Return of the Jedi Council — Part III

Posted on July 16, 2005 by Smoke

Day 3, and the crew is just getting warmed up. A little re-match with the Arawana trail today. I happen to really like this trail, and so do the mosquitos. However, you have to have a good tolerance for flat landings to really enjoy this one. Poor Pete (the builder), he got roundly cursed all day for his penchant for stupid trannies. Well, I guess the local bike shop likes him, but he really needs to learn how to make good landings.

He does great things with skinny logs though.

This is where I got stung by wasps. Note to self, dont stand right on the nest, even if it is a good angle.

This used to seem really hard. Now it gets nailed on sight by nearly everyone.

Barb on a natural line.

Skip really benefitted from his trip out here this winter. He went from the back of the pack last year to right up front this year.

Marvellous Ed was on a mission today. His mission? To do all the really dumb lines. Here he is on an 8 foot “dorp to falt.”

Paul, in his natural element. The skinnier, the better.

Bud Height. The big wood to wood. Just about the entire crew hit it today. I used to fake this shot with Photoshop to make it look cool. Now everyone just nails it on sight.

Poster shot of Skip.

Marvellous, on another skinny “dorp to falt.”

…and I quote, “That looks impossible. Wanna see it done?”

It lands you in a small gap almost immediately. It’s really stupid, and loads of fun to watch Ed pile into the bushes from.

Right around the corner, Paul proves that he can hit the air when necessary.

This is a wicked little road gap. I finally did it after looking at it for a couple of years. Pretty easy, but another stupid little micro tranny. Jedi shows us how its done.

Not to be outdone, Barb puts her stamp on it.

And the big stupid drop award goes to….

…no one. The jump immediatley after the flat landing from 25′ up is uber stupid and makes a potentially good move ridiculous. Oh well, maybe another time.

Here’s Jedi leading a train across the barbwire funbox gap. Where’s that train?

Well, Ed paid the piper for his earlier antics by face planting the first step up. There’s video of this, but you’ll have to wait months for it. Sorry, but I’m sort of busy to be editing video.

We still had enough in the tank for another half lap, so we cracked off a quickie of the fast part, and then hit the beach for some well earned swims and beer.

Ahhhh, beer at sunset. What will tomorrow bring I wonder?

More weirdness. I am sure. Ed, you slut.

Return of the Jedi Council — Part II

Posted on July 15, 2005 by Smoke

Today we hit up Powers Creek in Westbank. I’ve never ridden there before, but thanks to the magic of hte NSMB.com bulletin boards I was able to meet up with Diddler, who has been a very busy boy building new stunts on Powers.

The trail starts pretty mellow. With a bit of rain threatening, and the wet summer we’ve been having it felt a lot like north van. Some really cool stunts started us off, including a spiral ramp and lots of little step downs.

There’s a metric ton of skinny stuff, and most of it is completely overbuilt. Really solid work here. One stunt was called Cock-Knocker, and Ed found out why in a big hurry. His only words as he rolled onthe ground clutching at his nether region were, “I hope the next one isn’t called ‘Anal Breach.’ “

There’s also some nice natural lines to be had.

Diddler is a machinist by trade, so there is also a lot of unique metal additions to the trails.

Also, if you like wall rides, well…..

…this is your kind of place.

Or maybe you prefer massive air? Jedi gets some on Shenanigans.

I mnanaged to get to the front of the pack on Monster Amigo. Yes, I am freaking out in that shot.

Barb had a bit more style on it.

A massive session was had all day. If you want to check out Powers Creek, just stop in at Outbound Cycle in Westbank. They are more than happy to show you around the trails.

After several beers at the local pub, we retired to Summerland for beers, the hot tub, and dinner.

I think we need a bigger hot tub or fewer men next year.

Return of the Jedi Council — Part I

Posted on July 14, 2005 by Smoke

Welcome to Canada, eh? What a bunch of loonies…..Tony, Ed, Panama, Pierre, Paul, Stu, Stouph, Mark, and Skip. Thanks for showing up at midnight. At least traffic is light.

Just like last year, we put all the bikes together that night. Bedtime? How does 3 am sound?

We decided to make an early start to the day. As usual, we came across an accident on the highway. This time, a happy ending. The 78 year old rider of this motorcycle walked away from the scene with minor scrapes, and Barb got a job offer from the Princeton Ambulance station.

Bladder break!

Maybe this canyon just scared the piss out of them.

We rolled into Penticton around noon, and took some lunch bbefore heading up to the Peat bog for some warm up laps. Here’s Skip getting reacquainted with a teeter.