bud height

Return of the Jedi Council — Part III

Posted on by Smoke

Day 3, and the crew is just getting warmed up. A little re-match with the Arawana trail today. I happen to really like this trail, and so do the mosquitos. However, you have to have a good tolerance for flat landings to really enjoy this one. Poor Pete (the builder), he got roundly cursed all day for his penchant for stupid trannies. Well, I guess the local bike shop likes him, but he really needs to learn how to make good landings.

He does great things with skinny logs though.

This is where I got stung by wasps. Note to self, dont stand right on the nest, even if it is a good angle.

This used to seem really hard. Now it gets nailed on sight by nearly everyone.

Barb on a natural line.

Skip really benefitted from his trip out here this winter. He went from the back of the pack last year to right up front this year.

Marvellous Ed was on a mission today. His mission? To do all the really dumb lines. Here he is on an 8 foot “dorp to falt.”

Paul, in his natural element. The skinnier, the better.

Bud Height. The big wood to wood. Just about the entire crew hit it today. I used to fake this shot with Photoshop to make it look cool. Now everyone just nails it on sight.

Poster shot of Skip.

Marvellous, on another skinny “dorp to falt.”

…and I quote, “That looks impossible. Wanna see it done?”

It lands you in a small gap almost immediately. It’s really stupid, and loads of fun to watch Ed pile into the bushes from.

Right around the corner, Paul proves that he can hit the air when necessary.

This is a wicked little road gap. I finally did it after looking at it for a couple of years. Pretty easy, but another stupid little micro tranny. Jedi shows us how its done.

Not to be outdone, Barb puts her stamp on it.

And the big stupid drop award goes to….

…no one. The jump immediatley after the flat landing from 25′ up is uber stupid and makes a potentially good move ridiculous. Oh well, maybe another time.

Here’s Jedi leading a train across the barbwire funbox gap. Where’s that train?

Well, Ed paid the piper for his earlier antics by face planting the first step up. There’s video of this, but you’ll have to wait months for it. Sorry, but I’m sort of busy to be editing video.

We still had enough in the tank for another half lap, so we cracked off a quickie of the fast part, and then hit the beach for some well earned swims and beer.

Ahhhh, beer at sunset. What will tomorrow bring I wonder?

More weirdness. I am sure. Ed, you slut.

The Legend of Greyballs — Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

Mountain bikes…pffffft. REAL men ride cruisers.

So, according to this picture, the clearance on the van with bikes is just a teensy bit under 11 feet. Guess I should try to write that down somewhere……

Today we rode two laps of Arawana. Here’s Dave getting warmed up…

Dom styles out a long skinny on his 3rd try.

One MASSIVE stepdown. No-one wanted to even try. That thing is a solid twenty vertical up in the air, and maybe twenty-five out. Way bigger than it looks in that crappy pic.

Railing the corners at the bottom.

Some sweet canyon bottom singletrack.

The infamous liquid lunch.

Sure it was a long run, but one is never enough. Even though everyone tried to weasel out of a second one, it’s the second run that makes the day.

Bob checks his sphincter on the sidehill.

The Birthday Boy in the canyon again.

Barracho on the same line.

End of the line. Pass me a beer willya?

Of course, one beer leads to another, and the next thing you know we are rock stars.

Like all good rock stars, after trashing the hotel we went out partying. Nite Moves never disappoints on the long weekend.

“Can you make him go away please?”

Arawana

Posted on by Smoke

Well, we seem to be having some van troubles. Got a new battery last night, maybe that’s all it was.

This little guy seemed to be having more troubles. No water for miles.

Scott continues his dominance of the big gaps of the BC interior. Here he is on Bud Height. Today was tough. We were really tired and the mercury hit 39 C. That’s about 103 for you southern types.

..and a little wooden berm.

OK. So it wasn’t the battery. Had to stop at Canadian Tire for a new alternator. The van completely died in the parking lot. At least we got a new one installed in under an hour. Do you believe it? Some days you get the good with the bad.

On to the Shore…