bike

I’m Ba-a-a-a-c-ck…

Posted on by Smoke

….And so is my camera. You must have thought I’d given up the bike for winter. Well, not quite yet. Richard and Julie were just starting their three month tour of North America, and kicked off in grand style at Casa de Smokie.

Aren’t they cute?

Yes, that’s snow on the ground. For those of you from Australia, that’s frozen water that falls from the sky. Amazing yet true. Makes for some interesting riding. The wood that has gotten super saturated from all the rail now has ice on it.

Yee haaa.

It’s also nice and dark in the woods right now. Total Sleepy Hollow/Blair Witch weather.

Very scary. Also makes for lots of blurry pics. I got the camera back from servicing, but I lost all my custom presets for low light. A few pics turned out though.

We hit two Seymour runs today. Richard picked it up pretty quickly. Julie did well for the first bit, but was quickly overwhelmed by slimy roots (all the Aussies can laugh now) and jetlag (not so funny).

Actually, Richard picked it up rally quickly. Look how skinny this one is. Must have been that COOL BIKE he was riding.

Good enough that we braved the twilight to do a sunset run down Corkscrew. Check out the golden light. Man, I wish I had a tripod for this one. Oh well, maybe next time.

Halloween

Posted on by Smoke

Tis the season to be jelly. Enough of this riding the bikes all the time, lets have a little fun.

Happy Brithday to Terri!!

Here’s your present….a younger Jay. A prize winning costume I might add.

Are you sure that you’re completely clean, young lady? You’d better let me make sure, just in case….

Make up your own caption, I’m baffled.

I thought Bubbles was your monkey.

Jody from Ryders.

Bubba and Elvis.

Hey Marcie, how come you have myinitials on your gloves? And the Two-Minute-Costume Award goes to her friend who is cunningly disguised as a tornado.

Satan’s feet hurt.

How nature says DANGER!! KEEP AWAY!!!

Pat Mulroney from Norco as a Transformer. Not sure what he turns into.

The Man in Black. That’s a pumpkin carving. I was told that some guy came in the bar that afternoon and carved it freehand. Un real.

This one’s cool too.

Colonel Angus.

He looks a little too comfortable in that outfit. Think he’s worn it before?

Yours truly as StrongBad with the lovely Jo.

New Rule: If there are men in kilts around, don’t give the camera to Barb. You don’t even want to think about the rest of the pics from this roll.


Rain

Posted on by Smoke

Another wet one on Seymour. Lots of riding today. Holger came out for one more ride before returning to his tour company on the Continent. Also, Bill Tuohy and his buddy Michael came up from San Fran for a rip. AND….I had the first day of a local kids group out for a shred.

Here’s Bill, giving his broken scapula a test. Those white spots are raindrops if you haven’t been here yet.

Holger on CBC.

Bill, barely visible in the gloom.

Seet autumn shot of CBC. Holger and his bright jacket again, with Bill spotting him.

Sliding into the corner.

This is how dark it actually looked. All I could see was Mike’s chrome visor all afternoon.

Holger on Salvation.

Supa cool shot of some fungus on Pangor.

Poor Bill. He broke his derailleur hanger on the first run, and with a short day we opted to lend him Barb’s pink bike. It was a little small and unfamiliar, combined with big vertical, and 12 weeks off the bike with injuries.

Bill was tired. Hell, I was tired…..

So, after two runs with the big boys it was time to go for a rip with the young guns. Four of ’em. I think they must have been shut up in a classroom all day or something. Holy, can they ever rip it up.

Lucas, second generation Cove ripper.

Another punk riding bridges in the dark.

Artsy fartsy shot of Chronister (my tailgunner) on the Ned’s Gap.