After awakening to the sound of thunderous rain, the Marks and I revised our riding plans (we had intended to ride Vedder Ridge on the BC side) and ended up riding Blanchard Mt. near Alger.

Lily and Lizard, as Belles called the trail to Lily and Lizard Lakes, has a distinct personality of its own. The most notable feature is a tendency to steep but short pitches which really force you to dig.

The trail was quite wet, with mud holes (some the consistency of cake batter) that slowed the climb considerably. There were also some moderately gnarly root sections, and at least one killer section of exposed bedrock buttressed by root jump ups.

We took the alternate route down (the way we went up was the first trail on the left after we climbed to the road, while the alternate was the first to the right). It was a real gas with a lot of root drops and other interesting combos which made the Jekyll shine.

The most dramatic moment occurred to the descent. Mark Belles was leading across an extensive root mass radiating from a large tree by the side of the trail, when all the sudden he went down, bam! I was right behind him, and I saw him bounce on the roots and rock before his bike crashed down on top of him. Fortunately, he got up with a smile.

When we arrived at the bottom we found that a fern had stowed away in Mark Adriance's rear wheel.

Approximately 1600 verts.

Vert Quest chronicles "The Man Known As Mongo's" pursuit of the World Record for climbing on a mountain bike, 404,000 vertical feet, or the vertical equivalent of 13 sea-level-to-summit ascents of Mt. Everest during a 12 month period. Mongo's mountain bike climbing tricks are distilled in Mongo's Over-the-top Guide to Climbing.