Month: September 2005

The Lawnmower Tour — Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Our crew was a pretty good size and mix: we had Stefan and Ralph (“We are from East Germany and we are not homosexuals”); an older couple, Herb and Linda, who also know my good buddies the Swetlands up in the Koots; another Stefan who is an engineer for Airbus; Peter, an electrical engineer; Ben, who seems to take lots of pictures of girls; Frank, who rides a Nicolai; a former European BMX champ named Ecki; and an apprentice guide by the name of Christian.

We started of our first full day in the bike park with some skill development.

The skills seemed to develop pretty rapidly.

Everyone stepped up a notch in the drop parks pretty quickly.

The East Germans seemed to be the most comfortable with the advanced terrain. Here’s Stefan showing us how.

…and again on the GLC.

Ralph was right behind him.

Holger shows the style which has earned him many paycheques in his native land.

Ummmm……..yeah.

Nightlife….Whistler……yeah.

The Lawnmower Tour — Day 1

Posted on by Smoke

The Lawnmower? Well, I guess Die Rasenmarer is an OK name for a German biking tour company, but the translation is pretty funny. German freeride icons Holger Meyer and Karen Eller put together this trip and it’s a good one. Lots of funny characters on this tour. Karen couldn’t come out because she was so very pregnant at the time….(**UPDATE :: She gave birth to a little girl named Leni on October 3rd, which is also MY BIRTHDAY!!! I predict she will be good looking, stylish, and so suave just like all Oct. 3rd people).

After yesterday’s heli trip, the heavens opened up so I found some things wrong with my bike and skipped riding in the bike park in the slop.

Instead, I saved myself for the pool table in the evening. Unfortunately, Team Canada lost to the Germans, but our team was a lot prettier thanks to the Sugoi Women’s Dirt Series coaches being in attendance.

If you happen to be one of the Nelson crew, check out Peter, the guy on the right. Jumbo Shrimps’ long lost evil twin?

Disneyland — Round II

Posted on by Smoke

**For those of you who were there, drop me an EMAIL to get the ftp info. I’ve set up an ftp site for us to share all the shots on. Mine are already on there. You can also check out Pete Campbell’s PHOTOSITE for some more heli shots taken by the Angry Pirate on the Sept. 18th ride.

Finally, we get another heli lap in. We were actually supposed to go yesterday with the NSMB.com crew, but the weather wouldn’t co-operate. It didn’t rain, but the clouds were too low to fly. C’est la vie. Patience paid off for today. It was pretty slick today though. About as slippery as I’d ever want to ride it.

A mixed crew for today. Burton and the boys are back for their annual journey, and the Angry Pirate came down from Whistler with some random old schoolers. Me and Barb and the Hicks rounded out the crew.

Here’s Burton answering uncomfortable questions from some cop….

Look close, there’s 8 riders in this shot.

The usual pre-lunch LionsBack session.

…with some pre-lunch launch thrown in for good measure.

Ahhh….lunch!

That’s my girl. After lunch we got serious.

…and the Pirate got Angry.

Check out this old school rig.

Unfortunately, this is when Javed took a random endo and cracked some ribs. Sucks to be you man. Gotta give him credit, he sure tried to tough it out, but it just wasnt meant to be. Better luck next time man.

If it’s any comfort, I totally feel your pain (it’s actually October 11 as I’m writing this, and I’m 2 weeks into the healing process from a wicked stack on Whistler. I’ll give you the details as soon as I catch up on the log).

Willy Billy Whatever showing off the sleeves.

Burton gets into it.

More fun with camera angles…

Five and a half hours later, and we’re almost there.

Time for Barb to drop one more big line.

..and then it’s time for beers on the beach.