Ride and Reach with Ryan Leech

My friends at Boréale Mountain Biking in the Yukon Territory of Canada have an incredible mountain bike tour and accommodation operation going on. It is a dreamland for mountain bikers, and after filming a segment for The Ride Guide TV show last year, I knew I’d be back, just didn’t know when, how, or for what.

Another glorious view while on a ride in Whitehorse

A small section of a never ending singletrack downhill

Then a vision came to me about combining mountain biking and yoga in a retreat like setting, and figured there would be no better place than Boréale’s Yurtville in Whitehorse. With Sylvain and Marsha to lead us to all the best singletrack, and myself to work in mountain bike skill development along the way, we figured we were on to something. Throw in my daily yoga sessions/workshops and gourmet catered food (by a fellow rider), and the idea just came to life! We quickly carved out the week of July 3 – 9th for the offering.

One of the many yurts in Boreale's Yurtville headquarters.

The bike blender inside the dining yurt. Breakfast of champions!

There is a certain feeling I get when out riding, it’s hard to describe; most riders know it, but describe it differently. While thinking about some of the custom built log rides and woodwork spanning from giant rock to rock that I rode in Whitehorse, I remember a feeling of my bike and body becoming one, time being suspended, my awareness expanding and becoming razor sharp, the incredible trail flowed effortlessly, I felt ease, I felt flow, the moment stretched, and a great big perma-grin grew.

Short break while taking in the view of the Yukon River.

A couple pups along for the adventure. The ride finished down at the water in the distance.

Getting in the zone often happens randomly, as if by accident, but there are certain things one can do to increase the likelihood of it happening. This is one of the often neglected topics I’d like to talk about and progress during the retreat. It is such a powerful state, and truly indescribable, my weak description above didn’t come close to what it actually felt like.

Often times that feeling is only experienced while on the trail, the only way we have access to this high is by taking off to go riding again…not a bad thing, but imagine integrating this experience in to your everyday life, having access to this kind of experience during the mundane moments, and using it to inform and grow the quality of our daily lives. Yoga is one way to help establish that connection. If you’ve signed up for this holiday, you may already know the benefits of yoga practice. There will be some form of yoga every day. Riding and playing yoga for five days, whew!

Teaching some lunchtime yoga at the Norco Office...

Sylvain from Boreale and Myself atop a great climb.

Generally, the style of yoga I teach is a vinyasa/flow/power, so it is pretty athletic, but since we’ll be going on some epic rides, I’ll modify the yoga practice as need be, some days may need to be pretty mellow, some a little more intense. We will also do a workshop style practice and get in to the details of each yoga pose, and the alignment necessary to keep your often abused joints healthy.

This is a retreat to spoil your senses and an opportunity to explore your edge…then go a little past them. We are going to dive in to the big mountain riding experience, deepen and expand it, fill it out to the max. Skills developed, fears acknowledged, pure pleasure embodied. Whatever your reason to come, it is our (Boréale & RL) common goal and intention to provide and set the stage to fulfill all your riding and reaching desires. Let’s have some fun, eat well, play yoga, and rip it up on our mountain bikes!!

Ryan