"Do You Smell That…?"

“…That gasoline smell?”

“Smells like……Disneyland.”

Give you three guesses what we did today.

We had to push the flight back a day because of weather, but it was well worth the wait.

What’s that white stuff on the mountains?

That’s Angel shit, honey.

Today we had Paul, Burton, Josh, Javed, Jack. and uhhh….Dave? And Harley the evil Hound from Hell.

Only 70 shopping days till Christmas…

It was as cold as it looks up there, too.

Surprisingly though, the rocks had really good traction.

These boys have been doing this trip every fall with me for a few years now. It’s an annual event. Funny how you forget just how steep it is.

A little respite from the gradient.

First trip this summer we were walking on the ice halfway out onto this lake. Just around the corner I decided to to a Superman onto some rocks and bruise the hell outta my ribs. Javed had a spectacular endo as well. Sure the rocks were grippy, but the roots were instant carnage today.

Josh drops into one of about a thousand rock faces.

Paul getting the hang of his new V-10

Burton in the trees.

Artsy shot of Jack (I think) in the Playground.

Cheezit. The cops are here.

Ho hum, more brochure shots.

“How do you know you’re taking a break?”

“Cause I’m having a Kit-Kat.”

“Think about it.”

Burton on the rocks. Careful, too many of those will make ya ill.

Ahh yes, the bill is now due. That’s a hundred foot drop behind that guardrail.

Payback.

In more ways than one. Good thing Paul wasn’t too seriously injured, but his bike was.

Nothing that a few zip ties and a Kokanee couldn’t take care of though.

Once More Around the Shore and Home

Jiimy blew his knee so me, Jack and JIm are going to make him by our shuttle bitch for the last day on Seymour.

.

Hey, everybody misses one sooner or later.

The cool thing about Jack is that he always goes back for more. Here, he made it on the next try.

A little gap we played with at the end of the Roach.

For dessert, we hit Family Guy a couple of times. These are the first pics I’ve ever taken on this trail. Usually we’re going too fast to bother, but with a couple of runs we were able to take a slow run and a fast one.

The epic opening rock face.

Another one further down.

Jack, dropping in.

Jim, on the down low. This is one of my favourite pics of the year.

So we got the boys back to their B&B in time for them to fly out, which left me a little less time to ride than I thought for another run. Luckily, the Cove Bikes Bus was just pulling out so I got one more in.

‘ooligans.

Rare shot of Chaz railing the new proto DH bike.

We hammered that one off at record pace, and got to the bottom just at dusk. Five runs in a day. Good thing it’s JJ’s birthday tomorrow…

"First Thing We Do…."

Well, one of the more fun things that happens in this line of work is that the local hotels call me when they have guests looking for something out of the ordinary. Today I got two lawyers from Idaho and one from Oregon. They have never ridden these kinds of trails before. One of them (Curt) has only been mountain biking once before.

The number one thing I hear from prospective clients when they see these shots is “I’m not good enough to ride in BC.” Well, here’s proof that the only thing that counts is motivation and stoke.

Check out the quality rental bikes we were able to source out. The proof is in the reflectors.

Tight formation, low elevation. The magic of Photoshop.

A little higher now…

I’m serious, it’s Curt’s second time on a mountain bike and he’s riding the Millenium Log.

They all hit some of the smaller airs too. Pretty impressive. I think Scott has the most time on a bike, but it’s more of the ultra distance skinny tire flavour of riding. Luckily he had solid balance skills, so he had a relatively easy time of it. Still, hitting a two foot drop for tht first time is terrifying. Good effort, boys. I think that’s Curt below.

Scott on the Corkscrew log, my candidate for the most dangerous stunt on Seymour. Feel free to add your 2 cents to this statement via the comments below.

Finishing up on the Pangor berms.

Bye Wade.

So next time your company is planning a convention, think Vancouver. So many activities to choose from when you are going to blow off that seminar…

PS–I haven’t forgotten what day it is. On the contrary, I think it’s fitting that I spend the day having fun with our American brothers. All politics aside, friends are friends to the end, and I can’t think of a better way to commemorate a tragedy than by exercising our right to a good time. Hats off and moment of silence please…