Blog

We have just returned from our spring tour of BC, Washington and Oregon, talking bikes and the Yukon with a lot of new faces! We estimate we spoke with approximately 600 people over the course of 2 weeks. No wonder we both lost our voices! On Thursday evening we drew the winner of our Canadian promotion draw: a trip for two on our Summer Solstice trip! James B. from Vancouver is the lucky winner who will be playing in under the midnight sun this coming June! The best part is, we met him at the Vancouver Outdoor Show. He stopped by our booth and was admiring the Yukon riding photos from Dan Barham Photography!

We have one more show to go on this 2011 tour. Up next is the Pedal Nation Bike Show in Portland, Oregon. The land of bikes, great food and amazing brews! Three items we hold near and dear to our hearts!

Well, if you live in a place where the dirt trails are open, please go for a ride for us!

Team Boréale has arrived in Seattle, Washington to exhibit in the Seattle International Bicycle Expo. We came last year and had a great time, so we are looking forward to a great weekend of talking about riding bikes. Not nearly as much fun as actually riding bikes, but it is a start!

We are upstairs on the second floor, so please drop by and say hello. We are also drawing for another Yukon riding trip! This time around it will be for an all inclusive weekender special. Three days, three nights and all the mountain biking you could desire!

Have a great weekend,
Marsha and Sylvain

I may sound like a Northerner, but March is my favourite month of winter in the Yukon. The sun wakes up with us at 8am and is in the sky until almost 7.30pm. The snow pack has settled and the temperatures are generally edging towards warmer. Although this March kicked off with a shocking -30C/-22F. I guess that was to dispel any notions that March was a month of spring. Nope, in the Yukon, March fully belongs to winter!

Yesterday on our facebook page we posed the question “Are you sporting a new bike this season” because it seems every time we talk to someone, there is a new addition to their family. The two wheeled kind of addition! From cruiser bikes to road bikes to all mountain bikes to folding travel bikes, 2011 is the Year of the New Bike! Boréale’s Sylvain is anxiously awaiting his new Norco Shinobi which is a full suspension 29er. What about you? Feel free to head to our facebook page and join the conversation!

If you are ever interested in experiencing a true winter, please keep the Yukon in mind. Blue bird gorgeous winter days and your chances of spotting our northern lights are much higher in March. Cheers to a great spring!

We received great news a few days ago! Boréale’s newest package, Summer Solstice, was chosen for the Outside Magazine Hot Trip List 2011! We are really pleased as this new trip is going to be a blast! It includes a little biking, a little paddling and a little alpine hiking, all peppered with tonnes of Yukon fun!

We are at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show at the moment (February 24-27, 2011) and are offering a chance to win two spaces on the Summer Solstice trip. If you are in the area, please pop over and say hi to Marsha and Sylvain!

Up here in the Yukon, we are starting to feel as though we are ‘winning’ the annual winter battle. I heard a fellow rider exclaim the other day “Nope, that’s it. -30C is done for the year. It will be days like this (sunny and warm) for the rest of the spring!” It was such a proclamation, I had to smile. All Yukoners have unwavering faith in the impact of positive thinking, especially when it relates to the temperature outside. The rest of our group, sitting in the snowbank, looked at him with goofy grins and nodded. We knew he was right!

There is something about being outside and enjoying yourself while recreating that is completely enthralling. We want - rather NEED - this feeling! I call this the start of the hyper season. Yukoners are now shaking their winter slumber and are out every night and day doing something! Whether it is cross country skiing, back country skiing, snowshoeing, snow biking or just enjoying a winter walk. From solos to full families out on the trails, Yukoners have a very strong attachment to their outdoor recreational lifestyle. In fact, it is why most people choose to live here.

As we are now gaining an average of 6 minutes of additional daylight each day, one Friday afternoon is visibly longer than the previous. It is full speed ahead from now on! Right up to the end of the summer, Yukoners are going to be claiming their reward for enduring another dark winter and they will be out recreating and socializing as much as they can. Come September, you start to see people move a bit slower, start to read books and make big dinners. And it is because they are tired. Tired because they have jammed as much activity as possible into each day for months. They are tired from playing.

Where else in the world do you get to live in communities like that? We LOVE the Yukon! Go and play!