Kiwis – 3

They’re not just good bike riders, they’re also really nice boys.

Gonna have to make them honourary Canadians if they keep this behaviour up.

A bit of a slower start after the epic goodness of the past couple of days.  As they are off to Silverstar tomorrow, we were riding Kelowna today.  There’s been lots of work out on the Gillard trails (thank you, MTBco and all other like minded trail fairies), like this nearly finished skinny line on Squaw Hollow.

In fact, almost all of the old woodwork on Squaw has been replaced with awesome pieces like this.

Dr. No has also seen some much needed love.

That trail is so friendly now, it gives hugs to unsuspecting tourists.

What with all the rock rides we’ve done this week, it seemed only fitting that we finish with the Boss Hog rock.

You should know that all the wood on Boss Hog has been removed.  Sort of sad, but it was all rotten and it was all for the best.  Knowing the local trail fairies, I’m sure that something new and wonderful will appear to replace those features.  At least the rock won’t change.

A couple of more airs before we’re done.

The boys were pretty tired, the day was hot, and the rad in the van sprung a leak, so we headed off to the beach for some cold ones.

A full moon barbeque and some more refreshing drinks were all we needed to cap off this near perfect 3 day trip.

Alright, I think we’ll be seeing these guys again sometime.  Now I have to get packed, because I’m Kootenay bound.

RETALLACKA!

Kiwis – 2

I’d originally planned on going to Kelowna today, but this seemed like the better option instead.

Tough to beat, for sure.  With another 9k’ of descending on the plate, Kobau was the call today.

Although there’s still a few trees down, Cawston Creek is in good shape.  Maybe a little dry, but good all around.

Good enough views at any rate, and the dust just made it more fun.

Although not the flashiest riders, they were efficient.  Hard to get shots of everyone if they’re following you close.  John was good enough to hang back a bit, so I seemed to have a bunch of decent images of him.  Marc was just following my wheel all the time.  I should probably get a GoPro at some point and at least get some followcam footie of guys like him.

Round 2, and TKO is the call.  There’s still an annoying amount of larger trees down on the first half, and I haven’t found the time to clear it yet.  I’d like to get it done soon, and then go pig out on it this fall.  We’ll see. The view from half way is still unobscured…

Not that there’s a lot of photo worthy spots on TKO.  We just rode and had fun.  Here’s an over the shoulder shot near the end.

This one’s gonna get the boys in trouble back home.  A little dose of wine culture.

As the Legend was our shuttleschlampe today, we hit Osoyoos Lake for some bevvies after.  Marc noticed a little puff of smoke, and I called in my second fire report of the season.  This was a very aggressive grass fire, growing from nothing to 12 hectares in a matter of minutes.

We sat on the beach for a couple of hours, watching the planes work the fire (two tankers, some spotters, and a heli).  They put it out smartly.

Best day ever on a bike?

“Yeah, I reckon.”

Kiwis – 1

Alright, some fresh meat for the machine.  A trio of Kiwis have shown up, having randomly found out about the Bush Pilot on the internet.  Lets see what they can do…

Pretty good action for guys that say they don’t have jumps at home.  I kind of expected it though.   Most Commonwealth riders are adaptable.

I found out later that the first jumps we hit on the first ride of the first day constituted the biggest airs they’d ever taken.  And this record was to be broken several times, much like this carbon bar of Nathan’s.

Yeah, I’m still not sold on the carbon handlebar.   This happens way too often.  Luckily I’ve got a stash of spare Chromag goodies on hand for just such an emergency, so we were quickly back in action.

And it was some good action.  That NightStocker line we cleaned out last week is a good one, and it will only get better this fall once I get it cleaned up a bit more.

A bit of a session on the last booter on Drops A Lot was also a game changer for the boys.

Not a bad start, with a solid 10k’+ of descending and some beers on the beach.

Tomorrow….Kobau….