The famous “Rio” trail

Well, I finally rode the famous “Rio” that runs along above the hills behind Juniper. I’ve heard a lot about the trail, but had no idea where to go to find it nor did I ever seem to have the time or energy to get up and ride an hour or more on the weekend. Dave, a friend of mine from church with whom I share a love for mountain biking, has talked about riding with me up there for quite some time, but until this weekend, that was all but talk!

This weekend was Graedy’s birthday, so when Dave and his family arrived I noticed he brought his bike! I was excited about that, but a bit nervous as well. I’d heard a lot about the trail, and I knew I wanted to try it. But a few of the comments about it had somewhat scared me off… Comments from a co-worker that said “I wouldn’t ride it with that fork” as he looked at my 3” travel RST Gila… Seriously? Or how about the remark from a co-commuter when I suggested taking Corrie there. “Does she ride a lot? If not, don’t do it.”

But Dave assured me that with the riding I do, I should be able to handle this trail. “There’s only a few drops, and they’re small.” Whaaaat?!?!?! I bravely smiled and nodded, hoping my expression wasn’t betraying the panic that I felt building inside me. I don’t do drops. I’ve never tried drops. The most I’ve done to date is jump off a sidewalk curb. I’m thinking he means a bit higher than that…

So we set out. To save time, as it was getting late, we left my truck at the bottom of the trail in Valleyview, and then drove together up to the top of Rose Hill in Dave’s truck. We started off rolling along a nice, easy road. There is a lot of pasture land up on the top of these hills here in Kamloops, crazy! After about 2 or 3 kilometres, we arrived at the trailhead.

The view was amazing!

Dave at the famous Rio trailhead… Here goes nothing!

And off we went. Dave made a comment about some washboard. Hah! I’ve seen washboard. This wasn’t washboard. This was more similar to speed bumps, both normal and inverted, all back-to-back. It was nuts! But, the new fork soon inspired confidence in me that I didn’t know I had! It soaked up these bumps like there was nothing to it, and the bike stuck to the trail. This was fun! I kept up with Dave (something I’ve always had a very hard time doing going down), and we winded our way down. He stopped at one point to talk about other trails, and the one we were headed down. I still hadn’t come across any drops yet! However, we both noticed the dust line on the new fork I have. I had used at least 4” of travel to this point, sweet!

He then pointed at the trail we were going down, and my heart stopped for a minute. The trail went straight down, across a gravel bank until it levelled out a bit and disappeared into the woods. Seriously? I knew I was in trouble when Dave lowered his seat. He doesn’t lower his seat for just any trail.

Well, truth be told, I completely chickened out on this section and walked it. Hey, you gotta leave some room for improvement for the next time, right? Turns out, in just a short while I would find out leaving room for improvement was not going to be a problem.

Soon enough, the trail turned into a rocky, bumpy roller coaster, winding its way down through a gulley. It was a steep grade, with a few sections that at the time, I couldn’t believe I was willing going over! And then the first drop came. It was only about a foot high, but I was coming up on it pretty fast. I pulled up much too vigorously on the front wheel, and basically tossed the bike haphazardly, landing at an angle to the trail. After a bit of whooping and hollering, as well as skidding and bouncing, I realized I was still on two wheels, and careening down the trail. Wow!!! I made my first drop! I yelled out something to Dave about needing to work on my landings… Yeah, that’s an understatement!

Then the next drop came up. This one was a bit bigger, and the landing area not so forgiving. Not wanting to repeat the previous attempt, I took it a bit easier on the lifting of the front wheel… Too easy! The front wheel didn’t come up enough, meaning my landing was entirely front loaded. As my Grandma would surely say, uff da! I swear I rode a foot or so just on the front wheel. I thought I was a goner. But, again, I soon realized I was still upright and a smile slowly erased the look of panic… Shortly after that, I caught up with Dave again and we noticed my fork used the entire travel. 5” of dust had been wiped clean off the stanchions! Wow. My older fork would’ve just let me eat dirt. This fork lets me ride like the chump that I am, haha!

The rest of the trail wasn’t too bad, and soon we came out just below Juniper. The terrain went from forest, to desert hills. The trail was smooth and flowy, and followed the ridge of some clay cliffs above Valleyview. It was an extremely fun and fast little trail. The only problem I had with it was the fact that the closer we got to the highway, we really weren’t going down as much as I felt we needed. Now I’ve driven along the highway and looked up at these hills. I mean cliffs… Where on earth was Dave taking me? He stopped at the end and stood over the top. He pointed down and said, “There’s your truck.” Yeah, I know. Thanks. What are we doing up here? Dave pointed down the trail, “Now this trail…” he started to say. Good, he’s going to show me another route, phew! “…is the one the sane people take.” Whaaat?!?! He walked over to another section and pointed, “This one, however, is the one the crazy people try.” Yeah, no kidding, this one goes straight down a cliff for 20 feet before “levelling” out to the rest of the steep trail going down. Nope, I guess I’m sane then if these are my only two options!

Almost smack dab in the middle of this picture you can see my blue Ford.

Dave standing above the “sane” trail.

The sane trail wasn’t actually that bad. I mean, the first 20 feet was enough to make me wish I had a on a pair of Depends. But after that, it was manageable. Basically, I lowered the seat, rested my chest right on it, grabbed a fistful of brake, dragged one foot, and went over the edge. After the trail rounded the first corner, I was able to put both feet on the pedals and make the rest of the way. Wow. What a rush!

So, yeah, this trail managed to scare the bejeebers out of me, but in the end it was a blast and I really want to do it again. The new fork was absolutely amazing. Hopefully I can ride this more next year. It should be easily accessible with just a bit of climbing out of Juniper, so I’ll have to check that out soon. Thanks, Dave, for finally dragging my butt up there!