#frommefondo

by | Sep 20, 2016

On September 10th, while thousands of skinny tires were making their way up to Whistler, the NSMBA board sent out the President and the Director of Memberships to answer the age old question: How many trails on Fromme can you ride in one day?

This would be the 2nd annual #frommefondo.

words+photos from Cynthia Young:

It’s fun to get nostalgic sometimes. And it’s fun to ride your bike all day.

When the NSMBA prez and all-around adventure guy, Vince Beasse, invited me to join him for his ‘Fromme Fondo’, it sounded absolutely ridiculous, so of course I was in.  Vince, like myself, and maybe like you too, has ridden the Whistler Gran Fondo at least a couple of times.  Looking for a diversion from the skinny tire parade up the Sea-to-Sky highway, he set out on his own in September of 2015 to see how many trails on Fromme he could ride in one day.  For this year, the second annual installment of this insanity, he let me tag along to document the ride and carry his snacks.  What ensued was everything I’ve grown to love about Fromme with an extra dose of history.

I love it when a plan comes together.  Vince had a plan.  The weather was ideal.  Now we just had to get after it.  

Starting with the higher and more difficult trails, we checked off Upper Oilcan, Bookwus, 7th, Leppard, and Crinkum Crankum without much trouble.  There were frequent stops to chat with the rad people we met along the way, a bunch of time spent ‘gram-ing’, and at least a couple of crashes.  And miles of smiles while we enjoyed the recent work that Old Man Pete has put into trails on the north side of Mountain Highway.

The next big loop included the newly reno’d Ladies and Lower Ladies, a long visit with Digger, and more than a few history lessons.  Then we rode out the Baden Powell, back up Mountain Highway to descend Executioner and Dreamweaver.  With fatigue setting into our legs we slogged up ‘No Quarter’ with hundreds of ghost stumps cheering us on.  The top of this climb was where I hit my limit for the day, so Vince chivalrously cruised down Expresso with me where I rode out Dempsey and Pennzoil to head for home and a much deserved malted recovery beverage.  Vince switched into beast mode and rode for another two hours, managing to check off a few more of the lower trails on the mountain.  If you don’t already know this about your NSMBA president, he is a machine on the bike.  And he doesn’t eat cookies.
So if you’re looking to bite off more than you might be able to chew, give this challenge a shot.  How many trails can you ride on Fromme in one day?!  Or go for a slightly more mellow approach and find an oldie but goodie to ride that you haven’t attempted before.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised that if you’re looking for flow or fear, you can easily find both on Fromme these days.