Rolling in Mud at the DVP

I was just coming off being sick and playing in a baseball tournament (lost all four games), so I hadn’t been mountain biking in almost a week and I was biting at the bit to get going. But with a U2 concert and a Toronto Maple Leafs game going on, trying to drive through downtown Toronto to the DVP course was about as slow as a snail (more on snails later on so stay tuned).

While waiting I noticed that the IMBA (International Mountain Biking Association) will be performing some trail maintenance on Saturday, Sept 19 at 10:00 am on the DVP mountain bike course. So get out there and help out if you love mountain biking at the DVP. I know I will. They’ll provide tools and water, but you bring your own lunch.

There are a few spots that need some maintenance including a certain shoddy bridge that Ivan had some trouble with. Ivan was leading the pack and I couldn’t see him as he was on the other side of a crest - but I could definitely hear him. The sound of someone falling slowly off anything is unmistakable…whoa…whooooa…WHOA!!!!...ARGH! The bridge was only a little longer than a bike, but it was one of those bridges that if you stand on one end the other will lift up…not by design…just old and rotten. And some kids probably thought it would be funny to leave some loose sticks on there too, which didn’t help anything.

What was at the bottom of the bridge you might ask? Well, there isn’t a single answer to that question, but it didn’t smell like water - or mud for that matter. Let’s put it this way, we made sure that Ivan was down wind for the rest of the ride. Poor guy had a meeting with his real estate agent right after the ride too.

I wanted to get a picture of his bike still on top of him as he didn’t unclip in time, but instead I rushed down and saved his recently waxed Specialized Epic. Then I climbed back out of the “mud” and had a good laugh as Ivan rolled around a little more down below.

It wasn’t 5 minutes later that Ivan stopped and realized he had two slugs on his left arm. Lovely.

All in all it was a good ride, between Steve falling 20 feet down a hill and disappearing for 5 minutes, Ivan setting the mood for two lonely snails, and me cranking my left foot on a stump that jumped up and came out of nowhere. I love mountain biking.

Andrew Nause

DVP (Don Valley Parkway) Ride

I can’t speak about places like North Dakota or Wisconsin, but I’d like to know how many major cities across the world have a 25km (15miles) of mountain bike single track placed only a 10 minute drive from the heart of the downtown core such as the DVP (Don Valley Parkway) course located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The trail head is at Bayview Ave and Pottery Road.

The DVP isn’t going to push many seasoned riders to any level that they can not handle, but it is still a great ride in order to put some time in on the trails and allows you to get the heart pumping with a good pace and some decent climbs. Unfortunately the coarse is set up to be an out and back course, meaning you have to keep your eyes peeled for riders coming in the opposite direction…something that is necessary as half the ride is located on the side of a cliff which can make passing a little difficult. This section always, always seems to give me problems. Why on earth I can’t remember to stay to the left here is beyond me.





They’ve also got some good ladders and bridges set up, as well as, some narrow and tall teeder todders that leave you wondering when the todder is going to come. I managed to avoid landing on cyclecross rider one day as my poor attempt at an approach made me panic and bail.
This video didn’t turn out like I hoped. I’ve got to speak to my camera crew and get them to work on their production skills. I need multiple cameras, different angles and positions. You've got to love my rim breaks…they manage to keep people off my tail on the sharp turns though. I’ve been called the Lonely Whale because I typically take off from my fellow riders but they hear my bike calling for other bikes.

Andrew Nause