ride. It was one of the longest days of the year and we had plenty of daylight to accomplish our task.

Loading up for a taxi shuttle to Deep Cove

Prior to starting the first climb up from Deep Cove to Mt. Seymour, we stopped at Honey's Donuts for a coffee and treat. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

First stop - Honey's Donuts

After a sugar rush, we cruised down to the waterfront and started the timer. It was just after 7am and we had a long way to go.

Early morning start from Deep Cove

Ready for a big day

The route starts with a steep climb out of Deep Cove to Mt. Seymour Parkway, then turns up Mt Seymour Road to continue the climb. It was cool, misty and quiet. We made good time up to CBC, the highest legal trail on Seymour about 850m above sea level.

Cool and damp climb up Mt. Seymour

Feeling energetic, we dropped the tire pressure and started descending. This wasn't going to be too hard.

First climb done, time to drop in

After CBC, we rode TNT/Cabin Trail to Cambodia before linking up with Bottletop to the bottom. It was a wet and slippery descent to the Seymour River but lots of fun for Rob's first ride on Mt. Seymour. Three hours into the ride we had completed our first of three mountains and felt great.

Classic shore

Big trees and ladder bridges

We crossed the river and followed the Twin Bridges trail up to Lynn Canyon. It had been years since I had been through that area and brought back a flood of memories of coaching Flow Camps a decade ago. Next stop on the itinerary was the End of the Line. It was too early for lunch, but we grabbed some snacks and espresso to fuel up for the punishing climb up Mountain Highway to Fromme.

Time for a break at End of the Line

All the espresso

Mountain Highway is steep. After already climbing over 900m, our legs started to feel the burn. We also started seeing some other riders after having Seymour to ourselves. Being competitive, we made sure we didn't get passed on the way up. When we arrived at the top of 7th Secret, the hours in the saddle had started to take their toll, but the bugs were too bad to stop for long. We dropped into the old-school rock cobbled trail trying to rattle the lactic acid out of our legs.

Somewhat delirious at the top of Fromme

In hindsight, we should have ridden something fun like Expresso or Ladies Only to Digger, but to try and minimize the climb up Braemar and Londsdale, we rode back up the 6th switchback to Executioner. I'm sorry but that trail is not very fun, especially when you are tired and zoned out. We survived the rough descent, only to get lost in a neighbourhood park below the powerlines and had to backtrack up the hill. Finally we popped out on a recognizable street and got to rip through my old neighbourhood down Montroyal Boulevard to the Cleveland Dam.

Too tired to eat, one mountain to go

Moody Capilano Lake

We were six hours and 40km into the ride and had completed 2 mountains. The final 700m climb up to the top of Cypress isn't as steep, but it is long. Our rest on the grass overlooking Capilano Lake was the low point for Rob due to some shammy issues that he described as "rocks in my shammy." I didn't inquire further. After a water refill, snacks and a bunch of shot blocks, we were ready to start our final climb, zig-zagging through the British Properties to a short hike-a-bike up the Stupid Grouse trail which brought us to the 2nd switchback on the Cypress Bowl Road, just above the lookout.

Mega mansion views in British Properties

Are you sure this is fun?

It was a quiet ride up Cypress Bowl Road as we both dug deep to keep pedaling. I was starting to hallucinate animals in the forest and fun colours in my vision. But as we climbed, we got a new surge of energy, riding a high that comes from a full day of exertion. We passed the trailhead for Blind Skier, the highest legal trail on Cypress, and with barely a thought both decided to carry on to the top. What's another 200m at this point anyways?

Nearing the top of Cypress, and getting some of the only views of the day

Almost there!

Final mountain climbed!

It felt so good to reach the top of Cypress, knowing that it was all downhill to Horseshoe Bay. The ride most definitely wasn't over yet, as we had almost 1000m of descending on technical steep trails to go, but it felt like we the hardest part was behind us. Just over 8 hours in, we had a final snack then got ready to ride. We didn't rush and enjoyed the trails.

Cypress steeps

9 hours in, still sending

It was a long descent and took 1.5hrs to arrive in Horseshoe Bay, but we both made it with smiles on our faces, no injuries or mechanicals. We also didn't get passed by any other riders the entire day (bonus points?). Cracking a beer on the Horseshoe Bay dock, 73km from where we had started that morning was a great feeling. Thanks to Rob for being so stoked on this crazy idea, I hope your butt has healed.

Happy to be in Horseshoe bay

Afterword:

 Since we completed this challenge, Rob has informed me of a Mahalo My Dude video, the Quadruple Crown which adds Eagle Mountain and a water taxi ride to the already huge triple crown... 

It sounds like a bad idea.

Let's do it!