Year: 2008

Let Them Eat Cake – Day 3

Posted on by Smoke

Today would be the big day. The middle of the Long Weekend means we go to Naramata to check out the Beer Run. Tis is when we found out that the upper part of Arawana has been logged.

Bummer……

Oh well, it needed work anyway. The lower section is still buff.

Also in the crew today is our pal Peenut from the Puddle. it’s good having the young guns throw down. It really brings the group vibe together.

Colin also showed up with his lovely wife. Colin also pushed the envelope (as per usual). Colin only knows two speeds: flat out and crashing halt. Lucky for him, he stuck to flat out almost all day.

Oh, and ANOTHER celebrity joined the ranks for this one. The inimitable Cory LeClerc threw down this giant SH-CACK! for us. Ironically, I think that was the smoothest I’ve ever seen it done.

Unfortuntately I don’t have any pics of his fabulous lady friend that he brought up. Karen rode with us last year, and she’s gotten faster than ever. I love how this country makes chicks such rad riders.

Oh, and this next one would be former Canadian DH champ Brant Lyon. He’s been off the bike for a couple of years, so he’s just getting it back together. Which means that he’s still riding at a superhuman level compared to the rest of us.

Peenut gets the biggest air of the week. A solid 50′ from lip to lander.

Colin wasn’t too far off that mark.

Tippie was happy to just be alive. He managed to come down with a cold that he proceeded to give to everyone else.

Uh oh. Bridge out.

While we’re dropping names, Noel was along for another adventure. Here he is swearing at me for taking pictures instead of helping with bikes.

OK, time for a beer and a swim.

And a gopher snake.

Lap two was the Rusty Muffler. Check out this sequence of Colin trying out his other gear.

Tippie was amused.

Dan was freaking out. He’s a pro shooter from the UK who moved out here to make his fortune. He couldn’t believe that the Okanagan hasn’t been shot yet, and was running hither and yon snapping epic panoramas at every turn. I fully expect him to be back soon. Actually, I can hardly wait to see his shots from this trip.

In his words, “I only need five or six good shots for a story, and I must have shot a hundred in the past two days.”

Gratuitious bike porn.

We had a little impromtu shower for the fat chick–uhh, I mean the pregnant ladies in the crew. Barb and Sarah got some serious goodies. The hit of the night was the moose hide moccasins from a friend of ours in the NWT. We have to do some checking, but they may be fromt he same village as Bretts grandmother. Pretty cool.

Laura has had enough. She’s only been riding for something like 8 weeks, and somehow she’s fallen in with a fast crowd of riders that have been at it for decades. Welcome to the family….

Let Them Eat Cake – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

It’s after midnite, and Brett Tippie is at my house. See how excited he is? Well, of course there’s a story. That t-shirt goes back to the first time we met. I was working at the old Cove shop and had gotten my mitts on one of the very first Kona full suspension bikes. Tippie walked in looking for a ride and although I’d never met him, I lent him the Kona. Tihs was just something I thought of as professional courtesy. He came with good credentials, but this was still before Kranked, before Fro-Riders, before all that.

Several weeks later I got this cool hand painted t-shirt as a thank you. I mean, what are you gonna do, throw the thing out? It’s only been worn once.

I thought he was gonna explode when I pulled the shirt out on this night.

Well, the celebrations worked the men over pretty hard, but the womenfolk got up early and got to work in the kitchen.

I did hide their shoes…..

Oh right…riding. Well over a dozen people showed up last night, and more today.

Sarah still can’t find her shoes, but she managed to get outta the kitchen.

OK, another Builders Only day. Sven, Shore builder, has a go on the Jedi F*cker.

That boy was on fire. I think he missed it up here. Tippie had a brand spanking new Flatline he was breaking in, and was also a bit rusty after being off the bike for a few years. He was remembering pretty quickly.

Although he gets tired more easily than before.

See one, do one…..

Maja, making friends…

Not to be outdone, Barb got out for a short lap at the end of the day. Her first ride of the year.

Oh,and that’s a 7 months pregnant woman hucking herself there. Remember that next time you roll that sucker.

I was kind of hoping to get a MuddBunnies Calendar worthy shot here, but the light wasn’t co-operating and then my camera crapped out……. again. Any Canon reps reading this? One seriously unsatisfied customer over here.

More fun tomorrow, when even more riders show up.

Let Them Eat Cake – Day 1

Posted on by Smoke

Yes, the theme of this years May Two Four long weekend would have to be cake. Don’t ask me why, it just was.

Things started early on Friday, with the arrival of the crew from the Collective and our pal Radek from Pinkbike.

Most of these guys haven’t ridden up here yet, and they got a supremem day for it. Winter is finally over.

Radek goes big. Or Radek IS big. Take your pick.

Here’s some fun with macro. Yes, and action shot on macro. It actually worked.

This one didn’t. As Dan Barham tells me, push the ISO as afar as it will go, make it black and white, and call it art.

Big Radek again.

..and one of the Collective minions showing him up. Sorry, I totally spaced your name. It was a LONG weekend.

The price Radek paid for his “going bigness.”

We crammed a couple of good runs in before sundown. It was awesome with allthe heat and flowers and goodness out there.

We finished off with the Kelowna premiere of Seasons, and the assembled crowd loved every second. It would be after midnite before I returned home, and I wondered what I might find there….