As some of the YES Crew had been biking since Febraury, it was only fitting that the end of season YES Adventure would be a bike ride down the Sea-to-Sky Trail.  Starting in Whistler, 50km later we would arrive in Squamish with our tour guides, Rob and PJ leading the way. (Well Brackendale really but that's close enough.)  The crew met at Olive's in Function Junction to get last minute gels etc.  Then it was off to the trail-head in Cheakamus.  A beautiful winding trail that passed through the forest with beautiful views along the way brought us through Cal-Check and over a suspension bridge – where PJ almost bounced half of his staff into the river – before arriving at Brandywine.  Then it was a small section of highway before stopping at Chez Linc for a quick fuel stop and water top-up.  

                                                  Which way to Squamish?

                                             PJ gathers the troups.

                                     Suspension bridge over the Cheakamus River.

A beautiful section of trail brought us downhill past Shadow Lake before ending up at the Powder Mountain turn-off.  From there it was a brutal climb half way up the canyon into killer a headwind.  Luckily the punishment didn't last too long before we turned off the highway to rest up at the Tantalus Range view point.  After taking in the views it was time to get back on the trail.  A nice descent over varying terrain, and some loose rocks cooled us down after the long climb. A hike-a-bike section over the rail tracks and then it was off past Starvation Lake before popping out in Paradise Valley.  From there is was quite the slog on a mixture of fireroads, gravel road and finally back onto the blacktop.  Roughly 15km of flat, into a killer headwind, until our final destination.  Jaron was a machine leading the pace as the group split up on the run home.  

                                           View of the Tantalus Range.

                                   One of the many lakes we passed.

                                                    View back up the Canyon.  (trail is top right)          

The WaterShed was a welcome sight as some weary bones were in need of some hydration.  Once the last of the crew arrived we unanimously gave out the sore saddle award.  We won't mention the name of the guy that won, but needless to say, that guy needed some ice.  That guy also needed a inflatable doughnut and that guy wasn't really able to sit down for the whole afternoon. Poor guy, who shall remain nameless of course.  The crew quickly got hydrated through a combination of beer-garitas and buckets of Coronas.  Apparently we actually drank them out of Coronas and Triple Sec.  Great work gang!  Another great adventure to wrap up a good season on the slopes.  Can't wait for the next adventure…….stay tuned.

                                                            Bucket of beer.

                                                       It's Beer-garita time!!!