bike

Corn Stars – Day 5

Posted on by Smoke

That hangover came to full fruition this morning, but I wasn’t going to let the kids jam out on this one. I was as alert as a pair of Great Horned Owls this morning, even if our Corn Stars were of the temperment of Weeps today (that’s a Farley Mowat reference that you’ll just have to look up).

Kobau is one of my favourite hidden gems, and today was as perfect a day as you could ask for.

Gotta love that view from the top, especially as it’s a ridiculously long haul to get there. We managed to spot our first bear of hte trip on this one, clowsely followed by the second. They were really shy, so no pics. Sorry, you’ll have to be content with those owls.

Teh top of the ride is full on Star Wars quality forest speeder action, and the occasional Shore style log ride.

As this is rarely ridden, old school natural logs are the order of the day.

The lower reaches are all open sage and grassland. Not exactly natural state with all the cattle here, but still unique enough that they will probably be part of a National Park soon.

I can see why.

It’s difficult to get the scale of how large this hillside really is.

No matter how long you ride, it seems lilke the valley gets further away.

How many bikes do you see in this pic?

How about here?

As always, Barb is the poster girl.

I still haven’t caught the pic that I’m looking for here. One day I’ll get it.

This one is close, but not quite it. I guess this means I have to go back again to get the shot I want.

Uh oh…..

Cows. And they’re not getting out of the way.

Too stupid to run. Barb didn’t care either. The ruts caused by last years heavy rains have filled in with dust, and it’s a riot to surf on. As you read this, it’s raining here, so the dust should have settled, but 34C on the last day of May is nearly unheard of (*historical temperature records were set all over BC this week).

Moo…

Still going down, but we’re almost there.

We finished the day with a barbeque at Rancho Relaxo and a full moon. What a way t
o kill a hangover.

Freedom Bikes Ladies Nite

Posted on by Smoke

Now that’s what I like to see in the rear view mirror. Yes, it’s that time of the week again. Ladies Nite, although this time I stayed out of it except for providing a shuttle. Barb and Jules took the girls for a rip on the Rusty Muffler.

Oh look, it’s just like the Shore.

So’s this. Just like North Van, the girls outnumber the guys these days.

Artsy shot courtesy of Barb. She’s getting pretty good with the camera now.

Hordes of them.

I swear I’ll never get tired of views like this.

You getting bored of looking at pristine singletrack yet?

Me neither.

A few minor mechanicals, and it’s sunset.

And then it’s moonrise.

Ladies Nite is every Tuesday at 5:30 behind Freedom Bikes in Penticton. All abilities and biking persuasions are welcom (even roadies).

Corn Stars – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

How’s this for a surprise on your bike tour? Today we went up to Kamloops to help out with the KBRA trail day on Harper Mtn. A full day of building with a barbeque dinner and campout was in order.

We got there late morning and headed up to the Bridge to Nowhere to fix up some old woodwork that was getting wort of beat.

Most of the big projects were taken, but we recycled some old stuf into an improved a-frame over a stump.

It was quite the all ages gig, and I was surprised to see so many faces I didn’t know and almost none that I did.

Lots of quality work got done.

This place is so popular, the stunts were getting hit efore they were even finished (it was OK, we told them to hit it).

Proud builders watching the first rider over their work.

With a short time left before the end of the day, we built one more jump. It’s got a total crap landing, but hey…youcan take the guy outta the Shore, but you can’t—you know what I mean.

Time to hit the new and improved.

The fun part of this for me is that Barb and I built a lot of the original lines way back in ’99. They’ve been greatly improved since then, but we still feel sort of like parents on this stuff.

Here’s the spiral ramp. It was getting ready to collapse, so it got a full overhaul.

Good lookin’ out with the chainsaw. I think this was part of the KBC crew working on this one.

The flowers are going off at this time of year. I’ve never ridden here when it’s blooming.

..and blooming it was.

A slight damper was put on the BBQ as a light rain started to fall.

I have a hard time calling 5 minutes of mist “rain,” but it was enough to send lots of people home for the night. We kept warm by burning some old stunts.

By the end of the night the Kamloops locals were in the minority, with a couple of Swiss kids, a pair of ‘Mericans, and some joker from Westbank outnumbering the 3 hardy Kamloopsians that stayed put.