Asking price is $3500.

One summer of moderate use.  Only one day in a bike park, at Silverstar.  Lots of truck and heli time, so there’s plenty of shuttle scars (see pics, superficial damage only, no dents) .  Nothing more than cosmetic wear though.  This bike split guiding duties with my Slayer, but I got ‘er earlier in the season so she saw a bit more trail time than the little rig did.

Plus, this bike fricken’ RAILS.   You should totally buy it.  I’m a bit sad to be turning her loose, but then again, I’ll just get a new one in a couple of months.

If you’re horny, let’s do it
Ride it, my pony
My saddle’s waiting
Come and jump on it…

SALE! $3,500 o.b.o. 

Very minty 18” Rocky Mtn. Slayer 70.

Wheel, tires, bars, stem, and saddle are all brand spankin’ new. Minimal scratches (superficial ones on the fork lowers, chain slap wear, etc.). This was my “light” bike ( I do at least half my riding on the Flatline), so it was mostly XC and AM riding. NEVER BEEN RIDDEN IN A BIKE PARK! Plus, I only rode it from July to October.

This is one of the mid-season bikes that came with eThirteen Hive cranks, which were pretty impressive.  No trouble with them at all.  As an added bonus, there’s some Hippy Killers thrown in for free.  Plastic flats.  Hey, they’re free.  Do with them what you will.

SPEC.

Frame	RMB FORM 7005 Hydroformed Alu
Fork	FOX 36 TALAS R
Front Travel	160mm. Rebound / Travel Adjust 40mm / Tapered Steerer
Rear Shock	FOX RP23 XV Custom Valved
Rear Travel	165mm. Rebound / 3 Position ProPedal / X Volume Sleeve
Head Set	Cane Creek Frustum XX ZS / ZS-3 Tapered
Stem	Easton Haven 6° x 55-70mm  **NEW!**
Handlebar	Easton Haven Carbon Ø31.8mm x 711mm x 9° Sweep  **NEW!**
Brakes	Formula The ONE Hydraulic Disc 180mm
Brake Levers	Formula The ONE MixMaster / Reach Adjust / FCS
Shifters	Sram X9 Matchmaker Triggers 9spd
Gearing (FR)	Shimano SLX E Mount
Gearing (RR)	Sram X9
Cranks & Chainrings	eThirteen Hive   — alternate spec
Bottom Bracket	eThirteen – alternate spec
Pedals	NRG Hippy Killers  **Bonus!**
Hubs (FR)	RMB AM Carbon Sealed 20mm Axle  **NEW!**
Hubs (RR)	RMB AM Sealed 12 x 142mm E Thru  **NEW!**
Cassette	Sram PG-980-9 11-34T
Chain	Sram PC-971
Spokes	DT Swiss Competition  **NEW!**
Rims	DT Swiss EX 500 Tubeless Compatible  **NEW!**
Tires (RR/FR)	Maxxis Ardent Kevlar F: 2.4 / R: 2.25   **NEW!**
Seat Post	Easton EA70 30.9mm
Saddle	fi’zi:k Gobi XM  **NEW!**

Just a few weeks ago we were playing in the lake.

How fast it changes…

Well, it’s game on for snow.  See you on the hill.

Just another shred in Naramata today, checking out a bunch more singletrack I don’t know yet.

After a bunch of wandering around like Three Blind Mice, we ended up on Jack and Jill, where the colours were just too good to pass up a photo op.

Oh, and the larches were in FULL explosion. Like riding on a carpet of gold…

I did a ton of riding this month with the Rabbit, who I worked with for several years back in the old country. It was XC stuff mainly, and we rode at old school pace (no stopping…ever). I’m pretty sure there was one point where I didn’t put a foot down for over 2 hours. Lots of killer rides all month, but no eye candy for you. Just this little fella:

Can’t believe that was the first snake I saw all year. Everyone was raving about how many and how large the snakes were this summer, and I see this puny little one in the last week of herpetological friendly weather. He is quite pretty in those yellow leaves though.

Coolie is getting out for more rides now. She got a 35-40 km day in at the end. And slept it off in one day. She killed it until the last couple km of the last lap, when she started to limp just a little bit. Pretty amazing…and a bit scary. Next summer could be a chore keeping her exercised.

Another little scenic window into my neighbourhood. I got into a bunch more trails in the Naramata zone. Figuring out tons more routes to play on for next year. Would you believe it? I rode that zone over 20 times this year alone, and just in the last couple of weeks did over 5 hours on stuff I haven’t seen before.

PS – Happy 73rd Birthday, Dad.

I just couldn’t resist. Sorry guys. Super stoked to see you come out actually. You’re enough fun to make my dog want to jump off a cliff.

Which was inspiration enough for Ralf. Looks like he’s recovered from the crash last week in Pemby.

The boys also brought along a new guy, Jeremias. I get the impression this ain’t his first rodeo. He’s been in country for a while, and he seems to have acclimatized.

Oh, and big ups to Vance for fixing the booter at the Gnarnia junction. It’s just a small jump, but it’s one of the more fun ones in the zone. As the guys found out, you don’t need too much speed for it (although landing flat ten feet past the tranny is kinda fun.).

As we had time for a few runs, we went with a Beer Run to finish off the day.

Perfect timing led to the Golden Hour in the grass.

Besides the Germans, we also had a random ONtario XC guy in the person of Ken joining us today. Gotta give full props to the guy for this, as he was in well over his head with this group, with a borrowed bike and first time shuttling, and still went the distance on the day.

Of course, no Beer Run is complete without hitting Ivy League.

Way to get your feet wet in the world of BC Freeride, Ken.

See more pics from this crew in their gallery over at the Geile Titten Gallery.

“You’d better not be lying to me, Johnny Smoke.”

Yes yes, we know. You Germans have ways. Why don’t you go huck yerself?

Surprised that Holger hadn’t made it over to the SSC yet actually. He’s ridden most spots in BC, funny that he’d missed out on this one.

Classic day over there. Not exactly sunny though.

We also ran into more Germans. There were two young’ns camping up at the top on a POS car, and we let them tag along for a few runs.

They kept us amused, and even sucked Holger into a crash or two on the swivel totter.

It is a very Cunning Stunt.

As we continued to cram more runs in, the weather got worse and worse.

So bad, you couldn’t even see your wheels (look closely…).

OK, pic of the day, IMO. Funny how some guys just get the shots. Probably has a lot to do with that Eurotrash outfit he’s rockin’, but you can’t deny the man’s got style.

Some more of our strays, sending it in the dj zone.

Possibly the heaviest bike EVER on the roof of the van. Yes, that’s three brawny Nords struggling with the “Peterbomb”.

The boys at the beach, celebrating the fact that they never have to put Peters bike up on the roof again.

…and the traditional victory shot.

Good times as always, ya Lawnmower. Looks like I’ll be seeing a few of you guys real soon.

So cheesy, they’re even staying in a faux Bavarian haus in Whistledog. Of course, it’s run by a pair of Brits, but when in Whistler…  Being a Brit, we got Martin to drive our shuttle today.  Which he did famously, which only makes sense as he’s a former World Rally Championship driver.

As their first day outside of the park, we were off to Pemberton today. C’mon boys, it’s not that steep!

I wonder if that log is slippery?

Ahhhh, that would be somewhat greasy then.

Seriously though, who even rides these things anymore?

Look close, there’s people on bikes in there someplace.

It’s been a while since my last Pemby confession, and it seems there’s been a few changes. Even old faves like the Mackenzie Cruise are seeing a few upgrades.

There’s also some new lines, like the rusty Trombone.

It’s basically like every other trail in Pemby, but even more so. Open rock, views, lots of green moss. Oh, and steep…

The PeterBomb, on final approach. Funny how the lightest bike AND the heaviest bike in this group are both 7″ travel Nicolais.

Holgie earning his Lowenbrau.

New favourite Pemby trail: Stimulus.

It’s also is steep, with lots of open rock, not to mention ultra flowy and quite long by Pemberton standards.

Oh, and there’s this one spot where you can catch some air off a small drop.

Then get kicked sideways into some rocks and eat a big pile of moss.

Oh, and put a nice size dent in your Giant Glory.

So long as you don’t fall off this drop, it’s all good.

There you go, the classic view over the river to Mt Currie.

Prost!

… one of my favourite pics of the day. I call this, “Germans splitting the tab.”

Oh, and a big thumbs down to the Whistler Brew House for easily the worst meal I’ve ever had in that town. Those guys used to be good, what the hell happened?

Forgot to take pics.  Here’s one from near the bottom when I remembered to bring out the camera.

Or just a super day. Whatevs.

You can always tell when the group is fast, because you’ll get a lot of shots like this where we’re standing still. It’s about the only time I get the camera out on days like this.

Sickbird.

Somebody has good style…

Quite the dusty day out there.

Round two we had to hit up Drops a Lot. The Germans loved the drops.

The Canadians? Well, Nigel found the landing the hard way.

It’s Aaron’s turn this time, and since last time we rode we cracked off 8 runs on the Sunshine Coast I figured we should probably do a big vert day on Kobau.

As always, it’s dry as a bone out here.  So much so that I managed a pretty decent crash in my first run when I missed a small ramp at speed and flipped over some logs.  Good thing I had padding on for a change.

All crashing aside, it was a solid session of brown pow today.

My old coach and current boss at the Ski club was our driver today.  He’s never really been exposed to the reality of mountain biking before.  He was a bit shocked to say the least when he saw us shredding through the sage at high speed.  I think we may have a convert.

Round two got me yet another crash, and this time I got it good.  Forgot my pads for one, and also it was one of those ones when you tag your bars off a tree at high speed.  I got a gnarly hemaetoma on my right thigh, and lost a bunch of skin on my left knee and arm.  Crap.  At least I could still ride, but I did cry a little when nobody was looking.  That one hurt.

At least I’ve got conditions like this to keep my mind off the pain.

After two laps on Cawston Creek it was time for the finishing run on TKO.  I was thinking that with how dry it was that it was going to be ultra gnar and loose, but it was actually as good as I’ve ever seen it.  Truly an epic lap.  Even managed to forget how much the leg hurt.

Here’s the crew (minus one casualty from the first two.  Tired and beat up from the weekend).  I think we all crashed out pretty hard at one point today, but it was the sort of day for pushing limits.

Managed to get lost down lower too.  This run was way longer than it needed to be, but it was still pretty nice cruising game trails in the desert.

A final group shot at Hester Creek before bugging out.

Oh, and if you see this little BBQ hut in Oliver, you gotta drop in.  Unreal eats for cheap.  Can’t believe I’ve never stopped there before.

Way more pics here in this slideshow.  Enjoy…

[ngslideshow id=201 w=640 h=480]

A lot closer to home than the last one.  No rattlesnakes this year, but lots of moose.  Now if I could only get a pic of a cougar….

We had to fire up two rides, though.  Do you realize how hard it is to come up with 19 large mountain bikes to rent in Penticton?  Thanks to the guys at Olympia in Vernon for some spare rides.

Since these guys are here to play hockey, they really weren’t going to be able to ride any single track.  Instead we just did the quick blast on the KVR back to town.  I did try to push a couple of them off a cliff, but they’re pretty wily.  Hey, if I’m gonna pick a favourite, I’m still a Vancouver guy.

Uh oh, now they’re after me.  Well, at least they can’t ride very fast.  Wouldn’t want to trade any punches with these kids though.  They’re all hulks.

Round two, and at this point we did manage to lose Kevin Lowe and some of the trainers.   Totally not on purpose…..no really.  Canuck Nation, yo.

Seriously, though I think these guys were just glad to be out in the sunshine instead of at the rink.  Must get pretty low on the vitamin D living under those lights.

Fun little afternoon.  A couple of rips on the KVR is not the worst way to spend a day, even if Buchberger was there the whole time.

Looks like the Oilers won’t be the cellar dwellers for much longer.  Some decent athletes in this gang, looking forward to seeing some more of that Nugent-Hopkins kid in the regular season.

Took my sweetie too.  Thanks to my cousin for watching jr. so we could shred together.

Random Iggle Piggle sighting…

Of course, what day at the Star would be complete without a wet t-shirt contest?

Mission complete.

Ahhh, he’s fine.

Didn’t really tell Blair what  our riding is like either.  We just threw him into the situation.  Full props, he dealt with it; no worries.  Chris has some mileage, so he was loving the trail.

I think having a bluebird day like this probably helped.  Summer is winding down on the calendar, but it seems like there’s plenty of heat left.  Here’s another one of Blair looking fly in those striped shorts.

Oh, and Barb was able to come out today too.

Even Coolie the Collie came along.

Barb, up to speed with only a few rides in three years.  Wonder how she’d do on a big bike?

Can’t ride Naramata without a visit to Laughing Stock…

So good.  As it’s still warm and sunny, we went for a swim. Here’s Coolie attacking her reflection.

And one of my beautiful daughter on Okanagan Lake.

Another flying dog shot.  Bummed that I blew the focus, but whatevs… it’s still pretty rad.

Here’s one of the full moon.  Yup, today had it all.

Well, for the clients it’s the last day.  I’m still hanging around, so I went for a lap with some of the locals and staff.

But all good things must come to an end so I bugged out mid-day for home.  Got this great shot of our local moose first though.

Great times at the lodge.  I can hardly wait to see what it’s like in the winter, but before that happens I have LOTS of riding left to do.

Cat Sass Retreats
Retallack Lodge

Got out for an early morning shred with Kirt Voreis and some of the other boys. One of my biggest stokes of the whole season; leading Kirt down the lodge trail on Robb Ridge. Yeah, he’s a whole order of shredder magnitude up on my abilities, but I know the trail so it was fairly even.

Oh, and here he is deflowering the Knuckle at the end. He didn’t even know it hadn’t been hit yet, he just sent it.

Meanwhile, back at the Lodge…

After a late breakfast, yoga, and some skill sessions in the parking lot, it was time for the ladies to hit the lodge trail (Riley, you really gotta come up with a name for this line).

It was all about railing the turns this morning.  Here’s ‘Raine popping the exit hard.

Surprise of today was Margot, who really hasn’t done any DH riding before.  She was nailing this trail.  I guess there might be something to yoga after all…(she was leading the yoga sessions for the weekend).

Hey!  You’re a dude!

Kirt, yer such a ham.

The girls spent a bit of time on the berms, but this trail just doesn’t lend itself to sessioning.  Once you start to feel the flow, you gotta just rail it.

Lindsey agrees…

OK, there is ONE jump on the way down.  Meg really wanted it, so we spent some time there.  She got it….

..but then again….

Ah, she was more or less OK. At least it was the last run of the retreat. Anyway, nothing a few weeks off the bike won’t fix. I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing Meg again in the near future. She’s too rad to not ride with again.

Here’s some food for thought… or just for eating. I’m going to miss Yves’ cooking, that’s for sure.

It being the last night, we had to break out the ShotSki.

Bottoms Up, ladies!

Things degenerated quickly after that. I don’t even really know what went on, so you’ll have to make up your own story for this last one…

Cat Sass Retreats
Retallack Lodge

It’s just a blip.  There’s still plenty of summer left.  Besides, we gotta fly today.

Just a little shout out to the sponsors.  Dakine… you guys rule.

While this is mostly a ladies trip, the guys couldn’t pass up a chance to shred Powerslave with a big crew on such a luscious and bluebird day.  Ummm…which one is Beavis?

Lindsey, with her “Squirrel on Acid” grin.

Flying over some old growth.

This place really is the Cat’s Ass.

Some more props to Retallack Lodge.

It took a few trips, but here ya go.  The first heli lady laps from Toad Mtn.

Marie-Cat… getting her epic on.

Lindsey, stylin’ as always.

Galena negotiates some high altitude driftwood.

Ummmmm…..  did I mention that I kind of like riding with the girls?  Can you guess why?

Here, have another postcard shot.

I’m sorta bummed I missed the focus on this one, cause it’s a rad one.  These are the PG chicks, and they freakin’ SHRED.  Which is why we’re changing the spelling to “Pgnarly.”

This trail has a bit of everything, as I think I may have mentioned.  Here’s Meg on a fairly long bridge.

A couple hours in, and we’ve only dropped a thousand feet.   When does this thing start going down?

How about now?

It all makes sense now.

Far fewer shots now that we’re actually shredding.  Just time for a classic angle.

OK, maybe one more…  RETALLACKA!

Literally hours later, but with very little standing around, Meg gets to the bottom of things.  But WAIT!  We’re not done yet…

OK, now we’re done.

Gotta have some cold ones to finish a ride like that.  Although it would have been nice if you’d have let me down from the top of the van.  I’m not THAT bad…smelling.

Of course, one Caesar led to another, and on the drive back there were a couple of “rest stops”.  I wanted to get another panorama shot from the roof of the van of the action, so to speak, but girls are so quick.  I didn’t even get on the roof of the van and they were all done.   Oh well, perhaps another time.

Cat Sass Retreats
Retallack Lodge

Enter Cat Sass, the brainchild of one Galena Pal.   More than just a bit of riding with the girls it’s more of a retreat sort of atmosphere, complete with yoga, nutrition, and other myriad explorations of the feminine mystique that ham handed boy bikers like myself could never hope to comprehend.

Except that because of a dearth of qualified personelle I would be riding along.   Oh my..Luckily one of the other guides is our pal Lorraine, so at least I would get berated by someone that I’m already familiar with.

The early part of the weekend was a skills sesh in the parking lot, so I only lurked in the background to try to get a handle on some abilities.  They all cleaned the basics, which included the newly constructed Knuckle.  The girls all cleaned it, so it looked like we were good to go.

The riders experience ranged from “just bought a downhill bike…”

…to “own my own bike shop…”

…to “I may not be as young as I was yesterday, but I refuse to get old.”

I’m not saying the inside of  the van smells any better…just different.

Oh…special stoke!   Lindsey Voreis is the other coach.   Funny that it took this long for our paths to cross, but I’m glad they finally did.  Kirt and Lindsey are suddenly two of my favourite riders to hang out with.  Very fun to be around, and both just such solid and relaxed people on and off the bikes.

Alright ladies, time to throw a little Sass…

Yup, that’s a throwdown all right.

What did you girls DO!

A million laughs.  Alright, more riding.

Or in this case, ferrying.

Always remember to tip your ferrywoman…

…but not until she gets you to the other side.

We wouldn’t normally go for this ride, but hey, it IS the Galena show…

No boys allowed for the evening festivities inside, so we hung out under the stars and rocked out with AC/DC and some brews.

Cat Sass Retreats
Retallack Lodge

This guy could NOT be more stoked.  Who could blame him, when you get to ride sick DH with girls like this?

Just another day of rad steeps in the Kootenays.

As an added bonus, it was Legends night at the bar, with Riley, Kirt Voreis, and Simon hanging out over dinner.