Dirt Mag interview: Chris Winter

The latest edition of UK's DIRT dishes some out on Big Mountain's Chris Winter.

earlier today somewhere in Morocco...

this photo just arrived from today's ride on our Moroccan Dirt Merchant cross-country trip. looks like the trip is going well!

safety first

a photo of Nathalie Grether, the backbone of Big Mountain, on the shores of the Georgia Straight in Vancouver last week during a wilderness first aid course. this is what we want to avoid at all costs, having to use a stretcher like this one. needless to say, safety is a high priority at Big Mountain - we keep it high on the list and revise and update our plans and education all the time. mountain biking is inherently dangerous and falling is part of the sport however... ride defensively when you're in a far away place.

Local Peruvians...

This little boy was SO happy it was contagious. Stoked! We drove up to a town at nearly 3500 meters and as soon as we stepped out of the van the whole town came out to greet us. We then climbed up past 4 g's - what a grind. Wow, talk about a fitness test. At the top though it was more than worth it...


This is yours truly with a 110 year-old woman who is 2 generations from the Incas. It was an honour to meet her and then ride the trails that her and her ancestors have been using for hundreds of years.

Cuzco

Wow. Since the last post a lot has happened. We hopped on a plane out of Lima for a 1-hour flight to the high altitude city of Cuzco, sitting comfortably at 3400 meters. What a place! Parts of it reminded me of Seville with grand squares and earth-coloured churches, narrow cobbled streets and lively bars. Our hotel was right on the main square which was fantastic. Upon arrival in Cuzco we got a little excited and tipped back a host of Pisco Sours, a fiesty Peruvian cocktail that lights a fire under your butt pretty quick...we gots a little tipsy. We headed into the big mountains for several days and visited UNESCO world heritage site Machu Picchu which was a sight to see. A few from our group opted instead for a day of dirt biking and hot springs...decisions, decisions...


Andreas Hestler after a few too many Pisco Sours at 3400 meters...


Our group at the highest point of the trip, 4500 meters. Very, very good times...

very big days

I could not muster up the energy to post anything yesterday. Up at 5am and back to the hotel at 8pm, shower, dinner, KO'd. What a day. After leaving Lima we drove up and up into the arid Andes for hours on a crazy road to around 12, 700 feet. This is as high as i've been. Fortunately we were heading downhill from there for 56 km. The trail was absolutely ridiculous - with several sections that were best evers in terms of pure riding pleasure, and each section distinctly different and the final pedal strokes to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean. I will ride that trail again one day for sure.
Today we were up again at 5am and again we drove up and up on another head shaking road through some of the biggest mountains that I've ever seen to a town at 10,000 feet perched up on a dramatic mountain knoll. It was hot and sunny. From there we boarded small mountain horses while local boys pushed our bikes up (i know, i know...but they were making some money for their efforts) to a pre-Inca ruin and Moab-esque rocky plateau at 13,500 feet. My horse was fiesty and wanted to pin it up the mountain path which i did not like at all. But the rest of the group was in stiches as i went barreling past them. The descent today was much different than yesterday; the landscape was lush and the aspect that we descended was steep and extra large. The trail was also much more technical than yesterday, I was so happy to be on my 6-inch Trek Remedy 9 and Rock Shox Lyric fork - they saved my butt a few times. Today's ride and the whole day was truly epic. EPIC.
Tomorrow...up at 5am again and were off to the airport for the 1 hour flight to Cuzco which i'm really looking forward to. We're heading further into the big mountains...talk to you tomorrow if we have internet.


4000 feet in the can, 8000 feet to go...


curious kids...

Regular Joe

Read about Joe's exploits on his Kona bike...here!



You can ride with the man himself this summer! He's guiding our new Supernatural DH trip in BC's Kootenay region and both Alpenrock DH trips in Switzerland. Choices...

Fall

Fall is a great time to ride. In the fall nature is getting ready to sleep and things are less rushed it seems. Call some friends and see what they're doing on Saturday, not too early because it's still cold, not too late because the sun sets early. Start pedaling and realize that you might be wearing too many layers but you keep riding anyway. Wet leaves cover rocks and make for tricky sections, you're on your game though after many months of straight riding. You let off the brakes and skip through the forest.

Vegas Interbike

The dust has settled from last week's successful trip to Interbike in Vegas. Hands where shaked, deals made and beers downed - all in all a great trip! Read about the Trek Remedy 9 on pinkbike.com.

The bright lights of the strip.


Photographer Harookz, pro mountain biker Ben Boyko and our man Paulo Valle who heads up our downhill mountain bike trips in Costa Rica.

So you think you're tough...

This week-end on my way back from a great ride on Lumpy's Epic in Pemberton i spotted two mountain bikes loaded to the brim. Low and behold, it's the French-Canadian couple Janick and Pierre whom i've read about. Are you ready? They've been cycling around the world since the early 90's on a 110,000+ kilometer adventure! How crazy is that? They were on their way to Alaska at the time, on a world volcano-tour. I was so pumped to meet them. Just as you'd imagine two people to be who travel on their bikes...they were super friendly and brimming with energy. Pierre's bike weighs in at a cool 100 lbs! You can read about them on Canada's Pedal Mag, click here.