Mayo Clinic 2

Posted on September 4, 2013September 11, 2013 by Smoke

Day 2 of the clinic, and our Aussies have blisters. Well, Jaime doesn’t, but he’s Colombian so it doesn’t count. With that in mind, we went to Kobau for some Cawston Creek laps. TKO is out for today, as it needs some more maintenance.

It’s a dark and stormy morning up here. To think that there’s normally an epic view here.

Looking almost coastal in the desert.

On these next ones, you can see chunks of mud flying off the tires. One thing about the wet, the ground was insanely sticky. You could hang impossible corners.

There’s that view.

I think they’re having fun on this one.

Mud and cactus. What a wild morning.

Round 2 was a bit different.

Back to sunshine, and the dirt hit the "all time" condition.

Even the steeps are easy when it’s this soft. This spine is typically baked rock hard with little marbles on it. Today you could carve it.

As is quickly becoming tradition, we went over to Osoyoos for a little boat ride and beach time with the Legend himself.

Having a good time yet?

Kiwis – 2

Posted on August 19, 2013August 22, 2013 by Smoke

I’d originally planned on going to Kelowna today, but this seemed like the better option instead.

Tough to beat, for sure. With another 9k’ of descending on the plate, Kobau was the call today.

Although there’s still a few trees down, Cawston Creek is in good shape. Maybe a little dry, but good all around.

Good enough views at any rate, and the dust just made it more fun.

Although not the flashiest riders, they were efficient. Hard to get shots of everyone if they’re following you close. John was good enough to hang back a bit, so I seemed to have a bunch of decent images of him. Marc was just following my wheel all the time. I should probably get a GoPro at some point and at least get some followcam footie of guys like him.

Round 2, and TKO is the call. There’s still an annoying amount of larger trees down on the first half, and I haven’t found the time to clear it yet. I’d like to get it done soon, and then go pig out on it this fall. We’ll see. The view from half way is still unobscured…

Not that there’s a lot of photo worthy spots on TKO. We just rode and had fun. Here’s an over the shoulder shot near the end.

This one’s gonna get the boys in trouble back home. A little dose of wine culture.

As the Legend was our shuttleschlampe today, we hit Osoyoos Lake for some bevvies after. Marc noticed a little puff of smoke, and I called in my second fire report of the season. This was a very aggressive grass fire, growing from nothing to 12 hectares in a matter of minutes.

We sat on the beach for a couple of hours, watching the planes work the fire (two tankers, some spotters, and a heli). They put it out smartly.

Best day ever on a bike?

“Yeah, I reckon.”

Father’s Day

Posted on June 16, 2013June 19, 2013 by Smoke

Where else would I be but on Kobau trying to catch butterflies?

OK, maybe I could have been at the Super D in Kelowna, but Kobau needed my attention more.

If you’ve been wondering why your hayfever has been acting up this spring, check the pollen count on my helmet here…

Lap one of the year on TKO. There’s definitely some trees down, but not as bad as the other side of the mountain.

Kootnikoff is just realizing in this shot how gnarly the south Okanagan can be.

We went back up to clear some more of mess on Cawston Creek. That’s Matt the Rat Fitzjames from the ‘Old Cove’ with the big smile there. I worked in the original Deep Cove Bike Shop with that guy in the early 90’s. He’s still a major force on a bike, that’s for sure.

We killed another tank of gas clearing the Cawston side, and still there’s some big trees in the way. At least the sun doesn’t set until late at this time of year.