Retallack Training 2

Nothing like some real blood to get you in 1st Aid mode.

Linden may have earned the mountain bike porn name of “Shifty Drifter” for that particular move.  It was an impressive drift, too bad it was a bit too slick on the moss to pull back out of it.

Meanwhile…further down the hill.. AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

Just kidding, we’re just practicing the stuff we all read about in Fifty Shades of Grey.

Don’t think of this as a free pass to ride like an idiot out there, but it’s cool to know that there’s so many dialled folks at Retallack.  It’s a new standard for training in our fledgling industry, and it’s right up there.  Pretty rad.

Girls Got Skills – 2

Yay!  Time to rebuild the ladies after yesterday’s humbling.  We’ll start by making everyone fall down.  Barb, show ‘em…

We did a shorter skills session in the park this morning so we could hit the trails a bit fresher.  It was all about dynamic riding today.

Very dynamic riding.

This is what the 2 day format is all about.  It seems that human beings respond very well when they are offered a chance to rest, recuperate, and absorb new information.

So after taking things right back to basics on the first day, we can build back up to new heights on the second day.

And we do mean heights. 

Plus, just having the chance to session a trail with riders of similar abilities rather than playing catchup with guys that hit that stuff all the time makes success more likely.

Once you get into the flow of things, rollover moves like this become easy.

Right, Rowena?

OK, time for a candid group shot.

More advanced rollovers are still no problem for this crew.

Hanna even threw in some dance moves for us.

Tova has it dialled, so she put on a couple of demo’s for the group.

That made it easy for Denise, who is my new hero. She is proof positive about the old adage “you’re only as old as you feel.”  I’m not gonna spill any secrets here, but suffice to say that our most mature client this weekend was also one of our strongest.

Beth is just a shredder.  ‘Nuff said.

And Pauline is sort of just plain nuts, but it’s probably just the Irish accent.  Here’s a shot of her nearly getting bucked off, but she never panicked and is well on her way to the next skill plateau in her riding.

A bit further down the trail we did hear a scream, but it seemed more like an “eeek!” than an “owww!”  Sure enough…

I love rattlers.  This one is a beauty.  Not the largest I’ve seen around here, but from the looks of the tail around 10 years old.

Look out!  She’s gonna git ya!

Casey, having a gas shredding with the gals.

Just like yesterday, it was the Williams Lake girls on the beach at the end.  Nothing like cold bevvies on the beach to make you forget about the wounds.

..and that’s a wrap.  Time to pack up the stunts.  We’ll do this again next spring.

Cat Sass – Day 3

The final day of riding with the girls.  It’s gonna be tough to top the vibe of yesterday, but I’m sure we’ll have some fun.

Got out for an early morning shred with Kirt Voreis and some of the other boys. One of my biggest stokes of the whole season; leading Kirt down the lodge trail on Robb Ridge. Yeah, he’s a whole order of shredder magnitude up on my abilities, but I know the trail so it was fairly even.

Oh, and here he is deflowering the Knuckle at the end. He didn’t even know it hadn’t been hit yet, he just sent it.

Meanwhile, back at the Lodge…

After a late breakfast, yoga, and some skill sessions in the parking lot, it was time for the ladies to hit the lodge trail (Riley, you really gotta come up with a name for this line).

It was all about railing the turns this morning.  Here’s ‘Raine popping the exit hard.

Surprise of today was Margot, who really hasn’t done any DH riding before.  She was nailing this trail.  I guess there might be something to yoga after all…(she was leading the yoga sessions for the weekend).

Hey!  You’re a dude!

Kirt, yer such a ham.

The girls spent a bit of time on the berms, but this trail just doesn’t lend itself to sessioning.  Once you start to feel the flow, you gotta just rail it.

Lindsey agrees…

OK, there is ONE jump on the way down.  Meg really wanted it, so we spent some time there.  She got it….

..but then again….

[jwplayer config=”240×400″ mediaid=”3418″]

Ah, she was more or less OK. At least it was the last run of the retreat. Anyway, nothing a few weeks off the bike won’t fix. I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing Meg again in the near future. She’s too rad to not ride with again.

Here’s some food for thought… or just for eating. I’m going to miss Yves’ cooking, that’s for sure.

It being the last night, we had to break out the ShotSki.

Bottoms Up, ladies!

Things degenerated quickly after that. I don’t even really know what went on, so you’ll have to make up your own story for this last one…

Cat Sass Retreats
Retallack Lodge