bike

Riding Whistler

Posted on by Smoke

I’m sick of waiting for pics. I guess that’s why I bought a digi cam yesterday.

Anyway, Whistler was the usual cluster. Two days of it. Dirt Merchant to A-Line to Biker Cross to GLC Drop.

Except Jow, who blew up off the GLC and fractured his ass. And dislocated his hip and broke his collarbone and dislocated his finger. Everything is supposed to be OK in under a month. I bet ya his finger still hurts at Christmas.

Anyway, I wasn’t guiding at Whistler so it was a bit of a fluke that I was even around when Jow got hurt. It was definitely a good one. Looked like he slipped a pedal going off the edge and pinned himself to the bike with his bars. Big impact. Too bad no one had a camera on at the time. Still waithing for Jow to post up the x-ray.

Anyway, here’s the obligatory Schleyer Drop pics. Demo Dave horrifying the world with those goddamn ugly shorts of his.

Broken footer with Gary.

Donny showing off in the line up.

Riding the Shore

Posted on by Smoke

OK, so I don’ t have any new pics for ya. I’m sorry. Didn’t have the correct USB for the Santo’s Crew to download their shots from yesterday. Which is really too bad ’cause we got some cool ones. Oh well. I’ll get those in a week or so.

Eric’s mob got in a little late on Wednesday nite, courtesy of the new rules instituted by US Customs. Mass hysteria at airports across North America.

Whatever.

So instead of getting in some bonus rounds on Weds nite, we loaded up the BBQ for a tailgate party atop West Vancouver and watched the fireworks. Cool.

Got up early on Thursday and put the bikes together while Barb cooked us up some breakfast burritos. Then we charged Seymour. Nothing outrageous to report, just a lot of fun riding. CBC, Corkscrew, Pingu, Pangor, secret lower Seymour stuff, another on CBC, Ned’s and out. Two runs. Anton had huck of the day on the six foot log drop on Ned’s. He got the full height on his hardtail but wrecked his Psylo in the process. Fried the lock out knob so that the compression spiked on every hit.

Ooops.

Barb let him ride the Pink Peeler out, so all was well.

Have fun at Shandro’s camp this week, boys.

Mountain Biking Kamloops

Posted on by Smoke

Wow.

I’m spent.

The Florida boys really threw it down out here. I will be updating you on that trip in a day or two when I get all my pics back. For now, let me update you on how the NSMB.com trip went.

I won’t bore you with the offical verision of events. For that you can go to NSMB.com .

When we got there, it was to find a stellar pad outfitted with several large beds and an outdoor hot tub. I think I showed marvelous restraint in keeping myself clothed and dry for about, oh, five seconds. Here’s the scene…

The first day we raged on the Peaks bike park. If you haven’t been, get there. I’ve got the hook up for cheap on hill accomodation if you want it. The One Way Traveller has unbeatable deals. I have no shots of it as we were too busy ripping the hill to stop and take photos. However, after the hill closed we went to check out a little hidden gem just outside of the ski area. Last year it was a feast of stunts and hucks, but unfortunately was decommissioned over the winter. At least a few good ones are still left.

I almost landed on Cam with that jump. Have a look at the extreme close up. Can’t you just smell the fear there?

Then we retired back to our palatial condo for maritini’s courtesy of the NSMB Hemingway.

This proved to be a little much for our intrepid team member, Colin. Or maybe he doesn’t trust my driving.

Anyway, Day 2 we spent shuttling on Harper and Lolo. Harper has some big new stuff, as well as some of the sweetest smoothie singletrack in BC. a real hidden gem. Here’s some examples.

Barb on a ten foot high ladder with a six foot exit huck.

Colin stylin out the inside line of the double spiral bridge.

To end the day we went up Lolo. A cold front was approaching and the wind was absolutely HOWLING at the top, and the rain was beginning to spatter. There was a lot of electricity in the air and I thought for sure that lightning was going to start popping at any second. Lolo has about three foot high grass at the top and then gets into crazy skinnies and hucks down in the forest. With the wind the grass was waving everywhere and obscuring the trail. So far, the most intense day of the year. Here’s an idea of what it felt like. Barb hanging it out in the tall grass:

Finished the day with a huge feast at the Oriental Gardens in Kamloops.

We rode some more on the weekend, but we were all somewhat flat after that.

Tomorrow, I’ll get you up to date on the Florida crew.