Bikes and beer: the perfect pairing.
I attended the vALEmount Craft Beer Experience and Fall Bike Fest and all I got was a bunch of new friends, a new favourite brewery and a new favourite bike trail.
Words :: Bob Covey.
“We’ve got room for one more on the Bacon Shuttle!”
Slurping a piping hot flat white from VALE Coffee early(ish) Sunday morning, slowly coming back to life after a late(ish) Saturday evening, I scanned the scene at the Valemount Bike Park.
I wasn’t sure what sort of crowd the Fall Bike Fest would attract after a night of revelling with Five Alarm Funk at the vALEmount Craft Beer Experience, but clearly the stoke was high: the parking lot was full and the festival was most definitely in gear. A constant stream of riders were being spit out of the bottom of the park’s main trail system and into a fast-forming shuttle queue, where brightly-clad festival goers on an assortment of beautiful bikes fervently discussed their dopest descents. Breathing in the crisp morning air, I was impressed.
Yet in talking to Curtis Pawliuk of the Valemount and Area Recreation Development Association (VARDA), I learned that compared to the day previous, when 250 riders were buzzing up and down the mountain and the festival was in full swing, Sunday morning was more of a slow burn.
“We would have had close to 2,000 laps yesterday,” Pawliuk said. “So far, this is chill.”
I likewise planned to ease into the day. For as much as I loved the idea of diving into steep, twisting trails first thing in the morning, a voice in my head reminded me that I was a 44-year-old dad with a 12-year-old bike, and that my home turf is the cross country trail network of Jasper National Park—home to 29-inch tires, clip pedals and short-travel suspension. I knew plenty of Jasperites who had found themselves out of their comfort zone in Valemount’s rugged terrain, and had the x-rays to prove it.
Add to those swirling thoughts a lingering, post-party pall—which the coffee hadn’t yet eviserated—and I had plenty of justification to avoid any attempt at “getting sendy” on big lines or unfamiliar features.
I knew plenty of Jasperites who had found themselves out of their comfort zone in Valemount’s rugged terrain, and had the x-rays to prove it.
So when the call came for a shuttle up to Valemount’s most famous family-friendly trail, “with two kilometres of berms, rollers and manageable jumps,” and/or “a warm up run for those chasing burlier lines later in the day,” I was happy to flip my bike onto the back of the Bacon-mobile.
“Just don’t scramble your egg,” I thought to myself.
After a sizzling start on Bacon, by the end of my lap I was hungry for something greasier, and got in line for a mid-mountain shuttle. Chatting with Pawliuk I found fellow festival founder Dave MacDowell, one of a handful of OG mountain bikers who helped steer the sport into Jasper in the early-1990s. Three decades later, MacDowell is once again helping a remote Rockies community come into its own as a destination for trail sports—whether its dreaming up zen-like, multi-use zones in the cedar forest, hacking out a Hawaii-esque hiking loop near Kinbasket Lake, or facilitating a new ultramarathon event, like he did this past year at the inaugural AlpenGlow 100.
“You can feel the energy and the excitement in Valemount,” MacDowell said. “Things keep building here.”
Literally. Pawliuk said VARDA pumps more than 400 hours of machine and person-power into the bike park each month, grooming and repairing tread and extending the network, metre by loamy metre, under the guidance of lead hand Randy Pruden. In keeping the park pristine, Pruden and his crew have their work cut out for them: last year their trail counters detected more than 80,000 mountain bike impressions on VARDA’s six main runs.
“That kind of blew our minds,” Pawliuk said.
The Valemount Bike Park has that effect on people. I remember my own melon melting at the size and scope of the terrain and the trails when I first rode it 10 years ago. I’ve since been flabbergasted by its expansion—the loping traverses that extend northward to the Swift Creek side of the mountain; the swoopy flow trails that feel like they’re downhill in both directions; and the punchy but aethestic climbs like CBT’s Munday Grind and Confused and Lonely, both of which make elegant work of the facility’s 800 metres of elevation gain.
And then there’s the Zen Garden, a winding, whimsical journey though magical, mossy forest and over bubbling, babbling springs. The immaculate attention to detail on the bridges and boardwalks speak to the hundreds of hours that a Prince George-based trail builder spent engineering Pruden and MacDowell’s concept.
“Not only did we make each water feature look unique, we made them sound unique,” MacDowell winked.
Zen Garden feels like mountain biking in Narnia. But since Bike Fest is more about the Gnarnia, I said namaste to my vision quest and cruised back to the shuttle station. If I was worried about not finding a riding buddy, Mike from Edmonton quickly quelled my apprehension.
“You riding solo? You can hang out with me,” he offered. I tried to play it cool, but my hoots and hollers down Hula Dancer, VARDA’s newest trail at the very top of the network, revealed my gratitude for the invitation.
Zen Garden feels like mountain biking in Narnia. But since Bike Fest is more about the Gnarnia, I said namaste to my vision quest and cruised back to the shuttle station.
Banking around generous berms and over dad-friendly hits, out of the corner of my eye I could see a snake of the full-face helmet crowd soaring, in synch, over the huge tabletops on High Roller. Later, as we sprung into the feature-rich Trap Line, I had an “objects in mirror are closer than they appear” moment, when a gape-mouthed Tyrannosaurus Rex aired over a gap. Turns out Peter from Calgary has donned his T-Rex costume at every Valemount Bike Fest (they run two per year) for the past six seasons.
“The Valemount Bike Park is incredible, we’ll be back next year,” he roared.
That’s good. Because my kids will want to see their favourite dinosaur (the T-Rex, not their dad) shred on two wheels. For my family, a typical weekend retreat to Valemount is a good chance to slow down and enjoy the small town village vibe, catch up with friends at the brewery (RIP Three Ranges Brewing), and, depending on the season, pick blueberries, bust out the fishing rods or scoot around the Cranberry Marsh on cross-country skis.
However, when September rolls up and Bike Fest once again pairs with the Craft Beer Experience, you can bet your bottom lager (Dad Beer from Best of Kin Brewing, please) that we’ll be heading west: destination, Valemount.
