Blog moved to Website

Just a Friendly Reminder that the blog has moved over to the Website

www.teamvango.ca

Team Van Go Website

Well folks, the Team Van Go website is up and running!!!!

For the next little bit, there will be post's here and on the website, just until i get a handle on how to use it....

if you have any thoughts on tweaks or anything on the website please feel free to pass your comments along.

www.teamvango.ca

Fat Bike True Photo

Thanks Jonothan

Cool Video

http://m.pinkbike.com/news/Rowdy-The-Clown-Goes-Fat-Biking-video-2014.html

Thanks Bern

Albion Hills Conservation Area - Master Plan Survey

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who put input into the Dufferin Forest Management Plan.

Now it's our turn to help out at another Mountain Bike Venue, Albion Hills.

Please click on the below link and fill out the survey and help Chris and others.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/albionhills

Thanks,

tvg

Upcoming Ride Guide

Date:  Wednesday February 12th, 2014
Location:  Dufferin Forest
Time: 6:30pm

Bring Lights!!!!  and a Fat Bike.

All are welcome to join, come out and enjoy Dufferin Forest.

Fat Tire Trail Report

Date:  Sunday February 9th, 2014
Location: Dufferin Forest

Riders: Tyler, Johnny, Chris
Runner: Karen
Dogs: Max

We showed up to the quiet parking lot, with a bit of snow fall, and a -7C temperature, while sitting in the car peering through the windshield you thought "this is gonna be great!".  Then when you stepped out of the car, it hits you, it was bloody chilly, and boy do you not want to ride or run.... But you must...

We started out, and had a good head of steam heading down the snowmobile trail... the head of steam was cause by the down hill.... During this time, when you had the bike up on plane it was fine, if you let the bike win is when you started running into trouble, either the front wheel washing out, or the drunken swerve across the trail.

We did our normal route, out towards the Simcoe Dufferin boarder, and instead of looping back we rode out towards Summerville Nursery.  We kept riding and riding, until we hit the road where the Tossorontio Dump is on, which for people who dont know is close to the town of Everett.  The bigger problem was we were at the 12km mark, and still needed to get back from there.

So we turned around, started heading back the way we came.  Sled traffic was very light and only a handfull passed us throughout the day.  We got back to a road and decided to take the road and hook into the Alternate trail, to cut some riding distance off and some of the nasty hills.. This ended up being a little mistake.

By the time we reached the alternate trail, it did not appear as though there was a lot of sled traffic, or groomed for that matter.  This was a slug to get through and there was a nasty climb.... We reached back to the main trail and started riding back.  Tyler had a nice front wheel washout and over the bars on a corner, but snow is soft for the most part..

All in all the ride itself was a lot of fun, good distance at 24+km, in 2hrs.  That's 24km we do not have to ride in the spring.






Ride Rating: 3.85 out of 5

Sunday Ride

Date. Sunda
Location. Dufferin forest

Time. 2 pm

Weekend Ride

Date: Sunday February 9th, 2014
Time: TBD
Location: Dufferin Forest

Ideally, we are looking at riding Dufferin Forest to allow for bikes as well as snowshoers alike to head out and enjoy the day in the forest!!!!

I'll update the time this weekend, but looking like around noon or 1pm... Need to sleep in...

Fat Tire Trail Report

Date: Wed Feb 5th

Location: Dufferin Forest

Riders: Johnny

Quadrapied: Max

Interesting night tonight, kinda a two sport triathlon.  Started out on the fat tire bike and the snowmobile trail was so-so.  Fresh snow which had not yet been groomed with a little sled traffic on it made for a slow soft ride. Only got in about 4km (which felt like 20km!). 

Headed back to the car, put on snowshoes and headed back out.  Snowshoed the "link" trail and goofed around a bit in the forest before heading back.  You could snowshoe with your light off as the moon was providing enough light.  Got back to the snowmobile trail to find that while I was gone the Fat tire trail fairy (aka the groomer) had gone past!  So hurry back to the car, change shoes again and head back out on the Fat bike for another 8 km or so.  Couldn't resist riding fresh groomed trail with no snowmobile traffic.  So what started as a mediocre night at best, ended as a pretty good night in the woods.

Ride rating: 2 out of 5, 

4 out of 5 (snowshoe), 

3.7 out of 5 (aprez groomer) (would be higher but I miss having my friends out!)

Beer Review: Mill Street Organic

Well it has been a fairly long time since a beer review, and that is my fault.... I haven't mixed up beers in a while, so I had a chance to buy a 6 pack of Mill Street Organic.  If you are unfamiliar with Mill St. it is a brewery based out of Toronto, in the distillery district.  If you have never been to the distillery district, I 100% recommend going there!!!  Well worth the trip.

Now back to the beer!  The Mill Street Organic is a lager, so if you are not a lager fan, you midas well go to your fridge and grab a beer, maybe check out other websites.

The appearance of the beer, well it comes in a bottle, which is clear, so you can really get a good view of the beer.  It has a light yellowish beer colour, so you know it is not a heavy beer by any stretch of the imagination.

Now onto the taste.... it does have a light taste, similar to what you would think it tastes like when you look at the beer.  It also has a very slight grassy / wheat sort of taste to it.  There is no real hop taste and to be completely honest, I would consider this more of a summer beer than a middle of the winter beer.  All in all it did taste good, cause it was cold, and thirst quenching.

Rating:  3.95 out of 4

Would you recommend this beer to a friend: Yes I would, and I even shared it.
Was the beer hoppy:  Nope, more grassy than hoppy.
What is the weight of a Curling Stong:  42 lbs.
Would you buy a case of this beer: I did.  If you didn't read the above I am not happy.

Cool bike Video

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=REeeYtp-8qE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DREeeYtp-8qE

Thanks Bern

Wednesday Night Ride

Location: Dufferin Forest - Mansfield
Time: 6:30pm
Bring Lights

For this ride if you have never tried fat biking or want to go out for the ride, Tyler's bike is availble to borrow.  Just send him a text, email, carrier pigeon....

Spring Mountain Bike Show

http://www.bicycleshowtoronto.com/spring-bicycle-show/


Hi all,

at the end of February is the Spring Mountain Bike Show.
Head down and pick up your IMBA membership, or check out some new deals on bikes, parts, trips, trips or more trips..... hint....

Weekend Snowshoe Report

Date: Sunday February 2nd, 2014
Location: Dufferin Forest

Shoers - Tyler, Emily, Bernie, Mark, Karin, Karen, Johnny, Mike
Dogs - Max

We had an excellent snow shoe on sunday, weather was amazing, and a lot of fresh snow from the night before, so it was a slug through the forest.

We did have a plan for this shoe as we needed to pack down a joining trail to avoid riding and running along side Airport road.

Based on Emily's tracking device thingy on her phone we ended up shoeing just shy of 8km, which is a great haul through the forest!!!

All in all it was a great overall day outside, and back to the palace for a few pints!

Sunday Snowshoe

Location. Dufferin Forest
Time. 11:30 am
Snowshoe.

With the snow we are expecting to get we should have a great snowshoe

See everyone out there.