Skiing on Cypress Mountain is excellent except for the hassle of driving there. As a result, I decided to try an alternative method of transportation, attach my ski gear to my bike, and ride over from Lynn Valley. I took neighborhood streets to avoid traffic with this sketchy setup. My general route was riding over to upper Lonsdale, take Montroyal Blvd., cut across the trails at Cleveland Dam, then take the flattest roads through British Properties, and up Cypress.
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| View of the cockpit |
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| The full apparatus |
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| The full apparatus |
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| Shoelace keeping things under control around the seatpost |
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| One-wrap velcro holding the poles down tightly, with slight pre-tension |
The setup was very simple: rag around the seatpost and headtube for cushion and just put the skis around these two areas with their regular strips holding them together. Also, I positioned it so that they rest on the seatpost clamp in the back. Then, I put the poles over top of the skis and tied a shoelace around it and the seatpost. The poles were also secured by a velco strap at the front that slightly bent them to give it more pre-load/friction to stay in place over bumpy roads. My boots and bike lock were in my backpack along with my tights that I would put on for skiing to stay warm. A problem I ran into was the bindings interfering with my knees while pedalling out of the saddle. I partially fixed this on the way back by sliding the skis further forward.
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| Transition zone |
Overall, the 25km ride took me 1:40 on the way up because of all the extra weight on the climb and not being able to pedal out of the saddle. I was also trying to save as much energy as possible for the actual skiing. At the top, I locked my bike to the ski rack, put on the extra tights, ate a Clif Bar and proceeded to ski. After 18km of skiing I decided it was a good time to pack it. The way back home took only an hour with all the downhill.
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| Ski trail |
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| Ski trail |
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| Ski trail |
Overall, I am not sure if this outing was that good of an idea, as I didn't really get in an amazing ski or bike ride, yet I did both for a significant amount of time. I am still not sure how to solve this exactly, but as it stands, the bike ride will never be that great due to the constraint of the skis with pedalling standing up. Additionally, the extra weight doesn't help on the climb (partially because I carried an 8lbs lock for the bike), and using a road bike is risky in winter conditions.... I am planning to repeat this outing and see if I feel better about this way of skiing.
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