Keep looking straight ahead...

We spent our first week in Canada with Fernie Fattire, clocking up loads of singletrack descents after chairlift rides up Fernie's ski hill as well as heading over to the clearcut side of Fernie.

Sphincter-straining singletrack

Most of the Fernie trails are signposted at the entrance and a trail map in town indicates difficulty level. Trails are graded ski-style from green (easy) through to triple diamond blacks (not very easy at all).

The triple diamonds have the sicker stunts on them but most trails had at least one stunt even I could ride. Log jams, log rolls, drop offs of varying heights, teeter-totters... And some of them were long, linked from log ride to log ride in an amazing network.

Ewoks not pictured

We headed over to Nelson, Invermere and Golden too where the big mountains beckoned us for long rides up and screaming singletrack descents with the usual scary names: Placenta Descenta, Pulmonary...

Finally we finished in the trials park in Canada Olympic Park, Calgary for a few hours playing before we caught our plane back. So many stunts we couldn't ride when we arrived we had mastered but still so many more to even get the guts to try. But that's OK, we need an excuse to come back next year!

Observe all warning signs

Somehow riding the North Downs singletrack when we got back seemed a little tamer suddenly!

Watch out for our websites coming soon with more photos to entertain you. If you're pondering a trip to Canada take a look, they'll quickly persuade you to book your ticket for next summer!