Center Of Gravity

Posted on August 1, 2009August 8, 2009 by Smoke

The Kelowna scene continues to expand, and with an eye to the future as well. This junior ripper already has a dirty face from an earlier wipeout.

The big change to this year’s fest (apart from a much higher turnout, being better run, awesome live music, and a bargain price) was the lake jump.

Whitey built up a 20’ high run in to a big kicker into the lake. Here he is, testing out his creation.

It made for some interesting new tricks, like this hanger banger…

I missed a few of the airs though. I get distracted easily.

Kinrade, your nuts…

Super T and his Super Swan Dive.

Schnepf and some porta pottie hotties. It mus be part of his overall strategy, but I don’t know how it was supposed to work…

Nice tail tap off the lamp post. This was part of the best trick comp back in the Dirt Zone.

They don’t always work out the way you plan. I couldn’t believe how much the level of the locals has gone up this year. Lots of crazy twisting flips with variations, but alas, the young guns had trouble sticking their landings in the actual comp.

Which paved the way for our pal James Doerfling to successfully defend his title. Landing them clean is important, and James nailed his lines consistently for the win.

A couple of nice logo placement shots for the club.

Buehler with a fine Indian Air.

Justin Wyper laying it WAY out with a Flip Whip and some extra style. This kid was killing it all weekend.

“Let’s all get the same shot, and tomorrow we should all dress the same too!”

Some more antics from local wunderkind Casey Groves.

After the sports, there was a killer gig on the beach with Bif Naked, but I got scared by this gnarly mushroom cloud coming off the Terrace Mtn fire and went home.

There’s a bunch more shots from the event over in the Gallery if you need more.

Center of Gravity – Day 2

Posted on August 3, 2008 by Smoke

“All of your base belong to us”

Yes, it’s DAY 2, and the shenanigans continue.

Today was best line, and the kids were going for it.

Yo, is that SUPER T? Did he just throw a back flip? Old guys’ got skillz…

So, unlike yesterday, it was about who could throw down the whole line today. Not just one jump, but the overall styles.

I dunno what you think, but that set of denims on the right has some serious styles if you ask me.

Must have been the Romo fan club…

Anyway, back to the comp.

So everyone jumped. I forget who won. It was some youg guy who slayed a couple of nice clean runs without missing any landings. Pretty sweet. Casey threw down this flipwhip after the event, just because.

Oh, and Romo had to send a big three without tacoing his wheel….

….just because.

Center of Gravity – Day 1

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Smoke

Ever wonder what goes on inside Dangerous Dan’s head? Apparently a bunch of earwax….

So this is the Center of Gravity, which is a new mid-summer beach festival in Kelowna. Take a bunch of beach volleyball players and mountain bikers and toss them on the beach. Good idea.

It’s a small event at this point. Just a handful of locals like Casey Groves, Garet Buehler, Sterling Grassick, Romo, Doerfling, Schnepf, and Super T.

That seems to be enough to put on a show though.

The first day required some tuning on the jumps.

The boys didn’t seem to have too many problems. A handful of unknown locals really spiced up the show.

Here’s the roll in ramp from a fun angle.

Our man Rob was running the elevator. Watching a few of the guys ride UP the rollin was more fun though.

Of course, there was also some beach volleyball if you wanted something different.

I don’t know what it is, but I spent a lot of time watching volleyball…

Or you could try to watch it all at once.

How do you like my new fisheye lens? Actually, Romo kept over-rotating his three’s, and went through a bunch of wheels. Too much ‘zest’ can ruin the sauce….