Ride Guide – Day 2

September 30, 2009

Day 2, and it’s time to go bigger.  Really.

Leroy and Trev came out again, and Casey Groves and Ryan Mckenna also tagged along to represent the Kelowna scene.

Casey needs a date.  See what he’s doing to that bar of his?

I don’t know if Boyko was impressed with Gillard (horrified would be a more appropriate word), but the Cory, our cameraman, seemed to think it was going well.

Ryan biffed this drop two years ago, and hasn’t hit it since.  It’s kind of a gnarly one to have a monkey on your back for.

Bye bye, monkey.

That seemed to get everyone stoked and relaxed.  They spent the rest of the day stylin’ out this wall/hip combo.

Too bad they were here this week.  The old Casino Royale got resurrected a few days after the Guide was here, but that’s another story…

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Ride Guide – Day 1

September 29, 2009

Or, if you prefer..”That’s What She Said – Day 1”, because that phrase was far too in evidence this week. Yup, it’s Rockstar week, with all sorts of TV themed shenanigans on deck.

That would be Ben Boyko getting the interview on the back of the rental truck.  Too bad we couldn’t have gotten this cherry Audi R8 for our shuttle vehicle.

Today we were opening up the new creation from Andrew McIntosh, Inferno.

It’s a nu-skool contraption with lots of street inspired ramps and gaps, not too big and tightly packed for max fun.

We also shredded Addiction with the builders of that trail, Leroy and Trevor.

The boys were pretty stoked, and I’m pretty sure I caught Boyko grinning right after guinea pigging this line here.

Leroy was killing everything. That boy sure has some style.

This is the very first run into this techy wallride feature.  All of these moves just flow from one to the next.  Quite a rad set…

Andrew, on the jump right after that wall.  He’s trying to alley oop, right to left.  Yeah, figure that out (and no, he didn’t land it clean but he was close).

Jaw dropping skills.

Reach for it.

Boyko, on the final move.

When we moved on down to Addiction, the boys really ramped it up.  I think the locals might have been a bit stoked for the camera.  This is Leroy airing about 50’ into the Addiction wall ride.  He broke some boards on landing.

Ben looked like he wasn’t going to bother with this wall, but then some old guy hanging around had a couple of runs on it which made it basically mandatory that he would have to do it.

C’mon buddy…it’s good fun.

Andrew and I had a quick run on Technical Difficulty to end the day….

…while Ben did the Rockstar thing with the camera.

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The Return of the Son of It’s Yet Another Stag Ride – Aftermath

September 20, 2009

Wow, don’t you wish you stayed up all night drinking with the crazy chicks in the next cabin?  I think Blair doesn’t.

I got a strange request to shuttle up today, but with all the XC bikes, I thought we’d better just shuttle half way.  You know, for the sake of good form.

Our old buddy Vance came out today to show us some of the lesser known routes in the area.  This is “High Pony”.

It sucks.

Oh wait, that’s not right.  It RULES!

The return of more typical Okanagan weather helped though.

Careful, that’s a bit of a drop eh?

OK, everyone gets their pic on this corner, don’t screw it up.

Good thing we had Vance with us.  Here’s a shot of a typical trail junction out here.  There’s actually a turn there, as we rode out past those random rocks to another trail.

See?

Dude….that’s not the line.

More sick fall riding.

Hang on, let me get my shades.  I think I see something over here.

Ha!  Good times…  Look while you can, you’re about to be married.  Anyway, thanks to Peter for calling up for this one, and to Lee for the recommendation.

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The Return of the Son of It’s Yet Another Stag Ride

September 19, 2009

Oh man, this is getting to be hard on my liver (and yes…I did just say “Hard On”).

OK, so another guy is getting married.  I guess it’s a sign of the times, and it’s overall a good thing.  We’ll just see how he feels after we shove him down this steep mountainside.

Ha!  He made it.  Actually, we already rode a fairly major XC trail up near Apex, but I left my camera in the van.  Oops.  Anyway, it was rad, and it snowed a little.

You’ll have to content yourself with these shots from our dessert lap near Naramata.

We had a good time, and the boys were stoked that we got to ride right back to their accommodations.

Which also included a stagette next door.  Anyone got a light?

Not sure what sort of game this is.  Either drunken stagette pin the wiener on the groom, or maybe a re-enactment of “So I Married An Axe Murderer”.

Yeah, dude looks sorta creepy in that outfit.  Wish I could have stuck around for the shenanigans, but I had to retrieve the van and prepare for tomorrow.  At least I got this vague pic of an elk on the retrieval.

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Judy-Lynn And Chris – Day 7

September 17, 2009

It’s the end of the week for our happy campers.  I would not be surprised to hear that they’re moving out here.  I think they may have really enjoyed themselves, in spite of the tragic fracture and all.

As Chris really enjoyed the Naramata zone, we went back there today to hit up Arawana.  It was mushroom central up there.

It’s got so many cool features to ride, too.

He was going for everything today.

Well, not quite everything I guess.  He took pics of me on a few things instead.

Some photoshop magic to show you the huge Ponderosa’s out there.

Hey Chris, you’re sitting down!  Are you tired yet?

I know I am.  I was sucking it up though…

Some more photoshop magic from the canyon in Ivy League.  This doesn’t really show it for what it is (a huge limestone overhang), but looks sorta cool anyway.

The final descent to the beach.

While we were out playing, the ladies were visiting wineries and galleries in Naramata.   It’s mid September, and we’re still swimming.  Believe it.

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