arawana

Salad Doggers – 4

Posted on by Smoke

I think we gotta scale things back a little bit.  These non-stop epics are getting a bit outta hand.  Besides, the weather (typical of this year) has taken a turn for the worse.  So we’ll go to Naramata today.

The boys inform me that they get little opportunity to get air back home in the south of England, so I thought Drops-A-Lot would be the ideal place to figure it out.

Looks like I was right.  And being British, a spot of wet weather was no bother.

Steve, I think you can go a bit slower off that one.

He was trying to achieve low orbit.  Nice work, Sputnik.  Ewan was of the same mind with this attempt.  Giddyup!

That was it for the rest of the day.  No huge airs, but impressive moves from the boys all round.  By the end of the day we’d hit lots of drops up to 6’, and multiple gaps up to 10’.

..and in the wet, too.

Mr & Mrs. Marmalade – 3

Posted on by Smoke

OK, the rain was nice but lets get back to summer.

Yep, it’s warm out.  Not hot, just warm.  Now you know why I recommend bringing an open face helmet.   Even with modest mid 20C temps, it’s hard to keep the lid on.  We’ll just overlook this particular omission of safety, as it’s on a small warmup climb.

Here’s the top, and it’s all helmets on from here on down.

Yvonne is finding out about drops today.  Quite appropriate, as the next trail is ‘Drops A Lot.’

All on the Coaster gap.

After breaking another G series Canon (god they’re crappy for $600, but there’s nothing else that takes pics as nice that will fit in the pocket), I’m on an ultra compact SD1000.  And I’m sorta rusty on how to nab decent shots with the tiny camera.  So forgive the underexposed, out of focus, and motion blurred stuff here.

Ooooooo…so close. 

OK, we’ll just do a hundred more of these smaller ones and come back to that bigger drop.

Al, nose up on another gap.

Nose down on Jack and Jill.

Super dry out right now.  This dust bowl is a total surf’s up riot.

Al rides like a cat out there, and like a cat, doesn’t like getting wet.  Yvonne is having nothing to do with that…

***barf***

Yes, it’s the summer of couples.  I guess the demographic is changing out there.

UFB 2 – Round 2

Posted on by Smoke

Yes, he really does eat those things for breakfast.

Hey Hylands!  Get a helmet on that kid!  I can’t believe how rad Kainoa is on a runbike and he’s not even 2 yet.  I’m jealous.

OK, back to rad girlies on mountain bikes.  I took Sarah, Nicole, and Tippie (he’s sorta girly…) down some of the classic Naramata All Mtn. lines this morning.  Sarah needed to reset on some mellower terrain after yesterday’s scorpion, and this is the place.

This rock face is about the gnarliest thing on the trail, and it was perfect for getting that monkey off her back.  Although I did have to turn the camera off for it.

Brett-gnar dropping to flat.

Sarah and Nicole again.  Nicole had a brand spanking new Trek for this ride, and she giggled the whole way down.

Sweet views.  The landscape is nice too.

Last drop on Jack and Jill.  The pic doesn’t show much, but this is a totally rad line.  Steep, then steeper, then gap, then berm.  You’ll just have to come out yourself sometime to see it.

Whoa!  I look good in orange.

Brett would have too, but he went with green today.

The girls ripping the gully walls.

Oh no, we have to pedal 7 kms on the KVR, and there’s rain coming.

The view from the RaceFace cockpit as we drop into the final part of the ride.

Round two and we met up with Andrew, Brant, Sheila, and some more Kelowna locals for a Beer Run in the rain.  Sarah just needed some wet weather to get her back on track (reminded her of home I guess), because we all had a SICK lap.  The wood was ultra slick, and there were some sketchy sideways moments.  Especially when we got kicked off the cannon fade away jump and got the sick unintentional whips laid out.

Here’s Sheila dropping in to Ivy League.

Ooooh…a good one of Brett, Tipping into a turn.

The crew…

The view…

And a few… Rocky Mtns. that is.

Good fun with the families.  We’ll be doing this again soon.