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Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning All,

Rides for the week have been added to the calendar.

Please be mindful of the trails.  If you are leaving any ruts or marks please do not ride.

Cheers

Wednesday Night & H2i Race

Hi all, just a note about tonight…still lots ‘o snow around. I imaging riding tonight will likely be tough depending on how the temp goes. If it stays frozen you may actually be able to ride on top of it!?  I’ll be there for 6 and am going for a hike or something. Other issue is likely the parking lot will be snowed in. If you are parking on the road be very careful. See you there! J

Second note: A few of us got out for the race this past weekend and had a blast! Everyone rode well and it was surprisingly a really fun day out there. No real damage to trails as they had a nice coating of snow on them. Dan from Substance projects was awesome and was checking in very frequently for our feedback on trail conditions. His concern for the trails even resulted in making a call the night before the race and altering the course to get the best course possible. So no worries about the trails & if after the snow goes anyone has any concerns about any issues from the race, please contact us as Dan is more than happy to pop out for some minor raking if required (I personally highly doubt it will be required at all from what I saw). You will also find some new log-overs (with go-arounds) courtesy of Dan that we can work with as he had to do some pretty heavy trail work before the race from the high winds that happened before. Thanks Dan!

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning All,

The Wednesday night Ride is posted to the calendar.

Please be mindful of the trails, and if they are too soft, do not ride on them.

Cheers

Danny MacAskill & Claudio Caluori: Home of Trails

Well if the below video doesn’t want you to ride Switzerland, I’m not sure what will.

https://www.graubuenden.ch/de/home-trails

Videos of Dufferin – Substance Projects

Good morning all,

Was asked by Dan to pass along the below video of the trails at Dufferin.  Apparently there are a few large trees down, which he is hoping to have cleared today.

There is still some snow and ice, and well hopefully by the race it will be gone as we are expecting well above freezing temps.

And a reminder of what 3 years ago was like.

Cheers

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning all,

Rides for the week are posted up.

Please be mindful of the trails, if they are soft stay off.

Cheers

XC Marathon Series: Homage to Ice

Well it is that time of year again, and the racing for 2018 begins.

As always we start with the XC Marathon series hosted by Substance Projects, the Homage to Ice, running at the Dufferin Forest.

Why would you race it you ask, well there are many reasons to.  I have listed them in order by number below….

1. Because you get to ride your bike in Dufferin Forest, with orange arrows everywhere, and you wont in theory get lost!
2. Because you will have fun
3. Because of reason number 2
4. Because it is an amazing atmosphere and you meet and see alot of new and old friends.
5. Because Dan, Ron, Florance and the girls doing the timing booth make it so much fun.
6. Because of reason number 2
7. Because you get to ride your bike.

That should be enough reasons to do it.

How long is the race, well based on the website approx 1.5hr for half marathon.

XCMARATHON 1: H2I April 14 2018

How do I go about registering for the amazing event?

https://www.webscorer.com/registerlist?raceid=127503

Early bird registration closes April 10th, so that is coming up fast.

Still not sure.  Take a read on the old articles we had posted up from years past.

Homage to Ice Recap – Team Colin

Homage to Ice Recap

Team Van Go Podiums Homage to Ice 2015

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning everyone,

Rides for the week are up and posted.

Reminder, to please be mindful of the trails, if they are too soft, not only at Dufferin but other locations, to stay off and let them dry out, it will be way better for everyone!

Cheers

Trail Update

Good morning All,

Based on the trail conditions, and the reports from various people, tonight’s ride will most likely consist of fire-road and gravel roads.

With the melting snow and the rain, everything is pretty soft still.  We don’t want to go out and rut up the trails.

Recommend still riding the fat bike tonight.

Cheers

Team Van Go on Facebook

Well with the ever changing world and social media, and the popularity of the Instagram account, we have started up a team van go Facebook page.

The premise behind this, is to allow everyone to put in feedback, and ride updates, post photos etc.

The website will still be the main place for a lot of information etc, and the Facebook page will allow folks to communicate.

You can click on the big F below to be redirected.

We want to reach out to more people, and promote what Dufferin County and the forests have to offer.

Cheers

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning All,

Rides for the week have been added to the Calendar.

Check them out!! The weather is looking better and better, soon there will be more than one ride a week I promise.

Cheers

Beer Review: Goose Island Midway ISA

A wise man once told me that you should savour every part of life and live it, enjoy it, and be yourself.  Well that bodes true to what we all enjoy, biking, being with family and friends and enjoying the odd beverage.

Over the last little bit, I must apologize, I sorta hit a block with doing longer posts or writing things, there must be a word for it… like there was a block in my mind.. oh well it will come to me, but a couple of weeks back while visiting Chak and Grace and having a great evening with dinner and drinks, I was offered a Goose Island Midway ISA.  I have personally never had one, so I had to jump at the chance and give it a whirl.

Just a little history lesson on Goose Island Brewery:

Goose Island Brewery is based out of Chicago, which is a small village south of the border.  They have been around since 1995, and have grown ever since building.  Some of you may be familiar with the Goose IPA which is a great IPA!

The interesting part of the Midway ISA is that it is actually brewed in Canada by Labatts.

The great part about taking photos of the beer in a glass is you get a great visual representation of what the beer looks like, so instead of you closing your eyes and trying to envision it, you can actually see it!  Also if you closed your eyes and tried to read the description, that really would not work out too well… Unless you can read braille… but again the computer screen or phone screen is pretty flat….   But I digress.

We should talk about the beer at some point, and what better point then now.  With the appearance, as you can see by the above photo, the pour gives off a nice creamy head.  It lasted a few minutes before dissipating.  The colour is a clean crisp copper colour, which is what is expected from a Session ale.  The can has the words Mid Way on it, as well as a picture of a Goose head.  The table is a white.

Now to the tasting aspect.  Which is usually a key seller on a beer, cause if it doesn’t taste good, then you just drink it faster to get to the next one that may test better.  But the Goose Island Midway ISA is one that you do not have to get through fast.  As expected with Session ales, you get a great flavour kick of tropical fruits / citrus, as well as no harsh after tastes.  It drinks very smooth, and with the 4.6% ABV, it is on the lighter side of beer.  At the end of the flavour profile you get a hint of the hops but nothing extreme.  Just a delicious all around flavour profile.

This just proves that there are so many good beers coming out, and the Session Ales are worth a try.  You get all the flavours as a typical IPA, but not at the extreme ABV (Alcohol by Volume) percentages.

Rating:  4.51 out of 5

Was the beer hoppy:  Just at the end of the sip, but nothing extreme.

Would you recommend this to a friend:  100% I would, worth a try for sure.

Would you buy a case of it:  Yup I would, no doubt about that.

What was Canada’s Lowest recorded temperature:  -81.4 Degrees F (-63 Degrees C) in 1947

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning All,

Rides for the week have been added to the calendar.

Weather is starting to look promising, so start pulling the bikes out and bring them to your Local Bike shop for a tune up!!

Cheers

Upcoming Ride Guide

Good morning All,

Rides for the week have been posted up to the calendar.

Cheers

Sunday Ride

Good morning all,

Eric and Shawna are riding Dufferin today at 11am.

Sorry for the late post.

Cheer