freeride

ReReturn of the Jedi – Day 12

Posted on by Smoke

Or as it should also be known, “Stubz’ Birthday.” Happy days, Stubz. See if you can spot the man of the hour in the shot below. As a Canadian, he kind of stands out.

Then there’s the riding style. Stubz is mre of an XC guy than anything. You can tell by that Blur he’s rocking there.

Panama didn’t fare as well on his big freeride rig. That’s one serious egg right there.

Smilin’ Andy really stepped it up today. It was a little bit wet, and finally the Brits started to realize that I’m not taking the piss when I say it actually makes things better in the wet.

Lairy Nick could care less. He never shuts up long enough for anyone to tell him anything anyway.

Birthday boy goes for another XC climb.

OK, shot of the tour right there….

For those of you who watch bike vids, these shots are all from Boyko’s headcam seggie out of Kranked 6. The trail (which we inspected yesterday) is called Black Mamba. this would be a one footed table stepdown.

Chaos with a more straightforward version of the same.

Mongo nose bonking the stepup (not on purpose either).

Even Flash got into the act on this hit.

Fully X’d up. told you he was XC.

Afterwards, we went for a little hike on a technical line down in the woods. Stubz works for Radical Films, so he knows all the hidden stuff out there.

This would be Ryan Leech’s line. It took him 6 months to film it. We were pretty gripped just trying to walk on it. Believe me, the video does NOT do it justice.

I think Tony may have shit himself…

Bonus rounds, making Welshmen fly….

Chaos, creating….

Ah yes, well…..it’s not quite Abbey Road, but it’ll do.

What are ya…..chicken?

Panama tries to repair his wheel (actually, it took some wacky lacing, and some pillaging of spare parts, but Chaos managed to get a working wheel out of the bits and pieces left over. Serious wheel building magic there).

Weenie roast….

Weiner….

Note: DO NOT fall asleep in the company of drunken freeriders with electric shavers. Although Nick does look sort of cute with smooth legs…..

Band of Bros – Redux

Posted on by Smoke

Ahhh yes, returning customers. My favourite…..

Ted and Jason came out here last year. Kevin and Matt didn’t make it back, but Steve and another Matt did to keepthe numbers up. They came for a few more days this time around to make it more interesting.

Oh look, the typical building of the bikes on my front lawn. So much more room than the old place.

This is Matt. He’s new here. He’s not really having any problems adapting to the BC style though. I guess all those years of BMX back in the day in Cali are still with him.

Ted picked up right where he left off last year.

So did Jason, although a crash at Whistler had left him with a badly sprained thumb that was holding him back a little.

Steve was having a few issues adapting. He only picked up the freeride bike a month before, and was feeling a touch of stress at the scope of Builders Only. Luckily he had guys like Ted and Matt and Jason to inspire him….but it’s still a bit of a shock to be thrown right into moves like this:

Round two we went over to the old 2.5 line on Powers. Once again, the boys were on fire.

The skinny skills were what surprised me the most. In general, skinny riding is dying out these days, but these guys were killing every stick, twig, and log line out there.

Jason preferred the wall rides though.

So did Matt, even if it took himm a couple of tries at it.

Ted sends a one hander….

Pic of the day, Matt on a small road gap. Not quite an X-up, but it’s early in the trip.

Corn Stars

Posted on by Smoke

What the hell kind of title is “Corn Stars,” anyway? Well, these happy kids are more of the HickHuckster variety, being from North Carolina and all, but Gary had these cool socks with a little corn husk and stars on ’em, so there you go.

Natasha (or Stash, as she gets called) is just so damn cute that I can’t think of anything to nickname her anyway.

After flying to Spokane, Gary and Stash drove up to be the first folks to experience the new Bush Pilot HQ. We got this party started right with a lap on Builders Only.

Nothing like jumping into it with both feet, eh?

Once the intimidation factor started to wear off, the kids got some flow going.

Blue skies and warm temps didn’t hurt there.

Plus, with the pair of them being in the National Guard back home, it was easy to give ’em orders. “Soldier! Send it!”

“Yessir! Sending it, sir!”