The SIMBS Directors (or as many as could come) decided to hit the road for some summer fun last weekend, heading up Island to see what the Prez has been doing at Mt Washington. Twenty Five Direcotrs and Frineds headed up for a day of lift accessed ridng at Mt Washignton, an overnight stay in Cumberland, and an epic cross country ride on Sunday. It was a splendid weekend of riding that wouldn't have been possible without the tremendoues hospitality of Mt Washington Resort (www.mtwashington.ca), the Riding Fool Hostel (www.ridingfool.com), and of course Lighthouse Beer.

There will be some better written stories of the weekend but I just wanted to take a minute to give a little shout out to those that made it all happen. It's not often that you get to go on a weekend trip with 25 or so other people, and I would have to say I quite enjoyed myself. The weekend started early Saturday morning as we met and convoyed up to the mountain. As usual with a large group, there was a little miscommunication with our fearless leader who showed up a little late withthe lift tickets. No worries, twas a beautiful sunny day, and we were soon going to find out we would get plenty enough riding in during the day. That is, most of us got a tremendous full day of riding in. Our fearless prez fell victim to a not very soft rock a minute in from the top and his day was done...down to the bottom for some PR work and sympathy.

As for the rest of us, we mostly made out ok. A fair bit of bike carnage enseued as the terrain at Washington is rpetty virgin and rough. A word of advice before heading up, be sure to have fresh brake pads and make sure all your bolts are tight and tires are pumped up nice and firm. We dont't have a final tally on carnage but it included two cracked frames, a broken brake line, a derailleur hanger, a blown rear shock, leaky front shocks, several flats and a faulty chain guide.

After exhausting ourselves on the mountain, we headed to nearby Cumberland to shack up at the Riding Fool Hostel. To all those thinking about heading up island for a weekender, definitely give this place a look see. Rates are reasonable, beds are nice and soft, showers are great, they have a great bike storage locker and the dinner they put on for us was absolutely superb! There is a great positive riding vibe in that place that must be experienced. I chatted with Jeremy late Saturday evening and we talked about building trails for the long term and building them right. He knows what's going and they are doing things right up there.

After dinner there was some testing of the new Lighthouse Lager that has just been released, positive reviews from all around. Thanks Paul!

Sunday brought another sunny day and the group set out from the hostel to ride the trails of Cumberland. All thoroughly enjoyed the trail lower down onthe mountain (Buggered Pig) before we hit the fire road for the climb up to Bucket of Blood. Here's where a bit of adversity struck us, with our scheduled guides in Pt Alberni at the Island Cup Race, we went a little astray and did about an extra hour of climbing. A few of the big bike crowd were a little tired and weary (um, some were uh, how do you say it...mad?) due to the sun and shortage of water by the time we hit the trail head. Twas a great ride down back to the hostel. A lot of hard work has been put into the trail and it shows.

All in all a pretty good weekend, stay tuned to the next Mud News for more pictures and a full recount.