Retallack Ride Guide – 1

Hey!  We’re back with our old pals from the Ride Guide.

On deck is a story about backcountry lodges, and as luck would have it I’m doing some work guiding for Retallack Lodge.

I’m not the host this time.  Our pal from NSMB.com and Rocky Mountain team mate Eamonn got the duties on this round.

We spent most of our first day playing around on Idaho Peak, above New Denver.

The Wakefield trail is an old classic, and I mean old.  It’s part of a network of mule train access roads for the old mines.  Here’s Mason Mashon carving around the upper entrance to the old Wakefield Mine.

Eamonn getting a beauty shot at the entrance to the trail.

On the other side of the mountain, there’s a wealth of old mining roads that the locals have spent many seasons clearing out and connecting with bits of singletrack.  There’s not much in the way of built up trail, but there are occasional hits.  Here’s a bit of a session that Kris and “You Like This” creator Kevin Landry threw down.

Down lower, in the dark forest, it’s all about steeps and hard, shithook corners.

Mason had the edge with his oddball 24″ front wheel setup (no, not really.  Do you have to be so gullible? It’s just lens distortion…).

One out of the trees, it’s actually a very nice summer’s day.

We took a bit of a break in Sandon for some background shots.  While Josh got some work done, we just hung out on the bus.

There’d better not be a fire. I don’t think these guys have much of a department.

After a long day, another epic BC sunset, courtesy of the over the shoulder quick snap technique.

Although I did stop to get this shot of a cow moose.  It was getting pretty dark, so sorry about the grainy factor.  She seems to be hanging around, maybe I’ll get another crack at a better pic later.

Chris and Some Locals

Another returning customer today. Chris from Edmonton visited a couple of years ago and is passing through town, so we hooked it up with
Chuck D. Railer and Dirt Dropout for some runs up on the Bog.

Chris was stomping all the skinnies and drops on sight, so we’re probably gonna have to find a mountain bike porn name for him soon, too.

Not that Chris was any slouch last time he was out, but he’s definitely improved his game over the last couple of years.

One of our young guns (Nik), is also starting to get into the BC flow. This isn’t a big move, but it is tricky.

Look closely at this next one. Chris is suspended on that rock. Cool line.

Kurt on an old teeter. What goes up…

…must come down.

We felt that 2 Bog laps was plenty, so it was back to the Mice for some more flow and vert on Drops A Lot. young Zack is coming along nicely. Gotta beef up them pinner legs there, sonny, but you’re good enough to hang with the old guys now.

No hesitation from the Chris man either.

Zack kinda blew the takeoff on this hip too, but the camera seems to like him. A lucky shot caught his good side even when it was going wrong.

We also went for our first visit to our friend Rich’s new winery, Misconduct. Excellent hooch from an excellent dude. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the grapejuice, my friend. I’d link up your website, but so far it’s not there. You can always try this link for Misconduct Winery if you’re looking for some info.