Description

This superbly-fun, flowy mountain bike romp accesses two of the best views in all of Cumberland Forest—a rare treat! The route begins by climbing the Sobo No Michi climbing trail all the way to the top.

Pedal up to the dirt road, then take a left to coast down to Upper Climax.

Upper Climax is a bit of a pedally mud fest to negotiate, but the main goal is to reach the sweetness on Field of Dreams and Blue Collar. Field of Dreams and Blue Collar embody an old-school flow trail style, with sender-style jumps, stump jumps and drops, and berms interspersed somewhat randomly.

These two trails are two of the fastest, flowiest, and most enjoyable downhill romps in the entire trail system! Even though adding these trails into the Rhizome and Woodcutter loop makes for more climbing and a longer ride, it's tough to skip over these two fantastic trails if you're going anywhere near them. From the bottom of Blue Collar, you'll use the Amore trail to head over to the Eastern Bloc. The core trails on this Ride, Rhizome and Woodcutter,are two of the best trails in all of the Eastern Bloc.

A climbing trail known as "Nikkei Climb / Red Tape" has recently been constructed to aid in the ascent to the top of this steep-sided hill.

As you pedal up the steep switchbacks, you'll enjoy incredible views of the area from a logged zone—and those views only get better when you top out and reach the bench on top of the cliff. From the bench at the top of the climb, you'll enjoy views westward of the mountains in the heart of Vancouver Island.

On a clear day, this view is absolutely stupendous! It offers an entirely different perspective from the eastward views found at the top of Sobo No Michi.

Be sure to soak in this incredible vista before dropping in. Rhizome begins by rolling along the top of this steep-sided ridge, traversing some low wooden bridges and a few steep, twisty drops.

For the best descent, take Banzai Express Lane for a fast, flowy downhill with some superb berms to access the Woodcutter trail. Woodcutter is a local favorite that drops steeply down the hillside.

Beginning with a steep, rocky descent to a bridge, the tech mellows out quickly, and you'll twist and flow through a series of steep, banked corners.

You'll swoop and flow down the mountain, bottoming out all too quickly.

There's still some more flowy descending to be had on 50:1 and Resurrection, but those finishing trails are a bit more natural to wrap up the ride. To be honest, neither Rhizome nor Woodcutter is really all that technical, despite their black diamond rating on the map—hence the "Difficult" FATMAP rating that's been assigned here.