builders only

Slugging Rats

Posted on by Smoke

Garry and Stash came up for a quick rip today. I was a bit stunned still after the weekend, but I figured a little Builders Only rip was the best thing to shake the cobwebs out.

It was awesome out there. Still loamy and tacky, and ultra lush with flowers everywhere.

Poor Garry though. He’s been struggling with a bike that’s a bit too big for him and he’s in a bit of a rut. What I call “slugging rats”, where no matter what you do, it all goes wrong.

Sorta like this….

Black eye, concussion, broken nose, and a broken full face helmet. Trial by blood? Baptism by fire? Nah, sluggin’ rats. Don’t worry Garry, it can only get better from here.

Let Them Eat Cake – Day 2

Posted on by Smoke

It’s after midnite, and Brett Tippie is at my house. See how excited he is? Well, of course there’s a story. That t-shirt goes back to the first time we met. I was working at the old Cove shop and had gotten my mitts on one of the very first Kona full suspension bikes. Tippie walked in looking for a ride and although I’d never met him, I lent him the Kona. Tihs was just something I thought of as professional courtesy. He came with good credentials, but this was still before Kranked, before Fro-Riders, before all that.

Several weeks later I got this cool hand painted t-shirt as a thank you. I mean, what are you gonna do, throw the thing out? It’s only been worn once.

I thought he was gonna explode when I pulled the shirt out on this night.

Well, the celebrations worked the men over pretty hard, but the womenfolk got up early and got to work in the kitchen.

I did hide their shoes…..

Oh right…riding. Well over a dozen people showed up last night, and more today.

Sarah still can’t find her shoes, but she managed to get outta the kitchen.

OK, another Builders Only day. Sven, Shore builder, has a go on the Jedi F*cker.

That boy was on fire. I think he missed it up here. Tippie had a brand spanking new Flatline he was breaking in, and was also a bit rusty after being off the bike for a few years. He was remembering pretty quickly.

Although he gets tired more easily than before.

See one, do one…..

Maja, making friends…

Not to be outdone, Barb got out for a short lap at the end of the day. Her first ride of the year.

Oh,and that’s a 7 months pregnant woman hucking herself there. Remember that next time you roll that sucker.

I was kind of hoping to get a MuddBunnies Calendar worthy shot here, but the light wasn’t co-operating and then my camera crapped out……. again. Any Canon reps reading this? One seriously unsatisfied customer over here.

More fun tomorrow, when even more riders show up.

Drying Out

Posted on by Smoke

Yesterday’s laps were great and all, but today was the one. It really dried out. We ran a full crew of trail builders on (what else?) Builders Only for some fast laps. I manged to pinball off a boulder, and there were numerous bails and crashes all day.

Here’s Rob sending it on Crazy Train.

Sure, he’s only been mountain biking for a littel over a year, but he IS almost 40 so you gotta give him the experience points. I think maybe BMX racing all over the world back in the 80’s probably helped too.

We ran into another group, and lo and behold we knew them.

Our pals from the coast, Marcie and Ja were shreddin the local today. They moved up to Kamloops about 6 months before we moved to Kelowna. They brought out some friends (don’t ask me their names, I wasn’t working so therefore I didn’t write anything down. Rippers, the lot of ’em).

Oh right. Winter. Well, just enough time to go back to our pad for a shower and beers….